Passage of the Day: 1st Corinthians 2: 12 … We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit Who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
My Journal for Today: Today I close out a month-long study, aided by John MacArthur’s Strength for Today, as we have viewed our walk, as Christians, in the Spirit of God; and as this discussion closes, MacArthur writes stark words of warning. He declares, “One of the constant battles all believers face is to avoid ministering their spiritual gifts in the power of the flesh.” And this is SO TRUE!! A long time ago, I learned that a Christians CANNOT FIGHT THE FLESH … IN THE FLESH! The only way to fight the flesh is to surrender – COMPLETELY – to the sanctifying grace of God’s Spirit, allowing the Holy Spirit, to enable/empower us in our fleshly weakness [see 2nd Cor. 12: 9].
It is so tempting, once a Christian knows his/her Spirit-given gift(s), to try to exercise them by relying on his/her own strength, intelligence, and/or internal selfish desire. And this would be exactly what the enemy would like for Christians to do as we minister with our God bestowed gifts within the Body of Christ. I personally have been blessed with the gift of teaching; and there’s nothing Satan would like to see more than me trying to use my own memory, intelligence, and energy to put a Sunday School lesson together, rather than to pray heartily to God and to rely on the truths of His Spirit-authored word to guide my lesson planning. If you have the Spiritual gift of service, wouldn’t you be more powerful if you let God lead you to projects from His will rather than you finding things to do which YOU FEEL are good things for a Christian to do? Trust me – no, trust God (from Prov. 3: 5, 6) – when we do it our way (i.e., the way of the flesh), even when we’re using our Spirit-given gifts, we are dampening the enabled power that God has for us when we do it HIS way, in HIS time, with HIS power.
And so on this last day of September, MacArthur provides his readers with a quickie lesson on how to avoid quelling God’s Spirit by our own fleshly attempts to do things our way in our everyday ministry and witness [always remembering Acts 1: 8].
First, and always foremost, we must PRAY. We must always be cleansed by prayer before we act with purpose in Christ’s Name. And in a related vane, we must use prayer to purge ourselves of unresolved sin. Reviewing 1st John 1: 9, we have God’s promise that if we have unresolved sin in our lives, God will cleanse that sin before we undertake His work. Going into a God-directed task without cleansing pre-prayer and confession, even when we’re using our Spirit-laden gifts, is like being a gifted swimmer who tries to swim a race with weights strapped to his back. We will only be able to do God’s work, fully empowered, when we have cast off any baggage from past or present sin. And then we move out, using our Spiritual gifts with a walking, ever present, attitude of prayer (see 1st Thes. 5: 17), staying tuned into God’s mind/heart as we act – prayerfully - in His Name.
Secondly, we must YIELD [i.e., surrender] to the Spirit’s power, seeking and then doing God’s will in the task God has laid before us (see Romans12: 1 – 2, which I sure do hope you have memorized!). God freely offers His enabling grace to Christians; but He resists giving it to the prideful Christian who wants to do things on his own (see Prov. 3: 34). As Romans 6: 16 also tells us, our choices are either going to make us a slave to our own flesh or a slave to God’s Spirit; and we will only become the latter when we yield completely to God, trusting that He is going to lead us and enable us to do His will in His power.
Finally, we must be continually FILLED with the Spirit when we are out there in the world, undertaking God’s plan for our lives. When we are duly “prayed up” and in “surrender mode” to God’s Spirit, He can – and will – fill us with His purpose, plan, and power. When this occurs, we will find our thoughts allowing us to become the agent God intended for our lives (see Prov. 23: 7 in NKJV). When our trusting thoughts are God-directed, our Spirit-led choices become God-directed [again always believing Prov. 3: 5, 6]; and there can be no more powerful Christian than one who trusts God, has been unburdened by God in confession, and is totally surrendered to Christ’s Spirit.
I ask you, are you ready to let God’s Spirit shape you into a fully empowered agent of Jesus Christ? The old Army recruiting poster during WW 2 read, “We want you!” And that is what God’s Spirit is saying to our hearts. But will we respond and be recruited in God’s army; or will we ignore God’s call and do it, as Frank Sinatra or Elvis used to sing it, “My way!” ???
