He Hasn't Changed

And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11 (New King James Version)

For ten years Asa reigned as king over Judah. He did what was good and right in God’s eyes, removed the idols and places of false worship from the land, directed the people to seek and obey God, and put up walls of protection around his city. He ruled his life and his kingdom under God’s authority and with God’s authority. So when an enemy nation came against him, he knew enough to cry out to God and seek His help.

He knew how to flesh out the words of Proverbs 3:5,6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” He was facing an army that was nearly twice his size. One million strong to his 680,000. His prayer was extravagant, his trust was complete, His expectancy was great, and His deliverance was miraculous. The very next verse says it all. “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.”

How often do we read the accounts in Scripture and fail to see God as being just as powerful or just as involved in our own life? We might be thinking something like, “Sure, God, You divided the Red Sea, turned water into wine, brought water out of the rock, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, fed millions with manna EVERY day for 40 years, etc….but my problem is bigger!” While we may not come right out and say it, we often limit our limitless God. Or we think we have to help God out. Asa knew no such mindset. He brought His problem to God and placed it in His hands.

God is still in the business of delivering His people! He will still move heaven and earth to come to our aid. He has not run out of power, ideas, or creativity. His hands are not tied, His heart is not closed, and His arms are not folded. He is available and willing to help us. He has given us countless examples in Scripture to strengthen our faith, broaden our view of Him, and implement into our prayers. He specializes in the very things that seem impossible and daunting. Like Asa, we can approach Him with confidence and trust. His name, His Word, and His help are still available to us on a daily basis. Will we dare to take Him up on His offer to come to Him, cry out to Him, confide in Him, and call on Him?

Father, whether I come to You for wisdom, companionship, direction, or help, You remain faithful, available, and active. What an awesome God You are! Amen!

How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxPG_mRHDs&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Recalling the Past for the Present

Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir …. see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance. 2 Chronicles 20:7, 10, 11 (New American Standard Bible)

I am always interested to see patterns in Scripture. Today’s passage shows me a pattern that is found numerous times throughout the Bible. It is a pattern for prayer. Acknowledge God’s past intervention and then state the present situation. When faced with an approaching battle Jehoshaphat looked back to past victories. As I ponder that concept, I am acutely aware of how seldom I proclaim to God what He has done for me in the past. It would be especially helpful for each of us to recall previous situations that are similar to present ones.

When filled with fear, think back to times when God calmed the fears in the past. When battling an addiction, recall past deliverances. When in financial need, list the numerous times God has met former needs. When shifts in relationships threaten to alarm, remember past transitions that turned out well. I guarantee you that for any who have walked with God for any length of time, there will be past experiences to reflect upon in the here and now.

Recalling the past encourages us in our faith, reminds us of God’s willingness and ability to help, brings us to a place of praise and acknowledgement of Who God is, gives us hope, touches the heart of God, and poises us for expectation and anticipation of how God will work at the present. God may not choose to do things exactly the same way, but rest assured, He will do something, and when He does it will become a past experience we can bring into a future situation.

If we are not careful, we can find ourselves with the attitude, “Yes, God came through for me once, but will He do it again?” How much better to state, “God did such and such for me in the past and I KNOW He will be faithful in this situation as well!” Already I am formulating a list in my mind of God’s interventions in my life whereby He met needs, healed hurts, gave strength, imparted wisdom, sent significant people into my life, and restored my health. Just as we enjoy hearing someone recall some of our accomplishments, God enjoys hearing us recall His. May we bring that practice into our prayer life.

Father, You have been faithful in the past and You will be faithful in the present and future. What assurance and comfort that gives to me. Praise You! Amen.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZ8D6nTKhg

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

There's Much More to Come

Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The LORD has much more to give you than this." 2 Chronicles 25:9　(New American Standard Bible)

When Amaziah was told to send away 100,000 soldiers he had hired to help him in battle, he not only saw it as a loss of security but a financial loss as well. He could only see things from his perspective until God gave him a word of promise, “The LORD has much more to give you than this.” Oh, that we would hear those words whispered over our own situations.

Six years ago this month, I attended a women’s conference that God used as a catalyst for change in my Christian life. I had been a Christian for just over three decades and yet the truth that God’s love was not dependent on what I was doing was enough to start me on a journey that continues to this day. As life changing as that was, the LORD had much more to give me.

