“But God, led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.” Exodus 13:18
If we were mapping out the journey for Israel, we would have made a “be line” straight to Canaan … the shortest, quickest, and the path of least resistance. But God knew what was in the heart of these uncommitted people. It was only an eleven days journey to Kadesh-Barnea after God led them out of their bondage in Egypt. Moses gathered together the twelve “best” men of all Israel, the best one from each tribe to spy out the land. They performed their mission and gave Moses their report.
At this point, they were poised to enter Canaan. God had promised them the land. According to Joshua and Caleb, there was nothing to hinder them from entering in and “possessing what God had already conquered for them!” Ten of the spies saw strong walled cities, they saw men as “giants,” the land eateth up the inhabitants … they saw “EVERYTHING BUT GOD!” The circumstances blinded their eyes and unbelief engulfed their hearts. Have you been there? I have, and was utterly defeated by my own ‘yielding to circumstances’ rather than “daring to trust” God ‘in’ them
God was not going to impose His Will on Israel or “make them” enter the land when they were not willing to trust Him. You might say, “How stupid could they be? God promised to give them victory over every foe, provide a land that flows with milk and honey, and lead them by His presence and power. What more could they ask?” Has God not provided us with a greater, more gracious, and an abundant covenant than they had? Before us lies “acres of diamonds” ready to be claimed, and we stroll by unaffected, untouched, and unwilling to reach out to those so urgently in need physically, emotionally, and spiritually! We stand blinded by the comfort and cares of our own selfish life-style.
Caleb said, “they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them.” Let us go in, ‘not to conquer the enemy’ … BUT TO POSSESS WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY WON FOR US ! Is it any wonder God looked down on this scene with disgust, at the unbelief of those whom He had just delivered from 400 years of abuse, slavery, and captivity, only to see them encumbered with unbelief. They turned “eleven days journey into forty years of wandering in the wilderness.” Jordon and the wilderness were not in God’s plan for them … that was the result of “their choice!” UNBELIEF RULED!
Are you at “Kadesh-Barnea” in your life? Poised in unbelief before all that God wants to do in your life? Are you stymied, frustrated, and in doubt whether to take refuge in the illusive security of this world … or “Dare to Believe” in ONE who wants to give you freedom from your bondage. What an unbelievable decision they made, and the consequences that befell them! You might say, “Well, what was the result?” NOT ONE of the Israelites that left Egypt entered the “promised land!” … Only Joshua and Caleb. THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELEF!
God has a Plan and Purpose for your life! Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.” [John 10:10] He wants you to experience His Peace, His Joy, His Love, His Grace. But this must first begin with receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Then your “Spiritual Journey” begins with the joy of “walking in a blessed companionship” with the LORD! He will be your Sufficiency for Every Encounter! ONLY BELIEVE!
From: Literature International Ministries - Ed Powell
Monday, September 1, 2008
Grace And Peace Unto You
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Labels: Bible Devotionals, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, God's Sufficient Grace, Instant Daily Devotion, Spiritual Encouragement
Labels: Bible Devotionals, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, God's Sufficient Grace, Instant Daily Devotion, Spiritual Encouragement
God Is Good
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Labels: Bible Devotionals, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, God Truly Provides, God's Sufficient Grace, Instant Daily Devotion, Spiritual Reminder
Labels: Bible Devotionals, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, God Truly Provides, God's Sufficient Grace, Instant Daily Devotion, Spiritual Reminder
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"...there is no foundation for comfort in the enjoyments of this life, but in the assurance that a wise and good God governeth the world..." - William Law
Last year, we wrote a three-part devotional series titled, "Asking God for Help". The main teaching of that series was that we need to ask God for help in all difficult situations, large or small. God wants us to ask and He stands ready to help us, but we have to be prepared to accept His solution according to His timing, for He knows how and when to work things out.
Asking for help is easy and costs us nothing except a few moments of our time. Most Christians do this frequently and automatically whenever difficulties present themselves, but there is usually a little shade of doubt that their prayers will do any good. We tend to petition God "just-in-case" it might actually help, but in reality, we surreptitiously expect that either things aren't going to work out, or that we are going to have to get the job done ourselves. For the most part, we live as deists. We understand intellectually that God is in charge, but practically, we go about our business as though he's nowhere to be found and that we're going to have to steer the ship in his absence.
We fail to live in the truth of Romans 8:28 because subconsciously, we don't fully believe that God is good. We don't believe that He loves us, nor do we completely trust that he has our best interests at heart. To use a favorite phrase of author John Eldredge, we suspect that God is holding out on us.
Why do we hold onto these doubts when scripture is so unambiguous about God's endless love and immeasurable goodness?
First, many of our relationships on earth result in betrayal. We believe that we can't really trust anyone because so often when we trust someone close to use, they let us down. This leaves many of us wondering if we can really trust God to come through when we need Him the most. We especially tend to relate to God in the same way as we related to our earthly fathers when we were young. We unintentionally ascribe to him the same failings and deficiencies we witnessed in our own fathers. If our father was not around when we needed Him, we expect God to be absent too. If our father was strict or had difficulty expressing his love for us then we expect God to be the same. Relating to God as a loving Father is especially difficult for those whose own fathers were abusive.
Secondly, undermining our belief that God is good and trustworthy is one of the oldest and most powerful weapons that Satan wields. It began long ago in the Garden. "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5) One can almost see the changing expression on Eve's face as she wonders, "Really? Can I not trust God? Did He lie to me?" The devil will do whatever he can to make you doubt God's benevolence and cause you ask the question, " Is He holding out on me"?
Finally, our lack of trust in God stems from the observation that this fallen world can be so exceptionally evil. All we can do is wonder at the meaning of it, for we lack God's ability to see how all the puzzle pieces are going to come together in the end to form a beautiful picture. For us, the world just seems to be a random, chaotic collage. We cannot see the glorious pattern God is weaving though it all, and so we wonder in the midst of this confusion if He has walked away and abandoned the world to its own devices.
How, then, can we overcome our inability to trust in God and his goodness?
First, we need to understand what is really meant by the phrase, "God is good." What it does not mean is that there is some universally accepted standard of goodness which, if we are to judge His motives and character, God can always be counted on to meet. If this were so, where did this standard come from? Who is able to stand in judgment of God to rate his goodness according to this standard?
The phrase "God is good" is not telling us anything about God's performance or record of achievement. The phrase does not, in fact, tell us anything at all about God. The statement, rather, is telling us about that standard of goodness. It does not answer the question, "What is God like?" It answers the question, "what is goodness like?", and the answer is God.
It would be meaningless to even try to judge God by the very standard which He defines. It would be like trying to judge the wetness of pure water, since water is the very essence that defines wetness. There is no higher authority than God by which we can make an appeal to the nature of right and wrong. Whatever he decrees to be good is good and whatever he decrees to be evil is evil.
The application of this important concept is simply this: we must be wary of judging God. We do this whenever we harbor expectations about what we think God should or should not do in any given situation. We "expect" God to heal our friend with cancer, or we "expected" Him to stop that drunk driver who took the life of our loved one. It's so easy to doubt God's goodness whenever we think we know what's right and wrong, and to then turn around and accuse Him of clearly missing the mark of an obvious standard of righteousness. It's especially easy when the enemy is whispering in our ear, casting aspersions.
We have to let go of our expectations of God. His plan is good, and for some reason beyond our comprehension, it does sometimes include allowing death, war and disease. I don't know why God sometimes determines it's necessary to allow evil, while other times He intervenes to prevent it. I don't understand His total plan from beginning to end. But I know it's good.
What a huge, awesome responsibility it is to require ourselves to understand the entirety of His plan before we will trust Him! If we will instead step back and trust in His inherent goodness, never question His motives and restrain the impulse to judge God when we don't understand, we will have much greater peace when trouble comes.
