ChristFit North Devotional – 10/12/2014

Today’s devotional is a little more detailed breakdown of a recent devotional written by Spencer Arnold of Power and Grace Performance.

In Numbers 11, the Israelites and even Moses are complaining about their conditions in the desert and specifically their lack of meat for food.  “Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord…So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have You been so hard on Your servant?  And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me?…Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?  For they weep before me saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’’ “ – Numbers 11:1,11,13.

God hears their complaints, and though He responds with anger, He gives them more quail then they could ever consider eating.  “…Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat.  You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’” – Numbers 11:18-19

Before God gives them the quail, Moses complains to God that his circumstances and capability to provide for the people of Israel is nearly impossible.  He confesses that he is not able to carry the load of the people alone.  “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me.” – Numbers 11:14.

God’s response is worth nothing and underlining.  He says in verse 23, “…’Is the Lord’s hand shortened?  Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.’” (ESV)  Basically God reminds Moses that nothing has stopped or slowed God’s plans to date and still nothing will.  The next day God provided more quail for the people then they knew how to stockpile or eat.

That’s the effectiveness and efficiency of our God.  He knows no bounds and has no limitations to what He can do.  When we are in a tough situation or we feel like our options are gone, remember this verse.  Our God’s hand is not shortened and He does what He pleases.  Remember that no matter how discouraging or dim your situation looks, our God is faithful and in our corner.  His hand is not shortened and His ways are perfect.  Trust them.

ChristFit North Devotional – 10/5/2014

By Jordan Robison

“Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God.  So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.  Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.’  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleaser in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NLT)

I don’t think we’ll ever fully understand while on this earth what exactly God is doing or why He’s doing it, other than knowing that whatever He does, He does for the good of those who believe (Romans 8:28).  I don’t think it’s our position to fully understand how God is working in different situations.  This lack of knowing or understanding requires us to have faith, to fully trust in God’s work amidst the thorns in our sides.  Know this, we worship and amazing God who will continue to amaze us with the incredible blessings he procures from the most difficult situations.

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul talks about the thorn in his side that God used to keep him from becoming proud.  We don’t know exactly what this thorn in his side was but it must have been painful as he begged for the Lord to take it away.  Nonetheless, Paul came to understand through God that the thorn in his side, despite its pain, was being used by God to strengthen him.

Another great example of an ailment to Paul being used by God is in Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia.  In Galatians 4:13 Paul states, “Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.”  Paul was struck with an illness and in that time shared the Gospel with the people of Galatia and planted a church there.

Over the last few months I’ve watched a friend and his family struggle with his father battling cancer.  It’s been incredibly difficult on his family and throughout the time it was hard to see what God was doing…until a couple of weeks ago.  After his son had shared his faith with him many times my friend’s dad accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  Had it not been for the cancer his dad might still be at his home and not living with my friend.  Had it not been for the cancer they might not have established a relationship that they previously had never had.  Had it not been for the cancer the conversations about faith might have never taken place.  But God used a lot of pain and a lot of struggle within a family to secure my friend’s father a place in eternity forever.

God works in mysterious ways that sometimes involve pain and suffering.  However we can trust that whatever He is doing is for our own good.  The challenge is in the midst of suffering to look beyond the pain and fix our eyes on Christ, trusting that He is working for our good and to proclaim His glory.

ChristFit North Devotional – 9/14/2014

By Jordan Robison

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.  So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”- Romans 7:15-20

Paul wrote Romans sometime around 56-58 A.D. so around 1,960 years ago Paul was experiencing the same struggles that we experience on a daily basis.  As Christians it is common that we have received a new set of beliefs but we do not know how to act upon them in our daily lives.  We are told what it is to know Christ but we are often left without a “how-to” guide when it comes to following Christ so we revert back to our old B.C. patterns of the flesh.

In his book Lifetime Guarantee, Bill Gillham spends an entire chapter sorting through this conundrum of desiring to do good yet continuing to do the very thing we hate.  In breaking it down he starts by trying to define what sin is and then how we can defeat sin.

