Until He Alone Is Glorified

Devotion

9-20-10

Until He Alone Is Glorified

Matthew 5:16

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” 

 

Oh there is a deep lump in my throat as I write this to you tonight.  I have sat here praying and asking the Lord a very important question and one that until I know the answer, I cannot write another devotional.  The question I am asking has to do with a powerful message I heard tonight by a guest pastor at my home church.  It was a message that really hit me hard; because my heart’s desire is that in everything I do and say in my life, it all would glorify the Lord.  Well, the message was about that very issue. 

 

I don’t know how many times I have said, when someone complemented me for something, “to God be the glory,” or when I am writing these devotions, thinking that I want them to glorify the Lord and touch those who read them with His hope.  I really want those things, yet, I still had to step back and do a little self examination of my deep down true desire to glorify only the Lord in all of my life. Let me explain.

 

When I began writing these devotions, I purposely kept my name off of them because I did not want to receive the glory for them.  I want whoever reads them to be brought to the Lord and to see Him for who He is.  However, if this is true and I (100%) wanted only God to receive the glory, than I would not be looking to see if anyone responded to what “I” wrote, even if I believe God wrote it.  I would not be looking for any pats on the back, so to say.  I would not even have the desire to be praised in any way.  Yet, my old flesh, if I am truly honest, will get in the way and quietly long for someone to say, well done.  God forgive me. Therefore, after the message I heard tonight, my soul quietly waits to hear what the Lord has to say to me and what He desires me to do about the devotions. 

 

Listen, my dearly beloved, it is my prayer that we each come to a place where we are fully and completely honest with God and ourselves about why we read the Bible, these devotions, go to Bible studies, church etc.  Why do we read God’s word when we are down or lonely?  Are we seeking God’s glory through His spoken Word, Jesus, or are we just seeking a quick fix to our problems, expecting that God somehow owes us something? Everything about God is worthy to be praised. Everything God has made shouts of His praise and glorifies His greatness. Only man struggles with knowing the glory of God and giving Him the praise He so deserves. 

 

I don’t know about you, but I want every detail of my life to bring God glory.  I want to lift His name up and step back from the lime light.  He wants me to see His glory and not take His glory for myself.  The question I am asking Him now is, “How do I remove myself to the degree that in every detail of my life He alone is glorified?” Until He alone is glorified I must step aside.  I am laying these devotions into His lap and asking Him to hand them back to me only when He knows I am ready to seek ONLY His glory through them. 

 

Therefore, my beloved, let us pray together asking God the question, “How do I remove myself to the degree that in every detail of my life God alone is glorified?”

 

Remember, though we need His Word to comfort us, to direct us, to teach us, inspire us, and to give us life, God does all those things in our lives to reveal His glory. To God be the glory forever and ever Amen. 

 

Who is God?

Devotion

9-17-10

Who is God?

 

In this life, we are all often faced with mounting struggles, problems, trials, doubts, fears, frustrations, hurts, and the impatience to overcome them.  Perhaps if we truly understood believed just who God really is we would not find ourselves so taken over by these feelings.  In the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, we see a clear picture of who God is and just what He wants to do for us.  Let’s take a look at it.

 

In verse one God is a God of comfort and He commands us to comfort one another just as He comforts us. 

In verses 3-8 we see that God’s word is powerful and lasts forever.

Verses 9-11 show us that God is a God of might, He is the one who takes charge, and He is like a shepherd who protects, provides, leads in the right direction and watches over His flock.

In verses 12-22 the explanation of how He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, marks off the heavens, calculates the dust of the earth, keeps the mountains in balance, and shows that He is anywhere and everywhere you look, He sees everywhere we go, He knows all about the foundations of the earth and they are but a piece of sand in His sight, so small in comparison to His greatness. There is no one like Him, no one can compare to Him, no gold or silver idol shaped by the most skillful craftsman can ever make a god that is living powerful, or can create life.

 

In verses 23-24 God reveals how He hates prideful dictators and godless authority. “He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.”

 

Verses 25-26 shows us how we are ALWAYS in His presence and He knows every detail, even the stars each have names and not one of them are missing from His sight.

 

Verses 27 reveals that we cannot keep anything from God, there are no secrets we can keep from Him. Listen, inside each and every believer is the living God who knows all and sees all; He cares about us and will never tire of hearing from us or listening to our cries.  He is full of comfort, grace and compassion for His children. So when we struggle, doubt, fear or become frustrated with our situations we are facing, have we forgotten who He is?

 

Who is this God? “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Verses 28-31

 

God wants us to know Him.  To remember that He is God, powerful, mighty, and full of grace and mercy, like a shepherd who tends His flocks, provides for their needs, protects them from the enemy and will search for them when they go astray.  He will not fail us; He will not tire of us or of taking care of us.  It is we, ourselves, who weary, tire and wander off from Him.  It is our minds that fail to remember who He is.  It is our hearts that grow fait from emotional burdens because we feel we are alone. It is our pride that causes us to say things that hurt others.  It is our sinful fleshly desires that get in the way of truly having a personal and intimate relationship with God. All this happens because we either fail to remember who God is or we frankly don’t truly know or believe who He is. 

 

God loves us, all of us, no matter what we say or do.  He loves us with all our faults and takes us just the way we are, but He wants to transform our hearts to be like His.  He wants to love on us so much that we begin to love on others in the same way.  Who is God? Do you know?

 

Let’s examine ourselves to see if we truly know who God is. Answer the questions below to find out just where you stand with understanding who God is.

 

Are you frustrated with someone in your family, at work or in the church? God will take care of it.

Do you feel like it is your place to make sure a wrong has been corrected? God will take care of it.

Do you dwell on the wrong that has been done to you? Forgive and dwell on the good God will take care of them.

