IDOK DEVOTION FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2010
FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE:
To review the list of names for prayer, please click here.
I unashamedly tell you that I have been walking around our house lifting and clapping my hands in praise to my God and Father, the LORD JESUS CHRIST! I tell you HE is AWESOME. He is worthy of ALL our praise and more!
I am blessed by the preaching of His Word coming to me across the air waves and through our television. What a wonderful tool in the hands of God is television!
(And what a horrid, damnable and addicting one it is when we give our eyes to watch what God has not ordained. But that’s not my focus today. Praise to our God is!)
I heard the preacher (Joseph Prince) speaking of a morning after JESUS’ resurrection prior to His Ascension when He was standing on the shore preparing breakfast for His disciples. They had been out toiling all night for fish and had come up with NONE. And JESUS calls out to them (KT paraphrase, you know.), ‘Hey, Boys, ya’ll got any fish?’ And they reply, ‘No’. And so JESUS tells them to cast out the nets again and in obedience accompanied with doubt, they do as He said. And the load of fish was just about more than they could haul in.
So as the Guys gathered on shore, they saw that JESUS had started breakfast for them. You do know JESUS knows how to cook, don’t you? I can tell you from personal experience He is a GREAT cook. I have asked His counsel many times with cooking and HE is the BEST at it! (Focus here, Kathie, focus.) So they came on shore and He told them to bring some of the fish they had caught. They had caught! Oh, I love it! And when the Preacher began with that I began to clap. For he pointed out to me that any fish we catch, it is JESUS who actually caught it; for HE directs the fish into our nets, He gives us the strength, the ability, the opportunity, the direction, the wisdom, everything we need to do the fishing and then; THEN, He gives US the ‘credit’ for catching the fish! Do you see it? Do you see the tenderness, the absolute wonderfulness of JESUS in this? Oh, I hope so. And I hope you also see that this is not just about catching fish; but it is about EVERY holy thought we have and every holy deed we do. Even our very faith in Him and His Word is His doing and yet we get to enjoy it as our own!! Do I hear clapping out there?!
John 21 (NASB)
5So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” 6And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
9So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”
And then the Preacher went on to explain a portion of Scripture that had given him a problem. Isaiah 53 teaches us that JESUS is the Arm of the LORD. And we read in verse 10 that ABBA was PLEASED 10But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; . . . , pleased to crush Him. ABBA was PLEASED for JESUS to be crush, bruised, beaten, even murdered. And the Preacher prayed and said, ‘Father, I don’t understand this. How can this be?’ And some days later ABBA answered.
Remember JESUS is the ARM of the LORD. One day the Preacher, his wife and their 3 year old went shopping at a busy,busy mall and they had to park a long, long way from the mall. Walking in was okay — good exercise, you know. However, with hours and many bags it was time to make that long, long trek back to the car and Baby Girl was sleepy, oh so sleepy. So Daddy picked her up, placed her on his arm and in seconds she was peacefully asleep. So peacefully asleep. And the car? Well, the car was a long, long, long way away.
You know what happened, don’t you? The weight of his Baby Girl, his peacefully sleeping Baby Girl that he loved more than life itself, was causing crushing, excruciating , needles and pin pain to his arm; but, he was pleased to endure that pain in order for his Baby Girl to continue to peacefully sleep. Do you see it?! Do you see the analogy of the LOVE God has for us? Is it so precious to you to cause you to raise your hands and clap them in praise to Him? Oh, I hope so. For HE is worthy!! So Worthy! So Awesome. So wonderful to us!!
DADDY GOD, I am coming to prayer again in the Name of JESUS. I am here because of what You have done to bring me here. LORD JESUS, thank You for allowing me the privilege of worshiping You. Thank You. Thank You. And I pray that every soul who reads this devotion will rejoice in it and that they too will worship You. Will clap their hands in praise. That our lives will be acts of worship. That we will just be head over heals in love with You, knowing that You are perfectly in love with us forever and ever. I pray these facts will transform us into lights reflecting Your LIGHT in this dark world. I pray we will be instruments of grace and mercy to all peoples.
Thank You for the Troops that continue to come home. Thank You for the safety and protection You have given our IDOK Troops and we pray for every one that remains on tour that You will continue to protect them. Continue to tend them and call them to full and complete surrender to Your will for their lives.
And we pray for Bridgette and her family; they have so many needs, LORD, with treatments and trying to keep life at some kind of normalcy for the children and school and just daily life mechanics. I know You are doing marvelous and wonderful, loving things in the middle of this horrendous trial; thank You for the gift of praise in this. Thank You for the healing and mercy You are working into this. And we pray for others listed on our Praying for These lists. There is so much there. Unspokens, and children and grandchildren and lost loved ones, and illness and disease and spiritual poverty and material needs and even more that we are not even privy to. ABBA, help and heal. Show up in the midst of all this need and hurt and want and be exalted. We just want healing and help for every one of them and we pray they will receive it.
And we pray for Israel; we dare not forget to pray for these precious people, praying for peace and protection. And we pray again today for revival; that You will turn us Your children from our sins and heal this land of America. And I pray for the political scene in America that You will awaken us to ways and means within Your Will that we can act within to see to it that the Constitution which You gave us will again be honored. And above all this, I pray that each of us will put on the Full Armor You have for us and stand against and defeat the powers of iniquity. Amen and amen.
