What causes you to celebrate?
16 Apr 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
1 Samuel 19
1 Samuel 20
1 Samuel 21
Luke 15:11-32
There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).
What causes you to celebrate?
The father in our parable has two sons. A devastating request comes from the younger, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me” (Luke 15:12). In essence, the son is saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead; give me my inheritance.” This loving father doesn’t argue with his adult son but complies with his request. How does the loving father respond when the chastened son returns home? “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). The father reveals the heart of God. Jesus says, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Employment Point: Celebrate when the lost are found and the dead come to life.
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Reflections
“Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there.”
1 Samuel 19:1-2 NIV
- the commentary puts it this way: Like David, we sometimes will not find favour when we serve our bosses at work. Eventually we will leave bcos somewhat it will not work out. But what we are reminded to do is to always do the right thing and don’t seek revenge or justice for God will vindicate us
- we know how the Lord has asked Samuel to anoint David as king. Yet, Saul does not like him due to personal reasons and his reason is because David threatens his kingship. Like what the commentary said, not all will like us and some may even hate us because we are the children of God but that does not mean that we are in a wrong place or the Lord is wrong. He is never wrong and He has His purposes for doing so.
“But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre,”
1 Samuel 19:9 NIV
- things got better before it got worse. They were as before David fought the Philistines and the evil spirit had a chance to come on Saul because there is a foothold. This foothold of Saul is jealousy. On the surface he was fine with David till David fought another battle with the Philistines and had them all fled before him. The Lord is obviously with him whenever he went to fight. This made Saul bitter for David’s “glory” overshadowed him.
- A reminder to us all to not let any negative emotions become a foothold for the enemy. We will not grant them free access.
“So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth.”
1 Samuel 19:23 NIV
- this verse speaks as no man can overcome God or has the power to do so. Only the Lord has full control over all things. If He did not will it, it cannot happen.
“Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’ ” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.”
1 Samuel 20:42 NIV
- God bless all men who are righteous even in the face of their own family..
“David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.”
1 Samuel 21:12-13 NIV
- We see a very different David here, compared to the time he fought with goliath the giant. Then he was afraid of no one and the Lord was with him. But now he is afraid of this king of Gath. One deceit also led to another. He has told a lie to the priest, and now he pretended to be mad in front of the king.
- Maybe we all be able to remember the times we First know God and is really burning with passion to know him and to be close to him, and to Study his word, day and night. Time has passed and David is a changed man. He was no longer the boy that has courage to just throw a sling to kill a giant. Now he panics and runs for his life.
““When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’”
Luke 15:17-19 NIV
- Very often we have to come to the valleys in order to recognise that we have always been living a sheltered life. We had not understand difficulties, challenges and has been complacent all these while. until we hit a wall, we realise we had done wrong. Sometimes this is how the Lord teaches us to be humble because we are just too stubborn to think or to even obey him. We fail to reflect, to meditate, to trust, but the Lord always have our backs even when we chose to rebel, and we chose to do it our way until our own way gets the better of us..
“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”Luke 15:24 NIV
- we will definitely have experiences losing something precious and we would have definitely rejoice like how this father would, when he has saw his prodigal son returned. Praise the Lord, for all those who have turned around and come back to the Lord. It is a time of celebration, indeed, and worthy to sacrifice a cow, and to have it for a party for something which we had thought was lost, is found again.
- It is rather similar to relationships, and especially sometimes we think all is lost and that this relationship is forever broken, but the Lord has his ways to reconcile, to bring Harmony and to ultimately bring peace in the family. All praise and thanks be to you Lord
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Can You Come Down?
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
April 16
Believe in the light while you have the light. — John 12:36
We all have moments when we feel better than our best, moments when we’re up for anything. “If only I could always feel like this!” we say. We aren’t meant to. Moments of inspiration are moments for us to live up to after the moment has passed. Many of us are no good for this workaday world when we’re not inspired. We have to learn that God wants us to bring our workaday life up to the standard revealed to us on high.
Never allow a feeling stirred in you on the mountaintop to evaporate when you descend into the valley. Don’t sit back, put up your feet, and say, “What a wonderful state of mind to be in!” Instead, act immediately, if only because you’d rather not. If you are praying and God shows you something he wants you to do, don’t says, “I’ll do it.” Get up and do it. Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and shake off your laziness.
Laziness is always seen in cravings for the mountaintop experience. We talk about “working toward” the great experience or “working up to” the moment of glory. We have to learn to live in the gray day according to what we saw on the mount. Don’t cave in because your experience has failed to live up to your expectations. Get at it again. Burn your bridges behind you. Stand committed to God; stand as an act of your own free will. Never go back on your decisions—but be sure to make them in the light of the vision you received on high.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.
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Reflections
Have you set any New Year’s resolution and see it failed year after year? Are the goals we set unrealistic? I don’t think so. The problem is us. We often times set to want to do something, but we have no solid plans to see it through. There seems to be no real need in fulfilling those goals. So year after year, we resigned to our fates. Doomed to be failures. Never get to do anything right.
However, there will be people who managed to get it through. Ultimately, it is a question of how much you want it done. What are your motives behind the resolution? Only if you really want it then it can be done. It’s the same with our spiritual life.
What are we exactly seeking? Do we want it bad enough? Perhaps that is the real answer to our issues. Do we really crave to be with our Abba Father? To know Him better, to know His will and to be one with Him? Only if we really want it so bad, the Lord will answer. Only if He is our number one priority, will we be able to understand.
We will not be lazy if we truly love Him, with all our heart, and with all our soul and with all our mind. He will be the first thing on our mind, and will be on our mind throughout the day and the last thing on our mind before we rests in bed. Nothing can takeover this priority in our life and nothing SHOULD takeover even.
Let’s pray:
Dear Abba Father, may we all understand the Father’s heart and lean in towards You. May our hearts be sealed with the utmost love for You and You alone that no one or anything can takeover. May You remind us on this and help us to shift our priorities so that You remain our number one. May Lord in Your mercy, hear this prayer. 🙏🏻
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