God still saves those who call upon His name!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Alas! That day is so great
      there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
      yet he shall be saved out of it.
(Jeremiah 30:7 (NIV))

What is your understanding of the importance of Israel in God’s timeline?

What is your understanding of the tribulation that is spoken of in Revelation and hinted at in Jeremiah and many other books?

There are many who believe that the tribulation is what is referred to in this passage. You may be more familiar with it being called the time of Jacob’s trouble. Based on this concept, many believe that what is spoken of in Revelation is God’s plan to redeem, to refine Israel and that the church will be gone before this happens. As God unfolds His plan, more and more will be understood. Now, we can only speculate as to what all of this means and how the Lord will unfold all of it as His plan comes to fruition. One thing is certain. God is not through with Israel. He has plans to redeem Israel for Himself. He has plans to redeem Jerusalem to Himself. With this in mind, we must be diligent in our prayers.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
(Psalm 122:6a (NIV))

We must also be like the Bereans and search the scriptures for the truth as God unfolds it.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
(Acts 17:11 (NIV))

God gave us His word.

I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
(John 14:29 (NIV))

We must dive deeply into His word so that we are able to recognize when things happen and believe. We must also share the Gospel so that others will believe. We must lead people to Jesus before they are distressed and troubled. We must lead people to Jesus so that they may know of God’s grace and mercy before it is too late.

God still saves those who call upon His name!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you willing to surrender your will to the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
(Isaiah 6:8 (NIV))

Willingness!

This seems to be a characteristic that is disappearing from many aspects of society. Is it disappearing from the people who claim to be members of the Body of Christ? Are we willing to stand up and say that we will go where the Lord sends us? It’s time to be honest with yourself and truthfully acknowledge the last time that you stepped forward when you saw a need or felt the Holy Spirit tugging at you. In hindsight, did you respond in a way that left you sitting there or did you wholeheartedly embrace the unknown for the Lord?

Being willing to respond and carry through with that response often places us outside of our comfort zones. We feel uncertainty when facing the unknown even when it is the Lord who is calling us to go. Think about this in respect to Abram. He heard the Lord tell him to leave the country where he lived and trust the Lord to lead him to a new land. Consider how different the outcome if Abram had simply said that he was afraid and wanted to stay where he was.

The Old Testament as well as the New Testament are full of people who were willing to answer and go. Abram went and we now know him as Abraham. Noah went and built an arc. Moses went and lead God’s people out of Egypt. Jacob went and scouted out the land. David went and fought Goliath. The disciples answered the call and followed Jesus.

We have a choice, but how do you think the Lord responds when we make a choice that is contrary to His calling? The Old and New Testaments are also full of people who heard God’s call and decided not to follow. Jonah ran and was swallowed. He eventually surrendered to God’s will. The rich young man heard the call from Jesus and turned and walked away. We never hear of him again. The two thieves on the cross answered differently from each other. One accepted Jesus and is with Him in paradise. The other cursed Jesus, and . . .

Take a very serious soul-searching look at yourself. Are you willing to do what the Lord asks?

Are you willing to surrender your will to the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you chosen life through the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV))

These words were spoken long ago. So long ago that it has now become popular for many “scholars” to doubt that these words, or any other word from the Bible actually ever were spoken. What they doubt is not really the fact that these words were spoken, but the fact that there is truth behind them. A truth far greater than any truth humanity can fathom or create on our own.

Too many people have a hard time believing that there is a God, for they do not want to be accountable to anyone but themselves. They want to continue to believe that whatever they do is all right as long as it makes them feel good. God gave us words to the contrary. He gave them to Moses on Mt. Sinai. If you follow these words, you are promised life. If you do not, you are faced with death. Humanity is not capable of following these words to perfection. We are not capable of following them for more than a few minutes before we stray from their path.

How can we have life if we cannot follow the instructions that lead to life? God has given us a savior. He has given us someone who can, and has followed them to perfection. He has given us His Son, Jesus, to be our intercessor.

