Devos

God Loads Us with Benefits

   

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” (Psalm 68:19)

In Amy’s family, when someone is grumpy or complaining, another family member will suggest playing “the thankfulness game.” When playing this simple game, each family member takes turns naming one thing he or she is thankful for. Amy’s family always starts with the big things: “I’m thankful for my salvation,” for example, or “I’m thankful to have parents.” The only rule of the game is that everyone has to say something new; no one is allowed to name something someone else has already said.

After Amy and her family think they’ve run out of new ideas, they start thinking of silly things. They say things like this: “I’m thankful I don’t have fleas,” or “I’m thankful for toothpaste.” By the end of the game, not only is Amy’s family laughing, but everyone is thinking about the enormous number of ways God has loaded them with blessings – from the smallest things in life (things they take for granted), to the greatest blessing of salvation through Jesus Christ. God is a generous God. He doesn’t give His children just a few pleasures in life. He loads them with benefits every day.

So when you’re feeling grumpy or full of complaints, take out a piece of paper and start writing a list of one hundred things you’re thankful for. It won’t be long before you realize that God has loaded you with benefits.

God loads His children with benefits.

My Response:
» Do I have a complaining spirit or do I realize that God has loaded me with benefits?

Truth in Real Life Moments

David Brainerd

   

“I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure, so that I may save souls.”

David Brainerd – who came to be known as the “pioneer for modern missions” – was born on April 20, 1718, in Haddam, Connecticut. The year that he was born, Jonathan Edwards was 14 years old, and Benjamin Franklin was 12. The world was being prepared for the Great Awakening.

Brainerd did not have an easy life. His father died when Brainerd was 9, and his mother died when he was 14. After his mother’s death, he was sent to live with his married sister. Incredibly, by age 20, he was beginning to desire to be in the ministry, yet he wasn’t even a Christian yet!

At age 21, Brainerd genuinely trusted Jesus Christ and gave his life to Him. He enrolled in Yale University, where he studied hard. He was often sick, yet he did his best. While he was in college, the First Great Awakening began, and the famous British evangelist George Whitefield visited to preach in the British North American colonies.

Before he finished at Yale, Brainerd was expelled for refusing to apologize for something he believed. He left Yale and became a missionary to the Indians. It was not his idea of the best timing or how he had planned to go into ministry, but for him, it was God’s leading in his life.

During the month of his 25th birthday, Brainerd moved to a reservation and began preaching the Gospel to the Native Americans, specifically the Delaware tribe. He lived alone in a small wigwam and traveled around to preach. In less than one year, he was pastoring a church of over 130 Native Americans who had become Christians – an amazing exhibit of the grace and power of God’s Gospel!

Sadly, Brainerd became ill (probably with tuberculosis) and died when he was just 29 years old. He died in the home of Jonathan Edwards, whose daughter he had planned to marry. David Brainerd was actually a Christian himself for only eight years and a missionary for only four years! And yet he is known now as the most influential missionary to Native Americans ever. His story serves to remind us that God uses those who trust Him, even when it is hard.

Are you willing to serve God even when you face tough times? Do you find yourself forgetting sometimes that God can make His strength perfect even in your weakness?

Isaiah 40:29 – He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.

Devos

God Loves for You To Pray

   

“Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense” (Psalm 141:2a).

Are there certain smells that you like? Some people love to smell pine trees or old books. Others like to smell cookies baking or different kinds of flowers – roses, lilacs, hyacinths, gardenias. People like pleasant smells, smells that remind them of loved ones or favorite places.

Prayer can be like a sweet, pleasant smell to God. The Bible compares prayer to incense, a very pleasing fragrance. Did you know that your prayer is like the act of offering up a sweet perfume to God? God loves for you to pray. He wants you to bring all of your concerns to Him – big and small. When you pray, you are showing God that you trust Him and need Him to help you. You are showing Him that you love Him enough to spend time talking to Him.

God’s children bring glory to Him when they express their love and trust in Him. And they can express that love and trust through praying. Praying is like giving God a breath of a wonderful, sweet scent that He loves.

God loves for His children to pray, because when they pray they show Him that they love and trust Him.

My Response:
» Do I take some time each day to pray to God?

Devos

God Can Make You Happy

   

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom,…yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

A young missionary in China named Hudson Taylor was writing a letter home to his sister Amelia. What happy news could he share? Many of the Chinese people were dying from famine. He had very little money. The other missionaries did not like the way he dressed as the Chinese did. And the girl he loved and wanted to marry had just told him that she would not marry him. Hudson had every reason to be sad. His eyes moved to the Bible beside him on his desk. What had he read that very day about God’s love? He picked up his pen and wrote, “The love of God never changes. Can we ever love Jesus as much as He loves us?”

What would it take to make you happy? Another new toy? A room all to yourself? An “A” on your math paper? Having a certain person for your best friend? Only knowing God and His love for you can make you happy deep down in your heart. Only He can give you happiness that lasts, even when things go wrong.

Knowing God is the only thing that will make you truly happy.

My Response:
» Am I getting to know God through His Word?
» Do I find my happiness in God?

Devos

God Comforts the Fearful

   

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” (Psalm 56:3)

Like many people, Maggie was afraid of the dark. She was afraid of the scary things she couldn’t see in the dark. Maggie shared a bedroom with her sister Kathi, and she made Kathi promise not to go to sleep until after she had fallen asleep so that Kathi could protect her from all of the “scary things” in the room.

For the times that Maggie’s fears were very strong, her mother told her to quote Bible verses and pray. Maggie’s mom said that the Lord promised in His Word that He would calm all of Maggie’s fears. Psalms 56:3 says, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Maggie’s mom explained that God did not want her to be afraid; instead He wanted her to trust Him with all her fears. Maggie followed her mom’s advice and began to see how the Lord was more powerful than anything real or imagined. As she quoted verses, she was reminded of God’s control over everything. As a result, she started being less and less afraid of the dark.

The Lord promises us in His Word that He will comfort us when we are afraid. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God.” Whether it is something small, like being afraid of the dark, or something large, the Lord asks us to trust Him to comfort us in the midst of our fears.

God’s Word is able to comfort His children when they are afraid.

My Response:
» Do I ask for God’s comfort when I am afraid? Do I trust Him to be with me even during painful or scary times?