Morning Devotion

Readings: Jeremiah 7:1- 8:22, Psalm 118:1-4, Proverbs 27:5-6, Colossians 2:1-23

Today's reading in Jeremiah is where Jeremiah gives his first sermon to a backslidden Israel. The Lord's rebuke is strong because the people have forsaken Him and are worshiping idols. God's wrath is manifest as well as His grieving heart. I cannot fathom how God grieves over His people, but I can fathom the grief I feel when people I love turn their backs on God. Especially with my own adult children. As a parent you spend years trying your best to raise them up to love the Lord and to be examples to them of Christ. Some turn their backs on God and live in rebellion against Him. Such is the case of my own adult children. I pray for them continually and they keep getting further and further away from God. I use to blame myself. I use to question where did I go wrong? Where did my husband and I go wrong? Could we have been better examples? Of course we could have! But this does not justify the heart of why our children have chosen to live a life apart from Christ. John 6:44 says, 'No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him...' All this time focusing on what I did wrong was me trying to be the Holy Spirit in their lives. Father God has to draw them to Himself. It is not any effort or mistake on my part. If the Father draws them, they will seek Him and receive salvation. They cannot run from God Almighty when He draws them to Himself. When He draws them they receive salvation. Did they make a "so-called" decision at some point in their lives? Maybe they did. Was it genuine? Only God knows. But I firmly believe that when one is truly drawn by God and receives salvation it is forever. There is no turning back to the world or walking away from God. If the Spirit is leading, one cannot walk away from God. Yes, we have flesh. We make mistakes. And we may taste the world and not walk as we should in Christ. But never do we forsake Him if we are truly born-again. And a truly born-again Christian cannot love his sin and not repent and turn from them. Not if they are drawn by God. So many people walk around living life apart from God and are deceived into thinking just because they "made a decision" as a kid, they are forever saved. Salvation is not about making a decision. The Bible says Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. The word believe does not mean make a lip-sync decision and then live your life like you please. A truly born-again believer makes a life-time commitment to Christ. No turning back. No living like you please. All throughout life one may fall short along their spiritual journey, but never ever is there a forsaking. One cannot be unborn again. My New Testament reading today has a verse that sums this all up.

Colossians 2:6-7

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

I love how this begins. 

As we have received Christ Jesus the Lord.
So walk in Him.
Rooted and built up in Him.
Established in the faith.
As you have been taught.
Abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Looking back on the night God drew me to Him and I embraced His love and grace and was saved, I remember how I received Him. I hadn't had any concept whatsoever of God and a relationship with Him. But one night at a Baptist revival "I was taught" what the gospel was all about. In one night only, my life was changed. When I received Him I was full of joy and peace and love for Him I had never experienced. This verse tells us to continue to walk in Christ just as we first received Him. We are to be rooted and built up in Christ as our journey continues and we grow. We are to become ESTABLISHED in our faith. NO TURNING BACK. And we are to always abound with thanksgiving that God drew us. He chose us. He doesn't stop drawing us because once we are saved we have the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is truly in us we simply cannot forsake the Lord.

Almighty Father God,
Thank you for your Word and for reminding me today of Your great love for me. I am beyond thankful that You chose me and saved me from the pit of destruction. I am thankful that I have been truly born-again. Thank you for reminding me of the day you called me to salvation. Help me O God, to walk in that joy I felt that day. Thank you for helping me to grow day by day in this journey called life. May I always have a thankful heart and be mindful of who You are in my life. Amen.

 Morning Devotion

Readings: Jeremiah 1:1-2:37, Psalm 116:5-14, Proverbs 27:1, Philippians 3:1-21

Jeremiah 1:5a
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...

In this verse the LORD is speaking to Jeremiah and letting him know that He had a plan for Jeremiah even before he was born. He had planned for Jeremiah to be a prophet to proclaim a message to backslidden Israel.

God did not just know Jeremiah before he formed in the womb, but he also knew us as well. God had a special purpose for Jeremiah and set him apart from the time he was conceived. God has a purpose for each and every one of us as well. God knew before I was conceived that I would choose Him. God granted me faith to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. God knew the age I would believe. He knew what my circumstances would be. 

What is interesting to me is it says here before I formed you. Before we have bodies and are put in our mother's womb, God knows us. We have a soul that existed before we were even formed. While I will never fully understand all of this concept, it really puts into perspective how important we are to God. We may not believe that our lives matter or we may think we don't have a purpose in life. But God did not  make a mistake when he formed us. 

And what is sad is people who do not think twice about abortion. Life is more than our bodies. Life begins with God and a soul. And wicked human beings today want to try and destroy the life God has formed to bring into this world. 

