Daily Devotions |
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 |
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God's promise shown in Joshua, we can rest that the people that we love can be drawn into the grace of God. A part of the promise shown in Rahab's story is that the Lord blessed her home to be a gathering place where her family could be spared.
While we don't live in a time of physical war. Supernatural warfare is at hand. We are to be the place where our loved ones turn when they are facing a battle with the enemy. Our prayers, like Rahab's, are supposed to intercede on behalf of our loved ones. Will you allow God to use you as a place of gathering for your loved ones? While the promise shown in the story of Rahab is about the saving grace of God's power, it is also about our job to pray and have faith for our family. Read Joshua 2 for yourself and allow the story to fill your heart with faith concerning his promise for you and your family! “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.” Psalms 119:33-40 KJV God has given us this challenge as an opportunity to be delivered from distractions, our egos, and people who come to hinder us from his will in our lives. Though I have been in prayer and Bible study for direction about our "purging process," this morning God threw me for a curve ball. This morning in prayer God moved us into a new portion of our purge experience. This part has to do with our understanding of the power of God's word. God reminded me that we can't be clean and made whole if we don't acknowledge the power of His Word. If we don't delve into the word of God, all our prayers won't be met by our actions. i have always intended to include devotion in this journey, but this morning the Lord blessed me to understand that our number one focus has to be His Word; the Bible; God-spoken promises. If we cry out like David for the statutes of our King, then we have to busy ourselves with his decrees. Guess where we get the decree of the Lord? In our Bible. Without integrating Bible study into our purging process, we would have neglected the true reason the Word was given to us. The Bible is supposed to be our guide. It's supposed to be what we hold our plans up to in scrutiny. We are supposed to use the scriptures to keep us in check. And now that we have asked God to cleanse us, the Word is our way to remain purged from distraction. God gave us the gift of his word to make this walk easier. Imagine that our hearts are a floor. As times goes along, food drops on it, dust gathers in the corners, we make spills through mistakes. God is the one who keeps us clean but consider the Bible a holy Swiffer. Ok that example is funny. But seriously, the Bible is a tool that we must use on this journey. I cannot stress that enough. If you're doing this challenge but are neglecting the Word, you are half accepting the gift of salvation. As we pray and surrender, we have to set our hearts on understanding the word. Today I challenge you to read the Bible once instead of going to social media or playing a game. Just once today change your course of actions to focus on God's word. David's prayer in this Psalm is so plain. It should be your prayer today. God will quicken us in his way when we take the benefits of salvation. Prayer: Lord on today my heart cries out like David. Teach me your ways. Give me an understanding of your word so that my worldly mind cannot alter your precepts in my life. I devote myself to you not just spiritually but also physically through prayer and Bible study. Open your word to me so that I may be able to tell of your goodness. I thank you Jesus that your death tore the veil in two giving me a chance to rest in your presence. I trust that your master plan will lead me to a place where you can be glorified. Have A Moment in PrayerFor the last two weeks we have taken time out to practice another type of prayer: contemplative prayer. And I wanted to be clear about what it is, why we do it and what the Bible says about it. There are no ordinances or practices of contemplative prayer expressed explicitly in the Bible. But, God's word is filled with scripture about us quieting ourselves before the King. Those scriptures, along with the sheer magnitude of God, cause us to pause and reflect on the Word of God as yet another form of surrender to God. There is a beautiful article written about this form of prayer on the Christian Network Imago Dei's website. They break contemplative prayer into four parts. I recommend you read the article in its entirety, but the quote below sums up why we as excellent Challengers embark upon contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is one of the ways we respond to the Spirit’s invitation to surrender more fully to God, in whom we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). It is the life that Jesus envisioned for us when He prayed to His Father, “May they be one with us, just as you and I are one” (Jn 17:21) For Jesus, the pronoun “I” was always understood as “We.” He did not suffer the illusions of autonomy and of separation as we do. We quiet ourselves to surrender to God. It can be so easy to come to the throne so encumbered with our concerns that we forget to recognize God. We need not always come in God's presence with mouths open. Sometimes our deliverance, healing or answers are found in our silence. When we quiet ourselves, we can focus in on the real star of the show. What I love about the sovereignty of God is that he gave us his words to focus on. We don't sit silently staring into confusion. We can rest and contemplate on his Word: the Bible. One scripture that we can always contemplate on when in this mode of prayer is Psalms 46:10. When we truly still ourselves, we can begin to know God more deeply, more intimately. Our relationship goes from a distant love to one that is so near to us; simply because we stop shouting into nothing and start communicating with our King. God is not silent! We get to hear him every time we go in his word. And when we dare to quiet the Earth's noise and focus on Heavenly words, we find ourselves caught up in the eternal arms of God's presence. Have you ever sat silently listening to music? Your silence gave rise for you to hear the beauty of the notes. How much more peaceful will the beauty of God's word sound to you in your silence before him. We rest in silence, contemplating on the Word God has given us, hearing the gift of his love over the noise of our minds. Today's ScripturesContemplate the two different versions of Acts 24-29. How do these differences illuminate God to you differently? “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” |
About the ChallengeThe 100 Days of Excellence challenge is a 100 day journey to completely rearrange the course of your life. It is about seeking the thrown of God to hear what his plan is for our lives. It is a commitment to carry out every action in your future in the spirit of excellence. Archives
December 2016
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