GOD’S TOMORROW

“I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them.” Acts 7:34

“Don’t steal tomorrow out of God’s hands.” You say, “How can we do such a thing as that?” Well, it’s more prevalent than you think. We are so impetuous, unwilling to wait, always ready to run where angels fear to tread. We are not open to the “ways of the Lord.” We are accustomed to "fast forward acceleration" that throws discernment out the window, and moves with reckless haste. We yield to our spontaneous lack of inhibitions, which sets us free to our limited wisdom, and eventually…we "crash land" in despair and defeat.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and yield not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). That seems simple enough, but we have great difficulty following these brief words. God sees "down the road"…and wants to direct our steps, and have our heart and will focused on Him…so we will avoid the impulse and inclination of our self-directed ways.

“Trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart.” This presents a self-evaluation to see if we are trusting Him at all, much less with ALL of our heart. That’s a very inclusive word. It applies to everything we encounter…our conversation, thoughts, motives, decisions, focus, objectives, work, recreation, friends…in fact, the whole of our life. Is Christ the priority in ALL of our spiritual journey?

Then He says, “Lean not to thine own understanding.” Well, you say, “I think I’m capable of making my own decisions and know what I want.” That’s true, but God knows not only what’s good for you, but what is BEST. Our understanding is tainted with fleshly concerns, and desires that control our thoughts, which result in unwise decisions.

God simply says, yield the control of your will to Me. Let Me direct your thoughts, let Me lead you in the paths of righteousness. I want to take you from what you are to what I want you to be. Therefore, don’t lean to your own understanding…it’s faulty, fleshly, limited, and really not capable of making the wisest choice all the time.

What’s next? He says, “In ALL thy ways acknowledge Him.” You say, “Well, I try to do that, but I fail so often.” Wouldn’t it be a radical change if the Lord was the priority of your life, so the focus of your life would be fixed on Him in ALL things? It can be…if you will surrender to His Lordship.

This is not natural to our base nature…but it can be to our supernatural nature, when we yield to the new creative nature God has given us IN CHRIST. And what will He do? “I will direct your paths.” Wow! What an exchange from our way to His way.

Now you say, “How does all of that relate to “stealing tomorrow out of God’s hands?” In one word…EVERYTHING! When we fail to yield to the Lordship of Christ [the right to our control given over to HIS control] we "steal tomorrow out of God’s hands." We hinder His work…the “molding” of our lives by HIS hands TODAY…so that TOMORROW, we may “be conformed to the image of His Son.”

All He wants to do in and through us TODAY, is in preparation for what He wants to “make of our lives” TOMORROW.



From: Literature International Ministries - Ed Powell

Jesus Planned It All

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29

Jesus planned his own sacrifice.

It means Jesus intentionally planted the tree from which his cross would be carved.

It means he willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of the earth from which the nails would be cast.

It means he voluntarily placed his Judas in the womb of a woman.

It means Christ was the one who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem.

And it also means he didn’t have to do it—but he did.




From: Max Lucado

His Temptation and Ours

We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin — Hebrews 4:15


Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely, the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours are in different realms until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19 ), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things— he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus’ baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One "who takes away the sin of the world" ( John 1:29 ) He "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness" ( Matthew 4:1 ) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation "without sin," and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.



From: RBC - Utmost For His Highest

God is in Control

James 1:2 - 3
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

I have been listening to God today. I have been considering all that Job endured, and I have been trying to better understand how God works. What I am beginning to understand more and more each day is when we say we trust God to take care of our needs His way in His time - we should not necessarily expect that everything is going to be "good" as we see it. It does not mean that something we view as a "need" will be taken care of immediately. It does not mean things will turn out perfect or good (in our eyes). Allow me to illustrate.

You have just used the last of the milk. You do not have the money to buy another gallon today. There's nothing saying we will not go a week or 2 without milk. Does this mean God isn't meeting our needs? I don't think so. He is still in control.

Let's say that you forget to write something down in your checkbook and over-extend yourself. If a certain amount of money does not come in before the check clears, does that mean God is not watching out for your needs? I don't think so. He is still in control.

Just because we may go through troubles at times does not mean that God has forgotten that we have needs. He is still in control.

We preach and teach that God uses trials to grow us. Why, then, should we believe that we will not encounter these trials. What Job went through was bad stuff. But God was still in control.

Job 1:12 (NIV)
"All right, you may test him," the LORD said to Satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So Satan left the LORD's presence.

I have always heard it preached that a righteous man named Job went through these trials and suffered through no fault of his own but why? Was it just a demo for the rest of the world? Was it just for us to have something to say to those going through trials? Or was it because Job had something to learn about God that He wasn't learning in his present situation? Maybe God said the things he did to satan in order to entice him to attack Job in order to teach Job something new about Himself.

Bottom line God is in control. There are things that are going to happen that are hard to live with. There are going to be times of struggle. Our responsibility is to learn to trust God completely through it all. And by trusting God, I mean maintaining the good attitude as well - through the good and bad alike. What better way to glorify God than to be a positive spirit in the midst of troubling times.

