March 31, 2012 … Who, … Me?

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 6-7 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 6: 13-17 … 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” … 14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” … 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” … 16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” … 17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” … And the LORD said, “I will wait until you return.”

My Journal for Today: Okay, in my chronological study through Judges, I arrived at one of my favorite characters, … Gideon in Chapters 6-7. And maybe I so closely identify with this God-selected Judge because he is so like me when God pursued me and called me out for His kingdom and His service. That comparison testimony is far too long a story to journal here this morning; but a couple of points of description are in order.

First, I identify with Gideon because, when God called him out, he recognized how weak he was. He was hiding from the world (i.e., the Midianite oppressors), recognizing his own spiritual weakness. Even when God’s angel came to Gideon (which BTW may have been a theophany of Jesus), as you can read above, Gideon acknowledged how weak he felt he was. That was me in the early 1980s.

Secondly, God saw much more in Gideon than this fearful recruit saw in himself. The Angel called him a “mighty warrior (or hero)” in Judges 6: 12; and Gideon basically said, “No way, Dude!” to that. And this was also like me back when I had an encounter with God’s Spirit in April of 1983 when I finally surrendered to the Lord much as Gideon finally did after a lot of questioning and struggle of faith.

And finally, Gideon just couldn’t see himself in the role of God’s “mighty warrior;” and that was certainly the way I balked when God called me into His kingdom service of ministry and eldership in our church … even after being a declared and seasoned as a disciple of Christ well into the 1990s.

So, I really identify with this fearful, broken-down believer in whom God saw something which called this man into service for God and God’s kingdom. … My friend, I hope you recognize that any who call upon Jesus as Lord and Savior are called into some purpose of kingdom service. If for no other calling, there is the “Great Commission” (I hope you know Matt. 28: 19-20); and there is the calling to witness in Acts 1:8. And then there is the calling to use the Spirit-given gift (or gifts) we Christians have been given to serve the Lord for His glory (see Rom. 12, 1st Cor. 12, and Eph. 4, where the charge to our gifting is documented). And finally, we believers are all called into the battles with our spiritual enemies in the spiritual warfare we all find ourselves daily (see Ephesians 6: 10-20).

So, we’re all called out as was Gideon; and when we recognize these callings, we probably all feel a bit like Gideon when we recognize and acknowledge how weak we are … in-and-unto ourselves. But the truth is what Gideon was to discover, as did many others in the pages of the Bible … that we are God’s heroes. And the truth is … God’s calling is His enablement. God’s word says it over and over again.

Again, as I have in the past, I site … Isaiah 41: 10 … Rom. 8: 28 … 1st Cor. 10: 13 … 2nd Cor. 12: 9 … Phil. 4: 13 … 2nd Tim. 1: 7 …and … 2nd Pet. 1: 3 … all of which tell us, just a the Angel convinced Gideon, that anyone called into service for God will be given all the enlightenment, enablement, and empowerment needed to carry out the purpose which God has called us to accomplish for His glory. Gideon became God’s victorious warrior (see Judges, Chapter 7 – linked above); and so can we be!

Dear one, I hope you know, believe, and are applying all those scriptural truths I’ve referred you to above; and let’s all take heart from the story of Gideon … that we can be God’s heroes when we believe God’s calling through His word and we act on His will for our lives.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, I do want to be Your hero and serve You for Your glory. Amen

January 8, 2011 … Divinely Chosen and Called

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1 [NIV] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Ephesians 4: 1 [NASB] - Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, …

My Journal for Today: One final day in Eph. 4: 1 with Dr. MacArthur, and he has highlighted the phrase “the calling” that the Apostle Paul uses to indicate the direction we have received as Christians. This begs the natural question, “What is this ‘CALLING’ all about?”

Well, the Greek terms for “calling” [klesis] or “called” [kletos], are used in several places in New Testament Scripture. Paul also said (2nd Tim. 1: 9) that our calling is to holiness; and he also (in 1Cor. 1: 2) said that believers are called out into sainthood [i.e., again called to holiness]. Peter wrote (in 2nd Peter 1: 10) that our walk (i.e., our life) exhibits our being chosen or called by God. The author of Hebrews wrote that we have a high and heavenly calling as Christians (see Heb. 3: 1). And you may remember that Paul also referred to Christians as “the called” according to God’s purpose (in Rom. 8: 28 in NKJV).

And so, this business of walking as a “Christian” is a big deal! It’s a “calling” … by, from, and for God. It is no less than the life God has chosen or called for me [see John 15: 16]. He has called me to fulfill HIS purpose; and He has changed my character name from “sinner” to “Saint” for this calling. Therefore, it is incumbent on me to live in such a way that would honor my God and His calling.

Perhaps you remember being “called out” to be on a team, as a young person, … maybe for a basketball team at school. ... I do. … I can remember running home in the 6th grade, excitedly reporting to my mom and dad, “I’m on the team!” And then I can remember wanting to do my very best to show the coach, who had “called me out,” that his selection was not a mistake? I really wanted to live up to whatever it took to show the coach that I could do what was expected of a team member.

MacArthur, in Strength for Today, puts it this way in posing such a challenge, “Such a high calling [from God] demands an equally high response of commitment, doesn’t it?!” And then we have Paul’s challenge in Eph. 4: 1, into which we’ve been studying for the last few days.

Personally, I think that the only rational response for any Christian to his calling for God’s team is a resounding “THANK YOU, LORD!”… And then I feel that the recognition of our calling must be followed by a deep self inventory [see 2nd Cor. 13: 5] and a commitment to follow Christ as never before [as in Prov. 3: 5-6], which is certainly appropriate as we move into this New Year.

My Prayer Today: Lord, You chose me before time. I have received Your calling in my time; and I am blessed by Your gift of grace to live for You. Amen

2010 – June 24 – Unworthy, But Chosen

Study from God’s Word… Isaiah 5: 24 – 30; Is 1: 27-31; Is 2: 19-21; Is 2: 22 – 3: 7; Is 4: 2 – 6; Is 2: 1 – 5; 2Kgs 15: 19-28; 2Kgs 15: 6-7 [2Chron 26: 22-23]; 2Kgs 15: 7, 32-33; 2Chron 26: 23, 27: 1, 8]; 2Kgs 15: 34 [2Chron 27: 2]; Isaiah 6: 1 – 13; 2Kgs 15: 35 [2Chron 27: 3-6]… Passage for Reflection: Isaiah 6: 5 – 8 … NIV 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

My Journal for Today: This is one passage from God’s word which calls up great empathy and identification from me. No, I’m not called to be a “Prophet.” I don’t even have the spiritual gift of prophesy. But I have been called out of unworthiness to carry out a task for God and His kingdom, … a ministry dealing on the front lines of spiritual warfare. And like Isaiah at his calling, which is documented in today’s highlight passage, when I was called, I felt totally unworthy to be called.

HOWEVER, the more I have gotten to know the characters of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, I have found many who didn’t feel worthy at their time of calling by God; and I’d almost bet you’re thinking of Moses at the burning bush, who felt like a stutterer who was called to be God’s spokesman; or there was Gideon, the coward who was called by God to become a mighty warrior. There was Amos, also called to be God’s prophet, who declared he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. And here is Isaiah, who declares that he’s a man of “unclean lips,” being called out to be God’s mouth-piece to His people. All of these men of God became Godly men, used by God, because they responded to God’s calling out of unworthiness. And for about 15 years now, my response to Gods’ calling has actually been used for His glory. Go figure.

But as was Isaiah, when I was called into ministry, I was tuned in to my own weaknesses and unworthiness. Isaiah knew that God was asking him to go forth into a role which would make him a hated man as well as vulnerable to those whom he’d be carrying God’s message. Isaiah knew that he was an unrighteous man being asked to carry a message of righteousness to a people racked by unrighteousness. And as Dr. Smith points out today in his devotional concerning Isaiah, “If righteousness was a prerequisite for the job (of God’s calling), he (Isaiah) of all people wasn’t qualified.” Yet, as we read, in that wonderful verse 8, when God finally gave Isaiah His calling, Isaiah responded, with the powerful Hebrew reply, “Heneni,” which means “Here I am, send me!”

