Thursday Devotional - Daily Encouragement

God gives us each other to help encourage us and to stay accountable to follow God’s Word. If we aren’t careful, we can be easily misled. Having godly people around us daily is important.  

Hebrews 3:12-15 ¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. ¹⁵ As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.”

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I usually do my quiet time and Bible study during Sarah’s nap in the afternoon. Well, this past Sunday, I didn’t do that. Joe, James and I were talking in the living room together instead. Then, after the kids went to bed, I wanted to look up some of the Michigan ski deals. However, since Joe was doing Bible study, I did my Bible study first and then had a few minutes to do some research.

We need people around us daily to encourage us in the right direction. (I’m daily encouraged by the other devotional writers and those that comment with additional insight!) We can also be that encouragement to others. Who can you and I encourage today to hear God’s voice?

Alice

Setting the Stage

Then the Lord told Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land!”

And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.  And I reaffirmed my covenant with them. Under its terms, I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners.  You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.  Exodus 7:1-5


When Grey’s Anatomy first came on, I was always fascinated by how each show would seemingly end flawlessly.  It did not always end with people being happy or everyone being safe.  The beauty was never in the ending.  It was always in how the stage was set for it.  The storyline would be told well, and you had a level of certainty where it would build to this final crescendo.  Then far too often, you found yourself saying, “Wow!  I did not see that coming!”  However, it wasn’t the kind of ‘that’s impossible’ type incredulity.  It was the ‘what an amazing finish’ type feel you had.  Sometimes you laughed, and other times you cried.  But you bought in every single week because the story was built up so well, it became entirely credible.


This brings me to the storyline God builds in our lives.  We often feel like we are fighting to just stay afloat.  We know God has a reason for us doing something, but we do not see the fruits of our labor right away.  If you are like me in my younger days, you might have given up saying, “God?  I’m just tired.  I can’t do it your way anymore.  I will do it my way now.”  Then, something changes.  God reveals Himself when you almost can’t bear to do what He asks of you anymore.  Or perhaps, you make that one final time saying to God, “Ok.  I will try one more time,” and then that makes the difference from a setback to a comeback.


When you are going through hardship, remember these are the moments God is setting you up for your greatest triumphs.  We have moved forward in the story of Moses where he and Joshua have given to Pharaoh the message to either free the Israelites or suffer from the wrath of God.  Pharaoh, with his heart hardened, chose to instead make the Israelites suffer more by making their building of bricks exponentially more difficult while expecting the same amount of work.  The beatings and agony were such that now the Israelites and even Moses were beginning to wonder if God would stay true to His word.  In the prior verses, Moses said, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me?  Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!” (Exodus 5:22b-23)  As we read further, we realize God had not forgotten His people at all.  Of course, He would never do that.  However, how often are we the Israelites getting beaten down mentally and physically and we speak with the frustration of Moses?  Don’t we sound a bit like he did?  But I digress.  God had set the stage for His greatest glory to be revealed to all so that not only His people would know who He is but also the Egyptians who had no reason to believe in Him.  This is who God has always been.  He will put us through hardship only to reveal Himself to us as the great and everlasting God.  King of kings, and Lord of lords.



There is no burden too great that our God cannot handle.  Peter once was fishing after Jesus’ resurrection.  Jesus simply told him to cast his net on a certain side, and he went from a no—luck fisherman to one who couldn’t even bring in the net (see John 21:4-6)  Just as Peter once couldn’t catch a fish, Moses couldn’t catch a break!  But God was setting the stage for Moses’ greatest triumphs to come, and perhaps, now is the time in your life where you need to keep believing in that which God placed on your heart, mind, and soul.  Let us continue to move forward trusting God is making the pathway to victory for us.  What doubts are on your mind today?  How can you fight a little more trusting God is still with you?  My prayer is that we look beyond our circumstance and realize that God is ‘setting the stage’ for us.  Amen.

By Faith

“But without faith it is impossible

To please Him, for he who comes

To God must believe that He is,

And that He is a rewarder of

Those who diligently seek Him.”

     Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

Most of us are likely familiar with Hebrews chapter 11 with its wonderful list of saints in the so-called hall of faith.  When we think of faith heroes, dramatic actions involving great victories often come to mind.  And Hebrews 11 does include some of those kinds of acts.  (See Hebrews 11:33-34) These individuals had faith that God would be with them and help them achieve success, rather than relying on their personal strength and own abilities to win.

But Scripture also records occasions where there was no outward victory—in fact, they were awful defeats from a worldly perspective, such as those who were “stoned,” “sawn in two,” “slain with the sword,” “being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” (Hebrews 11:37)  Yet these individuals faced their severe trials with faith in their hearts, and by their faith, God was pleased.

This hall of faith also has some surprising inclusions.  For example, despite the fact that the Bible contains a lot of detail about Isaac’s life, he’s included in this chapter because “By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” (Hebrews 11:20)  Similarly, with Joseph, his life as recorded in Scripture was filled with faith-filled actions and yet, he’s listed in this chapter because “By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” (Hebrews 11:22)  This gives us a glimpse into what is important to God: a life of faith, trusting Him for things unseen. 

The things that take the most faith are often the daily battles we face, such as the uncertainties and fears we have in this world, longsuffering in illness, patient trust during long seasons of prayer without seeming answers.  Even without outward victory and even when we stumble, we can live lives of faith by trusting our Lord, whatever the circumstances, whatever the outcome.  He sees everything we do and even our small acts of faith are pleasing to Him. 

Thursday Devotional - Goal Drifting?

How are you doing on your goals for 2020? How about a goal to meet with God daily? Maybe you are already ready to give up on some of your goals. Let’s especially persevere in our walk with God. He welcomes us back anytime. However, it is harder to come back the further we drift. Satan knows this.

The writer of Hebrews knew it, too, and warned the Jewish believers to persevere. Hebrews 2:2 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

They were being tempted to revert back to the old ways of Judaism. However, Jesus had done away with the old sacrificial system as both the perfect High Priest and perfect sacrifice.

Hebrews 2:9, 14, 17-18    ⁹ But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone… ¹⁴  Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— … ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Most of us probably aren’t tempted to revert back to Judaism, but maybe to a life or routine void of God. Let’s make sure He’s a priority each and everyday so we don’t drift!

Jesus is fully man and fully God, so He can relate to our struggles and help us!   

Alice

Just Do It

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”  Exodus 4:10-12

When I was growing up, gym shoes were not the fashion statement they are today.  Back then, the most popular shoes were ‘Converse All-Stars.’  All the basketball players had them, and when the man they called ‘Dr J.’ Julius Erving was caught wearing them on the court, they were the craze of the neighborhood.  Then as I got into high school, some little off brand caught my eye.  They were called, Nike, and they had this swoosh emblem.  It looked kinda cool, but nothing really took off.  Then, they became the ‘in’ thing when Michael Jordan became their spokesman.  However, that only got the company part way. Then the thing that tipped the scales to make Nike a universal brand was neither an athlete nor a sport.  It was a saying.  It’s something anyone who ever questioned themselves or worried about failure could relate to.  It’s the thing that they tried to teach us in the story of ‘The Little Train That Could.’  It is the thing people heard when they faced undaunting odds and the voice I heard as a freshman in high school waking up to go to school while my mom was in the hospital. Three simple words; just do it.  They have them on many shirts they sell, and you can almost hear it being said every time you see the emblem.  It is also at times the words God whispers to us when an idea comes to mind or we are too cautious to move or act on His word.  Just Do It.