Gillham states that sin is an “entity or power who wishes me to do ‘the very thing I hate.’  Something that indwells me [that] wants me to rebel against God.”  The big point that Gillham wants to drive home in his defining of sin is that Satan cannot force us to do anything.  He does not force us to act out and rebel against God.  However, Satan does use sin to suggest that we do something.  Sin creeps in and uses first-person singular pronouns to disguise itself as our own thought.  “Instead of experiencing the communication, ‘Why don’t you go ahead and give her a piece of your mind!’ it will be served up to your mind as,’Well! I have a good mind to tell her off!  By George, I’m going to do it!”  Once we buy into sin’s idea and accept it as our own then we grab onto it, convert it into action and once again we have done the very thing we hate.

So how do we defeat this, where is our victory?  “Your victory lies in appropriating your true identity as the saint you are in Christ.  You must counter temptation along these lines: ‘No!  I’m dead to that!  That is not my thought.  I recognize that strategy.’”  Romans 6:11 says, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  How does a dead man respond when you try to stimulate him?  He doesn’t!  We are dead to sin…do not let it stimulate your desires…recognize it for what it is and fight it.

When we accept Christ as our savior we are bringing Him into our lives to live through us.  When sin pervades our thoughts, when temptation sneaks in we must recognize it for what it is and “choose to act as if I’m dead to sin by acting as though Christ is living through me.”  We’re not just dead to sin but on the other had we are alive!  We are dead to the power of sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus!

As we struggle with attempting to defeat sin on our own we fail to live out the victory that we have in Christ.  As Gillham puts it, “Somehow their Christianity is not working.  The reason it’s now working is they do not understand their true identity and how to offer themselves as a living sacrifice to Christ to live the victorious Christian life through them.”

So to wrap things up we turn back to Paul’s letter to the Romans.  “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship Him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” – Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)

ChristFit North Devotional – 9/7/2014

By Jordan Robison

So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius!”  We are all in agreement – we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors – that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced.  Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human – except to you, Your Majesty – will be thrown into the den of lions.  And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.  So King Darius signed the law.  But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem.  He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

– Daniel 6:6-10

I just recently read through the book of Daniel and was continually amazed and encouraged by the faith of Daniel.  In this specific case the scenario is pretty straight forward, pray to anyone but King Darius, go in the lion’s den, die.  That’s all there was to it, no ifs, ands or buts about it…in this situation prayer equaled death.  So what was Daniel’s response?  Pray.  Pray just like he had always prayed.  And not only pray but give thanks to God.

How would we react in a situation where the stakes are much lower than death?  Pray and get scoffed at.  Pray and get fired from your job.  Pray and go to jail.  Would we respond in the same way that Daniel did?  Would we immediately do that which we were going to be persecuted for?  And in doing so would we be giving thanks to God?

I don’t honestly think I could say that I would.  I think I would be scared.  I think my lacking in the ability to put full faith and trust in God would rear its ugly head.  I’ve used the following four questions as an example many times…

Is God omniscient (does he see everything)?…Yes

Is God omnipotent (is he all powerful)?…Yes

Does God want what is best for us?…Yes (See Romans 8:28)

Then what are you worried about?

We can say this all day long but do we truly believe it…do we truly live it out?  Do we have the faith of Daniel…the ability to put our full trust in God no matter what the circumstances?

Last time we were here and at Launch we looked at the Martyr’s Prayer, the journal entry written by a Rwandan man the night before he was killed after refusing to renounce Christ.  This man had an unshakable faith that even in the face of death he put his full trust in God.

So what does this look like for us?  It’s a continual battle between relying upon our own faculties and abilities and placing our full trust in God.  As a community group right now we are going through the book of Galatians and using Tim Keller’s “Galatians For You” to guide us.  Galatians 3:1-3 says “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?  This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”  When going through these verses Keller focuses on how “the way the Spirit entered your life should be the very same way the Spirit advances in your life.”  What does that look like?  What does it look like for the Spirit to advance in our lives, to trust God fully, to apply the gospel to every area of our life?  Keller tells us that, “The Spirit works as Christians don’t rely on their own works, but rather consciously and continuously rest in Christ alone for the acceptability and completeness.”

It sounds simple, “don’t rely on their own works, but rather consciously and continuously rest in Christ alone,” but at times it can be very difficult.  We are fallen, sinful people and the world tells us to go out and seize the day, take control of our own lives, seek our own pleasure and desires.  We know where true peace will be found though, we know where true happiness is, we know what the answer is…”consciously and continuously rest in Christ alone for acceptability and completeness.”  I believe that if we want to have the faith of Daniel, the faith of the Rwandan martyr, that we truly want to give up control and give it all to God then on a daily basis we should remind ourselves to “consciously and continuously rest in Christ alone.”  Instead of relying upon our own abilities, rest in Christ and the work he has already completed for us.

