Sept devotions

[Colleen Davis]

9/16/06 Some Things Never Happen

“You will show me the path of live; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

Many times we get upset about things that never happen. Satan likes to get us anxious about things that are not even real problems. Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I cam e that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)” (John 10:10).

The Bible says that the kingdom of God is internal righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (see Romans 14:17). When we make Jesus Lord of our heart, we have joy in our lives. Satan has no right to steal from you today, so enjoy the good life that Jesus paid for you to have.

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Colleen Davis]

9/18/06 Cling to God


“My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:8

The Word of God has much to say about morning. David started his day praying and listening to God. He instructed the priests to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening. He said “The lord has given peace and rest to His people” (see 1 Chronicles 23:25-30).

Many times we pray and pray, but, like Lot, we don’t listen. For example, angels prompted Lot early in the morning to flee from Sodom and avoid its coming destruction (see Genesis 19:15). We can avoid disasters when we wait on God’s instructions before acting.

A great beginning to a great finish. Begin you day with thanksgiving and praise, and in the evening before you rest, thank the Lord again for a great day.

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Colleen Davis]

9/19/06 Wake Up with Praise

“My mouth shall praise You with joyful lips when I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches. For You have been my help.” Psalm 63:5-7

Many people never have a decent finish to their day because they let the enemy keep them from starting it right. Satan tried to capture our thoughts early in the morning. He wants to get us thinking about all the wrong things as soon as we wake up. His intent is to steal our peace by upsetting us as soon as our alarm goes off. He is always working to set us up to get us upset.

That is why it is important to learn how to defeat the devil early each day. Every morning is a new opportunity to start your day right. Praise God as soon as your eyes open to a new day.

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Colleen Davis]

9/20/06 Break Free from Bondages

“The humble shall see it and be glad; you who seek God, inquiring for and requiring Him [as your first need], let your hearts revive and live!” Psalm 69:32

If it is still hard to start your day right, pray this prayer:

“Lord, I struggle in taking time to fellowship with You and read Your Word. I know that spending time with You is not a law, it is a privilege. It is something that benefits my life. I pray that the bondages, the lies of Satan that keep me out of the prayer closet and away from time with You, will be broken off of me.”

“Help me to see clearly that this is something I must do to lie in victory. I pray for an anointing that will draw me into Your presence and cause me to run after You. Help me to get every morning started right.”

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Colleen Davis]

“Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.” John 6:32

Jesus said to ask God for daily bread (see Matthew 6:11). He also called Himself the “Bread of Life” (see John 6:35). Seek God’s direction in the morning to gather His daily words for you. You will feel well nourished all day long. Obey quickly if God tells you to do something.

Even if God gives you a difficult task, don’t put it off and dread it all day. Abraham rose early to offer Isaac on the altar; God blessed his obedience and provided an acceptable sacrifice in place of Isaac (see Genesis 22:1-14). David rose up early on the morning that he was to kill Goliath, and through him, God delivered the Israelites from their enemies (see 1 Samuel 17:20-53). He will bless and deliver you too.

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Barbara Moulton]

[QUOTE=Colleen Davis;52970Even if God gives you a difficult task, don’t put it off and dread it all day. [/QUOTE]

Interesting take on Abram's sacrifice of Isaac.

I have to chuckle a little. My problem with procrastination isn't normally with the difficult tasks. It's the little mindless tasks that I find it hard to "get at".

[Colleen Davis]

9/22/06 It's a Promise

“Let Your mercy and loving-kindness come also to me, O Lord, even Your salvation according to Your promise.” Psalm 119:41

Some Christians want to make a law out of studying the Bible or spending a certain amount of time with God. But we should be motivated to read God’s Word and spend time with Him because of our love relationship with Him, not because of a commandment to do so.

Jesus said, “If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands” (John 14:15). What He really meant was, “If you love Me and walk in fellowship with Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you concentrate on loving God, then keeping His commandments will become a natural part of what you do. It is a promise He makes to you.

From “Starting Your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer

[Colleen Davis]

9/23/06 Silence is Essential

“You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me.” Psalm 119:114 (The Message)

Silence in prayer is not the absence of sound that occurs when we run out of things to say. It is not the embarrassing speechlessness that results from shyness. It is something positive, something fertile. It is being more interested in what God will say to me than in getting out my speech to Him. It is a preference for hearing God’s word over saying my word….

Talk in prayer is essential but it is also partial. Silence is also essential.

From “Where Your Treasure Is” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/24/06 Not By Works

“A man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Galatians 2:16

In some ways Christians are the least religious people in town—there is so much that we don’t believe! We don’t believe in good-luck charms, in horoscopes, in fate. We don’t believe the world’s promises or the world’s curses. And we don’t believe—this comes to some as a surprise!—in good works.

Paul repeats the phrase “not by works of the law” three times in two verses. He means something quite specific by it. He means the acts that we perform in order to get God’s approval. He means religious or moral activity that is designed to save our own skin. It is good behavior or religious behavior that is performed because someone else is looking, or because God is looking.

From “Traveling Light” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/25/06 When God Speaks

“The Lord says….the Lord has sworn.” Psalm 110:1, 4 RSV

Psalm 110 established its eminence in the early Christians’ community by centering the self in the God who speaks. They knew they were in a messed-up world and that something had to be done about it. They also knew their good works and intentions were flawed in such a way that they only made it worse..

How were they to do it? They prayed Psalm 110. It shaped their understanding of who they were and their place in the world by what it declared that world to be: when God speaks things happen.

From “Where Your Treasure Is” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/26/06 Honest in Our Hurts

“Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.” Psalm 55:22 The Message

It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujahs; it is somewhat more difficult to be honest in our hurts; it is nearly impossible to be honest before God in the dark emotions of our hate. So we commonly suppress our negative emotions…but when we pray the psalms, these classic prayers of God’s people, we find that will not do. We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we are, not who we think we should be.

In prayer, all is not sweetness and light. The way of prayer is not to cover our unlovely emotions so they will appear respectable, but expose them so that they can be enlisted in the work of the kingdom.

From “Leap Over a Wall” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/27/06 God Is Steadfast

“Blessed is God, Israel’s God, always, always, always.” Psalm 41:13 The Message

Israel was up one day and down the next. One day they were marching in triumph through the Red Sea, singing songs of victory, the next day they were grumbling in the desert because they missed having Egyptian steak and potatoes for supper. One day they were marching around Jericho blowing trumpets and raising hearty hymns, and the next they were plunged into an orgy at some Canaanite fertility shrine…

But all the time, as we read that saw-toothed history, we realize something sold and steady; they are always God’s people. God is steadfastly with them in mercy and judgment, insistently gracious.

From “A Long Obedience” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/28/06 Linked with God

“You shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 The Message

On the day their son was born, Hilkiah and his wife named him in anticipation of the way God would act in his life. In hope they saw the years unfolding and their son as one in whom the Lord would be lifted up: Jeremiah—the Lord is exalted.

Jeremiah—a name linked with the name and action of God. The only thing more significant Jeremiah than his own being was God’s being. He fought in the name of the Lord and explored the reality of God and in the process grew and developed, ripened and matured. He was always reaching out, always find more truth, getting in touch with more of God, becoming more himself, more human.

From “Run with the Horses” by 1983 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA

[Colleen Davis]

9/29/06 Wisdom

“The wise accumulate wisdom.” Proverbs 14:24 The Message

The opposite of foolish in Scripture is wise. Wise refers to skill in living. It does not mean, primarily, the person who knows the right answers to things, but one who has developed the right responses (relationships) to persons, to God.

The wise understand how the world words, know about patience and love, listening and grace, adoration and beauty; know that other people are awesome creatures to be respected and befriended, especially the ones that I cannot get anything out of…know that God is an ever-present center…an all-encompassing love.

From “Where Your Treasure Is” by Eugene H. Peterson

[Colleen Davis]

9/30/06 Weakness and Strength

“Regarding life together and getting along with each other…just love one another!” 1 Thessalonians 4:9 The Message

Compassionate, generous, spontaneous mutuality develops when we realize two things; there is no even distribution of strengths. The curses and the blessings are unevenly distributed. Some have heavier loads put on them than others—burdens of illness, work, family, emotional trauma…And not all of us get equal strengths. Some of us are born with strong bodies and fragile emotions, others with robust emotions and week bodies.

Once we understand this, we will not arrogantly separate ourselves from others when we find ourselves strong, nor will we withdraw in groveling self-pity when we find ourselves weak. The Christian is free to share both weakness and strength, burdens and abilities.

From “Traveling Light “by Eugene H. Peterson