Thursday, October 14, 2010 — IDOK Devotion

Matthew 5:  ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden — if the LIGHT of JESUS is not illuminating the world around me then I am not living on the HILL.

¹⁵nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

It is SUBNORMAL for a Christian to be quiet about JESUS.  We are living sub-normally if we profess to know CHRIST and yet our day in and day out gives no glimpse of HIM to the people in our world.

Question: Does your best friend, your spouse, or your children know beyond a shadow of a doubt that JESUS CHRIST is your life — that you do not do this life without constant communication with HIM?  No?  That’s subnormal in the Kingdom of God.

Oh, LORD, please don’t let me be subnormal.  Please don’t let me refuse to live on the HILL of dying to myself.

¹⁶“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Father, I truly do not want to be subnormal; make me the normal described in Your Word.  And I pray all our IDOKs will pray the same.  HOLY SPIRIT, I pray You will raise up thousands upon thousands of Saints whose LAMP is set consistently on the HILL, illuminating our world. Amen and amen in JESUS’ name. 

Holy hugs, kt

All Scripture above was acquired at Biblegateway.com

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 — IDOK Devotion

Praying for These, please click here.

As I begin I don’t know that I will come with a Scripture passage verbatim to support what I am about to say but considering the Whole Counsel of God and my own experience, I KNOW it is true that NOTHING  catches God by surprise and that He makes provision for me (and you); He puts encouragement and instructions in our path BEFORE the ‘surprise’ gets to us so we will be able to handle it when it arrives.  I so LOVE that about Him!!And I am SO grateful!

My  Journey (A LifeWay Publication) for Tuesday (which day I am writing) in part said:

Psalm 77 provides an example of choosing to remember God’s benefits, to mediate on His works, to muse on His deeds, and to remember His past faithfulness.  If you are fearful of your circumstances today, overwhelmed with anxious thoughts and concerns, choose instead to trust God.  He will bless your obedience and use you to encourage others around you who are struggling as well.

Father, today I choose to remember how You have been faithful to me, and I choose not to worry.

And all God’s children said, Amen and amen!

Psalm 77 ¹¹I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
¹²I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.
¹³Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?
¹⁴You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
¹⁵You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.  (NASB)

You have blessed me and delighted me today with Your ever present watchful care of me. Thank You, ABBA, thank You.  You are AWESOME GOD and I love You.  And I am forever mindful that it is by Your Grace and Your Gift to me that I can from the depths of my soul say to You that I love You.  Thank You.

You know the heart cries for our Praying For These; as we have reviewed the list, You are mindful of every precious and dear soul represented by a name or even just a unspecified request.  I love the way You are caring for each of them.  Thank You.

And then our IDOK Troops, our request remains for protection of spirit, soul and body of each dear One; and for each we petition You for a safe and sound return home.

My prayer for Israel remains, for their protection and for peace.  I long to see the promises You made to them centuries ago come to fruition.  And for America, my prayer remains, LORD, that You will have mercy and save this People.  I pray for the November elections, that the ruthless will be reproved and removed by legal election and replaced with people of integrity that will honor and uphold the Constitution that You gave to this beloved Country. And I pray for we the Church that You will revive us and that we will be willing to pray through and receive Your renewing and refreshing of us, empowering us with holy boldness to unashamedly demonstrate Your Lovely Gospel to every willing man, woman and child.  Amen and amen in JESUS HOLY AND MATCHLESS NAME.

Holy hugs, kt

I began this as Wednesday’s Devotion but I’ve changed my mind — it’s a cry for help.  First to our JESUS and then to you.   So will you read, ponder and share with me?

I have admitted something to myself before Father and now to you.  I am attracted to Formulas.  Why? A formula is a guarantee that if I follow the steps correctly every time, every time I will get a good and right result. And do I have to tell you, I am all on that?! Good and Right results!  Oh, yeah! Bring them on.

