RSS

Tag Archives: theology

His power is all the explanation you need

07 Aug

His power is all the explanation you need

Mark 5:15-17    Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.

How do you explain the un-explainable? How can you put into words something that has left you in awe? Something that you witnessed, or experienced, for which you cannot explain, but yet you know it to be true. The event most likely is personal, and most likely could be defined as a miracle in many cases. But in every case, it is and should be used to draw you to God. If you have no reason for it, if you have no way to explain it, it should point you to the power of God in your life. You have witnessed, and can attest to the evident power of God in that event. When those events are recognized as such, they take on special meaning to you. They move you to a deeper level of awe for the power of His Majesty.

This story in Mark is captivating; the story of the super-human demon possessed man; who naked lived in the caves, howling day and night, and cutting himself in his torment. He likely held the town in fear, for he was able to break the chains and shackles that when they were brave enough, they tried to subdue him. He was tormented by a legion of demons, and their motive was to torment him and all that feared him; then Jesus showed up on the seashore that day. From afar, they (he) saw Christ and ran and bowed at His feet and worshiped Him. The demons feared and recognized Him. Mark 5:7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”  They knew the power Christ held over them; they plead for their lives. In seeing the herd of pigs on the hillside, they asked to be allowed to enter the pigs, an escape from Christ as they might have saw it. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.  A miracle had happened before many; the demon possessed man had been freed. He now was clothed and sat a Christ’s feet in his right mind.

The witnesses ran to town, and told everyone to come see what they could not explain. This miracle had cost the owners of the herd great money, they were likely upset at their loss. They likely gathered support, and they together asked Christ to leave them. What a sad event that happened that day; they had witnessed the power of God before them, and they asked God to leave them. Do you turn your back on God when you can’t explain the un-explainable? Does it strengthen your faith, or do you turn your back on it? A hardened heart in the face of God’s work is a heart that is far from Him. If He chooses to do his work before you to attest and draw you to him, do not dare turn away. Use that testimony to share your growing faith, to the evident power of God in your life. Christ left the once demon-possessed man behind with that exact command; 19″Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 7, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Not the thief you thought

05 Aug

Not the thief you thought

John 10:1-10    “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good – a sheep rustler! 2 The shepherd walks right up to the gate. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.” 6 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. 7 So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. 8 All those others are up to no good – sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for – will freely go in and out, and find pasture. 10 A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (The Message)

The Message translation of the Bible is almost a commentary. Full of plain English, with adjectives, emphasis, and context that many times we can understand. In the King James version of this, John 10 starts out with, 1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold , but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is great emphasis with the Verily, Verily that Christ speaks here. Matthew Henry’s commentary emphasizes the importance; “The preface to this discourse is solemn: Verily, verily, I say unto you,—Amen, amen. This vehement asseveration intimates the certainty and weight of what he said; we find amen doubled in the church’s praises and prayers, Ps. 41:13 Ps. 72:19 Ps. 89:52 . If we would have our amens accepted in heaven, let Christ’s amens be prevailing on earth; his repeated amens.” Therefore, there is great weight in the analogy of The Good Shepard.

Christ is in Jerusalem, and much of this is directed at the religious leaders of the day, the Scribes and Pharisee’s. They had been leading people into many false belief systems, many times elevating themselves and of religious works that earned their ways into heaven. Christ had come to condemn their religious teachings and show that He was the true way. John 10:10 is taken out of context many times, but it was directed at the religious leaders of the day. Christ was pointing his finger at them as thieves and robbers; “”The scribes, and Pharisees, and chief priests, all, even as many as have come before me, that have endeavoured to forestal my interest, and to prevent my gaining any room in the minds of people, by prepossessing them with prejudices against me, they are thieves and robbers, and steal those hearts which they have no title to, defrauding the right owner of his property.’’ (Matthew Henry commentary). The parable of the Good Shepard demands much study.

Satan is just as applicable to the context of the scripture of John 10:10. Satan is a thief and a robber that comes to steal your joy you find in Christ. But scripture must be studied and understood in the context it is written, for you can make anything say what you wish out of context. Christ was speaking of those that were elevating themselves in their religiosity; He was condemning their practices of religion and the leading astray of His flock. The thief was the one in the pulpit at that time. Anything or anyone who elevates themselves, or their system of religion is not of Christ, period.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 5, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

How far we are

01 Aug

How far we are

James Chapter 4

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Everything in the Bible should be taken in the context it is written. You can take anything that you want out of context, and make it say anything that you want. When you read James chapter four, what does the Spirit say to you? Most likely, He steps on your toes, just like mine. This chapter speaks into the society that God has placed me in; it speaks to those that live for this world and the pleasures found in it, and will pay for those mistakes eternally. I lived by the motto, “He who dies with the most toys wins” for most of my life. The T-shirt should have printed on the back, “He still dies”. When we live for whatever material gain, for whatever lustful pleasure, for the pursuit of wealth, for the countless ideals that turn into idols, we miss the simple joy of living our lives in the center of God’s Will, for relentless pursuit of them. We miss the pleasures of the day, for we are focused on the worry of tomorrow, or the pursuit of the stuff that takes our eyes off God today. We rest in our pride when we gained the new house, the car, the toy, the trophy, the accolade that feeds pride and temporal pleasure. Then we want more, for it never satisfies the soul. James even speaks to how we are as adulterers to God in our prayers for these selfish gains. As a society we need to repent, and mourn, and weep for hour far we have removed ourselves from God in these worldly pursuits.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 1, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Bond of Perfection

31 Jul

Bond of Perfection

James 2:14-18   Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup – where does that get you? 17 Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. (The Message)

The book of James is like the guidebook to the application side of Christianity. It tells you very plainly about the trials of life, and how to deal with them. It calls you to put your faith in action; to step out and live what you proclaim. Do you? Is there any evidences in your life six days a week, to what you proclaim on one? How does your language reflect the depth of the eternal gift you have been given? James asks the hard questions; James calls your faith into action no matter what circumstance God has placed in your path. He calls you to live out your faith, for “faith without works is dead faith.”

I saw this type of faith in action yesterday. It moved me in a powerful way. I reflected on it, and was blessed by it. People showing the love of Christ to those who deny Him; not projecting the hate that society tries to label the Christians with today. Christianity is becoming the minority in a society that is filled with equality; a society that believes all paths lead to God; a society that will not adhere to the Laws of God, and accountability found in them for the fear of offending. But the Christian that speaks out is labeled with hate, labeled in many ways that do not portray the love of Christ. Sadly in many circumstances, the Christians zeal has overtaken the love and peace that Christ proclaimed. Colossians 3:14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Pray that God will do a mighty work in your heart to help you show the love of Christ to those that need Him. Pray that He will give you the compassion for your fellow man that needs the love of Him. Pray that He will open your eyes to the plight of those lost in their sin. Pray that He will show you a way, to show them the love that you possess; a love that surpasses understanding; a love that gives as only He can through you. It is in this type of love that a heart becomes inquisitive; and an inquisitive heart is a heart that God may be using you to draw them to Himself.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 31, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Fill it and experience it

29 Jul

Fill it and experience it

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17    But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

Paul in the prior verses had just told the Thessalonians in this letter of the great falling away; the great apostasy of the church. He speaks of Satan at the peak of his limited power, and of how Christ will defeat him. 2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. All of works of Satan and the anti-christ will be over shadowed by the glorious return of Christ in that day. The Thessalonians must understand that they are chosen by God, and must live their lives in the security of their belief. They are to live with the assurance of that faith that lies within them.

This scripture ties the power of the Spirit that is living inside you, to the power of the Word that He has given you. The two are inseparable; they cannot work alone.  I love how my study Bible puts it: “The Spirit without the Word is mute, He has nothing to say. The Word without the Spirit is lifeless, is has no power to act. The work of the Spirit is always united with the work of the Word to convict the believer of the truth.” When you experience Salvation, His Spirit comes to live inside you. The Spirit opens your mind to the things of Christ; without Him you mind has a closed door to the Word. Christ told his disciples of the power that he will give to them when he ascended into heaven. This same Spirit is available to all believers today. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

There are so many roads to go down when you come to understand that the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you upon your faith in Jesus Christ and his power to forgive sin. John 14:6 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. You are missing the boat and missing the greatest blessing in your life if you claim Christ, but do not spend time in His Word. Your life is but an empty jar, waiting to be filled. Your life will never be the same once you possess the Spirit that brings life to the words of the Living Word. You will begin to see things you have never seen before in the Bible. God’s glorious message will become revealed to you and awaken your soul for your time here. Open it, read it, experience it for yourself.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 29, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

How can I serve Him today?

26 Jul

How can I serve Him today?

Acts 11:25-26    Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The book of Acts; faith in action, the verb of Christianity. The book of Acts rests between the Gospels, and the Epistles, and seemingly stands on it’s own. The book of Acts is the building of the early church, the acting out of the faith that those who believed proclaimed. It is a book of miracles, of great faith, of boldness, of visions and angels, of the giving of the Holy Spirit to all people. A book of examples of God’s Sovereign hand at work bringing all those that will hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is captivating; it reads like a script of a Hollywood movie, it shows the power of God in the lives of those acting out their faith. It shows what it truly means to live a life of a disciple.

