Devotions - Prayer
We are God’s fellow workers: God gives us the amazing opportunity to work with Him. We cannot work without Him, and He will not work without us (generally speaking). God wants you as His working partner.
When you consider all the ways God could have done His work, it is even more amazing to know He wants our participation.
I have laid the foundation: When Paul founded the church in Corinth (Acts 18), he set the only foundation that can be laid – the person and work of Jesus Christ. Yet he knew that others would come after him and build on the foundation he set.
Each Christian will one day come before the judgment seat of Christ and will be evaluated for their Christian walk. This is when God will look at our stewardship, at our use of time, talents, and treasures. He will evaluate us not to determine our entrance to heaven—that has already been given through Christ’s finished work on the cross—but to determine our reward in heaven.
As we reconsider the parable of the three stewards in Matthew 25, let us first remember the issue of responsibility in stewardship. The three servants did not own the possessions they took care of; those things belonged to the master. None of the slaves could claim ownership of anything they had. In the same way, everything we have, are, or ever will be belongs to God.
We must also remember the issue of accountability. After time had passed, the master came back to see what the slaves had done with his money. We will all one day answer for the use of our resources. To the servants who invested wisely, the master gave public praise and more treasures (vv. 21, 23), but to the servant who buried his talent in the ground, he gave a tongue-lashing (v. 26). Each one got the reward he was due.
How can we prepare for the day when we will answer for the use of our time, talents, and treasures? Start rewriting our obituaries now! We can’t change the past, but we can change tomorrow.
Begin reorganizing your life to reflect your changed priorities.
Live so that at His judgment seat, God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
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The mature Christian is simply one who recognizes his “self-centeredness” and makes the choice to focus on God’s will rather than his own.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” Proverbs 19:21
“Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.” Acts 7:22
Have you ever tried to hide from God’s call on your life?
Moses did. He fled to the wilderness to get away. The hillside was a comfortable place; one that allowed him to live in obscurity. But God approached Moses as he tended sheep.
When God asked Moses to speak to Pharaoh on His behalf, Moses balked. He felt inadequate. He lifted up his weakness to God and submitted it as an excuse not to do as God asked.
3 Considerations:
1) Failure is not Final
2) Age is irrelevant- life was about to begin at 80 for Moses
3) God speaks to ordinary people on ordinary days
“My words get tangled,” he said. (Exodus 4:10b)
Yet years later in Acts 7:22, we find that Stephen described Moses as powerful in both speech and action.
How could this be? Did Moses truly struggle with his words, or was it an excuse?
As an Egyptian citizen and adopted member of the royal family, Moses had access to the finest education. As a young man he rose to the rank of prime minister, a task that required him to communicate with others. But Moses is believed to have had a true speech impediment.
He struggled to get the words out.
So when God approached Moses to join in an adventure to free His people from slavery, all Moses could think about was his weakness.
When Stephen described Moses, hundreds of years later, he had the advantage of seeing Moses’ life span. He had heard of every act of courage and victory. Even in death, the name of Moses was revered among the nation of Israel.
Stephen knew when Moses spoke, though he may have stammered, his words carried weight.
The words Moses spoke were described as “life giving.” (Acts 7:38 NLT) Moses’ words mended arguments, offered justice, negotiated freedom and dispensed wisdom.
Only in hindsight do we see what Moses could not see in the beginning. God wasn’t worried about Moses’ lack of eloquence, vocabulary or skill, but whether or not Moses trusted God enough to obey.
**Where Moses was deficient, God would be sufficient.
**Where Moses struggled, God would succeed.
**Where Moses was weak, God would be strong.
How many times does God invite us to follow Him into an adventure?
Dear Lord, You know my very real weakness. But I am excited to respond to Your voice today. With You all things are possible, so I step out again in faith beginning today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Read More“So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, ‘Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!'” (Job 2:7-9).
One message I get from the book of Job is: Do not give up on God because of suffering or bad experiences.”
Our age of “INSTANT” everything has caused us to lose the ability to wait. We expect to learn patience instantly, and in our hurry, we miss out on the real blessing of it. What do we want now?- relief from pain is at the top of our list. We want an instant cure for everything from toothaches to heartbreaks.
When God finally spoke to Job, he didn’t offer Job an answer. Instead, he drove home the point that it is better to KNOW GOD than to know answers(see also John 17:3).
