DEVOTIONS

Monday, August 21 – “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14) This is your challenge, if you choose to accept it.  Believe that God’s got you and then take a deep breath and live like you believe that God’s got you.  This might be easy for you today. Because your life is good.  Or this might be difficult for you today, because your life is full of stress and trouble.  Regardless of where you find yourself today, muster up the strength and the desire to take the action of being still and knowing that God’s got you.  It will either be practice for when you need it or it will be relief because you need it.

Tuesday, August 22 – “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” (Psalm 37:7) One of the greatest challenges to your faith will be comparison.  Looking around and seeing other people and how they live and making assumptions about what they are doing and what they are experiencing.  This will poison your faith journey.  For it will seem that others are better off or further along than yourself.  Don’t do that.  No comparisons.  Instead put all of that effort into learning how to be still and to patiently wait for God to speak, to act, to guide, to direct and to move.

Wednesday, August 23 – “He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet!  Be still!’  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” (Mark 4:39) This was Jesus, calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee that was causing his disciples to fear for their lives.  What storms are you facing today?  Well, the same power that Jesus used on the wind and rain he will use in your life.  Jesus commands you to be still.  But unlike the wind and the rain, you don’t have to listen.  You have the freedom of will to panic, to stress out and to drown in the storm you’re facing.  In other words, to continue to live as you have always lived.  How’s that working out for you?  Why don’t you try being still and knowing that God is God?  Let God do what God does best. 

Thursday, August 24 – “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.” (Psalm 62:5) Today your soul needs rest.  Today you need to hope in something greater than what you have hoped in, up to this point.  You want rest and you want to hope in something greater.  This is a good start.  For you will always find a way to do what you want.  Let me suggest something radical.  Try God.  What do you have to lose?  You haven’t found rest for your soul and you are hope-less.  So, worse case scenario, you will find yourself right back here, no rest for your soul and hope-less.  But, best case scenario, you discover that there is actually something to all of this “Be still and know that I am God” stuff.

Friday, August 25 – “’For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11) This is something you can take to the bank.  God doesn’t want to be a part of your life so that he can destroy you, lead you down the wrong path and cause you to have a miserable life.  God didn’t create you, gift you and put you in this place, at this time, so that you will fail.  That’s why God declares that he knows the plans he has for you. Because God wants you to also know the plans he has for you.  Plans to prosper you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.        

Saturday, August 26 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6) If this passage stopped at “Do not be anxious about anything” it would be useless.  For nobody can stop being anxious.  But everyone can change their focus from anxiousness to prayer, petitions and thanksgiving.  Expecting to get rid of one aspect of your life without something to replace it is a recipe for disaster.  A good rule of thumb for your life is this:  Never just stop, replace.  All of that energy and time that you devote to anxiousness, turn it to prayer, petitions and thanksgiving and see what happens.