Daily Devotion (Monday, May 18th - Friday, May 22nd)

Monday

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
--Philippians 3:8

What is your determined purpose in life? Everyone has one. Some of us declare it, and others of us just practice it.

But we all have something that is our purpose in life--something that gets us up in the morning, something we live for, something we would even be willing to die for.

The Apostle Paul's determined purpose was to know the Lord. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7--8).

Paul recognized the wonder of becoming more intimately acquainted with Him. God can be known. Not completely grasped. Not completely understood. But at the same time, God can be known in a personal and a very real way.

What a great purpose in life. I hope it's yours.


Tuesday

"So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant" (Josh 24:13).

God called the people of Israel to leave Egypt and come out of slavery in order to enter their own Promised Land. It meant they had to change a way of life they had known their whole lives. Instead of being told what to do everyday by a taskmaster, they were now being led by the cloud of God that led them into the desert with the ultimate goal of entering their own Promised Land.

Every believer has a Promised Land in their lives. It is the place where you receive all God intended for you to receive. However, many of us are still living in Egypt where we sweat and toil in response to the taskmaster of production dictated by our workplaces and our lifestyles of busyness.

We will know when we are beginning to experience our Promised Land when we experience God's rest at the same time we are fulfilling our work life call. We will begin to give testimony to what Joshua says in the above verse. We will begin to receive things we never built or planted. We begin to experience a level of rest in our working lives that is not characterized by sweat and toil. Things become easier because we are receiving them as a fruit of our call instead of a goal.

We will begin to experience this new way of living if we willing to be obedient to doing things based on His directions.. Provision begins to follow obedience. Projects begins to get done with little sweat. God will bring people to us to get things done. And we don’t have to manipulate outcomes that we want to happen. God will give us our Promised Land as we yield our will to Him.

Are you living in your Promised Land? If not, release the goals of your life to the Lord and simply be obedient to His voice. Ask Him for the steps you are to take to receive your Promised Land.


Wednesday

Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God. - Acts 27: 25

One night on a storm-tossed ship in the Mediterranean, the apostle Paul headed toward Rome. He had been persecuted and imprisoned, and he was going to appear before Caesar for judgment.

On the way, a horrendous storm came up. It was so bad that the sailors on the ship thought they were going to die. They hadn't seen the sun or stars for days; they didn't know where they were.

But Paul was able to stand up on the deck of that tempest-tossed ship and say to that fearful crew,

"I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me." (Acts 27:22--26)

It's a wonderful thing when we as Christians can say those words, "I believe God."

It's especially good to be able to say that in this crazy world that seems to get darker and stormier and even more wicked. In fact, we are living in a time when wrong seems to be right and right seems to be wrong. Everything is turned around.

But God is eternal, He never changes. He said to the prophet Malachi, " 'I am the Lord, I do not change' " (Malachi 3:6). We can trust Him. Like the apostle Paul, we can say, "I believe God."


Thursday

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness..." (2 Peter 1:5-6).

We face a multiplicity of choices in the maze of life. Whether big or small, highly impactful or uneventful, the decisions that we make form who we are. And inversely, how we are designed, how we are wired will effect how we make decisions.

Our decision making styles and abilities vary greatly - from choosing what we think is best in the moment to stewing over the choices for far too long. Some of us even try to put off making decisions as long as we possibly can.

Christ, though, showed a perfect balance of patience, trust, forgiveness, obedience and decisiveness in choosing his actions and behaviors. The choices he made reflected the way God wants each of us to make decisions today. But how do we do this? How can we reflect Christ in what we decide?

Every time a decision presents itself, we should ask ourselves the same questions that Christ asked himself - some of which are macro questions, others are micro questions. We have to ask ourselves if our decision follows the guidelines of God's written word, if our decision reflects God's love, and if our decision is on God's agenda. After answering these macro questions, we need to ask some micro questions - is the decision the best possible choice considering our past decisions, present conditions and future aspirations.

This week, run your decisions through the macro and micro funnels of the right questions. As you ask yourself these questions, your decisions will filter down to reflect a perfect balance of what God wants - a balance of the decision making styles that Christ reflected. And as you discover the answers that God has in store, you will be much better equipped to negotiate the maze of life.


Friday

"So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah" (Ruth 2:17-18).

The story of Ruth provides an excellent illustration of the connection between spending time in the presence of God and receiving physical provision. Naomi was married to Elimelech. They had two married sons. Elimelech died and ten years later both of the sons also died. Ruth was married to one of the sons.

The other daughter-in-law moved back to her family, but Ruth, in spite of Naomi's encouragement, insisted on staying with Naomi. The only way for the family line to continue would have been for Ruth to marry another son or direct relative. Now, through a custom known as the kinsman redeemer, Ruth could be married to a relative in the family line. Times were tough and most people made a living by farming. Naomi had a relative named Boaz who was a prominent land owner and farmer. She sent Ruth to glean in the fields of Boaz all day in hopes of picking up excess grain left behind by the harvesters.

Ruth stayed in the fields all day and yielded just one ephah of grain. It is a picture of sweat and toil for very little return. However, something happens later in the story. Naomi realized the only way Ruth was going to have any kind of future is if a kinsman redeemer came to her rescue. She instructed Ruth to go to the threshing floor where Boaz would be and to quietly sit at the feet of Boaz all night. This would be a sign of submitting her life to Boaz. He would have to exercise his right to be her kinsmen redeemer.

Later, Boaz sends Ruth home and takes the necessary steps to become her redeemer. But before he sends her home, he gives her six ephahs of barley - six times what she got spending all day in the fields.

Friend, if we are going to succeed in fulfilling God's destiny for our lives, we must have a life of intimate worship and devotion to Jesus. Why not start spending more time at the feet of Jesus.