thoughts by Bethany Hayes Archives - Daily Devotionals by Thoughts about God

Published September 3, 2023

Expectations

United Airlines has a slogan . . . “Place your expectations in the upright position.”

Expectations.

We all have them.
We may call them by a different name – hopes, dreams, visions for the future, a reason to set goals today.

Expectations lie embedded in every one of us.
The key that gives a glimpse into tomorrow.
The driving force behind today.

The Hebrew calls them: “the thing that I long for.”

But what if we did “place our expectations in the upright position”?

What if we placed all our hopes, dreams, visions, and goals in a position higher than ourselves; outside of ourselves; beyond ourselves?

Forward and Upward.

On a God who sees the end from the beginning.
Who knows our thoughts before we think them.
Who knows our dreams, hopes, visions, goals . . . our “expectations” . . . before they were ever “the thing that we long for.”

What if we DID place our expectations in the upright position?

We would find ourselves within sight of our journey’s end.

We would constantly be aware that beyond today’s journey lies a hope beyond our expectations. Greater than we can visualize.

“My expectation is from HIM,” David said (Psalm 62:5).

Forward and Upward.

The perfect position to place all that we long for.
The upright position.

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Why God is Smiling at You

There’s a growing tendency among Christians to believe God is smiling or frowning at us based on our Christian performance.

We read His Word. We pray for the missionaries. We thank Him for breakfast, and so He smiles down at us as we begin our day.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

This thinking assumes we can somehow earn God’s approval—something foreign to what we believed the day we were saved.

But the Gospel wasn’t written for the day of salvation only. This good news should guard every day.

God is pleased with us based on what Christ did for us; never because of what we do for God.

Jesus cried out with a loud voice from the Cross and asked, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Father turned His back on His Son, because at that moment our sin was placed on Him. And God couldn’t look.

He couldn’t smile on His Son. Instead, His wrath was poured out—the wrath we deserved.

Why did God forsake His Son?

So He could smile at you and me, though we sin every day.

God is smiling at us, because our sin was already judged when God turned His back on His Son.

Christian “performance” is the joyful way we smile back.

“His own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.”~ 1 Peter 2:24

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

STEPS and STOPS

Where were you when you first heard the gospel?

A camp meeting?
A church service?
A long flight and a kind seat mate?

Were you anywhere west of Asia?

If so, you have the providential hand of God in directing the steps of the first missionaries to be grateful to.

The first person to hear the Gospel west of Asia was Lydia, the first convert to Christianity in Europe.

Lydia was actually from Asia.

Even more ironically, the people who shared the gospel with her were missionaries who planned to go into Asia, but the Lord led them to Europe instead.

Sometimes closed doors don’t make sense.
Often the wide open ones don’t either.

For these missionaries, both the closed and open doors left them wondering.

But they obeyed.

And they met a group of women in Europe whose hearts were already prepared to receive the truth.

Lydia was among them and came to Christ.
Next, her household believed.
A slave girl was delivered from demon possession.
Then, a jailer was transformed.
His household believed.
And a church began in Philippi.

From there, the Gospel continued to spread West.
Now, it has gone all the way around the world.

God directs our “steps “. . . and our “stops,” someone once said.

If you heard the Gospel somewhere West of Asia, you have those “steps” and “stops” of God to be grateful to.

We can never determine all the why’s of God’s leading.
But we know this . . . His own, silent answer to our why’s have a greater meaning than we could ever comprehend. A deeper and more loving meaning than we could ever determine for ourselves.

Steps and Stops of life are God’s prerogative.

Obedience and trust are ours.

by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

How to Get There When You Don’t Have a Road Map

Have you ever wished that birth certificates came with road maps and that life offered a few more directions along the way?

Life often looks like one giant highway full of bends in the road, four-way stops, and endless freeway with no assurance that you’re going to actually get there.

God doesn’t leave us directions, a map, or a voice mail

Our family used to go camping when we were small. One year, when I was six or seven, we hiked up part of Mt. Jefferson.

The snow was deep. Too deep for my small legs to find their own footing.

Instead, my dad went ahead of me, and all I had to do was step into his giant foot prints.

