Hebrews 4:9-11 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
My wife had a realization the other day and wanted to share her thoughts with you in today’s devotion.
She says, “Being a perfectionist myself, I’ve spent much of my time and energy in this life making myself and my belongings appeal to the senses -- in other words, look perfect, sound perfect, feel, taste and smell perfect. I want my house to sparkle and smell fresh, my and my family’s clothing and hairstyles to be on the up and up, I want my words to sound intelligent and funny, my meals to be tasty and beautiful. I want my work in the ministry to be perfect too. And when I’m not busy making sure those things are all in place, I spend my time and energy wishing I had more time, energy and resources to make them so! I admit it is extreme and it’s a matter which I must daily submit to the Lord. But most of us have some element of perfectionism in our lives. What caused us to become that way is another story. But here is what I believe the Lord is showing me about the business of perfection. When we’re busy spending our time and energy “perfecting” ourselves and our earthly belongings, we miss out on a huge blessing. We miss out on gaining God’s perfection, not only for ourselves and our earthly belongings, but for our heart mind and soul. And when we miss out on that, we’re missing out on a piece of heaven.”
Charles Swindoll said “Business (busy-ness) rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man.”
Let’s examine ourselves today. What are we busy doing? Let’s stop this weekend and enjoy Shabbat -- enter into a deeper relationship with Him! God is standing by, just waiting for us. He has so much to show us and so much to tell us, if we would only stop giving our time and energy to earthly (and often fruitless) things and give a moment of it to Him!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]“Don’t be anxious”…even though it's a perfectly natural response to mounting threats; sickness, finances, employment, uncertainty, emotional stress, family crises...Nevertheless, it says, "Don't be anxious about anything". Instead, pray!
A major earthquake struck Taiwan over the weekend, which triggered a tsunami warning as far away as Japan.
This reminded me of when we first moved to Israel, in 2003.
The word "verily", in this verse, is the Hebrew word “emunah” (em-oo-nah). It also means "faith" or "faithfully". When we trust in the Lord, and our trust is demonstrated by doing good, He declares that He will faithfully feed us. How will we be fed?
In the early 1800's a preacher gave a message to call men to join him on the mission field in Africa. In the audience were only a few women along with a boy. The pastor knew that few women were expected to volunteer to face harsh African jungle conditions. However, he gave the message; and no one responded. What he didn't realize was that he had touched the heart of a little boy whose name was David Livingstone. This boy would grow up to spend the rest of his life ministering to Africa's unreached tribes.
A.W. Tozer had an interesting commentary on this verse. He said: "Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent."
When does God answer our prayers? And when do we receive what we ask of Him? And when are we confident He has heard our requests? Many of us wonder why our prayers seem to go unanswered.
A farmer was showing his visiting citydwelling friend around his farm. "Watch this!" he said. He gave a whistle and his little dog came running from the house, herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that's some dog -- what's her name?" The forgetful farmer thought for a minute and then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That's it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?"