(2 days ago)

Building on yesterday’s devo:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made complete in weakness

–2 Corinthians 12:9

….Whatever fails we come up with, He can redeem. And that brings Him glory.

That doesn’t mean we should fail intentionally, especially if that failure is sin. Insufficiency comes naturally; we don’t need to create more for Him.

….Remember that a few loaves and fish were all that was offered to Jesus to feed a large crowd, and He was glorified. A leprous hand was offered to Him, and His power to heal was honoured. The tomb of a dead brother became a scene of awesome praise. And a disgraceful cross, as well as the horrendous sin behind it, became God’s greatest glory…..God is used to taking humility, brokenness, and even failure, and magnifying Himself in them.

How amazing is that really? And God has shown over and over again throughout the bible that He chooses the weak to shame the strong and wise. That no defeat is able to take Him down.

It’s the nature of God to make something out of nothing; therefore, when anyone is nothing, God may yet make something out of him.

–Martin Luther

Apart from me you can do nothing….This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit.

–John 14:5,8

We know that we are to worship God with everything in us, and that includes living a fruit-bearing life…. We forget though the very key element in Jesus’ teaching: We can’t. We don’t have that ability. Unless we’re abiding in the Vine–in Him–we’re just dead branches….

The element of dependence is why God is glorified when we bear fruit….Our incapability gives Him a platform to work in the Spirit. He can work in an insufficient life to much greater honour than He can in a self-sufficient life. Our inabilities can be turned into an act of worship, IF we’ll offer them up to His power.

As I like to say.

If we were meant to be self-sufficient, we wouldn’t need God, we wouldn’t need other people. But the brokenness in our world, our desire for love and affection, I think, is proof we NEED God. And God is the only thing that will satisfy that need.

The margin quote was also interesting today:

“The more we depend on God, the more dependable we find He is.”

–Cliff Richard

In connection with the last part of today’s devo (to the quote above), I really do believe that if we depend on God more, the more God will be able to work through us and bless us. As a friend of mine said once (and I’m paraphrasing here):

“if you can truly sacrifice, even one thing, for God. He will bless you 10x over”

After all, it’s difficult for God help someone who’s constantly trying to help themselves. I mean really, you try it. If you were trying to help someone who was trying to do everything on their own without accepting help, would it be easy to help them?

(yesterday’s devo)

Today’s devo focused on Joshua 23:11

Be very careful to love the LORD your God

–Joshua 23:11

Joshua said…..”be very careful” to love Him. It is an act of the will, an intentional response to who He is….

Many who set out to love God focus on theology. But theology, while important and necessary, makes God an academic subject to study or a philosophical argument to prove. It may be a product of our love for God, but it does not define love….

Many who set out to love God focus on works. But works, while an essential outgrowth of love for God, can easily become an attempt to gain His approval. In truth, they are not acts of devotion, but acts of self-interest. We want to gain higher esteem in His eyes, something that makes us one of His “insiders.” But we end up with a self-righteousness that fills us with brief satisfaction but leaves us empty of love….

Many who set out to love God focus on emotions. But emotions, thought a desirable and essential outgrowth of love, cannot define our love. They are far too fleeting. We end up riding waves of feeling or missing out on them altogether. Love remains constant. Feelings don’t….

So how do we love God? We lie at his feet and tell Him we are His. We seek to honour Him in all we do. We want to be like Him. We crave His fellowship. We pray His desires. We are consumed with, obsessed with, and filled with His ways, His works, and His will. The theology, the works, and the feelings will come. They are good–but only after the devotion. Love always comes first.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. And by no means, do I feel that this is easy btw.

At the same time, if you think about it, God’s greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God (the second being, love your neighbour). Really, if you can do that (love God with everything, in everything you do), then the rest will come. If there isn’t love for God, then it’s very difficult to (I think) live your life with genuine love.

I think anyway.

(devo from 2 days ago)

Excerpts from today’s devo that stood out to me:

“We cannot live in this world with diligent attention to discernment….If we can’t distinguish our Shepherd’s voice from theirs, we’re liable to end up in the wrong flock and headed in the wrong direction….Make discernment a priority. In eternal matters, sheep cannot coast through life.”

This actually reminds me of something I learned when I went on a fishing trip a few weeks ago with my family.

Different fish tug and react to being caught differently. Pull too late and the fish may have almost swallowed your hook (which could kill the fish), pull too early and you may have missed it or it won’t have hooked the fish properly (causing the fish to possibly fly away). Some fish flail when caught, some just try to pull you down and away. A lot of the time you’re waiting for something, but that doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything per se. Because if you’re not diligent, you may have missed your big catch.

Likewise, if we’re not diligent, we might miss God’s voice calling us in the various ways he may choose to call us (whether it be through word, other believers, someone’s actions, his creation etc.)