My Prayer Today: I’m Yours, Lord … I say again … USE ME! Amen
Showing posts with label surrendered. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surrendered. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, April 07, 2011
April 7, 2011 … The Sinful Captors
Passage of the Day: Matthew 26: 47 … 47 While He [Jesus] was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
My Journal for Today: In his devotional book Strength for Today, John MacArthur, for this date, correctly observes that the mob who came after Jesus, including the Jewish soldiers from Herod’s court, were a prophetic life-picture of what the world – even today – would do to the Person and Name of “Jesus Christ.” How many times is it in the news today for worldly influences to attempt to “kill off” or erase any influence Jesus might have in our culture? There is a “mob” today who, if they could, would eliminate the name of “God” and/or “Jesus” from every vestige of our culture.
The mob coming after Jesus at the time of His Passion hid behind the guise and charade of legal justification, perpetrating a totally illegal, certainly sinful, mob-engineered act of murder. It was an organized “hit” with the purposefully intent to rid the world of the Man Who claimed to be “God.” And our unbelieving, flesh-driven world today would still like to eradicate Christ from any degree of influence over their lives. Christ comes in and demands allegiance to His word and His life; and He commands the world to believe and follow Him; and, just as in Christ’s day, the world politic did not want to relinquish power or control. And so, that world, as we read in today’s verse, was coming to kill Jesus, the self-proclaimed “Son of God.”
Cassie Bernall, at Columbine High School in 1999, when asked, with a gun to her head, if she was a Christian, said quietly and simply, without hesitation, “Yes.” And the young man who challenged her faith, couldn’t hear that and shot her dead. And now we have to ask ourselves as “disciples” of this same Jesus, … “Are we going to cut and run as did His disciples after the Gethsemane encounter? Or will we stand in and for His Name as did Cassie Bernall? Will we being willing, even onto death, to say, “I am His!”
Do we believe what Jesus said in His word? As MacArthur said, “… believers (i.e., Christians) are called to stand apart from any unbelieving crowd and defend the Name of Jesus Christ.”
But I ask myself (and you) … “Do we believe?” … AND … “Are we ready to stand for that belief, even in the face of death?!”
My Prayer Today: I stand with You, Lord; … give me the strength! Amen
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
2010 – June 01 – Identifying with the Righteous
Study from God’s Word… 1st Kings 12: 1-19 [2nd Chron. 10: 1-19]; 1st Kings 12: 20; 1st Kings 21-24 [2nd Chron. 11: 1-4]; 1st Kings 12: 25-33 [2nd Chron. 11: 15]; 2nd Chron. 11: 13-14, 16-17; 1st Kings 13: 1 – 32 … Passage for Reflection: 1st Kings 13: 31 … NIV After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.”
My Journal for Today: When one reads and studies 1st Kings 13: 11 – 32, the story of the interaction between two prophets of God, one younger and one older, the scenario can be perplexing. There is a younger prophet who has confronted the King of Israel and even refused to stay with him because of God’s decree. And he communicates that story of faith to an older prophet, who then lies to the younger man of God, luring him to eat at the table of the older prophet, which is against what God had told the younger prophet to do.
It’s all pretty confusing; but when it all sorts itself out, and the younger prophet is killed by a lion, apparently dispatched by God for the younger prophet’s disobedience; and we see the older prophet burying the younger man of God and instructing the son’s of the older prophet to bury him next to the bones of the younger man of God. Go figure! And to be honest I’m not sure I can figure this whole deal out, … except to agree what Dr. Smith says in his devotional today, which makes some degree of sense out of a very perplexing story.
Dr. Smith uses this passage and highlighted verse to teach that we need to identify with the lives of those who really have a heart for God and desire to be obedient to our Lord in what they say and do. I think of the man who mentored me for many years as I was being discipled from a new Christian into a more mature version of a sinner becoming the saint God desired for me to become. My mentor was not a perfect man, being a man, like all of us, with a sin nature. But Dr. G., my mentor, was like a David … a man after God’s heart; and he had the same attitude – and posture – of an Apostle Paul, … like when Paul said to the Church at Corinth (in 1st Cor. 11: 1), “You can imitate me because I imitate Christ.”
