Have you found the comfort to walk through this valley?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
     for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
     I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
     your rod and your staff,
     they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
     in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
     my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
     all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
     forever.
(Psalms 23:1-6 (ESV))

Contrary to what each of us may want, this world is not a safe place!

We can ignore the truth and go blindly about our lives, but that is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. If we don’t make a deliberate decision to turn to the Lord, then we belong to the enemy. Even when we do profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, the enemy will do all within his power to steal, kill and destroy. In other words, every day that we live in this sinful, fallen world, we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Are you walking through this valley with the good shepherd?

Are you walking through this valley with the Lord?

Are you at peace even when all around you is falling apart?

I could go on with so many questions, but it all comes down to being comfortable in your faith and in your relationship with the Lord.

Have you found the comfort to walk through this valley?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
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It is not a matter of “if,” but “when”!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

When you pass through the waters,
     I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
     they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
     you will not be burned;
     the flames will not set you ablaze.
(Isaiah 43:2 (NIV))

Did you notice anything about this passage?

There is one word that is repeated three times in these seven lines. Repetition is used to emphasize, to drive home a point. In this particular case, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to tell people that if they choose to follow Him, He will be there with them in all circumstances including the times that they face hardships and persecution. He never said that we wouldn’t face hardships and troubles. He simply stated that He would be with us during these times. In fact, He repeated this three times to drive home the point that He would be with us during these difficult times.

When!

Why when?

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you will be hated by the world. You will face hardships and persecution!

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 10:22 (NIV))

If you profess a faith in Jesus, and your faith is strong enough to let the world know where you stand, you will be hated. You will be hated because the world hates Jesus. You will be hated because you don’t go along with the evil things that this world condones. In many countries, you can be put to death for professing a faith in Jesus. With the current events that are transpiring in the world today, this is only the beginning. Whether you believe in a rapture, or when it will happen, we are told that we will face hardships and persecution. If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, we know that these times will come. We must be prepared.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
(Ephesians 6:11-17 (NIV))

It is not a matter of “if,” but “when”!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What are you in step with?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:25 (NIV))

Do you listen to the Spirit?

Are you receptive to that still, small voice?

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, it is so easy to think that this is always true. Sadly, for most people it is not. Even those who desire nothing but to be in His Will make mistakes. Even Paul struggled with this. Thankfully, he wrote down his thoughts for us.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
(Romans 7:15-20 (NIV))

Paul did not give up. He did not give in to his sin!

It is a matter of attitude. It is a matter of priorities. Even when we want to do what is right, we will fail. The key is to always keep your eyes focused on Jesus and your spirit willing to listen and learn from the Holy Spirit. When the times come, and they will, when you fail to do the right things that you know you should do, it is important that you do the things you did when you first accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

Admit that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, still!

Humbly seek His grace and mercy.

Repent and pray for the strength to stand firm in your faith.

If we strive to live by the Spirit, we will desire to keep in step with the Spirit, but since we are still not mature in our faith, we will falter. In much the same way a child who is walking with their father will become sidetracked by all of the things that catch their eye, we, too, are still a child in our faith journey. We will inevitably become sidetracked. We will sin. When this happens, it is important to remember that we must get back in step with the one who is leading us on this faith journey.

What are you in step with?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are you out of your earthly mind?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
(2 Corinthians 5:13 (NIV))

Have you ever heard the expression, “They’re out of their ever loving mind.”?

Perhaps you prefer saying something like one of the following. One fry short of a happy meal. The elevator doesn’t go all the way up. He has a few loose screws. Or, he doesn’t have the sense that God gave him. But, no matter how you say it, the implications are that the person in question is crazy or even stupid.

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then this is exactly how the world sees you! The world even calls us uneducated and ignorant. What is so ironically funny is that there are many believers who are just as educated according to worldly standards as those who make these claims.

Where do you claim to belong in this attack on the sanity of those who profess a faith in Jesus?

I don’t know about you, but I love the words that Joshua spoke.

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))

I don’t care what the world thinks of me, for this world is not my home. I have been, and will continue to do what I am called to do to share my faith. At this present moment in time, the world thinks that they are right, but the Lord is patient. We must continue to be out of our minds in hopes of sharing the truth of the Gospel with those who are in need of a Savior before it is too late.

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 2:10-11 (NIV))

We can profess Jesus now and be saved, or we can profess Jesus is Lord when it is too late. I don’t know about you, but waiting until it is too late is the epitome of being out of your mind, but sadly, that is how the world thinks.

With that in mind, I have but one more question for you to consider.

Are you out of your earthly mind?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Have you given up the indulgences of the flesh?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
(Galatians 5:13 (NIV))

Do you still indulge in your past sins?

If you have professed a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, what does your answer say about your faith?

By professing a faith in Jesus, you have admitted that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, but that does not mean that we can continue in our sin. Think of this in comparison to the relationship of a husband and wife. What happens when one spouse commits adultery and the other spouse forgives them? Does that forgiveness give the one who strayed in the relationship permission to do it again? If you answered that it does not, then why do those who profess a faith in Jesus do what we all agree should not happen?

We are told that the Blood of Jesus washes away all of our sins and that we are made white as snow through the cleansing blood of the Lamb. I love this amazing fact, this amazing gift of grace! I also love that if we truly seek His face, we are forgiven. If we repent, we are forgiven. It is a matter of attitude. We must desire to change. We must desire to repent daily and follow Jesus, but we are told that we are not to continue to deliberately choose to sin. We are to focus on Jesus and when we focus on Jesus, the sin that we have indulged our fleshly nature with soon becomes non-desirable and eventually nonexistent.

But, we can’t do it on our own. We must rely on Jesus every single moment of every single day of our lives!

There is a saying that each of us has a God-shaped hole that we try to fill with anything and everything that a human heart and a human mind can conceive. When we indulge the flesh, we attempt to fill that hole with the conceptions of our sinful nature. When we choose to serve one another humbly in love and obedience to Jesus, we indulge the righteousness that we are called to emulate. We choose to fill that God-shaped hole with what God intended.

It comes down to a personal choice.

What choices do you make on a daily basis?

Have you given up the indulgences of the flesh?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What do you have?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
(1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV))

I am at a loss with this passage!

I simply do not understand how someone who professes a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior could live without showing the love that Jesus has called us to show. I simply do not understand how someone could be so in touch with God’s Word where they can recite scripture and not understand the very heart of what they are saying!

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:2-3 (NIV))

Everything that has been recorded since Genesis shows the overwhelming love that God has for His creation. If you truly stop to reflect on why everything was created to begin with, you realize the the Lord wanted to be in a loving relationship. You realize that, even though He knew what would happen, He gave us free will so that we could choose for ourselves whether we rebel or whether we love and follow.

Think about that!

We have each been given a choice of whether we would rebel, whether we would blindly follow a set of rules, or whether we would follow out of love. Basically, these words to the church in Corinth are targeted to those who simply follow the rules. They look at themselves in much the same way that the Pharisee saw himself in the following parable.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
(Luke 18:9-12 (NIV))

The Pharisee did not feel love. He did not feel compassion. All that he felt was a attitude of “I’m right and you are wrong!”

Instead of love, he possessed arrogance.

What do you have?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Have you placed your sinful past at the foot of the cross!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV))

Do you like living in the past?

Would you like to go back and relive your life?

I realize that we all have the proverbial “what if” moments when we stop to reflect, but how many of us truly wish to go back and live through the things that we now try to put behind us? If we truly have left something behind, why do we wish to revisit it? If we truly have put our sinful past behind us, why would we wish to revert back to our sinful, fallen nature and the consequences of that sin, especially since we have the glorious promise of grace and mercy that was freely given to us through the cross?

When you complete elementary school, do you wish to go back to kindergarten? When you complete college, do you wish to go back to elementary school? Then, why do so many people, upon professing a faith in Jesus, return to their sin? Sadly, we are creatures of habit. We had become comfortable with our sin. We had become addicted to our sin, and that addiction draws us. Even if we don’t respond, it nags us. It tempts us. It reminds us of our past.

It makes us think that we are unworthy of the mercy and grace that we have been given!

To be honest with you, we are unworthy. However, we have a Father who loves us and His love is greater than all of our sin. He provided a way for us to be redeemed. Not of our doing, but of His doing!

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.
(John 3:16-17 (NIV))

With this in mind, I wish to remind you of a saying that when the devil reminds you of your past, you are to remind him of his future. You are to boldly profess that you have been washed by the blood of the lamb and that your garments have been made white as snow. He no longer sees your sins. He sees righteousness inherited because of your faith in Jesus.

