The choice to repent is yours!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
     “return to me with all your heart,
     with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
(Joel 2:12 (NIV))

Even now!

There is no better time than the present, for we are not promised tomorrow.

We live our lives as if we have all of the time in the world, but we don’t. We live our lives as if we can do whatever we want and then, at the last minute, we can ask God for forgiveness. Most people never have that chance. We live our lives as if we will know when our time on this earth will end, yet we are caught off guard when it does.

With all that I see transpiring in the world, our own lives are not the only thing that is time sensitive. This world is facing things that seem to parallel end time prophecies, yet not many people are acknowledging this. We see satanic worship on TV, and at the same time, we have thousands of people worshipping Jesus. Is this part of the wheat and the tares happening right in front of us?

We are told that no man can know the hour or the day, but we can recognize the season. We are also told that many will be deceived. We are told that the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. We are told that the enemy is the father of lies. We are told that his lies caused Adam and Eve to fall from grace. We are told much, but how many of us truly pay attention to what we have been told? Are we caught in a delusion?

Time is short!

Jesus may return for His church this very moment. Where would you be? Your life may end this very moment. Where would you be?

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

We have a choice!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
     and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
     in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
     to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:9-11 (NIV))

We can return “even now” and experience grace and mercy, or we can bow when it is too late to escape the consequences of our sin.

The choice to repent is yours!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
Support Daily Living Ministries
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
(Joel 2:12 (NIV))

I am sure that you have read or heard people saying that the events we are experiencing are all part of God’s end time plan, and I honestly think that we are closer than most people realize. Regardless of where we think we are in God’s timeline, I want to ask a few questions that pertain to your personal relationship with the Lord.

If Jesus were to return this very moment to take His true church home, would you be part of that snatching away? Would your address change in the twinkling of an eye? Would all of your troubles go away or would the worst troubles that you could possibly imagine be about to start?

Most people simply put off ever thinking about this. They are afraid of what they will see if they take an honest look at their lives, so to avoid what they are afraid that they might find, they simply never look! I realize that it is human nature to shy away from conflict and from difficult subjects, but no one needs to be this type of person when it comes to their eternity!

God is calling us. He even sent His Son to reach out to us.

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))

All that we have to do is believe.

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Have you returned to God with your heart?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“Even now,” declares the LORD,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
    and not your garments.
  Return to the LORD your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,
  slow to anger and abounding in love,
    and he relents from sending calamity.
(Joel 2:12-13 (NIV))

The words written long ago in the book of Joel still hold true to this very day. I imagine that they will be true until Jesus returns in triumph to the Mount of Olives. Only then, will it be too late for those who have made the wrong decision.

God wants us to turn from our sin and return to Him.

All too often, we do things that are extravagant in nature because we feel that we must do something of great magnitude, or great outward appearance, so that God will know that we mean it this time. Perhaps these acts are more for ourselves and our neighbors than they are for God, after all, God sees our hearts. He doesn’t need to see the flamboyant antics of someone who will break the promises that were just made. This is why we are told to “rend your heart,” for God sees the heart and He knows when it is truth. We can forever rend externally to ourselves and it will never have a lasting impact. When we rend our heart, it is the very center of our existence. We have made the decision to change from the inside out. Perhaps this is why Jesus spoke about what makes a man unclean.

He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.’ “
(Mark 7:20-23 (NIV))

Have you taken that ultimate commitment to God? Have you internalized the change by changing your heart? Have you returned to God with your heart?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Are you seeing miracles in your life?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
(Matthew 13:58 (NIV))

Do you constantly see things happening in the lives of other people and wish that something similar would happen in your life?

Let me ask you a question and I want you to truly stop and think about your answer. Don’t simply just read through this without stopping to look at your life in respect to this question.

How is your faith?

We all like to think that we possess a strong faith, but do your actions reflect your self assessment? Do you read your Bible on a daily basis? Do you spend time in prayer on a daily basis? Do you spend time fasting from aspects of this world so that you can focus on Jesus? Do you seek after God’s heart so that you can know Him better? Do you seek to do His will in your life in all things? Do you seek the Lord and ask for things that burden your heart? Each of us desire things in this life. We must be careful how we act upon those desires. We can do a vast number of things, ranging from something wrong to nothing at all to seeking God’s desires for us. The Lord knows this.

You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
(James 4:2-3 (NIV))

Seeing miracles in your life is part of this spectrum of desires, our actions, and, consequentially God’s reaction to all of this. It comes down to faith. If we go through life not expecting to see miracles, guess what! You won’t. If you go through life with a faith that says we serve a God who can and will do great things, you will see God move in ways that you never expect!

Are you seeing miracles in your life?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Have you returned? Are you still returning?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
(Joel 2:12-13 (NIV))

Are you ashamed of where you have been?

Perhaps I should ask if you are ashamed of where you are?

