Devotions

Although curiosity can be a good thing, it can also cause great danger in our lives. When you start being curious and wonder, “What’s on the other side of the fence?” and wanting to be in-the-know of what’s going on, it’s not usually a good thing. It’s good that we don’t always know the things that we want to know.

A. W. Pink said, “It is one thing to be privileged with a special visitation from or a manifestation of God to us. But it is quite another to live in the power of it. Unless faith remains active, we shall cease to live in the power of the vision of glory.”

The circumstances currently surrounding us might be freaking us out. And instead of going to pray, we go make a plan. We make a plan, then we pray. Remember when Caleb and Joshua went into the Promised land to see if there was any fruit? All the other Israelites were afraid of the giants in the land. They were afraid they would be little grasshoppers so they didn’t want to go and claim what was theirs. But Caleb knew they had to go—there was fruit in the land. When the Lord is impressing something on your heart, obey and do it. Don’t sit around and stall. That opens a door for the enemy to get in and cause you to then fear to go forward.

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Psalm 25:4

How do we know the Lord’s will in making daily decisions? There are three ways we can know God’s will for our lives:

Jacob came to the actual place where Rachael was to be found. This is proof that God was with Him and that God was going to be faithful to His promises. God makes promises in our lives and it’s so wonderful when they come to pass. When we can actually behold, in a tangible way, the things that God promised, it’s encouraging.

A.W. Pink said this, “The marvelous grace of God delights to single out as its objects, unlikely and unworthy subjects. He selects those who have nothing and He gives them everything.” So if you are feeling unlikely today, or if you feel unworthy, you are in a good place! That’s the type of person that God is looking to use.

It’s so easy for us, as Christians, to cool down. We easily stray from the Lord and His Word, even if it’s just a little bit, and can quickly become cool. I often think of our spirituality in physical terms. Think of how it is to get our physical bodies in shape, and all the work that goes into getting in shape and staying fit. We have to eat the proper foods and stick to a work-out routine. It takes so long to get physically where we want to be—in a healthy, fit state. But all it takes is a week or a couple of weeks before we start to feel like jello again and our bodies feel it from eating the wrong things and a lack of dedication to a work-out routine. We slack off and are not doing what we once were and before we know it, it’s as though we’ve lost everything that we had gained.

Genesis 26:24-25 says, “And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac) the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And Isaac builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.

The amazing grace of God! Luke 15 is about the prodigal son—how he ran out from his Father’s house and took all of his possessions and his inheritance. He ended up in the pig pen. He went out to live a life of sin and to please his flesh. He did whatever it was that he wanted to do until he ran out of sources and resources. He ran out of the ability to continue to carry on in the flesh. After coming to a place of brokenness and depravity, he decides that he would rather be a servant in his father’s house, than to live in the pig pen. He decides to go home and beg his father to let him be one of his servants and forget being a son.

So many times, we partake in some kind of sin and after we do, we suffer the consequences. The Lord deals with us. There will always be some type of chastisement, if you are a child of God. So we go through some type of correction, and it’s uncomfortable for a season, as a result of our sin. Then, as soon as the wound is healed, so-to-speak, we go right back to it! We do it all over again, as if the correction never happed. It’s as if that scar isn’t there to remind us of the past pain that we inflicted upon ourselves.