Special Saturday Devotion

Devotion

10-3-09

 

Malachi 3:10

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

 

Is there something in your life that is bringing you grief or weighing heavy upon your heart and mind? Do you wonder if there is ever going to come a time when you will not have to struggle so hard with the financial burdens you are facing? Are the trials and tribulations pulling and straining the heart stings of your marriage or other relationships in your life? I am sure that many of you right now are saying a great big YES!  Well you are not alone. This is the reality of the life most all of us are living. In fact we live it so often that we find ourselves in a place of complacency and become all but oblivious to the hope of things ever changing. Perhaps we even too quickly embrace the idea that this is what life is and no matter what we do we are going to face these burdens. But is this really what the Lord wants us to believe? Is there really any hopeless situation for a believer, a child of the King? Not according to Malachi 3:10.

 

The book of Malachi really captured my attention this morning, so much so that I wanted to send you this special Saturday devotion. The words griped my heart and brought me to tears as I felt as if the voice of the Lord was speaking directly to me. The Lord was sharing about His love for Jacob and the power of His great name. He then goes on to rebuke the priests because they have not listened to Him or honored His name.  He shares His displeasure with them for the way they have embraced the lies and ways of the world. Yet they seem to be blind to what they have done and keep asking “how have we done this”. God even tells them how they have done it and because of it He will not receive their offerings because they are not pure offerings. They have been giving better offerings to the world than to Him. God entreats them and rebukes them but then He tells them how they can again find favor with Him. I believe He is speaking to us as well through His word. He wants us to examine our lives and see if we are not acting just as the priests were acting in Malachi.  I know when I read the book I found many things that broke my heart about my own commitment to God. I am challenging you to do the same. Please read the book of Malachi and place yourself as the one the Lord is speaking directly to and see what He tells you.

 

The beautiful thing about God is that He is so merciful. Verse 10 of chapter 3 shows this clearly. I want you to focus on this verse. Understand that God, the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, He is speaking here directly to you today. Are you struggling with finances? Then do exactly what the Lord says: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.” Are you struggling in your finances? Then do what the Lord says, test Him by giving your tithe no matter what, go beyond your tithe and see what He will do.  Don’t sit there thinking that you don’t have the money to give Him. You have to give it to Him and show Him that you trust Him with all your heart.  His word clearly show us this today. This is the voice of our God speaking to us and if we can’t trust His word than whose can we trust? If you cannot depend on Him than whom can you depend on? God promises that when we give back to Him, what truly belongs to Him anyway, He will pour out His blessings on us for our obedience and trust in Him.  Worship Him this week by giving Him all that belongs to Him, your time, your thoughts, your songs, your hopes, your health, your relationships, and your money. Surrender your idea that you know it all and can fix your situation. WRONG only the Lord can fix it. Trust Him, test Him today with your needs and watch what He will do in you and through you.

 

 

Devotion Friday

 

Devotional Prayer

10-2-09

 

Dear Father,

 

All week we have been learning about the way You hear our prayers and the way Jesus prayed. So many times in our lives we call on You for help and wonder why the help doesn’t seem to come.  It isn’t because of You, it is because of us. We cry out to You to help us with our finances and yet when we are shopping and have the urge to spend money we shouldn’t, we hear Your loving voice question our decision and yet we spend it any way.  We ask for help to lose weight and yet when that chocolate donut is starring us in the face we give in to the temptation even though Your gentle voice questioned us eating the donut. We beg You to heal our marriages and yet we will close our ears when You tell us to be sacrificial and to think of our spouse before ourselves. 

 

Over and over again we ask of You, and over and over again we close our ears to Your voice.  Forgive us Father and have mercy upon us.  Father, we all desire to have a good life filled with a faithful and loving spouse. We all long for sweet relationships with our children, to have financial peace, healthy bodies, and committed friendships, etc. However, the human part of us struggles with walking upright. We long for harmony in life and yet our self focused attitudes only create disharmony.

 

Oh but the joy in knowing that we have a Savior that is full of mercy, grace, and forgiveness. How wonderful it is to know any time day or night we can call upon Your name and You will give an ear to our cry. We are blessed beyond measure.

 

So Father, I come to You to request that You will reveal to each one, that reads this devotion, what they need to do to develop a deeper and more intimate relationship with You.  Help each one of us to hear Your still small voice when You speak and that we will quickly and willingly obey You.

 

Thank You for each one who is reading this. Thank You for allowing me to be Your tool for sharing Your love. It is an honor to be called Yours.

 

May this day be a day where we each notice when You are speaking and we respond to Your request. Thank you for Your love.

 

In Jesus name

Amen

Thursday Devotion

 

FBC Glenpool Women’s Ministry

Women Worshiping with God’s Heartbeat in Committed Obedient Ministry

Devotion

10-1-09

Not Mine But Yours

Matthew 26:39

^“And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

 

Over and over again Joyce tossed in her bed, hot than cold, blanket on than off, on her back and on her belly and nothing seemed to work. Finally after tossing the entire night she decided to get up. “Oh, I might as well just get up and start getting ready for church. Man, I have tossed all night and didn’t get much sleep. I sure hope I don’t fall asleep in church.” She walked into the bathroom, turned on the light to see her watch and to her surprise it was only 1:30 in the morning. “What! I can’t believe it, I feel like I’ve been tossing all night and it’s only 1:30, I am never going to get any sleep.” Joyce said with tears in her eyes. It had been almost six months since she had slept all night. Between the hot flashes and the insomnia her emotions were on edge and her body felt whipped. She crawled back into the bed, laid back on her pillow with her hands under her head and tried to relax, but the more she thought about not being able to sleep the more she stayed awake. It was a never ending cycle.

 

As the clocked ticked Joyce prayed and asked the Lord to please help her get some sleep. “Please Father; take this insomnia away from me. I am so tired and I have to teach Sunday school in the morning.  I have no energy and my patience is on edge. Please Father, help me.” She closed her eyes and before she knew it she had drifted into a soft sleep, but only for an hour and a half. Nevertheless, she was happy to get that much. Finally it was close enough to time to get up and prepare for her day. She went to church, taught her class, and fixed a nice lunch after church and than prepared for the Bible study class that would be in her home that night.

                                                                                                                  

As the women arrived Joyce could feel the heaviness of her eyes and her breathing seemed shallow.  She shared with the women about her situation and a couple of them could understand because they had been through it themselves. They prayed for her after the Bible study and then headed home. Joyce shared with her husband how the women had been understanding and prayed for her. He tried to understand but it just wasn’t something he had ever dealt with as a man. Later that night as Joyce knelt beside her bed she recalled what the Lord had prayed for in the garden.  He had asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering from Him but then made sure the Father knew He even more desired to be in His will. She thought about His suffering and realized that no matter what, even if she had to suffer with insomnia for the rest of her life, His

grace would sustain her through it because His will would be done. Then she prayed.

 

“Father, I have asked you to take away my insomnia so many times but tonight I do not. Tonight Father I want to tell You that even if I have to have this the rest of my life I am going to use it for something good.  For now on when I wake up I am going to use that time to study Your word and to get to know You better. It will be quiet and it will be our special time together.  I want to thank You Father for this time in my life and for what You will do in me because of it. 

In Jesus name Amen”.

Joyce than got up off her knees and went right into her office where she opened her Bible and got it ready to study when she woke in the middle of the night.  She then slipped into her bed with a smile on her face and peace in her mind as she looked forward now to waking up.

The next thing Joyce knew she heard the alarm ringing. Jumping up to turn it off she stopped, stunned in disbelief because there she stood in the morning light. For the first time in six months she had slept all night; and for every night after that as well.  The insomnia was gone!

 

Joyce realized that God had heard her prayer, changed her situation, and gave her rest.

She was so happy for the sleep but sad for not getting the time she had looked forward to spending with the Father. “I guess all You wanted from me was a willing heart to take the negative things in life and to use them for Your glory. Thank You Father for allowing me rest, unlike Your Son in the garden when He said, ‘Not mine but Your will be done”. So let this be my prayer every day as well, Father. Not mine but your will be done... In Jesus name Amen.”

 

 

What about you, how are you doing today? Are you struggling with something that is just wearing you out? Well go to the Father, praise Him and thank and He will give you peace.

“Thank You Father for Your peace.  Thank You for the trials. Thank You for making me more like You. In Jesus name Amen.

Devotion Wednesday

 

 

Devotion

9-30-09

Seek the Father’s Will

Luke 6:12

“It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.”

 

Every day we have so many decisions to make, like what to wear, eat, what work needs to be done, where to stop and put gas in the car, when to go shopping, what book to read, what brand to buy, how much to spend, what bills to pay, what job to apply for, where to live, where to go to church, who to make friends with, and the list could go on and on. Making choices is just part of our every day lives. Some of those choices we don’t like to make like what bill to pay and which one will have to wait. Some of our choices just seem to happen without really any thought to it like when you are driving down the street and realize you need gas so you just pull over to the first gas station you see. Yet, each and every one of these decisions, no matter how big or little they may seem, each have a common element to them. They each need to be choices that are made thoughtfully and prayerfully.

