God is the same no matter when we seek Him!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(Revelation 1:8 (NIV))

Human nature is such a funny thing.

What is your reaction when the grocery store that you normally go to is closed for some reason? Do you complain or do you simply adapt? What do you do when your favorite shirt is no longer suitable for public appearance? Do you throw it away or do you cling to it like a small child clings to a blanket? How do you react when your favorite magazine stops publication because the content is now readily available on the Internet? Speaking of the Internet, how do you react to reading something online versus reading it from a book that you can hold and feel?

Let’s face it, we are all creatures of habit. We have our routines and we all have our favorite things that we think that we could never do without. In all honesty, most people do not like change. Change is something that we fear. It is unknown.

Too many of us do not like anything to ever change, yet we often are guilty of saying that God is not the same as He was in the Old Testament. We have a double standard for what we expect of ourselves and what we think that God is like. We have heard the stories and we have read the passages that tell of God’s laws, yet we find it difficult to comprehend that God could remain the same for all eternity.

Personally, I like knowing that God is constant, that He is, and was and is to come.

If we spend time getting to know God through His Word, then we will know the very heart of God for all time. He doesn’t change. I honestly would not like having to constantly second guess what I was supposed to do because of a constantly changing god. That is not our God. That is not our creator, our Father. God is a God of eternity.

January 1 will soon be here. It is the beginning of a new year. Many people look upon this day as the opportunity to start fresh, to change what they have been doing. For humanity, change for the better is good, especially when that change means that we repent of our sins and turn to God. When we desire to change, isn’t it good to know that the One who welcomes us in our change, never changes. God will welcome us with open arms any day of the year.

Today is that day.

Happy New Year !!!

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Will you perish?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
(Psalms 10:16 (NIV))

Look back at your life and think about how many times you have heard of nations changing their boarders. Have you ever heard of a nation that used to exist when you were younger and doesn’t exist now? Are there any nations that didn’t exist when you were younger that do exist now?

We have a tendency to think that the nations of the world are fairly constant, yet, boarders change all of the time. Some nations go away and others come into existence. Nothing in this world is constant. Even the seas change the shoreline over a period of time. Rivers change course and erosion takes its toll on mountains.

There is only one constant in this world. There is only one constant in this universe.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
(Hebrews 13:8 (NIV))

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
(John 14:9-10 (NIV))

Nations will come and go. People will live and die. Only the Lord will remain.

We, as part of His creation, have been blessed to be given an option to spend eternity with Him. Grace and salvation can be your if you will simply repent of your sins and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Do this so that you do not perish.

Will you perish?

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Is the strength of your pride keeping you from Jesus?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
(Revelation 1:8 (NIV))

People have a strange sense of themselves. Young people think that they are immortal, or at least they will be around for a long, long time. As people get older, they still have a tendency to think of themselves as in control. Many people go to their grave thinking that they are their own masters.

Isn’t it a shame that people’s pride is so strong that they do not want to admit that there is a God and that He has always been and will always be?

God created us to have a relationship with Him not as a servant but as a child to a loving father. The church is based on this principle. Jesus is the head of the church, and each of us are members of the body.

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
(John 14:9-10)

This means that God is the head of the church. He has always been and will always be, constant, never changing and always loving.

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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There is an ultimate truth!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
(John 8:32 (NLT))

Just what is truth?

Is truth relative or is there an ultimate, unwavering truth that overrides everything else?

According to today’s society, truth is relative. It changes with the situation. What may be true one minute may not be true the next. If you ask me, that is entirely too complicated. Who decides the rules that let you know what truth applies and when? Is there a class in high school that you need to take? Is it a college course? What happens if you fail? Isn’t it interesting that ever since the Supreme Court said that we have to remove prayer from our schools, truth has become relative?

There is an ultimate truth!

The Word of God is that truth. It is constant. It is unchanging. It is not relative! We have God’s Word to steer our lives by. In addition to God’s Word, we have Jesus, who was God’s Word made flesh.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 (NIV))

If Jesus is God’s Word made flesh and God’s Word is the ultimate truth, then we have the gift of ultimate truth providing us with grace and mercy! Isn’t God good?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
(Hebrews 13:8 (NIV))

We also have another aspect of Jesus that we must look at. Jesus is also our brother who sits at the right hand of God. Our brother is God’s truth!

The next time that you hear someone say that truth is relative, you can tell them that it is. Tell them that Jesus is the truth, and that He is your brother. Tell them that He can be their brother as well. All they have to do is accept His gift of grace and mercy.

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What does God have to do to get your attention?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road.
Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat her again.
Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”
The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
(Numbers 22:21-31 (NIV))

Have you ever encountered something that just seemed to go completely different than expected, even when you have done it many times before? Were you able to come up with a logical explanation for the change in the results?

Perhaps the change in the results were similar to those that Balaam had. He was so blinded to the fact that his donkey had never done anything like this before, yet he still blamed the donkey. He did not stop to even contemplate the reason for the change. He did not stop to think that perhaps there was a reason that his trusted donkey had done what she had done. He did not even consider that there is more to this life than meets the eye.

He did not consider that God was intervening in his life!

Are we blinded to this just as Balaam was?

Think about that for a moment.

Does God still speak to His people? Does God still seek out relationships with those who seek Him? Does God work in our lives to guide us, to lead us and to mature us into what He created us to be?

Why should we be any different from Balaam? Why should we limit God’s intervention to the pages of the Bible? The Bible is the story of what He has done. We are the story of what He is doing.

The next time that something seems too odd and out of the normal realm of things, stop and reflect upon what is going on. God may be using the unexpected to reach out to you. He may be calling you to something and that moment in time is the decisive point where you must listen and respond or miss out on His blessings.

Everyone marvels at the story of Balaam and the talking donkey, but how many people overlook the reason that the donkey spoke? It took something completely out of the ordinary to get Balaam’s attention.

What does God have to do to get your attention?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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God never changes!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
(Psalms 25:6 (NIV))

God never changes!

Too many people see God in the Old Testament and they do not see a continuity of character from there to the New Testament. They see the wrath and the plagues and the wars and do not realize that these are witness to God’s mercy and love. All of the events in the Old Testament that we learn as children are manifestations of God’s grace and mercy. Consider the flood. God loved His creation. He did not want to destroy it. He wanted to cleanse it and bring it closer to Him. He saved Noah and his family through the flood. He saved His creatures as well. Look at the Tower of Babel. Again, God wanted to bring His creation closer to Him. Instead, we turned to our own desires. In an attempt to get us to turn to Him, He confused our languages so that we could no longer rely on ourselves. What about Abraham? God called him to be closer to Him. Abraham trusted God and attempted to do as he was asked. Was it a wrathful God that saved Abraham’s nephew, Lot?

God has been calling people and drawing them to Him ever since He created us. He is merciful. He is loving. He longs for us to come out of our sin and turn to Him.

I am not too sure why people find it so difficult to reconcile Old Testament to New Testament. God is the same. He continually called out to us in the Old Testament. He finally called out to us directly through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Jesus did not replace God the Father. He did not replace God’s mercy and love. He came to show us how great that mercy and love is.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
(John 1:1-2 (NIV))

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 (NIV))

We know that Jesus is part of the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is part of that great mercy and love, just as God the Father is a part of that great mercy and love. God never changes. His authority is forever. His love is forever.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
(Hebrews 13:8 (NIV))

Copyright 1998 – 2011 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you seek the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
(Psalms 9:9-11 (NIV))

Do you seek the Lord?

Do you seek Him at all times or only when things are not going the way that you want them to go?

He is a refuge for the oppressed and a stronghold in times of trouble, but, if those are the only times that you seek the Lord, then are you truly seeking Him?

It is human nature to turn to someone when you feel that you cannot handle things on your own, but when things seem to be going our way, it is human nature to take the credit. We seem to want God in our lives only when we fail on our own.

Is that how you see God? Is that the only time that you honestly seek the Lord?

Let me pose a question.

For those of you who are married, do you honestly think that the relationship is strong and that you honestly know you spouse if the only time that you turn to them is when you want something from them? Can you honestly say that you know the very heart and desires of your spouse if you never spend time with them?

God is the same way. If we only turn to Him in times of trouble, how do you think the relationship is going? Can you honestly say that you have spent time at the feet of the Lord? Can you honestly say that you know the heart of God and what makes Him rejoice and what makes Him sad?

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, but He is so much more than that if you will simply spend time in His presence. In order to know someone, you must spend time with them. you must learn what makes them happy and what makes them sad. you must learn what they love. You cannot learn this when you are seeking refuge. You learn it when the focus is off of you.

Be still, and know that I am God
(Psalm 46:10a (NIV))

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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A complete change

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
(Romans 1:28-32 (NIV))

Have you ever met someone who thought that they could do whatever they wanted to because God’s grace would cleanse them? These are the type of people who profess a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior in church and then live the rest of the week as if they never accepted Jesus.

Did they really accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, or are they the very ones that Paul is writing about in Romans?

Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior means so much more than simply uttering words. It is a change of heart. It is the desire to follow God’s Word. It is a desire to turn away from every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.

How should a believer respond to accepting Jesus? Believers must refrain from envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, hating God, insolence, arrogance, evil, disobedience, senselessness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness.

I hate to say this, but perhaps we all see a little of ourselves in these attributes. We must turn away from these traits.

We must seek after God’s heart !

We must do what Jesus would do !

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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True branches and good fruit

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
(John 15:5-8 (NIV))

All good comes from God. We cannot do truly good things without God in our lives. When we become believers, we are grafted into the vine. We are not natural branches of “good” and “love”. Rather, we are allowed to graft onto the perfect vine and share in the fruits of that vine. We have the life of the vine flowing through us if the “graft” is true. If the “life” flows through us, then the fruit produced will also show the “life” of the vine. If the “graft” is not true, then the branch withers and dies and must be discarded.

Which branch are you? Do you bear the fruit of the vine, or do you wither and produce no fruit?

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you hungry?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV))

What is your favorite Scripture passage? What makes it your favorite? Did God use it to reach out to you at a time of terrible trouble? Did He speak to you through that passage when you were alone and lost? Did He use it to call you to Him and confirm your salvation?

God has given us so much of Himself through His Word. Think about your favorite Scripture passage. At best, it is only a few words. A few select words that God has used to touch your life. If God can soften your heart with only a few words, imagine what He can do with every word that is recorded as part of His Word. If we took to heart every morsel that is freely given to us, how would we be different? If we studied and memorized more of Scripture the way that we memorize our favorite passage, imagine how our lives would be changed!

If your favorite passage is looked upon as an appetizer to a grand feast, are we missing all that God has laid out before us? If you are offered an appetizer, do you simply stop with one morsel? An appetizer is simply the thing that awakens your hunger for what is to come. Your favorite passage is that appetizer. It should be looked upon as the morsel that awakens your hunger for all of God’s Word.

Are you hungry?

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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