Category Archives: Devotional

Wisdom

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The Book of Proverbs continuously reminds us of the value of wisdom.  For example:

My child, listen to me and treasure my instructions. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure. Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God. – Proverbs 2:1-5 (NLT)

One awful tendency I’ve noticed in myself, however, is that when I pray for wisdom, I often begin to doubt whether the Lord is really hearing that prayer.  James offers a straightforward cure for this malady: “Stop doubting.”

If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do. – James 1:5-8 (NLT)

The application of wisdom requires confidence – confidence that we really know what we’re supposed to do, confidence that gives us a settled state of mind, confidence that leads to action when action is needed.  This is not self-confidence, but the certainty that God loves us, lovingly leads us, and graciously gives us the wisdom that we need.

The Best Kind of Righteousness

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“But I warn you – unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”– Matthew 5:20 (NLT)

The teachers of the law and Pharisees made it their goal to be as righteous as humanly possible.  But the key word in that sentence is humanly.  Jesus demands that our righteous be better than theirs if we expect to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  This is not humanly possible.  Happily, the Scriptures clear up this conundrum for us.  Paul explains it using the case of Abraham to illustrate:

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith? Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God’s point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.” – Romans 4:1-3 (NLT) 

He then takes that wonderful truth and applies it to us.  The best kind of righteousness is ours when we put our faith in Jesus. 

Now this wonderful truth-that God declared him to be righteous-wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. – Romans 4:23-25 (NLT)

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

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On Thanksgiving Day we can’t do much better than to consider a psalm like this.

 

Psalm 100

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1  Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

2  Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.

3  Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5  For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Waiting on the Lord

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Most of us can get pretty impatient when confronted with an urgent challenge and then praying, hoping and looking for God to do something.  Isaiah offers a bunch of verses that include the declarations of those who are waiting upon God and promises to those who wait. 

Isaiah 8:17 (NKJV) And I will wait on the Lord,
Who hides His face from the house of Jacob;
And I will hope in Him.

Isaiah 25:9 (NKJV) And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Isaiah 26:8 (NKJV) Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O Lord, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.

Isaiah 30:18 (NKJV) Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 33:2 (NKJV) O Lord, be gracious to us;
We have waited for You.
Be their [or our] arm every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 49:23 (NKJV) Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

Isaiah 64:4 (NKJV) For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.