This is an extremely difficult teaching, surely one of the most difficult in Christianity. If you're struggling with this, as most of us do, ask the Holy Spirit to help you now. Pray that the pride that causes you to hold God in judgment will be lifted away. When things don't make sense and you cannot see how good will ever come from tragedy, ask the Holy Spirit to humble you so that you can overcome the need to understand God's purposes and simply trust and abide in His perfect goodness.
By God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, may this devotional be a blessing to you today.
From: Delve Into Jesus
"...there is no foundation for comfort in the enjoyments of this life, but in the assurance that a wise and good God governeth the world..." - William Law
Last year, we wrote a three-part devotional series titled, "Asking God for Help". The main teaching of that series was that we need to ask God for help in all difficult situations, large or small. God wants us to ask and He stands ready to help us, but we have to be prepared to accept His solution according to His timing, for He knows how and when to work things out.
Asking for help is easy and costs us nothing except a few moments of our time. Most Christians do this frequently and automatically whenever difficulties present themselves, but there is usually a little shade of doubt that their prayers will do any good. We tend to petition God "just-in-case" it might actually help, but in reality, we surreptitiously expect that either things aren't going to work out, or that we are going to have to get the job done ourselves. For the most part, we live as deists. We understand intellectually that God is in charge, but practically, we go about our business as though he's nowhere to be found and that we're going to have to steer the ship in his absence.
We fail to live in the truth of Romans 8:28 because subconsciously, we don't fully believe that God is good. We don't believe that He loves us, nor do we completely trust that he has our best interests at heart. To use a favorite phrase of author John Eldredge, we suspect that God is holding out on us.
Why do we hold onto these doubts when scripture is so unambiguous about God's endless love and immeasurable goodness?
First, many of our relationships on earth result in betrayal. We believe that we can't really trust anyone because so often when we trust someone close to use, they let us down. This leaves many of us wondering if we can really trust God to come through when we need Him the most. We especially tend to relate to God in the same way as we related to our earthly fathers when we were young. We unintentionally ascribe to him the same failings and deficiencies we witnessed in our own fathers. If our father was not around when we needed Him, we expect God to be absent too. If our father was strict or had difficulty expressing his love for us then we expect God to be the same. Relating to God as a loving Father is especially difficult for those whose own fathers were abusive.
Secondly, undermining our belief that God is good and trustworthy is one of the oldest and most powerful weapons that Satan wields. It began long ago in the Garden. "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5) One can almost see the changing expression on Eve's face as she wonders, "Really? Can I not trust God? Did He lie to me?" The devil will do whatever he can to make you doubt God's benevolence and cause you ask the question, " Is He holding out on me"?
Finally, our lack of trust in God stems from the observation that this fallen world can be so exceptionally evil. All we can do is wonder at the meaning of it, for we lack God's ability to see how all the puzzle pieces are going to come together in the end to form a beautiful picture. For us, the world just seems to be a random, chaotic collage. We cannot see the glorious pattern God is weaving though it all, and so we wonder in the midst of this confusion if He has walked away and abandoned the world to its own devices.
How, then, can we overcome our inability to trust in God and his goodness?
First, we need to understand what is really meant by the phrase, "God is good." What it does not mean is that there is some universally accepted standard of goodness which, if we are to judge His motives and character, God can always be counted on to meet. If this were so, where did this standard come from? Who is able to stand in judgment of God to rate his goodness according to this standard?
The phrase "God is good" is not telling us anything about God's performance or record of achievement. The phrase does not, in fact, tell us anything at all about God. The statement, rather, is telling us about that standard of goodness. It does not answer the question, "What is God like?" It answers the question, "what is goodness like?", and the answer is God.
It would be meaningless to even try to judge God by the very standard which He defines. It would be like trying to judge the wetness of pure water, since water is the very essence that defines wetness. There is no higher authority than God by which we can make an appeal to the nature of right and wrong. Whatever he decrees to be good is good and whatever he decrees to be evil is evil.
