Daily Devotional

Scripture Job 4:5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled.

Observation: It’s much easier giving advice when we are doing fine and the other person is going through the trials. Even though we go through trials and tribulations we typically don’t want to comfort someone else at that time we want to wail in our misery alone. All the advice we would give we won’t receive in those moments we turn our head away from God and go into self-pity. However the strongest witness is to lead people to the Lord while we are being persecuted showing an example of faith and faith they would be able to associate with.

Application: I’ve become so lazy anymore that I’m becoming no use to my Lord. Today someone wrote me an email in regards to meeting her brother that is suffering from depression but he lives in Hemet several miles away and wants to meet on a Saturday. My first thought is that is my day off and I would have to drive all the way to Hemet. Someone is calling out and I’m making excuses. It’s funny when I cry out to my Lord in need, no matter what He answers and guides me, how disappointed He must be in me. The deeper in troubles I find myself I must reach out to others that are suffering and then I have a chance to help and reach them for the Lord. Next time I’m feeling down I need to pray to God to put me in the path of someone who might need me.

Prayer: My Lord help me get past this laziness I have. Give me the energy and strength to honor you and to help others. May my focus be on serving you by being a blessing to others, use this servant to glorify you. You are worthy of all of my love, praise, worship and time.

Scripture Job 3:11 “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?

Observation: Those were my thoughts most of my life. Why am I here and how can I get out. Being depressed most of my life wishing not to see another day that was me. When bad things came that was all I would focus on, never thought about the good things I had or the good things that happened just focused on whatever wasn’t going right in my life. That was Job, lost faith and trust in God and all of the blessings before meant nothing. If we could only stay focused on God and how He feels about us and how much He loves us we might look forward to what He has planned for us knowing that we are in His hands.

Application: I still suffer with things in my life, not focusing on God but my situation. My thoughts always go to the negative without thinking of the good and feel doomed a good part of my life. I need to be in prayer more often not losing touch with my Creator, but staying close to His side. I need to be an example of God’s faithfulness to others and speak about Him often as a reminder to those God surrounds me with and to me. I can never lose hope and I need to trust Him in every situation whether good or bad. I’m a child of God and need to act like one.

Prayer: My Lord I thank you for your love and protection. Please forgive me for my lack of faith and I ask you to increase my faith. Help me draw near to you and feel your presence in all that I do. Help me trust and obey your word that I might bring you joy, the joy you bring me.

Scripture Job 2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Observation: So many of us feel that God owes us and all we should get is blessings. Yet God’s word does not say that if fact Jesus said that we will have trials and tribulations, but we don’t want to hear that. A loving God should only give us good things. Yet as parents we would not give only good things to our children without discipline and direction. We learn from our mistakes, which in turn make us stronger. Job had it right we should be thankful for everything and accept what God desires to give us.

Application: This is a hard lesson for me to learn. I think of the martyrs in this world how they are suffering and being tortured for their faith. I can’t stand the littlest amount of pain and wonder how I would do under those circumstances. The martyrs are going to earn rewards I will never be able to, but I need to learn to be strong in faith. I need to accept all that God gives me whether good or bad and then ask God what He wants me to glean from those experiences.

Prayer: My Lord I’m weak, but you can make me strong. Show me how to be obedient in all that you give me. May others see the strength you give me and that I always give you all the glory and honor. Help me be bold about speaking about my gracious God to others and show me how to finish well. I love you Lord and you deserve all that I have.

Scripture Job 1:21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Observation: We think we make our own wealth and control our destiny. How arrogant are we? God has given us this life right from the beginning, He alone is our creator and guides us through this life, if we allow Him. There is nothing that is truly ours and nothing we are going to be able to take with us when we die. Everything on this earth is on loan by God. If someone we know dies we shouldn’t blame God, but give Him thanks for allowing us to know that person whether a child, parent or friend. Whatever we loose on this earth was never really ours in the first place.

