Daily Devotion January 18

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.


We spend so much time thinking we are in control and know exactly how things should go.  But when we look at this verse it tells us that God is not only in control but He knows better than we do how things should go.  God is so much bigger than we are and we will never fully understand Him.  He will show us what we need to know in His time and when He thinks we are ready.  It is our job to spread His word as He has given it to us and to be strive to be more like Jesus.

What we do know is that God loves us and has a plan and purpose for each of our lives.  We can trust Him to guide us in the way we should go--but we have to be willing to let Him have the lead.  As we go through the day, we each need to remember that we will never know everything that God knows but His ways are so much better than we could ever imagine!

Daily Devotion January 17

Romans 12:10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Here we are reminded to love our Christian brothers and sisters.  We are to love them to the point that we put their needs above our own.  That seems to be contradictory to the way the world looks at things.  Brotherly love (Philadelphia) is the type of love we have for our family members.  We may fuss and fight sometimes but if an outsider does the same thing or if there is a sickness or emergency, we rally around one another.   We are also to honor others.  When we honor someone we treat them better than they may even deserve.  We give them respect or reverence.  We are to even take the lead in honoring this person.

This is what God expects of us.  We are to love the family of God and put others ahead of ourselves by giving them honor.  The world today says to look out for yourself regardless of how that might impact others.  God does not teach us to love that way.  As we go from day to day, we must remember to put others ahead of ourselves and love like Jesus.

Daily Devotion January 16

Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

I know that many people don't spend much time reading in the Old Testament; however, this is one of my favorite verses.  This is a good verse to break down and look at carefully.

God has declared unto each of us what is good and pleasant; and what does Jehovah ask of us, but to do, to act rightly in judgement, and to love goodness and kindness and to move modestly and humbly with the true God.

Isn't that amazing that God only asks us to do such simple tasks?  But walking in this way is not always easy so we still need to lean on God as we make these daily steps.   It seems that in our world today goodness and kindness are not nearly as common as we would like for them to be.  To make a change in our society, each of us must follow these simple tasks.  As we go through today we should all true to do what this verse asks us to do.

Daily Devotion January 15

Psalm 116:1-2

I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

What a comfort it gives us to know that God hears our prayers and listens when we call upon Him.  The Psalmist starts with the words "I love the Lord".   It is important for us to remember how much we love Him.  We need to be sure we take time to say "thank You" and "I appreciate You" to our Father God just as we do to the people with whom we interact on a daily basis.

Do you think there is really anybody else who listens to us every time we say something to them?  I doubt most people hear the things we say.  God not only hears what we say, He hears what we don't say as well.  Those things we can't quite put into words but are on our heart are just as plain to him as the words we speak.  The next several verses tell us why we love the Lord--He is gracious, He is merciful, He doesn't view us by socioeconomic status, race or gender.   He wipes away our tears, He comforts us and He protects us from wickedness and many times from ourselves.

We should never stop being thankful to the Lord for all He has done.  We need to remind ourselves daily that He hears us even if we feel no one else does.

Daily Devotion January 14

January 14

Psalm 18:32
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

God created us to be His warriors.  Do you remember as a child singing "I'm in the Lord's Army"?  That is just as true today as it was when we were younger, maybe even more so.  In this verse we see how God prepares us for the battles we face every day.

The men of the Old Testament wore long flowing robes and had to tie them up or gird them up to be able to move quickly.  God himself girds us or prepares us for battle.  And what He girds us with is His strength, the ability to face the battles ahead.  As we saw earlier, perfect means complete.  So His strength makes us complete.   It is so good to know that when we are faced with the day to day battles of Christian life that God will provide all we need.

Today as you go through your day, remind yourself that God will help you by girding you up with His strength.

Daily Devotion January 13

Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Does this verse frighten you a little?  The thought of being perfect as God is perfect is pretty heavy.  But I think we tend to think of our definition of perfect, which according to Merriam Webster dictionary means: being entirely without fault or defect.  We KNOW we are not without fault, mainly because we know we are all born as sinners.  However, the Biblical view of perfect is to be brought to its end, completeness.

So when we read this verse it does not mean that we are supposed to be flawless; it means we are to be complete in God.  In context, this is where Jesus is telling us to love not only our neighbors but to also love our enemies and those who mean harm to us.  Just as the Father's love is complete, our love for others should be complete.  This includes being merciful to others, as God as merciful to us.  Even though this may not always be easy to do, we are to strive for this.

We know we will never be flawless as long as we are in this human body.  However, we can strive to be more like Jesus.  You probably remember a while back when the big thing was the bracelets with WWJD on them--What Would Jesus Do?  And while it was kind of gimmicky, it is a good way to respond to people and situations.  Today, let us look to Jesus for guidance to be as much like Him as humanly possible.  

Daily Devotion January 12

January 12

Psalm 62:2
He only is my rock and my salvation;  he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

Sometimes life seems overwhelming.  We face storms along the way--some are emotional and some are literal.  And during those storms of life we have to find a way to stay grounded.  This verse gives us much information concerning how God is there for us during those times.

He is our rock, our refuge, a place where we are held safe.  He is our salvation, our deliverance.  Nothing else is needed when God is the one who is saving us. He is our defense--our strong tower, our place of refuge.  And when all of these things are true then we will not be slipping much.  Because He holds us, we will not be shaken.

What a comfort it is to know that no matter what comes along in our lives that God will provide us a hiding place and the storms of life won't toss us around.  Let us never forget to run to that Rock when we are in the midst of the storms.