Do you daily live for the glory of God?
4 Jul 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Job 29
Job 30
Acts 12
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Do you daily live for the glory of God?
Herod Agrippa, the Grandson of Herod the Great, exudes wickedness: “He killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:2). Then he incarcerates Peter “and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover” (Acts 12:4). God miraculously frees the apostle but holds Herod accountable for his deeds. One day, as he was before the people “arrayed in royal apparel, [he] sat on his throne and gave an oration to them” (Acts 12:21). Then he receives their accolades for being a god (Acts 12:22). The “angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God” (Acts 12:23). He attempted to steal what rightly belongs to the Lord!
Employment Point: Attribute all glory to God, who alone is worthy.
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Reflections
A reminder to us all that all glory belongs to Him, our creator. Who are we but dust and who are we but clay in the porter’s hands. We come with nothing and cannot bring anything when we leave this world. So all that is given to us is from above, it is not our efforts but His. To God be the Glory!
“I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.”
Job 29:14 NIV
- I attended a recent training on the armour of God and we all know that righteousness is the second piece of armour that we need to put on after truth.
- It was mentioned by the trainer that righteousness is something we must all pursue. Something we must all be trained for and persevere through. This is like the core subject of education which we cannot afford to miss or fail. In fact, we are expected to do well in this. Because the danger of not being righteous means that we are welcoming the enemy to dig a hole in our hearts. The danger? Eventually stepping away from our faith.
- Perhaps you think this is far fetched but the truth remains that once we give in to some we will give in to more. And when that happens, you don’t even realised how much you have bent but it became something which you normalised. So a reminder to us all to hold captive our thoughts, practice righteousness at all times. Should there be anything that is not made right, go to the Lord for repentance and make it right, once and for all. And the Lord God Almighty who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy on you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
““And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.”Job 30:9-10 NIV
- In Job 29, he recounts of how he has been treated, how the rest of the people respected him and honour him. It contrasts greatly in Job 30 when the people took a 180 degrees turn. Not only was Job not being respected, he was being spat at.
- Reading these two chapters actually made me wonder. What are people’s true intentions of friendship? Are they all for practical purposes (i.e. none is for real)? That would have been really sad.
- I thank God for granting us hearts like His, having genuine care and love for people. May we all be blessed with hearts of flesh, so that we can spread His love to all that we meet.
“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.””
Acts 12:5, 7, 9, 11 NIV
- learn to trust God in faith. God is all knowing and He will deliver us from evil. Peter had a real in person experience with an angel and he was freed from prison! I cannot imagine what would happen, if something like this were to happen in our current day and now. If it does, I hope people that more people will get to have a personal experience with Christ.
“On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
Acts 12:21-23 NIV
- Give glory to God. Do not covet. All the more do not covet what is God’s. Give glory to God cos that is what he truly deserves. We don’t deserve it. Give to God whatever belongs to God
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One of God’s Great Don’ts
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
July 04
Do not fret—it leads only to evil. —Psalm 37:8
Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God. When you fret, you place concern for yourself at the center of your life. It’s one thing to tell yourself not to worry, and a very different thing to be unable to worry because your disposition won’t allow it. A disposition founded on Jesus Christ doesn’t worry because it rests in perfect confidence in the Father.
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7 kjv). We think of resting in the Lord as easy. It is easy—that is, until the nest is upset, until we find ourselves living, as so many are today, in tumult and anguish. Can we hear God telling us “Don’t fret” then? If this “don’t” doesn’t work then, it will never work. This “don’t” must work in days of perplexity as well as in days of peace. It must work in your particular case, or it will work in no one’s case. Resting in the Lord doesn’t depend on external circumstances at all but on your relationship to him.
Fretting always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how wise we are; they are really an indication of how wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and he was never anxious, because he wasn’t out to realize his own ideas. He was out to realize his Father’s ideas: “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).
All our worry is caused by calculating without God. Have you been propping up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God? Put your anxiousness away, and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty.
Deliberately tell God that you will not worry. Pray to him, “Lord, I take you into my calculations as the biggest factor now.”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.
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Reflections
To move from a position of not to worry to position of unable to worry, would require some training I believe. Because it is a reminding of ourselves not to worry as we do have a tendency to, to a place where we have complete faith and trust in the God to guide and provide and be in charge of all of our lives, so much so that we already surrender whatever there is to Him.
I can imagine it to be a place of safety / security, where we do not need to strive, where we will not be anxious or nervous but to flow and entrust our Abba Father to do all the necessary things. It is a wonderful place to be isn’t it? Perhaps a bit scary due to all the unknown future but let us all work towards giving our complete trust to Him, relying on Him for His Sovereignty and Power. For if He cannot, then no one else can.
For we can grant us that shalom peace and a place of rest except for our LORD? It is not about what we are dealing with, what illness it may be (even if it is terminal)-for example, who we are dealing with, even the situations or challenges where we find ourselves impossible to navigate. We have an awesome God who can and that is all that matters isn’t it?
Jesus never once worry about the things He has to handle. Perhaps only when the weight of all our sins were on His shoulders. He follows His Father’s will. And that alone is enough because that gave Him the direction and He is sure it will not go wrong.
The same for us as well. Our will is also the Father’s will. Even if we are still struggling to ascertain what that will is, we should be moving towards that same direction. We are not headless chickens running around but we have a focal point or person whom we can seek and to make clear all things. For who can be bigger than Him? And who can make better decisions than Him?
Like what Oswald has said, we worry because our Lord is not in our equation. Because if He is, would we have a cause to worry or for worry? I’m sure we won’t. Then if such is the case, what would the bottom line be? My best guess is that we had forgotten to look to our God, the Lord God Almighty who has power over life and death, and is also the creator of heaven and earth and also our creator. Therefore, worry not my friends (and myself as well). We have our Abba Father who is here for us and takes care of everything for us.
Let’s pray:
Dear Abba Father, we thank You that You are with us and help take care of all our worries. Thank You Lord that we are so blessed that we can come to a place of being unable to worry. We praise You Father and give You Thanks. In Jesus’s most precious name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻
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