And I came to identify and follow the heart of my mentor, as well as many of his actions, decisions, and teachings. Like the younger prophet in today’s passage, my mentor was not perfect. The Apostle Paul was not perfect when he was in the middle of his years of ministry and mission work. King David certainly was not perfect, was he? But these were/are men we, as Christians, can identify and follow; because, like King David and the prophets in our story from God’s word today, these were men who had a heart seeking after God’s own heart. And when a believer becomes sold out and surrendered to God, he (or she) may, being human, make mistakes; but following God’s path as obediently as we can, especially by following His word, we will be led toward the righteous path in life; and that is the path to which we must aspire and walk with every fiber of our being.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, shine Your light on the path You desire for me to walk, … that I may follow the Light and be privileged to lead others to You. Amen
My Journal for Today: When one reads and studies 1st Kings 13: 11 – 32, the story of the interaction between two prophets of God, one younger and one older, the scenario can be perplexing. There is a younger prophet who has confronted the King of Israel and even refused to stay with him because of God’s decree. And he communicates that story of faith to an older prophet, who then lies to the younger man of God, luring him to eat at the table of the older prophet, which is against what God had told the younger prophet to do.
It’s all pretty confusing; but when it all sorts itself out, and the younger prophet is killed by a lion, apparently dispatched by God for the younger prophet’s disobedience; and we see the older prophet burying the younger man of God and instructing the son’s of the older prophet to bury him next to the bones of the younger man of God. Go figure! And to be honest I’m not sure I can figure this whole deal out, … except to agree what Dr. Smith says in his devotional today, which makes some degree of sense out of a very perplexing story.
Dr. Smith uses this passage and highlighted verse to teach that we need to identify with the lives of those who really have a heart for God and desire to be obedient to our Lord in what they say and do. I think of the man who mentored me for many years as I was being discipled from a new Christian into a more mature version of a sinner becoming the saint God desired for me to become. My mentor was not a perfect man, being a man, like all of us, with a sin nature. But Dr. G., my mentor, was like a David … a man after God’s heart; and he had the same attitude – and posture – of an Apostle Paul, … like when Paul said to the Church at Corinth (in 1st Cor. 11: 1), “You can imitate me because I imitate Christ.”
And I came to identify and follow the heart of my mentor, as well as many of his actions, decisions, and teachings. Like the younger prophet in today’s passage, my mentor was not perfect. The Apostle Paul was not perfect when he was in the middle of his years of ministry and mission work. King David certainly was not perfect, was he? But these were/are men we, as Christians, can identify and follow; because, like King David and the prophets in our story from God’s word today, these were men who had a heart seeking after God’s own heart. And when a believer becomes sold out and surrendered to God, he (or she) may, being human, make mistakes; but following God’s path as obediently as we can, especially by following His word, we will be led toward the righteous path in life; and that is the path to which we must aspire and walk with every fiber of our being.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, shine Your light on the path You desire for me to walk, … that I may follow the Light and be privileged to lead others to You. Amen
Thursday, May 27, 2010
2010 – May 28 [FRI] – When Vanity Is Meaningless
Blogger's Note: I know I'm "jumping the gun" a bit by posting on Thursday night rather than as I usually do daily by posting my devotional in the mornings. But I'm at a Christian conference in Washington, DC (very powerful BTW); and tomorrow AM we'll be starting our conference day in prayer at 5am (4am my normal body time). So, I've done my devotional here on Thur. night and am posting it here. Thanks for the flexibility of reading this a bit out of my usual time schedule.
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Study from God’s Word… Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 11; Eccl. 6: 10-12; Eccl. 3: 18 – 22; Eccl. 2: 12 – 16; Eccl. 9: 1-12; Eccl. 8: 16-17; … Passage for Reflection: Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 2 … NIV 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 2 [NKJV] … 1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “ Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
My Journal for Today: I find great meaning and hope in reading and studying the book of Ecclesiastes, either written or dictated by Solomon later in his life or a book dedicated to Solomon’s later-life realizations and philosophies by some God-inspired Scribe. No matter the true author; Ecclesiastes is, and has become, part of our “Scripture,” and it is part of the Old Testament wisdom literature from God which we can use to guide our lives.
