Do you take delight in the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalms 37:4 (NIV))

Have you ever truly stopped to think about this passage?

If you delight in something, it makes you happy. It makes you joyous. It becomes the very thing that you value the most. It becomes your treasure!

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:21 (NIV))

If you treasure the Lord, He is where your heart will be. The Lord will be the desires of your heart! He will give you Himself!

I realize that this may sound overly simple, and in all honesty, it is. When the Lord becomes your treasure, when you take delight in Him, He is the true desire of your heart. He willingly gives you what you seek. He gives you a deeper relationship with Himself. He gives you a deeper longing for His heart and for His righteousness. The best part of this process is that He then gives you more of what you desire. He gives you more of Himself!

Do you take delight in the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you ready for His coming?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
(1 John 2:28 (NIV))

I want to ask a question and I pray that you will be honest with yourself in this question and all questions that I ask.

With all that is going on in the world right now, have you found yourself asking if this is an indication of the soon return of Jesus?

To be honest with you, I have seen many people who would have never posted anything about this topic before who are now asking similar questions to what I just asked. This has many people thinking about God and what He has in store for us in the coming days, weeks, months and potentially years. What are your thoughts? What worries you or scares you the most? Are you worried or do you have a peace that baffles your family and friends?

If we have professed a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we should not worry. We should not fear! We should be longing for His return. We should be focused on doing all that He has called us to do and not focused on the things of this world.

If we are fearful as the events unfold before us, what does that say about our faith and trust in Jesus? If we are more concerned with thoughts such as “What will we do?”, then we should be ashamed of our lack of faith. We can look at the world and be overwhelmed and worried, or we can look at Jesus and be at peace. It is a matter of attitude and priorities. If we focus on the world, we are not focused on Jesus. We are not ready to stand before Him as one of His! If we focus on Jesus, there is nothing that can happen in this world that will sway our faith. In fact, when we focus on Jesus we are preparing for His return.

Are you ready for His coming?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you long to see Jesus face to face?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
(Zechariah 14:9 (NIV))

I pray that everyone who professes a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior earnestly looks forward to this day! It is the culmination of everything that we profess that we believe in.

We profess that Jesus is Lord. We profess that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. We profess that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. We profess that Jesus is the One. We profess that Jesus is the Son. We profess that Jesus is the only name by which we can be saved. We profess that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. We profess that on the third day He arose from the grave. We profess that He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. We profess that He will return.

In all these things that we profess, do we truly mean them? Is it our innermost desire to see these things come to pass? Will we be embraced or will we face disgrace?

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
(Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV))

Too many people simply give lip service to the things that we profess as members of the Body of Christ. Following Jesus is so much more than words. Following Jesus is a full-time commitment. We can say that we long for Jesus to return, but our thoughts, our heart and our actions can say something completely different.

Merriam-Webster defines longing as a strong desire or a craving. They also define craving as an intense desire. If you long for something, you have an intense desire for it to come to pass. Do you have an intense desire to see Jesus? Do you long for the day that Zechariah spoke of? Do you long to see Jesus face to face?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you longing for your new residence?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
(John 14:2-3 (NIV))

Are you comfortable in your current place of residence? Would you be upset if you were asked to move? Would you be upset if you were given a glorious mansion for your residence?

I am certain that this passage brings to mind certain things for each of us. We all have our vision of heaven and what the Lord is preparing for us, but whatever you are thinking of will be nothing in comparison to what awaits us. We don’t have the ability to fully comprehend all that the Lord has in store for us. Whatever we think, whatever we dream of, will only be a faint shadow of what truly will be.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV))

No matter what each of us envision heaven to be like and what our new residences will be like, there is one thing that we can all rest assured of. We will forever be in the glorious presence of the Lord. That single fact is enough to desire a new forever home. All of the promises about many rooms and streets paved with gold will pale in comparison to the glorious presence of the Lord. Our new residences will be forever in His presence! With this single truth, I can understand why the psalmist wrote these words.

Better is one day in your courts
     than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
     than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
(Psalms 84:10 (NIV))

Being in the Lord’s presence is where I long to be.

Are you longing for your new residence?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What do you thirst for?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
(Psalms 42:1-2 (NIV))

We all know what it is like to be physically thirsty!

You long for a cool, refreshing drink that will quench an unbearable thirst. You go out of your way to get something to quench your thirst. Many times you long to not only drink of the refreshing water, you long to immerse yourself in it as well. You want to fully quench the longing and desire for a refreshing and a renewing of both body and spirit.

It is amazing how something so simple as water can be such a driving force for refreshing and renewal.

Just as God created water to refresh us physically, He created us to be refreshed by Him spiritually. This concept has been expressed as the Lord being or providing living water.

Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
(Jeremiah 17:13 (NIV))

We can freely drink of this living water. It is offered to all who will drink.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
(John 4:13-14 (NIV))

Have you accepted the offer of living water?

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

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
(Isaiah 55:1-2 (NIV))

I have a large database of scripture passages that I have made notes on. I arbitrarily turned to this passage and immediately got chills. This is the third time today that this passage has come up. Lord, I may be slow, but I get the point.

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Do you long to have your thirst for righteousness quenched?

Do you find that the things of this world leave you empty and still longing?

What you are seeking is grace. What you are seeking is God’s perfect will in the world. What you are seeking is the exact opposite of what the world has to offer.

God’s gifts are free!

Only God’s gifts will satisfy your longing.

We cannot buy these gifts. Jesus paid the cost for all to partake. All that we have to do is earnestly ask to receive through the atoning blood of Jesus.

The world offers us so much that can distract us. Everything that the world offers has a cost. We will pay financially and we will pay spiritually. When we remove our focus from Jesus, our hearts harden and our lives suffer. When was the last time that you saw a famous person who was a devoted to their family and to God? Most are devoted to other things. This goes for any walk of life in which things become the goal. They take control and they cost more than just the financial price.

Jesus gives us peace. Isaiah spoke of these gifts before Jesus came, yet, he knew they would come. Isaiah did not get to see Jesus fulfill the prophesies. He did not get to go to the source of the living waters, yet he believed. He had faith.

Things in this world are far from what God intended. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are storms that destroy whole parts of the world. There are people who are determined to kill people simply because they believe in Jesus.

I know that to those who do not understand, this may seem like an escapist mentality, but it is far from that. We, as the Body of Christ, have a promise that God will prevail. Personally, I long for the day when all who are thirsty will drink from the living water of Jesus.

Are you thirsty?

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