My devotions were so good this morning I just had to share. First of all, I must confess that when I woke up this morning, I groggily opened my Bible to Psalm 61, read it, and then promptly forgot most of it on my way to the bathroom. I have come down with a cold, and last night I prayed that God would give me rest...real rest, His rest. Isn't it neat how He answers us? This morning, I laid Caleb in his crib for his morning nap and began to sit and rock with Joshua, who promptly fell asleep in my arms. Both boys also have colds, and they need rest, too. Instead of napping, my 'Breaking Free' homework was calling me. Truthfully, God was calling me to come and find rest in Him. He is so good to me! My only boast is in Him!
This week, I'm learning that the key to freedom is obedience. The "workbook" talks about how we need to daily enjoy God's presence rather than just rely on Him in moments of crisis...just like we would be okay with someone picking us up in an ambulance in an emergency, we probably wouldn't swap phone numbers and hang out together on a regular basis. The homework started out with Amos 3:3 - "Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?" Then she talks about how long she asked God to walk with her...when suddenly she realized that He wanted her to walk with Him. There is great blessing in doing what God says! After all, Jeremiah 29:11-14 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity..."
She tells the following story, then, which I'm copying word for word so you can also enjoy it:
Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you the calendar of His plan for your earthly life. It begins with the day you are born. Once you received Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of each week of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear. You inquire: "Father, are those my footprints on the calendar every day and is the second set of prints when you joined me?"
He answers, "No, my precious child. The consistent footprints on your calendar are mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined me."
"Where were You going, Father?"
"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."
"But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?"
He answers, "Sometimes you went back to look at old resentments and habits whil I was still going forward, hoping you'd join me. Sometimes, you departed from my path and chose your own calendar instead. Other times, your footprints can even be seen on another person's calendar because you thought you liked their plan better. At other times, you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take to the next day."
"But, Father, we ended up OK even if I didn't walk with You every day, didn't we?"
He holds you close and smiles, "Yes, child, we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you."
"Father, what are those golden treasure boxes on certain days?"
"Blessings, my child, I had for you along the way. Those that are open are those you received. Those still closed were days you did not walk with me."
She then gives Biblical background for her story in Genesis 3:8-9. Talking about our daily walk, we then went to 2 Corinthians 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." She challenged us to look up in a concordance how many times God asks us to "walk in His ways," (which I have yet to do). Then we were to think about the past week...where was our calendar, walking with Him? Thinking about where we tend to go has three purposes: to see how deliberate God desires for us to become in seeking to walk with Him, to think about where we go when we leave His path, and to identify the undeniable link between blessing and daily walking with God.
Isaiah 33:2-6
2 O LORD, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress...
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
We learn in the work book that wisdom is the application of knowledge 0r knowing what to do with what you know. And, we looked up Isaiah 47:10 to discover what God says about human wisdom and knowledge...it can lead us astray!
I also enjoyed Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lmap unto my feet and a light unto my path." I've song the Twila Paris song for years...but thinking about how much light a lamp would illuminate, we can draw the conclusion that God's Word sheds light on our "present" path and our immediate future so we'll know what steps to take, but for further instruction we'll have to walk again with God and keep checking!
We then read Isaiah 50:4-11 - God gives us the daily treasure of a fresh morning word (v.4)...in Matthew 6:33 we are to "Seek FIRST His kingdom and righteousness..." again stressing how important it is to start our day off first thing in the morning with time with God.
Outside the realm of this Bible study, I've thought about God requiring our "first fruits" which I don't think is just tithe (money) but also time. I also spoke one time and asked who would get up an hour early each day for $1,000...what more treasure we have in store for us if we would get up each day for something eternal vs. something that will pass in this lifetime!!!
I've not been doing well with my morning devotions, but God is so faithful and keeps on asking me to walk with Him. Job 23:10 reminds us that "He knows the way that I take." Please, Lord, help me to spend time with you each morning!
I hope you were as refreshed as I was by the Word of God today!!!
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