Daily Devotional

GOD WORKS IN THE ORDINARY

He [God] Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5)

A devout Christian heard an urgent news report on his radio that a flash flood was within minutes of entering the peaceful valley where he lived. Immediately he went to his knees and prayed for safety. The words were still on his lips when he became aware that water was gushing under his door. He retreated to the second floor and finally onto the roof of his house.

GOD'S FEEDBACK SYSTEM

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11)

I believe that God desires all His children to be successful, significant, fulfilled, satisfied, joyful, secure, and to live in peace. From birth you have been developing in your mind a means for experiencing these values and reaching other goals in life. Consciously or subconsciously you continue to formulate and adjust your plans for achieving these goals.

THE SOURCE OF PLAN B

Let not [the doubting] man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:7, 8).

When you continue to vacillate between God's Plan A and your Plan B, your spiritual growth will be stunted, your maturity in Christ will be blocked, and your daily experience as a Christian will be marked by disillusionment, discouragement and defeat. Where do Plan B thoughts come from? There are two primary sources.

PLAN A V PLAN B

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Untold numbers of Christians are spiritually unaware and defeated in their daily lives. They don't realize that there is a battle going on for their minds. When struggling believers perceive the nature of the conflict and realize that they can be transformed by the renewing of their minds, they will experience freedom.

PUT UP THE SAIL!

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8)

What does it take to be the selfless, loving Christian we desire to be? What is needed to move us beyond our inconsequential selfish, fleshly pursuits to deeds of loving service to God and others?

HOW MUCH WE CARE

Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God (Romans 15:7)

There are four concepts we deal with as parents in communicating with our children: authority, accountability, affirmation and acceptance. We usually line them up this way:

We exert our parental authority over them.

We demand that they be accountable to us.

When they respond to our authority and comply by being accountable, we affirm them.

CONFORMING TO THE IMAGE OF GOD

For this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

FREE OF SATAN'S BONDAGE

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

Nobody loses control to Satan overnight; it's a gradual process of deception and yielding to his subtle influence. It is my observation that no more than 15 percent of the evangelical Christian community is completely free of Satan's bondage. These people consistently live a Spirit-filled life and bear fruit. The other 85 percent are struggling along fruitlessly at one of at least three levels of spiritual conflict.

SALVATION IS REGENERATION

He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)

A RADICAL, INNER TRANSFORMATION

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain (1 Corinthians 15:10)