How is your faith?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
(James 1:2-3 (NIV))

Has your faith been tested over the last few years?

With all that is going on in the world, most of which is not even on our radar, many people are struggling. I recently read a report that death rates for young men in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties is up by an astronomical percentage. I don’t recall the percentage of suicides within this group, but it is one of the biggest causes of death. This is sad in and of itself, but what I find the saddest about this statistic is that this generation is the first to be completely raised in a school system after prayer was removed from schools. This was the generation that had no moral foundation instilled in them. Many of their parents were in the generation that received some moral foundation, yet, they did not receive enough to realize the importance of what they were missing. Their children did not receive even the little amount that their parents received.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV))

The events of the last few years have not been easy for anyone, especially those who do not profess a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. All that they see is the world and, as a result, they are left feeling helpless, hopeless and lost.

Has your faith grown? Has your faith matured over the last few years? Have you dug deeper into prayer and God’s Word during these troubling times? Have you found yourself relying on God’s promises even when you see no possible promising outcome from a worldly perspective? Let’s face facts. The last few years have been very troubling, but we have been given a promise that we must cling to.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
(John 16:33 (NIV))

We must have the faith to know beyond any doubt that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. We must have the faith to know beyond any doubt that even though we are sinners, we have a risen Savior and His name is Jesus. We must have the faith to know beyond any doubt that all of His promises are “Yes.” We must have the faith to know beyond any doubt to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and that through Him, we will persevere.

How is your faith?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Run the race!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
(Hebrews 12:1 (NIV))

How do you see your walk of faith?

Is it a leisurely stroll through life where you can stop and indulge in whatever you may encounter along the way, and then you end up where you end up without any direction? Is it a random chance of circumstances that lead you to your destination? Do you even have a destination in mind? If you have a destination, how do you plan on arriving there? Do you have a course? Do you have a plan that will bring you closer to that destination each day of your life?

If you have professed a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then your destination should be maturity in Him. Each day you must focus on following Jesus in all that He desires for you and of you. Professing a faith in Jesus does not mean that the rest of your life will be easy. It does mean that He will walk with you and help you to overcome the troubles in this world. Let’s face the facts, you can’t run a race if you are hindered in any way. The same is also true of our walk of faith with Jesus. It is the worldly troubles and the sin that hinders us in our faith journey. Focus on Jesus and these things that once were so prominent in your field of vision, in your life, will grow strangely dim as Jesus becomes clearer and clearer.

I love how Paul used the race analogy to explain our walk of faith. Running a race requires self-discipline. Running a race requires commitment. Running a race requires daily preparation and training. Running a race requires us to be unhindered so that we can run. Running a race requires us to go the distance. Running a race requires us to keep our eyes on the finish. Running a race requires that we do not become distracted. Running a race requires that we follow the course marked out before us. Running a race requires that we want to finish the course well. Jesus is that course!

It is my prayer that we keep our eyes on Jesus and that we finish well.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
(2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV))

Do you desire to be able to make this claim?

Run the race!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you desire to persevere in the new year?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
(Hebrews 12:1 (NIV))

We have a decision to make. Do we want to proceed on our typical status quo for the new year or do we want to persevere in our faith? Far too many times it is just so much easier to keep doing what we are doing, even if it is not all that we should be doing. Faith is not a single decision and then the rest of your life is good. That single decision should start you on a path for the rest of your life. Paul referred to this path as a race. It is a race that those who profess a faith in Jesus should desire to complete. It is a race that we should desire to win, for every person who completes this race wins the prize!

How do you complete this race?

We complete this race by staying the course. That course is following Jesus. We are to follow Jesus each and ever day of our lives. We are to trust Jesus each and every day of our lives.

If you sign up to run a race and you stop running two minutes into the race, do you finish? You don’t receive a prize. Do you even receive the t-shirt that says you ran the race? Running a race requires commitment. It requires determination. It requires keeping your eyes on the prize and pushing through to the end. The very same thing is true of our walk of faith with Jesus. We can’t simply stop following Him two minutes, or at any time, after we make a decision to follow Him, and still reach the goal. Following Jesus requires perseverance. It requires commitment. It requires faith to take up our cross.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
(Luke 9:23 (NIV))

Daily!

We cannot decide to take a break from Jesus. We cannot decide to go spend the rest of our life following our sinful nature and still expect to hear these words from Jesus.

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
(Matthew 25:21 (NIV))

Being a good and faithful servant means that we persevere in our faith. It means that we run the race daily and that we strive to live our lives after what Jesus showed us. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be full of blessings, for He will lead you where you never thought about going. One day, your race will be finished and it is my prayer that you will hear these words from Jesus.