I find such personal hope from reading and learning in the Book, the title of which, “Ecclesiastes,” means in Hebrew, “The Teacher” or “The Preacher.” And studying this Book becomes a lesson from God in the meaning of life, especially directed from (or to) a man who has learned a great deal from making a lot of mistakes in life. And that’s certainly me!
I blew off 22 years, living a life of “vanity,” being captured into my own patterns of disobedience and sinful living; and here I am, as was Solomon, later in his life, realizing that only a life lived for God and in obedience to God’s word can ultimately have impact on the world for God and His kingdom. It’s not that I wouldn’t have lived in heaven eternally if I had died on April 14th, 1983, the day after I received Christ as my Savior and Lord. No, if that had happened, like the thief dying on the cross and surrendering to Jesus on the day of Christ’s crucifixion, I would have been ushered into heaven to be with my Savior forever, but my life would have had – and has had – much more power by surrendering to God in obedience and living in humility according to His word [it the living out of Romans 12: 1-2].
And Solomon may have come to the realization that his life could have been so much more if he, like his father, David, had, earlier in life, come to live out those later years of his life in obedience and surrender to God’s ways rather than having lived a squandered life of selfishness and sinful disobedience.
Life doesn’t have to be all “vanity.” It can be a life lived for Christ with fruitful purpose and design (see John 15: 1-8 and Galatians 5: 19 – 25). But we, as Solomon ultimately declared at the end of Ecclesiastes, must live lives in surrender to God and His purpose rather than lives squandered in selfishness and sin.
We choose; and God supplies the grace for us to finish strong. (see 2nd Cor. 12: 9-10).
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to finish strong! Amen
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Study from God’s Word… Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 11; Eccl. 6: 10-12; Eccl. 3: 18 – 22; Eccl. 2: 12 – 16; Eccl. 9: 1-12; Eccl. 8: 16-17; … Passage for Reflection: Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 2 … NIV 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
Ecclesiastes 1: 1 – 2 [NKJV] … 1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “ Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
My Journal for Today: I find great meaning and hope in reading and studying the book of Ecclesiastes, either written or dictated by Solomon later in his life or a book dedicated to Solomon’s later-life realizations and philosophies by some God-inspired Scribe. No matter the true author; Ecclesiastes is, and has become, part of our “Scripture,” and it is part of the Old Testament wisdom literature from God which we can use to guide our lives.
I find such personal hope from reading and learning in the Book, the title of which, “Ecclesiastes,” means in Hebrew, “The Teacher” or “The Preacher.” And studying this Book becomes a lesson from God in the meaning of life, especially directed from (or to) a man who has learned a great deal from making a lot of mistakes in life. And that’s certainly me!
I blew off 22 years, living a life of “vanity,” being captured into my own patterns of disobedience and sinful living; and here I am, as was Solomon, later in his life, realizing that only a life lived for God and in obedience to God’s word can ultimately have impact on the world for God and His kingdom. It’s not that I wouldn’t have lived in heaven eternally if I had died on April 14th, 1983, the day after I received Christ as my Savior and Lord. No, if that had happened, like the thief dying on the cross and surrendering to Jesus on the day of Christ’s crucifixion, I would have been ushered into heaven to be with my Savior forever, but my life would have had – and has had – much more power by surrendering to God in obedience and living in humility according to His word [it the living out of Romans 12: 1-2].
And Solomon may have come to the realization that his life could have been so much more if he, like his father, David, had, earlier in life, come to live out those later years of his life in obedience and surrender to God’s ways rather than having lived a squandered life of selfishness and sinful disobedience.
Life doesn’t have to be all “vanity.” It can be a life lived for Christ with fruitful purpose and design (see John 15: 1-8 and Galatians 5: 19 – 25). But we, as Solomon ultimately declared at the end of Ecclesiastes, must live lives in surrender to God and His purpose rather than lives squandered in selfishness and sin.