I was safe as long as he’d already been there, and I knew the way as long as I stayed close behind.

Psalm 85:13 tells us our Heavenly Father “makes His footsteps our pathway.”

He doesn’t hope we’ll find the path.

He makes it for us by going ahead.

We find our way by staying close behind. Like a child.

Not trusting our steps, but watching for His and stepping into them with full assurance.

He “makes His footsteps our pathway.”

We don’t need a road map to life.

Just childlike faith.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” (Psalm 32:8)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

What God Already Gave: Forgiveness

Ever wonder why we can forget what we had for breakfast or what we wore yesterday, but offenses–someone else’s or our own–seem to lodge in our memories like planks in our eyes?

When it comes to sin, one fundamental difference between God and His people is this:

We remember.

God forgets.

I like how Max Lucado put it.

“Just as it’s against your nature to eat trees and against mine to grow wings, it’s against God’s nature to remember forgiven sins.“

It’s hard to think of God as the forgetting God. Forgetfulness seems more of a vice. Something to take pills for or the evidence of sleep deprivation.

God remembers His people. He will never forget His promises.

But when we confess and ask God to forgive sin, He forgets.

It’s gone from His memory.

In fact, it’s against His nature to remember.

This isn’t an imagined, hoped-for, made-up characteristic of God. He said it Himself in Isaiah 43:25,

“I even I, am He who blots our your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.“

We tend to ask for His forgiveness over and over, because our guilt and memory burden us down. We want to forget, and we tend to think God hasn’t.

If we could only hear Him say to us in return,

“I gave you forgiveness the first time you asked. I don’t remember it anymore.”

We often ask God for something He already gave: Forgiveness.

Forgiveness that forgets.

When the sins God already forgave haunt you, remember.

He forgot.

“I will forgive their iniquity, and their sins I will remember no more.“ Jeremiah 31:34

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

When You’re Waiting for the Impossible

Hudson Taylor said it right. “There are three stages in the work of God: impossible, difficult, done.”

Have you experienced this in your Christian journey?

Impossible. God leads you to desire and to pray for something so impossible, you write it down on a secret prayer list, because maybe someone would call you crazy for asking. God doesn’t. He told an elderly couple they would have a son. He told a virgin the same, followed by the words, “With God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

In both cases, the impossible happened because it was in God’s plan for it to be so. Ask Lazarus’ sisters, Abraham’s wife, Moses at the end of his life.

God loves our impossible prayers. He loves to see our faith implore Him to do what we know could never be done apart from His intervening hand.

Difficult. This middle stage in God’s working is where many of us give up. A ray of hope glimmers, but He has yet to accomplish our request. It’s still hard, but it no longer seems so impossible. He is working, and we see it. But we can’t see how the difficult thing will ever be considered done.

Maybe this is how Jairus felt when he finally found Jesus. His need was no longer impossible. But, due to a delaying miracle, the difficult went back to the impossible. But what did Jesus tell this man whose faith began to plummet with his circumstances? “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Luke 8:50).

Keep believing, Jesus told this man who was in the midst of the most impossible, difficult situation of his life. And Jairus saw it done.

Done. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). The long waiting through the three stages of God’s working challenges us to hold on to faith in who we believe God to be and how faithful we believe Him to be to His promises.

Do you remember what He said to elderly Sarah who laughed to be told she would give birth to a son? “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time, I will. . .” (Genesis 18:14).

Impossible? Yes.

Difficult? For sure.

Done? God gave this old woman the child He had promised.

I don’t know what you’re praying for or what God’s will in that situation will ever be?

But one thing you and I can know for sure is this.

He can: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.
Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Where Peace is Found

Everyone is looking for peace.

If you were to ask ten people on the street what they want most in 2023, “peace” would most likely be mentioned. We want peace for those experiencing the effects of war. Families are searching for peaceful resolutions. Our personal lives crave peace. Many wonder what peace really is and where it can truly be found.

Peace is the possession of adequate resources.” – George Morrison

Could there be a better definition?

Imagine finding yourself on a highway with very few gas stations. A full tank of gas would give you peace. You possess the adequate resources, so there is no cause for concern. Realize your tank is on “empty,” and peace quickly disappears.

