Time Out! Devotions

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV)

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

Several weeks after one of my conferences, a friend shared with me the story of a dear Christian woman who had attended. She had lived in a deep depression for several years. She “survived” by leaning on her friends, three counseling sessions a week, and a variety of prescription drugs.

During the conference, this woman realized that her support system included everybody and everything but God. She had not cast her anxiety on Christ and she was anything but dependent on Him. She took her conference syllabus home and began focusing on her identity in Christ and expressing confidence in Him to meet her daily needs. She radically threw off all her other supports (a practice I do not recommend) and decided to trust in Christ alone to relieve her depression. She began living by faith in God, rather than men, and renewing her mind according to Scripture. After only one month, she was a completely different person. The support of a caring community can become a poor substitute for our own personal relationship with God.

Persons who want to move forward in Christian maturity can certainly benefit from the discipling of others. And those who seek freedom from their past can be helped through the counseling of others. But ultimately every Christian is responsible for his or her own maturity and freedom in Christ. Nobody can make you grow. That’s your decision and daily responsibility. We absolutely need God, and we also need the support of one another. Thankfully, none of us walks through the disciplines of personal maturity and freedom alone. The indwelling Christ is eagerly willing to walk with us each step of the way.

Prayer: Lord, I affirm my total dependence on You for daily growth, victory and freedom.

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(from – http://bible.christianity.com/devotionals/dailydisciples/11603776/)

Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 10-12; John 6:45-71

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord continually. Exodus 28:29

Have you ever watched the news broadcast of a missing person? As I saw a report on a missing teenager, the family being interviewed all wore picture badges displaying the person’s face. They not only wanted this face in public view for possible recognition but also they wanted this reminder close to their own hearts. Just having this type of memorial helped this grieving family pursue their hopes of finding their child.

As discussed in Exodus Chapter 28, Aaron wears a garment that has the names of each of the twelve tribes of Israel etched in precious stones and placed over his heart. This robe is worn by Aaron as he enters the most holy place in the presence of the Lord. Aaron represents the people to the Lord and is a continual reminder of who they are to the Lord. Today, we have Jesus Christ who is our High Priest and who bears our names before the Lord. We, too, are considered as precious stones before the Lord as our names are placed over the heart of our Savior Jesus.

How many of us truly realize how precious we are to the Lord? When life’s ups and downs seem to dominate our time and thoughts, we may not realize that we have a High Priest who is continually presenting us and our needs to our heavenly Father. Sometimes, we, as believers, stray from our Father’s presence, maybe fall out of fellowship or a regular time of prayer and Bible reading. During those times, I can picture Jesus going before the Father with a picture badge over His heart reminding the Lord of His child who has gone astray.  More than anything else, the Lord desires a personal relationship with us and never wants us to be lost or to be away from Him.

Where are you today? Are you in close fellowship with Jesus? Regardless of where you are, know that if you are a child of God, born again in Jesus Christ, then your High Priest is continually presenting you to the Father. You can have the hope and peace today that Jesus is carrying your picture over His heart as a constant memorial. But, even more than that, He is living in your heart and wants to be with you always. Can you say the same? Are you carrying His picture in spirit and truth over your heart today? Are you spending time in worship and fellowship with Him? None are missing in the Lord today…for “I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see” (Amazing Grace).

Our mission is to evangelize the lost and awaken the saved to live empowered lives by the Work of God and His Holy Spirit. Daily Disciples Ministries makes a difference for the kingdom of God by teaching and training believers how to be in God’s Word, how to pray and how to walk with Jesus every day, as His daily disciple.

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(from – http://bible.christianity.com/devotionals/dailydisciples/11603776/)

(continued from previous post)

Savor the following promises that God gives to those who determine to discover the power of prayer in their lives. One way that you can carry the message of this study with you everywhere in your heart is through the lost art of Scripture memorization. Select a few of the verses below to commit to memory.

