Are you in need of Godly rest?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
(Psalms 62:1-2 (NIV))

In this world, it is hard to find rest. Society demands that we keep moving at an ever increasing speed. We cannot rest in the world. We can rest in the security of God. God created us to rest securely in Him. When Adam and Eve fell from Grace, that rest was disrupted. Only through the Salvation provided through Jesus Christ can we again come fully under this rest. This rest is not a bodily, physical rest. It is a rest of the spirit. When your spirit is at rest, everything else in your life will follow.

Are you in need of Godly rest?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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This doesn’t sound very appealing, does it?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
(Romans 7:15 (NIV))

How many people can truly relate to what Paul wrote to the Romans?

Do you ever find yourself doing the very things that you hate while you turn your back on the things that you want to do?

We all have certain pet sins that we just can’t seem to get rid of. We long to turn away from the things that we hate, but our sinful human nature leads us right back to the very things that we despise.

As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his folly
(Proverbs 26:11 (NIV))

This doesn’t sound very appealing, does it?

Why do we do the things that we despise and turn away from what we truly long to do?

No one is perfect. No one can live a life of complete righteousness in the eyes of God. We all will fail more times than any of us care to admit. Why do we do this? How do we overcome our human frailties?

God knew that we would do things like this. God knew that once humanity fell from grace, sin would have a very powerful hold on each and every one of us. Thankfully God knew that we would need a savior to bring us grace and mercy. We, as fallen humanity, cannot do it on our own.

Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior does not mean that you are automatically made perfect. It simply means that you realize that without Jesus, you are nothing. Without Jesus, you have no hope of salvation.

Have you ever truly stopped and thought about the words that Paul wrote?

If the man who had the Damascus road experience and was called to preach the Gospel to the gentiles faced this dilemma, why do you think that we will not face it? We must not punish ourselves, but, rather we should do as Paul did and focus on Jesus. The more that we focus on Jesus, the less time that our sinful nature can present itself.

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Even in the face of wickedness

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Though grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil
and regard not the majesty of the LORD.
(Isaiah 26:10 (NIV))

Do you ever wonder why some people just seem to scoff at anything that is mentioned in the Bible?

Lately, there seems to be an outright hatred of anything that has Biblical roots. These people claim to seek tolerance and acceptance, yet, they are the first to be unaccepting of anything or anyone that clings to their faith.

I have seen comments from people wishing that those who profess a faith in Jesus would all die. I have seen comments where they vulgarly rant about what they would like to do to Christians. I have seen things that I thought that I would never see. I call it pure evil when people wish to do vile things to others and show no remorse for their thoughts and actions.

This sadly reminds me of the story of Lot.

The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom–both young and old–surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
(Genesis 19:1-5 (NIV))

Innocence is lost.

That was Satan’s plan all along. Humanity was to lose the innocence and the joy that was theirs. He deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden, and he has slowly worked his way into every aspect of society. We are to the point where faith is ridiculed. There is anger and evil.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
(Luke 17:26-29 (NIV))

Noah and his family lived righteous lives in the midst of evil. Lot and his family lived righteous lives in the midst of evil. No matter what may come, we, as the Body of Christ, must not allow the evils of the world to sway us from our faith. We must not allow our imparted righteousness to be taken from us by giving in to the evils of this world.

John Newton was correct. Grace is amazing. It can overcome evil.

We must pray for guidance. We must pray for wisdom. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the words and to guide our actions in hope that those who are lost may be shown the same grace and mercy that we have been shown.

Even in the face of wickedness, we must be the light of Jesus to the world.

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