Daily Devotionals

Genesis 39:19-23  

Job 9:1-35 

“God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.

If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.

The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.

Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength." (Job 9:32–35)

Job 3:1-26

Every person reading this chapter has been the recipient of bad advice. You listened as someone gave it to you. You followed the counsel you received and then suffered the consequences. We have all benefited from someone's good advice too. We were unsure and confused, so we reached out to somebody we trusted. We received good counsel, followed the advice, and enjoyed the benefits.

Job 3:1–26

There are times when others' words only make our troubles worse. That may seem too elementary to mention, so why would I? Well, have you learned it? Are you still listening to everybody? If so, it's small wonder that you're confused.

There are times when God's ways only make us more confused. There, I've said it. I've been wanting to say that all through this chapter, and I finally worked up the courage. My point? Don't expect to understand everything that happens when it occurs.

Proverbs 12:3

I want to be quite direct with you. Secular thought has taken a tragic toll on the servant of God's distinctiveness. 

This has begun to influence the church. Many a believer has surrendered his mind to the world system. 

The uniquely Christian mind, therefore, is a rare find. Humanism, secularism, intellectualism, and materialism have invaded our thinking to such a marked degree our testimony has become diluted—in some cases, non-existent. 

Ephesians 5:1-2

God says we are to be "imitators" of Him, which really means we are to "mimic" Him. Since God is a God of freshness and change, so we should be. 

Are you open to change in your life? Are you willing to risk? Are you flexible enough to innovate? Are you willing to tolerate the sheer possibility of making a massive change in your direction for life? 

"Lord, is it South America? Great! Or Indonesia? I'll do it. I'll move or change my profession. Fine! Are You leading me into a new venture? I'll do it. Count me in!"

How do we live with worry and stress and fear? How do we withstand these joy stealers? 

Let me be downright practical and tell you what I do. First I remind myself early in the morning and on several occasions during the day, "God, You are at work, and You are in control, and, Lord God, You know this is happening. You were there at the beginning, and You will bring everything that occurs to a conclusion that results in your greater glory in the end." 

Isaiah 55:8

God is the Potter; we are the clay. He's the Shepherd; we are the sheep. He's the Master; we are the servant. 

No matter how educated we are, no matter how much power and influence we may think we have, no matter how long we have walked with Him, no matter how significant we may imagine ourselves to be in His plan...none of that qualifies us to grasp the first particle of why He does what He does when He does it and how He chooses to do it.

1 John 2:15

If you want to stay clean, even when you're walking alone in the dark, low-ceilinged coal mine of the corrupt and secular culture, you need to remember a few practical things—four come to mind.

1. Pay close attention to what you look at.... Our eyes seem to be the closest connection to our minds.  

2. Give greater thought to the consequences of sin than to its pleasures.... Nobody ever mentions the ugly underside of pleasurable sins. 

Genesis 6:17-18

God informed Noah of His plan: He was going to destroy the world with a flood. 

So for 120 years, by faith, Noah followed the Lord's leading. He gathered the materials; he built the ark, probably to the ridicule of everyone around him. After all, this was a world that had never known rain; the earth was watered from beneath.