ChristFit North Devotional – 8/24/2014

By Jordan Robison

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” – Romans 1:16

I first heard this story and what some refer to as the “Martyr’s Prayer” when we were over in Ethiopia and discussing how we would take the kingdom work we were doing over in Ethiopia and carry it back over into our lives in the states.  The following was also shared at the last Unashamed weekend that the Watermark young adults put on several times a year.  I took it as a challenge placed before me and wanted to share it with y’all today.

Dr. Robert Morehead tells the story of a young man from Rwanda who was forced by his tribe in 1980 to renounce Christ or face death.  He refused to renounce Christ, and he was murdered on the spot.

The night before he had written the following commitment which was found in his room.

“I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. The decision has been made.  I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith.  I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.

My face is set, my gait is fast, and my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ.

 I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until He stops me.

 And, when He returns for His own, because He will return, He will have no difficulty recognizing me.  My colors will be clear.”

This was the statement of a man that was about to be killed for his beliefs, the faith of a man that was willing to die for what he knew was true.  Look around at the city and country we live in, the lives that God has blessed us with…we don’t face this type of persecution.  We don’t have to fear for our lives when we share our faith.  We are not told to renounce our faith or face certain death.  The only thing that’s stopping us is fear…fear of rejection, fear of being embarrassed, fear of not knowing how to respond.  I can say this because those fears are what consistently hold me back when it comes to sharing the most important message that was ever delivered to me.

Every time I read this man’s words I am both convicted and inspired to be bolder in my faith, to embody Christ in everything I do, to live unashamed of the gospel in all aspects of my life and I hope that it can do the same for you.

ChristFit North Devotional – 8/17/2014

In the first 3 parts of us going through Intimacy with the Almight by Charles Swindoll we looked at four different disciplines that help us to cultivate a close, personal, intimate relationship with our Father:

Reordering One’s Private World: The Discipline of Simplicity

Being Still: The Discipline of Silence

Cultivating Serenity: The Discipline of Solitude

Today we’ll look at the final discipline, “Trusting the Lord Completely: The Discipline of Surrender”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

“Anyone whose determined purpose is to become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him cannot retain the rights to his own position or place…or be anxiously preoccupied with working out the details of his own life.  There must be complete and unqualified reliance on the Living Lord.  In other words, one must develop the discipline of surrender.  Now there’s an unpopular term for today’s generation!  I can just hear the frowning reaction. ‘Surrender? Get serious.’…We have reared a generation of strong-willed, belligerent, independent young men and women.  Surrender is not a word in their vocabulary.  Too bad, since it is the key that unlocks the vault of God’s best and deepest treasures.  He patiently waits for us to yield, to quit fighting Him, to allow His plan to run its course, to turn to Him for our security and significance.  As He witnesses our doing that, He begins to reveal Himself and His will in greater depth.”

“I’m finally learning that His sovereign plan is the best plan.  That whatever I entrust to Him, He can take care of better than I.  That nothing under His control can ever be out of control.  That everything I need, He knows about in every detail.  That He is able to supply, to guide, to start, to stop, to sustain, to change, and to correct in His time and for His purposes.  When I keep my hands out of things, His will is accomplished, His Name is exalted, and His glory is magnified…I am finally learning that surrendering to my sovereign Lord, leaving the details of my future in His hands, is the most responsible act of obedience I can do.  And, until I do it, becoming a deep person remains nothing more than a distant and pious dream.”

In conclusion of our four parts series these are the decision and the disciplines we have been considering:

1. To reorder our private world, we must learn to exercise the discipline of simplicity.
2. To be still, the discipline of silence must be valued.
3. To cultivate serenity, it is imperative that we guard the discipline of solitude.
4. To trust God completely requires the discipline of surrender.

Swindoll closes with words from V. Raymond Edman, from The Disciplines of Life.

In every life

                There’s a pause that is better than onward rush,

                Better than hewing or mightiest doing;

                ‘Tis the standing still at Sovereign will.