God wants you to walk with the firm belief that you can indeed achieve what you may perceive is impossible.  How often has God both looked at and given us what seemed to be an impossible task?  And then as we walked, how often did we look to God, and asked how can this happen?  This is where we find Moses today.  At this point in the story, God had now appeared to Moses, and confirmed that He is the God of Abraham.  God had also reaffirmed that He will be with Moses every step of the way.  With all this being said, Moses was still not convinced he can lead the Israelites from Egypt, and now he was trying to convince himself he was not the perfect messenger for God.  “I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled,” he said (Exodus 4:10b).  I really enjoyed reading this discussion between Moses and God because it shows how God can build anyone up to lead His people.  It also shows how we often want to shy away from the light of God and will use any possible reason to do so (I’m not a good speaker?  Really?).  God shushes (yes, I used that word) Moses once again, saying “Now go!  I will be with you as you speak, and instruct you in what to say.”  This was that Nike moment.  Just Do It, Moses!  Quit telling me who you are not because ‘I Am.’

God can make a way at times when we cannot see it.  This is not either to say that God will do everything you want to do because He will not or to start a surety test to confirm God is with you.  But if you want the one true living God to be with you, maybe now is the time to stop making the excuses on the things you know He asks of you.  Maybe God is tired of our excuses for not being able to do something.  If God is asking something of you today, yesterday, or maybe even months ago, don’t say, “I don’t know what to say.”  Instead, say, “Father, I trust you will give me the right guidance.”  What barriers are you putting up for yourself to stop you from achieving God’s glory?  Where has doubt stolen what God wants from you?  My prayer is that we acknowledge those things God wants from us, and simply, ‘Just Do It.’  Amen.

Seek First

“Therefore, do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or

‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after

all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father

knows that you need all these things. But seek first the

kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these

things shall be added to you.”

     Matthew 6:31-33 (NKJV)

Most of us do not worry about whether we will have enough to eat or drink, or fear we won’t have anything to wear. However, I was recently confronted with these verses in connection with an invitation to prayer and fasting I received from a missions board that I’m involved with.  I had not done this kind of fasting before, although I’ve had opportunities to do so, because I worried that I could not make it through the day without eating!  I knew my fear was ridiculous and yet it kept me from Biblical fasting in the past.  Then I came across these verses and they really spoke to my heart.  They convinced me I could do this with God’s help by focusing on Him and His righteousness rather than on the food I’d be missing.

It actually turned out to be a wonderful experience.  I didn’t fast for the whole day, but my goal was for half and I was able to do that without a problem.  It helped that we’d been given Scripture and prayer points for each hour, so I focused on seeking God first (rather than on my stomach) and His strength enabled me to do it.  What I had feared became instead truly a blessing for me. Isn’t that often the case?  What we fear either ends up not actually happening or it’s not as bad as we expected. Unfortunately, that fact doesn’t usually stop us from worrying.

Yet the Bible tells us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:13)  By setting our focus on Him, we tap into that strength. What worry or fear can you defeat by looking to Christ and seeking first His righteousness?

Thursday Devotional - Quiet Time

Last week we talked about setting goals in line with God’s goals. One goal He has for us is to know Him better. We can do that by reading, studying and applying His Word.

For many years I had my quiet time with God before bed. Then, for over a decade, I used my lunch break to have my quiet time. Now, I have my quiet time after I get home from work, while Sarah naps. However, her naps are getting shorter, and she will probably grow out of them soon, so I’ll need to figure out a different time again!

God’s the most important person in the universe, so why wouldn’t we have “lunch” with Him each day or plan an unbreakable appointment with Him???

Hebrews 1:1-3      In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Jesus created the universe and sustains it! What time of day do you set aside to meet with Him? Or what time will you set aside? He’s available!

He’s the All-Powerful Glorious and Majestic One we can’t afford not to get to know!

Alice

The Great I Am

But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name,
    my name to remember for all generations.  Exodus 3:13-15

Many of you have probably heard of the poem called ‘Footprints in The Sand.’  To sum it up, a person has a dream where he was walking with God on a beach, and the beach represents that person’s life.  There are two sets of footprints as they look at his/her life, and as they look back, there were times where there is only one set of footprints.  Those times were the person’s lowest and saddest times.  They questioned God why He left them during those times.  God answered, “When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.” In my life, I looked at the times where I was successful amidst some daunting challenges, and I asked myself how exactly I made it through it.  The truth is I should know by now it was not by my own will.  It was by God’s.  He is indeed the all-powerful who can move mountains and carry us even when we ourselves have nothing left to give.