We now can choose life and know that our choice will be a true choice. We have a savior. We have a perfect intercessor who has taken all of our imperfections and removed them from us. We now have life and all of the promises that God has given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Have you chosen life through the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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God always keeps His promises!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiahn and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
(Matthew 1:1-17 (NIV))

It is important to remember that God foretold that from Abraham’s line would come the promise. God also told that from David would come a king whose reign would never end. With Christmas upon us, we need to remember these promises and remember that Jesus came from these lines. These are only a few of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Lineage is important to God and it is important to remember God’s faithfulness. God always keeps His promises. That is why the lineage of Jesus is so important. It shows us that God does keep His promises to the very smallest detail.

Merry Christmas

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

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV))

These words were spoken long ago. So long ago that it has now become popular for many “scholars” to doubt that these words, or any other word from the Bible actually ever were spoken. What they doubt is not really the fact that these words were spoken, but the fact that there is truth behind them. A truth far greater than any truth humanity can fathom or create or our own.

Too many people have a hard time believing that there is a God, for they do not want to be accountable to anyone but themselves. They want to continue to believe that whatever they do is all right as long as it makes them feel good. God gave us words to the contrary. He gave them to Moses on Mt. Sinai. If you follow these words, you are promised life. If you do not, you are faced with death. Humanity is not capable of following these words to perfection. We are not capable of following them for more than a few minutes before we stray from their path.

How can we have life if we cannot follow the instructions that lead to life? God has given us a savior. He has given us someone who can, and has followed them to perfection. He has given us His Son, Jesus, to be our intercessor.

We now can choose life and know that our choice will be a true choice. We have a savior. We have a perfect intercessor who has taken all of our imperfections and removed them from us. We now have life and all of the promises that God has given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you received what had been promised?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
(Hebrews 11:39-40 (NIV))

Before Jesus came into this world, no one was capable of achieving God’s perfect Will. Even those who had the faith to follow God when no one else was, such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, did not have what we have been granted today. No matter how faithful they may have been, no one was perfect in the eyes of God. They could not be allowed to stand before the Throne of God due to their sin.

God could not allow sin in His presence, therefore, before Jesus came to be a living sacrifice for atonement for our sins, the people that we read about in the Old Testament could not enter into God’s Glorious Kingdom after their death. God did take some people directly to heaven without allowing them to see death, but It is through our physical death that sin has control over us.

We, as the human race, have suffered the spiritual death through Adam and Eve. Through this death, sin was allowed into the world. Through sin, we suffer a physical death. Perhaps it is for this reason that God allowed Elijah to be taken directly to Heaven without experiencing an actual physical death.

Unfortunately, this has only happened a very few times. The rest of us are bound by the law of sin and physical death, but Jesus came to provide a way for us to break that law. Through the sacrifice that God planned through His Son, Jesus Christ, we have the only way available to defeat sin and death. All it takes is a simple act of faith and claim that Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior.

The odds are much better this way than with God taking you directly to Heaven.

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you willing to take the name Israel?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

This is what the LORD says–
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.

One will say, `I belong to the LORD’;
another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
still another will write on his hand, `The LORD’s,’
and will take the name Israel.
(Isaiah 44:2-5 (NIV))

Even then, God foretold of His great gift to the whole world. The Gentiles are not biological descendants of Israel, yet, Isaiah spoke of the day when Israel’s descendants would be like grass, and people would “take the name of Israel.”

God did indeed pour out water “on the thirsty land.” The land is our barren souls before salvation. God gave us Living Water to quench the thirst that cannot be quenched by this world. Those who accept this Living Water are a part of Israel. They are descendants of Jacob and Israel and are “grafted” into God’s promise. Those that have been grafted into Israel have willfully taken the name of Israel as their own. It is a choice that has changed their lives. For it is through the nation of Israel that God has blessed the nations. And the blessing is the most spectacular blessing that can ever be bestowed upon anyone. Grace and mercy are yours through the gift of Jesus Christ.

Are you a part of Israel?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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