There’s a wonderful song, written and sung by Marty Goetz, a former orthodox Jew converted to Christ, … a song which I’ve called up on my laptop as I meditate here this morning and write this. The song is entitled, Heneni; and the song celebrates the spirit of the one called by God and knowing that the calling is for an inadequate servant; but it is with the understanding that God’s calling is His enablement. Isaiah could say – and mean – “Heneni” to God because He knew God was God and would not have called a lowly, unworthy man to be His prophet unless God was there to lift him up. That is also the message of another message to Isaiah from God. Go find it in Isaiah 41: 10; and meditate on the truth that we need never fear God’s calling because God’s calling is His promise of power to overcome any weakness we might have. The Apostle Paul certainly discovered that truth.

The New Testament Apostle, recognizing that he was the “chief of sinners” (in 1st Tim. 1: 15), yet he could say to believers, “You can imitate me, because I imitate Christ.” (1st Cor. 11: 1) Had learned his own message of 2nd Cor. 12: 9 … that God’s grace is sufficient to cover any weakness we might have. None of us is worthy of God’s calling; but we can know that God is God [!]; and when God calls, we can respond, as did Isaiah, or many others did to God, … HENENI! … Here, am I, Lord, send me!

My Prayer for Today: Heneni, Lord! Amen

2010 – Mar. 28 – Calling All “Nobodies”

Study from God’s Word…1st Samuel, Chapters 8 – 12 … Passage for Reflection: 1st Samuel 9: 21 … NIV 21 Saul answered, "But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?"

My Journal for Today: This whole process of God showing the people where they had gone astray by giving them what they asked for, a king, is most worthy of study and reflection, especially in a day when God’s people, the Church, are being very much like those Old Testament chosen peoples were being. Here we are, God’s anointed people, “the Church,” failing to follow our King of kings, Jesus, just like God’s people turned away from The Lord in Samuel’s day.

And I believe we, especially those of us here in the western world, are very much like the peoples of ancient Israel, clamoring for a “king” who can lead us to worldly glory. And in many respects, the leader we have called for personifies many of the qualities which Saul had when God elevated him to become the “king,” … the leader over God’s people.

But if you’re a student of the Bible; and you’ve read on ahead of the account of Saul, you know where this story leads. And I believe we’re being led by our own selfishness these days much as the Hebrews were being led in Saul’s day; and I think we’re going to see many of the same players on the stage of life, playing out their roles as God directs this playlet we will see unfold before us in our day. We have called for, and God has given us, our “king.” And this man stands above the crowd, appearing to be a leader of leaders.

Oh how humble he appeared to be as we sought after this leader; and Obama, like Saul of old, relented to our outcry and has take the role for which we so loudly have clamored for him to take. But now, he has taken up the scepter and has accepted the role of our national leader; and we’re going to have to accept what will transpire as the outflow of God allowing this man to become our “king.”

But we all have to ask ourselves, “What role will I play in this time of history? Am I one of those “nobodies” who has no purpose; or has God made me a child of THE KING for His good reason, … in His good time?” Of course, the latter is the truth. But we have to be willing to move onto the stage of life and assume the role which God has preordained for us in this drama we call life. And we cannot – and should not – try to hide in the background and deny the role God has for us to play.

We are not the world’s NOBODY! We are God’s SOMEBODY; and we must stand forth to be cast in that role for which God has called us to play. I pray that for myself and for all of us.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, show me my place on Your stage, that role You have waiting for me; and let me play out for Your glory in this life. Amen

2009 – Day 314.Nov 11 – Fickle Fame, Fleeting Failure

Passage for Study: Acts 14: 1 - 20 … Acts 14 linked for your study …

My Journal for Today: Today’s account in the life of Paul’s ministry into the Greek world, is a rather amazing one to me. And it is one with which I have some degree of empathy. No, I never was stoned and left for dead in my called personal ministry; but when the ministry God called me to found and lead was launched in my church about 10 years ago, I was regularly rejected and shunned by my fellow Christians, especially the men of our church. If you go to http://www.battleplanministries.org/, you’ll see why our men might have stayed away from me. Ministering to Christians who desire to walk free from habitual sexual sin is not a ministry with which many men in our church wanted to be identified. So, being seen mingling with Bill Berry, “the Battle Plan guy,” might mean that others might think they had sexual sin problems in their lives. Even those who were free of that type of habitual sin didn’t want to seem like they did by sitting with yours truly at church events. Hence, for some time the men of our church “stoned” me with silence and separation.