Well done, good and faithful servant!

Today is the first day of the rest of your race.

Do you desire to persevere in the new year?

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you adding to your faith?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
(2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV))

Is faith the beginning or the end of your walk with Jesus?

Let that question sink in for a moment and then let’s consider that it takes faith to turn to Jesus and accept Him as your personal Lord and Savior. With that in mind, faith is the first step in your walk with Jesus, but each step that you take should bring with it a maturity. Each step should bring with it a discovery and an understanding of a new trait, a new Fruit of the Spirit. We are not called to come to Jesus and then stay the same way that we were. We are called to mature into His image.

If we are called to mature into the image of Christ, it makes sense that as we walk with Him we begin to take on the very nature of Jesus. When we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we are sinners who do not know goodness. No matter what others may think of us, no matter how good we may think that we are, our goodness, our righteousness is as filthy rags. As we walk with Jesus, He teaches us what it means to be good. He teaches us what knowledge is pure and righteous. He teaches us self-control. He teaches us perseverance as we take each step with Him. He teaches us what godliness means. He shows us how to mature from selfishness to mutual affection and love. Each step in our walk with Jesus should result in something being added to our faith.

How is your walk with Jesus?

Are you adding to your faith?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Where does your heart direct you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
(2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV))

In our lives, there are many paths that we can choose to follow. Some days, we make so many decisions that each minute potentially can change the outcome of our day, possibly our whole lives and even our eternity. If we broaden our perspective, we have the potential to impact the day of countless individuals that we encounter. If we follow God’s lead, we can potentially impact their eternal perspectives as well.

This is staggering!

Have you truly stopped to reflect on how our actions can have eternal consequences for not only ourselves, but for countless others as well?

Does this make you want to pray for your heart to be molded into a heart that seeks the Lords direction, love and perseverance?

Take a look at your life. Chances are good that each of us has had moments in our daily lives where we fail miserably at allowing the Lord to direct our hearts. If you are like me, you can probably vividly recall the worst moments when you moved completely opposite of what the Lord desired. Do you wish that you could have a do-over because of the pain that these moments caused?

It is not always easy to allow the Lord to direct our hearts, but it is what we, as members of the Body of Christ, must strive to do. We must pray that our hearts seek after the very heart of God! We must be willing to move in directions that go against our sinful human nature and see each other as God sees them. We must come to the realization what we are not the center of God’s universe. He placed us in His creation, but His creation is much greater than just you or just I. We must learn to see each other with the love that God sees each of us with. We must realize that the Lord is patiently calling to Himself all of those who are lost. We must love them as He loves them! We must be directed to show God’s love.

Where does your heart direct you?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Can you endure?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow . . .for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”
(James 1:3-4 (NLT))

What are you ready for?

Is your faith as strong as it should be? I cannot answer that question for anybody but myself. I can honestly say that I like to think that my faith is strong, yet, I doubt what my actions would be if I were to face certain situations. If someone were to hold a gun to my head and tell me to deny Jesus or die, I pray that I would have the faith to do what I know that I should.

Think about what I just stated.

If our faith were not tested and our endurance not given a chance to grow, I know exactly how I would react if I would be placed in the situation I described earlier. It is a learning process. When we are in school, we do not take college calculus in kindergarten. We start off with lessons that we can grasp fully and then we move on to another, bigger lesson. Our spiritual maturity follows a similar path. If, as a new believer, we are faced with major situations, we will fail. It is by God’s grace that we can be redeemed when we do fail, but we will fail. Each test of our faith gets us closer to what God desires for us, but we must embrace the faith lessons that we are being taught.

There will come a day very soon when each believer will face a test so big that we MUST fully rely on our faith to see us through. We must allow our Godly character to be developed now so that when we do face this test, we will know exactly how to respond. We must be ready to face the enemy head on and confidently denounce and rebuke his plans no matter what the consequences may be to us. We must embrace our faith and head fully into the power of Jesus’ name.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
(Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV))

Can you endure?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Is it your desire to persevere?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
(Hebrews 10:36 (NIV))

There is never a good time to give in to the ways of the world!

It is imperative that everyone who professes a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior persevere to finish strongly. Do not let the sins of the world sneak up on you, distract you and make you lose sight of Jesus and what He has called you to. Accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior does not prevent you from sinning. It also doesn’t give you permission to continue in your sin. Accepting Jesus means that you realize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. Accepting Jesus means that you realize that you cannot escape the consequences of your sin on your own. Accepting Jesus means that you recognize the grace and mercy that God has freely given to those who will simply profess that Jesus is Lord! Accepting Jesus means that you recognize the authority that Jesus has as Lord of your life. Accepting Jesus means that you surrender to that authority. Accepting Jesus means that you turn away from your sin and follow Him!

