We have been given a savior and His name is Jesus!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.
(Job 9:33-34 (NIV))

I think that I can safely say that a passage from Job was probably the last thing that anyone expected to be tied to Christmas, but all that you have to do is read the words recorded to see that Job prayed for Jesus to come!

With all that Job faced, he longed for someone to be able to do exactly what Jesus came into the world to do. Even without Jesus, Job never denied God. He never strayed from his faith no matter the circumstances and no matter what his wife or his friends suggested. Do we possess such faith? In a few days we will be celebrating the birth of the very one that Job prayed for. We can read about the birth of Jesus. We can read about His life, His ministry and the miracles that He performed. We can read about the crucifixion and the resurrection, but with all that we have, do we take it for granted? Do we look at Jesus as just another set of stories about someone who lived a long time ago, or do we embrace the promises fulfilled in and through Jesus?

With what we have faced this year, we think that we have been through a lot, but have we? Have we lost our health? Have we been ostracized by society? Have we lost all of our possessions? Have we lost our livelihood? Have we lost all of our children? All of this happened to Job in a single day, yet he never lost faith. He knew that God is good and he knew that God is worthy of our praise even in the midst of troubles.

Christmas is in just a few days. Can each of us proclaim that no matter what has come our way this year, God is still to be praised? Are we able to be filled with joy knowing that the mediator that Job prayed for has been sent? Are we filled with the joy of the Lord, or are we filled with the terror of the world? Unlike Job, we have been given testimony about the mediator.

We have been given a savior and His name is Jesus!

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you fully prepared for what tomorrow may bring?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
(Proverbs 27:1 (NIV))

Have your plans, like those of everyone else, been turned completely upside down this year?

Did you tell friends that you had a big vacation planned only to find yourself stuck inside your home for months on end? Perhaps there was a new activity that you wanted to take up, but couldn’t because of the uncertainty in this world. I remember sitting in a hotel on a little getaway with my wife when we started hearing that the stores were out of toilet paper near our home. By the time we left to head home, we decided that we should probably stop along the way to make a few purchases of our own! Every grocery store along the way was either sold out or almost sold out of toilet paper and paper towels. Only twenty-four hours earlier everything was normal.

If this year has taught us anything, it is the accuracy of this passage. We do not know what a day may bring!

I want you to consider another day that is coming. This day will find us waking up and going through our usual morning routines. It is possible that this day will begin just like any other day that any of us have experienced, but something will happen during the course of the day that will change everything. One scenario is that your physical life will end. If that is the case, are you prepared to stand before God and give an account of your life? Are you ready to face the consequences if you have not accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? The other scenario is that Jesus returns for His church. Will you be left behind to face the worst times in human history or will you be celebrating in heaven?

There is so much that can happen in the span of a single day!

Are you fully prepared for what tomorrow may bring?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you look forward to God’s promises?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
(Psalms 57:9-11 (NIV))

I realize that I have posted this before, but truth is something that needs to be repeated!

The Psalmist spoke truth and wisdom when these words where written. What was true then is still very true today.

In this Christmas season, we are constantly reminded of how great God’s love for us is. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is a constant reminder of God’s love. God is faithful in keeping His Word. All throughout the Old Testament, God promised to send a Savior to reconcile man with Himself. In this season, we are witness to the promise kept. It is a yearly celebration of that promise. At the same time, we must keep our eyes focused on the other promises of God, especially the one that says that Jesus will come again.

In this holy season of new birth, we must not forget that Jesus grew up and died on the cross, was resurrected and will come again.

Christmas is only the beginning of God’s promise and not the culmination.

Do you look forward to God’s promises?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Where do you think we are?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

`In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
(Acts 2:17-21 (NIV))

Many people believe that God’s time table is rapidly getting to the point where this will be completely true, and I honestly believe that they are correct. I know that we cannot know the hour or the day, but we can know the season. The season is very strange.

In my fifty-five years of life, I would never have expected to see things that are now being accepted by society. I would have never expected to the see the U.S. attacked not once, but three times on the same day. I would not have expected to see when our own history offends people. I would not have expected to see Bible publishers being sued because people don’t like the content. This just confirms something that I read earlier today. People will rejoice when you mention that God is love, but they will vehemently condemn you for saying that God hates sin.

I will be honest as if you probably didn’t already know this, but I monitor many things and I verify them as best as I can. I am amazed at the number of people who are having the same dreams and visions. I am amazed at the way that things have so rapidly changed in my lifetime. I am amazed at the acceptance of sins by so many people who claim to be a part of the Body of Christ. Not only are they accepting the sins, they are condoning and celebrating the sins.

That is not what the Body of Christ is called to do!

We are to be the salt and light. We are to change the world and not allow the world to change us.

We are to be prepared no matter where we are in God’s timeline.

Where do you think we are?

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