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Passionate Devotion

Passionate Devotion
John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
I needed an encouraging word this morning; in my prayer time I pled for God to do so. So much on my mind, the pressures of life come, everything to take my focus off Him. I am no different that you; I struggle just like you in many of the same ways as you. My heart was changed no so long ago, and now my heart yearns for the life after this one, with the One who forgave me and provided that opportunity. That realization has produced in me a passion to seek, serve, and obey my Savior. It is against the current in all that a heart for this world produces. It goes against all that the sin in this world glorifies. That driving force, that love for Christ, must be strong enough to withstand all that comes against that devotion. It must go where it is led by Him; it must endure what is allowed by Him; it must be enabled by Him to continue on at all costs. A disciples heart is a devoted heart to only one cause; their love for Christ, and all that comes with it.
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
Service Of Passionate Devotion
Lovest thou Me? . . . Feed My sheep. — John 21:16
Jesus did not say – Make converts to your way of thinking, but look after My sheep, see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Me. We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. “If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple.” There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply – If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says – “Now I see Who Jesus is,” and that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade. Our Lord’s first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).

 
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Posted by on June 19, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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It’s hard sometimes

It’s hard sometimes

1 Peter 5:8 -9  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

This summer has seemed to bring much more stress and problems than usual. Everything that can go wrong has; odd problems, problems rarely seen, things that just don’t happen, seem to happen anyhow. I have gotten to the breaking point over and over again, ready to lash out at the world and just scream. The flesh inside of me screams “why me?” I have even found myself curse; which by God’s hand he delivered me from that sin early in the sanctification process of my life. By God’s mercy and grace, I have not snapped yet; only through his provision and my hearts desire to stay abiding as his disciple have I not. It has been very hard…….

I read this passage above in my daily devotional this morning. I do understand and see much of my life through a spiritual lens; a lens of discernment from which many of my problems arise. My adversary knows my heart for God and his goal is to keep my heart from God; to cause me to lash out at God; to return to my old sinful self that he was proud of. When you turn your life over to Christ, you do not get to press the “Easy Button”. Satan has a real reason to pursue you with increased diligence, for you have “switched sides”. It is a lie from hell being preached in the world today of a life of ease as a Christian. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. We are taught to live for eternity.

2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. All that our outward man, that is all that we battle in the flesh, is the result of sin. Satan is in control of this world; the outward world, the one that is flesh and perishing. God has him on a leash, he can only go as far as God allows, but all his work is perishing. Only those that are in Christ are living for the world to come; a world perfect without Satan & sin, with renewed heavenly bodies, a world with Christ alone in his kingdom. Keeping our eyes on the eternal goal gives us the strength to understand all these problems are from a defeated enemy. Know that you are not alone in your struggles, but seek the brotherhood of faith to assist you in them.

 
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Posted by on June 17, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Get back up

Get back up

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Satan loves to find that which troubles us and press us there. He works his evil by continuing to strike us where is hurts. I could go down three or four roads where I am taking his blows right now. All of them hurt, and he seeks to take my eyes off Christ and concentrate on the pain. He wants me to lash out at God with the “why me”; or the anger that comes in it. He wants me to rebel against God and all that He has planned for me. Satan wants me to concentrate on the temporal situations, and not the eternal solution. God is allowing these trials to show me his work in them. I am so tired; mentally and physically in so many ways. I feel like the prize fighter who is entering the 12th round, battered and bruised but determined to win the fight.

I understand how lucky I am in so many ways compared to most. I know the blessings I have outweigh those that have not so much. I know that my troubles seem small to so many that face real struggles. I know that Satan is just as good at striking you as he is me. Paul was one who suffered immeasurably for Christ; yet through all of it he gave us most of the New Testament. When Ananias was called by God to go see Paul, the Lord told him the plans he had for Paul. Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Sometimes when I look at my life before Christ, I feel that I too should have to suffer for His name.

So much I read talks about suffering for Christ. Are you willing to suffer for Him? Are you wanting the life of ease and the blessings that all these false prophets preach today? Are you truly swept away by their feel good gospel that never talks of suffering? Do you believe that Christ paid the ultimate price for you to have everything you wanted on this temporal earth that Satan rules? Don’t you think that He is more concerned with your eternal destiny, than at best a 100 years here? Philippians 1:29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Indifference found in religion

Indifference found in religion

Revelation 3:17-18   For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. (ESV)

