April 24, 2020
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
(Ephesians 1:7 (NIV))
What do you think of when you think of riches?
Is it the typical human nature responses such as money, big house, fancy cars and expensive toys?
Let me ask this another way.
What is it that you value the most?
Did you answer family and friends? Perhaps you thought of the gift of life itself. These are valuable to most people, yet, there is something that has far greater worth. It is of far greater worth than all of the riches of the world.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
(Mark 8:36 (NIV))
Everything in this life is here today and gone tomorrow. With that said, how can we place value on something that does not last? How can we spend our lives striving for something that can be taken from us in the blink of an eye?
We are trapped in a world of sin and death. A world that we allowed to fall away from God. It is a world badly in need of something that is eternal, something that will not rust or decay with time. That something is God’s grace.
I know of nothing in this world that can bring eternal life, even though man has searched for just such a thing for a long time. I know of nothing in this world that can bring peace, even though we all long for it. I know of nothing in this world that can bring everlasting joy, even though there are things that bring us fleeting glimpses of joy. Nothing in this world can redeem us. Nothing in this world can provide forgiveness, and nothing in this world can give us grace.
With that said, the greatest riches of all is the very thing that can bring all of this. It is not of this world, for this world is fallen. It is from the very One who created this world. It is designed to bring each and every one of us back into the pre-sin relationship that we were supposed to have with God.
Let me ask a few more questions.
Does money make you happy? Do big houses make you happy? Do expensive toys make you happy? All of these things soon become the reason for living and then you discover that they leave you cold and empty. Only one thing can leave you joyfully filled and warm with the love of God.
Have you accepted the riches that God offers through His glorious gift of grace? Have you accepted the gift of salvation that was purchased at the cross by Jesus?
You will never find greater riches than this!
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Forgiveness, forgiveness of our sins, forgiveness of sins, glorious riches, God's grace, God's plan of redemption, greater riches, redemption, redemption and grace, riches, riches of his kindness, Uncategorized, worldly riches, worldly riches or Godly wisdom | Tagged: accepted, accordnace, Be still, big house, blink, blood, cold, created, cross, death, decay, designed, empty, eternal, everlasting, expensive, eye, fallen, family, fancy cards, forfeit, Forgiveness, friends, gain, gift, give, glorious, God, God's grace, grace, greater, happy, human, Jesus, joy, life, money, nature, offers, peace, pre-sin, provide, purchased, redeem, redemption, relationship, responses, riches, rust, salvation, sin, sins, soul, striving, taken, time, today, tomorrow, toys, trapped, typical, value, world, worth | 
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Posted by dailylivingministries
October 7, 2019
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
(Proverbs 15:14 (NIV))
Do you feel that you are good at discerning the truth, especially God’s truth?
One good way to truly know the correct answer to this question is to look at what your heart seeks. This can be easily determined by your answers to a few more questions.
What do you spend your money on?
What fills your free time?
Do you spend time daily in God’s word?
What do you and your friends do when you are together?
Do you have to change how you act when around people whom you know who are believers in Jesus?
Do you find any excuse that you can to avoid going to church?
Do you feel empty and unfulfilled when you don’t spend time with the Body of Christ?
I could probably keep going, but your answers to these questions will give you a good and truthful understanding of what you truly seek to fill your life with. Just as each of us have specific foods that we like, we also have specific things that we long to put into our lives. Some have an appetite for destruction. Some have an appetite for lust. For some people, it is greed, while for others it is drunkenness and debauchery. Human nature longs for things that always seem to lead to sin and destruction. We must overcome our sinful human nature and seek after God’s truth, wisdom and knowledge. We must cultivate an appetite for righteousness!
What type of appetite do you have?
Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
July 18, 2018
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
For no word from God will ever fail.
(Luke 1:37 (NIV))
You can look at this passage from several different perspectives.
God’s word is truth.
God never lies!
Anything that God decides to do will come to fruition.
God does not simply attempt to do something. He does it!
God’s word does not return empty.
I could go on an on, but I think that you understand the concept of the power of God’s word as truth.
If we can agree upon this, why do so many people find the following passages so difficult to believe?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:1 (NIV))
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14 (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 they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))
Jesus is God’s word made flesh! He was sent to redeem those who believe.
Think about that in context to the passage from Luke.
For no word from God (Jesus is God’s word made flesh) will ever fail. Jesus came into this world to redeem those who simply believe. He is calling people to God through a redeeming grace bought by His blood on Calvary. This act of redemption will not fail. God is calling His children to Himself through Jesus. God is washing away the sins of those He calls through the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus! I love the way that Paul conveyed this truth.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:38-39 (NIV))
It is impossible for God to fail!
Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
March 24, 2015
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
(Colossians 2:8 (NAS))
I never thought of it like this, but this is exactly what the enemy is doing!
He is using lies and the worldly philosophy to take people captive. They have become prisoners of war! They are held captive by lies. They are held captive by partial truths that are deceiving people because they don’t know the full truth. They are held captive by a love of their own sins, and they are held captive because they are following a crowd.
We must be prepared to fight the good fight so that we are not taken captive by the enemy. We must know God’s Word. We must know God’s heart, and we must know God’s Son, Jesus, as our personal Lord and Savior. We must know God so well that we can tell when something is a lie from the enemy.
Think about the lies of the enemy.
He knows God’s Word and can twist it. He knows God’s heart and can make you think that God doesn’t care what you do. He knows God’s Son, Jesus, and he will trick you with teachings that are so close, yet they will lead you astray.
When you are in a battle, most prisoners are taken because they are in the wrong place or they are overwhelmed. Satan tries to get you to go to that wrong place. He tries to overwhelm you so that you will fall.
Stay strong in the Lord. Focus on Jesus! Meditate on God’s Word so that you will know God’s heart. Open your heart and life to allow Jesus full access. Allow the Holy Spirit to indwell you so that you have guidance and instruction.
Don’t allow temptation to lure you to a wrong place!
Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
Daily Living Ministries 