WRITING A DEVOTIONAL

WRITING A DEVOTIONAL

Back in 2003 after having spent the year before reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's book "Simple Abundance" I took her suggestion to heart and wrote my own daily devotional. Each day I took a line or two from one of the various spiritual authors from the last three centuries I was reading and wrote my own thoughts on the subject. I then looked for a scripture that illustrated the truth that had been revealed to me. What follows is the result.

"Our greatest bondage is to have our own way; our greatest freedom is to let God have His way." Warren Wiersbe

Saturday, February 26, 2011

February 26

“God does not deal with the sinner according to the fervor of his wrestlings or pleadings but according to his faith....if this is God’s rule with regard to the poor awakened sinner, how much more must it be the rule regarding His own family who have been born of the Spirit and upon whom He has bestowed all the riches that are in Christ.”  Hannah W. Smith, Walking in the Light, p. 35

I’ve already written about the fact that without faith we cannot please God, but that had been sparked by the word “please” and how our faith affects God.  Now the word “faith” is what is illuminating itself because I’m finally understanding that faith is what freedom in Christ is all about.  We put our faith in all sorts of things every day.  It’s as automatic as putting our feet down on the floor when we get out of bed, trusting our slippers are right where we left them, to flipping on the light switch and trusting we’ll be able to see our way through the dark.  Yet we have trouble trusting that He who has saved us will not forsake us.  This shows just how powerful Satan is.  If it mattered to Satan that our feet were warm and that we could see through the dark I’d guess we’d have trouble trusting those things, too.  But, of course, it doesn’t matter. Satan only cares whether we trust God or not. So let us be aware of any doubt and discouragement lurking in the shadows of our minds waiting to pounce because it’s our faith in our loving Savior to keep us that will protect us from this doubt and discouragement, which serves only to bind the power of God here on earth.

“According to your faith be it done to you.”  Matthew 9:29

2 comments:

  1. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
    i.e. - Faith is believing that He Is (He IS the Answer to our every need)and that He is the REWARD when we seek Him. Just like when we seek for a treasure; the reward is to find the treasure. Faith is the action of attentively listening for Him to REVEAL Himself in our every trial. In losing your house, you may hear Him say "I was born in a stable in order to reveal Myself to dispised shepherd and I needed to put you down to touch lives that cannot be touched by those on the top".

    Molly D.

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  2. Molly, Amen to that! The moment I begin to imagine some future possible trial, I'm bombarded with fear of having to suffer. That is because we cannot store up Grace for the future, otherwise we are no longer walking daily with the Lord. God wants a "real time" relationship with us. We will not be spared from life's difficulties, but suffering is optional. We will not suffer if we have put our trust in God to see us through it.

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