When a believing person prays, great things happen. (James 5:16 – NCV)

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 – NIV)

God is our protection and our strength. He always helps in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1 – NCV)

[Jesus said] “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (John 15:7 – NIV)

[Jesus said] “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 – NIV)

The Lord sees the good people and listens to their prayers. (Psalm 34:15 – NCV)

And this is the boldness we have in God’s presence: that if we ask God for anything that agrees with what He wants, He hears us. If we know He hears us every time we ask Him, we know we have what we ask from Him. (1 John 5:14-15 – NCV)

With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20 – NCV)

(from Discovering the Power of Prayer by Max Lucado)

(artwork by Danny Hahlbohm – visit his official website at http://www.inspired-art.com)

(continued from previous post)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14 – NIV)

Most of our prayer lives could use a tune-up. Some prayer lives lack consistency. They’re either a desert or an oasis. Long arid, dry spells interrupted by brief plunges into the waters of communion.

Others of us need sincerity. Our prayers are a bit hollow, memorized and rigid. More liturgy than life. And though they are daily, they are dull.

Still others lack, well, honesty. We honestly wonder if prayer makes a difference. Why on earth would God in heaven want to talk to me? If God knows all, who am I to tell Him anything? If God controls all, who am I to do anything?

Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer in in the One who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

I experienced a kindred truth many years ago. My daughters and I spent a Saturday desk-hunting. I needed a new one for the office, and we’d promised Andrea and Sara desks for their rooms. Sara was especially enthused. When she comes home from school, guess what she does? She plays school! I never did that as a kid. I tried to forget the classroom activities, not rehearse them. My wife, Denalyn, assures me not to worry, that this is one of those attention-span differences between genders. So off to the furniture store we went.

When Denalyn buys furniture, she prefers one of two extremes – so antique it’s fragile or so new it’s unpainted. This time we opted for the latter and entered a store of in-the-buff furniture.

Andrea and Sara succeeded quickly in making their selections, and I set out to do the same. Somewhere in the process Sara learned we weren’t taking the desks home that day, and this news disturbed her deeply. I explained that the piece had to be painted and they would deliver the desk in about four weeks. I might as well have said four millennia.

Her eyes filled with tears. “But, Daddy, I wanted to take it home today.”

Much to her credit, she didn’t stomp her feet and demand her way. She did, however, set out on an urgent course to change her father’s mind. Every time I turned a corner she was waiting for me.

“Daddy, don’t you think we could paint it ourselves?”

“Daddy, I just want to draw some pictures on my new desk.”

“Daddy, please let’s take it home today.”

After a bit she disappeared, only to return, arms open wide and bubbling with a discovery. “Guess what, Daddy. It’ll fit in the back of the car!”

You and I know that a seven-year-old has no clue what will or won’t fit in a vehicle, but the fact that she had measured the trunk with her arms softened my heart. The clincher, though, was the name she called me: “Daddy, can’t we please take it home?”

The Lucado family took a desk home that day.

I heard Sara’s request for the same reason God hears ours. Her desire was for her own good. What dad wouldn’t want his child to spend more time writing and drawing? Sara wanted what I wanted for her, she only wanted it sooner. When we agree with what God wants, He hears us, as well (1 John 5:14).

Sara’s request was heartfelt. God, too, is moved by our sincerity. The “earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power” (James 5:16 – TLB).

But most of all, I was moved to respond because Sara called me “Daddy.” Because she is my child, I heard her request. Because we are His children, God hears ours. The King of creation gives special heed to the voice of His family. He is not only willing to hear us, but He loves to hear us when we come to Him.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or what problems you are facing in your life. You have been given the lifelong chance of a lifetime: to come before the God of the universe, to approach Him in all of His power and glory, and to be received as His child, His precious son or daughter whom He loves with all of His heart.

Prayer: It’s the lifelong opportunity of a lifetime. Let’s get started on learning how to make the most of it!

(from Discovering the Power of Prayer by Max Lucado)

(more to come in the next post!)