Are You Limiting God?
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
People say, “Well, I don't believe God can use me.” You’re insulting God. You’re limiting Him. “Well,” you say, “all right then, I'll just serve God in my poor little old weak way.” Quit it! He doesn't want you to serve him in your “poor little old weak way.” God wants to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them! This is the kind of people God wants to use.
It's not your fame; it's your faith. It's not your scholarship; it's your relationship. It's not your ability; it is your availability. It's not who you know; it's Whose you are that counts.
ACTION POINT:
God takes what the world calls a foolish message, then God takes a weak messenger, and then God compounds these two in the crucible of His love and wisdom. The result is glory to God.
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
People say, “Well, I don't believe God can use me.” You’re insulting God. You’re limiting Him. “Well,” you say, “all right then, I'll just serve God in my poor little old weak way.” Quit it! He doesn't want you to serve him in your “poor little old weak way.” God wants to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them! This is the kind of people God wants to use.
It's not your fame; it's your faith. It's not your scholarship; it's your relationship. It's not your ability; it is your availability. It's not who you know; it's Whose you are that counts.
ACTION POINT:
God takes what the world calls a foolish message, then God takes a weak messenger, and then God compounds these two in the crucible of His love and wisdom. The result is glory to God.
~Adrian Rogers~
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Speak ye to the rock; and Moses smote the rock twice. - Numbers 20:8-11
What a miracle of grace is here! Nothing could have been mort explicit than the Divine command that Moses should, on this occasion, simply speak to the rock. We cannot fathom the deep reason; perhaps it was because the Spiritual Rock of our salvation could not be smitten by the soldier's spear twice. "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Moreover, we are taught to wait on God each time we perform duties which appear similar, for the ways in which they should be performed may vary widely. It is clear, whatever the reason, that Moses was to speak, not smite.
However, he grievously disobeyed; largely, probably, because he could not believe that mere speech would suffice for the miracle. He thought that he must do something to aid God, not realizing how slight a part man's is in the Divine esteem. No flesh may glory in His presence. God must be all in all. We must believe that a word is enough; and that God will do the rest.
But, in spite of his irritation, disobedience, and unbelief, the water gushed out. The sin of the servant did not annul the love and faithfulness of God. "If we believe not, He remaineth faithful." It is a sweet lesson. We are worthless and unprofitable servants; we fail to believe and obey. But God's grace flows over the bank, and inundates the wilderness with crystal streams. The Psalmist says the waters did not trickle, they gushed out. Oh, miracle of Divine faithfulness! But Moses himself had to pay the penalty in later years. Disobedience in God's servants cannot be condoned. In proportion to the saintliness of their character is the rigor of their punishment.
What a miracle of grace is here! Nothing could have been mort explicit than the Divine command that Moses should, on this occasion, simply speak to the rock. We cannot fathom the deep reason; perhaps it was because the Spiritual Rock of our salvation could not be smitten by the soldier's spear twice. "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Moreover, we are taught to wait on God each time we perform duties which appear similar, for the ways in which they should be performed may vary widely. It is clear, whatever the reason, that Moses was to speak, not smite.
However, he grievously disobeyed; largely, probably, because he could not believe that mere speech would suffice for the miracle. He thought that he must do something to aid God, not realizing how slight a part man's is in the Divine esteem. No flesh may glory in His presence. God must be all in all. We must believe that a word is enough; and that God will do the rest.
But, in spite of his irritation, disobedience, and unbelief, the water gushed out. The sin of the servant did not annul the love and faithfulness of God. "If we believe not, He remaineth faithful." It is a sweet lesson. We are worthless and unprofitable servants; we fail to believe and obey. But God's grace flows over the bank, and inundates the wilderness with crystal streams. The Psalmist says the waters did not trickle, they gushed out. Oh, miracle of Divine faithfulness! But Moses himself had to pay the penalty in later years. Disobedience in God's servants cannot be condoned. In proportion to the saintliness of their character is the rigor of their punishment.
~Charles Spurgeon~
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Luke 11:27, 28:
A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But He said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
It is fondly imagined by some that it must have involved very special privileges to have been the mother of our Lord, because they supposed that she had the benefit of looking into His very heart in a way in which we cannot hope to do. There may be an appearance of plausibility in the supposition, but not much. We do not know that Mary knew more than others; what she did know she did well to lay up in her heart; but she does not appear from anything we read in the Evangelists to have been a better-instructed believer than any other of Christ's disciples. All that she knew we also may discover. Do you wonder that we should say so? Here is a text to prove it: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." Remember the Master's words-"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." So blessedly does this Divine Revealer of secrets tell us His heart, that He keepeth back nothing which is profitable to us; His own assurance is, "If it were not so, I would have told you." Doth He not this day manifest Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world? It is even so; and therefore we will not ignorantly cry out, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee," but we will intelligently bless God that, having heard the Word and kept it, we have first of all as true a communion with the Saviour as the Virgin had, and in the second place as true an acquaintance with the secrets of His heart as she can be supposed to have obtained. Happy soul to be thus privileged!
~Charles Spurgeon~
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True Faith
James 2:14-20 tells us the substance of true faith,
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
My favorite translation of this last verse is, "Faith without actions that correspond is dead." Faith must have actions that correspond with it.
You can talk about catching fish, about what lures you are going to use, and how you are going to cook them after you catch them, but if you never throw a line in the water, you are not going to catch a fish.
Or it's like the golfer who comes to a 3-par hole with a lake right in front of the green and says, "No problem, I can hit that green with my six iron." Then he digs out an old ratty golf ball. If he truly believes he can hit the green, he will hit his brand new $3 golf ball!
For faith to be genuine, it has to have corresponding actions.
~Bayless Conley~
James 2:14-20 tells us the substance of true faith,
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
My favorite translation of this last verse is, "Faith without actions that correspond is dead." Faith must have actions that correspond with it.
You can talk about catching fish, about what lures you are going to use, and how you are going to cook them after you catch them, but if you never throw a line in the water, you are not going to catch a fish.
Or it's like the golfer who comes to a 3-par hole with a lake right in front of the green and says, "No problem, I can hit that green with my six iron." Then he digs out an old ratty golf ball. If he truly believes he can hit the green, he will hit his brand new $3 golf ball!
For faith to be genuine, it has to have corresponding actions.
~Bayless Conley~
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