Devotions

Yesterday, I was overwhelmed. I had a period of weakness, of doubt, and of frustration. I felt confused and angry. I felt alone… I began to journal and as I did, the following excerpt began to materialize:

Every time I turn around, there is another obstacle. There is another pain. There is another set back. There is another roadblock. There is another something to make me question everything I believe in. I keep asking myself what good I can do for God by struggling constantly? How can I bring glory to the Almighty God if every time I pray, my words seemingly fall on deaf ears? I’ve gone from believing the impossible to finding it nearly impossible to believe. I keep asking myself why God never just delivers me from my troubles… why it seems as though I am able to depend more on people than on God Himself. Where is God in MY circumstances? I am starting to feel like the only reason I have faith is because I need to… or because I’m afraid not to. God, where are you?!

When I got to this point, memories of all the goodness God had shown me over the years began flooding my mind and I started to realize that my fear of God not coming through for me was clouding my perspective and disallowing me from focusing on the fact that He has never let me down. In telling myself that I am able to depend on people more than on God, I am overlooking the fact that God makes connections between people at particular moments in time for the purpose of provision for whatever their current needs may be. He orchestrates circumstances in order for His Will to be facilitated.

My spirit was in knots today, asking God WHERE He was in my circumstances and HOW I can bring Him glory when all I see is struggle. I needed the reminder that just because the way hadn’t been manifested today, doesn’t mean the way hasn’t been made. What was more important, however, was recognizing that I had questions for God I had buried within my heart. I had doubts and fears within my spirit that I had tucked away and ignored, refusing to allow them to process. In doing this, I had compromised not only the strength of my faith but my relationship with God. Most significantly, I undermined my own faith by ceasing to expect God to work in my favor.

REFLECTION

How many times have you allowed fear, doubt, and frustration to overwhelm you so much that you stop operating in expectation of God working in your life? Be reminded of what built your faith in the first place, and above all else never allow fear to keep you from being honest with God about your feelings. He already knows your thoughts, feels what is in your heart, and sees into the depths of your soul. You cannot deceive Him. You can only deceive yourself… and in the process, you destroy the intimacy you have with Him.

Psa 150:6 [show] Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
 Let every living creature praise the LORD. Shout praises to the LORD!

How many times have you excused yourself when you realize you haven’t been spending enough time in prayer; spending enough time with God… by saying He knows your heart and He knows you love him? If you were to treat your other relationships that way, none of them would be successful. There is only so long I would be able to take for granted that my husband knows I love him – to mentally love him without expressing affection toward him physically and spiritually. After a while, that would become a problem. The same is true for my relationship with God.

I cannot just continuously say He KNOWS…

I have to show Him. I have to love Him physically, mentally, and spiritually. I have to reflect my love for him in the behaviors I exhibit and the actions I take. Today, reflect on how you display proof of your love for God. The world doesn’t have to see it for God to see it, but if you stay focused on God, the world cannot help but to see it in everything you do. You should never have to tell someone you are a Christian… that should be evident.

If your prayer time is limited to simply what is convenient for you, that isn’t sufficient. Decide where you are and figure out where you need to be… What life changes do you need to make so that you are able to show God your love… so that you are proving your dedication to Him not just with your words, but with your entire life?

1 Cor 4:7 [show] For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (ESV)
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

What Paul is asking in this Scripture is basically, “Who do you think you are?!” No one is better than another person. Everything we have has been acquired by another source, so how can we boast of things we own by grace? How can we look down our noses at someone simply because we are lucky enough to have more than they possess? Our very lives are not our own. God gave us life, and He allows everything in it for one reason or another.