That is the will of God!

Are you able to accept these conditions? Are you able to persevere in these conditions?

It might be easy to say that you believe, but do your actions reflect your words? Do you thoughts reflect your actions? If you are like me, human nature creeps in and we all do things that we wish we wouldn’t do. When these things happen, do you feel remorse? Do you regret the decisions that lead you to those actions? Do you fall on your knees in repentance?

Have you ever stopped to think about the relationship of repentance to perseverance?

I honestly believe that they go hand in hand, for without true repentance we would never be able to persevere. When we repent, we make a decision to make a course correction and get back to following Jesus. When we persevere, we simply repent and make course corrections all along the way until we get where the Lord leads. We don’t give up. We don’t give in to the sin. We keep our eyes focused on Jesus!

Is it your desire to persevere?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Have these characteristics been produced in your life?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
(Romans 5:3-4 (NIV))

Seeking maturity in Christ is an admirable desire, but most people fail to recognize that following Jesus will not be an easy thing to accomplish in this sinful, fallen world. The simple fact that you profess a faith in Jesus marks you as a target in the eyes of the enemy and in the eyes of the world.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
(John 15:19 (NIV))

If professing a faith in Jesus instantly means that the world hates you, then it is important to understand that there will be suffering because of your faith in Jesus and at the hands of the world.

Are you ready?

Are you facing suffering in this world? Perhaps you embrace the things of this world and, as a result, the world embraces you in return. Is this what we, as the Body of Christ, are called to do? We are called to be in the world, but not of it. What we embrace is Jesus. It is impossible to embrace the grace and mercy that is given through Jesus and still cling to the sinful, fallen nature of this world. Accepting Jesus means turning your back on the world. Accepting Jesus means declaring war on sin and the enemy. If you declare war, you can’t expect to sit on the sidelines and only observe! You are called to be a faithful soldier of Christ.

You have chosen a side!

Is a soldier who is going into battle the same soldier who comes out of that battle? There will be sufferings. There will be things that are experienced when facing the enemy that will develop perseverance, character and hope. It is crucial to never forget that the battle has already been won, even though we have to face things that will cause suffering. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus and strive to develop these characteristics.

Have these characteristics been produced in your life?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are you effective and productive?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV))

Are you increasing? Are you growing? Are you maturing in your faith?

Looking back on my own faith journey, I can unequivocally say that I have grown, that I have matured in my faith over the course of my lifetime. I can also attest to the concept that we will never reach complete maturity while we are on this earth. I learn so much each and every day. I can read the very same passage that I read yesterday and discover new insight in the very same words. Nothing has changed in the words. The only thing that has changed is my comprehension of God’s ability to open up His Word into a whole new revelation.

Think about that in relationship to your faith and maturity. Think about your understanding in relationship to God’s unlimited understanding!

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV))

Doesn’t it make sense that we, in our limited understanding, would need to increase in our ability to understand? Doesn’t it make sense that we increase in our ability to understand by increasing our faith? After professing our faith, we increase our faith by striving to increase our righteousness, our goodness, in the eyes of God. We accomplish this by seeking His knowledge and by learning righteous self-control. We learn to persevere even in the face of adversity as we strive to mature into the likeness of Christ, who embodied true love in order to offer salvation.

None of us are there, yet, but we, as members of the Body of Christ, must strive to be effective and productive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Are you effective and productive?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Do you face trials with joy?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
(James 1:2-3 (NIV))

From a human perspective, why would we consider facing trials something to be joyful about?

Trials make us uncomfortable!

Trials make us shed the comfort and safety of the known. They push the envelope and make us extend our boundaries. Trails make us get off of the couch and take action. Trials make us go beyond the known and step gingerly into the unknown.

In all honesty, trials actually make us grow and mature!

I realize that this may sound unconventional, but it is true. The trials that we face can have a very big impact on our lives if we allow them to mature us and to mature our faith. If you don’t face trials, your life will be one in which you feel that you are entitled to everything. If you don’t face trials, you will never know the pleasure of relying on something called faith. If you don’t face trials, how can we draw closer to God, after all, human nature seeks a place to turn to when things don’t go as we want them to go? If you think about this, facing trials with joy goes very well with the following passage.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33 (NIV))

I don’t know about you, but I find great joy in knowing that Jesus has overcome the world. Armed with this little tidbit of wisdom, I try to make myself be joyful no matter what may come my way. I don’t always succeed right away, but eventually I come to my senses and begin to see and understand the joy through the trials and the troubles. After all, the cause of all of my trials and troubles has been overcome by Jesus!

Do you face trials with joy?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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