“The Detours of Life” Devotional #27

 

            Everyone has a journey.  One that has many different twists and turns.  Sometimes parts of the journey are with the Lord, side by side with Him or better yet, being carried by Him during the toughest parts.  Yet other times we are on our own, by our own choosing.  The times that we are with Him, life is smooth even during the tough times.  Blessings are received and enjoyed.  The times that we are on our own life is bumpy, messy and difficult.  Blessings are not received or enjoyed.  Instead what is accompanied with these times that we are on our own, again by our own choice, is desperation, loneliness, remorse.

            I have experienced both on my journey with the Lord.  I have been with the Lord and have received His blessing.  I have also been on my own, by my own choosing, and have experienced bumps and bruises because I was lost and confused.  Have you ever felt this way?  Lost and confused? 

            Here’s a little tidbit about myself.  I’m not always the greatest when it comes to finding addresses.  Thank God for the invention of the GPS!  Before this great invention I would often get lost and no, I usually didn’t have a map with me.  I would get confused and anxious.  Now that I have access to a GPS getting lost is no longer an issue.  My dear friend, go with me on this one please.  Let’s say the Holy Spirit is our GPS.  John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  It’s like GPS can stand for God Provides the Steps.

            Even when the Lord is the One providing the steps for us sometimes it can feel like we are on the wrong path.  It feels like it’s the wrong path because it is not what we would have chosen for ourselves.  To be more specific, a sudden death of a loved one or losing your job when you need it the most or having to move when you just started to feel settled and make friends.  These are the detours of life.  In the Bible we have several examples of people that had some major detours in their own lives.  These examples are there so that we can learn from them.

            The examples of people that had their detours and made it through with the Lord are Joseph, who was sold as a slave but became a Prime Minister.  Esther, the beautiful woman, taken by force from the life she knew and became King Xerxes’ Queen.  Daniel, who was also taken by force and became a wise servant of the King of Babylon.  King David, Jessie’s youngest son, who was a shepherd and musician.  He was hunted by Saul and then later in life hunted by his son Absalom.

The examples of people that had their detours and didn’t make it through with the Lord, not by His choosing but by their own are, Cain, the first human son, a farmer who felt upstaged by his brother and killed him.  King Saul, the first king of Israel, disobeyed the Lord, which meant his job was given to David.  Jealousy drove him to hunt and try to kill David and instead he ended up taking his own life.  Queen Jezebel, hands down the most evil Queen in history!  Her end was nasty.  1 Kings 21:23, “As for Jezebel, God said, “Dogs will fight over the flesh of Jezebel all over Jezreel.”  Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus.  He wanted Jesus to lead a rebellion and tried to force his hand by handing Him over to the religious leaders.  Even though his intent was not Jesus’ arrest and later death that is what happened.  Instead of seeking forgiveness he took his own life.

There are many more examples of people that lived long ago in the Bible that had their lives detoured.  The Lord chose their responses, the good and the bad ones, to be immortalized forever in His Word.  The reason why?  So that we may learn from these people and apply God’s Truth to our lives.  My dear friend, life does have detours for you, and for me.  When we face these detours lets face them with the Lord and not on our own.  

 

Thank you my dear friend for taking the time to visit my blog.  I appreciate your time in reading this devotional.  I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below about this devotional or any of the others that I have written so far.  I appreciate you and am constantly praying for you.   Also, would you be so kind as to pass this blog on to your friends and family?   

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

           

“A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” Devotional #26

 

            Have you heard, “be careful for the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”  Meaning that the way a person presents themselves may not necessarily be who they really are and in so doing may be harming you or someone you love in some way, either physically, emotionally or financially.  I have been taken advantage of as I’m sure many of you, my dear friends have too. 

            There’s this one time about four years ago that I was deceived by a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”  My husband and I were presented with a business opportunity that was supposedly only new to our area but up and coming in the United States.  The person sharing this business opportunity with us presented himself to be a Christian.  He spoke and acted like a Christian.  We asked questions and felt comfortable working with this Christian and agreed to invest and share in this new endeavor.  It was not until my husband and I invested time and money that the truth came out.  He was not a Christian and the opportunity that was presented was not much of an opportunity. 

Success that would be long lasting with this “opportunity” was next to impossible.  Here’s the thing my dear friends.  We prayed about this decision before getting involved but, it was a one sided prayer, meaning that we had already made the decision before consulting with the Lord.  Three months into this very busy but unproductive endeavor the truth came to light.  There’s a story in the Bible that is found in the book of Joshua that has to do with deception. 

With the Lords blessing Joshua and the rest of the people of Israel were in the middle of a long war against the nations in Canaan that comprised “the Promised Land.”  They had already defeated several nations and the biggest battle they had won was against the nation of Jericho.  The Lord had made it clear to the Israelites that they could not make any treaties with anyone from the land of Canaan.  In Exodus 23:32 the Lord’s instructions were, ‘“Don’t make any deals with them or their gods. They are not to stay in the same country with you lest they get you to sin by worshiping their gods. Beware. That’s a huge danger.” (MSG)  The reason why?  Numbers 33:55, “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those that are left will be as troublesome as splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will fight against you.” (GNT) 

Joshua 9:3, “The people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai and cooked up a ruse. They posed as travelers: their donkeys loaded with patched sacks and mended wineskins, threadbare sandals on their feet, tattered clothes on their bodies, nothing but dry crusts and crumbs for food. They came to Joshua at Gilgal and spoke to the men of Israel, “We’ve come from a far-off country; make a covenant with us.”’ (MSG)  Joshua and his advisors asked key questions to verify if their story was true.  They asked where they were from.  They checked their bags and saw the molded bread and dried out wineskins.  They also saw the worn out clothes and sandals.  Due to the information given to them they believed these men were telling the truth. 

