IDOK DEVOTION FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008

November 18, 1975 – 33 years. The day of my re-birth. I remember it well. Oh, how AWESOME is Jesus My Saviour! That night I thanked Him for saving a wretched, hell-deserving sinner like me. And many, many times since that night I have marveled that He has not killed me! For at least a decade of those 33 years, I was as my dear sister, Beth Moore, says a pit-dweller. And today, I am not sin-less (as you well know) but I do sin less than I used to. Anybody know what I’m talking about?
Children growing up in Christian homes often make ‘professions of faith’ at a young age. And I think when they begin to ask questions, even if they are only 5 we should not discourage them. They just may have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit and understood what He said. They just may understand that those ‘bad’ things they do means they need the forgiveness of Almighty God. In the cases of my ‘Little Girl’ and my ‘Baby Girl’, those confessions proved to be real; but for me, at 9, my first profession resulted only in getting me ‘wet’ in the baptistery. Real conversion came years later – 14 to be exact; I was 23 by then.
We come to salvation only by crises. And the older the sinner the greater the crises I think. Let me explain what I mean by crises. For a 5 year old the crises was ‘I do bad things and I need to be saved.’ And so she prayed for Jesus to save her. Simple as that. I have no way of knowing what all ‘I do bad things and I need to be saved’ meant to her. But for sure it was crises enough in her little heart and mind that something had to be done and Jesus was the ONE who could do it.

For me, my crises meant FINALLY acknowledging I was a hell-deserving sinner and God would be perfectly just if when I died, I went to hell; BUT because of His Great Love for me I did not have to. The BLOOD of Jesus was enough to clean even me.
Do I believe that every saved soul HAS come to this point of crises? Yes. I do. (If you do not KNOW today that you are a hell-deserving sinner and that if it were not for the Blood of Jesus Christ having been applied to you, at death you would split hell wide open; then, yes, I urge You to pray immediately for the Holy Spirit to reveal HIS truth to you.)
The turmoil and sense of filth (the crises in the soul), naturally would not be as intense within the heart of a 5 year old as in the heart of a 23 year old, maybe simply because the 5 year has not sinned against Holy God to the same degree as a 23 year old has. But, even so, the 5 year old knew she had. How did she know? Because the Holy Spirit of God gently and lovingly told her so. How did this 23 year old know? The same way. The Holy Spirit of God gently and lovingly told me so. I think varied excuses keep a soul from Christ’s Salvation but it all boils down to this, the soul has refused to admit: ‘God, You are justified in letting me go to hell. I deserve it. But I know You do not want me to go there and I know the Blood of Your Son Jesus Christ ALONE is enough to keep me from going there. And right now I agree with You. I accept Your Gift of Salvation.’ It is as simple as that. And the older people get the harder it is to admit it. As I said, the depths of sin is different for a 5 year old and a 23 year old but both of us KNEW we had displeased God by our deeds and we KNEW He and He alone could save us.
Oh What a GOD HE IS!! So in summary. Do you have children? Do you have grandchildren? You cannot start too early praying for those babies, even in the womb.

From inside the womb to the grave, they need to hear us telling them about Jesus. And we need to faithfully pray that the first time Jesus says to their little hearts: ‘those bad things you do, means you need to let me save you’ that they will say YES, immediately. Only the Holy Spirit knows the moment each child is ready – we don’t. It is up to us to fervently pray and live before them in holy wholeness — and STAY OUT OF THE PIT ourselves!

(Psalm 40:2 He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. 3 And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.) source 

ABBA, thank You. Thank You for reminding me of what day it is. You have been so faithful to me even when I was so unfaithful to You. You indeed have drawn me out of more than one pit. I don’t want to ever be in one again. I know You are guarding me. My prayer is that I will determine moment by moment, day by day, to listen to You and move away from those pits immediately. And if by no fault of my own I am thrown into a pit that I will immediately work with You and let You remove me from it. I pray Father, that each IDOK’s pit-dwelling days are over or soon will be. And we pray now for IDOK’s children and grandchildren, those in the womb and those we surely know are old enough to come to that crises; we pray they will come to that crises and that they will acknowledge to You that hell is for sinners but that You do not want them there and You have done all that is needed to keep them from it – they only need to agree with You and You will save them. We especially pray for the little ones to whom You have not even spoken yet that when You do, they will say Yes the first time. Oh, how glorious that would be, to say yes the first time. I can think of nothing more wonderful Lord. There are some people on our list that it seems may not have said yes to You yet and we pray they will. If we can minister to them, please bring it to be. Protect our IDOK Troops today we pray. You have done so so awesomely. Thank You. And we pray for a successful conclusion to the war. A successful and honorable conclusion – not one that pulls out and gives up before the job is done. Lord, war is horrible and we hate it and we know You do too. So we know You know even better than we what is needed for our IDOK Troops to keep them safe in mind, body and spirit and so we thank You for doing it again today. We have loved ones listed here who are ill, desperately ill and we know You have not forgotten and neither are You indifferent to the deterioration, the pain, the fears, the longings they have and the longings of their families. In our humanness we want You to heal them all here and now and we even believe that if that is best in the eternal plan of it all, You will. Otherwise, we pray to understand what we can and what we cannot understand, to trust You in it. We pray for peace and joy to be upon us and in us whatever comes. Mrs. Perry is placing the frame of her beloved husband to rest. I can only imagine how hard that is but I know You are with her and You are her Rock and Stay. Thank You. ABBA You are good in all You do and all You allow. Thank You for watching over Israel and we pray for Her peace. Thank You for watching over us here in America and we pray You will use us to rescue and call Americans to repentance from the White House to every house. Thank You for what You have for us to do today and we pray for the will to be faithful and it is because and in Jesus’ merits and righteousness we pray. Amen and amen.
As I post this it is 47°F and partly cloudy in Al Asad, IQ & the time there is 7:34 AM AST – on November 18, 2008
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