I live in the land of excess; the country I live in, right down to the community I live in. The banking industry and wealth surround me. People that are consumed with all the worldly possessions they can attain; excess to a high degree, working to impress all those they do no know. I lived that life in the pursuit of happiness through “stuff” for most of my life. I grabbed for all I could attain; the temporal pleasure wore off, I moved to the next conquest. The cycle is endless, for just as the Laodecians are described here, I was spiritually blind to my lostness. That desire I was trying to fill, was a hole in my soul that could not be filled by anything found here. “The riches of the body will not enrich the soul; the sight of the body will not enlighten the soul; the most convenient house for the body will not afford rest nor safety to the soul. The soul is a different thing from the body, and must have accommodation suitable to its nature, or else in the midst of bodily prosperity it will be wretched and miserable.” (Matthew Henry)

The Laodecian’s thought they were at the peak of their lives in so many ways. They felt rich, and blessed by God in so many ways to a point that pride had creeped into their religion. Their chests were puffed out to the point their hearts were hardened and indifferent to God. They thought they had all they needed; they felt as though they had attained, forgetting about the power of God through provision and grace. They just became indifferent and seemingly numb to all that came to a true heart for God. Pride and humbleness are polar opposites; pride can creep into your religion and close the door to God. Christ saw their hearts and knew how far they were from him. He sees your heart and knows the level of your true religion; is it religion or is it relationship with Him? Religion kills the soul for it produces the acts that lead to works that save. Those works that save are built on pride in accomplishment; that pride grows indifference, a false security found in religion. The false security of religion found in weekly pew attendance, will become a south bound bus seat for your soul.

Have your eyes been opened? Do you desire to know that He has what you need for your soul? Do you understand that a true heart for him leads to paradise, and is only found with a humble repentant heart? “Doubtless there are many in hell that once thought themselves to be in the way to heaven. Let us daily beg of God that we may not be left to flatter and deceive ourselves in the concerns of our souls.” (Matthew Henry). Is Christ tugging at your heart? He provides the key in the next passage: 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. He can take your indifferent heart and save your soul eternally. He can provide you what you will never find in the pursuit of stuff, or the indifference found in religion. He can give you what truly satisfies your soul, and use you to draw others to Himself,  with your testimony of a changed life found in Him.

 
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Posted by on June 11, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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It should make you squirm

It should make you squirm

Revelation 3:14-16    Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God’s Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God’s creation, says: 15 “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot – far better to be either cold or hot! 16 You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. (The Message)

Those in the church of Laodicea are the worst of all; they are indifferent to all that is religion; they are content and stale in themselves and have no passion about them. The analogy of lukewarm water here; lukewarm serves no purpose of any kind. Cold water soothes from the heat, and warm water soothes from the cold; lukewarm does neither, it has no effect. Matthew Henry states, “Lukewarmness or indifference in religion is the worst temper in the world. If religion is a real thing, it is the most excellent thing, and therefore we should be in good earnest in it; if it is not a real thing, it is the vilest imposture, and we should be earnest against it. If religion is worth any thing, it is worth every thing; an indifference here is inexcusable: Why halt you between two opinions? If God be God, follow him; if Baal (be God), follow him. Here is no room for neutrality. An open enemy shall have a fairer quarter than a perfidious neuter; and there is more hope of a heathen than of such. Christ expects that men should declare themselves in earnest either for him or against him.” He is quoting from 1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Elijah had challenged the followers of the satanic god Baal to an act of his supposed power; understandably their god failed; Elijah called down fire from heaven before everyone and consumed all the sacrifice in the power of the only true God.

A ho-hum attitude to all that is religion disgust God. The indifference to the One who created, sustained, and sacrificed all, is to spit in the face of Him. This is an elevation of pride that comes in the next passages; the feeling that oneself has attained all that they have. These hearts have not been humbled by the Lord. Are they so indecisive that they simply cannot make a decision? Are they so weak they are not able to make a stand for Baal or the Lord God? Do you have that attitude of indifference towards religion? Do you feel nothing either way; do you say “What does it matter anyhow?” This sicken’s the Lord; even those that take a stand against him have a better chance of being changed by the grace found through Him than a person who simply drifts.

There is much more to unpack in the half-hearted Christian found in this church. This is where many of us find ourselves today; I found myself living for the world but thinking I was just good enough to get into heaven. I felt my good deeds outweighed my bad; I felt that my upbringing and my sporadic church attendance would pay my way. The scariest passage in the Bible grabbed me; Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!‘ A glimpse of that understanding awoke me; a glimpse of reverent fear found there put a passion in me. These two passages should spark that same fear and produce a changed life that is far from indifferent to all that is religion; they should produce the life of a disciple; a life dedicated to the One who gives it eternally. Do they stir your soul too?

