He must increase, but I must decrease

Devotion

2-19-10

Decreasing Daily

John 3:30

“He must increase, but I must decrease”

 

Every Sunday morning was the same, Joyce would get up early to take her shower and get ready for church before the baby woke up.  She would fix a good breakfast for her husband and children, clean up the kitchen, get all the kids ready for church, pack the diaper bag, load the car and then listen to her husband fuss because she was going to church again.  Michael was an unbeliever and had no desire to go to church with Joyce and the kids.  He thought it was a waste of their time and that they were just using her because she so freely helped out wherever they needed her.  He hated the fact that the church / God took her away every Sunday morning, the only day he had off, and he was left alone in the house for most of the day.  Joyce loaded the kids in the car and quietly cried inside her heart because she was going to worship alone.  Joyce hated watching all the husbands and wives that came to church together and it made her heart ache with a deep longing desire to have Michael sit beside her, his arm around her to worship and praise the Lord together.  It often felt as if her prayers for his salvation would never be answered. 

 

Each time Joyce returned home from church her husband would just sit in silence.  She would try to share stories with him about what the pastor said or the wonderful way the kids were singing in the children’s choir, but he had no interest in any of it.  Every morning Joyce would make sure she was up early, dressed, make up on, and a hot breakfast cooking for Michael before work.  She also made sure her Bible lay open on the table so her hubby would see it.  She prayed before the meals with words that sounded real churchy and made a point to always use God’s name in almost every conversation she had with Michael.  Day after day she would get on her face and pray, crying and asking God to please, please save her husband.  But then, one day while she was on her face before the Lord, crying again about Michael’s need for salvation, she heard a still small voice speak to her heart, it said. “Joyce, get up and stop crying for Michael.  Stop asking me for his salvation.  For now on I want you to thank me for his salvation. I have heard your cry and I want you to believe in my promise to you.”  Joyce’s head popped up quickly as if she had heard the voice right behind her.  Yet, there was no one there.  She reached for her Bible and opened up to John.  As she read it her eyes landed on verse 30 or chapter 3, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” She read it over and over again as if the Lord kept saying, “Read it again, read it again.”

 

Suddenly, it was clear and she saw what she had been doing.  Every time she was trying to make her husband see God through her Bible reading, by her words she would speak, in her attitude of self-righteousness, in her going to church every time the doors are open, she was increasing her own praise and not allowing God to receive the praise.  She wanted her husband to see her as this amazing godly woman, but all for the wrong reasons.  She wanted to look good.  Oh sure she truly loved the Lord and wanted her husband to love Him too, but the process she was using to reveal the Lord to him only  pushed him away.  All it did was to divide them even further apart.  So now she was ready to do what the word of God told her to do.  She was going to decrease so the Lord could increase before Michael.  Joyce stopped preaching at her hubby, stopped reading her Bible just so he could see her, stopped bringing up God’s name in every conversation they had and most of all, she began praying a prayer of thanksgiving for Michael’s salvation. Sure her old flesh wanted to do more than pray, it wanted to try to make Michael change, but she knew her fleshly ideas were getting in the way.  She had to decrease so that the Lord could increase.  By getting out of God’s way, setting aside her own logical ideas, praying with faith and allowing God to speak to Michael and not her, she was decreasing self and increasing God’s Spirit to take control.  And control He most definitely took.

After years of fussing and crying about her husband, Joyce now quietly prayed with a strong believing faith that her husband would, without doubt, come to the Lord. For almost two years she prayed this way and then it happened.  Michael got on his hands and knees and prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior.  As Joyce decreased her self ideas and trusted God, the power of the Lord increased not only in her husband’s life bring him to salvation, but in her own life to grow her faith and give her a heart of grace, mercy and peace. 

 

 

Let’s go back now and re-read John 3:25-30

 

Now, stop and pray and ask the Lord to speak to your heart today.  Ask Him to reveal any sin you need to lay at His feet and ask for forgiveness.  Then you will be clean and ready to receive His words, then my dearly beloved you will be able to accept His truths.  When you have finished praying continue with this devotion lesson.

 

Write John 3:30

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Now let me ask you, is there any part of the story you read today that reflects how you are living as a Christian? 

 

Are you busy trying to prove God?

Are you busy trying to prove to others that you know what God wants?

Are you so sure of yourself that you are forgetting to ask God is you are right?

Is your pride getting in the way of listening to God’s voice?

Do you struggle with becoming frustrated with others who do not seem to get it and can’t seem to see what the Bible is saying?

Are you tired of how others are acting and so you want to stop trying to help them or teach them?

Do you have a loved one that needs the Savior and you keep trying to witness to them but they just won’t listen?

Are you wondering if all you are doing “for the Lord” is not making a lick of difference?

 

Well, dearly beloved if you answered yes to even one of these questions, than you are just like Joyce in the story.  You are in God’s way.  You are increasing you and decreasing God.  Therefore, it is time to make a change. 

Let go!  Stop! Be still!  Cry out to the Lord for forgiveness, for putting yourself, your own ideas, and your own pride ahead of Him.  Let the Father know you truly desire His will in your life and in the lives of your loved ones.  Tell Him you are ready to set “you” aside and allow Him to lead.  It is not up to you to make someone understand, nor are you to try and become their Holy Spirit telling them they are not doing it right.  Step aside and allow the Lord to speak without your help. Pray, without doubt that God is going to take care of everything.  Believe He will. Then in every positive change you begin to see take place, praise Him. Daily decrease yourself and watch Him increase in you and in those around you. To God be the glory forever and ever, Amen.