All in Daily Devotion
When God is working in another’s life do you get in His way? Are you one of those people we refer to as a “fixer”, but who lets Himself get out of control on a regular basis? Do you find that in an attempt to repair a situation you come between God and the miracle He is about to perform? Do you let your own will and intellect overreach its bounds? Well if so, get ready to be corrected... and to possibly hurt lives.
If you were to look around right now would you see God in everything about you? Could you look at the items in the room, or the trees in your backyard and say “God, how magnificent you are!”, or would you struggle to find him? Seeing God in every aspect of our lives, and in every scene, thing, or occurrence that makes up our lives, takes spiritual training.
If you live according to the commandments, are you owed righteousness and everlasting life? How can we be so bold as to feel this way when into the vile pit of sin, and human debasement Jesus walked, suffered, took on sin, died, and was raised again... all for us in our undeserving state. He loved us first, he chose us in love before the creation of the world, and knew us while we were yet in our mother’s womb. How is it we feel entitled?
Has Jesus changed your life? Has He altered the very core of who you once were, or do you put Him on like a change of clothes each day to cover up the nakedness of sin that still exists underneath? We often portray one thing publicly, and then retreat into a private world that is quite different... is this you? Are there things you hide beneath your veneer of faith?
When God speaks do you answer straightway? When God says “Come” do you immediately go to Him? When Jesus says “Go do...” are you willing to drop whatever you are presently doing and go? By our very nature we are procrastinators, some of us more than others, but all of us have some degree of this trait in us. However, when God reaches out to us He expects action and not excuses., and for us to obey exactly as He has instructed.
Do you look back at your life of faith with regret? Do you look down and feel like a failure because you weren’t a Billy Graham, or made some great theological impact? This happens to pastors, missionaries, and church workers, quite often. How about those of us who are lay people, everyday Christians, and parishioners? Do you think that you have let Jesus down because you weren’t able to contribute a huge amount of money to the church, sit on the board, or head up a committee? Well stop right there!!
Do you have routine habits of faith? Are you made proficient in your faith by setting aside certain times each day to regularly read, pray, or just contemplate God, and Jesus? If not, and you are just depending on random thoughts, or going to church once or twice a week, then you are missing out on a wonderful growing relationship.
What bubbles up from within you during prayer? Do you ever begin to pray and then hear yourself as if from some far away place; speaking in a language of groans and utterances that you can’t translate into words, but feel perfectly conversant in within your heart? Our spirit, and the Holy Spirit that resides within us , speak in a dialect known only in heaven.
Who will I come into contact with today? Is there some chance happening that isn’t quite as chance as it might seem, and that the Lord will orchestrate for His purposes? There are many intercessions that occur during what we think are less than significant meetings.
How deep is your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you believed all your life that Jesus is the Son of God, and yet never been intimate with Him? Have you walked down the aisle weeping and confessing He is the Lord of your life, and then continued along with the reins of life held tight in your hands? Maybe you spend a lot of time trying to make yourself righteous by doing those things Jesus taught, but do them without ever having met our living Savior. In faith, true faith, we allow Him to make us righteous, and holy.
When you talk with a friend about Jesus in a public place do you speak in hushed tones? When someone asks you about Jesus in a crowded room do you whisper in their ear, or just nod you head? If so, let me tell you a couple of stories, and give you some scripture, that might change your behavior.
How often do we sin, then confess and ask for forgiveness only to find purity before retreating once again into that selfsame sin? How many battles must we fight with an adversary before they are at last declared defeated? Do we ask God to heal the wounds of sin, but neglect to ask that He fight for us?
Do you have a plan for your life? Have you set everything before you and determined what pieces of the puzzle go where, and begun the process of fitting them perfectly together? If so, there is probably a nice spot for God, another for Jesus, and oh yes, let’s not forget the Holy Spirit, but is that really how our life is formed, and our faith is shaped?
Do you go about rationalizing your own actions while claiming to be a servant of God and follower of Jesus? Do you use the good nature of God as an excuse for disobedience? If so, then you need to re-evaluate your faith. God may not be forcing you to do His will, but that doesn’t diminish it in the least.
We have been purchased with the very blood of Jesus, and have come to know Him. We have been baptized in water, and then again in the Holy Spirit as it was poured over, and into, us... born on the sweet breath of Christ Himself. Yet still we can find the allure of sin to be too great. How can this possibly be?