 
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Posted by on June 10, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Holy Mirror

Holy Mirror

Revelation 2:23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

In the midst of all the letters to the seven churches, Christ is proving that He knows the heart. Here He is speaking to the church at Thyatira, where a seductress is leading the church and leading the men of the church into sexual sin with her. She has been called to repent, but turned her back on God. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Christ is pronouncing the judgement due for the un-repented hearts that live in this great sin. What must be seen in all of these pronouncements to the churches, is that only God knows our true hearts, which drives our motives and actions in all that we do; Pslam 44:21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. There should be a reverent fear in us with the understanding that there are no secrets with God. These letters to the seven churches reveal the evidences of that Sovereignty, and with it should come holy fear.

When you look at your life in the mirror, what evidence do you see of Christ? These letters to the churches are a mirror to the churches of their good, bad, false, and true traits only known by God. This is a holy mirror that will reveal all is known of their hearts. When you look at your life as a student; what was the assignment of the teacher? Christ called you to be a disciple, to spread the hope found in him to all that would hear. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. These were Christ’s last words as he ascended into heaven; when he returns he will ask (and already know), how did you do with the assignment. What evidences are in your life of the price He paid for your life?

Only two of the seven churches received no condemnation; Smyrna and Philadelphia. They exhibited grace and endured persecution all while keeping His Word and and honoring His name. They lived lives focused on eternity, and the promises found in the price He had paid for that eternity for them. They endured the trials of life for their short time here; they sought to keep true to the faith in the face of evil and persecution. As the faithful in Smyrna were told, they understood the promise to those that lived their lives faithfully to Him. They understood that this life was temporary, but what awaited them was eternal paradise after this one. Revelation 2:11b :He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. A life that truly grasps this temporal, and the coming eternal, is a life that will reflect Christ. If you understand the price that was paid with a Holy sacrifice, you will do all that you can to live your life to honor that sacrifice. Anything less is found in these letters to the seven churches.

 
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Posted by on June 9, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Even kings take notice

Even kings take notice

Genesis 26:3-5    Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

Someone close to me pointed me to Genesis last night, primarily the story of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Isaac had followed in his fathers footsteps in so many ways. He had fled the land when there was famine; he had feared for his life like Abraham had with Sarah and lied about it; but just like Abraham he had sought God in all of it. He spent his life listening to God and working all his life for God. He repeatedly dug wells to provide water, and avoided confrontations over the wells; he simply moved to anther until he felt God tell him all was ok, and this one was his. He continually sought God’s direction, and listened and obeyed when God spoke. His life drew the attention of those that noticed the anointing he had, and even pagan kings let him pass freely in fear of Isaac’s God.

God is not slack on his promises. God told Abraham he would bless him, and He reminded Isaac of that covenant with his father. Isaac would seek to remain in the center of God’s will in all that he did. He would fail at times, but his heart was after God and the things of God, and he was a testimony to those he came in contact with. How hard do you try to live your life for God? How much time do you invest in seeking God in prayer and his Word? There is a direct relation to that time and the anointing that you have in your life. How will you hear the voice of God; bigger question is how will you discern it is the voice of God? Only a heart for God? 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Abimelech, the pagan king who told Isaac to flee his land after Isaac lied to him, was so impacted by Isaac that he wanted peace with him. He sought Isaac out in another land to form an oath of peace. Genesis 26:28 But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ “ You can be just as Isaac; you can become a disciple of Christ, with the anointing of Christ for all to see in this world far from God. He can use you to attest to the power He has, and use you to reach others with your life. All you must do is to seek God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul; listen and obey Him when he speaks to you, and others will take notice of your love of your Lord just as the pagan king saw in Isaac.

 
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Posted by on May 31, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Soldier disciples

Soldier disciples

John 15:8-17    By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

It’s Memorial Day, the day when we solemnly remember those who have paid the ultimate price, sacrificing their lives for ours. Those who have died fighting for our freedom, paying the ultimate price for those who may not even appreciate the price that they have paid. We take time to remember those who were the good soldiers; fighting for a cause they believed in to the point of death. Can you see the similarity in what Christ has done for you? Can you see that He paid the ultimate price to pay for your freedom from the eternal pain of sin? The One who created you, died to save you, to give his life for yours; I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b).

The apostle Paul in his final letter to Timothy, uses the analogy of a soldier; Timothy must understand that the road as a disciple of Christ will be as a soldier for Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. I am reading an incredibly powerful book, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that goes into detail the call of discipleship that is placed by Christ on those he calls. Of the conscious act of making that commitment to follow His call. To place that effort in the act of obedience to what He lays on our heart. In this act of free will, is the heart of a disciple; a heart that desires to draw nearer to Christ in these acts of immediate obedience to what He calls us to do. This intimacy is found, cultivated, and continually sought in the life of a soldier, a disciple of Christ’s.

