The reference to this is in Exodus 2:3, “…she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” When the mother of Moses could no longer hide him from the Egyptians…she was forced to put the basket in the water and release the baby to God. Letting go of our children is difficult. Whether it’s their first day of school or just starting college, I believe Moms have a harder time of relinquishing their control. But just as the mother Moses had to trust God with her baby, we need to also. For if you think about it…God can love and care for our kids much better, for He’s always with them.
Tag: short daily devotions
Proverbs 16:23 ” A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction.”
Our lips are called the gateway to honesty or deception. And while this Proverb extols the benefits of wisdom, and thinking before we speak… Job 15:5 shows the opposite when it says, “Your sin prompts (or incites) your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.” We all have the ability to select the words that come out of our lips, for it’s our prudent or deceptive heart that guides them.
II Corinthians 3:18 ” And we are being transformed into His likeness.”
Whatever you’re going through today, and however hard it is to comprehend…there’s purpose for your pain…an aim to the affliction…and a role for the ruin. For sometimes God doesn’t change the situation we’re in…He’s more interested in changing us. Once I faced a circumstance so painful that I begged God daily to change it. And change did happen…but not in the way I thought it should. For over time, God made me over and how I viewed this problem. Instead of making the problem disappear, He transformed my character and mind-set…giving me the grace to accept it.
Jeremiah 5: 30-31 ” A horible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? “
Spinning God’s Word to make it more acceptable, and politically correct is not new. During Jeremiah’s time the prophets used lies and deceit to woo the people into a false sense of peace. And the Church Leaders weren’t far behind in this guise, using their power to manipulate and deceive the people also. So why did the people not only tolerate this… but love it? These false prophets were only telling the people what they wanted to hear and the Church Leaders were watering down God’s Word to the point no one felt uncomfortable. But what does the future hold for such deceptive action then or now?
Luke 17: 5-6 ” The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.’ “
How do we go about increasing our faith? First, it’s about believing and accepting the Gospel Message…that Jesus came to save and redeem us from eternal punishment by His life, death and resurrection. Secondly, our faith is built up every time we trust and obey God and then see Him working in our life. Thus, over time, our faith increases, like layers of bricks being built up to form a strong wall. Finally, with that increasing faith comes a confidence that there’s nothing impossible for God.
Ruth 1:16 ” But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’ “
When God calls us to leave behind our past and follow Him…it’s scary. We’re comfortable where we are and now He’s asking us to go into foreign territory. But just like Ruth, our past is dead and barren, holding out no hope for a productive future. So we need to make that decision of just who we’re going to serve…God or self. (Joshua 24:15)
Ephesians 1:18 ” I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you…”
My prayer for you today is for spiritual enlightenment. God made His light shine in our hearts to give us this light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Corinthians 4:6)… and with this light of knowledge comes awareness and understanding. But not only this, but as Job replied to God, “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You.” (Job 42:5)…I pray that you would be able to experience God for yourself, not just what you’ve been told about Him.
Job 5: 6-7 ” For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.”
We all are born with a sin nature. You don’t need a teach a baby how to be crabby and out of sorts…they arch their little back, face beet red, as they let you know in no uncertain terms they’re unhappy! No, thanks to Adam and Eve that sin nature has been handed down from generation to generation. In Psalm 51:5 David laments about this sin nature when he says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” From the first Adam we obtained our sin nature…but the second Adam, Jesus Christ, came to redeem us from it.
Revelation 3:3 ” Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
John was writing to the Church in Sardis…but he could be addressing the Church today in general. When he says, “Wake up!”, John is speaking not of just physically waking up and throwing off our lackadaisical Christianity…but of waking up morally and realizing we have been compromising our faith away. John was talking about comfortable or lazy Christianity…we’re saved and satisfied…but all the while the rest of the world outside is dying and going to Hell.
Psalm 32:8 ” I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”
Are you unsure and confused today? God is there to bring guidance and clarity to any situation you’re facing. He’ll show you the correct path to take and how to best conduct your life. And when you need advice, look to Him, the Wonderful Counselor, first. For no worldly consultation can compare to God’s perfect insight and tender concern for you.
Safetypinlove 