Next time your pride begins to grow into conceit, remind yourself that even your breath is received – it doesn’t originate from within you. It originates from within God and He can choose to give it or withhold it. You haven’t achieved anything on your own. The moment you begin to regard yourself more highly than you deserve is the moment your greatest blessings are transformed into your biggest curse. Self-glorification gets you nowhere because it is the meek that hold God’s inheritance. {Psa 37:11 [show] But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
& Mat 5:5 [show] "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (ESV)
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Keep yourself in [check] by continuously praising God. Give Him thanks for everything! If you allow yourself a consistent reminder that God’s presence in your life and His favor that covers you is the reason you’ve gotten where you are, you are less likely to lose sight of the fact that the glory of your accomplishments doesn’t even belong to you – because the gifts and talents that got you there didn’t originate within you… they originated in Him!

Jeremiah 21:2 [show] "Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us." (ESV)
“Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.”

King Zedekiah wanted Jeremiah to go to God on behalf of his people, hoping for a miracle. The problem with this was that the king wanted to be delivered… to be rescued by God out of the troubles facing him and his people – the people of Judah – without changing the behavior that had removed them from God’s protection to begin with. God’s response? In no uncertain terms, NO! God told Jeremiah to reveal to Zedekiah that not only would He not be helping them out of this turmoil, but would actually be fighting against them, showing favor to their Babylonian attackers as they advanced on Judah.

Jeremiah 21:5 [show] I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. (ESV)
“I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath.”

What had the people of Judah done that was so terrible to have angered God in this way? The biggest issue was idolatry. In their times of trouble, they had not turned to God – they had, instead, turned to God-substitutes. When you are troubled, do you turn to God? Or do you turn to God-substitutes and end up trusting in money, people, or other worldly/tangible factors to make you feel secure? Have you begun feeling as though God has been answering NO to your prayers? Have you begun to feel as though God is fighting against you instead of showing you favor?

Perhaps, like Zedekiah and the people of Judah, you have been hoping for a miracle from God without seeking His face… Perhaps you have been expecting Him to rescue you while putting your trust in those who are able to give you an audible answer rather than trusting the promises God already made through His written Word. Don’t continue on this path. Change the behavior that removed God’s protection from you to begin with, then seek His face and ask for His deliverance.

God’s desire is not to allow harm to come to you. In fact, just the opposite – God’s desire is to bless you, to cause you to prosper, and to lift you up for His glory. Many times, the things you go through are simply methods of weeding people out of your life so that you can focus on God and build your trust in Him – often, in order to do that He must strip the trust you have in people by letting you see how miserably they will fail you and let you down.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 [show] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (ESV)
“For I know the plans I have for you [...] plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you [...] and will bring you back from captivity.”

Don’t allow yourself to be destroyed by your own ways. Evaluate where your trust truly lies and if your faith is not solely in God, begin breaking the binds the world has placed on your heart; begin to recondition your mind and your spirit to focus on the strength that comes from the Lord; rejoice in the trials that cause you to look to Him as your help.

God never wants to tell you, “No.” You are His child – He wants you to delight in Him so that He may give you the desires of your heart! {Psalm 37:4 [show] Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
} God wants to open the floodgates of Heaven and send blessings into your life in such abundance that you won’t even know what to do with them! {Malachi 3:10 [show] Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (ESV)
} It is up to you to accept the offer of abundance in life… what are your actions and motives telling God? When our children seem to be stubbornly rejecting our guidance and authority, the best thing we can do is to allow them to fall so that they are able to learn to appreciate our protective role in their lives. God is doing the same with us!

James 4:13-17 [show] 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"-- 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. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (ESV)
says, “Pay attention to this! You’re saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.” 14 You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears. 15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans.” 16 However, you brag because you’re arrogant. All such bragging is evil. 17 Whoever knows what is right but doesn’t do it is sinning.”

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you feel you have done all you can to achieve a certain thing, only to be left empty handed and wondering what you’ve done wrong? The error in our ways is when, in the midst of our careful planning, we fail to wait on confirmation from the Lord. You can plan every detail and consider every possible opportunity and every potential issue, but if you have not given reverence to the control God has over your life, you are essentially exhibiting defiance and arrogance – bragging as though you know better for yourself than He does. When we do this, God naturally allows us to see exactly what we can move without Him: what is possible for man. The things only made possible through God are left at a stand-still as He waits on you to let go and give control back to Him.