Do you claim the promises of Christ, but yet fail to live for Him? Do you in your mind see yourself in heaven since you signed a paper, or prayed a prayer? Do you have any evidences in your heart that something changed; is there evidences in your external of the internal change? Will you obey or delay that call He placed on you? Will you become a disciple of His even if it means to the point of death; dying to yourself and the false needs wrapped up in the ideal of sin from your enemy? Your enemy lurks behind your front lines placing doubt and false desire. A good soldier for Christ only seeks to please the One who enlisted him, who called him out to be a soldier for the heavenly army. Place your life’s focus, trust, and obedience in the commander of the heavenly army that will have assured victory over Satan and sin in the end; the beginning of eternal paradise for His soldiers.

 
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Posted by on May 27, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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It all works out

It all works out

Jeremiah 29:11-13    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

The prophet Jeremiah was speaking to Judah, telling them to hang in there and not forsake God in their captivity. God was promising to deliver them from their captivity at the end of seventy years. There was hope that lied in Jeremiah’s prophecy for those that kept the eyes and hearts on God. God’s sovereignty is something we simply cannot grasp in our limited understanding; He is all knowing, past, present, and future. He holds everything in control, and he is not limited by time. We come to question the events in our lives, but this is doubt planted by Satan, and a small grasp of sovereignty will secure that hope in our hearts. Matthew Henry put it well, “We are sometimes ready to fear that God’s designs concerning us are all against us; but he knows the contrary concerning his own people, that they are thoughts of good and not of evil; even that which seems evil is designed for good. His thoughts are all working towards the expected end, which he will give in due time.”

Everything in your life, good or bad, is either allowed, or designed by God. All of it can either draw you closer to Him, or take your eyes off of him. When you know that you under His sovereignty, you will rest in it. You will seek Him to understand, or better yet to just draw closer to Him in it. The understanding may not come on your timetable, but the trial produces intimacy only found during 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. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. When you are getting knocked down, and those 1 2 3 blows seem to come, go to your knees, in prayer. Pour your heart out to God for strength found only in Him.

I am speaking to myself, for I have had a couple weeks full of punches. I have had “Murphy’s Law” two weeks at work, almost to the point of being comical to keep from crying. I have seen my oldest son get sick, when I thought he was ok and passed it off. I have had a rough couple of weeks while my wife has been on a mission trip abroad in many ways. She is out spreading the Good News of the hope that lies within her, and Satan has tried to take our eyes at home off the One she is speaking about. Spiritual warfare is fought on a heavenly plain; one that we cannot see, but we can feel. Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. In the great trial of Job, he did not understand that God meant if for good, but Job ultimately came to that understanding in God’s timing when he did not let his faith fail.

 
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Posted by on May 25, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Rough week

Rough week

Ephesians 4:22-24    that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

It has been an incredibly long, stressful week. The demands at work have simply been more than I could keep up with alone; I could have tripled my work force with the demand. It has been one of those Murphy’s Law weeks; every thing that could go wrong did, and three times on a large scale. Anger, anxiety, depression, and temptation seemed to have been at every turn. I seemed to have been tempted to return to my old self, over and over again in so many ways. Satan has been after me this week with a gun blazn’ assault. I failed myself and my Lord in the heat of battle a few times. Conviction set in, and I am thankful for it. That steep conviction of sin in my gut is an assurance of Salvation to me; I know that I have grieved the Holy Spirit living inside me, for I know that Christ lives there. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Ephesians tells us of these struggles that we will face for our time here. Paul wrote to those in Ephesus to encourage them of how to live in their faith as believers in Christ; of how to face all the troubles before them with the hope that lived in them. My study Bible titles Ephesians 4:17-24 “The New Man.” I and you are a new person in Christ. We will still face the troubles and temptations of this world, many times direct attacks from our enemy to take our eyes off Christ. Throughout Ephesians Paul points us to how to face them; not alone but in the likeness of Christ. Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. The ultimate goal of God for you is to make you more like His Son.

Ephesians 5:8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (ESV). This week has been a week to remind me of how far I was from God for so much of my life. This week has been a week to make me realize God’s grace given to me, an undeserving soul. This week has been a week to make me realize I am a work in progress; I will fail and I will seek forgiveness for all my life. Ephesians is a great place to go spend time when you need a reminder of who you are, and how you are to live your life as a Christian. Even when you have a week like mine, you are still a child of His.

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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