 

                There’s a hush that is better than ardent speech,

                Better than sighing or wilderness crying;

                ‘Tis the being still at Sovereign will.

 

                The pause and the hush sing a double song

                In unison low and for all time long.

                O human soul, God’s working plan

                Goes on, nor needs the aid of man!

                Stand still, and see!

                Be still, and know!

ChristFit North Devotional – 7/20/2014

“The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’ (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not have time to eat.)  They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Cultivating Serenity: The Discipline of Solitude – from Intimacy with the Almighty by Charles Swindoll

While our Lord appreciated their hard work and faithful labors as they returned from ministry on their own, He saw their need for rest and reflection…Jesus saw the value of solitude…the need to escape from activity.

As invaluable and necessary as companionship is, enabling us to be encouraged, accountable, and challenged, there is an equally important segment of the spiritual life that is frequently ignored.  I’m referring to the discipline of solitude, where we cultivate serenity deep within ourselves.

Solitude has been called “the furnace of transformation”…it is an oasis of the soul where we see ourselves, others, and especially God in new ways.  It is where much of the “clutter” I mentioned earlier is identified and exterminated, thanks to the merciless heat of the “furnace.”  Soul surgery transpires as serenity replaces anxiety.  God who probes our deepest thoughts during protracted segments of solitude opens our eyes to things that need attention.  It is here He makes us aware of those things we try to hide from others.

“In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me – naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken – nothing.  It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something.  But that is not all.  As soon as I decide to stay in my solitude, confusing ideas, disturbing images, wild fantasies, and weird associations jump about in my mind like monkeys in a banana tree.  Anger and greed begin to show their ugly faces…The task is to persevere in my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone.” – Henri Nouwen

If the truth were known, most of us resist that kind of soul searching because it seems to radical, too severe.  After all, time is short, and who needs all that kind of self-analysis?  The religious show must go on!  No, that’s just the point.  Through the discipline of solitude, we come to terms with the superficial, “show,” and we determine in our hearts that it will stop!

The psalmist realized the need for in-depth examination.  In fact, he invited God’s laserlike probe into the innermost chambers of his hear and thoughts.

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.  Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold O Lord, You know it all…Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”

– Psalm 139:1-4, 23-24

An inner restlessness grows within us when we refuse to get alone and examine our own hearts, including our motives.  As our lives begin to pick up the debris that accompanies a lot of activities and involvements, we can train ourselves to go right on, to stay active, to be busy in the Lord’s work.  Unless we discipline ourselves to pull back, to get alone for the hard work of self-examination in times of solitude, serenity will remain only a distant dream.  How busy we can become…and as a result, how empty!  We mouth words, but they mean nothing.  We find ourselves trafficking in unlived truths.  We fake spirituality.

Going back to Jesus’ command to the apostles in our verses from Mark.  Clearly, Jesus saw the value of solitude…the need to escape from activity.  It was there that serenity could be cultivated.

ChristFit North Devotional – 6/22/2014

“Cease striving and know that I am God…” (NASB)
“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God…” (NIV)
“Be still, and know that I am God!…” (NLT)
“Step out of the traffic!  Take a long, loving look at me, your High God…” (MSG)

Being Still: The Discipline of Silence – from Intimacy with the Almighty by Charles Swindoll

“If you think it is a difficult test in our complicated, competitive world, to develop the discipline of simplicity, just imagine the challenge you face in this world of restlessness, noise, words, and relentless activity, to develop the discipline of silence.  Personally, I have found this to be an almost insurmountable challenge.  I’ve realized its magnitude more in the past two years than ever before in my life.  Yes, I am more convinced than ever that there is no way you and I can move toward a deeper, intimate relationship with our God without protracted times of silence, which includes one of the rarest of all experiences: absolute silence.”

Looking back at Psalm 46:10 “we are commanded to stop (literally)…rest, relax, let go, and make time for Him.  The scene is one of stillness and quietness, listening and waiting before Him.  Such foreign experiences in these busy times!  Nevertheless, knowing God deeply and intimately requires such a discipline.  Silence is indispensable if we hope to add depth to our spiritual life.  It ‘guards the fire within our souls.’”

