2009 – Day 106.Apr. 17 – God Speaks --- We Respond

2009 – Day 106.Apr. 17 – God Speaks --- We Respond

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 16: 14 – 23 … Link to passage for study …

My Journal for Today: As I read through today’s highlight passage from 1st Samuel and Chuck Swindoll’s devotional, inspired by this Scripture, the old Scout Motto popped into my head. You probably know it – BE PREPARED ! And that is the theme of the message in this journal entry.

Swindoll puts forth a three point lesson (leave it to a preacher ;>) for this devotional. First he says, “God’s solutions are often strange and simple; so, be open.” And Swindoll is right. We often have a tendency to take a simple command or direction from God and try to make it complex or complicated. How often, as with Samuel, having read about it in past devotionals, God had said to go where the Lord instructed. Samuel did exactly that, which resulted in finding young David in Jesse’s family. So, we, too, need to be open to God when He calls us … and to be ready, … no matter how strange the calling might seem. BE PREPARED!

Next, Swindoll posits, “God’s promotions are usually sudden and surprising; so, be ready.” Often, as I go through life, God somehow leads me back to this message. Just the other night at an Elder meeting in our church, one of my brother Elders gave a devotional with this very message, saying that all of the signs of Christ’s second coming are in place; and it could happen at any time; so, … my brother taught, we need to be doing as it says in 1st Thes. 5: 17, … to be in a vigilant attitude of prayer, contemplation, and readiness. So, … BE PREPARED!

Finally, my devotional author writes, “God’s selections are always sovereign and sure; so, be sensitive.” When God speaks, whenever or wherever it happens, we need to be tuned to His frequency; and I maintain that this can only happen when we are in what I call “surrender mode, “ disciplined into the habit of obedience to God’s word and His way. I firmly believe that knowing and following God’s word is how we stayed tuned to God’s sovereign will and timing. If we are not habitually in God’s word and getting to know it more deeply everyday, and if we rely on our own sensitivity to move through life, we are highly vulnerable to our own deceit-ridden hearts (see Jer. 17: 9). But when we seek God’s will from a disciplined and daily search into God’s word, I believe we become more and more sensitive to God’s way of doing business. Yes, again, … BE PREPARED!

In Revelations 19: 7-9 God’s word speaks of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb of God where our Bridegroom comes again for His Bride (which is you and me, the Church). And in this passage it speaks that we need to have our linens ready, which is our purity and obedience. This means that how we live daily, in pure devotion to our Lord, is our way of being ready for Christ’s return. So, I must ask myself, as should you, “Am I ready? Am I prepared? Any time my God speaks, do I hear? When He calls, do I come? And when He sends me, do I go?” If I can answer “YES” to those questions, I AM READY.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, prepare me for Your coming. It could be today! Amen