Why do many Christians lack peace?

We forget we have adequate resources. We are short-sighted, seeing immediate needs and circumstances, and forgetting what we possess.

We have tried-and-true promises made and always fulfilled by the “God who cannot lie.” (Titus 1:2)

We have the food of God’s Word sitting on a shelf waiting to be read and designed to satisfy in ways “comfort food” never could. We don’t live by three meals a day alone, but “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

We’re told to cast all our cares on Him in prayer. Why? “Because He cares.” (1 Peter 5:7) At His feet, we “find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

We should never fear death. Death is simply the doorway to the everlasting life we received when we placed our faith in the death of Jesus on the cross in our place. By faith, we know we will never experience the wrath we deserve. God placed it on His Son instead. This is the ultimate source of peace.

Are you looking for peace this Year?

Do you have these resources?

If so, look no more.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

When We Dare to Let God be For Us

Ever found yourself up against a Red Sea—hemmed in, with nowhere to turn?

Ever faced a wall too high and too strong, with no way over or through?

Have your circumstances caused you to long for previous, even loathsome days—like the Israelites who said it would have been better to be back in Egypt, serving the Egyptians?

“It would have been better to still be ‘back there’ than swallowed up with THESE circumstances.”

It’s at times like these when the Lord says:

“Stand still . . .See. . . ” (Exodus 14:13)
Watch what I will do.
You have nothing to do but be silent.

Oswald Chambers once said:

“Dare I really let God be to me all that He says He will be?” (“My Utmost for His Highest,”)

When the Israelites had nowhere to turn and God said He would act, they dared to let Him be for them all He said He would be.

They stopped, stood still—marched silently around an impossible wall—and watched God work.
Because He said He would.

The sea split open.
The walls fell down.
They crossed through their frightening circumstances.
They marched around their greatest fear.
Because God said He would work.
They had nothing to do but be silent.

Someone has defined “rest” as to “cease striving.”

When the children of Israel let their faith rest, they watched God work.

God stepped in, because He was capable of doing what they couldn’t.
They rested in who their God is. They watched silently.

They passed through (Hebrews 11:29); they took the city (Joshua 6)—only after God had worked.

They did what God said, because He said He would do it.

Ever found yourself against a Red Sea, a wall like Jericho’s, a circumstance, a need, a dream, an ache that only God could conquer?

He is able.
Rest.

Dare to let God be for you all He has said He will be.
Faith that rests will watch God work.
Every time.

“Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. . .
Rest in the Lord.” (Psalm 37:5,7)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Open Wide

“I am the LORD your God. . . Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10

Have you ever spent a day watching the activity of a mother bird following the arrival of her latest brood? She has one purpose only – to bring good things to the open mouths of her hungry children. Unable to care for themselves, her babies wait in expectation for her presence and her provisions. And all day long, she feeds them, knowing they will grow and survive only as she supplies their needs.

The Lord made a promise in Psalm 81:10: “I am the LORD your God. . . Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” When we are convinced He is the Lord our God, we will open our lives wide to Him. Like a baby bird in dependence on another, we will wait in expectation for what He chooses to bring our way. When we are trusting Him, we will accept the abundance He brings and let Him fill us to the full. A wide mouth in expectation of blessing requires this deep and open trust.

Imagine if a baby bird decided he would rather fend for himself. How far would he make it from the nest? How soon would he require the sustaining influence of his mother’s care again? And I wonder – Is this how God views our doing, our working, our going, and our efforts? In their place, these are right and good. But does He see personal attempt alone with no expectation on Him? Our efforts are useless apart from His blessing – the kind of blessing He promises to open, trusting mouths.

How wide is your mouth and mine?

Father, Thank You for promising to abundantly meet our needs as we trust in You. Grant us the faith that opens our mouths wider to Your blessing today than they were yesterday. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

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What’s on Your Mind?

Published May 5, 2023

What’s on Your Mind?

“Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober.” 1 Peter 1: 13

“Are. . . .You. . . Thinking. . . About. . . .”