 

You may be thinking, “Why would I have to pray about what gas station to go to or what bill to pay when it seems so obvious as to what I should do?”  Well the reason is that the Lord wants to guide you in every decision. Big or small they all have an opportunity waiting for us to be used by God or for God to show us and teach us something very important. Let’s say you are struggling with meeting your financial needs, you are tired from working two jobs, the kids have out grown their clothes, one of the kids needs braces, the other needs shoes, and you need to get the oil changed in your car.  Yet you know there is not enough money to be able to do all those things.  What do you do?  Do you sit down and write a budget? Do you get frustrated and on edge with your loved one? Do you point the finger and blame some one else for your situation? Do you think that seeing there is not enough money to pay the bills you will just spend what you have worked hard for on something fun? These questions are real. Many of us have faced this very issue.  The key to knowing what to do is found in our scripture today. Luke 6:12 is the example of what Jesus did when making choices. Yet Jesus had choices to make and even though He Himself was and is God, He still set the example for us to follow when He stopped to pray to the Father in Heaven before choosing the twelve disciples.  He already knew and yet He sought out the Father’s advice.

We need to be on our faces before the Lord continually. Oh you may not be able to latterly get on your knees in some situations, put in the hidden room of your heart you can. Take your troubles, your needs, your fears, your joys, and your every decision before the Father.  Just take a moment while you are driving down the street to say to Him, “Father, I need gas and I want to know where You want me to get it. Please show me where to go so that I am where You need me to be at that particular moment, just in case there is some one there that I can tell about Jesus.”

 

It is really exciting to talk to the Father about everything. You suddenly see Him in everything. He is always with us and talking to Him reveals His active work in our lives. You will see Him like you’ve never seen Him before.  So give it a try today. Talk to Him about every little decision you have to make. Then watch Him show Himself to you in a fresh new way. 

Let’s follow His example all day and all night; seek the Father’s will in everything.

Tuesday Devotion

 

 

FBC Glenpool Women’s Ministry

Women Worshiping with God’s Heartbeat in Committed Obedient Ministry

Devotion

9-29-09

He Prayed For Us

Matthew chapter 17

 

The tears began to fall down Joyce’s face as she stood looking over the pound. She had been praying for her children. As she mentioned her son, who was running from the Lord, her heart began to ache because his rebellion was also taking him from her.  She longed to have a deep relationship with him and to embrace him once again.  Yet he seemed to have no interest in changing or embracing.

Tears fell faster and faster as a lump built in her throat. Joyce wondered what she could have done wrong while he was growing up and why it is so hard for him to show her compassion and understanding as a son should. Nevertheless, she had a hope that one day, one day soon, her son will spend time with her, building their relationship and making special mother and son memories.

Even though it hurt her heart deeply by not having that special bond with her son, she grieved even deeper for his soul.  She prayed day in and day out that her son would fall on his face before the Lord and give his life to Jesus. This was her greatest concern for him of all.  But she loved him and would not give up hope or stop fighting the battle nor give up the faith for his salvation.

 

 

This story reveals the heart of God for His children as well.  He longs for a relationship with His creation. He even provided a way for us to come into His presence and to spend time with Him.  Most importantly He took the time to pray for His children.  The true Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew 17, a chapter I recommend that you read and hear the words of our Savior who took the time to pray for us.  Yes He prayed for you and me. It is a beautiful prayer revealing His passion and desires for our lives. 

 

How amazing it is that the Lord Himself would pray for us.  Did you realize that? He did and He wants only the best for us.  He loves us all.  He died for us all.  Wow! Jesus prayed for me.  It truly is so very powerful an action. Because he knows each of our needs and each or our desires, He has the ability to go to the Father and speak on our behalf, there is no better person to do this for us. Because there is no greater person that has ever walked this earth than him, He is God.

 

Dear Father,

You sent Your Son Jesus here to die for us and He took the time to pray to You on our behalf.  He knew long before we were born what we needed and asked You for it.  I pray that my sisters in Christ reading this today will embrace Your loving prayers for their lives and take Your example as to how they, we, should be praying for our own children. We each have children or loved ones that are wandering from the truth in some way and need to return to You.  You know their needs better than we do. Father, our hearts ache for our lost children just like Yours must break for the many lost souls on the earth. Help us to see Your will and to feel Your heart. I pray we will never stop talking to You and never stop praying for those we love, just as Christ did for us.

 

In Jesus name Amen