Time Out! Devotions

(devotional by Bayless Conley from Christianity.com)

Perhaps you are in a very stressful time in your life right now, and you feel you can’t go on.  I want you to know that you are not alone.  In fact, some of the greatest men and women of God have gone through what you are going through right now.

One of those individuals is the prophet Elijah. After a great spiritual victory over the priests of Baal, we find him on the run, wondering whether life is even worth it.

We catch the story in 1 Kings 19:4-6,

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree.  And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough!  Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”  Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”  Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water.  So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

Elijah had reached that “zero” place in his life.  There was nothing left.  He had given it all and the tank was empty.

Maybe that describes you right now, you are on the verge of quitting.  You figure, “I’ve had enough.  I’m done.  Enough pressures, enough hassles, I cannot ride this thing out anymore.  My strength is gone!”

Well, did you notice that when Elijah was at the end of his strength, that was when God intervened?  Being out of strength, being at zero, is not a bad place to be. If you will look to God, He is prepared to meet you in your moment of need.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and view today’s Answers with Bayless Conley broadcast at LightSource.com.

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Four Things God Wants to Help You With

Did you know that God desires to help you? It’s true! God is in the business of helping people, and He wants you to rely on Him to help and sustain you.

In this two-part message called “Four Things God Wants to Help You With,” Bayless Conley reveals key areas of your life where God can and will assist you.  When you listen to or watch this message, you’ll see why you were never meant to live this life alone!

Romans 8:10-18 (NCV)

¹⁰ Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. ¹¹ God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through his Spirit that lives in you.

¹² So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves or live the way our sinful selves want.¹³ If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.

¹⁴ The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them.¹⁵ The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.”¹⁶ And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children.¹⁷ If we are God’s children, we will receive blessings from God together with Christ. But we must suffer as Christ suffered so that we will have glory as Christ has glory.

¹⁸ The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us.

While reading this week in chapter eight of Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality where he is speaking about freedom from the bonds of sin, I was reminded of the story of an experienced, 27 year-old rock climber named Aron Ralston. One beautiful spring morning in 2003, he jumped into his truck with just enough food and water for the day. He took off by himself and drove a hundred and fifty miles south of Salt Lake City to his favorite spot—a remote canyon area that used to be the hideout for wild-west outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

By afternoon, he was suspended seventy-five feet high off the canyon floor—climbing in a crevice that was just a few feet wide. It was a perfect day. But then without warning, a boulder suddenly broke loose from the rock wall above him, hurtled down and trapped Ralston’s right arm against the wall, completely crushing his hand. At that instant, Aron’s hand—one of his greatest assets—had now become his greatest liability.

Five whole days passed as he tried various ways to free himself—all to no avail. His efforts to chip away at the boulder with a pocket knife only made a small dent. Rigging up a pulley system to move the boulder proved fruitless.

Finally, a moment of decisive clarity came. The thoughts came fast and furious: he could break his forearm, cut through the muscle with his dirty pocket knife, detach his arm, and use a piece of rope as a tourniquet.

Aron explains that he was driven by “some sort of autopilot” as he went about the gruesome task of amputating his own right arm just below the elbow. After he was finished, Aron lowered himself down and began trudging slowly in the direction of his truck. Later, he stumbled across two hikers who used a mobile phone to call in a rescue helicopter. Amputating his right arm was a radical act, but it was one that saved his life and reunited him with his family.

God calls us to deal with sin in our life in a way that is surprisingly similar. The Bible doesn’t offer a laid-back, live-and-let-live approach at all. It’s so radical, that we don’t really like hearing about it or talking about it. Recall what Jesus said in Matthew 5:30, “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” While Jesus was not literally talking about physical amputation, He was saying that sin’s deadly effects call for extreme measures. Even though it hurts, we must rid sin from our lives. In fact, our eternal destiny hinges on how we deal with sin.

Really? Well, why else would Jesus talk about hell in the same breath that He talks about how we are to deal with sin if He didn’t mean to teach that our eternal destiny hangs in the balance? Clearly, it’s a matter of preferring one destiny over the other. Outward behavior indicates what the heart primarily loves. If Aron Ralston had stayed there on the canyon wall with his hand pinned down by the boulder, he would have died. But because he was willing to kill his hand, his life was saved.

The same goes with us as we deal with sin. It really comes down to what we value most. Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” The world may tell us to laugh about sin, to lighten up about it, to tolerate it, and just let it be… that it’s not idolatry; it’s not an issue of worship. God says the opposite is true.

Intersecting Faith & Life:
What is robbing you of the blessings of peace with God?
What is keeping you from treasuring the Lord Jesus Christ above all other things?
Pray for grace to heed God’s radical call to amputate sin from your life in His strength.

(Crosswalk Devotional from Christianity.com)

Psalm 25:1-7 (NCV)

¹ Lord, I give myself to you; ² my God, I trust you. Do not let me be disgraced; do not let my enemies laugh at me. ³ No one who trusts you will be disgraced, but those who sin without excuse will be disgraced.