These words posted on four consecutive signs on the side of the road did what they intended to do. They caught my attention. A red light held me in suspense, however, as the fifth sign was unreadable from where I was stopped. “Are. . . .You. . . Thinking. . . About. . . .” Let’s see. What was I thinking about? And what in the world were they expecting me to be thinking about? The light turned green, and the suspense was shattered with an answer farthest from my thoughts: Botox cosmetics.

No. I was not thinking about Botox cosmetics. But what was I thinking about? Was it something true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, or even praiseworthy? (Philippians 4:8)

Scripture says to “be sober,” which has nothing to do with avoiding fun and walking around with long faces. To “be sober” means we never allow worldly suggestions to intoxicate our thoughts and leave us staggering through life. We “gird up the loins” of our minds. We reject wrong thoughts and opt for right ones. We are the ones who determine the answer to the question, “What’s on your mind?”

So, what. . . are. . . you. . .thinking. . . about? Guarding our thoughts, being sober-minded, and meditating on eternal truth will produce a transformation the Bible calls the “renewing of the mind.” (Romans 12:2)

And that kind of renewal is guaranteed to leave noticeable results – ones that are even life-changing.

Father, purify our minds by Your grace. Keep us mindful of thoughts we’re not ashamed to share with You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

The Debt We Always Owe

Recently, the Lord enabled me to get out from under a debt that would have taken years to pay off. As soon as it was paid, I logged into my account to look at the zero next to my loan and to bask in the feeling of “Paid in Full.”

That night, I read these words in Romans,

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” Romans 13:8

No matter how many bills we pay or loans we pay off, there is one debt we will always owe

We will always owe love.

We can love the people today who God puts into our lives, but they will always need to be loved tomorrow. It’s impossible to love too much or to love enough.
Too many people are looking for ways to get out of this debt. Divorce rates are high because someone chooses to pay off that debt and stop loving. Families are torn apart because the debt gets too heavy, and love stops being an option. Neighbors fight, coworkers gossip, in-laws bicker.

Love is paid in full, and it’s not supposed to be.

I thought I was done with debt that day. Seeing that “zero” gave me indescribable joy.

But I’m not debt-free.

I have people in my life who need to be loved. Today. Right now. Tomorrow. Always.

I owe them love, and I always will.

When you think you’ve loved enough or you want to stop loving, put a little more on the account.

Love to the full, but never let it be paid in full.

“Love never fails.“ 1 Corinthians 13:8

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

The Love that Will Not Let You Go

I recently read an article about a couple who just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. People rarely live long enough or, sadly, love long enough to be able to have an article written about the length of their love.

This couple’s love story was highlighted and circulated and praised and admired.
Because seventy-five years is a long time to love the same person day after day.

But here’s a more striking truth:

God has loved you for well over six thousand years.

Before you were born or even thought of by anybody other than Himself, He loved you.

Before He set stars in motion and before He established the mountains, His love designed a way to win your heart and draw you to Himself.

“[His] goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”(Micah 5:2)

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

Your God has loved you longer than the mind can comprehend, deeper than anyone has ever loved you, and with more loyalty than the love you have for the person you love the most.

His love defies time.

It started thousands of years ago, proved itself on the Cross more than two thousand years ago, has continued to this very day, and will have only just begun the day we enter the eternity waiting for us.

If His love was anything less than tenacious and loyal, He would have tired of you and me long ago.

His love holds on, never stops, never tires, and never gives up.

His love will never let you go.

“We love Him, because He first loved us.”(1 John 4:19)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Sweet Half Hour of Prayer

Have you ever found yourself singing the hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer” and wondered if you should be humming it instead?

How many of us have an hour to pray? Though it would be sweet, can we really find that much time in a day or even a week to commit solely to prayer?

These words of Christ to His sleeping disciples come to mind like words cutting deep: “Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40)

Think of all the time Christ spent communing with His Father, sometimes entire nights after a weary day of healing and teaching. No wonder He said, “I do always those things that please Him.” (John 8:29)

He knew the Father’s heart.
He knew His will.
He ached where the Father ached.
He grieved where the Spirit grieved.
He rejoiced over the things that gladdened the heart of God.