When a mentoring relationship began and subsequently ended, I experienced the epitome of delight and devastation within a two year span. I walked with an emotional and spiritual limp for a number of years that followed and yet God continued to whisper His promise to me of having much more to give me.

With each relationship, each opportunity, each victory, and each failure God continues to make the same promise. He has more people for me to meet, more places of service to fill, more growth to experience, more strength, more forgiveness, more grace, more peace, more joy, more comfort, and not just more but MUCH more.

I am coming to see that as long as I live in this world there will always be much more available and given to me by my Father. I cannot exhaust His supply or diminish His heart of love. It is His words of “much more” that continue to teach me to hold on loosely to tangible things and to live with anticipation and expectation whenever He says it is time to let go.

I don’t know what the next six years hold for me but I do know this, for every tear there will be comfort, for every decision there will be direction, for every need there will be supply, for every loss there will be gain, for every step there will be light, and for every day there will be God holding and helping me. Indeed, He has more…..much more.

Father, for all the much mores that lie ahead, I thank You and I praise You. As I take You at Your Word I am indeed the recipient of much! Amen.

With All I Am - Hillsong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrAafe7Mns

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

No One But You

Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” 2 Chronicles 14:11 (New American Standard Bible)

God is working to bring each of us to the point of voicing Asa’s words to Him, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help.” We voice those words when all that we have trusted in is removed, when all that we possess is worthless, when all our strength is gone, when we stand with helplessness and hopelessness written over our situation and life. When we come to the point where we finally admit that no one but God can help us we are opening a door to growth and maturity in our faith. As long as we have anyone or anything to lean upon besides God, we will not embrace the truth that He is the only one who can help.

Asa was facing a battle of great proportion. He and his people had just been through ten years of rest from enemy attacks and now an army that is one million strong is descending upon them. Who but God could deliver and protect in such a time? Former allies are no where to be found. The story of deliverance is remarkable and well worth the time it takes to read in 2 Chronicles 14.

There will be times when the very people you have looked to for answers, guidance, and encouragement will be far removed from your life. Times when you become a wandering, solitary pilgrim in what seems like very unfamiliar territory. At first, fear and despair might mark your days. You might feel you have lost your compass and life jacket in the midst of a wilderness experience or storm of life. Know this, God is inviting you to a time of seeking Him and relying upon Him. If He is presently weaning you off or abruptly severing any source who has been used greatly in your walk with Him, it is because He is wooing you to enter a higher level of living with Himself. Up until this point people have been a gift from Him to you. If you allow Him to take you through this transition you will never be the same and neither will your journey. Once the transition is made there will still be people in your life but the relationships with them will be forever changed. Although they will still bring joy and encouragement into your life you will begin to seek God’s face, guidance, and counsel more than you will theirs. You will walk with a confidence and strength that you have not known up to this point. You will know the joy of intimacy with God on a level that has eluded you for so long. I stand with excitement over where God is about to take you and what He is about to do in you!

Father, complete the transformation in me. Amen.

Jesus, Lover of My Soul - Hillsong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-ZdMOx_HY&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Eyes Fixed On Him

O our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You. 2 Chronicles 20:12 (New American Standard Bible)

When the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness they kept their eyes on the cloud during the day and on the pillar of fire at night. These signs assured them of two things: God's presence and God's direction in their life. There are many instances in Scripture when God would display a physical manifestation as a way for His children to be reminded of who He was. The rainbow after the flood reminded them that God keeps His promises. The bronze serpent on the pole reminded them that He is a God who heals.

This morning God wants me to see what it is I need to remember about Him. The times when I feel powerless to withstand the storms of life I am reminded that He is my protector and provider. When I have no idea what to do, He can give me direction. All the things that overwhelm or confuse me are opportunities for me to keep my eyes on Him.

How intently am I watching Him? Like an orchestra who watches and follows the conductor, like a well trained dog who watches his master's every move I don't want to miss the slightest movement of His hand or smallest inflection of His voice. It is so easy to try and come up with my own plans and my own sources of security. But when I learn to fix my gaze on Him and tune my ear to hear what He has to say to me, then I am poised for His direction and enablement.

The Christian life is not meant to be a solo journey lived out in my own strength and wisdom. It is a cooperative effort between God and me. He has so much to teach and show me. Any attention I place on Him is not wasted or in vain. He delights when I depend on Him, wait on Him, listen to Him, obey Him, look to Him, confide in Him, follow Him, and trust Him.

