How are you doing on your journey?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
(Proverbs 4:27 (NIV))

How good are you at staying the course?

Let’s take a look at that question as if you were going to the grocery store for milk and bread. How often are you sidetracked and find yourself buying much more than you went in for? How many times are you able to stay focused and get only what you had previously decided that you need? How often do these extra expenditures end up being for something that indulge your personal appetites and desires?

Do I dare to say that many of us approach our walk with Jesus in much the same way? We know that we want to follow Jesus but along the way we see things that indulge our personal appetites and sinful desires. If we are not careful, we soon find ourselves following those desires. We then find ourselves so far off of the path that we should be on that we don’t know how we got there in the first place.

It takes constant corrections to maintain a course. It is not possible to reach any destination without making many corrections and adjustments, and that is if we follow the path that we have laid out before us. Even the straightest road and the best tire alignment will have you going off of the road if you do not make continual course corrections. Professing a faith in Jesus does not mean that everything will be perfect from that moment on, and that you will start off and have a smooth journey along the way. What it does mean is that a new destination has been selected and you are going down a road that will require some very serious course adjustments in order to reach your destination. Along your journey, the enemy will try to distract you, to tempt you to take a detour. We must be prepared to keep our eyes on Jesus and not to turn from the path that leads us to Him as our final destination.

It is a known fact that when someone focuses on one thing, the other things soon become less important. If we continually focus on Jesus, the distractions, the evil that is vying for our attention, will fade from our sight. We will know that it is there, but it will be a faded relic of what the enemy intended, for we have Jesus clearly within our vision. Human nature is interesting. We go in the direction that we see. If we are driving and take our eyes off of the road, we have a tendency to drive in that direction. The same thing is true spiritually. We go where we have placed our focus, where we have set our priority.

How are you doing on your journey?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you spiritually ready?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
(Mark 13:7 (NIV))

I am sure that the current situation in Ukraine is in the hearts, minds and prayers of many over the last few days, and especially now that war has started. From what I can tell, Biblical scholars cannot find any direct reference to this, but many do believe that the instigators are doing this to get the natural resources of that country. In other words, they are doing it to get a spoil. Interpretations vary, but most agree that Israel will also be attacked by an alliance lead by the very same people, and according to the King James Version, they do it to take a spoil.

Is this the precursor to Ezekiel 38? The alliances spoken of are already in place. Are we seeing Gog of Magog testing the waters to see what the world will do? Is this a practice run? Is this the opening act?

We have been foretold of things to come, but, we have not been given exact names and dates for these events. We are told to be watchmen. We are told that we must recognize the seasons. We are told that we must recognize the signs.

We are to be alert!

We are to stay in God’s Word!

We are to put on the full armor of God and be prepared spiritually for what He is unfolding.

Current events may simply be the aggressions of one country against their neighbor, but is it just that? All that we see is what we choose to see in what we watch and in what we read. If you choose to see only your limited perspective, then this war doesn’t currently mean anything to you. If you choose to see things through God’s Word, then this war, along with all of the other recent events in the world, are pointing to God’s plan unfolding right before our eyes.

The end is still to come!

Are you spiritually ready?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What have you found?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
(Proverbs 21:21 (NIV))

The United States of America’s Declaration of Independence states “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Do you pursue happiness, or are you eyes set on a higher standard of righteousness and love?

If you pursue happiness, will you achieve righteousness? I can think of many people who have pursued sinful ways to happiness. This is not righteousness in the eyes of the Lord. They do not find life, prosperity and honor even though they think that they have found happiness. What they have found is fleeting. What they have found does not lead to life, prosperity and honor. With that said, if you pursue righteousness and love, do you believe that you will achieve happiness? Think about that question in relation to the following passage.

His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
(Matthew 25:23 (NIV))

If we pursue righteousness and love, we get to share in God’s happiness!

Think about that concept. We get to share in God’s happiness. Can you imagine what that means? Can you comprehend all that this includes? If we pursue righteousness and love, we will find life, prosperity and honor, plus we will share in God’s happiness if we have been faithful in our pursuit.

How do you classify happiness?

What makes you happy? What do you think of when you want to make yourself happy?

Now, let’s stop to think about God’s thoughts.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
      neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
      so are my ways higher than your ways
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV))

Do you fully comprehend the height, depth and breadth of God’s happiness that we get to share?

We truly do find so much when we seek His righteousness!

What have you found?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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We must listen to God’s Word and repent!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’
(Jeremiah 44:4 (NIV))

The Lord spoke through Jeremiah and all of the other prophets and nobody listened. Is the Lord speaking to us today through His prophets? If so, have we become too jaded by our so-called intellectual superiority that we find ourselves doing the very same thing that was done by the people that God sent the prophets to? Do we keep doing the detestable thing that God hates? Can we even recognize when someone speaks God’s truth, or have we become so engrossed in our selfishness, ego and pride that we don’t even know His truth when it is right in front of us?

Do we, do you, look to Jesus?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 14:6 (NIV))

Have we become so comfortable in our faith in Jesus that we start slacking in our attention to His truth? Do we take our salvation for granted and assume that all is forgiven even if we continue to sin? Have we forgotten how to repent?

Think about that last question!

God sent the prophets to Israel when they started to fall away. Some people still thought that they were being faithful, but they still worshipped false gods. We profess a faith in Jesus, yet, do we worship false gods such as wealth, power, prestige, and personal choice? Aren’t these the very reasons that the Lord sent His prophets to call the people to repentance?

Are we missing His prophets today? Have we believed the lie that God doesn’t speak to us through His prophets anymore because that was an Old Testament practice? What about a New Testament passage that says He still gives us prophets?

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
(Ephesians 4:11 (NIV))

Is there someone in the world today that speaks God’s truth for this very moment in time? Is there someone in your life that speaks God’s truth into your life in such a way that you change directions, that you repent? Are you comfortable hearing from God and calling people to repentance?

We must listen to God’s Word and repent!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are you still doing nothing?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
(John 15:5 (NIV))

Our society has always applauded the self-made man. You know the type. This person bucks the role models and goes for the prize based on their own designs, their own desires. The old Frank Sinatra song “My Way” talks about such a person, such a life. Is that really what we are called to do if we profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior?

I realize that when Jesus walked the earth, He bucked the trends because the trends in this sinful, fallen world are not how God intended. If you look deeper, what He was doing was not trying to change Himself. He was trying to change the world and turn people back to the way that the Lord had originally intended for us to live and for us to be in fellowship with Him. In essence, Jesus was calling for people to prune themselves from the sinful things of the world and graft themselves into Him so that they could find righteousness!

The things of this world are fleeting. The things of this world are sinful. If we follow the world, if we stay connected to the world, we can do nothing of consequence.

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))

If we remain in Jesus and Jesus in us, then we overcome the world and fully rely on Him as we do the things that He has called us to do. This leaves only one thing left to ask.

Are you still doing nothing?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Have you placed your faith in what endures forever?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
(Isaiah 40:8 (NIV))

If you have spent many years in this world, you understand that seasons change and with the changing seasons, what we took for granted in the spring and summer slowly starts to fade in the fall. and is completely gone by winter. The green grass that we used as a carpet for our springtime and summer activities soon turns brown. The beauty of the flowers fades as the last petal falls leaving only a stem that will also soon wither and die. Each day that we look in the mirror finds us growing older and soon, the face that we see starring back at us is so much different from the face that we remember from our youth.

It is often said that time is a cruel mistress. It takes the things that are beautiful and turns them to something we don’t recognize. It takes the things that we love and makes them old and run down.

Nothing in this physical world endures! Even the biggest structures in the world deteriorate and fall apart.

Thankfully, we have a hope that is not of this world! We have a hope that is firmly rooted in someone who is greater than the world.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
(Psalms 103:17 (NIV))

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.
(Psalms 145:13 (NIV))

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6 (NIV))

Our hope is forever and everlasting. It is limitless in time and continues indefinitely. Is that something that our human minds can truly comprehend? We are finite. He is infinite. We are mortal. He is immortal. We are the creation. He is the Creator. We are destined to die. He has overcome death! We often follow lies. He is the only truth. We are sinful by nature. He is righteousness!

If there is something that endures forever, I am so thankful that it is His word, for our thoughts and actions without Him are destined to wither and die.

Have you placed your faith in what endures forever?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What we see depends on us!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.
(Psalms 136:12 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to reflect on what appears to be a contradiction between being mighty and being loving? And, what do you envision when you read about outstretched arms? Do you envision a loving embrace or are they outstretched to show His might? How could what appears to be two completely polar opposites be used to describe the Lord our God?

That is a paradox that many people struggle with, and probably why many people fail to recognize God’s grace and mercy. They have been taught that either God was a vengeful God and they have trouble with Him being able to love them, or they have been taught that God is love and they then have a problem with His mighty hand and outstretched arm.

Do we have a hint as to how this so-called duality can be true? He loves those who love Him!

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
(Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV))

We also see what happens to those who are not true to Him, who do not love Him.

Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full.
(Psalms 31:23 (NIV))

Perhaps if we look at our sinful nature, we can see see just how much God loves us while still maintaining a mighty hand.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 (NIV))

We have been condemned by our sinful nature, yet, out of His enduring love, we have been given a gift of salvation, mercy and grace.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
(John 3:16-21 (NIV))

Just as in any human relationship, we will either see anger or we will see love. Just as we know that a coin has two sides, we also must recognize that God’s might or love are both part of His being.

What we see depends on us!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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We are called to do what Jesus did!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
(1 John 3:10 (NIV))

The word “should” is used to express a command, an obligation, or something that is expected. Does this change the way that you read and understand this passage? Think about that in context. We use the word “should” so frequently that perhaps we have lost the understanding of what it means. Let’s try a little word replacement in the last sentence and see if that helps to strengthen our understanding.

We are commanded to love one another.

We are obligated to love one another.

We are expected to love one another.

Do these express a stronger sentiment than “We should love one another?” Our society has come to understand the meaning of that word to be something closer to the following scenario. It is suggested that we love one another, but I don’t think that we really need to. Is this how you have read and understood this passage? Is it nothing more than a simple suggestion that we can take or leave? If that is the case, then I truly am beginning to understand the state of the world. Each of us are so engrossed in our own little lives that we fail to realize that the whole world is in the same predicaments that we find ourselves in. We have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, but we fail to recognize that it is up to us to share Jesus to a lost and dying world. We don’t go out of our way to show compassion to anyone. We run full speed ahead and ignore all of the hurting people that we encounter.

What did Jesus do?

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:10 (NIV))

Jesus saw the brokenhearted. He saw the outcast. He saw the sick and the dying. He saw the lost. He did not simply barge past them. He saw them and He had compassion on them. These people weren’t a hindrance to His ministry. They were, and still are, the sole purpose for all that He did.

And, . . .

We are called to do the same!

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
(John 14:12 (NIV))

We are called to do what Jesus did!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Is this how you see His love?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
(1 John 4:10 (NIV))

What good does it do to love someone if that love is not returned?

If you have trouble with this question, then all that you need to do is remember back to middle school and high school. I am sure that every single person has had such a thing happen to them during this tumultuous time in your life. We have all experienced what we thought was love only to be ignored by the one whom we expressed feelings for.

Is God like that?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

God reached out to us first! He showed His love for us and gave us something amazing if we would only repent and love Him in return. Everything that we have is because God loves us enough to not leave us where we are. We were sinners in need of a Savior, so He sent His Son. There is no record of anyone ever being able to go to God and make a deal with Him. There is a record of God coming to us and making a deal with us. God’s deal bring salvation. God’s deal bring life and love. God’s deal is readily available to anyone who will accept. Accepting God’s deal means accepting His love. It means accepting His grace and mercy. It means accepting His plan of salvation for you.

It is as easy as ABC.

A is for admit that you are a sinner in need of a savior.

B is for believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Him from the dead.

C is for call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Our love for God could never do what His love for us has first done. Out of love, He reached down to lift us up. Out of love, He calls us His children. Out of love, He gives us something that we cannot get for ourselves.

Is this how you see His love?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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We are commanded to love one another!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
(John 13:34-35 (NIV))

Have you ever noticed that Jesus started with a command to love one another and then ended with an if statement? The way that He ended is a pretty big “if.”

If we love one another we will be known as His disciples!

Think about that for a moment. Did Jesus ever hate anyone? He may have called people a brood of vipers, but I don’t recall a single passage where He acted out of hate. He acted out of anger and zeal for God’s Temple, but He didn’t act out of hatred. Jesus always took the time to show compassion. It was the reactions of the various people that He encountered that showed their natures.

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
(Mark 10:17-22 (NIV))

The rich young man was presented with the same “if” condition. Jesus knew what he truly loved and He asked him to sell it all, give to the poor, and follow Him. In other words, Jesus was asking him to make a choice between what he thought he loved and what he actually loved. If the rich young man could not make himself give up the material possessions that he loved, how could he love others as commanded by Jesus?

Loving others is hard. It takes a choice. It takes a commitment. It takes a decision to love even when you may not like someone. Even in that situation, if we are truly His disciples, then we are called to love that person.

I have a question for your consideration.

Is Jesus saying that if we love those who profess a faith in Him or is He saying to love all people?

Have you ever considered that option? Have you tried to dissect this passage in order to validate something less than love for a person who is not a believer? If you hate a person who is not a believer, how will they come to know the love that Jesus showed for all? How will they see Jesus if they know that you profess a faith in Jesus and all that they see from you is hate?

How do all men know you?

We are commanded to love one another!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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