God's Great Reputation - Weekly Devotional

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager 

 

God’s Great Reputation

I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.”

Ezra 8:22 

Ezra was a man of God’s Word. He knew God’s Word, believed God’s Word, and obeyed it. So when Ezra told the king of Persia that God would provide all that they needed for their 900-mile trip back to Jerusalem, he didn’t go back on his word. Ezra refused to compromise God’s reputation by boasting about His gracious protection in the safety of Artaxerxes’ palace and then running back for the King’s Cavalry when the trip threatened to turn treacherous.

By the Ahava Canal he proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions (Ezra 8:21). They fasted, they prayed, and in His great power and provision, God answered.

At the beginning of our journey into a new year do we have Ezra’s mindset to rightly live what we know and have testified about God’s greatness? Over the past week I’ve wrestled that through with ten questions posed by Don Whitney. The list includes this: What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

I have to confess that up until that question my goal setting was within the realm of the possible and practical. It skewed toward my abilities, realistic timeframes, and available resources. If God says that nothing is impossible for Him shouldn’t my prayers and plans expand to His gracious promise?

Ezra was ashamed to do anything that would diminish God’s reputation.  As women of the Word, who believe it, and obey it, do we share his shame at the thought of our testimony of God’s greatness not lining up to our lives?

Who or what do you trust? Christ alone? Or do you trust Christ plus your capabilities, or Christ plus your cash on hand, or Christ plus your ____________? Do you say God is gracious, but then lie awake at night worried that He won’t be enough for your need? Do you say that God is good, but then constantly complain about your circumstances?

By the Ahava Canal, Ezra did not put his trust in the king’s chariots or horses. He humbled himself and staked his life on the reputation of God’s great name.

HE>i: What is your life telling others about God?

Christians have God's reputation at the forefront of their minds. It's always risky to live in a way that makes God look great.

Phil Moore

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

Epic 

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

ep·ic

• heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
• of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.
• Slang. spectacular; very impressive (from dictionary.com)

Our culture is into epic. That word is used all over the place these days. It describes everything from Ferraris to French Fries to Friday night. It’s the promise of marketers, and the goal of planners. Don’t settle for ordinary. Live epic!

In this season of glitter and glamor, in this chasing after all that is big and best, John 3:30 living can seem ordinary, even boring and blasé.

In his book, Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life, Michael Kelley urges readers to be faithful to God’s call. Even if “everyone else is worshipping at the idols of more and excitement” you stay faithful to what God is calling you to do in this season of life.

Does your call involve diapers? Change them for the glory of God. Does it include caring for an elderly parent? Be kind, patient, and thoughtful. Care for her as if serving the Lord. Maybe it’s washing dishes, carpooling, filling out mounds of paperwork, or being the first and last person at GEMS Club each week. Do it quietly. Work hard. Be faithful. Let your daily life, even the tiniest task and most laborious chore, point to our extraordinary God.

Whatever you do–whether you eat or drink, whether you’re backstage or center stage, whether the task is wallpapered in boring or abuzz with epic–do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Kelley writes, “’Ordinary’ is a myth. The only reason we think of something as ordinary is because we fail to look for and then grasp the massive depth of the work and presence of God in our lives.”

Peter and John got that. When the people realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). When people met Peter and John, they didn’t see ordinary. They saw Jesus. They saw the work and presence of Jesus!

HE>i: Intentionally look for God’s extraordinary work and presence in your most ordinary tasks today.

If Jesus became incarnate to live among the ordinary, then what we call ordinary is really special to God.

Tim Keller

Weekly Devotional - 'Great Grace'

from Lenae, GEMS training manger

Great Grace

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

There are many places where our sinful nature turns ugly. The toy aisle is one of them. Ever seen or been part of an ugly scene where a child is whining and wailing, “I want . . . I want . . . ” Some parents cave in and cash out. Others grasp their child’s hand and pull her out of there.

That’s exactly what happened to Lot when God’s judgment was about to fall on Sodom and Gomorrah. Although Lot urged his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, to hurry and get out of there, the reality is that he was reluctant to leave himself. He was comfortable there. So instead of hurrying, Lot hesitated. The men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and daughters and pulled them safely out of the city (Genesis 19:16).

They didn’t leave because they wanted to, or even because it was the right thing to do. They expressed no gratitude for the advance warning of coming destruction or the rescue team sent in just for them. Only because God grasped their hands and pulled were they delivered.

