Quenching the Spirit – Blackaby devotional (20091118)

Do not quench the Spirit.
1st Thessalonians 5:19

We cannot prevent God from accomplishing His work in the world around us, but we can quench His Spirit in our lives. God has given us the freedom to withstand the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives. When we ignore, disobey, or reject what the Spirit is telling us, we quench His activity in us. The prophet Isaiah described the result: "Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them" (Isaiah 6:9; Matthew 13:14-15).

When you sin, the Holy Spirit will convict you of your need for repentance. If you habitually ignore Him and do not repent, your heart will grow hardened to God’s Word. If the Spirit speaks to you about God’s will for you, and if you refuse to take action, a time will come when the Spirit’s voice will be muted in your life. If you continually reject the Spirit’s promptings, a day will come when you no longer hear a word form God. If you repeatedly stifle God’s word to you so that you are not longer sensitive to His voice, He will not give you a fresh word. Be wary of resisting the voice of the Spirit in your life. You may not always be comfortable with what the Spirit is saying to you, but His words will guide you to abundant life.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Have You Done What You Know to Do? – Blackaby devotional (20091102)

Have You Done What You Know to Do?  Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17

It is never a minor thing to know God’s will and not do it. God calls this sin. We can make excuses for our lack of obedience: "I’m just not ready yet" or "I’ll do it later!" or "I don’t think it will make a difference" or "I can’t afford to!" We rationalize, we procrastinate; yet, in God’s eyes, rationalization and procrastination are nothing more than disobedience. At times we deceive ourselves into thinking that good intentions equal obedient actions. They do not. A good intention without corresponding activity is disobedience. When we encounter God and He gives us a direction, it is not enough to write down the date in our spiritual journal, or even to tell our friends of our "decision." God’s call is not to "make a decision" but to obey! Deciding to obey is not equal to obeying! (Matthew 21:28-31). Loudly affirming the necessity of obedience is not the same as obeying (Luke 6:46). Making commitments, even publicly, is not the same as obeying.

God told King Saul to wait until the prophet Samuel arrived. Instead of waiting, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered a sacrifice. Saul discovered, to his deep dismay, that other acts of supposed piety do not take the place of obeying a clear command from God (1st Samuel 15:22). As with Saul, God expects you to obey everything exactly as He tells you. Only obedience satisfies God’s desire for obedience!

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

The Cost to Others – Blackaby Devotional

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
John 19:25

There is no Christianity without a cross, for you cannot be a disciple of Jesus without taking up your cross.  Crosses are painful, they forever change your life, but sometimes the greatest cost will not be to you but to those you love.  You may be prepared to obey the Lord’s commands, whatever they are, because you’ve walked with Him and know that His way is best.  Yet there will be those close to you who have not related to Jesus in the same way and have not heard His voice as clearly.

Jesus understood that His Father’s will for Him led to a cross.  The cross would mean a painful death for Jesus, and it would also bring suffering to those closest to Him.  Because of the cross, Jesus’ mother would watch in agony as her son was publicly humiliated, tortured, and murdered.  Jesus’ aunt and close friends would witness His excruciating death.  His disciples would be scattered in terror and confusion in what would be the longest, darkest night of their lives.  Because of Jesus’ obedience, there would also be a cross for each of His disciples.

Obedience to your Lord’s commands will affect others (Luke 14:26).  Don’t refuse to obey what you know God is asking because you fear the cost to your family will be too great.  Beware lest you seek to prevent those you love from taking up the cross God has for them.  Don’t ever try to protect those you love by disobeying God.  The cost of disobedience is always far greater.  Rather, look to Jesus, your model, and see what it cost those around Him for Him to be obedient to His Father.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Strength and courage

As a kid and through my early twenties, I was somewhat of a Sci-Fi fan when it came to my preferred genre of movies.  Over the years though, my likings are more along the action/adventure movies such as The Incredibles, the Spiderman Trilogy,The Matrix Quadilogy (my made up word) or The Pirates of the Caribbean series.

One of the ingredients that seems to be in almost all of these movies is that the lead character(s) musters up in some form or another, strength to do the right thing and courage to face their fears,enemy and odds.  This strength and courage is usually portrayed as a character trait that the hero or heroin draws from within themselves; sometimes linked to past events, or as an act of retribution/reconciliation.  God however doesn’t ask of us to look inwardly for such things, but rather to look to Him.

While reading Joshua 1:1-10 last night I noticed how the LORD repeatedly told Joshua; Moses’ successor, to be strong and courageous as God commanded him to prepare to cross over the Jordan River and into the promised land.  Now God gives Joshua some reassurance in His plan and for Joshua’s task.

Joshua 1:1-5
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

God tells Joshua that no one will be able to stand up against him and God also tells Joshua that He will never leave or forsake Joshua.  In our lives I think we often miss what God wants to do in our lives because we fail to realize how He’s already equipped us to handle whatever life is going to throw at us.  We’ve been equipped with an assurance from God that He’ll always be with us, as long as we’re faithful to Him.  We’re equipped with the Bible, which leads us.  The caveat being, we have to exercise trust and obedience in the LORD.

Joshua 1:6-9
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

As God told Joshua to be strong and courageous I believe He still requires those traits from us today.  Our short sighted view of things though causes us to not see or understand that God hasn’t asked of us what He hasn’t already provided us the tools to accomplish.

Hebrews 4:14-16
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Grace and peace be with you.

Follow Me – Blackaby devotional

Then Jesus said to His disciples,"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24

We can take God’s presence for granted. We can assume that because Jesus said He would be with us always, He will follow us wherever we go (Matthew 28:20). Jesus does not follow us; we are to follow Him. You do not invite God to join you in your activity. He invites you to become involved in His activity. Jesus said: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). Following Jesus requires absolute obedience. He does not seek our counsel about which direction we think is suitable. God already knows what is best without ever having to consult with us.

Following Jesus will lead you into experiences you never dreamed of! You will be with Jesus as He weeps over those trapped in sin. You will feel the pain that Jesus feels. You will see those who were spiritually blind experience the joy of coming to see God for the first time. You will see lives that were broken, made whole. You will see marriages restored; those in bondage, released; and those who mourn, comforted. At times it will be easy to follow Jesus. At other times, you will be tempted to abandon Him. Following Jesus can mean going through a storm or standing on a mountaintop.

You may have stopped following Jesus, but now you want to follow again. When you stopped following Jesus, you did so on your terms. But the returning to Jesus is strictly under His conditions. He is God, and you are not. Are you willing to follow Jesus anywhere, at any time, under any condition? That is the only way you can follow Him.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day