Christianity is not a noun. Christianity is meant to be a lifestyle that lasts for eternity; for the work during our time here in the preparation for our eternal reward thereafter. How hard are you willing to work for what you wish to attain? Sadly our society has moved to an entitlement attitude, and that attitude has infiltrated the church. God owes you nothing! You cannot claim the prize of Salvation, and return to living for this world and all the temporal sin pleasures found in it. A transformed heart is a heart that sees the need in love to sacrifice it’s life for the One whom gave it eternal life. A transformed heart is that of a disciple who truly puts Christ first in their lives, denying self, and seeking to serve Him with their life.

Luke 14:25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Are all of your daily efforts put into accomplishing the tasks at hand, the duties of the day, the things you must accomplish to get what you desire? Is Christianity to you for a couple hours on Sunday? Have you missed the opportunity to share you faith daily with those He places around you because you were too busy with the tasks that take your eyes off Christ? Are those tasks and mindset placed there by your enemy for that purpose……? Our daunting “to do” lists should have an unalterable priority; above the number one task. “How can I serve Him today?”

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 26, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags:

Prayer Partners

25 Jul

Prayer Partners

2 Corinthians 4:7-10    But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed– 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Oh how I wish this ministry was a journal sometimes; how I could pour out the details of my struggles here; but it is not to draw attention to me, it is to point you to God. In all of these trials I face, I only seek to show you that I am no different from you; I only seek to show you where my strength to endure them is found. Currently the enemy is in full assault; I am in physical pain, and being hammered with fear and doubt. I am struggling with prayer, and leaning on those close to me as intercessors for me to God. It is times like these that it is critical who you surround yourself with. Can you truly count on them to pray for you? Can they truly count on you to pray for them? When you struggle with words, you must possess and confide in friends that will lift you up to God; there is great power in those prayers.

I must borrow the commentary from my favorite study Bible on this scripture. “Hard pressed is translated ‘afflicted’ in 1:6. In the Greek text, and identical expression occurs in 7:5, where it is rendered ‘troubled on every side’. But in 7:5 Paul adds, ‘Outside were afflictions, inside were fears.’ Perplexed is derived from two Greek words: the word for no plus the word for way. Thus perplexed means ‘to be at a loss’. As believers, we will face trials. But we must remember that God controls trials and uses them to strengthen His people. God’s glory is manifested through broken vessels, through people who endure troubles by relying on His power.” If we were simply passing through life trouble free, where would we ever come to know God? It is in these times of trouble that we come to realize our need for Him.

It always bothers me when I struggle with prayer. Sometimes I just can’t seem to speak; the thoughts in my head get jumbled before they make it to my mouth. I stumble through repetitions that have no heart in them; they come from old habit. I am not an eloquent prayer person with all the “thou art” that seek to impress. I simply talk to God, and love talking to Him. I give Him the highest respect and reverent awe and fear that He deserves. I must know that in the times such as these trials, I have intercessors both as friends, and the Spirit living inside of me. He is with me, uttering the words when I cannot. Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Relying on faith and understand of God’s Sovereignty, and the knowledge of heavenly and earthy prayer partners is what brings us through the tough times in life.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 25, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Threefold Cord of Obedience

24 Jul

Threefold Cord of Obedience

Romans 5:1-5    Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Do you understand that living your life as a Christian, in it’s simplest form, is living a life of obedience? Living a life in honor to the One who gave you eternal life? Obeying the things He places on your heart? It is not following a set of rules and regulations; obeying a lawbook becomes legalism, and legalism moves to a point that you feel you obtain salvation on your ability to follow the laws on your own merit. A truly transformed heart is one that is led to obey out of the love that it has for the One who came to live there. There is an eternal difference is the heart that obeys out of duty, rather than the heart that obeys out of love. A heart of duty becomes a hard heart that stiffens at those calls of obedience; it has the “okay, if I must” attitude towards the call. The loving heart is humbled and in awe of the tugs the Spirit leads them to; it is honored to express it’s love in obedience to those calls.

