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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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 thrown any mountains into the sea?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
(Matthew 21:21 (NIV))

Every believer reads this passage and secretly wishes that they had a faith this strong. Far too many of us read this and get hung up on the laws of physics and the physical improbability of something like this happening, but we forget to take into consideration one important fact.

We profess a faith in Jesus!

He was crucified, dead and was buried. He was then resurrected on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father. If we profess a faith in someone who has accomplished the ultimate physical impossibility, why do we ever doubt anything else?

Let’s take this one step further. I like to look at this in conjunction with this passage.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
(John 14:12 (NIV))

Exactly what works did Jesus do?

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
(Matthew 11:5 (NIV))

Are you doing the works that Jesus did? If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you are supposed to be doing these. If you faith is strong enough to do these things, then it is strong enough to move mountains. All that you need to do is realize one important fact.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
(1 John 4:4 (NIV))

With all of these scripture passages saying that if we have faith then we can do anything in His Name, I have but one question left to ask.

Have you thrown any mountains into the sea?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Jesus didn’t say only on Sunday!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

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))

How much attention do you pay to Jesus on a Monday?

How about on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?

Do you deny yourself on these days?

What about Friday and Saturday?

It is almost a given that most people do not deny themselves on these two days, especially starting when work is complete on Friday afternoon. Sadly, too many carry this over into Sunday. This is true even for some who profess a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. For far too many, all that they seem to be able to commit to the Lord is an hour on Sunday morning. Even then, they watch the time and pay more attention to the text message they just received than they do to what is being taught about God’s Word.

This is so far from what was intended with these words spoken by Jesus. Following Jesus is not an hour a week occurrence. We are to set our eyes upon Jesus every single moment of every single day. We are to deny the things that distract us from what we have professed as our first love. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus even when we are at work. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus during our best days. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus during our worst days. If you acknowledge that Jesus is the Word made flesh, then the following passage takes on a whole new meaning.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
(Deuteronomy 11:18 (NIV))

We are to fix Jesus in our hearts and minds. We are to tie His teachings to our lives and bind them to our hearts and minds so that they are with us always, and not just an hour a week.

We can’t expect to take up our cross daily if we do not take up His Word daily. Take is an action verb. It indicates a willful grasping, a determined and premeditated action that results in possessing what was taken. Following Jesus is a set of daily, deliberate and willful actions that keep us focused on Jesus. We can’t stay focused on anything if we only devote one hour out of 168 hours that are in each week to what we profess to follow. We devote more time than that to eating. We devote more time than that to watching television. We devote more time than that to just about everything else in our lives. To the things that we love, we devote more of our time.

What does that say about your love for Jesus?

What does that say about your relationship with the Lord?

“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))

It takes time to get to truly know Jesus. We are to take up our cross daily. We are to follow daily.

Jesus didn’t say only on Sunday!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Supplied, filled and met!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:19 (NIV))

What is it that you need right now?

Perhaps I should ask what it is that the world needs right now.

I may be going out on a limb with what I am about to say, but all that I am doing is presenting what I am seeing.

For years, those of us who profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior have been saddened by what we see in this world. We see good being called evil and evil being called good. We have constantly said that this world needs Jesus. Many of us have prayed for Jesus to be made manifest in this world. Recent events on many college campuses and in many different countries are indicating that He has agreed with our prayers. Even so, we have people who don’t believe that this movement is what we have prayed for. Knowing human nature, I am sure that not everyone at these events has a completely pure heart and and completely pure motives. But we must remember that Jesus did not tell us to get our lives together and then come follow Him.

Jesus called sinners to repent. He called sinners to turn from their wicked ways and to follow Him. He will clean up lives in such a way that the sin will be left behind!

I have another question for you.

When you pray for something do you expect something to happen?

If you answered yes to this question, then you must come to the conclusion that the Lord has answered. It may not be how you would like it to be answered. It may not fit your denominational doctrine, or your particular worship style. It may not fit your understanding of who God is, but we must realize that we do not see things as He does.

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))

We must remember that we do not have because we do not ask.

We have been praying for Jesus to be made manifest in this world.

I don’t know about you, but from what I am seeing, the following is true.

Supplied, filled and met!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Are you willing to answer the call?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
(Matthew 9:38 (NIV))

Have you truly stopped and given this passage thought?

Let me explain my question.

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, we have been given instructions. We have been given a job assignment that is supposed to be our primary task as believers in Jesus.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
(Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV))

In other words, we are supposed to be working the harvest field!

If we ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers, we are asking Him to send us! The most important question that we must then ask ourselves is how will we answer. Will we be as willing to go as Isaiah was?

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))

It is said that God loves a cheerful giver. That is true for so much more than just our finances. It involves our time! God longs for us to be willing to work the harvest field. He longs for us to tell others about the amazing grace that is available to anyone who will simply repent and receive. Are you willing to give of your time so that others may know of God’s great love? Are you willing to share the Gospel to a world desperately in need of salvation? Are you willing to work the harvest? Are you willing to put yourself out there in a world that is becoming more and more hateful of anything to do with the Gospel, with Jesus?

Are you willing to answer the call?

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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We are to be faithful and diligent until the appointed time!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come
    and will not delay.
(Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV))

Are you tired of waiting?

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then there are several things that you know will happen because we have been told that they would happen. Still, waiting is never easy, especially when you see the things that are happening in this world, and you know that the only hope that this world has is Jesus!

If you were taken in the rapture at this very moment, would you be upset? Are there things in this world that you don’t want to let go of? Take a good look at your priorities and be completely honest with yourself when you answer.

Most believers long to be with Jesus., yet, we are torn. We desire to be with Jesus in the presence of the Father, yet, we all have someone whom we love who has not come to the saving knowledge of Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. For this, I am willing to wait. For this, I am praying for friends and family to repent and come to salvation through Jesus.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9 (NIV))

I realize that I am being selfish when I long for the appointed time. I am guilty of seeing this promise through the eyes of someone who has already accepted their salvation. I need to open my eyes and see this as Jesus sees it. I need to realize that the Father does not wish for any to perish. If that is the Father’s wish, then it must be mine as well.

Still, there is coming a time, an appointed time, that will not delay. We must be prepared for that time as it rapidly approaches. We must also be diligent in our assignment, for we have not been given a reprieve.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV))

We are to continue to make disciples. We are to continue baptizing. We are to continuing teaching.

We are to be faithful and diligent until the appointed time!

Copyright 1998 – 2023 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Don’t be led astray!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
(Matthew 24:5 (ESV))

Have you ever stopped to count the number of people in your lifetime who have claimed to be a messiah, if not the messiah?

From the likes of Jim Jones to David Koresh, we have seen many people who claim to be from God. Some people have even made statements about political leaders being the messiah. One even went so far where his followers called him their lord and savior on a nationally televised event. And now, recent events in Israel have rabbis saying that their messiah is alive and that they are now meeting with him.

If you profess a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then you know that all of these individuals are not the real thing. There is only one Messiah, and His name is Jesus! He was born of a virgin. He taught. He performed so many miracles that they couldn’t all be recorded. He willingly went to the cross to die for our sins. On the third day, He was resurrected and walked among us once again. He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, and to all who will believe in Him, He intercedes for us and gives us eternal life in the presence of the Father. He will come again!

Are you ready to recognize the one true Messiah?

Will you be able to stand firm when others are being lead astray?

For those of you who are married, if you are put in a room full of people who claim to be your spouse, how do you recognize the true person that you are married to?

I realize that the answer to that last question is rather obvious, but I felt that it needed to be asked. The same way that we recognize our spouse is also the same way that we will recognize Jesus. Familiarity! This familiarity only comes from spending time together. It only comes from a familiarity that comes from an intimacy, a closeness, that is only found in that one relationship. It is found in no one else!

We know that Jesus will tell those who have not built that relationship to get away because He never knew them. I venture to say that this intimacy can go in the other direction. Put these false messiahs to the test, and don’t be afraid to tell them to get away because you don’t know them. This will require that you get to know Jesus and He gets to know you. Spend time in His Word. Spend time in prayer. Gather with other believers who are also seeking that intimacy with the Lord.

Can you recognize Jesus?

Don’t be led astray!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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Believe!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
(Romans 10:10 (NIV))

You have a choice!

Once you make that choice, your life will continue to be a series of choices. Some times you will make the right choice and follow Jesus. There will be many times that you will make the wrong choice and do what you know is not according to His will. Even then, you have a choice! You can recognize your sin and repent. Don’t make the choice that leaves you arrogant and unrepentant!

Following Jesus is not easy. We have His words telling us what we should expect.

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
(Matthew 10:34-39 (NIV))

The reason for this is simple. Jesus calls us out of this world. He sets us apart from the sin in this world. As a result of this, we know how the world will react. We know that even family and friends who are of the world will hate the choice that has been made.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 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 15:18-19 (NIV))

You have a choice!

You can choose to be loved by the world, or you can choose to follow Jesus.

Like I previously stated, following Jesus is not easy. Once you make the choice to follow Him, the world will try to do all within it’s power to cause you to fall. The world, and the prince of this world, will hate you because you have chosen to follow Jesus.

Personally, every day that I live, I choose to believe. Every breath that I take, I choose to believe. Every word that I type, I choose to believe in prayerful hope that you will make that same choice!

The choice is yours!

Believe!

Copyright 1998 – 2022 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
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