We choose; and God supplies the grace for us to finish strong. (see 2nd Cor. 12: 9-10).
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to finish strong! Amen
Thursday, November 05, 2009
2009 – Day 308.Nov 05 – Like Clay
Passage for Study: Acts 12: 25 – 13: 3 … 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
Acts 13 1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Selucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John (Mark) as their assistant.
My Journal for Today: As we continue to read this historical scene about the beginnings of Paul’s first missionary journey into Asia Minor, we see the condition of the hearts of these disciples of Christ who had been called as Apostles to leave the growing church in Antioch and to move onward to Cyprus and beyond.
And this calls attention to the condition of the hearts of disciples of Christ like you and me. Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were in surrender mode to Christ. When they were appointed and anointed to move out for Christ, they were available and flexible to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And the principles of being a disciple of Christ are Swindoll’s study for today. And to do so, Pastor Chuck uses the word picture of a Sculptor (God) and His clay (us).
Swindoll teaches that, as God’s clay (as was the example of Barnabas and Paul in today’s passage), we have to be pliable and supple with flexibility if/when God’s Spirit calls us to be molded and made-over for His purposes. To do this Swindoll proposes four principles – two in the negative and two in the positive.
The first negative: Do not remove any possibilities? If we’re truly disciples of Christ, in the mold of Luke 9: 23, we have to be willing to deny our selves and when God leads, we must follow. Are we willing to do this? Or do we have a “Yes, but” Christianity? Maybe we’d like to follow Christ; BUT we would hesitate if He called us to do X, Y, or Z, especially if those things took us out of our comfort zone. This is conditional Christianity; and we will never be workable warriors for Christ until we’re totally “sold out” and willing to go where Christ leads us.
The second negative: Do not allow activity to dull your sensitivity. Often we – especially in this age of activity-oriented Christianity – let doing get in the way of hearing. We can be so grooved into the activities of our church that we are not sensitive to the leadings of God’s Spirit, Who will often call us to His will, which can – and often does – involve change. Oh, how we can be so deafened by our doing that that we simply can’t hear God’s calling.
The first positive: Let God be God! Ask yourself: “Are really willing to be clay in the Sculptor’s hands?” Are you pliable enough to be reshaped and readied for God’s will and purposes? Or have we become brittle and hardened, too rigid to become what God needs for us to be … for Him.
And the last positive: Be ready to say “YES.” Dear one, our natural, default mechanism will likely be to question the logic of God’s calling or to balk by saying that we’re ill prepared. And we’re certainly not alone in this attitude. Some pretty heavy-hitters of the faith had that “natural” response when God called them out of their comfort zone. Think of Moses at the burning bush or Noah, who had no idea what an ark was or what “rain” was; or there was Gideon, thrashing wheat in the wine barrel, or many of the Prophets who felt inadequate to God’s calling for them to carry God’s message to His grumbling people. All of these, so-called giants of the faith, had their doubts when God, the Sculptor, having shaped them for His task, wanted to send them out to do illogical and almost unbelievable things for His glory.
What about us? Are we pliable clay in the hands of the Master Sculptor? Or are we rigid and brittle and hardened in our ways, unready to respond to God’s calling, and unwilling to deny self and follow our Lord? Only you (or I) can respond to God’s conviction when asked these questions. But, … if we’re not readied and ready, as were Paul and Barnabas, we’ll never be pliable clay in the hands of the Master Potter as He shapes us to be vessels of purpose – HIS purpose.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may I be putty in Your hands and poised for Your purpose when You have molded me for Your will. Amen
Acts 13 1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Selucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John (Mark) as their assistant.
My Journal for Today: As we continue to read this historical scene about the beginnings of Paul’s first missionary journey into Asia Minor, we see the condition of the hearts of these disciples of Christ who had been called as Apostles to leave the growing church in Antioch and to move onward to Cyprus and beyond.
And this calls attention to the condition of the hearts of disciples of Christ like you and me. Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were in surrender mode to Christ. When they were appointed and anointed to move out for Christ, they were available and flexible to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And the principles of being a disciple of Christ are Swindoll’s study for today. And to do so, Pastor Chuck uses the word picture of a Sculptor (God) and His clay (us).
