God's Promises
Wisdom
DEVELOPING A SENSE OF SELF-WORTH
People should think of us as servants of Christ, the ones God has trusted with his secrets. Now in this way those who are trusted with something valuable must show they are worthy of that trust. As for myself, I do not care if I am judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. The Lord is the One who judges me. (Corinthians 4:1-4)
Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead, be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life. (I Timothy 4:12)
You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God. In the new life there is no difference between Greeks and Jews... or those who are foreigners, or Scythinans. There is no difference between slaves and free people. But Christ is in all believers, and Christ is all that is important. (Colossians 3:10-11)
He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy,"..
Underline the word perfect. Note that the word is not better. Not improving. Not on the upswing. God doesn't enhance; he completes.
Now I realize that there's a sense in which we're imperfect. We still err. We still stumble. We still do exactly what we don't want to do. And that part of us is according to the verse, "being made holy."
But when it comes to our position before God, we're perfect. When he sees each of us, he sees one who has been made perfect through the One who is perfect-Jesus Christ.
٭ I thank you, Father, that you see and care for me. I thank you that I am equally valuable to you. Remind me of your love when I feel lost among the crowd.
REPENTING OF WRONG
The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised-the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives. (II Peter 3:9)
God has been very kind and patient, waiting for you to change, but you think nothing of his kindness. Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives. (Romans 2:43)
Whoever accepts correction is on the way to life, but whoever ignores correction will lead others away from life. (Proverb 10:17)
No one is happier than the one who has sincerely repented of wrong. Repentance is the decision to turn from selfish desires and seek God. It is a genuine, sincere regret that creates sorrow and moves us to admit wrong and desire to do better.
It's an inward conviction that expresses itself in outward actions.
You look at the love of God and you can't believe he's loved you like he has, and this realization motivates you to change your life. That is the nature of repentance.
٭ Blessed Lord and God, I come to you, aware that you have pierced our world. You became flesh, you dwelled among us, you saw me in my fallen state, you reached in and pulled me out. You offered me forgiveness.
FINDING REST
Remember to keep the Sabbath holy. Work and get everything done during six days each week, but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the LORD your God. On that day no one may do nay work. The reason is that is six days the LORD made everything-the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. On the seventh day he rested. So the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those who trouble you. And he will give rest to you who are troubled. (II Thessalonians 1:6-7)
We who have believed are able to enter and have God's rest. (Hebrews 4:3)
Time has skyrocketed in value. The value of any commodity depends on its scarcity. And time that once was abundant now is going to the highest bidder.
When I was ten years old, my mother enrolled me in piano lessons. Spending thirty minutes every afternoon tethered to a piano bench was a torture just one level away from swallowing broken glass.
Some of the music, though, I learned to enjoy. I hammered the staccatos. I belabored the crescendos. But there was one instruction in the music I could never obey to my teacher's satisfaction. The rest. The zigzagged command to do nothing. What sense does that make? Why sit at the piano and pause when you can pound?
"Because," my teacher patiently explained, "Music is always sweeter after a rest."
It didn't make sense to me at age ten. But now, a few decades later, the words ring with wisdom-divine wisdom.
٭Father, help me to use my time wisely, to take advantage of the opportunities I have to be just the type of Christian you want me to be.
SETTING PRIORITIES
Respecting the LORD and not being proud will bring you wealth, honor, and life. (Proverbs 22:4)
In every way be an example of doing good deeds. When you teach, do it with honesty and seriousness. Speak the truth so that you cannot be criticized. Grace teaches us to live now in a wise and right way and in a way that shows we serve God. We should live like that while we wait for our great hope and the coming of the glory of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:7-8, 12-13)
God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them. We want each of you to go on with the same hard work all your lives so you will surely get what you hope for. (Hebrews 6:10-11)
There is only so much sand in the hourglass. Who gets it?
You know what I'm talking about, don't you? "The PTA needs a new treasurer. With your background and experience and talent and wisdom and low for kids and degree in accounting, YOU are the perfect one for the job!"
It's tug-of-war, and you are the rope.
"Blessed are the meek," Jesus said. The word meek does not mean weak. It means focused. It is a word used to describe a domesticated stallion. Power under control. Strength with a direction.
Blessed are those who recognize their God-given responsibilities. Blessed are those who acknowledge that there is only one God and have quit applying for his position. Blessed are those who know what on earth they are on earth to do and set themselves about the business of doing it.
