Passage of the Day: Job 40: 1-5 … From The Message Version of God’s word … 1-2 God then confronted Job directly: "Now what do you have to say for yourself? Are you going to haul Me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?"
3-5 Job answered: "I'm speechless, in awe—words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth!I've talked too much, way too much. I'm ready to shut up and listen."
My Journal for Today: What a luxury, getting up with the sunrise, … light shining in my bedroom window rather than the darkness of my normal early rising. But even though I’ve let the bed reject me rather than bounding out to an alarm, my chosen purpose is the same this morning; and that is to start my day by spending time with my God so that I can know Him more, love Him more deeply, obey Him more readily, and serve Him more effectively.
And as I have come to my quiet place here this morning, a little later than usual, I still am here to worship my God just like any morning; and as I sit here, listening to the song Here I Am To Worship by Hillsong on my Ipod, I still revel in being with God as the sun comes up. I anticipate what God will give me from His word today to help me become more like Him or to reach out and share His truth with others. And again I join with Job in Job 40: 1-5, as he declares himself to be in awe of the Living God. I hope you’ll join me as we worship God by being in His word this day.
And this morning, listening to some wonderful praise songs playing in my headphones, I agree with my devotional shepherd, Chuck Swindoll, this morning as he tells of going to a Pastors’ conference some time ago where there was a sign over the marquee of the hotel which stated boldly …
RELAX EVERYBODY! … FOR ONCE YOU’RE NOT IN CHARGE!
And that’s essentially what God had declared to Job. Here in our highlight passage today we see Job getting God’s message to surrender to the fact that God was in control and that Job needed to surrender in obedience to the Lord’s power and his plan for Job’s life. Oh how we, over 3000 years later, should get this message. And I especially write this to any of us who, like myself, often seek to control the situation, who are called into leadership and feel that we should be THE LEADER. I say this strongly to those who pompously think that we are more intelligent than those who are in charge of our church, our company, or our government. So, … I say this to everyone. Relax and let God be God; … because we are not!
I often tell those with whom I have the opportunity to minister that we will never be in control anyway, so it’s time to surrender to Christ’s command which He declared to His disciples, (in Luke 9: 23), “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
So, as you read this, ask yourself, “Am I in surrender mode? Am I walking in obedience and denying self and giving preeminence to my Savior?” And if we answer those questions with anything but a resounding “YES,” we need to take serious steps to give our lives over to the LORD of our past, present, and future and become “living sacrifices” to God as Paul wrote in Romans 12: 1.
Join me today, my friend; … and let us surrender in obedience to the Living Lord of all.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, I surrender! Amen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment