Staying Spiritual During the Holidays (and others)

Staying Spiritual During the Holidays

“And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at His birth.” - Luke 1:14 

If the holidays are about our faith, family and food feasts, then why do we struggle the most with staying spiritual during these times? Shouldn’t these times bring us peace on earth and joy to the world? But the reality for many of us is that we become emotionally stressed out, financially maxed out and physically burned out trying to keep up and keep it all together. Day after day, we become burned out and stressed out and now, our faith becomes affected as we start questioning God, “Are You hearing me?” and “Why won’t You help me?” Like Eve in the garden, we question God’s goodness and His basic command. Eve exchanged the peace of God for a piece of fruit but we exchange His presence for presents.  The serpent tempted Eve to compromise and we know that Jesus called him a murderer from the beginning. He is still up to the same old tricks. We are allowing the enemy to have too much influence at times. He kills our dreams, steals our peace and destroys our hope for the future. Jesus came to earth to reverse the process of death and yet our undisciplined lifestyle of choosing not to obey can lead to negative consequences in our lives.

To stay spiritually minded during the holidays, we need to keep our eyes focused on the Lord and include Him in our thoughts. Instead of talking to ourselves, we need to start talking to Him and then give Him the time to talk back. The enemy will use every scheme he can against us to distract us from maintaining a walk with the Lord. It has been said, “If the devil cannot make you bad, he will make you busy.” To combat the temptations to over commit in your time and finances, we must stay in the Word of God to renew our minds and to surrender to His will over our natural-born desires. Through the Holy Spirit, we can overcome and live a life pleasing to God that brings peace in the midst of chaos.

Joy to the world begins with each of us individually. Joy cannot come without the conscious awareness of the Lord’s promised presence wherever we go and whatever we do. By allowing our thoughts to think about God in the daily routines of life, we allow the Lord to have the ability to move through our actions. Only then can we truly maintain the Spirit of Christmas and sing the song, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

~Daily Disciples Devotional~

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Exceed Expectations 

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.   Philemon 1:21

Exceed expectations because God has done the same for you. He has done what He said and more. There is nothing halfway about God. He does things right and then throws in a little bit extra just to overwhelm us with His grace. Therefore, when God or others ask something of you, go for it with gusto. Exceed expectations. Make it a goal to bring more value to a relationship than you receive. If someone asks for prayer, then pray right then and there. Make it a habit to pray regularly for those in need, especially those who request prayer. Exceed expectations in your prayer for others. Exceed expectations in your work. You work to not just get by with the minimum requirements, but to give glory to God. What better way to make Christianity attractive than to work with excellence? When you exceed expectations, you open the door for others to inquire about your motivation, the Lord Jesus.

Exceeded expectations may facilitate advancement in your career. People want to work with and for someone who goes the second mile. They want to reward and hang out with someone who exceeds expectations. When we exceed expectations, we know that at the very least, there will be satisfaction on behalf of the ultimate One we serve. Lastly, exceed expectations with your attitude. A positive and “can do” attitude goes a long way toward making relational deposits. There are a lot of things we cannot control, but our attitude is one we can. Go over the top with an attitude of gratitude and generosity. Be exceedingly grateful!

           

Marriage is another environment for you to serve beyond what is expected. Make it a goal to out-serve your spouse. Marriage is an opportunity to give respect. No one in marriage has ever complained of too much love and respect. It is not possible to overly respect or overly love your spouse. Look for creative ways to love and respect them beyond their expectations. Exceeded expectations in the home make for harmony and contentment. The home is all about others, not you. Yes, there are times you feel the need to be spoiled, but first seek to spoil and serve others. You receive blessings and encouragement beyond measure when you serve in ways that exceed others’ expectations. It is not a game of keeping score of who has done the most for the other lately. Rather, it is dying to your own expectations so that you can exceed the expectations of your spouse and children. You have the option to exceed what God expects of you. Model this for them.

Why just get by with God? A prayer of salvation is the beginning of belief and a lifetime love affair with the Lord. He has a treasure trove of adventure waiting for those who will take him at His word and dare to exceed his expectations. So, if God asks for 10% giving, you want to exceed His minimum requirement. If He asks for one day of Sabbath, you want to give Him daily mini Sabbaths. If He asks for your heart, you want to give Him your life. Go more than one mile for another by giving others what they don’t deserve. Exceed expectation for heaven’s sake.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, by Your grace I want to exceed expectations in my service for You.

Application: What relationship needs my unselfish service that exceeds their expectations?

~Wisdom Hunters Devotional~
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Who Is Keeping You In God’s Hand?

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
When I talk about eternal security, inevitably I will hear, “Well, maybe your sins can’t take you out of the hand of God, but Satan can.”

In all due respect, I respond, “Pardon me. But that is foolishness. If Satan could take you out of the hand of God, why hasn’t he done it yet? Hasn’t he been nice to you? That would be a strange doctrine. You’re going to heaven by the grace of the devil!”

God saves us. God keeps us. What has been settled in eternity can never be undone by the ways of men or the schemes of the devil.

ACTION POINT:
Read Romans 8:38-39 today. These would be important verses for you to memorize.

~Adrian Rogers~

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Luke 18:1

Men ought always to pray.

If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more Christian men. Jesus has sent His church into the world on the same errand upon which He Himself came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say that the church is the world's priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to find a mouth for it. It is the church's high privilege to pray with acceptance. The door of grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return empty-handed. The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God constantly invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the privilege which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May she not go in unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the precious privilege to be unused? The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in her midst who are declining, or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ's bosom? the strong, lest they grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all the days in the year, we might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without the sick and the poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without those who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of back-sliders, or the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with congregations constantly gathering, with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in trespasses and sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, devilries, if the church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the commission of her loving Lord? Let the church be constant in supplication, let every private believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

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Zephaniah 1:5

I will cut off them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.

Such persons thought themselves safe because they were with both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah, and bowed at the same time to Malcham. But duplicity is abominable with God, and hypocrisy His soul hateth. The idolater who distinctly gives himself to his false god, has one sin less than he who brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice unto the temple of the Lord, while his heart is with the world and the sins thereof. To hold with the hare and run with the hounds, is a dastard's policy. In the common matters of daily life, a double- minded man is despised, but in religion he is loathsome to the last degree. The penalty pronounced in the verse before us is terrible, but it is well deserved; for how should divine justice spare the sinner, who knows the right, approves it, and professes to follow it, and all the while loves the evil, and gives it dominion in his heart? My soul, search thyself this morning, and see whether thou art guilty of double-dealing. Thou professest to be a follower of Jesus-dost thou truly love Him? Is thy heart right with God? Art thou of the family of old Father Honest, or art thou a relative of Mr. By-ends? A name to live is of little value if I be indeed dead in trespasses and sins. To have one foot on the land of truth, and another on the sea of falsehood, will involve a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all or nothing. God fills the whole universe, and hence there is no room for another god; if, then, He reigns in my heart, there will be no space for another reigning power. Do I rest alone on Jesus crucified, and live alone for Him? Is it my desire to do so? Is my heart set upon so doing? If so, blessed be the mighty grace which has led me to salvation; and if not so, O Lord, pardon my sad offence, and unite my heart to fear Thy name.

~Charles Spurgeon~