Swindoll teaches that, as God’s clay (as was the example of Barnabas and Paul in today’s passage), we have to be pliable and supple with flexibility if/when God’s Spirit calls us to be molded and made-over for His purposes. To do this Swindoll proposes four principles – two in the negative and two in the positive.
The first negative: Do not remove any possibilities? If we’re truly disciples of Christ, in the mold of Luke 9: 23, we have to be willing to deny our selves and when God leads, we must follow. Are we willing to do this? Or do we have a “Yes, but” Christianity? Maybe we’d like to follow Christ; BUT we would hesitate if He called us to do X, Y, or Z, especially if those things took us out of our comfort zone. This is conditional Christianity; and we will never be workable warriors for Christ until we’re totally “sold out” and willing to go where Christ leads us.
The second negative: Do not allow activity to dull your sensitivity. Often we – especially in this age of activity-oriented Christianity – let doing get in the way of hearing. We can be so grooved into the activities of our church that we are not sensitive to the leadings of God’s Spirit, Who will often call us to His will, which can – and often does – involve change. Oh, how we can be so deafened by our doing that that we simply can’t hear God’s calling.
The first positive: Let God be God! Ask yourself: “Are really willing to be clay in the Sculptor’s hands?” Are you pliable enough to be reshaped and readied for God’s will and purposes? Or have we become brittle and hardened, too rigid to become what God needs for us to be … for Him.
And the last positive: Be ready to say “YES.” Dear one, our natural, default mechanism will likely be to question the logic of God’s calling or to balk by saying that we’re ill prepared. And we’re certainly not alone in this attitude. Some pretty heavy-hitters of the faith had that “natural” response when God called them out of their comfort zone. Think of Moses at the burning bush or Noah, who had no idea what an ark was or what “rain” was; or there was Gideon, thrashing wheat in the wine barrel, or many of the Prophets who felt inadequate to God’s calling for them to carry God’s message to His grumbling people. All of these, so-called giants of the faith, had their doubts when God, the Sculptor, having shaped them for His task, wanted to send them out to do illogical and almost unbelievable things for His glory.
What about us? Are we pliable clay in the hands of the Master Sculptor? Or are we rigid and brittle and hardened in our ways, unready to respond to God’s calling, and unwilling to deny self and follow our Lord? Only you (or I) can respond to God’s conviction when asked these questions. But, … if we’re not readied and ready, as were Paul and Barnabas, we’ll never be pliable clay in the hands of the Master Potter as He shapes us to be vessels of purpose – HIS purpose.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may I be putty in Your hands and poised for Your purpose when You have molded me for Your will. Amen
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
– Day 180.June 30 – Times of Searching
2009 – Day 180.June 30 – Times of Searching
Passage of the Day: 2nd Kings 2: 1 – 14 … Linked here for study …
My Journal for Today: As his readers take in the highlight passage today of Elijah’s journey with Elisha, it was for Swindoll a reminder of what our life of belief has been like. And Swindoll is right, we, along the steps of life, must learn self denial as a believer. Elijah certainly learned that lesson; and for it, we see that he was ushered, by God, directly into heaven.
I don’t know about any reader who might be taking this in; but today’s passage and devotional did take me back to the time when I first confronted the Lord and received His saving grace. It was that Spirit-led occasion on April 13th, 1983, when I surrendered my life in faith and received God’s Spirit into my life. And I was such a babe of belief back then; but God was merciful and led me on the journey He has used to get me to this stage in my walk with Him.
Perhaps you can remember – and I hope you can – when God became real for you; … when you started your quest for Godliness; … when you let God’s Spirit become your guide in life; … and when you first realized that your life was not your own. It was God’s … for His glory! It was the beginning of your surrender of self into the Savior’s hands. It was the initiation of your Luke 9: 23 walk, where you really, for the first time, denied yourself, began to take up the crosses of life every day, and you began to follow Christ – really follow Him.