A week ago I responded to one of those such calls. I knew I must obey, but I did not move in that duty of obedience, I moved in the awe of it. God lays these big things before us, all to draw us closer to Him thru our obedience. Satan creeps in the thoughts and shadows of it, and begins his work. These are the tribulations that Paul speaks of; Satan means them for evil, God means them for good. I am in the midst of these tribulations; I expected these tribulations, and I prayed and knew that God could be glorified through them. James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Over and over again you will hear testimony of how God did his greatest work in a believers life when they faced their greatest trials of life. These trials may not be the life changers, but the seemingly endless barrage of enemy fire that comes daily. In all of them, look to God for strength in them.

A friend of mine told me the other day of how the devil was riding his back. In the next sentence he said of how Satan must still not realize that Christ has risen. He is risen indeed; Satan and sin were eternally defeated at the cross; Paul speaks above of how you stand justified before a holy God that will declare eternal judgement one day. But as a child of His, you can rest in the faith, hope, and peace as Paul speaks of. The trials of life are the cords that twist you tighter to Him. That hope cannot be taken away by the world once you grasp the certainty of it. Those tugs of obedience, the loving heart that responds, the twists of the tribulations, all tighten and strengthen your cord of life found in Him.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 24, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Not vanity

21 Jul

Not vanity

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11   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. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

My work is very physically demanding; the hotter it gets the more I work. Friday a long day in the heat caught up to me; I suffered from dehydration all day Saturday. The results are extreme headaches and body fatigue, yet I also had to work again Saturday through it; the benefits of being self employed. Some days it really tugs on the mind, and this morning I thought of the book of Ecclesiastes after getting some more rest. This book of Solomon points to the vanity of life in so many ways; to those that pursue all the things in life, yet never think of the eternal life after this temporal one. At some point in your life you must realize the life after this; where you place your faith will determine your destiny.

The commentaries on the word vanity in Ecclesiastes are intriguing. There is much struggle to interpret the word correctly; many times it is referred to a vapor, which in a simple understanding is fleeting, or temporary. The word vanity is used 38 times in Ecclesiastes, and it is used in different nuances to describe what is being pursued. The book is a book of pursuit by the man who pursued knowledge; he found it as a gift from God, and came to realize it’s burden and loss. Ecclesiastes 1:16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. 18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The American Dream is the pursuit of “stuff”. The dream of the Christian should be their life after with Christ, and their evangelical pursuit of this life for others to know of Him. The entire Bible points to Christ, and our need for Him. The more time you spend there, the more you come to understand the vanity of this life. The more you understand what Solomon tires to describe, the more you will invest your energies in the eternal. You come to understand the the highs and lows of life are vanity, the demands of life are vanity, the only thing that is not fleeting is the eternal promise of the Hope that lies within you. A hearts desire to spread that Good News is the heart of a disciple, and that is what He called us to be.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 21, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Transformed

12 Jul

Transformed

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I have been spending some time in Romans, yesterday coming to this chapter that defines the Christian life and how to live it. Paul presents the summary of how we are to live our lives in just two short sentences; sacrificial love focused only on the One who provides eternal life. Yesterday seemed to bring an internal challenge of a life focused on the present, the problems of the day. Anxiety crept in late in the day, but a late night sermon and focus fought away that demon and rest was gained. This morning the problems of the day loom early, the demon of anxiety tries to awake; the demon tugs to focus on the things of this world and to steal my joy from the day. My mind races at 100mph in these early hours; a war between my ears of good and evil. I have come to expect and accept these battles at times like these; it lets me know I am in the center of God’s Will for me and my life in His Word and this keyboard. All my struggles can be used for good; God can take that which Satan means to draw my eyes away from Him, and draw me closer to Him. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Anything that I openly endure, can all be used to show you God’s mercy, grace, love, and provision for whatever I face. These bouts of anxiety and sometimes depression can all be used to point you to God; to show you how He gives me what I need in all of it. Suffering is only for a minute, and paradise is eternal.

All that I humbly do before you is to attest to the power of a changed life by seeking God every day in His Word and prayer. I lived the life in pursuit of all the lusts of the world for many years. I pursued anything and everything and idolized many things. I lived my life for the moment and the pleasures found in it. God was always a future plan I thought I had, on my timetable. My world changed with a great church and the realization of my sin. The sanctification process began in me, and my life truly changed when I began to read God’s Word every day. I lived my life in pursuit of Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. With that daily pursuit of Him first; arising early, and in prayer and His Word will change you. He will begin to reveal Himself to you like never before. All that you seek will be answered by the One who has all the answers. The renewing of your mind is found in  The Word. The key to a life that is not conformed to the world, is found in the Word. A genuine, humble heart that seeks God will find Him there, and come to understand more of Him there, and come to live their lives in pursuit of more of Him there

.IMG_0878

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on July 12, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →