Are you glad He went after you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
(Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV))

Are you lost?

Helpless, hopeless and lost?

Satan longs to have us feel this way.

God longs for us to feel helpful, hopeful and loved.

God also longs for us to mature spiritually and become the person whom He created us to be. Sometimes this requires tough love. Just as a parent must sometimes withhold things from a child, God must withhold things from us. Just as a parent must allow the child to enter into things that will teach them a lesson, so too with God and us.

We are creatures of habit. Each of us exists within certain boundaries that we have established or that have been established for us. These boundaries become our comfort zone. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows that our comfort zones foster stagnation. We soon grow complacent. We soon grow so rigid and confined within our comfort zones that we fail to recognize the need for spiritual growth and maturity. We become creatures of habit, and all too often our habits leave something to be desired. It takes something drastic to get our attention. It takes something that will make us look beyond our circumstances and look at our core beliefs and priorities.

God wants to get our attention. He wants to get us out of our comfort zones and focused on Him. Sometimes, that requires something bigger than we care to have happen. He wants us to take the time to fulfill Psalm 46:10a so that we may know Him and His will for our lives.

Be still, and know that I am God
(Psalm 4610a (NIV))

Are you glad He went after you?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you proclaiming the blessed name of Jesus?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
    “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
    “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
    “Hosanna in the highest!”
(Matthew 21:9 (NIV))

I have read this passage many times, and I am fully aware of the events that led up to this as well as the events that follow. We, as the Body of Christ, have the good fortune to be able to see these events in hindsight with a very good understanding of what was happening, but something caught my attention today that made me stop and think!

Let me explain.

We all know that Jesus split time. All that you have to do is take a look at our calendar to understand this concept.

B.C. and A.D. refer only to Jesus!

Before Jesus came into the world, we also had no opportunity for grace. We had no opportunity to be cleansed of our sins. During this time, those in the know were looking for a Savior to redeem us to God. They were looking for the Blessed One who would come in the name of the Lord! They were looking for the one whom the prophets foretold. Since Jesus has come into the world, lived, was crucified, dead and buried, and was resurrected on the third day, we have the glorious ability to call Jesus the Blessed One because He came in the name of the Lord. We have the ability to praise His name because He fulfilled everything that the prophets had foretold!

He now sits at the right hand of God, the Father, interceding for those who proclaim Him as their personal Lord and Savior!

The events that we refer to as Palm Sunday that are recorded in Matthew 21 show us the pivotal moment in which humanity crossed from looking for the one who would come in the name of the Lord to proclaiming the one who has come in the name of the Lord. Those who went before Him in the procession were announcing His coming just as the prophets had announced it. Those who followed after Him in the procession were proclaiming that He is here! That is a job that the Body of Christ should have been doing ever since this event. We should be shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We should be shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus is Lord!

Are you proclaiming the blessed name of Jesus?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you seek the true Jesus?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.
(Isaiah 11:10 (NIV))

The children of Israel had, throughout all of their history, looked for a military and political leader to be their Messiah. Yet, the words were given to Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus came that stated that the expected Messiah would actually be someone that the Gentiles would seek.

This does not sound like a military leader. The Jewish people were expecting a military leader to defeat the Gentiles and establish them as what they thought the “Chosen People” meant. They did not understand that to be the “Chosen People” meant that through them salvation would come. They thought that it meant that God has selected them to rule over the world and establish His Kingdom in a military fashion. They chose to ignore the words that Isaiah spoke to them.

Are we ignoring the words that God is speaking to us today? The Messiah that the world received is one who shares the grace and mercy of God to all who will listen and accept. Is this the Messiah that you know, or are you looking for a Messiah who is more like what the children of Israel were looking for?

Do you seek the true Jesus?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What is your house built upon?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
(Matthew 7:24 (NIV))

If you have ever built something, no matter how big or how small, what was the first thing that you did? What was the first step you undertook to make sure that your endeavor would be successfully completed?

If you are in school studying to achieve a career goal, the first thing that you do is build a solid foundation of the basics in the subject that you are interested in. If you are the athletic type, you study and get the best equipment and learn how to properly use it so that you have a solid physical foundation upon which to build? If you are an architect or a structural engineer, you work diligently to make sure that the building has a solid base upon which to rest.

I hope that you are starting to pick up on the concept that Jesus presented, for it applies to all aspects of life. Why, then, do we tend to forget that we need to build a solid foundation of faith? You can say that you believe, but unless you dive headfirst into God’s word and into the teachings of Jesus, do you truly even know what you believe? Sadly, far too many people in this day and time spend a few minutes cherry-picking a few passages and make false assumptions on what it means to profess that Jesus is their personal Lord and Savior. They are eager to say that they believe, but when presented passages that actually present the truth, they walk away. They did not build a firm foundation.

Jesus also presented this concept in another way through the following passages.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
(Matthew 13:1-9 (NIV))

No matter how you understand the concept, either good soil, firm foundation or building your house upon the rock, it all is the same. If you do not build your life and your faith upon the truth of Jesus, then it is built on shaky ground and will not last.

What is your house built upon?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Is the Lamb your shepherd?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Revelation 7:16-17 (NIV))

Isn’t it a marvelous picture that these words paint? Every person who has ever lived longs for what these words speak of. Whether they are a believer or not, this picture appeals to everyone.

What I find of interest is that these words do not come in a part of the Bible that is often read. They appear in Revelation. This is probably the most misunderstood book of the Bible, yet it holds the most promise for those who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. True, Revelation speaks of the judgments of God against the wickedness of man. At the same time, it speaks of the fulfillment of the promises that have been with man since Adam and Eve.

Which side of Revelation do you wish to be on? Do you wish to be on the judgment side or the fulfillment side? It is your choice. Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior or don’t. Jesus himself said “He who is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30a (NIV))

Are you with Jesus?

Is the Lamb your shepherd?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you ready to surrender your life for the testimony?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
(Revelation 12:11 (NIV))

It is often thought that those who call upon Jesus as their Lord and Savior are not supposed to love their life. This false belief is based on this passage from Revelation. It is often misquoted or misunderstood to mean that we should not love our life and fully embrace death.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
(John 10:10 (NIV))

If Jesus came that we may have life to the full, then why should we not love our life? Life is a precious gift from God. It is to be loved.

What is in question is not whether we are to love the life that God has given us, but do we love God’s Word and His truth more? Will we be willing to lay down our life, which is a gift from God, for the ultimate gift from God? Can we see beyond our limited perspective and realize that God is capable of so much more than our individual lives? Can we understand the simple truth that God created us and has something far greater in store for us?

Jesus knew this. Jesus lived this.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13 (NIV))

Do you know it? Are you ready to live it? Are you ready to surrender your life for the testimony?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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