Daily Devotional

YOUR CONCEPT OF GOD

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:11)

Most people in spiritual conflict have a distorted concept of God. Mentally they may have embraced correct theology, but emotionally they feel something different. True concepts of God are filtered through a grid of negative experiences to produce false concepts of God. These false concepts must be replaced by truth in order for freedom to be realized.

COMBATING SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked from Him (1 John 5:14,15)

THE LIGHT TO OUR PATH

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).

We live in a world where the flip of a switch instantly lightens or darkens a room. The lamps in biblical times, on the other hand, burned brightly but required proper tending. If not cared for, they would become a dwindling flame. God's Word uses the metaphor of a lamp to teach us about guidance for our lives. And it provides the opportunity for some graphic applications of this teaching.

THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN

The accuser of our brethren who accuses them before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10)

LIMITING ANXIOUS FEELINGS

Cast all your anxiety on Him [God] because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Let's assume you have sought God's will for a certain direction, and you believe that He has led you to make specific plans. The problem is you are still worried about whether your plans will come about as you have hoped. When I'm facing such situations, I try to follow the six steps described below to limit my anxious feelings.

FREE TO LIVE

If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law (Galatians 5:18)

BE GOD-CENTERED

He [Jesus] called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing (Luke 9:1,2).

Notice how Jesus equipped His disciples for ministry. He knew that when they began preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick, demonic powers would bring opposition. So He specifically gave them power and authority over demons.

AN EVERLASTING LOVE

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness (Jeremiah 31:3).

One night I came home from work and my wife Joanne met me at the door. "You better go talk to Karl," she said solemnly. "I think Karl threw his hamster, Johnny, this afternoon."

NEW WINE

New wine must be put into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38).

BEYOND THE BOUNDARY

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12).