Many times, our error also comes in listening too much to those around us. We let go of the plans God would have honored because others cause us to believe it wasn’t “meant to be” since we’ve not seen it come to pass in a time considered acceptable to them. Everyone is not always going to be in your corner; when you look around and you are alone, don’t lose confidence! Everyone is not going to support your vision; when you claim victory then find yourself receiving warnings of too-high hopes, do not be discouraged! Just because you have been working, praying, and waiting without seeing God move doesn’t mean that it’s time to give up. You serve a God that does not recognize the existence of too-high hopes! You serve a God that is not moved by the presence of a thousand in your entourage. You serve a God who is God all by Himself and whose power is not limited by the belief of those around you. His power in your life is limited only by the faith YOU have in His ability. Even then, it is not His power over your situation that is limited – it is your ability to receive the things made possible by His power over your situation that is limited.

Next time you find yourself making plans without aligning them with the Purpose God has for you, be wise enough to put your goals aside in order to allow God to orchestrate the completion of His plan in a manner that will bring Him glory through the blessings you receive. Next time you find yourself growing impatient and restless waiting on the Lord to move on your behalf or you are tempted to give up, remember that He is an on-time God and will never be made to be a liar. Most of the failures in life are due to simply giving up, not realizing how close you are to the end.

“…according to your faith, be it unto you.” -Matthew 9:29 [show] Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." (ESV)

There are so many things in life that often distract us and cause us to focus our attention on our worries and troubles. Each day has its own problems (Matthew 6:34 [show] "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)
) but no matter what we are up against, every struggle we have has one simple solution: faith!

As we reflect on the key Scripture from Matthew, we are met with such a strong word of hope – “it” is the object of our prayers, the thing we have sought but not yet found. “It” can be provision of any kind: spiritual, mental, or physical; tangible or not… peace, joy, companionship, success, prosperity, healing, deliverance, forgiveness, friendship, strength… or even something as simple as a good night’s rest or traveling grace as you make a quick trip to the store. God’s Word tells us that “it” will come into existence or come to pass – “it” will BE – according to the measure of your own faith. Why is this so amazing? Because it brings us to the realization that we are limited only by our own faith – God is limitless; we limit ourselves by not believing in His power over our lives – and by not giving Him control over our lives!

Things sought with ill or selfish intent will not be honored or even acknowledged by God, but those whose motives are good will find favor in the heart of God. (“And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.” -James 4:3 [show] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (ESV)
GNB) Don’t allow worry or lack of visible or natural manifestation to discourage you. God has heard you and will always be right on time!

“If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night’s sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.” – Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 [show] He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. (ESV)
GNB

We have all made the mistake of comparing our lives to the lives others live. We believe the more a person has, the less he has to worry about; we allow ourselves to be convinced that a life of “more” is a better life. How much more wrong could we be?! The life of a person enslaved by money is a miserable one. God’s Word says that you cannot worship Him while trusting in money to secure your future. Those who love money do not understand this; their money keeps them in abundance… makes them comfortable… but creates a situation where God is unnecessary. When they are on “top” they have no need for praise and worship or to glorify His name. When they fall is when they beg for mercy.

Our society has placed so much emphasis on status, brands, cliques… God did not promise an uneventful or even pleasant trip; He promised to go before us and ensure that we make it to our destination. He never once in His Word promises that we will always be comfortable here, but we have the promise that we will never suffer or need again once we are with Him. There are those who are generous, who help others, who put their money to good works for the Kingdom. They will never be without; they will not lie awake at night and worry because they know they cannot outgive God – they will continue to be blessed immeasurably because GOD’S GLORY is on their hearts.

