Devotions for Dieters

Mark 11:24
'Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.'

Abby knew that God hadn't lost her weight for her, but He sure helped her be able to lose it. When she felt most like giving up, He encouraged her and gave her the will to go on. When she was most tempted to break her diet, He reminded her of how important it was to stick with it. When the pounds began to fall, He filled her with a deep joy that insured she would continue. She never forgot to pray, whether it was for help, for strength, or for thanksgiving. Abby hadn't lost the weight all by herself. God helped more than she could ever know.

Today's thought: I'm glad that I'm a loser. . .of weight!
Copyright © 2008, Crosswalk.com. http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/fordieters/

Life Is Short

Isaiah 14�?6, Ephesians 5:1�?6
Key Verses: Ephesians 5:15�?6

Perhaps you have seen this slogan: "Life is short. Play hard." Perhaps you have also seen the rewritten version: "Life is short. Pray hard." One letter makes all the difference. It is the difference between a temporal mind-set and an eternal one.

A temporal mind-set thinks primarily about the things of now. It focuses on this world as if it is all there is. The time is now because there is no other time. It embraces an "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" philosophy of life.

The Christ follower, however, knows that this life is only temporary; the world to come is permanent. So, we have only this much time and we better make good use of it--good use not in the sense of getting maximum pleasure as we play hard, but as we make it count for all eternity.

It is foolish to waste time. Paul both warns and encourages us: the time we have is limited and the days are evil, so we need to make the best use of our time to impact this world for Jesus while we have opportunity.

Opportunity is originally a Latin word that means "toward the port." When the winds and tides were favorable, the sailing ship would take advantage of the "opportunity." The days are evil, Paul says, which sounds like unfavorable winds, not favorable. Still, this is our time, our opportunity. Life is short. Pray hard.

Think about how you spent your day yesterday. Did you make it count for eternity? Now think about today. In what ways will you make it count?

Remember the Giver

It is dangerous for Christians to depend on comfortable circumstances. When God sees that we are depending on our circumstances and not on Him, He will change those circumstances in a hurry. "He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place" (vv. 33-36).

You can picture people saying, "My, we are blessed. We have these wonderful rivers and springs. We have all of this fruitful land. Let's just eat, drink and be merry." But God says, "Wait a minute. Are you enjoying the gifts and forgetting the Giver? Are you looking at My hand and forgetting My heart? Are you enjoying my wealth but neglecting My will?"

That's what often happens--we turn to idolatry. We start living on substitutes. The rivers and springs and fruitful land become our god. So God stops the rivers. He shuts off the water springs. He makes the fruitful land barren. Then we cry out and say, "Oh, God, what shall we do?" His answer is, "Start worshiping Me instead of your blessings. Start looking to the Blesser instead of the blessing. Don't be idolaters, who live on substitutes. Give thanks to Me for all the good things I have given you." In other words, get smart. "Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord" (v. 43).

* * *

Satan will do his best to get you to depend on the world's substitutes. When he succeeds, you forget God and trust in your resources and wealth--you become an idolater. Perhaps you enjoy comfortable circumstances. Thank God for them, but continue to draw your strength from the spiritual resources He has provided. If God has shut off His watersprings of blessings to you, start worshiping Him.

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

The Greatest Calling

An oil company needed a suave public relations man for its office in Asia. After interviewing several candidates, the officials decided to ask a local missionary to take the position. Company executives met with this man of unusual gifts. Whatever they proposed, however, his answer was always "no." "What's wrong?" asked one interviewer. "Isn't the salary big enough?" The missionary replied, "The salary is big enough, but the job isn't."

Abraham was faced with a similar option. He could have stayed in Haran and become a leading citizen. As a natural-born leader, he may have become ruler of the city. Most certainly, as a clever businessman, he would have become wealthy and lived in luxury and ease. But all that was insignificant compared to what God had in mind for him. By obeying God's call, he became a blessing to the whole world.

God still calls people today. Maybe He is calling you to be a pastor or missionary or church leader. On the other hand, He may be calling you to be an active witness for Him in your place of secular employment. But you also may be facing alternatives. Another position may offer a bigger salary, a bigger office or less hassle. Don't be fooled. Seek God's direction. Wherever He is calling you will bring the greatest blessing—to you and to those around you.