٭Father, help me to say not to the world and yes to you. Help me to hear the true voice of Jesus Christ amid the voices of pressure and success and power.
CORRECTING MISTAKES
If you hide your sins, you will not succeed. If you confess and reject them, you will receive mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
If you listen to correction to improve your life, you will live among the wise. Those who refuse correction hate themselves, but those who accept correction gain understanding. Respect for the Lord will teach you wisdom. If you want to be honored, you must be humble. (Proverbs 15:31-33)
In the kingdom of God the important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by other people. So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another. (Romans 14:17-19)
Do-it-yourself Christianity is not much encouragement to the done in and worn out.
Self-sanctification holds little hope for the addict.
At some point we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey home we realize that a fifty-fifty proposition is too little. We need more.
We need help. Help from the inside out. Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us we don't even know. In the heart no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells, not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God.
٭Father, take my mistakes and turn them into opportunities. You have shown me this over and over through the lives of people like David, Paul, Peter. I know you can do the same for me.
FACING DISAPPOINTMENT
Those who are said now are happy, because God will comfort them.
Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy, because God will fully satisfy them. (Mathew 5:4, 6)
I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the poser of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
The LORD says, "My thoughts are not like your thoughts, Your ways are not like my ways.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So you will go out with joy and be led out in peace." (Isaiah 55:8, 12)
When God doesn't do what we want, it's not easy. Never has been. Never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and he will get us through it.
Remember, disappointment is caused by unmet expectations. Disappointment is cured by revamped expectations.
Next time you're disappointed, don't panic. Don't give up. Just be patient and let God remind you he's still in control. It ain't over till it's over.
٭Father, I am thankful that you are in control of all life's situations. When I am disappointed, help me to turn to you and accept your will, confident that you always have my best interests at heart.
DEALING WITH THE PAST
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. (Romans 8:28)
Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset? I should put my hope in God and keep praising him, my Savior and my God.(Psalms43:5)
I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above. (Philippians 3:13-14)
Perhaps your childhood memories bring more hurt than inspiration. The voices of your past cursed you, belittled you, ignored you. At the time, you thought such treatment was typical. Now you see it isn't.
And now you find yourself trying to explain your past. Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses?
Think about this. Spiritual life comes from the Spirit! Your parents may have given you genes, but God gives you grace. Your parents may be responsible for your body, but God has taken charge of your soul. You may get your looks from your mother, but you get eternity from your Father, your heavenly Father. And God is willing to give you what your family didn't.
٭Father, you know me early in the morning; you know me late at night. You know me when I'm weak; you know me when I'm strong. Father, remind me that you still care and that you still love me.
ACCEPTING GOD'S FREEDOM
In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death, and so we have forgiveness of sins. (Ephesians 1:7)
I tell you the truth, everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin. A slave does not stay with a family forever, but a son belongs to the family forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be truly free.(John 8:34-36)
We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law. (Galatians 5:1)
Jesus spoke of freedom, but he spoke of a different kind of freedom: the type of freedom that comes not through power but through submission. Not through control but through surrender. Not through possessions but through open hands.
God wants to emancipate his people; he wants to set them free. He wants his people to be not slaves but sons. He wants them governed not by law but by love.
W have been liberated from our own guilt and our own legalism. We have the freedom to pray and the freedom to love the God of our heart. And we have been forgiven by the only one who could condemn us. We are truly free!
٭Father, thank you for the freedom you have given to me-the freedom to be forgiven to live free from guilt. Help me to extend this same gift of freedom to others.
MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES
Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
You were taught to leave your old self-to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse, because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. But you were taught to be made new in your hearts, to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God-made to be truly good and holy. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
Now that you are obedient children of God do not live as you did in the past. You did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted. But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy. (I Peter 1:14-15)
I have something against the lying voices that noise our world. You've heard them. They tell you to swap your integrity for a new sale. To barter your convictions for an easy deal. To exchange you devotion for a quick thrill.
They whisper. They woo. They taunt. They tantalize. They flirt. They flatter. "Go ahead, its OK." "Don't worry, no one will know."
The world rams at your door; Jesus tapes at your door. The voices scream for your allegiance; Jesus softly and tenderly requests it. The world promises flashy pleasure; Jesus promises a quiet dinner... with God.
Which voice do you hear?
٭Father, remind me that a divine inheritance will be my reward for faithfulness to you. Help me to make faithfulness a priority for beginning my day.