May 29, 2019
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?
(Psalms 77:18 (NIV))
It’s time to get personal about your faith!
Have you ever had times in your life when it felt like the Lord just wasn’t with you? Perhaps it was a matter of perspective. Let’s ask that question with a slightly different point of view. Have you ever had times in your life when it felt like you weren’t with the Lord? See how different the question is, as well as your answer, when you ask it from a position of aligning with the Lord instead of asking if the Lord is on your side?
Think about your life, your spiritual mountaintops and your spiritual valleys, from this perspective. Do you see a trend? Do you see a need to refocus your attitude? Do you see a need to repent and return to the Lord during certain times in your life?
As I have often stated, human nature is a strange thing. We can ignore warning signs that are directly in front of us and walk headlong into a sinful action that has dreadful ramifications upon us. We can also do everything physically in our power to avoid God and His path for us, and when we do, we wonder why we are in such dire circumstances. Will we ever learn to fully rely on the Lord? Will we ever learn to recognize His guidance? Will we ever stop being drawn into temptation?
The sad part is, that during these times, we blame the Lord, but in all honesty, it is our own actions that drive us into despair. It is the consequences of our own actions that make us think that the Lord is no longer with us. When we find ourselves walking through these times in our life, we must have the wisdom to repent. We must have the wisdom to say, “Lord, I know that it is not You. I know that it is all me. Forgive me! Help me to overcome my sinful nature so that I may walk with you all the days of my life.”
When you feel far from the Lord, repent!
Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | 
a new attitude of thankfulness, attitude, fighting God, human nature, human nature is sinful, it is a matter of attitude, opportunity to repent, overcoming human nature, repent, salvation requires repentance, sinners repent, Uncategorized, we must repent | Tagged: actions, aligning, answer, ask, asking, attitude, avoid, Be still, blame, consequences, despair, different, drive, failed, faith, feel, forever, forgive me, God, headlong, help me, His, honesty, human nature, instead, life, Lord, Love, matter, mountaintops, need, overcome, path, personal, perspective, point, position, power, promise, question, ramifications, reffocus, repent, return, side, signs, spiritual, time, trend, unfailing, valleys, vanished, view, warning, wisdom, with | 
Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
November 8, 2018
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
(1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NIV))
It would be so nice to live in peace with all people!
Unfortunately, human history has a track record of exactly opposite of this desire. Once sin was introduced into the world, we have been at each other’s throats nonstop. Adam turned on Eve and placed the blame solely on her. Eve turned to the serpent and placed the blame on him. Cain turned on Abel and killed him because God accepted Abel’s offering and not his own. Ever since then, all of human history has been the never ending story of one group of people trying to control other groups of people. If you stop to think about this, it is actually the power of the enemy to influence one group of people to do harm to another group of people.
There is something about human nature that longs to be in control, to be in charge, to be able to enforce their will over the will of others. Satan knows this and uses this to his advantage. We have appointed people to be in positions of authority. Some people have gone so far as to kill others to end up in positions of authority. All throughout human history, we have had slavery. The conqueror enslaves the conquered. Sin is rampant!
Sinful human nature all too often prevails. People still become violent if they do not get their way!
With all of this history, Jesus came to break that trend and to offer us a new future. We don’t have to turn to anger and bitterness. We don’t have to control. We don’t have to get angry and wage war. We were not created to live in that manner. We were created to live in a loving fellowship with each other and with the Lord. We can live peaceful and quiet lives!
It starts with proclaiming that Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior. It matures through prayer and study. It continues to mature as we become more and more like Jesus.
Think about that last sentence!
When Jesus was facing crucifixion, what did He do?
He prayed!
He prayed for those who were entrusted to Him. When He was on the cross, He prayed for the Father to forgive those who crucified Him. He realized that the power behind the events of the world were not human, but were actually works of the enemy. When He prayed, and when we pray for those in authority, the enemy is bound! Only when the enemy has been bound can we live in peace!
We must pray for the enemy to be bound!
Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | bind the enemy, breaking the power of sin, fall to our knees in prayer, human history, human nature, human nature is sinful, offer up a prayer to God, petitioning God, power of prayer, prayer, prayer and petition, prayer is our weapon, prayer is powerful and effective, the power of prayer, There is power in faithful prayer!, Uncategorized | Tagged: advantage, anger, appointed, authority, Be still, bitterness, bound, break, conqueror, control, created, crucufixion, enemy, enforce, fellowship, future, godliness, holiness, human history, human nature, in charge, intercessions, Jesus, kings, live, lives, Lord, matures, peacefull, petitions, pray, prayer, prayers, proclaiming, quiet, rampant, Savior, sin, sinful, slavery, study, thanksgiving, trend, violent, war | Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
January 20, 2017
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers–and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
(1 Timothy 1:8-11 (NIV))
Everyone knows that we are supposed to obey laws, but have you ever thought about why laws exist to begin with?
It took someone stealing something to make people realize that we needed laws against stealing. It took someone driving too fast to make people realize that we needed laws on how fast we could drive. It took Cain killing Abel to make people realize that we needed laws to keep people from killing each other.
Do you see the trend?
It took someone doing something bad that made others realize that type of bad behavior had to be prevented!
How many people do you know who have to be told not to murder anyone?
How many people do you know who have to be told not to steal anything?
As we are told in 1 Timothy, laws are not made for the righteous, they are made to remind people who don’t follow God and His Word how they should behave. They are made to set boundaries on people who will not set boundaries on themselves. Do you know someone like this? I know that it is human nature to rebel, but do we have to take it so far that we steal, kill and destroy? Does that sound familiar? If you stop to think about it, laws based on God’s Word are designed to make us stop and think about not following the lies of the enemy.
Are you someone for whom the law was made?
Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Are you someone for whom the law was made?, do you have to be told not to sin?, God's Law, Righteousness, unrighteous | Tagged: Abel, adulterers, Be still, behave, blessed, Cain, enemy, God, good, gospel, His Word, kil, law, lawbreakers, perverts, properly, rebels, remind, righteous, sinful, stealing, told, trend, ungodly | Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
Daily Living Ministries 