Your Daily Crossroad
For The Lord
We are alive to bless the Lord, not for the Lord to bless us. Although God desires to bless us, our desire needs to be that we just want to please the Lord. That means that everything we do should be done to please the Lord and not man. We can do dishes for the Lord, we can wipe noses for the Lord, and we are to help others for the Lord. It is not about being appreciated and complimented by others but by Him. A good test to check your motives is to examine what you do when no one is looking. Do you realize that God is watching? The Lord is with you all the time. When we become aware of His continual presence, we change. And this change is good because as we align our hearts to please Him, we receive His peace.
God has given us internal monitors that let us know if what we are doing is right or wrong before Him. When we make choices that please Him, we have peace. If we are making wrong choices, the Lord convicts us. We become uncomfortable with a lack of peace. We realize quickly that we are not pleasing God when gossiping or speaking negatively. When this happens to me, I sense the quenching of the Holy Spirit and I want to get out of that conversation as fast as I can. Praise God for His conviction. I don’t want to do anything that quenches the Spirit because I have learned that whatever quenches His Spirit hurts Him because it is bad for me.
Let’s live to bless the Lord. Ask Him to convict your heart today when you are doing anything that isn’t right before Him. Some day we will each give an account of our actions before Him. If we become aware of His presence now, we will live a life that brings Him glory, which in turn blesses us.
When I read this devotion it blessed me. What truth! Remember, He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles so if today after reading this devotion, you feel there are things you struggle with and the Holy Spirit has been convicting you, remember this, He already knows, turn it all over to Him, walk away from it and watch peace flow over you and through you. Today is your day to receive victory over strong holds.
Have a beautiful day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Revelation 21:4
God’s Blessings
If we meditate on these verses, we can discern the heart of God. Three times the Lord uses the word “bless.” As the Lord fills us with His countenance and peace, we are able to represent Him to others. We cannot be blessed apart from God because blessing is two-fold. His face shines upon us so that we in turn bless Him. His desire for us is to bless us and keep us in His care. He wants His face to radiate through our faces so that others may know we serve a God who makes us shine with His favor and His countenance. The Lord is gracious and desires for us to live with peace. These spiritual characteristics take on physical attributes displayed in our lives.
As you look at your life today, do you reflect the countenance of the Lord who loves you and knows you by name? Do you live in fear or in peace? Not only does He know us by name, but He places His name on us, so that our words, attitudes and actions represent Him. Do you have peace, even in the midst of trying circumstances? By understanding the heart of God, our desire should be to draw closer to Him. The Lord is consistent. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His heart’s desire is to bless you and to give you peace. We realize that we are not blessed because of anything we have done but because of His mercy through the blood of Christ. Ask for the Lord’s blessing on your life today. If you have come to know Jesus Christ, you now bear His name and are called a child of God. And, we know from Numbers 6:27 that by receiving His name as His child, He will bless us.
As I was reading my word this morning The Lord was speaking to me about fear, then when I was praying and searching for a devotion to post, again, He led me to this devotion about fear. I don’t know who this is for but my prayer is that it uplifts and encourages you in your walk today with The Lord. Ponder on this scripture today whenever circumstances try to take hold of you and overwhelm you, when you feel the enemy is whispering lies into your ear, stop and trust Him, He is faithful, He is always present and He is always your biggest fan. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10) God is enough, He is all we ever need. He is love and He loves you beyond measure. Smile today, His blessings are great!
Have a beautiful day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is 1 Timothy 4:8
Listen and Obey
The message of the Lord to His prophet, Elijah, is readily accepted by the reader. Because the Lord’s commands are past tense, we have hindsight to say, “Isn’t it great that Elijah obeyed and did what God told him to do?” But if this was a command that God gave you, would you be as obedient? Let’s take the black and white words of the Word and look at this in living color. God told Elijah to hide, to drink from a brook and to eat road kill from ravens. These commands would be hard for me to accept. Personally, I would doubt if I was really hearing God’s voice speaking to me and I would wonder why I was the one running and hiding. But the Bible says in verse 5 that “he did what the LORD had told him.”
God will only give us as much as we can handle. As we become faithful to do what the Lord tells us in the small things, He will entrust us with bigger commands. Elijah knew what it meant to listen and obey. He had a mighty ministry but the works of the ministry meant nothing in comparison to the obedience of his heart to do what the Lord had said. God can entrust a mighty ministry to an obedient heart. And an obedient heart just wants to please God regardless of the extent of the ministry or the commands.
We have the Bible; the Bible is the book of what God wants for us. The Lord will speak to you through the Bible if you are really willing to listen. The Lord will lead you if you really want His direction. The difficulty comes when God’s word doesn’t seem to make sense to our situation. So instead of doing what He says, we choose our own ways. Faith goes against the flesh. Most things God says to me make no sense to my intellect or feelings or circumstances. But, when I listen and obey the smallest of commands, I have seen His faithfulness develop my faith to handle the next command like Elijah. I want to do all the Lord tells me to do. I want to run the race He has set before me, even if it means hiding out and eating ravens’ food.
Lord, help me to be faithful with the little things so that I may be faithful with all You have for me. Amen!
What a devotion!! What trust from Elijah, my prayer today is that no matter the calling or direction on our lives from God, that we would be ready and willing to say, Yes Lord, lead me and I will follow. It’s so easy to say but far more difficult to put into action. Especially when we think we got it all figured out, we must be faithful over the little things and when He says go we go and when He says stop we stop. He is so real, we can have that kind of relationship with Him just as Elijah did but it’s the moments that we have to go outside our comfort zone that we stop and do what feels comfortable but I am reminded of this quote, the sooner you step away from your comfort zone; the sooner you’ll realize that it really wasn’t all that comfortable. Allow God to show you the truth behind that. Be obedient and trust Him, He has so much in store for you, listen and obey.
Have a blessed day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Romans 8:39
Just the Truth
Where does “truth” really exist? Do we actually believe that anything written in print is somehow more believable? The Bible says that “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So, in essence, we are all sinners and we are all capable of lying or falsifying information. I think we expect more integrity from those who make a living out of reporting the news. But the lesson for all of us is: don’t believe everything you read. There is only one source that is truth and it is the Holy Bible. Anything else written by man has the opportunity for errancy and deception. Why? Because we as human beings are sinners, capable of lying and deceiving at every turn. We even justify our exaggerations by calling them “little white lies” or “just stretching the truth.” The truth does not “stretch!”
Our only hope is in confessing our sins to “He” who “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” and to save us from perishing in them. He is Jesus Christ. He is Truth. Today, we must plant His Word in our hearts and minds so that His truth will guide us in our daily lives. Why do we waste so much time reading and listening to the world’s news of death and destruction when we have the Good News that brings hope eternal? Think about it and make the switch today.
When I read today’s devotion I was encouraged to run to The Word and read it, even to those who say, I don’t understand the Bible, go to it, open it, read it, make time for it and I promise you, He will guide you in your daily life, if we will open The Word, plant His Word in our hearts and minds. The Bible says in John 15:4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. His love never fails! He is Jesus Christ, He is truth!
Have a blessed day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Joshua 1:9