DEVOTION - SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011

“NAAMAN”

BY

PASTOR BOB COY

Naaman had everything going for him…a commander of men in battle, a victorious conqueror, a man who was man respected and honored by all…he seemed to have the world in the palm of his hand. There was just one thing. He was a leper.

In any culture and at any time, leprosy is a terrible disease to contend with. But in biblical days, a person with leprosy had no hope of reversing its effects apart from divine intervention. At the advice of his servant, Naaman went on a journey to be prayed over by the Prophet Elisha.

When Naaman finally arrived, contrary to his expectations, Elisha doesn’t so much as greet him. Instead, the prophet sends a messenger with a message for Naaman:

“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” (2 Kings 5:10 NKJV)

Go and wash in the river seven times? A man like Naaman wasn’t used to being ordered around like that, and it certainly isn’t how he envisioned his healing would take place. In a rage of unmet expectations, he began to leave. But fortunately, his servants persuaded him to follow through, and he was miraculously healed.

False expectations almost prevented Naaman from experiencing God’s healing in his life, and they often do just that in our lives as well. We have a particular area in our life that requires His touch, and we have expectations on exactly how He should touch it. But what if the Lord decides to do something different? What if our expectations aren’t met?

Here’s the lesson we learn from Naaman: Be open to God doing things the way He wants to do them and not how we expect Him to do them. For when we’re willing to accept His agenda instead of our own, we’ll also experience the power of His touch.

Think About It…
What does this passage reveal to me about God?
What does this passage reveal to me about myself?
Based on this, what changes do I need to make?
What is my prayer for today

DEVOTION - FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011

“WELL CONTENT”

BY

DR ED YOUNG

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:10

Paul could operate in his own strength or God’s. For the power of the Lord to work through Paul, his own had to be diminished. The man who headed for Damascus, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), was a hard-headed, strong-willed character, arrogant in his own might. Such a person is unusable as an instrument of Christ’s Kingdom because God “resists the proud” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Thus the equation of strength, Paul discovered, included the “W-Factor.” To the extent his flesh was weakened, God’s power could take over.

DEVOTION - THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

“WHY MAKING A LIVING SHOULDN’T STEAL YOUR LIFE”

BY

JACK GRAHAM

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Mark 8:36

The famous philosopher Eric Hoffer once wrote, “We are warned not to waste time, but we are brought up to waste our lives.” You know, the tragedy of many people is that, for the first half of their lives, they spend their health looking for wealth. And in the last half, they spend their wealth looking for health!

For so many, the demands of making a living often keep them from making a life. And when it comes to having a relationship with God, they make excuses and say, “Some other time, Lord. I’ll take a rain check.”

So these people rush through life from the today show to the tonight show to the tomorrow show, and instead of running their lives, their lives begin to run them. And let me tell you, there’s nothing as empty and as unrewarding as success apart from God.

Perhaps the demands of making a living are keeping you from making a life. As a pastor, I’ve never once prayed with anyone in his final hours of life who’s asked to see his money one more time. So remember that while material things will pass away, your relationships with God and with people are what matter and will truly last!

DON’T LET THE BUSYNESS AND WORRIES OF LIFE MAKE YOU MISS OUT ON THE JOY FOUND IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD AND WITH PEOPLE.

DEVOTION - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011

“FINAL PROMISE”

BY

CHARLES R SWINDOLL

Genesis 47:27–31

"Swear to me, Joseph—promise me this," Jacob said. "Place your hand under my thigh and swear." Making promises to the dying is nothing unusual. That is still done today. Frequently I have heard spouses or children tell of promises they made to a dying mate or a parent. But what about this strange gesture of placing one's hand under the thigh of another? What's that all about?

Brown, Driver, and Briggs, old but still reputable authorities on the Hebrew text, suggest that this sealing of the promise was done by placing the hand beneath the lower back or beneath the buttocks. Joseph promised to do as his father asked, and he also indicated this symbolically by placing his hand under Jacob. It was an oath-taking posture common at that time.

"Promise me before our God, Joseph, that you will bury me back in my father's land. Promise to bury me over there in Canaan, the land of our people, not here in Egypt. God brought us to Egypt so we could survive the famine, but I want to be buried in the land of our forefathers, along with Abraham and Isaac and Leah. Take me back there. Don't bury me in Egypt. Swear before God that will not happen." And Joseph swore to keep this promise to his father.

On Jacob's tombstone, Joseph could have placed the words: "He worshiped." Years earlier, of course, "He deceived" might have seemed more appropriate, but now that Jacob was almost a century-and-a-half old, he had come a long way with God. At the end of his life, one of his final acts was to worship the God he had both wrestled with and served. In his old age he urged Joseph to remember that Canaan—not Egypt—was the Promised Land, so he made his son promise to make his final grave there.

Reprinted by permission. Day by Day, Charles Swindoll, July 2005, Thomas Nelson, inc., Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.

DEVOTION - TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011

“THOUGHT FOR TODAY”

BY

PHIL WARE

Christ lives in me. Until I can become completely like him through the power of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18), he lives in me. Until I can go home to be with him he lives in me (John14:1-21). Everywhere I go and everything I do, he is with me.

Prayer:

O God, may the presence of Jesus within me stir me to your work today. May your abiding grace, through the presence of your gracious Son, call me to your character and your concerns. O Jesus, please make my heart like our Father's. Amen.