Where do you stand?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
(1 Peter 3:17 (NIV))

What do you call good? What do you call evil?

Does society agree with you?

Does society do things that you would consider evil?

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
(3 John 1:11 (NIV))

There may come a day when those who choose to follow God will be looked upon as evil. I know that some would say that this has already started. I like to think that I would willingly suffer for doing what God calls me to do, yet, I am only human. I have human frailties and weaknesses.

Would I be like Peter and deny Jesus?

Would I be forgiven?

Would I hold fast to the faith that I profess to have?

Would my faith be proven to be as great as a mustard seed?

When you hear the word “evil,” what do you think of? Is it murder? Is it stealing? Is it something much bigger than these? Evil can get a small foothold and grow into something that can completely destroy all it touches.

God’s love restores all that it touches. It is good, yet our society seems to want to label this is hatred and evil.

What do you think?

Where do you stand?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Are you hiding unforgiveness in your heart?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV))

Does this bother you?

Do you ignore scriptures like this because it goes against what you want to believe? Does it remind you of someone that you still have not forgiven because of something that happened years ago? You did not realize that your salvation could possibly hinge on your ability to forgive others. God’s grace and mercy are truly a gift, for we cannot earn our salvation. Yet, these words speak of the possibility of losing that gift.

How could this happen?

Take a look at the true meaning behind God’s grace. Does He hate us or does He love us? Hate would not offer a gift such as grace. Hate would call for revenge. Love is the only thing that can offer a gift such as grace. When we accept Jesus with our whole heart, mind and spirit, we fully accept His love for us and then His love indwells us in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is part of the Triune God that we worship. If the Holy Spirit indwells us, then we have love for others within us. This love would cause us to pass God’s grace and mercy on to others. It would not allow us to harbor hatred and unforgiveness if we truly face what we have hidden from ourselves.

Closely examine every hiding place within your memory to search for those that you have not forgiven, for how can we accept forgiveness when we cannot give it?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Godly Rest!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
(Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV))

Rest?

Even God needed a rest from the task that He undertook. What is it about today’s society that makes us think we can go 24/7 without taking that much needed rest?

We are created in God’s image. If God rested, what does that say about our need to rest? He is the Creator. We are the creation. The creation is not capable of outdoing the Creator. In fact, the creation needs to speak and listen to the Creator. Perhaps that is why we refuse to rest, for when we rest, we are following the desires of our Creator. It is Satan’s influence upon this world that tells us that we do not need to rest, for he knows that when we rest, we spend time with God. Satan does not want us to do anything that will draw us closer to God. Perhaps that is why the world is in such a hectic state of chaos.

We must strive to be within God’s Will. We must strive to do what pleases God. IF God rested on the seventh day, we should rest as well. I doubt that we will find this Godly rest unrewarding, for we will be ushered into His presence.

Rest!

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Can a blind man lead a blind man?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
(Luke 6:39-40 (NIV))

How many people today are blind leading the blind or are blind following the blind? People are searching for answers, and are looking in all the wrong places. This is Satan’s great desception. He is keeping people from seeing the truth by placing lies and stumbling blocks in their way.

God placed in us the desire to belong to Him. When people do not know Jesus, they try to satisfy that desire with whatever they can find, or whoever they can find that will verify their sense of being, even if it is a false verification.

Each person has a piece missing from them that only God can fill perfectly. Nothing or no one can fill it like Jesus. We must open the eyes of the blind and lead them to the light and the piece (and peace) that can satisfy that void.

Jesus said that we, as students or desciples, can not be greater than He. We must strive to be fully in God’s will and let the Holy Spirit fill us and train us so that we may be like Jesus. When this happens, we will truly be able to lead the “blind” to Jesus as Jesus, Himself, lead the “blind”. Perhaps, we, too, can open the eyes of the “blind” in a similar fashion to the way Jesus opened blind eyes, both physically and spiritually.

Are you leading, following or are you studying under the Master, or are you blind to what God has called you to?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Give thanks to the LORD

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
(Psalms 118:1 (NIV))

Give thanks when things are good.

Give thanks when things are not so good.

Give thanks when things are not good at all.

We must give thanks in all things for God is with us. He never leaves us. We may leave Him, but He will never leave us. God does not cause the pain and the suffering, but He is there in the middle of it. He is longing to take us and comfort us. He is waiting for us to turn to Him in these times.

I recently had the honor of meeting an extraordinary group of young men. These young men had all done something bad. They had fallen for the lies of the enemy and had fallen into traps of addiction and even worse things. During my time with them they taught me something. Even though they were seeking and learning, they taught everyone around them something wonderful. It is probably the best lesson that I have learned in a long time. I had professed to know this, but it took seeing these young men in action to realize just how good God is. In the eyes of society, these young men had done great wrongs, but in the eyes of God, we all have done great wrongs. In God’s eyes, I am no different from them. His love for all of us is great.

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
(Isaiah 64:6 (NIV))

God had taken these young men whom society would shun and turned them into models of God’s love for us. Not only where they examples of God’s grace and mercy within their lives, they also reflected God’s grace and mercy to all whom they came in contact with. I expect great things from this group of young men, for God has done great things in their lives. These young men taught me to give thanks in a whole new light, for God truly is good.

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.

Give thanks !

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Has your faith led anyone to God?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
(Daniel 2:20-22 (NIV))

Daniel was a strong servant of God. He is an example of what we should strive to be. We may never be placed in an environment such as Daniel faced, but we must always strive to keep our faith in God as Daniel kept his faith in God.

Daniel lived in the time of what history and the Bible have called the evilest dictatorship in all of history, yet Daniel kept his faith in the face of adversity and possible death. God rewarded Daniel and his friends for this faithfulness by giving them wisdom, insight and protection that would be remembered throughout all of history.

Everyone is familiar with the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by Daniel; the fiery furnace that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced; the handwriting on the wall that Daniel interpreted; and who can forget the lion’s den that God delivered Daniel through? Daniel and his friends kept their faith in God even though all around them was from Satan and his kingdom. Their faith led even Nebuchadnezzar to recognize the power of God.

Has your faith led anyone to God?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Are you willing to do likewise?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,’ he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:30-37 (NIV))

I experienced something over the weekend that brings this parable to light in today’s world.

I had pulled into a McDonalds to get something to drink and I noticed a car that was in a very precarious predicament. The front tires had gone over a poorly marked construction barricade and had dropped off the edge until the only thing touching the concrete was about 1/4” of the frame leaving the driver side rear tire about a foot off of the ground. The occupants of the car were okay, but there was no way that they could get the vehicle out of the construction ditch.

During this time, I saw countless people drive by and look, but only two fifty-three year old men even thought of coming to help. They looked and drove on by. Many even actually hung out of the passenger windows to get a better look. Still, no one bothered to offer assistance.

It is a sad commentary on society and on the hearts of people when they see someone in need and only think of it as a situation to be gawked at. Thankfully, the other fifty-three year old lived nearby and he was willing to make several trips to his house to get additional tools as they were needed. Some people simply looked and drove right on by. This man went out of his way to offer assistance. He was inconvenienced. He offered to do things that were not in his plans. He went the extra mile to do what was right.

Thousands of people go by this place every single day. In the two hours that it took to get the car out of the ditch, there were probably hundreds of people who went by. What does that say about our society? What does that say about our priorities?

With the assistance of a young police officer, we finally got the car out and I drove it around the parking lot to make sure that everything was okay. The lady and her 8 year old grand daughter were very happy to be rescued from their predicament. After she thanked us, I got in my car and drove the last hour to get home.

I am not relaying these events to draw attention to myself, Rather, to point out the way in which most of the people simply ignored the situation, or they looked and went on about their business. It was a bother to them. It was inconvenient for them to help.

We are to be neighbors to those in need. We cannot have a society that turns a blind eye to those in need. We must be good neighbors to all. We must be the hands and feet of Jesus to all who are in need.

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:37b (NIV))

Are you willing to do likewise?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery