Daily Devotional January 19 - Don't Compromise Your Future

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."  Lamentations 3:24-25

To seek after God and not find Him, not only in the quiet of meditation, but also in the noise of the day, is proof of how distanced we have become from a pure and holy life.  In our busied life, we manage to be unavailable. God is always available, but we make ourselves unavailable by our actions.  We have managed to disassociate with the never changing Spirit world, for a moment of attention from the ever changing material world.

I am going to help you make some crucial decisions in your life today, because the teaching of the truth always weeds out the heart.  In your heart, you will make a decision today.  When God speaks to your heart, one of three things happen:

1. You remain unchanged - unmoved by God's Word for us, not at all stirred up, encouraged or empowered - the true sign of cultural or carnal Christianity.
2. You turn away and do not let what God said to become true in you, even though you hear the voice of God - even though you know it is right - even though you know that God is dealing with you for your own benefit - even though you know the consequences of not adhering to what God is saying is devastating - you turn away.
3. You are drawn closer. you are positively affected down in your soul.  You make up our mind to allow God to weed out every thing that is not of God, by God or for God and you allow God's Word to give you the answers of the moment, the day, for your career, your ministry, your direction, your life.  You make a way for God to have His way;  when God speaks to your heart you are drawn closer.

That's why I can say, you will make an important decision today.

The trappings of the seen, (the visible world) have all but blinded us of the unseen, (the invisible world).  The pleasure of the moment has caused a thick fog to pass over our good sense.  The desire for immediate gratification has all but eradicated our vision for the long haul.

A wise man or woman will enjoy the moment without compromising the future.

God-thinking is for those who have decided to seek out those things that bring peace and comfort, financial security, joy and happiness - without filling their tomorrows with unpredictable troubles and problems, without compromising their future.

God thinking is for those who want to give up more of the:
temporal
short lived
ever changing
thrown together
not well planned out
I'll worry about the consequences later, mind-set

and replace it with the:
eternal
long lived
stable
well planned
thoughts developed through prayer and communion with God

We mustn't deny God entrance into the affairs of our life.  And we do deny God entrance into the affairs of our life when we are outside of the will of God.  Jesus Christ came into this world and lived, died and rose again to empower us to live above the fray.

Too many Christians are willing to ignore the warning of the pastor.
Too many Christians are willing to ignore the lure of the world.
too many Christians are willing to ignore the signs of the times.
They paint their own picture of the way things are and the way things should be:
without consultation from wise counsel
without instruction from scripture
without prayerfully considering the results of their actions
without recognition of God's Sovereignty.

To say that we believe that God is sovereign, and live like He is distant and unconcerned, is hypocrisy.
Jesus didn't think much of hypocrisy during His earthly ministry and He doesn't think much of hypocrisy right now.

We need to kick out that old kind of thinking, that says, just because we cannot live a sinless life, like Jesus Christ did, that somehow that equates to our having no ability or power at all.  That since we have fallen short in times past, we must constantly, and without refrain, continue to fall prey to the ploys of our enemy.

We have been empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to overcome the world, not succumb to the world.  We are to be in the world, not of the world.

Our success isn't in living a sinless life without a Savior, it is living our life, empowered by a sinless Savior.

If living an empowered life is something new to you, there is no need to be ashamed. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Religion has taught believers that they cannot win over temptation.
Religion has taught believers for centuries that the move of the Spirit of God was only for a short time.
Religion has taught believers that they must go through a mediator to apprehend God.
Religion has taught believers that they cannot understand what they read.
Priest's and pastors, ministers and teachers have been teaching a powerless gospel to a faithless people for centuries.  And now we have self-proclaimed apostles and prophets, ascended masters and spiritual guru's teaching a magical genie kind of God.

It's not true that the power of God has been removed from us and neither is it true that God performs silly magical feats for the ignorant and unlearned to reveal Himself.  God is self-disclosed and cannot be hidden. God's power is evident in all power and God's creation is evident in itself. God's supernatural intervention is also evident by His ever present ability to change the hearts of men.

If you want to know why so many people are messed up, think about all the untruths that have been spoken about God the Father, the Holy Spirit and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  And if you want to know why so many Christians are living out their lives without evidence of the presence of God in their life, just think about all the untruths they have been taught about themselves.

It's no wonder our society is so messed up. They believe in a God that is either powerless or genie-like and they believe in themselves as either broken beyond repair or self-sustaining.

Erroneous thinking produces powerless results.

Jehovah God, El Eloheim, El Adonai, El Shaddai, the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Christ is not to be mocked by man's feeble and inferior attempt to explain God outside of holy scripture.  God is not powerless (just because in the lives of the disobedient, it appears that God is impotent), nor does God perform magic to a jeering crowd of spectators, (at the whim of the prophets sceptre).  God's supernatural intervention in the lives of men and women is not to be likened to the scheming manipulations of men.

So let's set the record straight.
Let's replace any and every erroneous thought that we have had or have about God with thoughts that produce sound doctrine.

1. The power of God is available and operating in the lives of men and women, teens, children and even the unborn. All to the glory of God, for the purpose of empowering His saints to overcome the world and serve God with a holy life.

2. God is not genie-like and performs no magic, but God is all powerful and performs magnificent miracles at His discretion, (all for the glory of God and to benefit God's finest and foremost creation, you and I.)

3. You and I, those who have been born again by the Spirit of God are not broken beyond repair, but we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit within us, not only for the sake of receiving the gift of eternal life, but also to make us able to withstand the fiery darts of the wicked one and to be able to stand firm in the faith against all odds.

4. You are not self-sustaining, but ever in need of substance created for you by God. You are ever in need of God and God's creation to sustain your life and spirit.