Daily Devotion (Monday, August 31st - Friday, September 4th)

Monday

"If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exodus 33:15).

One of the great dangers in Christian service is to move from a presence-based work to operate purely on our natural skill. Once we become established in something, the daily maintenance can lead us into complacency until a crisis arises that forces us back to our knees to appeal to the Lord for His presence to return.

Things were going well for Moses as he led the people out of Egypt. God was calling him to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, to receive the Ten Commandments. While he was there, the people fell away from the Lord by returning to the ways of Egypt by building and worshipping a golden calf under Aaron's watch.

This revealed that the spiritual foundation of the people and the leadership of Aaron had not been grounded enough for the leader to have an extended absence. God's presence had left the people. If you are in management, you must know the condition of your team to know how long you can be away from hands-on leadership.

When Moses came back and saw what had happened, he recognized the solution as well. Having God's presence return was the only way they could proceed and have success. "How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (Ex 33:16).

Moses also realized a weakness in his own ability to lead. He pleaded God to mentor him: "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you."

Is the presence of God in your current activities? Are the people you lead mature in their faith that allows you to be off site? Ask for God's help on both counts.


Tuesday

"Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name." --Hebrews 13:15

There are times when we are not in the mood to praise God. But did the first-century believers always feel like praising God? They were harassed. They were beaten. They were mocked. And that was all before breakfast. Yet they worshipped the Lord nonetheless.

The Bible doesn't say to give thanks to the Lord because you feel good. Rather, the Bible says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever" (Psalm 106:1). The Bible also tells us to "offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). Yes, praise and worship can sometimes be a sacrifice. There are times when we are down or depressed or things aren't going well, when there is a hardship or a tragedy, and we don't want to thank God.

But do you think Job felt like praising God when he lost everything? He lost his family. He lost his home. He lost his possessions. He lost his health--all in one fell swoop, in effect. But what does the Bible say he did? He "fell to the ground to worship" and said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:20-21). Now that is the sacrifice of praise.

The sacrifice of praise is also something we are to verbalize. Notice Hebrews 13:15 says that offering a continual sacrifice of praise to God includes "proclaiming our allegiance to his name." We need to verbalize our praise to God. It is not that God needs praise from us, but He wants it. And He tells us to verbalize our praise.

Wednesday

"The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was." Exodus 20:21

Like the nation of Israel, we are each called to the mountain of God, but few are willing to pass through the darkness to get there. God wanted to reveal His glory to the children of Israel, but they were afraid to enter into His presence. They only wanted to know about God, rather than know him personally like Moses did. This grieved the heart of God.

Why wouldn't the people of Israel risk entering the darkness if it meant being in the presence of God? What did the people fear?

Perhaps they had fears like each of us. The fear of the unknown. The fear of what might happen. The fear that God might not like what He sees. Or, perhaps even the greatest fear: the fear of darkness itself and what lies behind that darkness.

Many of us have been satisfied to hear about God from God's messengers. But there is a greater calling for each of you - a calling to enter into His presence. Sometimes entering into His presence means we enter through an unexpected door - a door that appears to have nothing good behind it.

We do not need to fear entering the presence of God even if it means entering through a period of darkness. Above all else we must believe that God is a God of love. If He calls us into darkness in order to enter His presence, then that darkness will become an entry to new levels of relationship with a God who longs for fellowship with you and me.


Thursday

"All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping [the idol] there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family" (Judg. 8:27).

Israel was at war with the Midianites and the Amalekites. So God chose a humble young man, Gideon, to deliver Israel by cleansing the land of idols. After submitting a fleece to determine it was God calling him, Gideon obeyed the Lord and destroyed the pagan idols in the region. Then he summoned a large army - over 30,000 men - to fight the Midianites and Amalekites. God said the army was too large, so He first reduced Gideon's army 10,000 men, and then to a mere 300 men. When God gave Israel the victory with an army of only 300 men, all of Israel knew that it was the power of God, not the strength of his army.

If the story had ended there, all would have been well. But at the moment of Israel's triumph, Gideon stumbled. He told the people, "I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." The Israelites took the gold from the bodies of the enemy dead and Gideon melted it and fashioned it into an idol. The Bible calls this idol an ephod, a word that refers to a ceremonial breastplate?Gideon probably depicted the Lord God as a warrior with an ephod of gold.

But God does not allow Himself to be represented by an idol. This idol was an offense against God and a trap for the people. After Gideon's death, the Israelites again worshiped the pagan god Baal. They forgot the Lord God who rescued them from their enemies.

The story of Gideon has a great beginning, but a tragic ending. This is an instructive lesson for us all. As the apostle Paul tells us, "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" (1 Cor. 10:12).
If we fail the Success Test we must go back to God without fear. We can ask Him to help us learn the lessons of our failure and to strengthen us for another effort. The God of second chances is able to accomplish His purpose through us even if we have failed Him many times before.

Friday

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. --1 John 1:3

Christians tend to throw around the word "fellowship" a lot, as in, "Let's have some fellowship," or "We'll be meeting in the Fellowship Hall." But what does this word really mean?

When Acts 2:42 says the early believers "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship" (emphasis added), it uses the Greek word koinonia, which could be translated, "fellowship," "partnership," or "communion." It also can mean "to be generous." So fellowship encompasses all of these ideas; it is far more than socializing.

Anyone can socialize. Anyone can get together and rally around their passions, whatever it is they might have an interest in. But the fellowship that the Bible speaks of is not that kind of gathering or social interaction. It is different altogether. It is people getting together to talk about the things of God.

Fellowship is praying together. It is serving together. It is giving together. It is aging together. These are the fibers of fellowship. And fellowship with God and with His people go together. As we get to know God through His Word, we will long for fellowship with other believers. The stronger your vertical fellowship, the stronger your horizontal fellowship will be. As 1 John 1:3 says, "That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." If you find yourself out of fellowship with God, then you will soon find yourself out of fellowship with other believers.

So if you want to be like one of the early believers in the first-century church, then you need to not only love God and study His Word, but you also need to spend time with His people in fellowship.