Daily Devotion (Monday, May 4th - Friday, May 8th)

Monday

"Noah did everything just as God commanded him" (Gen 6:22).

When God chooses to do something on the earth He uses a man or woman to accomplish it. It is a partnership that is very one sided. God got the worst part of the deal.

God got to a very bad place with the human race. He decided to start over. He was going wipe out the entire population and begin afresh. He chose one man to place His entire strategy around. Can you imagine that? God placed His entire plan around one man. Why? Because He could trust him. The Bible says Noah did everything just as God commanded him. He didn't argue with God. He didn't take short cuts. He listened and he obeyed.

Who was this man Noah? "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God" (Gen 6:9-10). When it came time to execute God's plan, He chose Noah to build a big boat. However, Noah had no idea what a boat was or how to build one. So, God told him how to build it. He gave him the dimensions; the height, width, space requirements - everything he needed to complete the task.

God will instruct us in performing our work too. God is in partnership with us in our working life. He has given us the tools, the creativity, and the drive to accomplish what He placed us on earth to do. That partnership requires us to listen to our senior partner though because He knows the exact way our project is to be done. And when you follow His direction that project will be excellent in every way.

"Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: 'I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go'" (Isaiah 48:17).

Do you need God to show you how to succeed in your call? Ask for His wisdom and understanding. God says he will give it generously (James 1:5).


Tuesday

"There is nothing too hard for You." --Jeremiah 32:17

Is God's power limited? Scripture tells us over and over that God is omnipotent, which means all-powerful. Even when Job was in pain and distress, he said to the Lord, " 'I know that You can do all things. No plan of Yours can be thwarted' " (Job 42:2 NIV).

The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed God's power: " 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You' " (Jeremiah 32:17).

The archangel Gabriel reassured Mary by saying, " 'With God nothing will be impossible' " (Luke 1:37).

Now you see how silly it is when we say something like, "I have tried everything, and now all I can do is pray." Now all you can do is turn to the all-powerful God, the Creator of the universe, who happens to love you a lot.

What do you mean, that's all you can do? That's the first thing you should do. Before we do anything else, we should turn our troubles over to God, because nothing is too hard for Him.

Nothing is impossible. Nothing is beyond His reach. Nothing is beyond His ability.


Wednesday

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" (Matt 14:29-30).

Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat. There is always a risk when we attempt something never done before. Naysayers seem to come out of the wood work. Why? Because it's not their vision, it's yours. Sometimes we fail the first time out. It's a fact that most entrepreneurs fail before they are really successful.

"Success," said Winston Churchill, "is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Everybody fails. It's part of the process that leads us to maturity and success. Most successful entrepreneurs don't think of their failures as defeats. They think of them as lessons.

If you hope to succeed, learn everything you can from your failures. Our experiences may not all be triumphs and successes, but so what? Failure is usually a far better teacher than success - if we are willing to learn the lessons. Experience is the best teacher, but a hard grader. She gives the test first, the lesson later.'"*

God never gets mired in our past failures. He is constantly viewing our lives with future success in mind. "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland" (Isa. 43:19). Someone once said, "When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave." God wants to give us new dreams that are bigger than anything that has ever happened to us in the past.

Don't let past failures keep you from future successes.


Thursday

You... are acquainted with all my ways. - Psalm 139:3

What is God like? Where is He? Does He know everything? Two key attributes of God are found in Psalm 139. We read these words from King David:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways . . . Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139:1--3, 7--10)

From this psalm and other passages in Scripture, we learn that God is omnipresent (He is everywhere) and that God is omniscient (He is all-knowing).

Now that can be comforting or frightening, depending on your relationship with God. If your relationship with Him is close, it's very comforting to know that no matter what you face in life, God will be there for you.

Whatever happens in your life, you can remember that it comes through the screen of His love with your best interests in mind. Remember that as you go through the difficulties of life.

You can have confidence in the knowledge that you are never alone. The all-knowing and ever-present God is with you.


Friday

And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord?" - Exodus 5:2

Who is God? Thousands of years ago the Pharaoh of Egypt asked a question that is still being asked by many. It was, " 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go' " (Exodus 5:2).

I think that by the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Pharaoh had a better understanding of who exactly God is. "Who is God?" is not an easy question to answer, because we are trying to grasp the infinite with the finite. We are trying to grasp something far beyond our mental capacity.

We have often said that if God were small enough for our minds, He wouldn't be big enough for our needs. Until the day we see Him face to face, there are things about God we are never going to completely understand. For example, we know that God is holy, but we don't understand everything about His holiness. We also believe God is a triune being--He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But that is hard for us to grasp.

The apostle Paul put it clearly when he said, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

So yes, there is coming a day when it will all make sense. At the same time, though, with the help of the Holy Spirit, there are many things that we can and should know and grasp about God. After all, knowing what God is like is foundational to knowing God Himself.

Knowing God and making Him known is the essence of being a Christian.