The Right Choice

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.  Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.  For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.  In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.  Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:13-17

I have so many people in my life where I have deep and close connections with.  No matter when I see or speak to them, it is as if we have never lost a beat even if we haven’t connected in months.  There is higher love I have for them that is a bond that never leaves.  That being said, they are not God.  It is that which I find myself challenged.  Sometimes, I do what I want to appease them and not what God wants.  It is indeed something I have prayed about often.  One should not have to choose between them and God.  To a degree, if they are as good a friend as I claim them to be they would never put me between them and God in the first place.  But what if it happens?  It’s far easier with someone you do not know, but when I know them and my heart strings are tugging, will I remain faithful?  Will I make the right choice?

Building ourselves up in Christ requires that we focus on each aspect of our faith to ensure we are prepared to choose God above all else.  When I was young, I was once told, “Practice makes perfect.”  This was the analogy of doing something continuously making you really good at it.  As I got older, I found a different version of it that said, “Practice makes permanence.”  This implied that you need to be careful because if you are practicing bad habits, you don’t want that to become permanent.  This brings me to today’s verses.  Paul was talking about spiritual warfare and preparing for battle.  This of course is a mental battle, and the things he asked the Ephesians to do was focus on those things that are good for them.

Focusing on truth, God’s righteousness, knowledge of being saved by Christ, and faith to walk on water serves us well in the battle.  These are things we should wake up and use every day.  Some days will seem like they are not used at all, but if we are focused on these things daily giving glory to God for them, we will be ready at the time those skills are most needed.  They will make the choice easier.  To be clear, it is not to say at times it will be an easy choice because as my wife was telling me earlier last night, the heart wants what the heart wants.  This is where God’s word is essential in our preparedness.  God tells us to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” (Proverbs 4:23)  If we instill it with God inspired things, it will drive us in the right direction.  If we fill it with our own wants, we may struggle in the end.

Following Christ while rewarding is not easy.  There is a reason Jesus said, “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:14)  We must focus on preparedness even when not being tested.  Every moment is an opportunity to choose what God wants.  Sometimes it will align with our wants, but each time it does not, it is a moment to gain clarity and vision for what God truly wants for your life.  Let us willingly challenge ourselves to continually grow in the light of Jesus Christ.  What lessons can you learn from past choices where your and God’s wants conflicted?  How can you have intent daily to make decisions for God?  My prayer is we focus on filling our hearts with Christ, so we can make the right choice.  Amen.

Thursday Devotional - Timely Encouragement

Once Israel crossed the Jordan River they were in the promised land, but still had a big job ahead of them to conquer all the people that lived there. Unless they swam back across the river, they were stuck! Maybe that’s another reason God miraculously stopped up the Jordan – it would force them to rely on Him and move forward in faith.

As added encouragement, the timing of when they crossed the Jordan was sovereignly planned by God. He had it that they crossed over just in time to celebrate the Passover! According to Exodus 12-13, it was to be celebrated once they were in the promised land on the 14^th day of the first month of the year (year after year) to remember God mightily bringing them out of Egypt.

   

Joshua 5:9-12           Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰ On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.¹¹ The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

Not only did God bring the Israelites into the promised land exactly 40 years after bringing them out of Egypt, right in time to celebrate the Passover, but He had them experience the wonderful food of the land before removing His miraculous provision of manna. God continued to prepare, encourage and stretch the Israelites in order for them to accomplish His purposes and receive His blessings.

In the midst of overwhelming changes, we can also look for God’s timely encouragement. We can choose to recognize all His help, preparation and encouragement or wallow in the seemingly daunting tasks ahead. Which will you choose?   

Alice

Tues Devo: Focus or obsession?

Hello,

I have been thinking a good amount about focus lately. It is generally accepted that with Focus you can achieve a greater amount of output (efficiency, productivity, quality – whichever is the aim). We talk about distractions and finding ways to minimize them. We talk about rewards, and incenting behaviors that encourage focus. We sometimes even talk about having the right long term perspective to stay motivated in sustaining our focus.

Now, these are all good things and when combined well can lead to great focus and great results. But what is it that keeps focus from becoming an unhealthy obsession? I believe there are 2 things we must do as it relates to focus. The first was already mentioned above – we have to have the right long term perspective. But not just to stay motivated – and this is where the second key is, we must measure our focus against the real goals and be willing to pivot for the sake of the ultimate purpose.

I believe we start with right intentions – perhaps we have even done as it says in Proverbs about putting  our plans before the Lord and letting Him check our motivation

Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.” (NASB)

Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (NASB)

But then we tend to get distracted with the How instead of just the Why or What – that is where we can easily move to an unhealthy obsession.

I pray that all of us keep the real long term in mind with our focuses – and continually have that before God to help us stay where we should in our focuses and efforts.

Have  a blessed day,

Will Hill

Do not merely listen

James 1:19-27

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

My five year old is not the greatest listener in the world.  We often remind him that he needs to listen and he quickly says that he heard us.  We then have to remind him that listening is not just about hearing us, it’s about responding and doing as we’ve said.  This weekend I was guilty of not being very slow to become angry when he just would not obey. 

At church on Sunday, the message used part of James 1 and how we are to be slow to become angry.  One thing that was said was how thankful we should be that God does not yell at us every time we fail to listen.  This really struck me as I thought about how I can get upset and yell when my son fails to listen over and over again. 

God does not want us to merely hear what is said, he wants us to act on it as well.  How often do we hear the word but we then go away and immediately forget? 

My prayer today is that we will really look deep at ourselves and make sure that we are not merely listening to the words but that we are also acting on them.