A Bad Day???

All our relationships, actions and attitudes depend upon the “life” that resides in our heart.
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”Luke 6:45

The Verse below reminded me a lot of how God sent his beloved son Jesus down to earth, to provide the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and transgressions. We no longer have to offer animals or ourselves as sacrifices to God in order to redeem ourselves of our sins. It’s already been done through the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross. A worthy sacrifice indeed.

“So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’” Genesis 22:14 (NIV)

*Have you ever been in a situation so desperate that it looked hopeless?
*Have you ever sat at the kitchen table wondering how you were going to pay the electric bill?
*Have you ever stood at a door that’s been slammed in your face by an angry teenager and despaired at having a relationship with him again?
*Have you ever had your heart broken so deeply that you wondered if you would feel whole again?

Sadly, we live in a broken world where desperate situations happen every day. I know someone reading this devotion is wondering how they will make it through the day because their situation looks hopeless.
If that is you, I encourage you to keep reading. I believe God has a message of Hope for us ALL today.

That message is found in the Bible, in the story of a man who was dealing with his own desperate situation. His name was Abraham and he faced the greatest testing of his life. After longing for a son for many years, God finally gave Abraham a boy, whom he named Isaac.

Abraham never imagined God would test his faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. But it happened.

It had to have been the darkest day of Abraham’s life as he trudged up the mountain, with firewood strapped to his son’s back.
Every step took Abraham closer to what he believed to be the sad ending of a hopeless situation—the death of his son.
*Yet in spite of his sorrow, Abraham trusted God. His heart wasn’t soaring with joy. He wasn’t dancing up the mountain. But he put one foot in front of the other. Walking through the darkness of the situation; obeying His God’s commands.

Unbeknowning  to Abraham, something else was walking up that mountain. Quietly. Out of sight. On the other side of the mountain. Something else was putting one foot in front of the other. Only Abraham couldn’t see it.

For every step Abraham took, a ram on the other side of the mountain took a step.

All Abraham saw that day was his solitary journey of pain. As he got closer to the top of the mountain, his dread must have increased. I wonder if he asked himself any questions. I would have.
* I would have wondered why hadn’t God intervened?
* Why hadn’t God stopped this testing? *Couldn’t God see that Abraham was a man of faith?
*Why test him in this way?

**But there was no answer. There was no voice from heaven. And so Abraham kept obeying his God’s command. He put Isaac on an altar and prepared to sacrifice his one and only son.

And just at that very moment, at the very last second, when it looked like the end had come, God spoke, stopping the sacrifice.
Abraham looked up and there caught in the thicket was a ram. Abraham took his son off the altar, replaced him with the ram, and offered the sacrifice to God.

Abraham named that place “Yahweh-Yireh” or “The Lord Will Provide.” And the story was written down for generations of God-followers to read.
* It was written so that you and I today would read it as we face our own hopeless situations.
*It was captured in print so that you and I would know that God is already planning for our provision.

We don’t see it. We don’t hear it. But we can trust that our God is at work. On your behalf, and on mine.

I choose to trust God today. A ram is on the way.
* Moses, it was the burning bush.
*For Peter, it was walking on water.
*For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it was walking through the burning furnace untouched.
*For Paul, it was being blinded and spoken to by Jesus on the Damascus road.
*For Daniel, it was deliverance from the lions’ den.
*For Joshua, it was parting the Jordan River and crossing into the Promised Land.

There have been many defining moments in the lives of human beings that changed their lives forever. These defining moments often set the course for the balance of their lives.

We could go on and on. Each of these servants had years of preparation leading up to their defining moment. These moments forced the servants to be involved in something beyond their human experiences.
It took them outside their own paradigms of life. God had to move them outside their own boxes. And when He did, their lives were never the same.

You may be in one of three stages of life:
1. You may not have had your “defining moment” yet – God may be preparing you with many important life experiences.
2.  You may have had your defining moment and you are living out your call. 3.  You may be toward the end of your journey and you have already experienced what I speak of.
We are all called to a relationship with God; and we are all called vocationally, which is often ushered in by a defining moment.
And there can be more than one defining moment, each pointing you down a path that God foreordained from the foundation of the world.

The secret of a great life is often a man’s ability to discern the defining moments given to him, understanding them, and learning to walk in the path that leads him to his ultimate destination.

Once you have had a defining moment, you are never the same.
Pray that you have eyes to see and ears to hear when your Master brings a defining moment into your life

All true disciples of Jesus Christ will be students of Scripture and will walk according to its teaching.
This is vital to authentic Christian living, because the Bible is indeed the very textbook of life (2 Timothy 3:16).
Yet so many believers will not read the Bible.
**They don’t realize that success or failure in the Christian life depends on how much of the Bible they get into their hearts and minds on a regular basis.

God brings every person who is committed to Him out of their normal routine into a new revelation of Himself that impacts others.

Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
* It should be every person’s ultimate goal to belong to God…to know how to belong to Him. All of the promises He made are ready and available to you. Even in the midst of suffering, which is to be (for we must share in the suffering of Christ in order to receive the reward of God) we are to remain, by faith, assured that we are His children and He is our Father! Knowing even more, that nothing can separate us from God’s love for us when we walk in His belonging and truly give ourselves to Him. Only then are we in position to receive from Him.

Dear Lord, You know how desperate some of us are  today. You know that some of us are wavering in our faith. Although we want to trust You, we are having trouble doing so. We ask for Your intervention in our situation, and for an increase of our faith while we wait for You to speak.  Lord, we pray that we may live victorious, knowing that life is more than just bearing through.. but living fearlessly and victoriously through the amazing power that Christ gives me! Grace + Peace!!! In Jesus’ Name, Amen