⁴ Lord, tell me your ways. Show me how to live. ⁵ Guide me in your truth, and teach me, my God, my Savior. I trust you all day long.⁶ Lord, remember your mercy and love that you have shown since long ago. ⁷ Do not remember the sins and wrong things I did when I was young. But remember to love me always because you are good, Lord.

Enemies are those who not only oppose us, but also oppose God’s way of living. Enemies can also be temptations – money, success, prestige, lust. And our greatest enemy is Satan. David asked God to keep his enemies from overcoming him because they opposed what God stood for. If his enemies succeeded, David feared that many would think that living for God was futile. David knew that God would triumph, but he didn’t want his enemies’ success to be an obstacle to the faith of others.

David expressed his desire for guidance. How do we receive God’s guidance? The first step is to want to be guided and to realize that God’s guidance is found mainly in His Word, the Bible. Psalm 119 tells of the endless knowledge found in God’s Word. By reading it and constantly learning from it, we will gain the wisdom to perceive God’s direction for our lives (Hebrews 5:14).

God is unlimited, all-conquering, and has unrestrained authority over all of creation and over each individual. Therefore, He is the only source of salvation, hope, and true peace through the forgiveness of sins.

Psalm 25:8-11 (NCV)

⁸ The Lord is good and right; He points sinners to the right way. ⁹ He shows those who are humble how to do right, and He teaches them His ways.¹⁰ All the Lord’s ways are loving and true for those who follow the demands of His agreement.¹¹ For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my many sins.

We are bombarded today with unlimited appeals to “go my way.” TV advertising alone places hundreds of options before us, in addition to appeals made by political parties, cults, false religions, and dozens of other groups. Numerous organizations including Christian organizations seek to motivate us to “support the cause.” Add to that the dozens of decisions we must make concerning our jobs, our families, our money, our society, and we become desperate for someone to show us the right way.

If you find yourself pulled in several directions, remember that the Lord “shows those who are humble how to do right, and He teaches them his ways.“

Psalm 25:15-20 (NCV)

¹⁵ My eyes are always looking to the Lord for help. He will keep me from any traps. ¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy on me, because I am lonely and hurting. ¹⁷ My troubles have grown larger; free me from my problems. ¹⁸ Look at my suffering and troubles, and take away all my sins. ¹⁹ Look at how many enemies I have! See how much they hate me! ²⁰ Protect me and save me. I trust you, so do not let me be disgraced.

Life’s problems always seem to go from bad to worse. God is the only one who can reverse this downward spiral. He can take our problems and turn them into glorious victories. There is one necessary requirement – we, like the psalmist (David), must cry out, “Come, Lord, and show me your mercy.” When you are willing to do that, the worst can become something wonderful. But the next step is yours, for God has already made His offer.

Psalm 17 (NCV)

¹ Lord, hear me begging for fairness; listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, because I speak the truth. ² You will judge that I am right; your eyes can see what is true. ³ You have examined my heart; you have tested me all night. You questioned me without finding anything wrong; I have not sinned with my mouth. ⁴ I have obeyed your commands, so I have not done what evil people do. ⁵ I have done what you told me; I have not failed.

⁶ I call to you, God, and you answer me. Listen to me now, and hear what I say. ⁷ Your love is wonderful. By your power you save those who trust you from their enemies. ⁸ Protect me as you would protect your own eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings. ⁹ Keep me from the wicked who attack me, from my enemies who surround me. ¹⁰ They are selfish and brag about themselves. ¹¹ They have chased me until they have surrounded me. They plan to throw me to the ground. ¹² They are like lions ready to kill; like lions, they sit in hiding.

¹³ Lord, rise up, face the enemy, and throw them down. Save me from the wicked with your sword. ¹⁴ Lord, save me by your power from those whose reward is in this life. They have plenty of food. They have many sons and leave much money to their children.

¹⁵ Because I have lived right, I will see your face. When I wake up in heaven, I will see your likeness and be satisfied.

Was David saying that he was sinless? David’s claim was not a proud assumption of purity. It was an understanding of his relationship with God. In Psalm 14:3, David said, “All are rotten with sin.” He realized that he had indeed committed sin, as all people do, but his relationship with God was one of close fellowship and constant repentance and forgiveness. His goodness, therefore, came from seeking to know God intimately. By contrast, the fools (Psalm 14:1-3) are wicked because they have rejected God and thus have not repented or received God’s forgiveness.

David called on God to value him as much as one would value his eyes, and to let that measure of value also be a measure of protection. We must not conclude that we have somehow missed God’s protection if we experience troubles. God’s protection has far greater purposes than avoiding pain; it is to make us better servants for him. God protects us by seeing us through circumstances, not by helping us escape them.

We deceive ourselves when we measure our happiness or contentment in life by the amount of wealth we possess. When we put riches at the top of our value system, the comforts of today overshadow the eternal value of our relationship with God. We think we will be happy or content when we get riches, only to discover that they bring nothing but transient pleasure. The true measurement of happiness or contentment is an eternal one. You will find true happiness if you put eternal riches above earthly riches.