Day 7
Day 7 finishes our series on waiting with the call that will cement our relationship with God in a much deeper way today: humility…
Devotional Point 4 today: Humility is the byproduct of being with Jesus
Scripture 4 today: “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6 NIV
Reflection 4 today: Pride is the single biggest thing that stands between us and God. Historically it has been the single biggest thing that he has blocked me from experiencing God’s grace. This word “oppose“ is very interesting because in the language of the day it was a military term meaning concentrated effort to smash the enemy. Why would anyone want God to engage in a concentrated effort to smash what they are doing? Makes you wonder why anyone would even think about it? Most especially me…
Question for the day: Where had pride sidetracked you from your walk with God?
Other Notes: Hopefully you have enjoyed this time to “wait” for the last 7 days. Tomorrow we will be moving on to a new series called “Awaken” from the guys at Calvary Chapel in Florida. I think you will find it inspiring as we move through the Christmas and New Years holidays. Invites out later, be blessed…
Day 6
Day 6 looks at the requirements for life, both physical and spiritual…
Devotional Point 4 today: Jesus is what you need…
Scripture 4 today: “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 NIV
Reflection 4 today: from the moment the baby is born it requires food, as it grows, that nature of the food changes. To live we need two things: some hard fuel and some liquid fuel. Bread in the old Testament was a symbol for the feeling that God did for his people every day for 40 years in the wilderness. The important part is the “every day“ part. We have to feed on gods word every day or we starve. It is pretty easy to see why there is so little power in the Christian community presently, because there is so little actual bread and water being ingested.
Day 5
Day 5 delivers an important point for us when we face overwhelming adds, be still and let God be God…
Devotional Point 4 today: Drink in His presence and in the stillness seek His face
Scripture 4 today: He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps 46:10
Reflection 4 today: To set the scene here, King Hezekiah had prayed for deliverance from the overwhelming Assyrian army. The angel of the Lord had descended on them and killed everyone of them and destroyed all of their weapons. When they went outside the walls of Jerusalem all they could see was the miles of devastation of the Assyrian army. While pursuing a contemplative of environment is a very good thing, that is not what this is about. This is about letting God fight a battle that we have no hope of winning…
Question for the day: what battle do you need God to fight today…
Day 4
Day 4 cuts to the heart of our faith, we worship the real God with a real voice and real truth, time to believe in it…
Devotional Point 4 today: The world is filled with “little g” gods…
Scripture 4 today: “Your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown, Lord, through all generations.” Psalms 135:13 NIV
Reflection 4 today: in the rest of the chapter, he goes on to describe what is a small “G“ God. These are what we have been taught to worship from our earliest days: make lots of money, consume conspicuously, and die with the most toys… Amazingly, most of the world we live in is enslaved by that, but not us. We have been given this amazing gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can live a completely different life…. So, let’s get on and live it…
Day 3
Day 3 brings us to the only reference in the Bible to the Lord as light. He equals light, that light can make life liveable…
Devotional Point 4 today: You are safe in God’s love and in the power of His mighty name
Scripture 4 today: “The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalms 27:1 NIV
Reflection 4 today: King David head more ups and downs then just about anyone in the entire Bible. He made it all and lost it all on three or four separate occasions. This is the only place in the Bible where God is defined as light. And the result of being close to God, is the fact that he can provide enough light on our lives and circumstances to be our salvation right here and now. Most of us really don’t know what we are getting into on a day-to-day basis, when you have this light shining out from inside you, you are able to make sense of it and work your way through it all the time.
Question for the day: what is the light showing to you today?
Day 2
Day 2 gets to one of the most important points we can learn, waiting. We usually don’t wait because we have so little faith and we are filled with fear over what happens if He doesn’t do what we think He should do…
Devotional Point 4 today: waiting is never wasted when you are waiting on God…
Scripture 4 today: “it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:26 NIV
Reflection 4 today: we live in a world that essentially refuses to wait on anything, we are the “instant on“ generation. For most of my life, I have been the post child for their way of thinking and living. However, he did a masterful job at bringing me back to my senses 25 years ago. It hasn’t been is you by any stretch of the imagination, however I could not be where I am today without being forced to wait. Waiting is something that has to be learned as part of discipleship.
Question for the day: How have you benefitted from being forced to wait?
Day 1
Day 1 of our new series gives us an essential piece of the puzzle for understanding how God works, He comes along at the right time for us whether we understand it or not…
Devotional Point 4 today: He always comes at the right time…
Scripture 4 today: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
Galatians 4:4-5 NIV
Reflection 4 today: The starting place for understanding why God does what he does is based on the fact that he came to both redeem us and make us His sons & daughters. The crucifixion is the legal basis for all of it, and where it all begins. However the “making sons“ part of it is the discipleship part. That, during the last 65 years of the broadcast cycle of the church has been almost entirely left out. As we enter into the engagement cycle, all of that has to change. it takes time and focus, but what other choice is there?
Question for the day: How can we do a better job at this today?