“Do you find yourself victimized by the noisy, busy, overcrowded world in which you must spend many hours of your life?  Is it leaving you spiritually insensitive, sort of a business-as-usual attitude toward the church you attend of the Bible study you used to enjoy?  How about prayer?  Noise and crowds have a way of siphoning our energy and distracting our attention, making prayer an added chore rather than a comforting relief.  You may even feel a low-grade depression sweep over you as the absence of stillness and silence takes its toll.  If so, it is time for some straight talk.  Nobody can do anything about that dilemma but you!  Allow it to continue, and you will gravitate into one of two directions.  Either you will run through the motions and cultivate a hypocritical spirituality hidden behind the mask of phony enthusiasm, or you will simply fade from involvement and distance yourself from meaningful relationships with other Christians.  In both cases you will set yourself up for a fall.  I have seen it happen more often than I want to recall.”

“If the pace and push, the noise and the crowds are getting to you, its time to stop the nonsense and find a place of solace to refresh your spirit.  Deliberately say ‘no’ more often.  This will leave room for you to slow down, get alone, pour out your overburdened heart, and admit your desperate need for inner refreshment.  The good news is He will hear and He will help.  The bad news is this: If you wait for someone else to bring about a change, things will only deteriorate.  Your spiritual fervor will wane and you will be vulnerable to an adversarial assault, which will surely come.  Strengthening yourself before the Lord is your only hope.

“We yearn to restore our spirits to God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.  But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found: in his Son, who is his Word…As all of us can testify, God does not speak to the hurried, worried mind.  It takes time along with Him and His Word before we can expect our spiritual strength to recover.”

ChristFit North Devotional – 6/15/2014

By Jordan Robison

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” – Philippians 3:7-10

I recently read a book called Intimacy with the Almighty by Charles Swindoll.  It is a quick read, only 77 pages, but is incredibly insightful in what it takes to have an intimate relationship with our heavenly father.  As Paul states in the passage above, his determined purpose is to become more intimately acquainted with Christ.  Over the next few weeks I want to hit on the four decisions and disciplines that Swindoll sets forth to cultivate an in-depth intimacy with the Almighty.

Reordering One’s Private World: The Discipline of Simplicity

“To reorder one’s own world, the need to simplify is imperative.  Otherwise, we will find ourselves unable to be at rest within, unable to enter the deep, silent recesses of our hearts, where God’s best messages are communicated.  And if we live very long in that condition, our hearts grow cold toward Christ and we become objects of seduction in a wayward world.  What perils await us in that condition!”

The tendency to be led away from simplicity is not something that is just taking places in the fast paced, complicated world that we live in today.  Paul had the same concern for the church at Corinth,

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 11:3

Thomas Kelly states that God, “never guides us to an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness.”  We must slow down our pace and simplify our lives.  God has given us everything that we need and all He wants in return is an intimate relationship with us.

ChristFit North Devotional – 5/25/2014

By Jordan Robison

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.  He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous men stumble badly, yet those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”- Isaiah 40:28-31

These verses are all about strength, specifically the attributes of strength that we desperately need in our lives.  They beautifully describe the strength of God, how He created the earth, does not grow weary and is inscrutable in His understanding.   We see how he gives that strength to the weary, those who lack might and stumble badly.  In addition to all of this the thing that really stood out to me was what we are called to do in verse 31 in order to receive this strength from God.

“Yet those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength…”

Other translations instead of wait use hope (NIV) or trust (NLT), but the message is the same.  If we are to receive the power of God then we must rely upon and trust in Him.

I read out of the NASB so when I was reading I was hit with “wait on the Lord.”  As someone who is constantly on the go and quick to act the idea of sitting back and waiting really hit me.  Sometimes we need to just slow down and wait on God to let Him show us what he has planned for us.  I love the way that Todd and JP put it up at WM in relation to getting away to spend time with the Lord: we need to divert daily, withdraw weekly and abandon annually.  We do this to intentionally stop and listen to God, to slow down the pace of our lives and wait on Him to guide us.

As we go through the workout today and head into next week try and think of a way in which you can slow down and wait on God to hear what He has to say to you.  Maybe it’s something as simple as waking up 5 minutes earlier and dropping straight to your knees in prayer to start the day or choosing to go a week without listening to the radio in your car but instead spending that time meditating on a piece of Scripture.  Whatever it is let’s figure out a way we can slow down and wait/hope/trust in the Lord so that our strength in Him may be renewed.