Application: I need to realize just that. I’m God’s and He can do whatever He thinks right. There is nothing that can be taken from me that I own, even my heath is a gift from God. I need to seek God when something does go away to see what He desires of me. Everything happens for a reason and I need to be aware of what God desires of me at all times. I need to trust my Lord more, I have too many doubts and my anxiety level is so high. God deserves all of my love, obedience, worship and time and I need to start giving back now before it’s too late.

Prayer: Thank you my Lord for all you have given me. Thank you for this chance to do better than I’ve done in the past. Strengthen me to do your will and to serve you and others in all that you have given me. I love you Lord and owe you everything.

Scripture Esth 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.[

Observation: That seems to be one of the harder things for us to do is to seek the good of others. I seem to always come first when there is any good to be received and Mordecai would even seek the good of his people. What a great leader he must have been seeking the good of others, speaking peace no wonder he was received so well. He was everything God has called us all to be, so why is it so hard for us? We are all sinners and are so focused on us it is hard to see God at times and the needs of others even harder.

Application: We’re starting another new year and with all the resolutions I’m trying to make this should be on the top of the list. To look for the needs of others and to treat others as God as called me to do. I need to know this is a command from God and not just a choice of mine. I’m called to serve and not myself. I have a Master and He has given me my orders and I need to follow them and to follow them with joy. To please my Lord should be on the top of my list.

Prayer: My Lord soften this hard heart of mine and put the interest of others on my heart. May it not just be because it is the beginning of a new year, but because it is your desire that I live a life of service to others. May my actions reflect your glory. I love you and want to be obedient to you, help me honor you.

Scripture Esth 9:25 but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Observation: How often has that happened to you. You think you’re getting away with something and bam it comes back to haunt you. It’s happened to me more than once. I’ve always had a vengeful spirit, if someone does something wrong to me or even if I think they have I want revenge, instead of forgiveness. I would plot something against them or hope something terrible would happen to them or say something about them and sure enough my words would return to me or my actions would be found out and now I was the bad guy and in reality I was. God tells us over and over to forgive and that judgment is His and these instances are just a reminder that they are. There is nothing that others can do to us that God doesn’t know about and instead of justifying ourselves we should be justifying God by our actions.

Application: I have an evil heart. I can’t think without some negative thought or wicked things comes up. I need to work harder when I find myself drifting off to thoughts that don’t honor God. I need to be in prayer and when I find myself alone in thought I need to take them to God and think of things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy as my Lord calls me to do.

Prayer: Dear Lord help me please. Give me a forgiving and loving spirit and take all this junk out of my heart and mind. Make me like Jesus whose heart is pure. I love you my Lord and want to honor you all the days of my life.

Scripture Esth 8:5 and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

Observation: This is how we should make all of our decisions, we should ask ourselves if what we are about to do would please our King. Do we find favor or our we pleasing in our Lord’s sight and will this action seem right to Him? So often I have to say no, I react quickly with my best interest in mind and I pay the consequences of my rash actions. Before we make any decision let us go before our King, live a life that would be pleasing to Him so that we might find favor and make sure what we are about to do is right in His eyes.

Application: Those are the steps I need to make every time I have a decision to make, I need to go before the King. He has given me His commands through His word, He has told me how to live this life He has blessed me and has told me how I might bless Him with my actions. I can’t play dumb anymore no matter how much I would try to justify my actions I know what is right and what is wrong. I need to live a life worthy of coming before my King, I want Him to hold out the golden scepter to me when I want to approach Him and I want to bring Him joy.

Prayer: My King I come before you a humble man, but troubled. Help me control my thoughts and actions so that they will be pleasing before you. Make me worthy to enter into your presence, soften my heart to others and take this anxiety from my spirit. May I come before your throne with a pure heart and the desire to do nothing but please and honor you. I love you my King and wait until it is time to enter your kingdom as your faithful servant.