Have you come to your senses?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
(Luke 15:17 (NIV))

How far have you wandered from your Father? What caused you to wander? Did you see something that looked appealing to you? Did you think to yourself that you would do something for a little while and then return? Perhaps you simply found yourself drifting away and did not even realize it until it was too late.

I like the words “When he came to his senses.” The son had realized that he was a fool for choosing to stay in the squalor that he found himself in. He realized that he had a way out of his predicament and he was going to accept the consequences, humble himself and ask for forgiveness.

When did you come to your senses? Did you wake up one morning and not remember were you were? Did you look in the mirror and not recognize the person you saw? Maybe your personal story is not as bad as these examples, but each of us has a story. We realized that we had been foolish to think that we could do things on our own. We came to our senses and returned to the Father. Isn’t it nice to know that no matter how far we stray, it is only a single step back to the loving embrace of God. Isn’t it good to know that our sins have been forgiven through the atoning blood of Jesus. Through Jesus, we are offered grace, mercy and eternal salvation. All that we have to do is come to our senses and accept it by accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.

Have you come to your senses?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

What governs 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.
(Romans 8:6 (NIV))

What lurks in the back of your mind when you have nothing going on?

Perhaps if I ask that another way it will make more sense. So, what do you do when you think that no one is looking?

The human mind is a difficult thing to control. We must keep it engaged with external stimuli or we take the chance that it will wander into something that will have disastrous consequences. Even when we focus on external stimuli, we have a tendency to seek out things that will eventually cause us trouble. We need to be very careful and very deliberate with our thoughts. The old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out” comes to mind. In other words, we become what we choose to fill ourselves with. Since we have two parts to our existence, spiritual and physical, we have two distinct paths we can pursue. We can choose the things that are physical in nature such as wealth, power, greed and lust, or we can choose the spiritual option. Even when we choose the spiritual option, we must be careful to not embrace a demonic spirit, but we must strive to follow the Holy Spirit.

As I sit here praying and writing, I find my mind wandering. It has been a long day, and I still need to spend my time with the Lord. You may find yourself in the very same predicament. It is human nature. With that said, when your mind does wander, are you able to redirect it? What do you redirect to, or do you go through life constantly facing distractions and chasing after the proverbial squirrels that we all encounter? Long ago I made a decision that I must establish my priorities, control my own thoughts and keep them focused on what I truly want to focus on. In other words, I have made the Lord not only a priority, but the priority in my life.

Allowing your mind to be governed by the Spirit of God requires commitment. It requires a maturity that most of us wish we had. Most of all, it requires a desire to seek after God in all things and the ability to recognize when you stray. When you stray, and we all do, repent and refocus! Allow the Holy Spirit to fill your life and to govern your mind. You will find that you do possess a maturity and a peace that passes all understanding.

What governs your mind?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Praise the light of Jesus!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.
(Psalms 113:3 (KJV))

When this was written, people did not have a grasp of the concept that the sun never sets on God’s creation. They did not know that it is always daylight somewhere in the world. Also, when this was written, people lived their lives around the sun. Unlike today, people basically spent every daylight hour up and about their lives. To them, the sun was the day. In essence, this verse instructed people to praise God every waking hour of the day of their lives!

In our society, the sun no longer determines our daily lives as it did when David wrote this. These words still need to be looked upon as instructions to praise God every waking hour of our lives and not just during the daylight hours, especially if you think about the passages that tell us that most sin occurs in the dark.

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
(1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (NIV))

Do not stray from your path into the darkness. Stay in the light. Remember that there is always light in the darkness. That light is Jesus Christ. Turn towards Him and keep focused on Him in all that you do.

Praise the light of Jesus!

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

Are you on the right path?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
(Matthew 7:13 (NIV))

Sin takes on many forms and the road that we travel on is wide because of this. Think of the multitude of sins that we can commit. It only takes one to stray from God’s Will. Lay out all of the sins that you can think of side by side. You have a wide road upon which to travel, and the bad thing about it is that no two people have to really travel the very same path to get to the end of the road and it’s promised death.

Now, take away all of those sins and replace it with a single, straight line that leads you to your goal. You can even think of this straight line as a tight-rope. Any deviation from that straight line is going to get you back on the wide road that we have paved with sin. The task of reaching the goal without swerving from our desired path is not physically possible.

Now, take a look at Jesus and that same path. If we call upon Jesus to carry us, then imagine the security in knowing that Jesus can walk that path, and has walked that path, without a single deviation. Because of His unswerving devotion to doing the Father’s Will, we can call upon Jesus to carry us on that straight path even though we may drag our feet on the wide road.

Through Jesus, we will be made whole and our sins will be forgiven.

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Don’t let sin distract you!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
(Deuteronomy 28:14 (NIV))

How easily distracted are you?

Have you ever known the task at hand, yet you found yourself doing something else? If you are like me, that happens far more than any of us care to admit. The proper term for it in today’s society is attention deficit disorder, however, I think it is probably related to our fall from grace and the resulting sinful nature that is now ours as a result.

If you remember, the word “sin” is an archery term that means to miss the mark. When we turn aside from anything that God calls us to do, then we have missed the mark. We have sinned. I find it interesting that our society has placed a label on it, created medication for it, and we can have counseling to tell us that it is okay to miss the mark.

It is true that we are only human and our very nature is sinful, but instead of saying that it is okay to miss the mark, shouldn’t we be striving to hit the mark? Why do we accept the concept that it is okay to stop trying to follow God’s designs and seek to follow our own sinful natures?

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 5:23 (NIV))

Thankfully, there is a way to hit the mark, not on our own, but by the grace of God.

“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. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))

Thankfully, Jesus did not turn to the right or the left. He stayed the course and because He did, we have a Savior who can guide us, who can redeem us when we do stray.

It is my prayer for all of us that we keep our eyes upon Jesus so that we will be able to stay true to the path that we are called to follow.

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery

Deception

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
(Romans 16:17-18 (NIV))

It is easy to become bogged down in the world and what society is saying. Television advertising, television shows, sales people – they all try to flatter and convince you of something. Some is harmless. Some is not so harmless. Even the harmless can lead to harm if it is the beginning of a series. This even happens in the church.

Unfortunately, today, the church is influenced more by society than it influences society. Be careful to keep your eyes focused on Jesus and pray for God’s Will to be done.

Deception is an art form. It is an evil art perfected by the enemy. Satan will use anything that he can to deceive believers – even other believers. Stay grounded in the Truth of the Word so that deception can be avoided.

Are you firmly grounded so that deception will not make you stray?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery