This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion talks about how we want God to speak to us, but a lot of the time we don’t expect Him to speak to us. I know that is very true with so many churches these days. And maybe part of it is that we’re afraid what we might hear, but I think most of it is that we don’t have enough faith that we actually will hear from Him. All too often we think that God speaking to people was a thing of the Old Testament. But God speaks to us today, too. We just need to clean out our receivers, because they are so filled with static. We get this tunnel vision and say that God can only speak to us in certain ways when He can speak to us through so many sources! We only need to listen!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 28)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion talks about waiting expectantly and joyfully for our prayers to be answered. I know that for my personally, this is hard sometimes. Sometimes I want an answer to prayer immediately when God intends that I wait days, months, and sometimes even years. And I’m not supposed to just wait. I’m supposed to wait joyfully, and expecting good results, because our God is good. He wants what is good for us. When we pray and wait for an answer, if we just think, “Oh, God will never give me this,” our prayers are pointless. We shouldn’t ask for things we don’t expect to get, and we shouldn’t expect not to get the things we ask for.
A lot of times I’m afraid of getting my hopes up when I pray, but part of trusting God is trusting that He will answer your prayers and do good things for you. God wants to bless us, but He also wants us to wait patiently and joyfully on Him and His timing.
Today’s devotion talks about waiting expectantly and joyfully for our prayers to be answered. I know that for my personally, this is hard sometimes. Sometimes I want an answer to prayer immediately when God intends that I wait days, months, and sometimes even years. And I’m not supposed to just wait. I’m supposed to wait joyfully, and expecting good results, because our God is good. He wants what is good for us. When we pray and wait for an answer, if we just think, “Oh, God will never give me this,” our prayers are pointless. We shouldn’t ask for things we don’t expect to get, and we shouldn’t expect not to get the things we ask for.
A lot of times I’m afraid of getting my hopes up when I pray, but part of trusting God is trusting that He will answer your prayers and do good things for you. God wants to bless us, but He also wants us to wait patiently and joyfully on Him and His timing.
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 27)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion came at a perfect time. Today I had a hard talk with a close friend about something someone did to betray me a couple months ago. Just talking about it hurt, and I have had a hard time trusting people because of it.
But today’s verse says to become like little children in order to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Children are described as trusting, lowly, loving, and forgiving. To become like children, we need to be these things.
This doesn’t mean we need to trust everyone we meet, but we do need to trust God. Also, we shouldn’t let one or two bad experiences get in our way of trusting people. It’s my personal belief that you should trust a person until they give you a reason not to, and even then, be open to forgiveness and giving them your trust again. In a lot of ways, that’s what children do. They trust, and when they get hurt, they forgive.
A friend of mine says that even with all that I’ve been through, I have an innocence about me. I believe that any innocence I seem to have is from God: He has given me the power to forgive and trust again, even after what I have gone through. In a lot of ways, God has made me like a child again. If He hadn’t, I’m not sure how I would be able to cope with the things I went through. It’s great to know that God can heal all wounds—even the ones on our hearts!
Today’s devotion came at a perfect time. Today I had a hard talk with a close friend about something someone did to betray me a couple months ago. Just talking about it hurt, and I have had a hard time trusting people because of it.
But today’s verse says to become like little children in order to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Children are described as trusting, lowly, loving, and forgiving. To become like children, we need to be these things.
This doesn’t mean we need to trust everyone we meet, but we do need to trust God. Also, we shouldn’t let one or two bad experiences get in our way of trusting people. It’s my personal belief that you should trust a person until they give you a reason not to, and even then, be open to forgiveness and giving them your trust again. In a lot of ways, that’s what children do. They trust, and when they get hurt, they forgive.
A friend of mine says that even with all that I’ve been through, I have an innocence about me. I believe that any innocence I seem to have is from God: He has given me the power to forgive and trust again, even after what I have gone through. In a lot of ways, God has made me like a child again. If He hadn’t, I’m not sure how I would be able to cope with the things I went through. It’s great to know that God can heal all wounds—even the ones on our hearts!
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 26)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
This devotion talks about praying with respectful persistence to God. When Jacob wrestled with God, he said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing upon me.” He knew it was God’s will to bless him, and he knew that he had to persist to receive this blessing, and because of his persistence, God blessed him.
That doesn’t mean, however, that everything we pray for persistently will happen. Only those things that are in God’s will are going to happen. When God gives us our “prayer assignments,” He wants us to pray for them persistently until they are answered.
I have felt God putting it on my heart to pray for a friend of mine, and I will not lose hope, even when it seems like this prayer will never be answered. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. I know this prayer will be answered and it really isn’t that far out there of a thing to happen, but sometimes it is so frustratingly close to being answered… and then it doesn’t happen. But as I am persistent in my prayers, God will answer me. I praise Him for the prayers that have yet to be answered!
This devotion talks about praying with respectful persistence to God. When Jacob wrestled with God, he said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing upon me.” He knew it was God’s will to bless him, and he knew that he had to persist to receive this blessing, and because of his persistence, God blessed him.
That doesn’t mean, however, that everything we pray for persistently will happen. Only those things that are in God’s will are going to happen. When God gives us our “prayer assignments,” He wants us to pray for them persistently until they are answered.
I have felt God putting it on my heart to pray for a friend of mine, and I will not lose hope, even when it seems like this prayer will never be answered. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. I know this prayer will be answered and it really isn’t that far out there of a thing to happen, but sometimes it is so frustratingly close to being answered… and then it doesn’t happen. But as I am persistent in my prayers, God will answer me. I praise Him for the prayers that have yet to be answered!
Holiness
It seems as if God is working on something in me. He is re-teaching me about holiness and righteousness, since I have become confused in my learning of this.
I grew up thinking that God forgives our sins, but we need to try our best not to sin. We need to in a way earn our holiness and achieve “perfection.” We can’t slip and fall if we’re really Christians, and maybe we just didn’t get it when we slip and fall again. That was a great stumbling block for me in my walk. I thought that my sins after being saved were worse than my sins before being saved, and that maybe I was never really saved because of what I did.
But that isn’t it. Even as Christians, we fall short when we do things on our own. Yesterday’s devotion was talking about how God makes us righteous and pure, and He does. He has made me pure, His “white rose,” and it has nothing to do with what I have done, but all to do with what He did on the cross. My view of myself has been so warped, and I am (slowly) learning how to love myself and see myself as God sees me.
But this holiness issue has two sides in my heart. And today God worked on how I view other people. I admit that there is a pride that was building up in my heart, and today God told me that it needs to come down. He doesn’t just make me holy and pure, but He makes others holy and pure. And just because some people have only recently become holy and pure doesn’t mean that they aren’t as holy and pure as those who have been made holy and pure for a longer time. God makes us all equal in Him, and we should not measure ourselves by the spirituality of another believer, or even those that do not believe.
The reason this has been so huge to me is because of my calling. I have felt God calling me to ministry for years, and because of that, I have been very careful of who I date or who I like, since I have to think of not only myself, but my future ministry. This person needs to be supportive and helpful to that ministry, or it is better than I am not with them. But it was getting to the point that I was comparing myself to people too much, seeing them as not good enough, and that is not what God wants from me. He wants me to love all of His children, and wait for the one He will bring to me. I should not be so worried about finding someone, because I’m not supposed to find someone. I’m supposed to wait on God.
I’ll admit, none of this is easy. I struggle with the second half even more than I struggled with the first half. But the best part is that I don’t have to do this on my own strength. God gives me the strength to do His will.
I grew up thinking that God forgives our sins, but we need to try our best not to sin. We need to in a way earn our holiness and achieve “perfection.” We can’t slip and fall if we’re really Christians, and maybe we just didn’t get it when we slip and fall again. That was a great stumbling block for me in my walk. I thought that my sins after being saved were worse than my sins before being saved, and that maybe I was never really saved because of what I did.
But that isn’t it. Even as Christians, we fall short when we do things on our own. Yesterday’s devotion was talking about how God makes us righteous and pure, and He does. He has made me pure, His “white rose,” and it has nothing to do with what I have done, but all to do with what He did on the cross. My view of myself has been so warped, and I am (slowly) learning how to love myself and see myself as God sees me.
But this holiness issue has two sides in my heart. And today God worked on how I view other people. I admit that there is a pride that was building up in my heart, and today God told me that it needs to come down. He doesn’t just make me holy and pure, but He makes others holy and pure. And just because some people have only recently become holy and pure doesn’t mean that they aren’t as holy and pure as those who have been made holy and pure for a longer time. God makes us all equal in Him, and we should not measure ourselves by the spirituality of another believer, or even those that do not believe.
The reason this has been so huge to me is because of my calling. I have felt God calling me to ministry for years, and because of that, I have been very careful of who I date or who I like, since I have to think of not only myself, but my future ministry. This person needs to be supportive and helpful to that ministry, or it is better than I am not with them. But it was getting to the point that I was comparing myself to people too much, seeing them as not good enough, and that is not what God wants from me. He wants me to love all of His children, and wait for the one He will bring to me. I should not be so worried about finding someone, because I’m not supposed to find someone. I’m supposed to wait on God.
I’ll admit, none of this is easy. I struggle with the second half even more than I struggled with the first half. But the best part is that I don’t have to do this on my own strength. God gives me the strength to do His will.
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 25)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion talks about prayer assignments. Sometimes God puts in on our hearts to pray for someone or something for an extended period of time (sometimes even years). When God puts it on our hearts to pray for someone, He will also put the will and energy in us to pray for them. Sometimes we may even pray for this person without consciously doing so; we just start praying and they come to mind and we pray for them along with everything else.
I have a person like that in my life. I pray for that person often, and I feel like God has really put it on my heart to pray for him until the prayer is answered. It may be years, or even life, but I know that God wants me to pray for him, so I will.
Today’s devotion talks about prayer assignments. Sometimes God puts in on our hearts to pray for someone or something for an extended period of time (sometimes even years). When God puts it on our hearts to pray for someone, He will also put the will and energy in us to pray for them. Sometimes we may even pray for this person without consciously doing so; we just start praying and they come to mind and we pray for them along with everything else.
I have a person like that in my life. I pray for that person often, and I feel like God has really put it on my heart to pray for him until the prayer is answered. It may be years, or even life, but I know that God wants me to pray for him, so I will.
Introduction to Philippians
I have recently felt God leading me to do a more in depth study of the book of Philippians. Last week, two people I hardly know both gave me the verse Philippians 4:6 because they felt God wanted them to tell me. Then I noticed a friend posted on Facebook that everyone should read Philippians. Last Sunday morning I was talking to another friend who ended the conversation by saying he was going to go read Philippians before church. Then at church the pastor had a verse from Philippians in the sermon notes. After that, my Sunday school lesson was from Philippians 2. Then when Sunday’s devotion on my blog mentioned Philippians, I knew God was telling me something. Several other times during the week, Philippians has come up. So I bought the “Smart Guide to the Bible: Paul and the Prison Epistles”, and I plan to use that as a study guide for Philippians.
The following blog posts will be my thoughts on different parts of Philippians. I will probably be doing a lot more of these. Enjoy!
The following blog posts will be my thoughts on different parts of Philippians. I will probably be doing a lot more of these. Enjoy!
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 24)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today Meyer talks about how we can’t be more righteous than God makes us. We need to stop trying to do things on our own accord and learn to accept the righteousness that God gives us. Over time, our deeds will be better, but not because we are doing something, but because God is doing something in our hearts and through us. We need to learn to love ourselves because God created us in His own hand.
That’s something I used to struggle with more than anything. I used to hate myself for all of the mistakes I made… and even some things that were out of my control. Only recently have I begun to learn to love myself. I’ve learned to just put what I’ve done behind me and to see myself as pure (the “white rose”), which is how God sees me.
Sometimes, though, I forget. I’m human. I lay in bed and I’m half asleep and I’ll think about the past couple of years and start to feel that poison set in and Satan whisper in my ear that I’m not good enough. I’m often reminded of the mistakes I’ve made, and they are many. But when that starts to happen, I take myself back into God’s Word, which tells me who I am in Christ. It’s not what I have done, but what He did on the cross.
O praise Him!
Today Meyer talks about how we can’t be more righteous than God makes us. We need to stop trying to do things on our own accord and learn to accept the righteousness that God gives us. Over time, our deeds will be better, but not because we are doing something, but because God is doing something in our hearts and through us. We need to learn to love ourselves because God created us in His own hand.
