Your Daily Crossroad
24
Sep '18
Are You So Foolish?
24
Sep '18
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
There are times that we all get discouraged when we try so hard in our homes and in our work. We want to do the best we can. We want to be giving and loving in our efforts. We want to know that we are pleasing the Lord. We equate blessings with God’s favor, thinking that it is our motives and actions that are being rewarded. So when things don’t go well, we wonder what we are doing wrong. It is a common misconception, but God doesn’t work like that. His grace is not gained by our good behavior. Because we are under the covenant of grace, we are called into rest. That is why it is so important to hold on to His promises. He is always working in us and with us. His plan is that we almost become passive in the process. We get tired of trying as we get caught in the middle between His promises and our efforts. Our hearts long to spend time with the Lord but there are always too many other factors competing for our attention. These factors take away our energy, and at times, make us feel like we can’t do it all or we didn’t do a good job anyway.
If God has given you promises, then He is the One who is responsible to fulfill them. God does not need our help or efforts. What He has started in the Spirit will not ever get accomplished in our flesh. It is the enemy who tries to discourage you. Satan will put thoughts in your mind of doubt and self defeat. Out loud, tell those evil forces that God has a plan regardless of your abilities. You choose to rest in His promises instead of worrying and doubting God by looking at yourself. Tell the Lord that you are choosing to focus your eyes on Him. And then, get into His Word and claim those promises. His Word puts you on the Rock, and our only responsibility is to stand firm on that Rock.
I feel the biggest thing to walk away with from this devotion is to focus your eyes on Him, dig into the word and claim those promises. I am reminded of Isaiah 55:11, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Stand firm on The Rock today! God has a plan!
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Psalm 59:16
21
Sep '18
How to Stand Firm
21
Sep '18
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. (Jude 1:24)
It was a cold, icy winter’s day, and my mind was focused on getting from my warm vehicle to a warm building. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, my knees turned inward and my lower legs turned outward. Nothing was broken, but I was in pain. The pain would get worse as time went by and it would be weeks before I was whole again.
Who among us hasn’t taken a spill of some sort? Wouldn’t it be nice to have something or someone to keep us on our feet all the time? While there are no guarantees of surefootedness in the physical sense, there is One who stands ready to assist us in our quest to honor Christ in this life and prepare us to stand joyfully before Him in the next.
Every day we face temptations (and even false teachings) that seek to divert us, confuse us, and entangle us. Yet, it’s not ultimately through our own efforts that we remain on our feet as we walk in this world. How assuring to know that when we hold our peace when tempted to speak angrily, to opt for honesty over deceit, to choose love over hate, or to select truth over error—we experience God’s power to keep us standing (Jude 1:24). And when we appear approved before God when Christ returns, the praise that we offer now for His sustaining grace will echo throughout eternity (v. 25).
Father, thank You for Your constant care for our souls. Amen.
When I read this devotion I was uplifted and encouraged. What a mighty God we serve, an ever present help in the time of trouble. Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. God is so good. I have shared this quote many times but I feel in my spirit it needs to be shared once again today for someone struggling to understand the why. When GOD leads you to the edge of a cliff, trust Him fully. Only two things can happen; either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you how to fly.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Galatians 6:9
19
Sep '18
Don’t Worry About It!
19
Sep '18
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew 6:25)
Do you worry? Some of us worry about paying the monthly rent or mortgage. Some of us worry about the choices our children are making. Others of us are anxious about big decisions we must make about our future. With all the concerns in life, can Jesus really be serious when he tells us not to worry?
While we will never know a life without concerns, Jesus assures us we can know a life without worry. He points out that worry—any manner of pace-the-floor, can’t-sleep-at-night fretting—is not helpful because it changes nothing. Worry doesn’t add a single hour to life; it doesn’t solve a single problem. And worry isn’t helpful because life is more than our worries make it out to be! Followers of Jesus are called to live for so much more than the fleeting things we worry about.