Your sins have been removed because of His great love.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
     so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
     so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103:11-12 (NIV))

Have you placed your sinful past at the foot of the cross!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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For today, they ignore the Lord of glory!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
(1 Corinthians 2:8 (NIV))

After two thousand years, we still have people who don’t understand!

We still have rulers and governments who don’t understand!

I hate to say this, but we even have religious leaders who don’t understand!

When Jesus walked the earth, He was not what the people expected the Messiah to be. The truth is that Jesus was not different from what the prophecies foretold. The sad fact is that the prophecies were misunderstood, and because of this, they carried out the ultimate form of betrayal.

They crucified Him!

Israel had walked away from God on so many occasions, and when they did return, they worshipped out of ritual instead of out of truth. It is sad that human ritual can pervert and corrupt even what is being done with good intentions. They spent so much time focused on the rituals that they lost the true meaning behind these rituals. Their temple sacrifices were to atone for sin when following the letter of the law still left everyone a sinner. The meaning of the sacrifices had become lost on the people. True repentance was not in their hearts.

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
     Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
     I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
(Isaiah 1:13 (NIV))

They failed to realize that God had laid out a plan to draw people to Him. They failed to realize what God desired of them.

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
     and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
(Hosea 6:6 (NIV))

Are we any better today?

I would like to think that we are, but we still have our misconceptions of what God desires. We hear people proclaiming separation of church and state. We even hear government officials falsely proclaiming this. In almost every so-called modern nation, government is worldly with no reference to anything that is righteous in the eyes of God. I honestly believe that not only do our rulers and government officials not understand, they couldn’t care less about the things of the Lord. They have removed Him completely from the public stage and relegated the Savior of the world to nothing more than a joke in their eyes.

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, it is time to pray for our rules, our leaders and our governments. We need to pray that they will repent of their ignorance, . . .

For today, they ignore the Lord of glory!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are we understanding the urgency of our present time?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
(Romans 13:11 (NIV))

When Paul wrote these words to the Romans, he was warning them that the time had come to wake up from their sinful slumber for salvation was at hand. They had been living with no hope of salvation and Paul’s words were used as a proclamation that they now had hope, and that this hope was firmly grounded in Jesus!

Today, after two thousands years, we must be able to understand a different present time.

As believers in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we know that salvation is ours if we profess this faith and call upon the name of Jesus. Salvation has been made available to a sinful, fallen world for two thousand years. Today, we must watch and wait for the fulfillment of God’s plans as He draws the church age to a close.

I have stated many times in recent years that I, like many others, feel that God’s plans are rapidly unfolding right before our eyes. The events that we watch are too numerous to list here, for they are many. Just as God used Paul to tell the Romans that salvation was then available, I believe that God is using many things in this world to tell us of this present time. He is telling us to wake from our slumber.

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
(Romans 13:12 (NIV))

Paul preached salvation and grace based on his Damascus Road encounter with Jesus. He was correct in spreading this good news, this Gospel, to a sinful, fallen world. He was correct in helping them to understand that their time to repent was upon them. Today, we are closer to the time when Jesus gathers His church to Himself. Today, we are closer to the time when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Today, we are in the times when we must do as Paul did and preach the Gospel to all whom we encounter.

Have we been woken up from our slumber?

Are we understanding the urgency of our present time?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
https://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What’s on your mind?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
(Romans 8:6-7 (NIV))

Two very distinct examples of what awaits us if we continue to let the flesh rule our minds.

We are told in Galatians what we face, what we will see as the characteristics of the mind governed by the flesh, and they are not pretty.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
(Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV))

Do you see these characteristics in your life?

If so, what does that say about the things that control your mind? What does that say about the actions that we must take?

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
(2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV))

When we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we have accepted the grace that is freely given, but we have also accepted the fact that our lives are not supposed to be the same as before we accepted Jesus. We are to relinquish the things of this world, the things of the flesh, and focus on the things of God. We are to strive, with His help, to replace the acts of the flesh with things of the Spirit. We are to bear good fruit according to His purpose.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV))

We are to make a daily decision to have our minds governed by the fruit of the Spirit.

I realize that we are born sinners and that we live in a sinful, fallen world, but the decision is ours. We have been told that we will face troubles in this world, but we are to focus on Jesus, for He has overcome the world. We are to fill our minds with things of God and not things of this world. You will be surprised at what can and will happen in your life when this becomes your priority. It all starts with what you think about!

What’s on your mind?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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