So, though my very physical life was not “stoned,” I can empathize with the emotional rejection Paul experienced. But we note what he did. Once he came to, after being stoned and left for dead, we have to be impressed that he went right back into the same city where he had been stoned. Is that not commitment and determination into which God, the Holy Spirit, can pour His enabling grace?

Staying in the game and dealing with rejection when one witnesses – with testimony – the truth of what Christ has done for one’s self and what God’s healing/renewing grace can do in the lives of broken believers is a lonely, and sometimes risky, calling. But, my friend, please learn one truth from today’s passage, and take it from my experience. This is a truth which was taught to me years ago, and one to which I can witness, from experience, will hold you in good stead when you’re called into a personal ministry which flies in the face of a darkened world when you become one who shines Christ’s light into that world.

TRUTH: “God’s calling is God’s enablement.” Take it to the bank, fellow Christian. If God calls you to a task, He’s going to give you His grace to carry out that mission or ministry. Most certainly all Christians are called to witness for Christ and/or to share and spread the Gospel. That calling is well documented in Acts 1: 8 and Matt. 28: 19-20. Maybe God has called you, as He did me, into a socially entangling ministry; and maybe you’re experiencing the type of fears or setbacks to which Paul’s story today addresses.

But then again, maybe you are put up on a pedestal of success and you’re being lauded as an icon of God’s calling and perseverance. Both extremes, my friends, are Satan’s attempts to bring us down and to drive us away from God’s calling. Like Paul in today’s passage, we cannot be too inflated by praise or deflated by rejection to walk away from our God-driven calling. Paul didn’t get puffed up by those who lauded him as God’s answer to God; and he didn’t like the persecution – even a stoning – keep him down or send him into a state of pitiful self pity.

No, Paul simply knew that he was doing what God called him to do; and when he was felled, he got back up, dusted himself off, and got back into the race. And much of the New Testament is a testimony of Paul’s witness to the truth of my premise for today … that “God’s calling is HIS enablement!”

So, I hope you respond when God calls you into a Spirit-led ministry or missionary effort. Or I hope you respond when he calls you to share your testimony – no matter how frightening it might be – to someone you work with or one you’re sitting with on a plane flight. Or maybe God is calling you live as a Priest in your own home as a CHRISTIAN husband, father, or grandparent. Whatever your calling, if it’s GOD’S calling, He is going to pour His power into your weakness (see 2nd Cor. 12: 9). If it’s GOD”S calling, He is going to pour His providence into the task, giving you what it takes to accomplish what He has called you to do. If it’s GOD’S calling, He has provided you with His truth to show you the way and make you His success (see Joshua 1: 1-9, especially verse 8).

So, take heart to Paul’s own words about moving forward for God, as he instructed his disciple Timothy in 2nd Timothy 1: 7. And when called, … even when you’re knocked down, … move forward in God’s calling, letting God empower and enable you to do His work.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, it was YOU who called me; and it’s YOU who provide the way for me. Amen

2009 – Day 215.Aug 04 – Unexpected Witnesses

Passage of the Day: Esther 9 – 10 … Linked for study …

My Journal for Today: As we close out the Book of Esther, Chuck Swindoll, in the devotional book I’ve been using for my morning meditations, helps his devotional readers, like yours truly, to be reminded of one of the main underlying themes of this wonderful story in the Book of Eshter; and that is how our Lord works to glorify Himself as our worthy God. So, how do we see that theme working itself out in the Book where God is unnamed but very prominent?

Well, we see God working in the background of the lives of the main characters, Esther and her husband King Ahasuerus, and with the reversal of fortune of Haman having to yield to Mordecai. Only a sovereign God could have wrought what we read as the historical story of these characters. And as Swindoll points out, this is a theme that God uses throughout scripture, … the unexpected witness whom God raises to be His heroes. And as I read Swindoll in this morning’s devotional study, a passage from 1st Corinthians (verses 26 – 27) [linked here for your study] came out of my memory. You may know this passage about how God uses the lowly or even the foolish to give witness to His glory. And as I meditated on it, with Swindoll’s help, I remembered how God chose witnesses for His glory who would not have been chosen by the world.

There was Moses, an 80 year old burned-out shepherd, who tried to disqualify himself as a witness for God because of a speech impediment. But God said, “You’re my man, Moses; … go free My people.” And there was Gideon, who was hiding in fear in a wine barrel; and God dubbed him as “… a man of valor.” There was young David, the shepherd boy who was tagged to defeat Goliath and become the King of God’s people and fore bearer of our Lord. And there was the Jew-hater Saul of Tarsus, whom God knocked off his high horse and chose him to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. And we’ve been studying the Jewish maiden, Esther, whom God raised up for just the right place and time to save the her people and nation.

And all of these biblical examples would definitely – by human standards – be labeled as UNEXPECTED WITNESSES for God; but we know historically how they went forward and lived out the command of Jesus to His disciples to shine His light so that all would see their good works and glorify God, the Father, in heaven.

Who is to say that God isn’t saying to you, “Tag, … you’re it?”

Remember the old playground game, where we ran from being tagged by the one who was “IT.” But it was usually the slow ones who ended up being tagged; and then that person was charged to go out and tag someone else. You know … God has said to all of His disciples, … “tag, you’re it” … in His great commission (see Matt. 28: 19-20); and we may not think we’re worthy of taking the charge and going out to “tag” someone else. But I think back to something I’ve repeated quite often in devotionals before. It’s a phrase which was taught to me by my mentor, who told me, “God’s calling is His enablement.”

So, like Esther was tagged by God, perhaps He is saying to you today, “Tag, … you’re it!”

My Prayer for Today: Lord, … I know You’ve tagged me; and I pray to take it to as many as I can. Amen

[PS: Well this closes out Chuck Swindoll’s series from the Book of Esther. Tomorrow we move into the life of Job to delve further into the life of another of God’s servants so that we can grow to know God more through them.]

2009 – Day 107.Apr. 18 – Your Uniqueness

2009 – Day 107.Apr. 18 – Your Uniqueness

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

My Journal for Today: Don’t you just love the way God does His business – and carries out His will. Sometimes, even without our pro-action, God works out a way for His will to be accomplished by men who are even unaware of how things are coming together. Saul had no – conscious – idea that the young harpist and song-writer he was bringing into the palace at the recommendation of his court was the very one who had been anointed by God to replace him. And David had no idea, prior to his being called from the fields to Saul’s side, that all those years of plucking away at his harp to quiet his sheep would land him in a helping relationship with the king of God’s people. Go figure!

But that’s the point, isn’t it? There are just some things we can’t figure and must simply accept as God’s way of doing business. You may not realize it; but that Spirit-imparted gift or those gifts which you received from God when you were converted and born-again may yet be used for God’s glory in some special way. Who knows; maybe that talent God gave you, and which was developed years ago, may yet be used in some special way in God’s kingdom.

Years ago, when I was in college and moving far away from God (calling myself an “agnostic”), I had to choose a major course of study; and I chose public speaking after I got an “A” in my first speech course. So, I began taking speech and rhetoric courses and discovered – at least to my professor’s judgment – that I had a talent in speaking to groups of people. So, I developed this skill; and it took me into my graduate education where I changed my major from speech education to speech pathology. And in this course correction in my education, I learned that I had a talent to work with those adults who had poor speaking to help them become more proficient in communication. Then, some 20 years after I entered college, which took me away from God, I was broken in spirit and received Him as my Lord and Savior.

It was a few years after that I discovered that my two primary Spirit-given gifts were teaching and encouragement. Now, it didn’t take much brain power on my part to realize that the spiritual gifts which God had imparted to me were a perfect fit with the “natural” talents I had developed in my college and grad school years. Go figure! … But God certainly had figured it all out.

And now I think about it. … God takes me, while I was even rejecting Him all those years, and develops the exact skills which would match up with the gifts - He knew - I would have after I became His child and which could be used in ministry for His kingdom and His glory. And now, here I am using my teaching gifts and speaking talents to teach, preach, and disciple others in my church and in ministry. And now I also use my God-imparted encouragement gifts and the “therapy” talents I learned years ago to lift up, mentor, and encourage men who have become enslaved to sin, helping them to walk free from that imprisonment in Christ. As I look at Christ’s mission statement in Luke 4: 18-19 [link provided], I can now see that He wove together my talents and my gifts to give me the opportunity to serve His kingdom in this same mission.

My beloved fellow disciple, never discount some talent you may have or a Spirit-imparted gift God has given you. You may not yet know how; but God can, and will, use what you have or what He’s given you for His glory. And that’s why I believe every Christian should discover his/her Spiritual gift or gifts. And when you do, many times you will discover that such gifts, when paired with some ability or abilities you have – maybe something, like David, you developed years ago - can be used to advance God’s kingdom.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, use your servants for Your glory. Amen

2009 – Day 95.Apr. 6 – God of Every Detail

2009 – Day 95.Apr. 6 – God of Every Detail

Passage of the Day: Numbers 27: 12 – 23 … Link to study passage …

Also Deuteronomy 34: 9 … Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

My Journal for Today: I totally agree with Chuck Swindoll today, always standing in amazement as to how God’s word, written in 66 books, by 44 authors, in three languages, over 3000 years of history, focusing on one unique Subject, Jesus Christ, can be so personal to me or to anyone who uses it as God intended it (see Isaiah 55: 11 -link provided). He has brought the compendium of personal wisdom for the ages into my (or your) life to be a light unto my (or your) path (see Psalm119: 105 -linked) in His perfect timing and for His perfect will. Do you not, with Swindoll and me, stand in awe of this?

As Pastor Chuck posited in his devotional today, perhaps, reading today’s passages, you are a Joshua, who has significant challenges lying ahead of you in life, not knowing how things are going to turn out. Perhaps you’ve been upgraded or downgraded; and you don’t know what life is going to hold for you. Perhaps God has lain a task in front of you which seems ultra-daunting; and you don’t know how you’re going to handle it. But like and older, more mature Apostle Peter wrote, God cares (see in the NT, 1st Peter 5: 7); and as old Joshua was encouraged to realize, God will never leave you holding the bag alone when His will has been lain before you (see Joshua 1: 1 – 9). You may be overwhelmed; but God is not; and there’s no reason for you to fret over life’s circumstances (as the Apostle Paul had discovered in his life, being imprisoned while carrying out God’s will - see Phil. 4: 6 – 7).

And I’m throwing all these specific passages of Scripture to you, as they bubble up in my consciousness, writing this, because God is giving me His word to share with you to illustrate my very point, … that His word will never come up void or powerless in shining a light on your specific path (again go to links above and see Isaiah 55: 11 and Psalm 119: 105).

Are you getting the picture; … that our God is the God of ever detail, just like He was for Joshua when God’s gargantuan task of taking over for Moses was put into his hands? And God has a plan for you and me too. All we need to do is find His will for our lives and then to lay aside personal fears and selfish pride, and to take up this cross, and to follow our Savior into His promised land (see Jesus’ own direction in this regard in Luke 9: 23, which I surely hope you have memorized by now as often as I reference it).

God’s in the details, my beloved; and even more importantly, HE’S IN TOTAL CONTROL! If, like Joshua, you have a whopper of a task in front of you; and you know it’s God will for your life, … take heed and be encouraged by the passages to which I’ve referred you in this journal entry. My mentor used to say, often, “God’s calling is His enablement!” And that applies to each and every one of us in each and every moment of each and ever day of our lives.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I take up the encouragement of Joshua 1: 8 and Psalm 119: 105, abiding in Your word to be a light unto my path. Amen