Time Out! Devotions

(devotional by Adrian Rogers from Christianity.com)

Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

The devil is the sinister minister of fear. When he clamps his icy fingers of fear on your heart, do you become afraid of what he’ll do to you if you take a stand for God?

Don’t be afraid. Fear is an insult to God who said, “I will be with thee.”

Fear will destroy you. Are you a worrywart? One lady said, “Don’t tell me it does no good to worry. Most of the things I worry about never come to pass.”

Be not dismayed. God will take care of you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what your fears are, then confess them as sin. Repent, then reach up and take hold of His right hand that is outstretched to sustain you and give you the victory!

James 4:6-10 (NCV)

⁶ But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)

⁷ So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you.⁸⁹ Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. ¹⁰ Humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you. Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” That is an amazing promise! As we open ourselves up to the Lord, He opens up to us. If we come to Him in submission, repentance, and brokenness, He rushes in with forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. There is no room for self-sufficiency or self-protection in this interaction. Only in the humility of helplessness will we discover the sufficiency of His presence.

At first glance, we may seem to be the ones who begin this open relationship, but in reality, it is God who has taken the initiative; we are merely responding to His overture (John 6:44). Many times He uses situations and difficulties to get our attention and stimulate our thirst for Him. What appears to us to be a painful or desperate situation is His invitation to draw near.

Even our greatest failures and sins can lead us to Christ, as we seek forgiveness from the Father. With an attitude of humble repentance, we can enter into a more intimate relationship with God. However, if you and I continue living in rebellion and are unwilling to confess and repent, He will not open up and reveal more of Himself to us. Sin always blocks our ability to know the Lord.

Have you let adversity or failure pull you away from God instead of toward Him? To put distance between you and Jesus, Satan will misuse the very situations that the Lord can utilize to draw you to Himself. Don’t let the Enemy win the battle. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

(by Dr. Charles Stanley from the May 2010 issue of In Touch Magazine)

James 1:12-16 (NCV)

¹² When people are tempted and still continue strong, they should be happy. After they have proved their faith, God will reward them with life forever. God promised this to all those who love him.^{13 14} But people are tempted when their own evil desire leads them away and traps them.¹⁵ This desire leads to sin, and then the sin grows and brings death. When people are tempted, they should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁶ My dear brothers and sisters, do not be fooled about this.

Temptation comes from evil desire within, not from God. It begins with an evil thought. It becomes sin when we dwell on the thought and allow it to become an action. Like a snowball rolling downhill, sin’s destruction grows the more we let sin have its way. The best time to stop a snowball is before it is too big or moving too fast to control. (See Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; and 2 Timothy 2:22 for more about escaping temptation.)

It’s easy to blame others and make excuses for evil thoughts and wrong actions. Excuses include (1) it’s the other person’s fault; (2) I couldn’t help it; (3) everybody’s doing it; (4) it was just a mistake; (5) nobody’s perfect; (6) the devil made me do it; (7) I was pressured into it; (8) I didn’t know it was wrong. A person who makes excuses is trying to shift the blame from himself to something or someone else. A Christian, on the other hand, accepts responsibility for his wrongs, confesses them, and asks God for forgiveness.

People who live for God often wonder why they still have temptations. Does God tempt them? God tests people, but He does not tempt them by trying to seduce them into sin. He allows Satan to tempt them, however, in order to refine their faith and to grow in their dependence upon Christ. We can endure the temptation to sin by turning to God for strength and choosing to act in obedience to His Word.

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

The One to whom we pray knows our feelings. He knows temptation. He has felt discouraged. He has been hungry and sleepy and tired. He knows what we feel like when the alarm clock goes off. He knows what we feel like when our children want different things at the same time. He nods in understanding when we pray in anger. He is touched when we tell Him there is more to do than can ever be done. He smiles when we confess our weariness.

He wants us to remember that He, too, was human. He wants us to know that He, too, knew the drone of the humdrum and the weariness that comes with long days. He wants us to remember that our trailblazer didn’t wear bulletproof vests or rubber gloves or an impenetrable suit of armor. No, He pioneered our salvation through the world that you and I face daily.

(from No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado)

(continued from previous post)

(from – http://www.intouch.org/site/c.cnKBIPNuEoG/b.5281195/k.210D/Feature_Article__Conquering_Your_Fears.htm)

While we are facing very serious times in our nation’s history, we are not alone. God is with us, and He is never out of control.

The apostle Paul discovered this in a fresh way during a very difficult time in his ministry. Somewhere near the end of his second missionary journey, he was staying in the city of Corinth. He had left Athens to go to Macedonia, but something happened that almost caused him to stumble in his faith. The Jews resisted his teaching to a point where they “blasphemed.” Paul was fed up with their stiff-necked ways. He declared that he would no longer go to the Jews first, but instead would preach God’s message to the Gentiles (Acts 18:5-6).

At every turn, Paul faced opposition from the Jewish leaders. On several occasions, his very life had been threatened. He was tired and likely felt alone and worn thin emotionally—vulnerable to the destruction of fear. One night as he drifted off to sleep, God’s Spirit spoke to him, saying, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

There we have it: one of the greatest apostles who ever lived, battling fear. But the verses that follow do not mention this again. Why? Paul changed his focus. He came face-to-face with the reality of his fear and chose to abandon it. Was this something he could do on his own? Absolutely not. There was no way he could move past the anxiety he felt without the assurance found in Jesus Christ. Once God’s Spirit spoke to his heart, the issue was settled, and Paul knew there was only one thing for him to do: complete the work God had given him.

The Enemy uses many things in an effort to distract us and prevent us from reaching our full potential—and fear is one of his choice weapons. He usually follows it with words of discouragement and accusation: “You can’t do that”; “You haven’t been trained”; “What would people think if you fail?” And that was his strategy in Corinth: Satan knew he would face ultimate defeat if Paul succeeded, so he tried to keep the apostle fearful. The Lord’s faithful promise, delivered at just the right moment, was all the encouragement Paul needed to continue preaching the truth of the gospel.

The right steps to overcoming fear

If you are going to overcome fear, the first step is to acknowledge and admit your anxiety. Confess, “Lord, I feel fearful, and I don’t know what to do. Please show me how to go forward from this point.” Next, ask God to enable you to conquer your fear. The more you understand your relationship with God, the more intimately you will relate to Him. Your level of trust will increase, and you will begin to notice the many ways He is at work in your life and circumstances.

Shortly before his death, Paul wrote an interesting word of instruction to Timothy. He reminded his young protégé, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear doesn’t fit who we are as believers. It usually surfaces when we have the wrong response to disappointment and trial. God wants you to be victorious, not harassed or tormented by anxiety.

Let God remove fear from your life. He may choose to do this by placing you in a frightening situation where you feel out of control. But you do not have to worry, because the One who has promised never to let you go is holding your life in His omnipotent hand.

After you have given your worries to the Lord, meditate on His Word. David understood the power that was available to him through God’s personal promises. He wrote, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? . . . My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear” (Psalm 27:1-3).

If you want to keep your confidence strong, study the Bible, apply God’s principles to your life, and walk with Him each day by faith. When you hide His Word in your heart, you will have the light of His truth to guide you—not only for your present circumstances, but also for eternity.

Fix Your Mind on Christ

Too many Christians experience fear because they focus on their circumstances instead of on God. Dr. Stanley teaches that maintaining a proper perspective will help you rest in the Lord.

How to Handle Fear
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