I pray that you never feel less-favored because you don’t have things to give. If you stand as a witness for Christ… if you make God’s business YOUR business… if you give thanks to Him for what He has done… if you reach out to others and share the Word with them… if you live your life for God’s glory, you have given more than you can ever imagine: you’ve given YOURSELF… a living sacrifice to a perfect, unfailing God. You will be rewarded according to His riches!

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? For the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” – Matthew 6:31-34 [show] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)
MKJV

When do you talk to God most? Does He cross your mind when you wake in the morning? Is He in your conversations throughout the day? Is His presence evident in the way you act, the places you visit, and the company you keep? The Word tells us to seek God’s kingdom first – become a part of it, learn its ways, assimilate yourself to the heavenly culture, accept your place in the body of Christ… This is what the Bible tells us should be our first priority. We often get it backwards. Rather than seeking God and trusting in His provision, we spend so much of our time trying to make our ends meet that our spiritual life is neglected and we never become mature and complete.

Evaluate yourself honestly and determine whether or not God has your undivided attention. If not, chances are He is speaking things into your life that you aren’t receiving simply because you cannot hear Him. The question we all need to ask ourselves is this: Do I make time for God, or do I give Him part of the time I have left? We cannot continue giving God our “leftover” time and then wonder why we are receiving “leftover” blessings. Make God your first priority. All the work in the world can’t provide for you the blessing of peace. Troubles will always come; you will always have needs; life will always present opportunities for you to be distracted… but the moment that you begin to trust in yourself to provide for yourself, you begin to sacrifice your peace and your supernatural provision. Does God have YOUR attention?

When we are going through our trials and struggles, the first thing the devil would seek to steal is our joy. Why? Because if we still have our joy, it is impossible for him to destroy our hope. Joy is a gift from God – an unconditional gift that is only as fragile as our faith in Him. The question, then, becomes how strong is our faith? Are we truly depending on God in our troubles or are we looking to tangible solutions to our problems, such as help from the hands of others, or money?

O love the Lord, all ye his saints: the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. – Psalms 31:23-24 [show] Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

Don’t let yourself be deceived. Depending on, trusting in, and putting your hope in people presents only opportunity for disappointment as this is a very tall order for someone just as perfectly flawed as yourself. God, however, will never fail you… and unlike the many agendas of man, the only expectation God has of you is that you obey Him and believe on Him! Do not fear what may come – trust that if the worst comes to pass, God will protect you and see you through unharmed. In the midst of your storm, keep your faith and remember that no matter what, you still have JOY! … and there is still hope.

* Written by Kathleen Robertson February 25, 2009

You have done many miraculous things, O LORD my God. You have made many wonderful plans for us. No one compares to you! I will tell others about your miracles, which are more than I can count. Psalms 40:5 [show] You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
GW

How many times has God pulled you out of the quicksand? Do you realize all of the miraculous things God has done for you? Do you concern yourself with whether the path you’ve chosen lines up with His plan for you? It’s a new year… but more importantly, it’s a new day. Every day you wake up is a blessed opportunity to take advantage of whatever great thing you did not involve yourself in yesterday. Today, tomorrow… dare to dream; more importantly, dare to BELIEVE! In Mark 9:23, Jesus says, “As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes.” Yet, so many of us spend years wondering if there is a plan for our lives; confused as to what our purpose is, and unsure as to whether we truly have one. Think about all the times in your life that things have worked out for you without explanation… small, insignificant things as well as the things that may take your breath away: Coincidences that seem to be a little too coincidental; little miracles that add up to life-changing events… unlikely connections which caused a big break.

Concentrate on all of those little God-things and then consider everything He has seen you through, worked in your favor, and delivered you from… imagine what God can do in your life if you open your heart to Him! Testify to His goodness, and thank Him in advance, knowing that YOUR time is coming… and holding on to the promise of Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Commit yourself to honoring Him and when He opens that door you’ve waited patiently for, RUN through it… and don’t look back, giving Him the glory every step of the way!

* Written by Kathleen Robertson January 26, 2009