Jesus reminds us that worry isn’t necessary for a child of God. Your heavenly Father knows precisely what you need, when you need it. And your heavenly Father is good. The same God who paints the flowers of the field and tends the birds of the air holds every part of your life in his nail-pierced hands. The same God who loved you so much that he went through the hell of Calvary for you, loves you too much to leave your life to chance.
Don’t worry! God is in control!
Creator God, you hold the vastness of the universe and the intricacies of the smallest molecules in your hands. Help us to trust in your perfect care for us, so that we may be free to build our lives on you. Amen.
I pray this devotion blessed you today. I myself needed this reminder. No matter what we are facing today, don’t worry about it, GOD IS in control. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Matthew 6:34). GOD IS in control.
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in a The Lord!
Todays Reading is Ephesians 4:29
18
Sep '18
The Cure to Worry
18
Sep '18
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (Philippians 4:6)
There is nothing more prevalent in the age in which we live than the increasing problem of worry. Worry is a powerful force to disintegrate the human personality, leaving us frustrated, puzzled, baffled and bewildered by life. Sometimes you hear the expression: “sick with worry”, and anyone who has experienced it knows it is no empty expression. You can be literally sick with worry. Paul’s answer to this is a blunt, “Do not be anxious about anything.” The entire Word of God is a constant exhortation to believers to stop worrying. It is everywhere forbidden to those who believe in Jesus Christ, and I think one of the most serious areas of unbelief is our failure as Christians to face the problem of worry as sin. Because that is what it is. Worry is not just something everyone does and therefore it must be all right. It is definitely labeled a sin in the scriptures, and the exhortation is everywhere: stop it!
Well you say, this is all very well to say don’t worry, but how do you stop it? Every time I try to stop worrying I worry all the more. You can’t stop it just by the exercise of will power. Again, that’s the secret of running the race — here it is: “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
I love those words “in every situation.” That means there is nothing too small to bring to him. Someone asked, “Is it alright to bring small things before the Lord? Is he concerned about the small things in our lives?” The answer is: is there anything that looks big to God? Everything is small to him, so take everything to him in prayer. Prayer is the expression of our dependence upon his promises. It isn’t necessarily on your knees, or in the closet, but it can be simply that quiet, “arrow prayer” of the heart, in continual recognition that you need to lean back upon his grace and strength in everything, constantly relating to that indwelling life of God the Son in you.
“Petition” means, keep it up, over and over again. Whenever problems develop lean back again in prayer to the one who is able and competent within you through his indwelling life. Thanksgiving is that forward look of faith that thanks God for the answer before you see it. Knowing his character, you know something — the right thing, the perfect thing — will be done.
God is not saying we should ask for everything we want. Instead, we’re to ask for everything we need. Frequently we find ourselves praying for things he never promises. For instance, if you are up against some kind of trial, or some catastrophe strikes in your life, our perfectly understandable, natural human reaction is to say, “Lord, take this away.” But God never said he would do that. He does not always want us to have it taken away. Sometimes he will, sometimes not. That kind of prayer must always have appended to it what our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
But there are things for which we can immediately ask, and know that we will receive. His grace, his strength, insight, wisdom, patience, love and compassion. And as we lean back upon him in that inner dependence of faith which is prayer, we can also begin to give thanks that the answer has come, and in our thanksgiving we discover the experience of it as well. So, as in everything where we let our requests be made known to God, the result is peace. The peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I confess, Lord, that I so often prefer worry over prayer. Thank you that you invite me to cast all my cares upon you. I pray that I may learn to do that with a heart of continual thanksgiving. Amen.
Today’s devotion is a bit lengthy but I felt every aspect of it was so very relevant to our lives today and I needed this reminder myself. My prayer is someone, somewhere, also needed to hear this and is blessed and inspired by it. Let your requests be known to God and the result is peace, Amen! PUSH, pray until something happens, FEAR, false evidence appearing real. Pray!
Have a beautiful and uplifting day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Philippians 2:3-4