This is our story, too. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We weren’t looking for saving or a Savior. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away (Romans 3:11-12). Because God first loved us He sent a Rescuer to those who had no felt need or desire to be rescued. Jesus grasped our hand with his nail-scarred one and pulled. He pulled us from the pit, and set us on the Rock. He pulled us from the bondage of sin and death and set us free.

We would never choose God. All is grace. His grace turns us to Him. His Spirit works within our will and desires and stirs a love for God within. He opens eyes and ears and softens our hearts. 

All is grace. 

Jesus is a gift of God’s grace. Scripture says He was FULL of grace. This babe FULL of grace came to dwell among a people who are FULL of self. What great grace!

When we see the FULLness of His grace and experience the promise of its sufficiency, we will boast not in self, but in Christ. He will become greater; we will become less (John 3:30).

HE>i: Is the grace of Jesus evident in the way you’re preparing and celebrating Christmas?

Full. The Greek means not one grain more of truth or one drop more of grace could be fit into Him. Everything He is, everything He does, drips truth, exudes grace.

Mark Buchanan

Weelky Devo - "God > self"

from Lenae - GEMS Training Manager

 

God>self

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 9:23

Life can be exhausting, especially for those who can’t say “no”. They stretch themselves like rubber bands over multiple ministry opportunities and life’s extra-curricular activities, and in time they stretch thin and snap. Maybe you’re in a season of over commitment. Maybe you’re in recovery and have even practiced saying, “No!” in the bathroom mirror before stepping into the next volunteer meeting.

Whether you can identify with that kind of breathless living or not, if we’re truly transparent we all have problems saying no to people. And the people most difficult to say no to is . . . us!

Instead of saying no to self and all that our sinful nature desires, we plop ourselves on the throne of our heart and use the language of the Land of Me. I need . . . I want . . . I expect . . . I deserve . . . It’s a mini-kingdom mentality centered on me, myself, and I. It makes much of self and less of God.

Our Savior Jesus who left the throne room of heaven and made Himself nothing teaches by example and words what it means to live for His Kingdom. He said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Deny yourself. This is foreign language in a culture of entitlement. If we’re going to say yes to God’s greatness in our lives, it’s means saying no to self. The throne of our heart isn’t built for two. Worship Christ, adore Christ, fix your eyes on Christ until you find pleasing Him abundantly more life giving and beautiful than pleasing self.

Take up your cross daily. The cross is a place of suffering and sacrifice. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. He sacrificed His very life so we could have life. As His disciples, we’re called to do the same. What needs to be sacrificed to say yes to God and no to self? What is the primary thing that distracts you and me from a Christ-centered life? That’s where our sacrifice needs to begin.

Follow Jesus. Even the very youngest child knows how to play Follow the Leader. With childlike faith we need to relinquish our control issues, surrender, and stand behind Jesus. Follow His example. Trust His lead.

HE>i: Who or what has reigned supreme in your life in the past hour? Pray for God’s help to say yes to Him and no to self. 

We fail to uphold His glory because we want it for ourselves. Our default mode is self-centeredness, not God-centeredness.

Bob Bevington

Weekly Devo - "Look Up!"

by: Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

Look up! 

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High: I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

Daniel 4:34

Within her playful children’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst spins a tale of Alexander’s day that moves from bad to worse. Page by page Alexander laments, “I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

Can you even begin to imagine King Nebuchadnezzar’s bad day when his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird? Talk about moving from bad to worse. The king was driven from his palace and people for seven years to live with wild animals. He ate grass like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven.

What moved King Nebuchadnezzar from the palace to the pasture? Pride! In his arrogance he commanded people to bow to his image of gold. In his conceit he walked on the roof of his royal palace and said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the power of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30)

These words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven (v. 31) reiterated the details of God’s divine punishment. What originated as a dream twelve months previous became his immediate reality.

Whenever Scripture wants to grab our attention things are repeated. Three times within Daniel 4 it says, Acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes (v. 17, 25, 32).

Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty! We mustn’t question it and we certainly can’t change it. He is Sovereign–even over our most terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. He is the Most High–there’s no one higher or greater! He is God; we are not. Heaven rules! (v. 26)

The king’s move from pride to humility took place when he looked up. At the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven (v. 34). He took his eyes off of himself. He stopped looking down from his palace rooftop at all he had accomplished through his supposed power and might, and he looked up to God Most High.

Pride flees when we look up and acknowledge that God is the greatest! Humble people stop looking at themselves, and refuse to look down at others or play the comparison game. They look up and keep their eyes fixed on Jesus.

HE>i: Where is the focus from self to God most needed in your life? 

We think that our biggest problems come from our failures; God thinks our biggest problems come from our pride.

Bob Goof