That’s something I used to struggle with more than anything. I used to hate myself for all of the mistakes I made… and even some things that were out of my control. Only recently have I begun to learn to love myself. I’ve learned to just put what I’ve done behind me and to see myself as pure (the “white rose”), which is how God sees me.
Sometimes, though, I forget. I’m human. I lay in bed and I’m half asleep and I’ll think about the past couple of years and start to feel that poison set in and Satan whisper in my ear that I’m not good enough. I’m often reminded of the mistakes I’ve made, and they are many. But when that starts to happen, I take myself back into God’s Word, which tells me who I am in Christ. It’s not what I have done, but what He did on the cross.
O praise Him!
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 23)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion is about keeping God first in your life and making sure nothing is put above Him. Sometimes we say that God is number one but inside there are things that take His place: money, friends, family, achievements, and sometimes even the church. But none of these things will always be there for us; they all fail. Even the most loyal and wonderful friend will let you down. You have to keep God number one; He will never let you down.
I have a friend that I’ve looked up to for a long time now, especially this past four months or so, since I’ve seen him really grow up. And I’ll admit that at times I went to him instead of God with problems. Then recently he said something that was really hurtful to me, and I felt so let down by that. But that’s what I needed to realize that I have been wrong the whole time. Instead of going to my friend with my problems, I should go to God (Who can actually help with them). Although my friend usually redirected my path and told me to pray about it, I should have been going to God first, then talking to my friend about it.
But God shouldn’t be number one just because He is always there. As we mature on our spiritual walks, we will find that after a while we are following God because of who He is, and not what He gives us. When we become completely focused on God, all other things aren’t as important to us anymore. Things that used to be huge become so small.
I’ll close with a line from a David Crowder Band song that states it all so well: “And all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory.”
Today’s devotion is about keeping God first in your life and making sure nothing is put above Him. Sometimes we say that God is number one but inside there are things that take His place: money, friends, family, achievements, and sometimes even the church. But none of these things will always be there for us; they all fail. Even the most loyal and wonderful friend will let you down. You have to keep God number one; He will never let you down.
I have a friend that I’ve looked up to for a long time now, especially this past four months or so, since I’ve seen him really grow up. And I’ll admit that at times I went to him instead of God with problems. Then recently he said something that was really hurtful to me, and I felt so let down by that. But that’s what I needed to realize that I have been wrong the whole time. Instead of going to my friend with my problems, I should go to God (Who can actually help with them). Although my friend usually redirected my path and told me to pray about it, I should have been going to God first, then talking to my friend about it.
But God shouldn’t be number one just because He is always there. As we mature on our spiritual walks, we will find that after a while we are following God because of who He is, and not what He gives us. When we become completely focused on God, all other things aren’t as important to us anymore. Things that used to be huge become so small.
I’ll close with a line from a David Crowder Band song that states it all so well: “And all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory.”
Hearing from God Each Morning (July 22)
This blog is about today’s devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.
Today’s devotion was about approaching God’s throne with boldness. This is something that I often forget to do. I feel unworthy of whatever it is I ask, or I’m hesitant to ask because I wonder if it’s really God’s will to give me what I ask for.
Lately that thing I ask for is healing. I wonder if it is what God wants for me, and my hesitancy results in weak prayers with no expectation of answers. It’s sad and not what God wants for me. He wants me to approach His throne with boldness and ask Him for what I need, fully expecting results.
Unfortunately, I still struggle with that concept. I need to remind myself of the promises God gives us in His Word. As I remember these promises, I will be empowered in my prayers.
Today’s devotion was about approaching God’s throne with boldness. This is something that I often forget to do. I feel unworthy of whatever it is I ask, or I’m hesitant to ask because I wonder if it’s really God’s will to give me what I ask for.
Lately that thing I ask for is healing. I wonder if it is what God wants for me, and my hesitancy results in weak prayers with no expectation of answers. It’s sad and not what God wants for me. He wants me to approach His throne with boldness and ask Him for what I need, fully expecting results.
Unfortunately, I still struggle with that concept. I need to remind myself of the promises God gives us in His Word. As I remember these promises, I will be empowered in my prayers.
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