James 1:12 (NIV)
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.



From: Delve Unto Jesus - Donald B

Rules are Good?

Matthew 7:9-11
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!


God is Compassionate

Over the past few days, we’ve talked about God’s power, jealousy, holiness, and forgiveness. Another really great thing about God is his compassion.

The dictionary defines "compassion" as sympathy for the suffering of another person. God's compassion is part of His holiness. Because He is so good, He has tons of patience with us. I know that I mess up pretty often. God doesn't strike me down with lightning or make me break my leg or something. Instead, He forgives me and loves me without any conditions.

Jesus used a parable to illustrate God's compassion. He asked his disciples to imagine that a little boy goes up to his father. He says, "Daddy, can I have some bread? I'm hungry." Jesus pointed out that a loving father would certainly not give his little boy a stone or a snake to satisfy his hunger. Since an imperfect human father would never give his child something that would hurt him, it’s obvious that our perfect and compassionate Heavenly Father wouldn’t either. He won't be mean to us. He will give us whatever we need and a whole bunch of stuff we just want. But, He will never give us something that will hurt us, even if we ask for it.

Sometimes it seems like if we want to please God, we can’t have any fun. There are all sorts of rules that we have to keep. Don’t tell lies. Be nice to people, even when they are mean to you. Don’t cheat on tests. Don’t hang out with kids who get into trouble at school. It can be pretty frustrating when we keep running up against God’s rules all the time.

It might help to think about how his rules could possibly be good things, expressions of God’s great love and compassion for us. How could do’s and don’ts show that God has sympathy for us? Let’s think about one of the rules listed above: Don’t hang out with kids who get into trouble at school. I knew some good kids who were friends with a boy who broke into the school and vandalized it one weekend. The police went to the home of every single one of that boy’s friends to question them. The good kids could have been in really serious trouble if they had been with their friend when he broke into the school. Fortunately, they were out of town with their parents for the weekend.

The point is, God is a gracious, compassionate and wise father. He only makes rules for us to make our lives better. Even his commandments are for our benefit and an expression of his love for us.


Today’s Prayer:
Dear loving Father, I’m sorry that I haven’t understood that you make rules for me to keep me out of trouble. I so appreciate the fact that you will only give me good gifts in answer to my prayers, gifts that will help me be a better person and keep me out of trouble. Please help me learn to accept your commandments and your “no” answers to my prayers as your way of keeping me safe and helping me to grow. Amen.



From: New Wine Skin

Devotional About Financial Bondage

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. - Proverbs 21:5

Are you in financial bondage?

If you’re not sure, here’s what financial bondage looks like…

1. You charge daily expenditures for the lack of funds.
2. You put off paying a bill until next month.
3. You borrow money to pay fixed expenses such as your mortgage, insurance, or energy payment.
4. You are unaware of how much you owe your creditors.
5. You have creditors calling or writing you about past-due bills.
6. You take money from savings to pay your current bills.
7. You take out new loans to pay off old loans.
8. You and your spouse argue about money.
9. You consider being dishonest about your finances.
10. You find it difficult to tithe.

If any one of these markers describes your life today, I want to offer you a word of encouragement: There is a way to escape financial bondage!

Number one, you need to confront the problem. When you have a problem, you have to be willing to be honest about it.

Number two, you need to take decisive action. As our Scripture today says, you need to have a plan if you’re going to escape financial bondage. It’s not just going to take care of itself on its own! This will probably involve such things as reducing your spending, putting up or tearing up your credit cards, and budgeting your income.

The last way to escape financial bondage is to focus on what you can give—not on what you can get. In Luke 6:38, Jesus says, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

If you find yourself in financial bondage, I encourage you… make the decision to free yourself today!

YOU WILL NEVER BE THE BLESSING AS GOD INTENDS AS LONG AS YOU ARE IN BONDAGE TO MONEY.



From: CrossWalk Devotionals

Walking Together

While physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. - 1 Timothy 4:8 (NRSV)

I used to exercise either by swimming or jogging three or four times a week. Because exercise is good for both body and spirit, I initiated a community-wide project to encourage office workers in our district to exercise, suggesting they walk more and use escalators and elevators less.

Later, I modified this project by specifically inviting Christians working in the same district to walk with their colleagues during lunch breaks or before and after work. Walking together provided opportunities for them to share their faith with their colleagues. One woman named Carrie invited three of her co-workers to walk with her after lunch. Carrie talked with them about her Christian faith, and after one month of walking together, one of her colleagues decided to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.

We all can find ways in daily life to connect with people who don't know Christ. Sometimes something as simple as walking together can provide an opportunity to lead another person to a life of faith in God.


Prayer:
Loving God, give us wisdom to know how to share our faith with those with whom we spend our time - at work or at play. Amen.



From: UpperRoom Devotionals - Norman K.W. Lo