Have you made your move?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Come near to God and he will come near to you.
(James 4:8a (NIV))

I am sure that you have heard that God is everywhere and that He will never leave you, so how do you understand and comprehend this passage? If He is everywhere, isn’t He already near us?

God is everywhere, but sadly, too few people realize that He will not force Himself on anyone. We have to turn to Him out of a choice that we make, especially since we, as humanity, chose to turn away from Him as a result of the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. We thought that we had been given knowledge, but instead, we lost all hope. Until God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to pay the penalty for sin and death, we only knew the wages of our sin even if we chose good. Thankfully, God had a plan that would bring an end to this.

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))

Each of us must make a decision to come near to God. This is only accomplished by believing in Jesus as God’s one and only Son. Through the gift of grace freely given on the cross, the veil that separated God from humanity has been torn in two. God had set in motion a plan to bring us back to Him and the veil symbolized that completion of that plan. Jesus declared this culmination of God’s redemptive plan with His final words.

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
(John 19:30 (NIV))

God used these events to unfold His perfect plan to draw each of us near to Him. God may use circumstances to get our attention, but He cannot make the decision for us. Our families and friends cannot make the decision for us. We have to be willing to put aside our pride and move closer to God. When we make that move, we will find that He is already closer than we could ever imagine.

Have you made your move?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you ready to be hated?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 10:22 (NIV))

Following Jesus apparently has its drawbacks! The world looks at us with disdain. The enemy looks at us and sees our former sinful selves. We will be shunned and ridiculed by the world. We will be hated, despised, rejected and accused of being ignorant fools. We will be laughed at, mocked and possibly so much more, yet, we who have professed a faith in Jesus are ready to stand firm in our faith. We pray that we are prepared to face the battles that will come our way.

We must be prepared!

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
(Ephesians 6:10-17 (NIV))

I know that this sound like an impossible task, but we must remember who is for us if we profess a faith in Jesus.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
(Romans 8:31 (NIV))

With these scriptural truths, I pray that we are fully prepared for what the world, for what the enemy may send our way. They can hate us all they want as long as we have a God who loves us for proclaiming that Jesus is Lord!

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))

We are given a choice. We can love the world and be despised by God or we can be hated by the world and loved by God?

Are you ready to be hated?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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We have a choice. Let’s make the right one!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.
(Proverbs 14:34 (NIV))

How do you think the Lord is reacting to the events that have been transpiring in this nation?

If you were to venture a guess, would you say that we, as a nation are exalted or are we condemned?

Before you respond based on your circle of friends, please keep in mind that even in the midst of Sodom, the Lord found righteous people. This simply shows that the Lord will save His own even when they are surrounded by sin. With that said, are we as a nation exalted or will we be condemned for the sin that is running rampant?

We have been given a very special gift as a nation. Some people will contest this, but we started off seeking religious freedom and a separation from tyrannical rule. We grew as a nation of people who read the Bible and who believed in the principles that it contained. Even if individuals chose not to believe, they still chose to live by these principles. We have not been perfect, but we have continually strived for what is right. Today, the definition of what is right has been changed so drastically be those who wish to have nothing to do with God. We have gotten to the point where we see more evil being called good and Judeo-Christian values are being called evil.

Have we failed as a nation?

Have we allowed sin to take over because we were too afraid to step up and say that it was wrong?

As we celebrate the anniversary of the day that we declared our political independence, we need to stand up and declare that we are a nation under God. We need to stand for what is good according to the Lord and not according to society. We must not be ashamed of the Gospel. We must not back down in the face of the enemy. We must take action.

We must pray like we have never prayed before!

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV))

We have a choice. Let’s make the right one!

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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How do you choose to live?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

For we live by faith, not by sight.
(2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV))

In this physical world in which we live, sight is important. Without sight, we go through our physical life bumping into things and tripping over every little obstacle that is placed in our path. We come away battered and bruised and ill-prepared for what happens next. We only know what is in the here and now and due to our lack of sight, we are not aware of what is coming or what is even directly in front of us until it is too late!

For those of us who have physical sight, simply blindfold yourself and try to walk through your house. You may think that you know your way around and that you can maneuver through your house, but can you actually make it a whole day without hitting your shins or stubbing your toes? Can you make it a whole day without running into a wall or falling down the stairs? Physical sight allows us to see and to maneuver through the physical world.

What about the spiritual world?

What about the interaction of the spiritual with the physical?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was such as thing as spiritual sight?

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
(Hebrews 11:1 (NIV))

Just as we trust our sight to give us assurance and confidence in what can be seen, we can and must rely on our faith to give us assurance and confidence in what cannot be seen. Our faith in Jesus gives us spiritual vision if we can only learn to rely on it in the same manner that we rely on our physical sight. Our physical sight is something that we take for granted. We go about our daily lives trusting what our eyes relay to our brains. We need to learn to trust what our faith relays to our spirits. Then, and only then, can we truly walk by faith even in the darkest of days!

Faith is a choice, but it also requires a daily commitment to stay steady in our faith. We must choose to live out our faith every single moment of every single day!

How do you choose to live?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Repentance is a decision that must be made!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.
(Romans 1:18 (NLT))

Have you ever stopped to wonder what would make God angry? Have you ever wondered if you could make God so angry that He would reject you? I believe that we have an answer in this passage.

God hates sin!

God hates wickedness!

He longs for people to repent and turn to Him. If we love our sin and our wickedness more than we love God and His righteousness, then we are in trouble. We should despise our sinful nature. We should reject the wickedness that is inherent within every person because of the fall from grace.

We live in a fallen world, but we don’t have to accept the state of the world as our own. Think about that for a moment in relationship to something a little easier to understand. I know that everyone has had a job that you just couldn’t stand. You hated the thought of being there. You dreaded getting up in the morning and going to that job. Did you simply accept the dreaded job as a part of your life? I can safely assume that you took action to make a change. You decided that you would leave that life and begin a new life under much different circumstances.

You can decide to leave sin and wickedness in much the same way as you decide to leave other aspects of your life. It is perhaps one of the greatest gifts that God has given us. That gift is free will. God gave us the ability to decide for ourselves to turn from our sinful, wicked ways and to follow Him. He gave us the free will to embrace His truth for ourselves.

With this in mind, do you understand that God loves us. He will get angry with us because of our sinful nature, but, if we choose to embrace His truth and accept His Son, Jesus, as our personal Lord and Savior, and repent of our sins daily, then we can rest assured that God will not reject us. Seek God in all things and seek His truth, for life is found only with the Creator!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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