We must always remember that when we can’t do something, God always can.  As I continue my focus on the story of Moses, we left off talking about him asking the question we all ask God when facing insurmountable odds.  “Who am I?”  As much as I know how omnipotent God is, I, like Moses, will still question God’s ability to do things.  The reality is when that happens, I have chosen to be God.  I want to be the person who makes it happen.  I’m the one in control (see how one falls off the apple cart of ‘control’ so easy?).  But God in today’s verse reminded Moses of who was really in charge.  It brings me to a point my spiritual mentor made me aware of.  In verse 14, God answered “Who I am.”  Note what is at play are a couple words; am I and I am.  Let’s put these words into action.  Whenever we are answering, ‘I am,’ we are taking the place of God.  However, when we ask of God, ‘am I,’ we allow God to be the answer.  To be clear, this does NOT necessarily mean we leave it to God and move on.  As Moses did, we move forward with God doing His will and trusting Him to be the ‘I am’ when things are not moving as we would like them to.

God is in control.  Yes, we all say it, but what this means is we must be willing to submit to His authority before we even reach our barriers.  Moses is a great reminder of what is indeed possible when we take our need for control out of the equation and insert God’s authority in.  This is how we can achieve success against insurmountable odds.  Let us trust God not just when the mountain is too tall.  Let us trust Him to be with us the entire journey.  What journey are you needing to place in God’s hand today?  How can you ensure that your life is in God’s hands and not yours?  My prayer today is that give up control singing the song of God as ‘The Great I Am!’  Amen.

Everything We Need

“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the

righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God

and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things

that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him

who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us

exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you

may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption

that Is in the world through lust.”

     2 Peter 1:1-4 (NKJV)

Believers have been given “exceedingly great and precious promises” by our faith in our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Through His divine power, we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness” and through knowledge of Him, we may be partakers of His divine nature. 

What great promises to start the new year!  Who doesn’t want to begin afresh knowing that we have everything that we need for life and godliness?  But we can’t just rest on these verses and conclude it’s up to God to do all the work and that somehow we’ll obtain perfection in our Christian walk without effort on our part.  No, we have responsibility to appropriate these promises and apply them (see 2 Peter 1:5-7).

 What does this look like in daily life?  Prayer and the reading and study of God’s word, because they help us increase in our knowledge of Him.  Dependence and trust in God, because we need to keep our eyes and hearts on Him for it is only by His power that we can live the Christian life.  Listen for the Holy Spirit within us and respond to conviction, prompting and checking with obedience because that is how we grow in our walk of faith.

This is a good time to dedicate or re-commit yourself to Jesus Christ, to acknowledge Him as Lord and resolve to live and work for Him this year.  After all, it’s because of Him that we have been given everything we need to live out these exceedingly great and precious promises in 2020 and beyond.

Thursday Devotional - Goals for 2020

Have you made some goals for this coming year? How well did you do at your goals from last year?

Joe, the kids and I have talked about our goals for this year, but we haven’t written them all down yet (maybe later today!).

Yesterday, my Mom brought out some of our goals from when my sisters and I were younger and read off some of them (go skiing, play a family game a week, read the Bible more, share the gospel with at least one person, etc.). It was fun to hear what some of our childhood goals were. Sometimes we even wrote goals for other family members (i.e. for Mom and Dad to have another baby or for baby Mary to learn how to walk)! 😊

God has a goal for us to drink less milk and eat more solid food:

Hebrews 5:11-14 ¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

We eat more solid food from God’s Word by studying and applying it daily. Reading these devotionals or a chapter of the Bible daily isn’t beneficial unless we use it and put it into practice (“constant use,” as verse 14 says). I’ve learned that journaling what I’ve learned and how I plan to apply it is helpful.

What goals will you and I set for this year in line with God’s goals?

Happy New Year!

Alice