Devotionals

Isaiah 30:1-26

The timing is as critical as the involvement. You don't just force your way in. Even if you've got the stuff that's needed...even if you hold the piece perfectly shaped to fit the other person's missing part of the puzzle...you can't push it into place. You must not try.

You must do the most difficult thing for compassion to do.

You must wait.

Even if there is rebellion? Even if there's rebellion.

Even if sin is occurring? Yes, often even then.

Nathan then said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight?

Proverbs 7:2

What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His—completely...

God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He's looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-to-the-core servants who have integrity...

Today, we live in a world that says, in many ways, "If you just make a good impression, that's all that matters."

But you will never be a man or woman of God if that's your philosophy. Never.

Ecclesiastes 4:9

Independence is our watchword and "Think for Yourself" is our motto. Declaring a need is a sign of weakness, an open admission of failure and a lack of character.

Furthermore, we are on the move so much, who has time to share and to care? It has been my observation that we Christians are not immune from this hurry-up,hassle-hustle mentality...

Romans 3:23-24

Stop and think: Upon believing in Jesus Christ's substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, the once-lost sinner is instantly, unconditionally, and permanently "declared 100 per cent righteous."

Anything less and we are not righteous...we're almost righteous.

If we are declared 99.9 per cent righteous, some verses of the Bible would have to be rewritten. Like Isaiah 1:18, which might then read: "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'though your sins are as scarlet, they will be light pink.'"

Isaiah 30:15

Some of the most profound ministries of the Spirit of God are not public or loud or large. Sometimes His most meaningful touch on our lives comes when we are all alone.

I urge you to include in your schedule time to be alone with God...

You do have places where you can get away for a long walk, don't you? I hope it's in a wooded area. The gentle breeze blowing through the forest is therapeutic.

Proverbs 8:22

If some corporate position is the god of your life, then something terrible occurs within when it is no longer a future possibility. If your career, however, is simply a part of God's plan and you keep it in proper perspective, you can handle a demotion just as well as you can handle a promotion.

It all depends on who's first and what's first.

Breaking the magnet that draws things ahead of God is a lengthy and sometimes painful process.

Psalm 139:15

Perhaps you never knew what it was to nestle securely in a parent's love. Your home life may have been strained or even fractured from your earliest memory. From a human point of view, your birth might have come at a difficult or awkward time in your parents' lives.

It may be that you've never known the reassurance of a faithful mother and father who built their faith into your heart. When you think back on your growing-up years, you realize you don't have much to shout about.

Psalm 62:5

Henri Nouwen called solitude... "the furnace of transformation." This doesn't refer to mere personal privacy for a 12-second pit stop where we get a quick fix to re-enter the race.

It's more than that.

It's an oasis of the soul where we see ourselves, others, and especially our God in new ways. It's where much of the "clutter" of life is identified and exterminated, thanks to the merciless heat of the "furnace."

Soul surgery transpires as serenity replaces anxiety.

Matthew 6:12

Have you done someone wrong?

Have you been offensive?

Have your actions caused hurt?

To do nothing is not only in direct disobedience to Jesus' teaching, it also complicates your life. It adds heavier mental weights than you are capable of carrying.

It is like dropping an anchor and then cranking up your boat's engine and putting it in gear. The anchor keeps catching and snagging on the bottom, making for a terribly uncomfortable ride across the water.

How simple the solution! Just pull in the anchor...