He is the great I Am!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
(1 Chronicles 16:26 (NIV))

If you remember from just a few days ago, an idol is an impostor, a pretender or a false god. With this clearly defined, it is easy to come to the conclusion that all of the gods of the nations are impostors. They are pretenders. They are false gods! They only exist in the minds of the ones who created them no matter how many nations may worship the same false god. But, there is more to this than organized religions. What have you made into a false god in your life?

Money

Fame

Prestige

Power

Do I need to go on and list more, or do these suffice to tell of the things that can become false gods on an individual basis? Have we, as a nation, succumbed to any of these false gods? Do you see large segments of the population worshipping these pretenders? All of these are fleeting and anyone who strives to attain these things sadly has set them up as their own false gods. What can these do for you? Do they give you life? Do they give you breath? Did they create anything or are they simply creations of our own sinful natures? With that last question in mind, there is one question that should spring from your answer. Can any of these bring grace, mercy and eternal life?

There is only one Creator. There is only one Lord and God of all. He created all and knows all of creation by name. Do any of these pretenders even have the cognition to be considered a living being? Think about that from the standpoint of an idol being an impostor. Who is the father of lies? Who was cast down from heaven? Who made the heavens? Who cast the pretenders out of heaven?

He is the great I Am!

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Sounds like a reason to worship!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
(Psalms 47:1 (NIV))

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like the author of this passage knew how to praise and worship! It sounds like he also knew how to lead others in worship as well. If someone born long before our salvation came to earth can praise God in this manner, should we not do the same, if not more?

Think about that for a moment. This was written when all that humanity had was a promise of salvation. Now we have seen the promise fulfilled from the virgin birth, the miracles, and to the crucifixion, resurrection and the ascension. We have the great and valuable perspective of looking at all of this after it happened. We claim that we firmly believe that Jesus is the Son of Man and the only begotten Son of God the Father, yet we fail to praise and worship in a manner that conveys that we are the recipients of the greatest gift ever to have been given. All too often we sit for an hour a week among other people who simply sit as well. Where is the praise for what we have been given? Where is the worship of the one who gave it?

Are you thankful for what has been freely given? Are you filled with joy because you have accepted this priceless gift?

I realize that God has created each of us to be unique, but I honestly don’t think that God created any of us to not praise Him and to not worship Him? If we profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we should be leaping with joy for we no longer have to face eternity away from God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 (NIV))

Sounds like a reason to worship!

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What are you willing to endure to worship?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
(Matthew 2:1-2 (NIV))

Do we earnestly seek Jesus?

Do we go out of our way to find Him and to worship Him?

Would you be willing to travel to the ends of your known world in hope of finding salvation?

In today’s world, it is not uncommon for people to travel further than the Magi did for something that is of little importance. We have churches in every community, yet, many people will never step inside of one. These same people will drive hours to see a favorite sports team, yet willingly ignore the grace and mercy that is there for the taking. Our society may be more technologically advanced, but are we wiser than our ancestors? Are we wiser than the Magi?

We seek superficial rewards!

What is of importance to you?

Do you feel that what the Magi sought was and still is of importance?

Where does it rank in importance to you?

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
(Mark 8:36 (NIV))

I honestly believe that our society has turned this upside down. We do not care about our souls. We only care about what the world has to offer. We only partake or participate in something if we are guaranteed a reward or a personal gain.

Too bad that the world does not consider gaining eternal life a big enough reward.

The Magi were considered to be wise men. I honestly believe that our modern interpretation of wisdom is all wrong. Wisdom is not worldly knowledge and power. In the eyes of God, this is foolishness. True wisdom comes from seeking God and recognizing what you seek when it does present itself. The Magi brought expensive gifts. They were kings. They were learned men. In their worldly status, they chose to humble themselves and seek God’s Son.

We should willingly do the same. We should seek Him to whom all praise is due.

It is my prayer that we find our true reward through Jesus this Christmas.

What are you willing to endure to worship?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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We should never stop praising our God who loves us!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
(Revelation 4:8 (NIV))

Have you ever read this passage and thought that it was easy for these creatures to praise God because that is what they were created to do?

Have you ever come to the realization that we, as humanity, were created to lift up praise to God? We were created to walk with God and to be in fellowship with Him, but that all came to a drastic change when Adam and Eve fell from grace in the Garden of Eden. Because we had sinned, God in all of His holiness, His righteousness, could no longer walk with us and be in fellowship with us. Perfection cannot be in the presence of sin!

I can only imagine how Adam and Eve must have felt after having that intimate relationship with God only to lose it because of a lie.

Thankfully, God had a plan of restoration, of redemption, that would allow us to trade our sinful nature for His righteousness.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 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.
(John 3:14-17 (NIV))

In other words, God reached down from heaven with a way to redeem us and bring us back to a loving relationship with Himself. All that we have to do is choose to accept that redemption. We have a choice because God made a choice to send His Son to redeem us to Himself! If that is not worthy of our praise, then I don’t know what is!

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” should be forever upon our hearts and our lips.

We should never stop praising our God who loves us!

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What is your worship based on?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
(Isaiah 29:13 (NIV))

Are you the type of person who likes to follow a ritual and a routine? Do you freak out if something disrupts that ritual and routine? Who is it that says that you must follow a set order for anything? Do you even bother to ask why the routine is what it is?

Personally, I am a creature of habit, but I like to have a reason for my habits. I don’t like doing something just because everyone else is doing it. I don’t blindly follow a routine just because it has always been done that way. If you truly stop to think about most rules, regulations and routines, they were all started by people who thought that they had a better way to do things. People who all had a similar approach to how they thought things should be done banded together so that they could all do things the same way. Years passed and the reasons became lost, and today, we blindly follow someone else’s plan for doing any number of things.

Sadly, this even extends to the worship of the Lord. People blindly do things simply because that is how it has always been done. It is tradition.

Did Jesus come to tell us that the traditions of the Jewish people were correct as carried out by the Pharisees and Sadducees, or did He come to show us a better way? The Holy Spirit was sent as a guide, as a teacher and as a companion so that we would not lose site of the fact that human rituals, routines and traditions are not what God ordained. We are to worship Him as the Holy Spirit directs.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
(John 4:23 (NIV))

What time do you have?

What is your worship based on?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you worship anything above your worship of God?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
(Jeremiah 1:16 (NIV))

Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

Have you stopped deliberately sinning?

We may not think that we worship other gods, but in all honesty, we still do.

Do you like your job? Do you want promotions and raises? Are you willing to sacrifice for your job? Do you like money and the things that money can buy? Do you like your things? Are you so addicted to your smart phone that it has become the center of every waking moment? Do you wait impatiently for the new model to come out and then run out and buy it? Do you like to watch sports? Have you ever missed out on something else, such as church, because of sports? Are you proud of your car? Would you go ballistic if something scratched the paint on your car?

Now, can you still tell me that you don’t worship other gods? We may not think that we do, but do our actions tell another story and is that story one that we would be proud of? Even more important, is that story one that God would approve of? Will He pronounce judgments on us for what we have placed before Him in our lives? Would He consider from our actions that we have forsaken Him?

Do you worship anything above your worship of God?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Could you pass this test of temptation?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.’ ”

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ ”

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

” `He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus answered, “It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
(Luke 4:1-13 (NIV))

Satan tried everything that he could do to tempt Jesus!

Fortunately, Jesus did not fall prey to any of the temptations.

How did He face these temptations and walk away from them? How can we face them and walk away from them? Jesus was able to rebuke Satan and his temptations by knowing and using the Word of God to provide support during the temptations.

We can do the same!

True, Jesus was the Son of God, yet, He gave us an example that we can use to avoid temptation in our lives. We must rely on God. We must rely on the grace and mercy that God gave us through Jesus. We must turn to Jesus in honesty and sincerity.

Could you pass this test of temptation?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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We must make sure that we worship the Creator!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies, or the moon walking down its silver pathway, and been secretly enticed to worship them? If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven.
(Job 31:26-28 (NLT))

The earth and all of creation are things of beauty, but we must not forget that that they are a part of God’s creation.

We are to hold His creation in respect. We are to be good stewards of His creation. We are not to worship the creation as some people have become prone to do. We are to worship the Creator who made the sun shining in the skies, the moon walking its silver pathway, and our own magnificently created bodies.

We must not allow ourselves to be tricked into worshipping the creation. We must not allow the creation to become our god.

Jesus answered, “It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ ”
(Luke 4:8 (NIV))

It is true that God’s creation is a thing of majestic beauty, but it can be re-created at God’s will. In fact, the earth will be made anew. We have been promised that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. God will remake the earth as He originally intended for it to be.

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
(2 Peter 3:13 (NIV))

Don’t get caught up in the trap of worshipping the creation when the Creator is calling out to you. God’s creations are for our pleasure and ultimately His pleasure. Ultimately, we are His greatest pleasure.

Worship God !

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Truth is truth and it is not your decision!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
(John 4:24 (NAS))

To believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we must worship God in Spirit, allowing Him to “educate” us to His truth. Unlike today’s philosophy, truth is not flexible, truth is not something that changes with the situation. Truth is not what supports a person’s viewpoint. TRUTH IS TRUTH! Truth does not change or waiver depending on the situation.

We must be willing to accept the truth no matter how it changes our beliefs. Cigarettes cause cancer. That is a physical truth. For those who smoke, they may not want to accept that truth, but it is truth, none-the-less. They will eventually have to face that truth. Those who truly wish to worship God will worship Him and all of His truths.

Do you pick and choose what truths to believe or do you accept God’s truth in its entirety?

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you truly realize the greatness of God’s gift?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
(Hebrews 12:28 (NIV))

This passage reminded me that we all too often seem to forget the greatness of the gift that we have been given!

We are not worthy of the gift.

We did not earn the right to claim the gift.

We could never attain such a gift on our own merit, yet, it is ours free and clear!

Why, then, with such a great gift freely given to all who would ask, do we act like it is something to take for granted? Why do we act as if it is worth nothing? Why do we not seek to share this great gift with all whom we see?

Human nature is a strange thing. We make such a great big fuss over things that are so trivial and we make them out to be the greatest thing that ever was. The thing that truly is the greatest thing that ever was is the gift the God freely gives to all who will accept it. It is this gift that we make out to be worth little or nothing!

I am so glad that God has not revoked this gift of grace because of the way that we treat it!

I am so glad that we serve a loving God.

Aren’t you glad that God is not bound to human frailties and feelings. I know that most people who give great gifts would be offended if we treated their gift the way that we treat the gift that God has given each of us.

Do you truly realize the greatness of God’s gift?

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