Don’t reject God’s grace and mercy.

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

“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 he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))

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

Since the beginning, God has had a plan for our redemption. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, God has put into action a plan that would bring us back to Him in a righteous and spotless fashion.

It is a simple plan.

Since we could not be perfect on our own, God sent His Son, Jesus to be perfect for us. Throughout Jesus’ life, crucifixion and resurrection, He was blameless in the eyes of God. All we have to do is accept the fact that we cannot do it on our own and call on the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

If we were capable of being perfect, we would not need a Savior, but we are born into sin and cannot escape from it by ourselves. Swallow your pride and receive what has been freely given to you. It cannot be earned, but it can be rejected.

Don’t reject God’s grace and mercy.

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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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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I love it that God chose to do a new thing!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43:19 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to think about this passage? We have a tendency to think that we are the ones who always want something different. We think that we are the ones who want to do a new thing, but if you actually think about it, God is the only One who has ever done good and new things! All we ever do is ruin what He has done!

God created everything. He created it all as a location for us, His creation. What did we do? We ruined it!

All throughout the Old Testament, God would do something for us as a part of His nature, and we would ruin it. He gave us promises and we disobeyed. He sent prophets and we ignored them. Finally, His ultimate plan came into fruition. He sent His Son, Jesus. He came as Emmanuel, God with us. Do you realize that the last time that God walked with His creation was before the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden? He came back into His creation so that He could walk with us and talk with us. He came to teach us exactly what He longs for us to do so that we can have fellowship with Him once again. He came to offer us a way out of our sin and back into His grace.

All throughout history, man has tried to elevate himself up to be able to reach God. God’s new thing saw Him coming to earth to meet us! His new thing brought grace and salvation to all who would simply accept the ultimate gift. God restored us to Himself at no cost to us. He paid it all!

I find it interesting that God’s new thing brought restoration to a lost world. I find it interesting that His new thing is something that He paid and we receive the benefits. I love it that God chose to do a new thing!

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Time to repent and turn toward the blessing!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
(Psalms 33:12 (NIV))

Our history is riddled with things that we should not be proud of, but is that a reason to not love our nation?

Think about that in terms of your families. Are they perfect? Do your children always do what you wish that they would do? Do you still love them even when they do something wrong?

Think about this in relationship to God’s love for us. Do we always do the right thing? Did that stop Him from sending Jesus to die for our sins so that we could have salvation?

Our nation is made up of people and not a single one of us is perfect.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

We can’t expect something that is comprised of sinful people to be perfect. There is only one who is perfect! Only when we repent and turn to the Lord and keep His commands will we be blessed and guided by His hand. We have to choose to follow the Lord. We have to live our lives in a way that honors God. We have to decide individually and as a nation.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
(Joshua 24:15 (NIV))

Jesus came to set the captives free. He came to bring us true freedom – a freedom from the law of sin and death. That freedom is far greater than any worldly independence. We have the ability to have both. We have the ability to be free as individuals and as a nation. Both require one simple action on our part. We must individually accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and we must, as a nation, turn to the Lord in repentance. Where are each of us personally in our acceptance? Where are we as a nation in our repentance?

Time to repent and turn toward the blessing!

Copyright 1998 – 2019 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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Is God truly the Lord of this nation?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
(Psalms 33:12 (NIV))

We like to say “God bless America,” but are we worthy of being blessed?

Think about that question in relation to the events that have been transpiring over the last several years. With these events that we see in our society, is God truly the Lord of this nation? Do we honor Him with our actions? Do we honor Him with our words? Do we honor Him with our hearts? Our money says “In God we Trust,” but have we come to trust more in our money and in our government than we trust in the Lord?

What would our founding fathers say about the state of our nation? What does the Lord say about the current state of our nation? Everything has been turned upside down. Evil is called good and good is called evil. Truth is no longer absolute. Society believes that truth is relative. There are certain factions of society that believe in separation of church and state. They believe that this is in the Constitution, when in reality there is no such article or clause that supports this. This is a lie that has been repeated so often that people know believe it to be true.

There are many things that society claims as good that God calls evil, so how can God bless America when we, as a collective society, are doing all in our power to thumb our proverbial noses at God.

The Body of Christ needs to stand firmly on God’s Word. We need to study it. We need to know it. We need to do more than pay lip service to God’s Word. We need to live it! Only when we truly study it, know it, and live it will we truly know God and call Him Lord. When we truly can call God Lord will we be truly blessed.

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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God loves us enough to give us a lifeline!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
(1 John 4:10 (NIV))

I saw this passage and had to share it. This definitely confirms that God loves us, but not in the way that society claims!

God loves us enough to offer His Son as an atoning sacrifice!

A sacrifice is something precious that is surrendered or destroyed for the sake of something else. According to this definition, it doesn’t make sense that God would surrender His Son to be killed if there was not a very good reason to do so. If, according to society, God accepts us as we are, then why would a sacrifice need to be made on our behalf? If you believe society’s interpretation, we are all perfect in the eyes of God. Think about this from a different perspective. If you are a parent and you have family members who are doing what you know to be right, would you willingly put yourself in harms way for no reason? Would you willingly suffer to rescue someone who didn’t need to be rescued?

I find it overwhelmingly sad that too many people reject Jesus because they don’t see that what they do is wrong in the eyes of God. They believe that God loves them and will welcome them with open arms just as they are. They fail to recognize their sinful nature and the righteous nature of God. They don’t see a need to be made right, to be redeemed, in the eyes of God. All that they choose to understand is that God is love. They fail to understand that we chose to rebel, and, as a result, we have no way back to God. We are without hope and we are perishing. In the midst of our hopelessness, God has given us a lifeline!

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are you ready and willing to testify?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
(John 1:32-34 (NIV))

What has God done in your life that points to Jesus as the Messiah?

Did the Holy Spirit convict you or did you have some revelation that made you realize just who Jesus is?

Each of us come to the realization that Jesus is God’s Chosen One in our own way and time. Each of us has a unique story to tell about how Jesus became a reality in our lives. Each of us have a powerful witness that we can use to reach others and bring them to the saving knowledge that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

All that we have to do is be willing to tell others what has happened in our lives because of Jesus.

I love the chose of words that John the Baptist used. He didn’t simply say that he knew that Jesus is God’s Chosen One. He purposefully chose the word testify.

Think about that for a moment!

Where are you when you testify to something? In most cases in today’s society, you testify in court. You take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You seal the oath with a promise to God!

John could have simply stated what he witnessed. He knew that what he witnessed was something that people would not believe if he did not use stronger words to imply the powerful truth behind them.

He chose to testify!

Are you ready and willing to testify to what Jesus means in your life?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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