Here are some recent devo thoughts.
Nehemiah 9:3 — And we can’t stand for 20 minutes to sing praise songs to our God, or put up with a worship service much longer than an hour in comfortable charis? Give me a stinkin’ break!
Nehemiah 9:5 — I don’t know if this is what that verse even means, but this is what God spoke to my heart when I read it. “Jeff, I want you to exalt me above all the blessings I give you, not BECAUSE of them.” I need to be more thankful for GOD, not just what He gives me.
Esther 4:14 — God’s plan for the people of Israel. I’ve always read this, but never noticed it I guess. Mordecai says to Esther that “…you’ve been raised up for just such a time as this. But if you don’t, God will provide deliverance from somewhere else.” How man times has God “used someone else” because I didn’t do what I was raised up to do. Not, just talking about being a pastor. God wants to use us RIGHT WHERE WE ARE AT! I know in my life, I have IGNORED opportunities to be Jesus to someone else.
Esther 4:16 — I am challenged/convicted every time I read this verse. We usually fast to get something from God, or to seek direction on something. Many times I think we use prayer/fasting as a spiritual excuse to do what we already know we should do. Esther didn’t say “Fast to see if I should go.” She said”Fast for me BECAUSE I’M GOING! And if I die, I die!” LOVE THAT STATEMENT.
Job… I LOVE this book everytime I read it. Such great stuff.
Job 1:8 — I can’t believe GOD said THAT about a man! What would God say of me? CRAZY!
Job 13:15-16 — Job COULD stand before God with his questions, because he was NOT godless, but upright.
The whole book — Jobs friends made true statements but mixed with HORRIBLE advice. Some of their statements were true about God, but didn’t apply or weren’t correct in the life of Job.
The whole book — Jobs friends were CONVINCED that no one could be blameless, ESPECIALLY going through what Job was going through. There HAD to be sin in his life. YET, don’t forget that it was GOD who said “he is upright and blameless”.
Job 19:25-27 — This is one I am memorizing now. LOVE these verses.
One thing I realized from reading through Job again this time. GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF OUR QUESTIONS! We don’t…we CAN’T understand everything. We can’t explain the ways of God. He is big enough to handle our questions. The responsibility is ours to “not sin” in how we handle our questions. How we handle our “lifes toughest moments”. The Bible says “In all this, Job did not sin”. Now God had some very tough responses and questions back at Job at the end of the book. God establishes WHO HE IS! But God is NOT afraid of our questions.