Joshua 9:14-15, “The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence. But they didn’t ask God about it.  So Joshua made peace with them and formalized it with a covenant to guarantee their lives. The leaders of the congregation swore to it.”  (MSG)  When did they find out the truth?  Joshua 9:16, “And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them.” (ASV)

When the people of Israel found out about what happened they “grumbled” against the leaders but by then there was nothing that could be done about it.  Joshua 9:19-20, “The leaders were united in their response to the congregation: “We promised them in the presence of the God of Israel. We can’t lay a hand on them now. But we can do this: We will let them live so we don’t get blamed for breaking our promise.” Then the leaders continued, “We’ll let them live, but they will be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire congregation.”  And that’s what happened; the leaders’ promise was kept. (MSG)

There were consequences for this mistake.  They not only had to let them live they also had to defend them from five Amorite kings and their respective nations that joined forces to fight against Gibeon, an important city in that region (Joshua 10).  A very important lesson can be learned from Joshua’s experience.  It is important to go to the Lord with all kinds of requests so that His leading will guide us.  With the Lord as our guide who can take advantage of us?  Even a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” can’t deceive us with the Lord as our guide.     

 

My dear friend, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read this devotional.  I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below about this devotional or any of the others that I have written so far.  Also, would you be so kind as to pass this blog on to your friends and family?  I appreciate you and am constantly praying for you.  

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

 

 

“The Possibility of the Impossibilities” Devotional #25

 

            This is now my 25^th devotional!  I cannot believe that I have written this many in such a short period of time.  If I were the same person I used to be years ago I would not have written as many.  In fact, I may never have written at all.  At the very least I would have talked myself out of it.  The very most I would have done was started these devotionals but I would not have gotten very far.  My enthusiasm would have fizzled out by now and I probably would have stopped posting devotionals over a month ago.  Thankfully the Lord has changed me from someone who believed that God can do all things for everyone else except for and through me to someone who does believe that He makes all things possible through and for me too. 

            When I was a kid I used to believe that all things were possible as long as you had a positive attitude.  I believed that anything you put your mind to you can do but this was not based on the All Mighty God.  No, this was based on all of the after school specials and superhero cartoons I used to watch.  To a certain point I am still this positive but my belief is now based on the All Mighty God. 

            Unfortunately this was not always so.  I always believed that God has the power to do anything He wants to do but when it came to me I didn’t believe.  Now, I would pray for others that asked for prayers for the “impossibilities,” like missionaries going to Africa or Pastors planting churches in third world countries.  I believed God could and would use these people but as for me, I didn’t believe.  What did this say about me?  Where was my faith?  Why didn’t I believe that God could do anything through me that He wanted to reach others for His Kingdom? 

Here’s the thing, I didn’t realize that I was lacking in faith.  I didn’t realize that by believing that God could use everyone else but me I was selling myself short.  No, worst, I was selling Him short!  I didn’t realize that what I was really saying was, “God you can use everyone else but me.”  How could that be?  How could it be that I would pray with so much faith and enthusiasm for everyone else that God had called and was calling into ministry...everyone else except for me.

            The definition of faith is, reliance, loyalty or a complete trust in God or in others.  The definition of fear is, feeling anxious or apprehension caused by the presence or the anticipation of danger.  The definition of arrogance is, feeling or showing self-importance and contempt or a disregard for others.  So then, I believed I had faith which means that I had to have had complete trust in God.  But yet I was afraid of the unknown.  This fear then produced arrogance because I had complete disregard for the Lord’s will for my life.  My faith then was lacking.

            Conviction of this lack of faith hit me hard!  I thoroughly believed that I trusted God with everything, including using me however He saw fit.  It was not until I started studying the Word of God in in-depth Bible Studies that not only conviction hit me in the face but application of His Word set in.  The verses that the Lord has used in profound ways in my life are, Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (NASB)  Philippians 4:13, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” (MSG)  Ephesians 3:20, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (MSG)  Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (NIV) 

These verses are my life verses.  They are the verses I turn to for encouragement and inspiration.  These verses, and many more put fire in my belly!  They help me stay focused or get refocused and remind me that God can do anything, not only for everyone and anyone else but also for me.  I now believe in the possibility of the impossibilities.  Nothing and I mean nothing can ever stop God from doing anything and everything He has purposed in us no matter how impossible it may seem.  

 

My dear friends thanks for visiting my blog and reading this devotional.  I appreciate  you and am constantly praying for you.  I’d love to read your comments on this devotional.  I’d also love for you to pass this blog site on to your friends and family.  Word of mouth is always so helpful.  God bless you and yours.  

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com