Sometimes suffering is an attack by Satan on our lives. Sometimes we do not know why the suffering but need to know, that the suffering may be shaping us for special service to others.
When hope is deferred, the psalmist says, the heart becomes sick. During these seasons, we can only do one thing. We must hang onto whatever faith we have to get through each day and entrust our lives to Him. (Hab 3:17-18).
When faith doesn’t see results it challenges what we believe. We must pray as Job prayed: “Teach me what I cannot see” (Job 34:32). God says there is a purpose in everything we go through(Ro. 8:28). God is always bigger than Satan’s afflictions. See 1 John 4:4-We fight FROM Victory if we have Jesus!
Our greatest tests come when we cannot see positive results from our faith and obedience. In such cases we must die to our expectations and entrust them to our Lord.
But Job is an example for us of how we must break through our natural view of life so that we begin to see things in a different light. This book is here to teach us that God sometimes has to translate theology into painful experience before we really begin to grasp what He is trying to say to us.
Father, thank You that You have sent Your Son, who has endured more suffering than I. Grant me the strength to endure whatever You allow into my life, that I may bring Glory to You. Amen
Better Than Everest
By John Piper
We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
If you live inside this massive promise, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest.
Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28.
Outside Romans 8:28, all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty. Outside this promise of God’s all-encompassing future grace, there are straw houses of drugs and pornography and dozens of futile diversions. There are slat walls and tin roofs of fragile investment strategies and fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans. There are card-board fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and antiballistic missiles. Outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 8:28.
Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28, everything changes. There come into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can’t be blown over anymore. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life.
When God’s people really live by the future grace of Romans 8:28 — from measles to the mortuary — they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world.
Their light shines and people give glory to their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
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After we have relinquished our sin to God, we must replace the lies with truth from His Word. Meditating in Scripture is a critically important part of this sanctifying process.
* “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:20
Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
What a statement! If we just believed this, how different our lives would be!
From birth we are trained to know our limitations.
*You can’t have this.
*Don’t touch that.
*Don’t put things in your mouth.
*You can’t touch the fire.
*On and on the list goes.
As we grow up, it’s actually a sign of maturity to recognize our limitations and learn to live within them.
There are limits to everything. It’s a fact of life.
BUT God has NO limits.
We have to renew our minds with the truth that God is not like us. He can do anything.
We have an awesome God whose power is so great that we can’t even comprehend it.
*God created the universe and it didn’t even tax His ability. Yet many times we find ourselves wondering if our situation is too hard for the Lord. We can’t see how even God can pull us through.
The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27)
*The answer is a resounding NO! The only thing that limits God is our unbelief (Dt. 7:17).
Today, let’s honor God by believing that nothing is too difficult for Him.
When we seek to acquire anything that God has not given us, we can expect God to respond to us like any good father would to a child. He will remove that which the child is not supposed to have.
David understood this principle. When he was preparing to furnish the temple, he told God in his prayer, “Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand” (1 Chron. 29:14b).
Our God does the impossible day in and day out! It’s no big deal to Him.
Thank You Lord for loving me and doing the impossible in my life! Lord, never let me be boastful or proud. For you are the Almighty God, creator of all things, and everything that is good in my life and every gift I have is from you. Help me to always search for ways to use what you have given me to bring more and more glory to You. Amen
Read MorePsalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Poor Wisdom Rots!
Proverbs 28: 2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily.
*This reminds me of where we are at as a nation now. We have people in our country that believe morals are negotiable and that’s simply not true.
***We need to stand by the Biblical principles we have been given by God. “His Truth”
Corrupt and selfish leaders within a government will eventually contaminate the whole group leading to “moral rot.”
But the same goes for wise and knowledgeable leaders, they can encourage and build up the whole group leading to “moral growth.“
We as Christians need to pray for our government, both nationally and locally.
One or two with a group can contaminate the whole team.
*If their concerns are selfish and all they care about is themselves and what they think their entitled to, this eventually spoils the whole batch causing moral rot.
It eventually affects all down to supervisors and them to employees.
And then attitudes become selfish with entitlement to perks instead of realizing they are public servants and their job is to serve.
*Moral is down, people can’t get along with each other and things don’t get done.
**But on the other hand, wise and knowledgeable leaders can bring moral growth to government. The saying “IN GOD WE TRUST ” can bring stability to a government.
*When you have wise and knowledgeable leaders, their concerns are not selfish.
*They care about the people they serve and they take pride in their job.