God Has Ended the War

Ephesians 2:11-18

God has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to Himself. Therefore, when the Jew and the Gentile receive Christ as Saviour, they can be at peace with each other because they are at peace with God.

Once God has become their Father, they can gladly call each other "brother." And it is only when individuals are in right relationship with God that they can be in complete harmony with each other.

This means that our deepest racial problems can never be completely solved until those involved come to know Christ as their Saviour and yield their lives to His control. Only the Christian has the basis for truly solving the problems that people face.

Jesus Christ reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God "in one body by the cross" (Eph. 2:16). The moment they were united to God through faith in Christ, they were united to one another. They became members of the same body--the Body of Christ.

So all the redeemed of this age are spiritually united on earth as the Body of Christ; and the risen, ascended Christ is in heaven as the Head of the Body.

As the Head, He gives life and direction to the members of the Body. Each believer is to no longer consider what he was in the natural realm but is to consider what he is in Christ.

Regardless of one's nationality, color or denominational preference, he becomes one in Christ with every other believer when he receives Christ.

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free" (1 Cor. 12:13).

Getting Ahead of God

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

It is sometimes disconcerting to board an airplane at the scheduled departure time and then have to endure a lengthy wait on the runway before being cleared for takeoff. Not only do you miss your appointments in a distant city, but you begin to wonder if the marvels of our space-age technology are so marvelous. Yet just as bad as an unscheduled delay would be an unscheduled hastening of the takeoff. You can imagine the turmoil if a flight scheduled for 2:00 o'clock departure left at 1:30. Getting ahead of what is designed can be just as devastating as falling behind.

Abraham was a great man of faith, a friend of God. When God called him to leave his homeland and go to an unknown destination, Abraham immediately obeyed. Later the Lord promised Abraham that his seed would be as numberless as the dust the earth. But Abraham remained childless. His only heir was Eliezer of Damascus, whom he had adopted. When he questioned God, Abraham was told, "This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own loins shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said to him, So shall thy seed be." Abraham believed this promise and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:4-6). Yet Abraham and his wife suffered from the same frailties all humans do. After years of expectation and disappointment, they began to wonder if the divine promise was really true. Barren Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands. She had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar. Herself not able conceive, Sarah convinced Abraham to take Hagar as his wife that she might bear him a son.

Although this was a common practice in the Ancient Near East, nevertheless it was not the fulfillment of God's promise. The appointed time for the birth of Abraham's heir had not yet arrived, but Sarah wanted to force the issue. Shortly Abraham was presented with a son, but by Hagar, not Sarah. An angel of the Lord had previously instructed Hagar to name the child Ishmael. But the heavenly messenger also warned that the child would be a wild man and every man's hand would be against him.

It wasn't until twenty-four years later that the Lord performed a miracle for Sarah and the son of promise was born. Although Abraham was now one hundred years old, this was the promised time and Isaac was the promised son. On the eighth day Isaac was circumcised and months later Abraham made a great feast when the child was weaned. At this festive occasion the behavior of Ishmael betrayed his jealousy. He taunted his young half brother, mocked and ridiculed baby Isaac. As Sarah viewed this it raised her motherly dander. She demanded of her husband, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac" (Genesis 21:10).

This grieved Abraham very much for Ishmael was his own flesh and blood. But God comforted him assuring him that, although Isaac was indeed the promised seed, nevertheless God would also make of Ishmael a great nation. Thus, "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water," and bid Hagar and the boy a sad good-bye (Genesis 21:14).

God was kind to Ishmael and providentially protected his mother and him. But it was clear that Isaac was the child of promise, not Ishmael. Ishmael was the result of the impatience of Abraham and Sarah. The wild man was born because this couple got ahead of God. They believed that God would provide the promised seed but mistakenly attempted to speed up God's timetable. God performs what He promises, but always in His own time. "Wait on the LORD be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14). That's good advice for us today.

MORNING HYMN
My Jesus, as Thou wilt!
O may Thy will be mine;
Into Thy hand of love
I would my all resign.
Thro' sorrow, or thro' joy,
Conduct me as Thine own;
And help me still to say,
My Lord, Thy will be done.