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| Daily Devotions for July 19-23
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 | MONDAY, JULY 19
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The Power of God is Unlimited
It is easy to look around and see
sin and suffering proliferating and to lose hope as a result. What we see most
often is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. We see the needy
being downtrodden and the powerless being abused. Where is God when we need Him
most? Why does He not intervene?
Read Psalm 73. This incredibly
honest psalm lays out the kinds of struggles we all have from time to time.
What point is there being on God's side when everyone else seems to prosper?
Yet, although Asaph starts his psalm with these thoughts, where does he end?
What is the turning point in his thought process? What is the lesson here for
us?
The answer appears throughout the
Bible as God communicates His plans to His people, but is summarized nicely in Daniel 6. Take a moment and go read that short chapter now. We serve a mighty God, mightier and more powerful than anyone or
anything, seen or unseen. Even the most powerful king on the planet was forced
to recognize that there was one bigger and more important than himself.
The people of God must be a
people of prayer. Powerful, persistent prayer for God to act. "The king's heart
is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he
pleases" (Prov. 21:1). Do we really believe God's Word? Can we pray that God
would indeed change the hearts of leaders, both near and far? Pray for miracles
to happen! We serve a God who saved Daniel from the mouths of the lions. We
serve a God who turned the heart of an egomaniac king. This same God has the
power and authority to change our world today in ways that we can't even begin
to imagine.
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| TUESDAY, JULY 20
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The Plan of God is Unending
We are a nation of planners. We
buy day planners, organizers, calendars, to-do lists and task managers by the
dozen. We are consumed with "Getting Things Done." This is not a bad thing at
all. God has given us brains and expects us to use them. However, sometimes our
own obsessive planning prevents us from seeing God's hand at work in the people
and events around us. In our own desire to bring some element of control to a
chaotic world we can forget that God is the only one who is really in control.
This is especially true when
things around us appear to be spinning out of control. Consider the people of
Israel, sent into Exile as punishment for their persistent, chronic
disobedience and idolatry. They faced the bleakest, most hopeless situation
imaginable. Yet, God was still in control. Read Isaiah 55. Although these words
were spoken before the Exile, they provided comfort and assurance that God's
plan was unending.
Could this amazing promise be
true? Read Ezra 1:1-8. For the people living in Exile, their time away from the
promised land must have felt like an eternity. At times it must have seemed as
if God had forgotten them. But God's plans are not thwarted by human kings and
authorities. As we so often say at the end of the Lord's Prayer, "For thine is
the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever."
What situations in your life seem
hopeless and out of control? If God has authority over all things, and His plan
is indeed unending, how can He help you in your time of struggle? Fear can often
keep us from pursuing the plans that God has for us. How does confidence in
God's plan free us to live more fully for Him?
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| WEDNESDAY, JULY 21
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The People of God are
Unstoppable
When we struggle to impact people
even within our own family, it can seem silly to think of ourselves as an
"unstoppable" force. Our attempts to reach others and bring about change in
their lives are filled with struggles and setbacks. It is so easy to lose hope.
Yet, we have to remember that we serve a mighty God, who has mighty plans, to
do mighty works.
Read Esther 4. The edict had been
issued. The fate of the people was sealed. There was no way out. But then
Mordecai challenges Esther, "who knows but that you have come to royal position
for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). How does she respond? Read Esther 5-7.
What happens as a result of her boldness and courage?
"For this reason I remind you to
fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my
hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of
love and of self-discipline.
So do not be ashamed to testify
about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering
for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy
life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and
grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but
it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who
has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a
teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I
know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I
have entrusted to him for that day. What you heard from me, keep as
the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the
good deposit that was entrusted to you-guard it with the help of the Holy
Spirit who lives in us.
(2 Tim. 1:6-14)
How can we "fan into flame the
gift of God" in our own lives, resisting the temptation to hold back and
withdraw out of fear, but instead pressing on boldly and with courage,
sacrificing our lives in service to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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| THURSDAY, JULY 22
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The Grace of God is Unbounded
Read Genesis 12:1-3.
"The LORD had said to Abram,
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the
land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
The astonishing claim buried in
these verses is that God's grace would extend to people outside Abraham's
family and outside his clan to reach "all people on earth." Within the context
of the rest of the Bible it's clear this doesn't mean that all people in the
world will be saved. However, there is a blessing here from God that will somehow
be offered to all people through Abraham's descendants.
Now read Revelation 7:9-10:
"After this I looked and there
before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation,
tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the
Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.""
These "bookends of the Bible"
highlight God's unbounded love for His creation. From beginning to end (Genesis to
Revelation), the unfolding drama of Scripture is the unstoppable outworking of
God's grace. His grace extends to those of every country, culture, and skin
color, including those we assume will never come to repentance and faith. God
is working out a plan that is far greater than anything we can imagine. Will we
be active participants our passive bystanders?
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| FRIDAY, JULY 23
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The Glory of God is Magnified in
Christ
The needs that surround us are
more than we can number. Hunger, poverty, sickness, disease, death. Our efforts
often seem like a drop in the ocean. When it comes to sharing our faith the
size of the task can seem overwhelming. The world is so vast it can seem like
an impossible task to try reaching every single person with the gospel. In the
midst of our own failings and failures we can sometimes lose sight of who we
serve and what we are doing.
Read Daniel 7:9-13 and 1 Peter 2:1-12. These two passages are just a sampling of many that highlight Christ as
the cornerstone and centerpiece of God's glory. As a magnifying glass focuses
light and enables us to see things more clearly, Jesus, our Messiah, focuses
the glory of God into a piercing beam of light that allows us to glimpse God's
glory more completely. Everything revolves around Jesus. As we look for ways to
serve God and honor Him with our lives, we have to keep this focus before us.
For by him all things were
created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the
head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among
the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile
to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were
enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has
reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in
his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- if you continue in your
faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every
creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Col 1:16-23)
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Jonathan Ziman
Community Life Pastor
Wheaton Bible Church
27W500 North Avenue
West Chicago, IL 60185
630.260.1600
www.wheatonbible.org |
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