Are you worrying about the bills that need to be paid? Do your best and know that God will provide.

Are you sick from pushing yourself so hard to provide for your family?  It’s not in our power things will get better, it is in His power. God will provide.

Are you angry because someone who you thought was a Christian did something or said something that you don’t think Christians should say or do? God loves them like He loves us, He will handle them, we must focus on our own sins that need repented of.

Do you want to run away from a problem because you are tired of it or just don’t think things will ever change? A lack of faith will sink us into the pit of despair; God will work all things to the good to those who love Him.

Do you keep making the same mistake over and over again and can’t figure out how to stop? Not in our power but in His are we able to be transformed. Ask Him for help. Stay in His word.

Have you found yourself stuck in a rut of self-pity and feelings of worthlessness? God loves us the way we are, our worth isn’t from the view of the world. We must believe God loves us.

 

Did you answer yes to any of the questions?  If you did, like most of us will, than perhaps we still have not come to understand who God is and what He is able to do in us and through us.

God is in control and every one of those questions has the possibility for us to say no to when we allow God to take charge of our lives in such a way that we are able to speak with confidence that we do not have to worry about a thing because our God has already taken care of it.  “I trust my God completely.” 

 

I know we are all human, but God would not have told us it were possible if it were not possible.  We can do all things through Him who strengthens us, Phil 4:13. 

 

Who is God?  Who is He in your life? Will you allow Him to comfort you, provide for you, lead you, protect you, teach you, use us, and fill you with His grace, mercy, love and peace?

 

 

Who is God?

 

God is Able

Devotion

9-16-10

By Josh McDowell

God is Able

Matthew 9:28

“And after He had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord.’”

 

This wasn’t written by me, except for the poem at the end.

 

I learned years ago that for something to be lived out in my life, I have got to bring it down to where I understand it in a simple way. So when I hear words like, God is omniscience, omnipotent, it does not say anything to me. That’s not part of my vocabulary. So I redefine it without losing the meaning to where it speaks to me, then I am able to live it out in my life. So every time I see the word, omnipotent, I think of this, “He can do it.” That’s what it means, He is all powerful. He can do it. So maybe the rest of your life, whenever you hear the phrase, God is omnipotent, you will immediately think, He can do it. And the scriptures point out that “He ruleth over all the kingdoms of the heathen and nothing is too great for God.” But often…Luther said once, Martin Luther, that our thoughts about God are too human. And I believe that’s true because we rationalize through the way we think God will be and not the way He has revealed Himself.

 

Let me illustrate that with a little humorous situation. Johnny was in Sunday school and he came home and his mom, over lunch, said, “Well Johnny, what did you learn in Sunday School?” He said, “We talked about Moses crossing the Red Sea.” “Really? Well, what happened, Johnny?” “Oh Mom, you would not believe it. They were in captivity with the Egyptians and he broke out all the rifles and everything else and pulled in the tanks, got into the troop carriers and they took off for Israel.” But he said, “They looked back and here came all the Egyptians in the Hummers, the military vehicles, and so they sped up a little more and they got to the Red Sea and they didn’t know what to do. So they called in the Core of Engineers, Mom. And they went and built a pontoon bridge all the way across the Red Sea. And they drove everything across and then they put dynamite explosives all over. And as soon as the Egyptians got half way across, Moses ordered that it be blown up and they pushed the lever and they blew up all the Egyptians and the Israelites were saved.” And the mother says, “Johnny is that really what they taught you?” “No Mom, but if I told it to you the way they told it to us, you’d never believe it.” And you know so often we try to do that. We try to rationalize away who God is and how powerful He is. 

 

The Bible says that God is omnipotent. He can do it. He spoke to nothing and something came into existence. Now how does this affect us in our personal life and walk with Christ?

One, it allows me to pray for the impossible. It allows me to pray for things that I would never dream of praying for if I didn’t know He can do it. He is omnipotent. Second, when you are really tired, He gives strength to the weary.  It was first brought home to my attention, a number of years ago I was speaking at a conference, a very large one, and I had had two solid weeks of heavy meetings and the week before a true revival broke out and I was exhausted. I sat there that Saturday morning and I started to cry. I just said, God, I can’t do it. I am so exhausted. I cannot, I don’t even have the energy to get up out of this chair and walk to that podium let alone give an hour talk. And I just said, “God, please help me.” This might be just some little thing to someone, it was big to me. They were introducing me and as they were going through the introduction, I just said, “I can’t do it.” Something happened when they started to applaud and they said, “Here’s Josh McDowell.” I cannot explain it, strength came into me, I stood up, and I walked to that podium and probably exerted almost more energy for one hour than I ever have in a talk. And I remember later, I said, “God, I can’t believe it. But you are able.” And I cannot tell you how many times in my life, I have had to call upon that strength. He is able. And then, I think because we know that He can do it, when we face what appear to be insurmountable problems we need the Holy Spirit to recall to our minds, He is omnipotent. He is able. He can do it. And I think it gives you a different attitude in facing what appear to be insurmountable problems. He is able.

 

 

Dear Father,

I pray that we will each remember that You are able to do anything!!!  Build inside our spirits, our minds, and our hearts the unshakable kind of faith in You that gives us the strength, the power, and the faithfulness to trust You for every detail of our lives.  You are able and when we are faced with insurmountable problems that look impossible to the world, help us to see them as an opportunity for Your mighty hand to work in our lives.  You are able, I pray we remember this and recall it throughout our day.  You are able, You are able, You are able. Thank You Father for Your provisions and for your promises to be faithful to Your word.  I know with You being able to guide and direct our paths, we too are able to overcome anything that is set before us, because You live inside us. 

Thank You, Father, for Your love

In Jesus name

Amen