I have no trouble knowing when my eyes are directed on to someone or something other than God. Those are the times when hurt, disappointment, and discontentment mark my mind and path more than peace, joy, and delight. While I may not always be able to avoid a shift in my focus, I definitely can choose to redirect my attention back toward God at any time. He is aware of the times I fail in this area and He is also aware of the times I get it right and do it right. Today is a day to ask for His anointing and touch on my eyes to keep them directed toward Him. To allow Him to be my focus.

Father, You have my attention. May I hear and see what you have for me today. Amen.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus - Newsboys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQzAYQE-U4Q

I welcome your questions and comments to any devotional thoughts. I am honored and delighted to share my journey with you and privileged to hear of yours.

In Need of Prayer

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (New King James Version)

How convinced are believers of the necessity, privilege, and power of prayer? How convinced am I? There is a reason God starts this verse with the word IF. He does not presume to think that all believers will make prayer a prerequisite or priority in their lives. It is the one aspect of the Christian life that gets talked about much more than it is actually practiced….at least for me that has been the case. While I talk with God throughout the day, I have to admit most of my intercession for others is hit or miss at best. The urgency to pray over decisions and situations is lacking. While I would tell you that prayer is important, I don’t pray as if it is. I don’t often pray believing that it makes a difference. How God wants that to change!

I remember years when opening God’s Word was not done with passion or expectancy. That changed and so can my prayer life. This is not being said out of guilt but rather out of an awakening that is being brought about by God and His desire to see prayer become my life blood. My life line!

God has crossed my path with individuals who know the importance and power of prayer. They don’t just say prayer works, they know prayer works. Their example is being used of God to make me want what they have. I can tell He is getting ready to bring about changes for me in this area. He wants me to experience prayer as it was meant to be experienced. To bring every need, every question, every request, every circumstance, every person to Him. To ask, to seek, to find! What He says in today’s verse is meant not only for a nation but it is meant for my life as well.

How easy it is to rely on the prayers of others more than on praying myself. The disciples were moved to ask Jesus to teach them to pray and He did. He not only gave them a pattern for prayer, He patterned prayer for them. His life was lived out of constant communication with His Father and He wants mine to be as well. The face of prayer is changing for me this morning. I can tell it is God who is wooing me in this direction. He has a whole new world that He is anxious to open up to me and He definitely has my attention.

Father, teach me how to pray. I confess to how little I know of it but I look to You to change that. Amen.


When I Call on Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwMw16eocuU

They Went Because They Heard

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. 2 Chronicles 9:1 (New American Standard Bible)

As many times as I have read the account of the queen of Sheba’s visit to see King Solomon, I missed what led her to that visit. It was because of what she had heard from her own people. Their words and enthusiasm got her attention. Much like how the Samaritan woman’s words to the people of Samaria drew them to see Jesus for themselves. In both cases, it was the talk of others that awoke in both the queen and the Samaritans an urge to become their own eye witnesses.

This has prompted me to ask myself whether or not I talk enough about who God is and what He means to me to get people’s attention in a way that will cause them to want to know Him for themselves. That is the heart of witnessing! But that was not always my thought. I still recall my own ideas about witnessing and why it was so difficult. There were actually a couple of problems.

When I thought of talking to someone about the Lord I envisioned myself grabbing them by the scruff of the neck and cramming Bible verses down their throat! Conversations had to be maneuvered just right and it fell to ME to be the one to convince them to turn to God. Needless to say, it wasn’t something I looked forward to doing or even did very often. It took a long time for me to realize I had it all wrong!

It is not a matter of “cramming” and “convincing”. It is simply a matter of sharing what I know when I know the opportunity is in front of me. No “working” the conversation. God is the One who prepares hearts and God is the One who causes those hearts to search for Him. As I share what I know, God is the One who takes my words and plants them as seeds in the heart of those I talk to. He knows what they are looking for and will give me the words to say in the form of thoughts. It may be in answering a question or adding to a conversation. I have learned to leave the time and the response to Him.

Each time I have been a part of a God-ordained witnessing moment I have walked away in amazement. I marveled at the ease and at what He led me to say. In most cases, I don’t know the end result of the conversation. Eternity will reveal that! But just as in my own salvation experience, many words were spoken before I understood and came to Jesus. I, like you, are always a part of a bigger picture of others coming to know Him.

Father, use me to draw others to Yourself. Let me be a mouthpiece for You! Amen.

Harmful Or Helpful Mentoring

And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 2 Chronicles 24:2 KJV

How influential are the people in your life? How much do you depend upon them to keep you aligned with the things of God? Read through the book of Proverbs and you will find verse upon verse that warns of wrong companionships and the wisdom that marks the life of one who is connected with godly people. And yet people can only influence us to a certain point. At some stage in our life, our walk must become so connected to and dependent upon God that we continue in His ways long after the most influential person is gone.

Joash is a reminder to me of the necessity of seeking out an individual relationship with God and allowing Him to carve out my belief system and my life. For if I do not transfer the connection from a person to my Creator I open myself up to a fall. For forty years Joash had an incredible record of right living. He was used of God to repair the house of the Lord. He turned a nation from idolatry back to true worship. His personal mentor was Jehoiada the priest and under his influence he flourished. But when Jehoiada died, Joash listened to the wrong people and spiraled down until his own life was eventually taken. 2 Chronicles 23 and 24 show the amazing rise and tragic defeat of a king who never learned to allow God to be his main influence. While Jehoiada was certainly meant to be a godly influence on Joash, something was amiss.

As one who has had the opportunity to be mentored in my Christian life I know two things. The temptation to cling to the human source and the growth that comes when I finally take hold of God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Until that happens, I am not standing on my own spiritual legs and living dependent upon God. Mentors are meant to point us to God not to replace Him. My mentor knew that and I painfully learned it. It has taken over a year to wade through the issues and learn to take hold of God’s hand. There are still days I want to be under the nurturing care of a mentor. But I know God’s intent is to complete the transfer. My growth depends on it, my relationship with Him depends on it, and my involvement in His kingdom work depends on it. Today is another day of taking the steps that lead to that end.

It is in the experience of isolation that the Lord develops an independence of life and of faith so that the soul no longer depends on the continual help, prayers, faith, and care of others. Then we realize that He has done a new work within us and that the wings of our soul have learned to soar in loftier air. ~ Streams In The Desert

Father, may the only hand I grab hold of with permanence be Yours. Amen.

A Daily Necessity

Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king’s office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the high priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 2 Chronicles 24:11 KJV

I have learned over the past several years that God’s Word is limitless in its application to our lives. I miss its multi-layered effect if I read a verse and fail to allow it to live and breathe in my day and age. But when I approach Scripture with a hunger to see the richer meanings and deeper applications I am astounded.

This morning I did something I rarely do. During prayer, I opened the Bible at random, pointed to the above verse, and read it. The actual setting was in Jerusalem and the king, Joash, called for a chest to be placed in an area where the people could come and contribute to the cost of rebuilding the house of the Lord. This was done with such enthusiasm that the chest was emptied and refilled daily! What a site that must have been! It is a story that exudes with generosity. But the Spirit of God took this verse and broadened the scope for me. The last phrase leaped off the pages of my Bible and found a resting place in my thirsty heart! Here’s the application that became personal for me.

I am the chest. Emptied daily through life, relationships, work, family, and schedules. Each morning I come once again before the throne of God to gather in abundance the riches He lavishes on me through time spent with Himself. It is a day by day process. I cannot horde spiritual growth! Just as there is a continual out-going there must be a continual in-taking. Otherwise, I begin to live my life on “empty.” It honestly does not take long before I begin to wane in my spirit, mood, emotions, desires, and connection. Internally I begin to feel out of sorts with myself, others, and God.

This shifting comes throughout the day and the solution is always the same….reconnect with the heart of God through prayer, scripture, music, meditation, and stillness. I am a bottomless pit of longing and God is the artesian well for my spirit. I have spent too many years trying to quench the thirst and fill the voids apart from God….even as a believer. It has never worked! Now I respond to His desire to fill me and heal me. It doesn’t matter if it has been only 5 minutes or 5 hours, when the need arises He urges me to turn to Him. I am learning to go to Him as soon as the ache and longing become apparent. No more waiting. No more distractions. No more broken cisterns.

Father, may I, as Your chest, house the treasures You give to me time and time again. May my emptiness always be brought to You for filling! Amen.