Devotionals 31-25

Steps to Success Despising the Blessing Doubting Thomas?

Poor Preparation Jehoshaphat's Prayer

Everyone wants to be successful, but what is success. Many people will attempt to define their success by their wealth, fame, happiness, home, family, or their level on the job. The Word of God equates success with contentment far beyond material gain. Accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior is the greatest level of success that you can achieve. Mt.16:26, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" If you have never asked Jesus Christ into your heart the only success grid you will know about is in terms of accomplishments and financial gain. God's plan for success has nothing to do with how much you have, but rather how much Jesus has of you. He never compares your life to another and says you do not measure up. God measures success by your faithfulness to Him with what He has given you. The earmark of true success is not seen outwardly, but is in the inner man or woman. God has made man so that he can only be truly satisfied by the love and contentment received through a right relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are seeking for success, make sure the Christ is the object of your affections. Be the person God wants you to become and accomplish the goals He has established for you. Loose your life in Him in such a way that all your wants and goals come from a life that is completely devoted to Him. When you set goals for your life involve the Lord. He knows you best. Success comes when you know the will of God for your life and are doing it. Many Christians fail to exercise their full potential because they have been captured by an emotional view of success that does not exist. God's Word encourages us to stop looking for success to appear in numbers and amounts in a bank account, but rather enjoy the many avenues of success that God has provided through a life in Christ. The steps of success are simple. Ask God to empty you of all that would hold you back from doing His perfect will. Count nothing as gain except the love that you have for Him. Trust Jesus for future blessings and not yourself because you are trying to work up something on your own. Do not try to force doors open on your own, but wait upon the Lord to open the right door.
When you understand the extreme sacrifice that was paid on the cross for you, anything less than full surrender to Christ would be a failure in life.

Despising the Blessing Numbers 14:31

    Have you ever had to do something that you hated to do? Maybe it was something that your employer or your teacher required you to do. You obeyed, but you did not like it. Life is full of things we don't like to do. It could be something as simple as getting out of bed in the morning, or something as difficult as scientific calculations. As a small boy, I was often required to do things for my dad that I did not enjoy doing. Whenever I complained Dad would say, "Son it builds character." Dad always had an never ending list of ways to build character. Many years have gone by since those days I was required to do for my Day things that I despised, such as taking out the trash on a cold rainy day. Little do we know that many things that we despised doing will someday be used as a blessing from the Lord. A child may despise the many hours of study or practicing the piano, but many years later may find that the many hours of study today turns into the reason he becomes a blessing to many tomorrow. A young lady may despise the many hours of memorizing God's word today, but tomorrow finds that which she despised has become the very tool to make her an effective witness and counselor.
    The children of Israel despised the land which God had given them. He had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, but they despised God's plan for them. It should have taken only 11 days to get to the promised land, but because they despised God's plan it took them forty more years. God has many wondrous blessings for us if we would not despise God's plan for our life. Maybe God wants you to be a missionary or in some other Christian work, but the thought of leaving family and friends is something you despise. Don't despise God's blessing for your life. Saying yes now to God may lead the way for many others to say yes to God to morrow.
    Doing that which we may despise today will build character in our lives, so that we may be a blessing to many tomorrow. If we could see beyond today as God see we would surrender now to God!

Doubting Thomas? John 20:15-29

    Thomas has been labeled by the church today as "Doubting Thomas" , but nowhere in the Scriptures can you find the Lord penned that label on him. In fact all of the other disciples doubted. They were claiming that they had seen the Lord, but they were hiding (vs.19) . 'Thomas was not with the disciples when Christ appeared to them. He had not seen what the other disciples had seen. What Thomas did see was a group of men who were claiming that Christ had power over death, yet they were hiding behind closed doors because they were afraid someone would kill them. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews..." Thomas had just heard a report from the disciples that they had see the Lord, but Thomas refused to believe them because with their mouths they were saying "He is alive," but with their actions they were saying , "He is Dead!" He figured that if they had seen the Savior, who had power to raise the dead, they would not be hiding behind closed doors. These were the disciples to whom the Lord appeared. Christ had revealed His wounds them (vs.20). Christ had bless them and had commissioned them to take the gospel to the lost. Eight days later, they were still hiding behind closed doors in fear. How credible was their witness?
    There are many people who profess to be Christians, yet because of the way they live you would not be convinced that there was a resurrected Savior. When the evidence in a person's life contradicts the claim, something's wrong. Thomas demanded to see the Lord himself. Thomas did not doubt the Lord's resurrection, but he did doubt the report of those whose actions were questionable. He was saying to those who reported Jesus' resurrection, If what you are saying is true, you would not be hiding.
    If we were greater witnesses for the Lord today, there would be fewer skeptics for the Lord tomorrow.

Poor Preparation Luke 12:16-21

So many things in life involve preparation. Preparation involves planning and hard work. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. The rich farmer in the above passage certainly knew the meaning of planning and hard work. When Jesus condemned him it was not because the farmer was a hard worker, industrious, and had made some preparations. Jesus called the farmer a fool because the man had prepared things for his body, but he had neglected making preparations for his soul for eternity. Jesus knew that the more wealth you accumulate the more you are likely to forget God. He told the children of Israel to, "beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, (Dt.6:12). The rich farmer became so concerned about the material that he neglected his relationship with God. He left God out of his plans. His thoughts were about, "my fruits, my barns, my goods, and my soul." He had no thought of God's claim upon his life. He left God out of his plans. He thought only of himself. He had gained the worlds' esteem because of his riches, but in God's eyes he was a fool. To be rich toward God is real wealth, but making your possessions the source of your enjoyment is foolish. Man people have only prepared for the present, but life is more than the here and now. There is an eternity for which we must prepare. The farmer prepared only for the present and neglected the weightier matters of eternity. When he said, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid for many years...." he mistook time for eternity. While he was saying many years, God was saying, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee...." His happiness was only temporal because it was based on circumstances and the goods he had on the outside. Real joy is permanent and comes from within when the focus of your preparations is eternity.

Jehoshaphat's Prayer II Chron. 20:12

Have you ever been in a situation where you just didn't know what to do? Maybe the problems of life are about to overwhelm you and no one seems to care about you. There just seems to be no answer to your problem. Maybe money has run out, you lost your job, a loved one has deeply wounded your spirit, or your doctor told you that you have an incurrable disease and you have only a short time to live. What are you supposed to do when there just isn't an answer to your problem? Tears may cleanse your soul for awhile, but then what? You can try to deny your problem but, you still have that lonely empty feeling deep down inside.
Jehoshaphat faced a situation where there just seemed to be no answer. The children of Moab, the Ammonites and a great multitude were coming against Judah to battle. They had no might to fight against the great company that was to come against them (vs 12). They thought that they would soon loose everything or maybe even die. How did the people take care of the problem when there seemed to be no answer. They immediately confessed their situation (vs 2). It will do no good to deny the crisis you are facing. Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord and call upon God (vs 3). What a joy it is to take our burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Sometimes God will allow trials in our life so that we may return and rest on Him. He will carry you through. Jehoshaphat had confidence in his God (vs 7). He remembered God's promises to His people. When you don't know what to do, claim the promises of God. Be careful not to grow your problem out of proportion. Cast your eyes upon the Lord and rest in Him (vs 13). Wait for a clear direction from the Lord (vs 16). God is not the author of confusion. Continue worshiping God. Continue believing God. Continue praising God no matter how dismal the circumstances may seem. In the end you will be able to claim the victory (vs 25). The song writer, couldn't have said any better, "Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey".