Do you truly belong to God?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
(John 8:47 (NIV))

God is calling each of us.

Do you hear Him?

God has a plan of redemption for us if we will only accept it.

Do you accept God’s grace?

Hearing and accepting are vital to your relationship with God, but do you belong to God?

Just what does it mean to belong to God?

Let’s consider your car. It’s only purpose is to serve it’s owner. I realize that a car doesn’t have a choice, but humor me for a moment. The car sits and waits. It has no purpose apart from it’s owner. Without the owner taking control, the car goes nowhere. It is useless. It may look nice sitting in a driveway, but it is not doing what it was designed to do. It may catch the attention of people, but it’s true purpose is lost without the owner providing the direction. Without the owner, the car is empty and devoid of life.

How is your life?

Do you belong to God?

Do you wait for a purpose for your life? Do you have a true direction that is guided by God? Does God’s purpose fill you and give you life?

Are you willing to do anything that God calls you to do? Does He possess your heart, your body, your mind and your soul or have you just given over a little of each? Think about the car once again. The owner can’t truly own the car without possessing the keys that give complete access to everything.

Have you given God the keys to your life?

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: ” `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV))

I want you to be honest with me. Actually, I want you to be honest with yourself. How well do you keep these two commandments?

We say that we love God, but do we love Him with all our heart and all our soul? That is a big commitment. It is one that takes more than an occasional “Amen” on Sunday. It takes more than simply having a Bible. It takes more than acknowledging God when it is convenient for us. Every aspect, every moment, every breath should be dedicated to God.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV))

Is that possible for a sinful creation to place God above all else, after all, we are a selfish creation. We place ourselves above everything and everyone. Most of the time, we would rather ignore our neighbor if we could, yet we are told to love our neighbor as ourself. We are to not only place God above ourselves, we are to place our neighbor equal to ourselves.

Ouch !!!

I fully understand why Jesus answered the question in this way, but why does it have to shake us up, why does it have to rattle our cages, why does it have to make us move outside of our comfort zones? I suppose for the very same reason that Jesus placed God first in the Lord’s Prayer. It makes us think of others first. It makes us think of the well being of all of God’s creation and not just the part that He created for us. He wants to turn our world upside down. He wants us to reach out in praise. He wants us to reach out in prayer. He wants us to reach out in humility, for it is after we reach out to Him and to our neighbor, we realize His great love for us is not just for us. It is for everyone.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
” `Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
(Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV))

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What do you hide in your heart?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
(Psalms 119:11 (NIV))

What do you hide in your heart?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:21 (NIV))

It is true that people will place what they treasure within their hearts. It is what you think of first, last and most often. What is in your heart is your treasure, and typically people will hide what they do not wish for others to find. We hide our treasures!

What is it that you hide within your heart? What is it that you think of first, last and most often? If you are like every other person on this planet, then you are probably ashamed of your answer. Is it wealth? Is it power? Is it lust? Is it your family? Is it your job? Just what is it that you treasure?

What is it that God wants you to treasure and to hide in your heart?

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV))

We are to treasure God’s Word. We are to think of it first, last and most often.

What have you hidden in your heart?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Lord, help us to walk in Your ways

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul?
(Deuteronomy 10:12 (NIV))

If God wanted Israel to fulfill these desires, what does He want of us in today’s society?

When this was written, all that the nation of Israel had was The Law. The Law directed the people in what they should do, but it did not compensate for the fact that they could not keep The Law faithfully. If they did not do as was directed by the letter of The Law, they were not righteous in the eyes of God.

Or so they thought it would always be!

Jesus came and taught us that The Law is important, but it is the spirit of The Law that must be upheld. The Law can only show that we are far short of what God has asked us to be, and that we cannot do it on our own.

Now that Jesus has come, the above passage holds even more truth and promise than it did then. Imperfect humanity now has someone to call upon when we fall short of God’s righteousness. We can call upon the name of Jesus by saying that we are incapable of righteousness on our own. We can recognize Jesus as God’s Son, and our Lord and Savior.

Surely, we will all stumble in our walk with Jesus, but He is there to help us when we cannot make the journey on our own. He is there to carry us when we think that we cannot make the journey at all.

Today, we have even more of a reason to do as Deuteronomy 10:12 asks of us, for we now have someone who will help us to fulfill it.

Lord, help us to walk in Your ways, to love You, and to serve You with all of our heart and all of our soul.

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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How are we to glorify God?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
(Psalms 23:1-3 (NIV))

These are probably the most comforting words that a believer can read or hear, for they affirm that God is with us and desires good things for us.

Just why does He desire to be our shepherd? Why does He desire to give us “green pastures” and “quiet waters?” Why does He desire to restore our souls?

God is the Creator of all things. To be even more specific, He is our Creator and the Creator loves the creation.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
(Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV))

God made us in His image. He created us to be with Him. Through our actions in the Garden of Eden, we lost that righteousness that allows us to be with Him. God desires for each of us to be restored to that righteousness so that we may glorify His name.

How are we to glorify God?

We were created in His image. We lost that image. God desires to restore each of us to that image. We glorify God by following where He leads so that we may become closer to what He created us to be.

Think about an antique car that is in a junkyard. The man who owned that car when it was new finds it and buys it again. He lovingly restores it. He takes it to places where it will be renewed in its original image. He becomes happy because what he loved has been restored to what it should be. The restoration glorifies the owner of the car.

You are that car. God is the owner. Let Him lead you to where you can be restored to the image that you were created to be.

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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The grace of the cross

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
(Mark 8:36-37 (NIV))

God places a very great value on each and every person. That value is so great that Jesus told us we have within us something worth far more than the world. There is nothing that is worth us losing that valuable part of ourselves.

Just what is it that we each possess that is of so great a value?

It is the God given soul that has been uniquely created by God for Him to love. It is the part of us that longs for a relationship with God. It is the part of us that is eternal.

When was the last time that you stopped to realize that God gave you something that is totally unique in all of creation? Do you truly realize that this unique part of you was created to be in the presence of God?

We have started to believe the lies and the distractions of the enemy. Satan knows the value of our souls. He knows that God created us to have a special part of ourselves that was designed to be intimate with God. Satan wants to steal this from us. He will throw everything that he can at us in order to keep us from realizing what we have. If he has to, he will trick us into trading our soul for something far lesser in value. This happened in the Garden of Eden and it continues to happen to this very day.

Take heart, for God has offered each of us a way to redeem our souls.

Do you realize the great gift that God gave you when He gave you a soul? Do you realize the second great gift that He gave you in order to redeem your soul?

Have you forfeited your soul or have you redeemed it through the grace of the cross?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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