But, I have clearly seen this morning that JESUS does not give us formulas for child-rearing, marriage, evangelizing, doing church, study/education — LIFE.  And this is why I think He does not.  At least not to me.  One, because I would find my security in the formula rather than in HIM.  I’d be putting my trust and faith in the formula, rather than Him. And, two, in a while I’d get bored with the formula, bored with doing the same thing every time and I’d try to change it. I’m not kidding, I’m just like that!  Ask my beloved.  He will surely attest that this is true! And I am smiling so big at this typing imagining him reading it — he will add his big grin to it too!

So that being said I said, ‘”Okay, LORD, I can see that.  I can see why I can’t have a formula; but can I have some tools?”  Now you tell me, is that not funny?!

But I am serious.  Really. I can see that formulas would devolve into idol worship and yet we do need procedures, tried and true procedures to apply to our ‘jobs’ of children, marriage, ministry, and LIFE.  Do we not? And for lack of better words, I am calling them Tools of the Trade.  So I am seeking Him for His Tools of the Trade.  The Trade He passed to us — Living LIFE in such a way while we are here to Advance the Gospel to every man, woman, boy, and girl on the planet.  That is our job as Christians is it not?

Hmmm … here’s a thought! Are rearing godly children; building safe, holy, happy marriages; stewarding faithful, honorable, above-reproach ministries, tools to advance the Gospel?

And if these be the tools, what then are the tried and true procedures — instructions, if you will, for best applying these tools to the job?

And are there more tools in addition to bringing up godly children, marriages, and ministries?

See.   I’ve got lots of questions … now I’m looking for answers.  Got any?

Holy Hugs, kt

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 –IDOK Devotion

JESUS loves me.  JESUS does not love me more today than He has loved me any other day; He does not love me less today than He has loved me any other day.  And tomorrow He will love me the same.

And so it is for you. If you have been a good girl today, He does not love you more today than He loved you on the day you were a bad girl.  And one of these days we shall wake up and realize we really do believe this!  We so much believe it, it has transformed us! And rather than getting down on myself today because today I am not 100% there, this dawned on me: I have all eternity to be perfect so today I am in JESUS’ name enabled to stop fretting (sinning) over not being perfect today! How profound is that?

And because it is nearly 12:45 and coming to these profound statements today has been a lengthy battle with principalities and powers — this is our lesson for today.  :)

Ephesians 6:¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  ¹³Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  (New American Standard Bible)

You are good, LORD, and Your mercy endures forever and I am grateful.  Thank You.  And, ABBA, if my sisters and brothers are wrestling today I pray for them to have victory.  I pray, HOLY SPIRIT, You will remind them of Scripture at the perfect moment to give them strength to resist the temptation and I pray they will resist the temptation rather than resist You.  For surely when temptation comes we will resist either it or You. That’s good, LORD.  Really good.  One of those in-your-face nuggets that will either make us mad or we will latch onto it so we can resist temptation instead of resisting You and plunging on into evil. LORD, I have some sadness in my heart over this very thing; some folks around me are enslaved and trapped in this thing of resisting You instead of the temptation.  HOLY SPIRIT, please help them and me to learn better quickly.   I know it hurts; I’ve experienced it and knowing fallen nature, I will again; even so, it’s no excuse, LORD.  No excuse. Just because we are hurt gives us no excuse to hurt back.  That only broadens the circle of pain and dims or darkens big time Your Reflection in us.  I don’t want that for me. I don’t want it for them; so please help.  And not just in this but help every person reading here, and our IDOK Troops too; praying for their protection in spirit, soul, and body and safe returns home.  And for Americans to be saved and for the Church to be revived so we will care enough to minister Your Gospel to the Lost with love and mercy and allow You to do such a work through us that Your Gospel becomes irresistible to them. Oh, in my estimation that would be great.  Please do it.  In JESUS Name, ABBA. Amen and amen.

Holy hugs, kt

The Scripture passage above was obtained at Biblegateway.com