Do you believe that God’s calling is His enabling?

 30 May 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

1 Chronicles 28

1 Chronicles 29

John 11:47-57


He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24). 


Do you believe that God’s calling is His enabling?


Solomon is tasked with a daunting responsibility: He is to build a Temple to house the living God. David makes great preparations for this enormous undertaking. Having personally experienced the Lord’s faithfulness to His promises, the aging king encourages Solomon with sage advice: “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 28:20). It doesn’t matter whether God’s promises to complete a work in us relate to sanctification (1 Thessalonians 5:24) or bringing a ministry assignment to fruition like Solomon received. His Word never fails! 


Employment Point: Trust the Lord to complete the tasks He assigns to you.

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Reflections

““And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭28‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7. And to love God with all our heart and and all our soul and all our mind. Matthew 22:37. 
  • Our God though Almighty and High has come to each one of us to bring us salvation and to teach us how to be more like Christ. I never thought that my Christian journey would be like this. Finding love, joy and peace in the midst of chaos and challenges


“David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.”1 Chronicles‬ ‭28‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • since back then till now, the Lord has been telling us the same thing. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord our God is with us. He will not fail us or forsake us.
  • This is such a great encouragement isn’t it? That the Lord have our backs. We do not need to fear..


“The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.”1 Chronicles‬ ‭29‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • such should be all our responses as the children of God. To be giving freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. All will rejoice indeed for the Lord is the one who provides. 


““But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭29‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • The Lord provides His people with many. And as the Lord freely give, we too should freely give as well to help our fellow brothers and sisters, for we can never out-give our Lord.


“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.””John‬ ‭11‬:‭47‬-‭48‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • so what are WE accomplishing? The chief priests and Pharisees wanted to capture Jesus because they deemed him to be a threat to their temple and nation. But if we understood the bible correctly, nobody has the ability to take away our temples or our nation. For our temples are our bodies that the Holy Spirit resides in and our nation is a heavenly one where no one can touch.


Indeed it is not by works so no one can boasts. Whatever is in the Lord’s plans, He will bring it to fruition. We do not have to worry or keep pursuing it. In fact if we keep pushing it, we are pushing ourselves against the Lord.

—————————

Yes—But…!

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

May 30


Lord, I will follow You, but… —Luke 9:61


Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”


Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.


By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.


2 Chronicles 10-12; John 11:30-57


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life.

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Reflections

I’m sure we have all been tested by this trial of faith. Being brought to a point of choice and somewhat we either remain status quo or we step out in faith, trusting that He will hold us close. Or we will may be like what Oswald is saying, saying yes to the Lord provided it met our own conditions or understanding.


I believe the whole gist of coming to Christ and be more like Him is having to give up our choice of things. We may think that is the best solution but who can guarantee it? No one! And the Lord definitely knows it way better than we do. Unless we wanna challenge Him, which I don’t think I want to even try…


If we never take the different step in faith, we will never be able to experience something different. In a way, if you want to change, you will definitely need to take different actions to effect a change. Simply said, we cannot be doing the same thing day after day and yet expect things to change. 


So if we never step out in faith and try God’s way, it will be hard for us to experience how His ways are better than ours and how His ways are higher than ours too.


Let’s pray:


Abba Father, help us to overcome our unbelief and stubbornness or unwillingness to change. Help us to be able to embrace change with an open heart. Thank You Lord. In Jesus’s most powerful name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻 

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