*They build up their government team increasing moral within work groups and developing positive attitudes.
Just like before, this affects all down to supervisors and then to workers causing an increase in work and taking pride in their job.
So pray for you government and ask God to place good Christian people with our system.
We need to get back on track to the saying “IN GOD WE TRUST “ and allow God to work.
Hosea 4:6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank You for Moral Growth and for the way it’s changed my life. It’s in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
God’s supernatural Love is not affected by the other person’s response, nor is it dependent upon circumstances.
* “If you love someone [with God’s Love] you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him. God’s love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
The “pearl of great price” is no mere piece of jewelry but the very Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:46). To pursue God’s many rewards over God Himself is to misunderstand and forfeit those rewards!!!
A man who searches for wealth his whole life will not achieve his goal unless he discovers that one pearl of infinite value.
What do we value the most ? .. It SHOULD BE God and the Words He has spoken in our Bibles!! And not anything worldly.
**Let’s put Jesus on the top of our priority list and have our personal values match what Jesus has taught us. (Jesus Character in the Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-12)
1 Corinthians 3:13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
Investing your life in Gods cause!!
1. Live for eternity!!
2. Live with urgency!!
Philippians 3:8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
The only thing significant about us is what God can do through us.
*We are important because God loves us and God had a plan for us.
*We are important and significant because of what God can do through us.
*God had given us gifts, use your gifts to lead a significant life, a life that changes someone else for the better, a life that takes advantage of what God did for us, what happened to Christ on the cross.
*We are significant only if we build up a life on God, and if we allow ourselves to fulfill out true purpose as God’s servant and God’s Temple.
*That is our significance. And without God, we will feel insignificant forever. (see Matthew 6:19-21)
Father, help me to see that the only impact I can have in this world is by being faithful to You and to the message that has been given to me. May your church (the Body of Christ) be made up of people who, above all, obey Your orders. and give all Glory to You and share Your Love with others through Your words and Our Actions. Amen
Read MorePsalm 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
David speaks there about a thirst of the soul. He says, “My soul thirsts for God.”
I suppose we are all familiar with what thirst is in our personal experience.
David speaks about a relationship to God that’s parallel to physical thirst.
He says, “My soul thirsts for God. When can I go and meet with God?”
• Do you know what it is to thirst for God?
• Have you ever felt that deep, inner longing that cannot be satisfied with anything less than God Himself?
If you have, I want to tell you that God is waiting.
You can go and meet with Him and satisfy that thirst in your soul, which cannot be satisfied by anything but God.
Deliberately deal with things that distract you from seeking Jesus’ face with a whole heart.
These are critical times in your spiritual development and supernatural progression. This is a time when you need to get your head screwed on straight–to become clear in your thinking and calm in your emotions so that your attitudes, motives and actions line up with the truth of God’s word. Become ONE with Him.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled
Lord, I come to you with my thirst for You – Fill my cup of love to over flowing that I may give to others. Thank you for all Your promises to all of us in Your perfect Word. Amen
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By John Piper
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.(Colossians 1:3–5)
The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world.
The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half enjoying and repairing what they spend it on.
It is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.
Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles, and the entertainment of the world is empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?
He is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love.
Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!
It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope.
I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.
Amen
Read More“Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path. Psalm 119:127-128
What’s your attitude towards God’s commands?
*Do you fear them?
*Do you resent them?
*Do you try to get away from them?
****That’s a foolish attitude.
Remember, God gave His commands to us:
*Not to create problems for us but to solve them
*Not to harm us but to help us.
God Loves us and wants the Best from us–He calls us His Masterpiece!
God’s love is in His commands.
They are given to save us from ourselves, to save us from evil, to show us the way out of our difficulties and our problems.
But God’s commands are infinitely more precious and the psalmist had learned that.
Instead of running from God’s commands, resenting them, obeying them reluctantly, he said, “I love your commands more than pure gold.”
And then he said, “Because I consider all Your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.”
You see, when we love God’s commands and obey them; automatically they:
*Reveal to us what is wrong.
*They show us how to distinguish between good and evil, between what is beneficial and what is harmful.
*And when we are walking in the light of God’s commands, they keep us from everything harmful, from everything hurtful, from every wrong path.
*and we too experience God’s Love for us and in us.
“I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said ‘ I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; and Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.'” Psalms 32:5
God’s 10 Commandments are our perfect loving Boundaries set by God.
“God’s statutes and commandments are my delight worth more than gold and silver and they give me understanding”.
“Secrets to a Blessed Life” lies in the Power of God’s Word-Jesus.(see John 1)
I’d like to challenge you to pray through Psalm 119.
This Psalm is an acrostic poem (each section correlates to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet) with 22 sections.
*Take one section a day.
*Read a verse, then pray that verse to God in your own words.
*If you do this from your heart, I believe you will begin to love God’s Word more than you ever have. (I can say this because I have done it.)
Psalms 119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes, so that I might observe it continually. Amen
Read MoreRight before Jesus went to the cross, he gave his last minute instructions to his followers: “Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me” (John 15:4).
Jesus says that being spiritually connected is like being attached to a vine. You’re not going to have any fruitfulness or productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own. You’ve got to stay connected.
In plants, a disconnected branch can’t bear fruit. When you don’t have the support, you not only start to whither and die, but you also don’t have any productivity in your life if you’re not spiritually connected.
We’ve got to be connected in order to produce fruit.
What kind of fruit should you produce when you are connected to the Body of Christ? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control” (Galatians 5:22-23a).
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be more loving. I’d like to be more joyful. I’d like to be more at peace, no matter what happens to the economy. I’d like to be more kind to people who are mean to me. I’d like to be a good person. I want to be faithful, not unfaithful. I want to keep my promises. I’d like to be gentle with people who are not very gentle. And I’d like to have more self-control.
That’s called the fruit of the Spirit, and it’s the evidence that you are spiritually connected. If you are not seeing yourself grow in all these things, guess what? It means you’re not spiritually connected.
God says this is so important that you’re not going to have any fruitfulness or any productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own.
I’ve got to be connected to the Body of Christ. You’ve got to be connected to the Body of Christ. We’re simply better together.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
- Yes we are created for relationships, not to go through life alone!
- We is always better than Me!
There have been so many times I have tried to go out alone. Now I am so grateful for fellow believers who are doing life with me. Encouraging or confronting whatever is necessary.
Thank you Jesus for the Body of Christ-Amen
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Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. (John 3:3)
A new birth is absolutely essential to enter the kingdom. John points to a radical new beginning which comes from above.
• It signifies God must do this.
• It is speaking of something radical, a new beginning.
• It is a second birth, but it comes from above.
• It is God that does it, not man; and it results in a new creation, a new beginning.
This idea appears many times in the New Testament.
• Paul speaks of babes in Christ, (1 Corinthians 3:1).
• Peter says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow, (1 Peter 2:2).
• Again Peter says we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, (1 Peter 1:23).
• And he speaks of being born to a living hope, (1 Peter 1:3).
• Paul speaks not only of being new creatures in Christ but of a new creation; of passing from death unto life, of a new, radical start.
Jesus makes clear that this is the only way to enter the kingdom of God.
To be in the kingdom of God, of course, is to belong to God; it is to be a part of his rule, his reign, his domain. Paul speaks of being transferred from the kingdom of darkness, ruled by the god of this world, into the kingdom of the Son of his love, (Colossians 1:13).
Thus, Jesus was referring to a transfer of citizenship, a radical departure from what we once were.
Jesus sensed in Nicodemus (John 3) a deep hunger, an emptiness. Here was a man who was doing his level best to obey what he thought God wanted, yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek out Jesus by night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him about the kingdom of God.
Sensing this our Lord immediately puts him on the right track, saying to him, in effect, You are wasting your time if you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You cannot do it. You must be born again.
Father, thank you for the miracle of new birth which comes only from above. It is only through your great power and love that such a thing could happen to me. Amen (See Ephesians 2:1-10 too)
” My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. ” Colossians 2:2
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).
Are there things that make you laugh when you think of the miracle that would be required for it to take place?
Ask God for the miracle you need today.
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).
God reveals His truths to us in stages and not all at once (Isa. 28:9-10).
The truths of God are mysterious only to those who do not soften their heart by seeking God with their whole heart. As Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
The piece of armor known as the “sword of the Spirit” is the only piece of armor that has the ability to cut, wound, and hurt our enemy, the devil. (Read Armor of God Eph. 6)
It’s not the Bible lying on your coffee table that makes the enemy flee, but it is the Word of God hidden in your heart, activated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and spoken in an appropriate situation.
*The Word by itself doesn’t make us free. It is the Word we know and speak that will deliver us (Jn. 8:32).
Why is the Word so effective? It’s because it is the WORD of God. It has authority, because it is indeed the WORD of God.
*God’s Word supersedes all authority of the church, of reason, of intellect, and even of Satan himself.
*It is the Holy Spirit that wields this Word as it is spoken in faith.
*Speaking God’s Word in faith brings the Holy Spirit into action.
In Luke 4, when Jesus was tempted of the devil for forty days, it was the Word of God, that Jesus used to defeat the enemy in the time of His temptation.
*Jesus constantly met His temptation by quoting from God’s Word as He repeatedly stated the phrase, “It is written.”
Likewise, the Christian soldier must avail himself of God’s Word by placing it in his heart, so that the Holy Spirit may bring it forth at the appropriate time to accomplish a complete and total victory. It’s yours.
Thank You Jesus–that through You – We Fight FROM Victory—-not For Victory. Amen! (see 1 John 4:4)
Read MoreHave you ever felt like you have been obedient to the Lord for something He called you to do and all you get are more roadblocks?
This is the way Moses felt. When Moses went to tell Pharaoh to release the people because God said so, Pharaoh simply got angry and made the people make bricks without straw.
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all. – Exodus 5:23
*Moses caught the blame for this from the people.
*Moses was just learning what obedience really means in God’s Kingdom.
*You see Moses had not even begun to release plagues upon Egypt.
*He hadn’t even gotten started yet in his calling, and he was complaining about his circumstances.
Why would God tell Moses that He is going to deliver them and not do it?
It was all in timing. God never said when He was going to deliver. He just said He would.
In the next chapter, we find Moses arguing with God about not being capable of the job God had called him to:
But Moses said to the Lord,
“If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 6:12-13)
God had a good reason for His delays. He said,
“And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it” (Ex. 7:5).
God not only wanted the people of Israel but also the Egyptians to know Him. It would be the greatest show of God’s power on earth.
God often causes delays in our lives that we cannot understand. Sometimes it seems our obedience is not getting rewarded.
Jesus said He learned obedience through the things He suffered (see Heb. 5:8).
Imagine that – Jesus having to learn obedience.
What does that say for you and me?
Sometimes God’s delays are simply because He wants more glory in the situation, more recognition, more Christ-likeness in you and me through greater patience and obedience.
Faint not, for the promise may yet come.
Are you in need of hope today? Will you choose to remember God’s faithfulness, love, and mercy, despite the despair and destruction around you? Today, dare to hope.
Dear Lord, I want to dare to hope, but life around me seems uncertain and tentative. Will You help me remember Your faithfulness, love and mercy? Thank You in advance for what You are going to do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Read MoreEphesians 4:30-32 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
What a marvelous understanding of the nature of sin and the character of God’s forgiveness is found in these verses!
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm 51:1-2).
There are three things David asks for.
1. First, he understands that sin is like a crime.
If criminals are to be delivered from the effects of their crime, they do not need justice but mercy. Sin is an illegal act, a violation of justice, and an act of lawlessness and rebellion and therefore requires mercy.
2. Then he says, “Blot out my transgressions,” and thereby he reveals that he understands sin is like a debt. It is something owed, an account that has accumulated and needs to be erased.
3. Finally he cries, “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
He understands that sin is like an ugly stain, a defilement upon the soul.
Even though the act fades into the past, the dirty defiling stain remains a stigma upon the heart. So he cries out and asks to be delivered from these things.
Notice that David understands well the basis for forgiveness. He asks on the basis of two things:
First, “according to your unfailing love.”
He understands that he himself deserves nothing from God, that God is not bound to forgive him.
Some people are never able to realize forgiveness because they think they deserve it, that God owes it to them. But David knows better. He realizes that only because of God’s love may he even approach God to ask.
On the basis of that unqualified acceptance, that marvelous continuing love-that-will-not-let-me-go, he says to God, “I am coming to you and asking now for this.”
Second, as David appeals to God “according to your great compassion,” he again indicates his understanding of the character of God.
When God forgives, He forgives beyond our utmost imaginings.
What relief comes when we begin to understand this fullness of God’s forgiveness.
Father, thank You that I can come to You with my sin and cry out for mercy and love. Your love is steadfast; your mercy is abundant. I trust that You are always willing to forgive. Amen
READ PSALMS 32 AND GET SOME FREEDOM FROM THE WORD!