Let’s face the hard, unadulterated truth. We are all human, and human nature means that we are not perfect. We have all done things that are far from what Jesus calls us to do. Most of us like to think that this is all in our past, after all, we have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior! In reality, we still sin. Our human nature doesn’t go away. We must allow the Holy Spirit to influence our lives, to control the sinful nature that lies within all of us.

We must repent daily!

When we repent, we turn away from our sin and return to God. It is an act of obedience that we must do daily, if not more often, for our sinful, human nature will try to make us return to our sin.

Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior is not the end of your walk with Jesus. It is only the beginning! When you go for a walk, do you ever find yourself making mid-walk corrections and adjustments to make sure that you end up at your ultimate destination. Sometimes you must turn left. Other times you must turn right. Along the way you may have to step over or around obstacles. Sometimes you must turn around or return. Walking with Jesus is much the same way. Our sinful nature will start to lead us down a path that is not right. We must be sure to listen for the call to return to the path that Jesus desires for us to walk.

Have you returned to the Lord to be able to begin anew? Are you returning to Him on a daily basis?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

In case that you forgot, Jesus is the bread of life!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
(Matthew 4:1-4 (NIV))

I realize that we live in a physical world and that we need physical nourishment for our bodies, but our society has removed a vital aspect of what it takes to sustain us in a healthy manner. We need God. We need a close relationship with God.

It is this close relationship with God that enabled Jesus to rebuke the devil. If Jesus had not been the Son of God, then the close relationship with God the Father would not have been in place, and the temptation could have been too strong to avoid. Before you explode at that last statement, I want you to think about what I just said. Perhaps I should phrase it like this? If you had been in the situation that Jesus was in, would you have been able to resist the devil? Do you have a close and strong relationship with God the Father so that you can lean on Him for strength when the devil tempts you?

How do you strengthen your relationship with God?

Read and study His Word! The books of the Bible are often referred to as God’s love letters to humanity. They tell of His desires and His love at the same time that they tell of the history of God’s creation, the fall from grace, and God’s plan for redemption.

I want to ask a rhetorical question.

Are you ever tempted?

If you are honest with yourself, then the answer is going to be yes.

How do you resist temptation?

God has a plan for that. He has a plan for anything and everything that we can and will go through in life. That plan calls for us to rely on Him and His Word. We need to feed ourselves spiritually on the very heart of God!

In case that you forgot, Jesus is the bread of life!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Confess! Repent! Worship!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

They took turns confessing their sins and worshipping the Lord their God.
(Nehemiah 9:3 (NLT))

This passage just stopped me in my tracks!

Do you realize what was going on?

All of the people of Israel were gathered together in one place. They were fasting. They were dressed in sackcloth. They were asking for forgiveness of their sins. It was not just a few people. It was not just the members of one town.

It was the whole nation!

What do you think would happen if our whole nation would gather together and confess their sins? What would happen if everyone worshipped the Lord?

I hate to say this, but I believe that we have become so self centered that we will never come together if we don’t think that there is something in it for us. We are too worried about the personal pronouns me, myself and I to see beyond our own greed, ego and pride.

It is a shame. We know what happens when we, as a people, turn to God.

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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV))

Even though I find it difficult to believe that something like this could happen, I also believe that nothing is impossible with God. I know that times are strange. Good is called evil and evil is called good. Still, we must pray. We must not give into the world and the prince of the world.

We serve a risen Savior. Whether Jesus comes for His church tonight or one hundred years from now, we must hold fast to the promises. We must hold fast to the hope that this nation can be turned back to Jesus!

Confess! Repent! Worship!

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Petitioning God

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
(Ezra 8:23 (NIV))

What is different about this and how we ask God for something today?

Toady, it seems that we simply pray one or two times for something and when it doesn’t come about when we want it to, we simply give up!

Ezra wrote about fasting and petitioning. Exactly what is the difference from then and now? Fasting requires a commitment. It requires a willing act to deliberately give up something in the hopes of attaining something else. Fasting requires you to give up physical food in order to obtain spiritual blessings. Don’t take this wrong, but, when was the last time that you saw your church have a Sunday afternoon Fast? We have a tendency to get together and eat, and, yes, sometimes we overindulge. We do not get together as a body of believers and fast. We do not give up something in the hope of obtaining something greater. To quote an old saying, we want our cake and we want to eat it, too.

When was the last time that you saw someone with a petition? They feel strongly enough about something to take it upon themselves to get other people to feel the same way. Have you ever petitioned God for something? Petitioning calls for a fervor. It calls for a relentless desire to obtain what you seek.

Do you see a trend in what Ezra wrote about? He wrote about people who were passionate about what God could do for them. They did not relent. They stayed the course of prayer, fasting and petitioning until God answered them.

Are you willing to stay the course?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery