God's Ordered Authority (and other devotionals)

God's Ordered Authority

1 Samuel 15:1-23

God's plan for each one of us has our best interest in mind. His way leads to fullness of life. Yet He did not create us to be robots that blindly and lifelessly live their godly life. No, the Lord grants us the choice of whether or not to obey Him. Our human nature tends to choose a self-centered path that turns away from God's authority. But in doing so, we miss His best for us.

Consider the life of King Saul. God chose this man to be king and provided guidelines for him to follow. Though Saul knew the Lord's instructions, he chose to do things his own way. At times his sin was unquestionably deliberate, such as his attempt to kill David out of jealousy. At other times, however, his rebellion seemed less clear-cut. For example, despite God's order to "utterly destroy" the Amalekites and their animals, Saul spared the best of the herd, with the justification that they were "to sacrifice to the Lord" (1 Sam. 15:3, 21).

His disobedient choices cost him the throne and eventually led to his destruction. This man chose the road that satisfied his immediate fleshly desires, but as we know from history, the end result was hardly fulfilling. We can learn from Saul's mistakes. Partial obedience is actually disobedience. And any disobedience falls in the category of rebellion, which is sin.

Each day, we face the same types of choices. Though the details are different, both large and small temptations lure us. We can live according to Christ's will, following His lead and listening for His voice. Or we can refuse. Choose today to live God's way--which leads to fullness of life.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

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Shake Off Fear—Embrace Blessing!

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Did you know that fear can cause you to forget things? Now, I’m not talking about forgetting a phone number or someone’s name, though it may cause you to forget things like that. Instead, I’m referring to fear that causes you to forget the blessings, the anointing, the power of God—all these possessions you have because you are saved!

It happened to Timothy, who was mightily gifted and graced by God for the ministry that God had given him.  Yet he forgot this in the midst of fear, and Paul had to remind him (see 2 Timothy 1:6). He had taken his eyes off of God and focused on fear so much that he couldn’t see anything else.

Let me tell you something friend: You are tremendously blessed! If you get your mind distracted by fear, then you will fail to see your blessings in Christ. Fear will blow out every light in your soul, take the blue out of your sky, and the joy out of your life.

ACTION POINT:
Friend, wake up and count your blessings. Rejoice, for you are in Christ!

~Adrian Rogers~

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The Peaceful Fruit of Righteousness

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. - Hebrews12:11

We know that the Lord disciplines those He loves but sometimes I wonder why He has to go to such extremes to love me so much? I have told the Lord that it is a good thing He told us that discipline is based on love because, at times, I would misinterpret the pain as something else.

I have noticed that through the process of chastening, I probably will not remember the circumstance that brought the trial, but I will remember the intensity of the pain. When God really gets a hold of me and starts working on changing me, I feel hallow and empty. During those times, I feel like a pumpkin. God cuts around my handle and scrapes me clean of all the seeds and stringy things. But I liked all those seeds, stringy things and even the dingy environment; at first, I grieve over missing the “old me”. But then, He goes a step further and takes the knife of the Word and starts carving at my hardened protected outside. Now my insides become exposed to the outside, and light has the ability to shine through.  So often, I can barely handle such exposure and I feel embarrassment and vulnerability no matter what angle the light hits.  During these times I cry, yell, pray and beg Him to stop, not understanding why I have to go through this painful process. But in His perfect timing, I realize that the peaceful fruit of righteousness has resulted in me. Finally, I pray for His light to be placed deep within me so others can see His good work.

We need the Lord. There should be nothing else we want to do but to love Him with all that we are and to serve Him with all of our lives. As we continue to walk with Him, we better understand that His purpose for us is best for us. We are called to endure these trials of life as we are becoming more like Christ, and being transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Jesus needs to become our everything. We need to ask Him to help us yield to His will in the discipline process and to resolve ourselves with His timing, being content with His will. Though the process is painful, He knows what is best and we can trust Him to finish the work He started in us.

Are you dealing with something painful today? Maybe you are wondering why God has put you in such a place. Regardless of the reasons for our sufferings, we must remember that He is our answer. Go to Him today and ask for His strength and guidance to lead you through this time. Begin thanking Him for His purposes in the work He is doing in your life. He will never let you down.

~Daily Disciples Devotional~
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Fully Following

Today's reading: 1 Kings 20:26-43

Even though Ahab is absolutely aware of who God is, that He is in control and that it was God who gave Israel victory over Ben-hadad and Syria, Ahab still won't fully acknowledge or submit to God's direction. It's an unfortunate and sad picture, but one that is common. I say that from experience because there were a number of years in my twenties and thirties where I behaved just like Ahab. I was happy to accept God's help and blessing, but I still wanted to do things my way--and I sure did. I'm thankful to say that today my desire is to fully follow God and His direction, but it took going through some hard circumstances for God to get my attention and get me back on track.

How would you describe your view of, and relationship with, God? Are you open and willing to fully follow His direction and prompting? 

~Tami~

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Under hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed (Rom. 4:18). (Weymouth)

Abraham's faith seemed to be in a thorough correspondence with the power and constant faithfulness of Jehovah. In the outward circumstances in which he was placed, he had not the greatest cause to expect the fulfillment of the promise. Yet he believed the Word of the Lord, and looked forward to the time when his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude.

O my soul, thou hast not one single promise only, like Abraham, but a thousand promises, and many patterns of faithful believers before thee: it behooves thee, therefore, to rely with confidence upon the Word of God. And though He delayeth His help, and the evil seemeth to grow worse and worse, be not weak, but rather strong, and rejoice, since the most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it.

He commonly brings His help in our greatest extremity, that His finger may plainly appear in our deliverance. And this method He chooses that we may not trust upon anything that we see or feel, as we are always apt to do, but only upon His bare Word, which we may depend upon in every state.
--C. H. Von Bogatzky

Remember it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith; as long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily as where natural prospects fail.
--George Mueller

~L. B. Cowman~