Because He prayed.

He was God Himself. And yet He prayed.
He was man, too. Yet He found sweet hours for prayer.

What if you and I found time this week for a “sweet HALF hour of prayer”?

My guess is that we’ll find that half hour so sweet, we’ll soon try two back to back.

And turn from hummers of the hymn to singers full of gladness at the sweetness of communion.

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne,
Make all my wants and wishes known!
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To him, whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless;
And since he bids me seek his face,
Believe his word, and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my ev’ry care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.

by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

His Strength Made Ours

All of us have weak spots and strong spots in life.

Weak places that keep us on our knees.

Strong places. And we forget to pray.

Having M.S. for eleven years, I’m daily aware of many weak places. Needy places I’ve learned to work around. Weak spots that remind me I need Someone Else to enable me to live strong in this broken world.

I have weak spots, too, that have nothing to do with M.S. Areas of brokenness designed to turn my gaze upward. Sometimes I remember. More often, I forget to go to Him for strength.

One thing I’m learning.

It’s in the weakest places of our lives that we find our greatest strength.

Maybe you’ve found this to be true in your own weak spots.

Ernest Hemingway once wrote:

“The world breaks everyone, and those who are broken are strongest in the broken places.”

It’s odd to think our weaknesses can be our greatest strengths.

But Scripture says that.

His strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Let’s not despise anything that brings us to our knees.

Seeking strength.

Finding it when we have none of our own.

On our knees, we find strength to stand.

Strength made perfect when we are weakest.

A strength we will never find anywhere else.

His strength. Made ours.

“. . . out of weakness were made strong.”(Hebrews 11:34)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Why Are We Celebrating Christmas?

“Jesus was born.” Matthew 2:1

We’ve approached a time of bustle. Shopping, baking, holiday greetings, home for Christmas. Why? Why are we celebrating Christmas?

How would the average person answer that question? Tradition? Family? Love for hearth and home?

Let’s go back to the first Christmas. A baby in a stall. And the most incredible statement ever spoken: “Jesus was born.” The “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” who is “before all things, and by him all things consist” (see Colossians 1:15-19). HE was born. GOD was “made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

He was made flesh. All the blood of bulls and goats could not fully atone for man’s sin. The blood of Christ was the only blood sufficient. So a body was prepared for Him (Hebrews 10:5). Suddenly, God could bleed. And 33 years later, He bled on the cross, and God’s perfect justice was satisfied.

He dwelt among us. But why was He born? Why didn’t He arrive as a full-grown man the hour of the crucifixion, pay for sins, and then leave? So He could also dwell “among us.” He associated Himself with us and was tempted “in all points. . .like as we are” (Hebrews 4:15). He went through the things we go through. He was touched by every grief, every disappointment, every painful trial, and every overwhelming temptation. And yet, He never sinned.

He bled as a perfect sacrifice. He lived a perfect life.

Horatius Bonar once said:

Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die;
Another’s life, Another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.

You and I can say that, too, because “Jesus was born.”

THAT’s why we’re celebrating Christmas.

by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Category: <span>thoughts by Bethany Hayes</span>

United Airlines has a slogan . . . “Place your expectations in the upright position.”

Further Reading

There’s a growing tendency among Christians to believe God is smiling or frowning at us based on our Christian performance.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Further Reading

Where were you when you first heard the gospel?

FURTHER READING

Further Reading

Forgiveness that forgets.

When the sins God already forgave haunt you, remember.

He forgot.

Further Reading

He can: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27

Further Reading

Everyone is looking for peace.

Why do many Christians lack peace?

Are you looking for peace this Year?

Related Reading

Ever found yourself up against a Red Sea—hemmed in, with nowhere to turn?

Further Reading

“I am the LORD your God. . . Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10

Further Reading

Follow Us On:

“Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober.” 1 Peter 1: 13

Further Reading

We will always owe love.

Further Reading

God has loved you for well over six thousand years.

Further Reading

Further Reading

It’s in the weakest places of our lives that we find our greatest strength.

Seeking strength.

Further Reading

“Jesus was born.” Matthew 2:1

Further Reading

He can: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.
Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27