Then there was the period of development and discipleship in your life, where God began to pour His grace into your humble search for direction and strength. Perhaps you are in that stage of your walk right now. Many of us are; … where we have decided that the only way to be truly used by God is to accept self denial and to let God, in surrender to His will, have His way … in His time. And that may take a long time in our life – some longer than others. But it is the time when we spend time in the wilderness of life, learning God’s lessons through the trials of life.
Then, before we are taken into glory, there is the time of life, when we become God’s instrument of mission or ministry. And this is the time of fruitfulness of life. It is the time when God can and does use us in life for His glory. It is the Matt. 5: 16 time of life, when our lives shine the light of Christ and we can share our faith with others or minister to them, following Christ and taking up His cross daily; and in this time others can see Christ’s robes of righteousness rather than our native sinfulness.
Perhaps some of you are experiencing this latter phase; and you’ve come to see that God can take you anytime; because you are ready to be ushered into glory. But maybe you’re not there yet; and you desire to go into full surrender mode, as did Elijah. And I hope that you do find your place of self denial as Elijah had found. But if you haven’t, I encourage you to give your self up and to fully receive the mantle of leadership from Christ so that He can shape you as He has promised in Phil. 1: 6 into more of the completeness of Christlikeness just this side of heaven. If you’re not there yet, keep on keeping on in self denial; and God will lead you there.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I’m learning to surrender completely to the molding of your grace so that I can be used more fully for Your glory. Shape me, Lord. Amen
Passage of the Day: 2nd Kings 2: 1 – 14 … Linked here for study …
My Journal for Today: As his readers take in the highlight passage today of Elijah’s journey with Elisha, it was for Swindoll a reminder of what our life of belief has been like. And Swindoll is right, we, along the steps of life, must learn self denial as a believer. Elijah certainly learned that lesson; and for it, we see that he was ushered, by God, directly into heaven.
I don’t know about any reader who might be taking this in; but today’s passage and devotional did take me back to the time when I first confronted the Lord and received His saving grace. It was that Spirit-led occasion on April 13th, 1983, when I surrendered my life in faith and received God’s Spirit into my life. And I was such a babe of belief back then; but God was merciful and led me on the journey He has used to get me to this stage in my walk with Him.
Perhaps you can remember – and I hope you can – when God became real for you; … when you started your quest for Godliness; … when you let God’s Spirit become your guide in life; … and when you first realized that your life was not your own. It was God’s … for His glory! It was the beginning of your surrender of self into the Savior’s hands. It was the initiation of your Luke 9: 23 walk, where you really, for the first time, denied yourself, began to take up the crosses of life every day, and you began to follow Christ – really follow Him.
Then there was the period of development and discipleship in your life, where God began to pour His grace into your humble search for direction and strength. Perhaps you are in that stage of your walk right now. Many of us are; … where we have decided that the only way to be truly used by God is to accept self denial and to let God, in surrender to His will, have His way … in His time. And that may take a long time in our life – some longer than others. But it is the time when we spend time in the wilderness of life, learning God’s lessons through the trials of life.
Then, before we are taken into glory, there is the time of life, when we become God’s instrument of mission or ministry. And this is the time of fruitfulness of life. It is the time when God can and does use us in life for His glory. It is the Matt. 5: 16 time of life, when our lives shine the light of Christ and we can share our faith with others or minister to them, following Christ and taking up His cross daily; and in this time others can see Christ’s robes of righteousness rather than our native sinfulness.
Perhaps some of you are experiencing this latter phase; and you’ve come to see that God can take you anytime; because you are ready to be ushered into glory. But maybe you’re not there yet; and you desire to go into full surrender mode, as did Elijah. And I hope that you do find your place of self denial as Elijah had found. But if you haven’t, I encourage you to give your self up and to fully receive the mantle of leadership from Christ so that He can shape you as He has promised in Phil. 1: 6 into more of the completeness of Christlikeness just this side of heaven. If you’re not there yet, keep on keeping on in self denial; and God will lead you there.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I’m learning to surrender completely to the molding of your grace so that I can be used more fully for Your glory. Shape me, Lord. Amen
Saturday, June 20, 2009
2009 – Day 170.June 20 – Invincible
2009 – Day 170.June 20 – Invincible
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 18: 22 – 40 … Linked for study ...