It is very encouraging to me knowing God has a plan and a purpose for me before I was even formed in the womb. I have days that I sometimes feel discouraged due to the handicaps I have. The health issues I have faced all of my life sometimes causes me to question my existence. I find myself asking God what purpose do you have for me? The enemy comes in and tries to convince me I am of no use because of my limited mobility. I have to recognize the lies of the enemy and allow God to wash those thoughts out of my mind. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Surprisingly the answer on how to do this is also found in today's reading.

Philippians 3:13b-14
But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I can sit back and dwell on the past and how I got to the point of being handicapped and allow the enemy to discourage me and tell me lies. Or I can choose to forget past mistakes and reach forward to what God has in store for me no matter what handicaps I face. He has a plan even when our bodies are limited. We are never useless to God unless we choose to be. 

God can and does use every single person on this earth for His purposes. We may not see it or know it. Many believe they are in control of their own lives. But God is sovereign and He has control. 

So in conclusion, I am in awe knowing that God knew me personally before I was born. He knew the handicaps I would face in life. Yet He chose me.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my life. Thank you for choosing me to be your servant. Amen.

Morning Devotion

These devotions I post will not be my usual inductive bible study nor any sort of expository study of His Word. It is simply devotions; whether it be in the morning or evening or the wee hours of the night. It is meant for me to reflect on life itself and see things in His Word that speak to me personally or give me something in life to reflect on; hence the word devotion. For my daily reading I use The MacArthur Daily Bible which John MacArthur designed for the Bible to be read in one year. Each day there is a reading from the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament.

Reading for today: Isaiah 65-66, Psalm 116:1-4, Proverbs 26:28, Philippians 2:1-30

Isaiah 65:2-3a

I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts; a people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face...

 All throughout the Old Testament the nation of Israel rebelled against the LORD many times. They were not faithful to God as God was faithful to them. These particular verses stuck out for me as it brought my mind to how this world is today. 

A rebellious people
Who walk in a way that is not good
According to their own thoughts
A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face

We can easily say oh, this is how unbelievers live. And while that is true, I began to ponder that believers today find themselves in this same boat from time to time. I believe every single person in life goes through some sort of rebellion against the LORD in their lives. We are all flawed human beings. We want what we want many times in our lives. There is not a believer on this earth that can say they walk perfectly before God and live completely 100% in obedience to Him. Praise God for grace and mercy! So for me personally, I ask myself these questions based on these words above: Am I rebellious in any area of my life toward God? Am I walking in a way that is not good according to my own thoughts rather than trusting God? Do I provoke God to anger by my lifestyle or my actions or even my thoughts? There is a light at the end of the tunnel if we find ourselves in this sort of rebellion against God. It's called forgiveness. The beauty of being a Christian is that we don't have to continue in rebellion. We can receive forgiveness from the LORD. As believers we have the Holy Spirit to convict us and show us where we are at fault. An unbeliever has no concept that they are rebelling against the LORD. Until the Spirit of God convicts them they walk in darkness and rebellion. And unfortunately this is how most of the world is living. 

Sovereign Father God,
Thank you for showing me today through Your Word how a rebellious heart brings you grieve and provokes You to anger. Thank you for showing me the areas of my life that I need to reflect on. Thank you for placing a stronger burden on my heart to pray for our nation who desperately needs You. Amen.

 How Does Expressing Gratitude Change Your Perspective on Circumstances?

It is common in human nature to look at our circumstances and react to them. Our reactions aren't always godly ones and especially in hard times we tend to focus on the hard time rather than trust in God. A long time ago, I made up my mind that I needed to be grateful each and every day just to be alive. Each time I pray I thank God for my life first and foremost. Right now as I type this we are going through extreme hard times and in the midst of this I try to maintain a spirit of gratitude and to see the blessings rather than focus on the hardship. It is hard sometimes. Just recently with hurricane Helene it brought to my heart more gratitude than I ever could imagine for myself. I have no room whatsoever to complain at all. Some of these people that went through that hurricane are going through probably the worse thing they have ever gone through. I ask myself, how would I react to such a thing? Would I be able to express gratitude had I gone through it? How can one be grateful to lose everything they have ever built for themselves? How can one be grateful when they have lost loved ones through such a tragic event? Gratitude is probably not the first thing on their minds and I am not sure it would be on mine had I gone through such a thing. My circumstances right now are tough and I have been through tough times before. God has always gotten us through. And being the gracious and merciful God He is, He has gotten us through the hardest of times even when we had no gratitude in our hearts. But I have learned through the years that if I express gratitude even for the slightest thing rather than murmur or complain it helps me to maintain joy in the midst of the hardest of times. When I express gratitude it proves that I trust God completely and my circumstances are not my focus, but instead He is. And when my focus is on God it is easy to find lots of ways to be grateful. My circumstances do not seem overwhelming when there is gratitude in my heart. And just like with this recent hurricane, there is always something worse to compare my hard times to. God always keeps before me reasons to just be grateful.