Good Decisions
The familiar expression “You reap what you sow” is reinforced throughout Scripture (Job 4:8; Prov. 11:18). In today’s passage, Esau learned this truth the hard way. Famished, he returned from hunting and requested a bowl of the stew his brother was cooking. Jacob seized upon the opportunity and agreed to share the food in exchange for his older twin’s birthright.
Jesus’ Yoke Is Easy And Light
The word “yoke” can be foreign to those of us living in an industrialized nation.
Basically, a yoke is a piece of wood that is used to hold two animals together, usually oxen, to help them share the load in pulling a till or a buggy of some sort.
The key here is that the yoke allows the animals to support each other in pulling the heavy weight.
As we live our lives, we are often times yoked by many things. We might be yoked with a personal decision that is weighing heavy on us.
We might even be yoked with a spouse who helps us in the hard times. We can even be yoked to sin as the Israelites were with Baal (Numbers 25:3). No matter how you look at it, we are yoked to something, whether good or bad.
Jesus tells us to come and take his yoke and we will find rest. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t say he will take our burdens and attach his yoke to it as we stand by and watch.
No, he takes us under his yoke and carries those burdens with us along the way.
In turn, he takes the majority of the burden and makes it “light” for us. We also “learn” from Jesus as we carry the burden with him.
This allows us to learn to change from the inside instead of repeating the same wrong things over and over. Is there something pulling you down that you haven’t given to Jesus today?
Take off your yoke and join Jesus in lightening the load.
What I love so much about this devotion is the visual it gives for the meaning of Yoke. I can honestly say I never gave much thought to the meaning of that one word but wow, what a powerful understanding. It transforms that setting of scripture in such a powerful way. I pray today you are encouraged to learn from Jesus as you carry the burden with him, For His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Romans 12:2
A Prescription For Your Soul
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 1:2)
Have you heard the saying, “take care of yourself and the rest will take care of itself”? There’s a lot of truth in that statement. When we’re rested, well-fed, and in good physical condition, we have the energy needed to tackle life head-on.
Or, so it would seem.
Taking care of ourselves requires more than just taking care of our physical needs. We also need to nourish our souls.
Our soul is who we are as individuals, dictating our choices, feelings, and self-image. A healthy soul is not only a key component of our overall health but our eternal salvation as well.
While it’s generally understood what makes a healthy body, here are a few ways to recognize a healthy soul.
A healthy soul is right with God, which is achieved by placing our faith in Jesus (Romans 3:22). Pray regularly and include him in all of your daily decisions.
A healthy soul is renewed by the Word of God and transformed by His Spirit (Ephesians 4:17–24). Ask the Lord to guard your heart and direct your thoughts away from selfishness, greed, and any kind of impurity or sinful desires.
A healthy soul loves God and understands all things work together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28). Trust His ways and know that his plan is at work, even when you don’t see or understand it.
And a healthy soul is joyful (Nehemiah 8:10), no matter the circumstance. If we let the day get to us, we let Satan take advantage of our situation and exploit it for his gain.
What is ONE CHANGE you could make in your life today that would improve the overall health of your soul? What’s holding you back from making that change?
A prescription for your soul, what I love about this devotion is the fact that we are constantly hearing about being in good healthy condition, which is good, but with that comes the most important thing, above all else, the overall health of your soul. All it takes is choosing to make one simple change at a time. I pray you are encouraged today.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Psalm 62:1
A Good Way To Start a Day
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. (Psalm 5:3)
I don’t trust hotel wake-up calls. Whether you will actually receive one when you ask seems to depend on the state of mind of the person entering your request. If he’s just broken up with his girlfriend, for example, and her name happens to be Sheila, I’m either getting a call in the middle of the night or none at all. So I set my own alarm on my phone. I actually set two. The first is when it would be good to get up, and the second is when I’d jolly well better get up.
I’m just not a morning person, so I like to ease into a day slowly.
I used to crawl out of bed, check that our son was up and in the shower, turn on the television to the morning news, and make myself a cup of coffee.
It’s not a bad way to start the day, but I’ve found a much better way.
I realized that if the first thing I pay attention to is what’s happening in our world, those images and words impact my view of the rest of the day. But if the Word of God is the first thing I give my heart and mind to, I see everything as under the control of my all-good, all-powerful, and all-loving heavenly Father. It’s hardly surprising that this new start to my day has had a huge impact on my life.
The moment I awake, I say Psalm 143:8 to myself—or, if Barry is already awake, I say it out loud. I repeat the verse several times. It’s become a great way to start a day:
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, My love will fall and fail, but God’s love never will.
for in thee do I trust.
The psalmist is very intentional here: trusting God is an act of the will.
Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, I pray, “Show me, Father, which way I should go today.”
for I lift up my soul unto thee.
I say, “My life is Yours, Lord, and I trust You with everything.”
Then I pray these simple words:
“Good morning, Lord! I don’t know where You are going today, but wherever You’re going, I’m comin’ with You!”
A good way to start the day every single day is to declare the Word of God and thank Him for it.
I love this devotion. What a way to start every morning. No matter how busy you find yourself you can find time to say that simple yet powerful prayer and scripture to start your day off right. I am going to print this off and put it on my night stand and repeat it every morning when I wake. I pray this devotion encourages you to start your mornings out just a bit differently with God.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Deuteronomy 13:4
The Redemption of Unclean Things
The servant gives these instructions: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” (verse 10) Naaman is extremely upset. Upon receiving these instructions, he rationalizes them away. In his own words, the waters of Syria are much cleaner than the waters of the Jordan.
“I’m not good enough.”
These are lies we tell ourselves all too often!
Whether it’s a difficult situation or broken person, don’t be like Naaman.
God can use anything or anyone to bring about His purpose. And he will!
Don’t be discouraged when God’s process veers far away from our ability to comprehend. Instead trust God, and do what he says.
He will work out the rest.
God’s promises are yes and amen. Will you trust Him today despite what you see?
What a beautiful devotion. When I read this I felt it had to be shared. I pray it blesses someone today.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Isaiah 43:11-12
Doing Things God’s Way
I am a planner. A problem-solver.
So when I bring my struggles to the Lord in prayer, I tend to also bring my carefully thought-out ideas and suggestions He can choose from.
But the longer I walk with Him, the more I’m discovering that simply isn’t the way God works. His ways? They aren’t our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
But God didn’t ask anyone for their opinion. Not even Joshua. Instead, He asked for their complete and unwavering obedience. Obedience in the face of a battle plan that would make no sense to their rational minds. A plan that actually involved no “battle” whatsoever.
All God wanted them to do was march. For six days straight, they were to march around the walls of Jericho. Then, on the seventh day of marching, they were to end with trumpet blasts and a great shout. God declared this mighty sound would bring the walls down.
What moves me most about the Israelites’ part in this story isn’t so much their willingness to take that first crazy step of obedience. It’s how they kept taking steps of obedience. Step after step after step. Even though nothing appeared to change … even though there wasn’t a single sign of cracking or crumbling in those massive walls … they kept marching.
What if they’d stopped after day two? Or day three? Or even day six?
Think of all they would have missed. They would have cheated themselves out of certain victory from God.
I don’t say any of this casually — as if it’s easy to keep going when there’s no evidence of our situation changing. It’s hard to continue marching when we don’t see God move the way we thought He would. It’s sometimes difficult to trust that He’s working behind the scenes.
So what do we do when He asks us to move in ways that don’t make sense to us? How do we keep “marching” when the situation still looks hopeless?
We make the same choice the Israelites made. We choose to walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) We take God at His Word and hold fiercely to His promises. (Hebrews 10:23)
God had promised Joshua that He would deliver Jericho, its king and army into his hands. (Joshua 6:2) And that is exactly what He did. When they marched around the city on that seventh day and gave their great shout with the blare of the trumpets, the walls fell down flat. Flat! The city was theirs for the taking. (Joshua 6:20)
Their victory never hinged on their ability or any of their well-thought-out plans. It was solely dependent on their unwavering obedience offered to a loving and mighty God.
I don’t know what seemingly impossible situation is staring you in the face today, sweet friend. I don’t know what crazy steps of obedience God is currently calling you to take. But let me be the gentle whisper in your ear encouraging you to keep going. Keep trusting. Keep taking step after step after obedient step.
We don’t have to understand the “why” of God’s ways. But we do have to keep choosing to follow them.
Let’s not stop short of our victory with God. He is working things out. He is present. His plan is still good, and He can still be trusted. These are certainties even when life feels so very uncertain.
Lord, I confess that at times my heart feels discouraged when I don’t see immediate results from my steps of obedience. Thank You for reminding me today that just because I can’t see You moving, it doesn’t mean You aren’t moving. Thank You for the good plans I know You have for my life. And thank You for always leading me toward victory. Please help me as I walk by faith not sight. Day after day. Step by step. Choosing Your way above my own. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I pray this devotion blessed someone today as much as it blessed me and more. I needed this reminder today, I pray today you remember He is always leading you toward victory. Trust Him as you march around whatever wall your facing. Just keep marching.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Psalm 63:1
Thankful For the Scars
Worry
Worry—feeling uneasy or troubled—seems to plague multitudes of people in our world today. It’s human nature to be concerned about the bad situations in our world and in our personal lives, but if we’re not careful, the devil will cause us to worry beyond what’s reasonable.
Like a rocking chair, worry is always in motion, but it never gets you anywhere. So why do we struggle with it? And what good does it do?
Worry is the opposite of faith. It steals our peace, physically wears us out, and can even make us sick. When we worry, we torment ourselves—we’re doing the devil’s job for him! Worry is caused by not trusting God to take care of the various situations in our lives. Too often we trust our own abilities, believing that we can figure out how to take care of our own problems. And yet, after all our worry and effort to go it alone, we come up short—unable to bring about suitable solutions.
Todays Reading is Proverbs 29:25