Tag: <span>devotions</span>

devotional

Read: Psalm 1

The Bible declares the Lord’s great power and majesty while also revealing His deep mercy and love. He is worthy of wholehearted, passionate submission, but He doesn’t often get it. Are you among the few who offer themselves to Him without reservation?

Complete obedience is a choice to follow God regardless of the consequences. This means that we obey the Lord even if our friends choose a different path or when suffering or embarrassment is guaranteed. Seeing His will done is more important than our own comfort or personal ambition. We commit the consequences to God and cling to His promises: He will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5), and He makes good out of every situation (Romans 8:28).

Notice the word ‘commitment‘ in the title of today’s devotion. I’m not writing about obedience that is born of the moment (as in, I choose to follow God in this instance) but about submission as a way of life. Setting restrictions on compliance is so tempting–we want to be able to change our mind when obeying upsets our lifestyle, the final result is unclear, or we’re just plain scared. But let me ask you this one sobering question: If Jesus is the Lord of your life, what right do you have to limit how and when you’ll do His will?

Believers have no right to set their own limits; their one criterion for making decisions should be, What does God want me to do? The answer at times may cause suffering, but obedience is always right. And following God in all things is the surest path to favor and spiritual growth.

By Dr. Charles Stanley

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devotions

I am Jesus…now get up and go…Acts 9:5 (Amplified Bible)

Have you ever experienced a mountain top encounter with God? A time when He seemed so close you could almost touch His arm, almost feel His whispers in your ear? Oh, to stay in such intimacy, to never again face the rigors of the unwanted job, the unloving people, the earthly challenges of disease, discouragement, disorder, even one’s own weakness and failure. To always know exactly what Jesus wants, how to best follow and obey Him.

A first century man had such an encounter, one he wasn’t anticipating. He was certain of his understanding of God. He was sure of the “right way” to follow God. He was not only vigilant in preaching against those who differed from his understanding, but was determined to purify the faith in which he had been schooled and which he defended.

And then God intervened. It wasn’t geographically a mountain top, but when God appeared as a “light from heaven” and spoke with an unmistakable voice to Saul, the message was clear: “Get up and go and you will be told what to do.” True, Saul was blind and helpless, needing to be led by the hand like a child, but for the rest of his life, as he repeated the story of God’s intervention, he included his response and God’s further command to “get up and go.”

Jesus invited three of his closest friends one day to accompany him to a mountain top. The encounter was unprecedented, and while the friends didn’t understand it all and were even afraid, they wanted to stay in that place, to be this close to God. Jesus gives no specific command to “get up and go,” instead the gospel writers simply record, “they came down from the mountain.” They returned to the reality of ordinary ministry.

Mountain top experiences feed our souls, encourage our commitment and give us new and precious moments with God. But then we must come down. What God has allowed and encouraged now becomes food for the journey, drink for our thirst and sustenance for those around us.

Get up and go.

Father God, it’s so comfortable here in my rocking chair, in my quiet corner away from the noise and problems of the world. I desperately need these moments, God, but help me understand them to be special gifts to see you better, understand you more, accomplish with greater vigor the call you’ve given.

By Marilyn Ehle

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