My Journal for Today: Swindoll brings up a good point as we revisit this passage about Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Essentially my devotional shepherd asks, “Where does a Christian feel most invincible?" And the answer is simple. Any man (or woman) of God, as was Elijah, feels most invincible when he/she is centered in the will of God.
You can have joy even having just lost your job – IF – you know that you’re in the will of God. You can have peace in a raging storm – IF – you’re in Christ’s boat and you know that He’s in total control of the storm. But the opposite is also true. We will be nervous as Christians – maybe even riddled with anxiety - even when the world is flooding us with positive – WHEN – we know that we’re convicted by God’s Spirit being outside the will of God. Have you been there in either, or both, of these circumstances? I sure have. And I know that I only can feel invincible when I’m totally centered in the will of God.
As we reread today, Elijah was totally in the will of God; and you could tell it, couldn’t you? As Swindoll points out, in this passage today, Elijah speaks out eight times to the prophets or to the people; and in each instance, Elijah is assertive and confident. As Swindoll writes, “[Elijah] didn’t shift; he didn’t stutter; he didn’t suggest.” No, our hero was in command mode; because he knew God was in control; and he was soundly centered in the will of God.
I hope you’re feeling grounded in God’s will today. I know that right now, as I write this, I’m feeling that. Here, in my quiet place, where I come each morning, I am exactly where I need to be to begin my day, pursuing God’s truth, praising His Name, and praying for God’s guidance and protection. As I experience almost every day, coming to this place to begin my day takes me to a place where I know I’m grounded in God’s will, seeking His way from His word. So, the rest of my day, though I may find myself in a storm of challenge, I can more likely hold onto the joy and peace and strength I feel right now.
I hope (and I will pray below) that any who are with me here will begin each day, finding the invincible feeling of being in the center of God’s will, especially as we are immersed in the truth of God’s word.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help any who read this to come to Your place of honor each morning – in Your word – and to find the joy and peace and strength which come from starting the day with You. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 18: 22 – 40 … Linked for study ...
My Journal for Today: Swindoll brings up a good point as we revisit this passage about Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Essentially my devotional shepherd asks, “Where does a Christian feel most invincible?" And the answer is simple. Any man (or woman) of God, as was Elijah, feels most invincible when he/she is centered in the will of God.
You can have joy even having just lost your job – IF – you know that you’re in the will of God. You can have peace in a raging storm – IF – you’re in Christ’s boat and you know that He’s in total control of the storm. But the opposite is also true. We will be nervous as Christians – maybe even riddled with anxiety - even when the world is flooding us with positive – WHEN – we know that we’re convicted by God’s Spirit being outside the will of God. Have you been there in either, or both, of these circumstances? I sure have. And I know that I only can feel invincible when I’m totally centered in the will of God.
As we reread today, Elijah was totally in the will of God; and you could tell it, couldn’t you? As Swindoll points out, in this passage today, Elijah speaks out eight times to the prophets or to the people; and in each instance, Elijah is assertive and confident. As Swindoll writes, “[Elijah] didn’t shift; he didn’t stutter; he didn’t suggest.” No, our hero was in command mode; because he knew God was in control; and he was soundly centered in the will of God.
I hope you’re feeling grounded in God’s will today. I know that right now, as I write this, I’m feeling that. Here, in my quiet place, where I come each morning, I am exactly where I need to be to begin my day, pursuing God’s truth, praising His Name, and praying for God’s guidance and protection. As I experience almost every day, coming to this place to begin my day takes me to a place where I know I’m grounded in God’s will, seeking His way from His word. So, the rest of my day, though I may find myself in a storm of challenge, I can more likely hold onto the joy and peace and strength I feel right now.
I hope (and I will pray below) that any who are with me here will begin each day, finding the invincible feeling of being in the center of God’s will, especially as we are immersed in the truth of God’s word.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help any who read this to come to Your place of honor each morning – in Your word – and to find the joy and peace and strength which come from starting the day with You. Amen
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