The application of this important concept is simply this: we must be wary of judging God. We do this whenever we harbor expectations about what we think God should or should not do in any given situation. We "expect" God to heal our friend with cancer, or we "expected" Him to stop that drunk driver who took the life of our loved one. It's so easy to doubt God's goodness whenever we think we know what's right and wrong, and to then turn around and accuse Him of clearly missing the mark of an obvious standard of righteousness. It's especially easy when the enemy is whispering in our ear, casting aspersions.
We have to let go of our expectations of God. His plan is good, and for some reason beyond our comprehension, it does sometimes include allowing death, war and disease. I don't know why God sometimes determines it's necessary to allow evil, while other times He intervenes to prevent it. I don't understand His total plan from beginning to end. But I know it's good.
What a huge, awesome responsibility it is to require ourselves to understand the entirety of His plan before we will trust Him! If we will instead step back and trust in His inherent goodness, never question His motives and restrain the impulse to judge God when we don't understand, we will have much greater peace when trouble comes.
This is an extremely difficult teaching, surely one of the most difficult in Christianity. If you're struggling with this, as most of us do, ask the Holy Spirit to help you now. Pray that the pride that causes you to hold God in judgment will be lifted away. When things don't make sense and you cannot see how good will ever come from tragedy, ask the Holy Spirit to humble you so that you can overcome the need to understand God's purposes and simply trust and abide in His perfect goodness.
By God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, may this devotional be a blessing to you today.
From: Delve Into Jesus
Unselfish Love
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Labels: Bible Devotionals, Christian Lifestyles, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, Instant Daily Devotion, Path To Follow God, Spiritual Reminder
Labels: Bible Devotionals, Christian Lifestyles, Daily Devotions, Daily Spiritual Encouragement, Instant Daily Devotion, Path To Follow God, Spiritual Reminder
Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- Matthew 19:19 (NRSV)
FOR the past eight years, I have been in prison. I have an eight-year-old daughter who often writes me letters to encourage me. Since the letters are from a little girl, they are always short: "Dad, I love you, and I will wait for you until you come back." Her letters always touch my heart. I have done nothing for her during these years, so I decided to save money to buy a special present for her birthday.
Last week I heard that a friend's daughter was sick and needed money to see a doctor. I knew my savings would be a great help to the family, but I needed the money too. That night I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning all night. Why? Because there was a struggle in my heart. I had prayed that God would take care of my friend's little girl, but I didn't want to do anything for her. Then the verse "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" entered my mind again and again. It seemed as though Jesus himself were asking me, "If this little girl were your daughter, what would you want others to do?" Immediately I knew what I should do, and I did it. I now understand what Christ's love is all about.
Prayer
Dear God, help us to live in gratitude for all you have given us and to honor you by how we use those gifts. Amen.
From: UpperRoom - Michael Chen
- Matthew 19:19 (NRSV)
FOR the past eight years, I have been in prison. I have an eight-year-old daughter who often writes me letters to encourage me. Since the letters are from a little girl, they are always short: "Dad, I love you, and I will wait for you until you come back." Her letters always touch my heart. I have done nothing for her during these years, so I decided to save money to buy a special present for her birthday.
Last week I heard that a friend's daughter was sick and needed money to see a doctor. I knew my savings would be a great help to the family, but I needed the money too. That night I couldn't sleep, tossing and turning all night. Why? Because there was a struggle in my heart. I had prayed that God would take care of my friend's little girl, but I didn't want to do anything for her. Then the verse "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" entered my mind again and again. It seemed as though Jesus himself were asking me, "If this little girl were your daughter, what would you want others to do?" Immediately I knew what I should do, and I did it. I now understand what Christ's love is all about.
Prayer
Dear God, help us to live in gratitude for all you have given us and to honor you by how we use those gifts. Amen.
From: UpperRoom - Michael Chen
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