Devotions for Dieters

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Jerome stepped up in front of the huge audience. Not too long ago, Jerome wouldn't have been caught dead speaking publicly. All that changed when he found he had something to talk about. Jesus Christ had changed his life, and he wanted the whole world to know. Jerome truly believed that anything was possible for him, now that Jesus Christ was the center of his life. That same confidence can be ours when we turn our lives over to Jesus. Christ transforms us and enables us to do things that we doubted were possible before. Trust the Lord to help you lose weight, and watch the miracle begin.

Today's thought: I become more spiritually as I become less physically!
Copyright © 2008, Crosswalk.com. http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/fordieters/

Farmers' Market

Isaiah 3-4, Galatians 6
Key Verse: Galatians 6:9

Two words that will get a person to wake up early on a Saturday morning are "garage sales." Two other words are "farmers' market." Both have their own appeal, but there is something extra special about fresh fruits and vegetables, picked just a few hours before, trucked in from the country in the back of a pickup. These are not the processed, hauled long-distance, waxed, sprayed, treated versions, but the real deal.

We enjoy wandering through the stalls, picking and choosing, feasting on the fruit of someone else's labor. But ours is a different view of those items from the person selling them. The fruit of the harvest is the fruit of their labor. They may remember tilling, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, pruning, staking, watering-then finally came harvesting. Giving up is not in the process, unless the person wanted a bed of weeds.

Life is like that. Paul uses farming as an illustration to teach us both the importance of sowing and of not giving up. We will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart (6:9), and what we reap will depend on what we sow (vv. 7-8).

At the farmers' market, we reap the benefit of what others have sown, of their hard work. That is the way it can be with fruits and vegetables but not with the blessing of God in our life. We cannot buy His blessings from a vendor. We must sow and reap, not giving up. The blessings do come!

Look at what you are sowing in your life. Remember that you will reap what you sow. When it is difficult to keep doing right, remember that the good harvest will come for those who do not give up.

Joshua 5:9

Rolled Away

According to one source, Americans spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do everything from improve their self-image to learn a foreign language. Unfortunately, the National Research Council has concluded that subliminal messages simply don't work. Despite all the hype to the contrary, these tapes don't deliver the life-transforming changes they promise.

But there is one source who always delivers on His promises--God. As the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, they needed to renew their covenant with God. This relationship required that circumcision be performed as a sign of the covenant. Those Israelites who left Egypt had been circumcised, but those males born during the wilderness wandering had not (vv. 4-5). It was now time for the younger generation to take their stand and have the "reproach of Egypt" rolled away.

Circumcision is no longer a sign of the covenant relationship with God. When Jesus died on the cross, the outward sign of circumcision was replaced with the inner presence of the Holy Spirit. He is the fulfillment of the promise in Ezekiel: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). When the Holy Spirit comes in, the old life is rolled away and we become "a new creation" in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

This experience can be yours as well. If you are still walking in your old life, why not receive Christ today and let Him roll your sins away? The reproach of the past can be replaced with a hope for the future.

From Wanderer to Pilgrim

One phrase is repeated four times in Psalm 107: "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (v. 8). The psalmist gives us five vivid illustrations of what God has done for us and why we should praise His name. He talks about wanderers, prisoners, hospital patients, mariners and people seeking to build the city and sow the seed.

About wanderers the psalmist writes, "They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for habitation" (vv. 4-7). God rescued them. Then there's that refrain. "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" God has done this for you, so thank Him.

I was a wanderer before the Lord saved me--lonely, solitary, hungry, thirsty, aimless and wondering where to go next. Then someone told me about Jesus Christ--that He died on the cross for my sins, was buried, rose again on the third day and today is a living Savior for all who will call upon Him. So I cried unto the Lord in my trouble, and He delivered me out of my distresses. Now I'm delivered and guided and part of His family, no longer lonely, no longer hungry and thirsty, for Christ is the Bread of Life; He is the Living Water. I am a pilgrim on my way to a heavenly home.

* * *

Consider God's goodness to you and the guidance He gives. He deserves your praise. He saved you and delivered you from the penalty of your sins. Give thanks to God for changing you from a wanderer to a pilgrim.

Character Comes First

Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1: 13-21

There is much talk today about "working for Christ" but little about "being like Christ."

Being like Christ means more than just following Him as a good teacher or example; it refers to the believer's being molded into the image of Jesus Christ. This is accomplished only as the believer yields to the work of the indwelling Christ.

The term "without blame" in Ephesians 1:4 means "without blemish"; that is, "free from faultiness." The believer is to live above reproach.

This is the potential of every believer because he is in Christ, but it is true of the believer only as he appropriates the resources God has made available to him.

The believer possesses a nature that is blameless, and he is to live accordingly. Believers are to be holy and blameless "before him" (v. 4).

Notice that this verse is not referring to a future time, such as the believer's judgment, but to the present. The believer should allow God to work in his heart so that his practice might measure up to his position--holy and blameless.

As the refiner can see his image in the purified gold, so God works with a believer until He sees His image. Each believer's prayer should be, "Search me, 0 God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23,24).

"Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:8).

God's Separation

And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

In a great many respects the righteous and unrighteous appear to be treated alike in this life. God "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). However, lest the righteous begin feeling sorry for themselves, we must not forget that a day of separation is coming when the Shepherd will divide His sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-33). The sun will not forever rise on the unrighteous.

But if we look more closely, even in this life God puts a division between His people and those of the world. Satan complained that God had made a hedge around Job. Solomon said that the Lord "is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of justice, and preserveth the way of His saints" (Proverbs 2:7-8).

A prime example of the Lord's protection for His people is the plagues of Egypt. After his death, there arose a king over Egypt who knew not Joseph. The Israelites became slaves with taskmasters set over them to afflict them. Moses was called of God to lead the Jews out of this land of bondage and into the promised land. But when Moses and Aaron confronted the Egyptian king about letting God's people go, the pharaoh only increased the burden on the Jews. The ruler hardened his heart and there began in Egypt a series of plagues the likes of which have not been seen since anywhere in the world.

First, their water supply turned to blood. Then frogs covered the land. Next, it was the plague of lice or gnats. After this the Lord said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh" (Exodus 8:20). The man of God warned the Egyptian king that if he would not let God's people go, the land would become black with flies.

These were not ordinary houseflies but horseflies. They are described by the historian Philo and other travelers as a very severe scourge. More numerous and annoying than houseflies, these gadflies fasten themselves to the human body, especially around the edges of the eyelids, and suck blood from the agonized victim. They would swarm and fill the houses of the Egyptians causing severe pain and distress.

But here for the first time an additional promise is made. God said He would set apart the land of Goshen, where His people Israel dwelt, and absolutely no swarm of flies would enter there. A division between God's people and the people of Egypt was to be formed. In fact, this division meant redemption. God would redeem Israel and protect them from the devastating swarm.

The Bible clearly indicates the purpose of this division was "to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth." God's setting apart of the land of Goshen was calculated to impress the worldly Egyptians that Jehovah alone is God. This was no trick of Egyptian magic; it was the direct intervention of God in human affairs. Jehovah caused a plague to fall on the unrighteous and peace to fall on the righteous.

Even today the Lord is separating a people for His name. The believer is set apart as a testimony to the world that Jehovah is God and He is in absolute control of the universe. God's people are to be a distinct and blessed group, in the world but not of it. We are set apart from the penalty of sin that plagues the world around us. Likewise we are set apart unto service for the God who saved us. Let's praise Him today for His grace in our behalf.

MORNING HYMN
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!