INTERESTING DEVOTIONALS FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE.
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GOING THROUGH THE FIRE
We won't enjoy His glory without His fire. His fire consumes a willing
sacrifice now, or an unwilling sacrifice later. It is not the 'flesh' that will
taste of His glory (1 Corinthians 1:29), for 'the spirit of man is the candle of
the Lord' (Proverbs 20:27). His Word searches out the inward parts, igniting
us with His fire, burning out the dross of worldly things. 'Did not our
heart burn within us,while He talked with us by the way, and while
He opened to us the scriptures?'said the disciples of Jesus' words (Luke 24:32).
His'rhema' words search us, try us, locate us, take us through the fire, reveal
His glory! Peter tells us the 'fiery trials' also come to make us partakers
of Christ's sufferings that we may rejoice in His revealed glory.
Again: no fire, no glory! It was in fire that the early Church was
born on each head a tongue of fire at Pentecost.It was from a bush of fire
that Moses heard God's command. The fire may be unpleasant, but the glory
is worth it! Jesus counsels you, today,to'buy of Me gold tried in the fire'
(Revelation 3:18).
John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the One Who would baptize with
the Holy Spirit, and with fire! Let us welcome the fire as we would His Spirit.
From whatever source comes the heat of unkind words, the pain
of persecution, the blessings He would seem to withhold
He is at work, dear one, forging you in the character of His mould!
FOR THE LOST
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick....
I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
(Matt. 9:12-13)
Imagine you stumble into the doctor's office with a severe
case of pneumonia. You discover the doctor is not in his office, but out
conducting a special conference.
He cannot see you today.
What is the conference? you inquire.
The nurse informs you that he has called all the people who are not
sick to gather and talk about how great they feel. They are discussing illness,
but only to the extent that they are celebrating the diseases they don't have.
You rush down to the convention center and stomp into the conference
screaming, What are you doing? I need a doctor!
All of the well dressed, healthy folks peer down their noses at you
as you hear someone exclaim get her out of here, she is sick!
You immediately feel a tug at your arm and a burly gentlemen
leads you out of the building. Sadly, we sometimes operate our churches
that way.We spend the majority of our lives trying to please other Christians.
We forget that we are suppo sed to be helping the
Great Physician minister to the sick. Don't forget your commission.
Prayer: Lord help me to seek out the lost, not gather in a holy huddle.
DO YOU BELIEVE?
And when He came into the house the blind men came to Him and Jesus
said to them, Do you believe I am able to do this? They said to Him,
Yes, Lord. Imagine you are at the circus. The ringmaster makes an
announcement. This act involves a member from the audience. At that very
moment, you raise your hand to waive at a friend and accidentally are
chosen as a volunteer. The usher takes you right down to the center ring,
where you stand next to the tight-rope walker. The ringmaster thrusts
the microphone in your face and the circus performer asks,
Do you believe that I can walk across
that rope way up there?
Of course you can, you confidently respond.
Are you sure?
Yes, Im sure.
Then, continues the performer, right now you are going to demonstrate
your belief as you ride on my back across this arena.
But..but..wait.. Your voice trails off as they lead you to the top
of the ladder, your anxiety is quickly replace with fear.
Your belief in God only go as far as you are willing to exercise them.
We say we believe in God, but many times it is only superficial belief.
Additionally, a lack of belief can cause many serious problems:
Despair = a lack of belief God can solve our problems
Anxiety = a lack of belief God is in control
Fear = a lack of belief God will protect
We can't avoid life's struggles. Are you willing to believe?
Are you willing to substantiate that belief with action?
Do you believe that He can? Will you say, Yes Lord?
WHOSE YOKE ARE YOU CARRYING?
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. 11:30)
For some reason, most teenagers all fall into the same trap. I remember
turning sixteen and thinking about independence. I assumed, suddenly,
I needed to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. As I was
shouldering this incredible weight, I failed to notice that there was someone
very near that was dying to help me shoulder it my parents
Many Christians treat God the same way. We want to solve all our own
problems, carry our own burdens and make our own path. Meanwhile, the
Lord stands very near inviting us to cast all our cares (I Pt. 5:7) upon Him.
The reason His yoke is easy is because He wants to lift it off our shoulders.
He already paid the price and earned the right to carry it.
God will never give us responsibility that He doesn't have the ability to
accomplish. Too many of us work to the level of our incompetence instead
of to the level of God's omnipotence. Cast all your cares on
Him and find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
COMPLACENCY
So, then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say I am rich, have become
wealthy, and have need of nothing -- and do not know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind and naked-- (Rev 3:16-17)
Too many of our cities, towns and churches live under the disguise
of contentment. Under the cloak of false contentment many times likes a
festering pool of complacency. Jesus described that attitude as lukewarm.
Complacency causes us to have a false impression of ourselves.
When God blesses us, like He did the Laodaceans, we sometimes become apathetic
and proud. We assume we've got it all together, but in God's eyes
we are missing the mark.
We lose our intensity. We are not against God, but we are not doing
anything for Him. We are like coffee that has sits too long on our desk.
We appear to God as lukewarm coffee that He can't tolerate. We should be hot
(Lk. 24:32), we used to be cold (Mt 24:12), but now we have become lukewarm.
We lose our intuition. When we become complacent we have the wrong
impression of ourselves. We shift our value system to
that of the world. Because God has brought some success to our lives,
we assume that we've arrived or got it made, yet God says we are really
wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked in His eyes.
In the later verses of chapter 3,
Jesus explains what need to happen. First, God must heat us up and anytime
something heats up the impurities are burned off. We must be disciplined.
When my kids are obedient, they get a blessing. When they are don't
understand (cold), they get conviction and direction. But, when they are
lukewarm (complacent), they get correction.
Be zealous for the things of God. Behold, he stands and knocks!!
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More to come...............keep watching.......
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