[ November 15, 2014 by admin 0 Comments ]

11/15/14: How to Move Ahead

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My favorite sports season is now under way and I love watching my favorite team, the New Orleans Saints, play and win. (No, I don’t live in New Orleans, but as a Christian, shouldn’t the Saints be my favorite team?) Thousands of people spend millions of dollars traveling to games, buying tickets, and purchasing sports apparel, all for the love of the game and a chance to vicariously participate in what will hopefully be a winning season for their team. The goal of every game is to move forward, and I believe we love football so much because it stands as a metaphor for life. We long to get ahead, no matter what obstacles may stand in our way. We all love progress and success; however, the Bible, not the Saints’ playbook, gives us the ultimate answer to the question of how to move forward. Hebrews 10:36 – 11:1 states, “For you have need of endurance (patience), so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’  But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJ).

Let’s use the game of football as an analogy. First, know how to get to the line of scrimmage, because we will be unable to move forward until we are there. For the believer, the line of scrimmage is where we receive the ball, which is the promise God has for us. Once in possession of God’s promise, our job is to keep moving forward. If we are impatient, we’ll jump off-sides, misread the play, or ignore the quarterback, and fumble. But if we are patient enough to do the will of God first—obeying the plays the Coach (God) has taught us, listening to the specifics detailed by the Quarterback (Jesus), and trusting the Blocker (the Holy Spirit) leading the way—God’s promise will be handed to us. Then it’s our obligation to the whole team to run with what God has given. Then we can move forward. Don’t “draw back.” If we hesitate, we’re liable to be tackled by the enemy. We must just keep our legs moving and faithfully stretch for the goals we are hoping to reach.

Get in the game and move forward by patiently doing the will of God. Worship God today as the Play-caller in your life.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

 

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

[ November 10, 2014 by admin 0 Comments ]

11/10/14: Saying the Hard Things

Sometimes, the hard things just have to be said to the ones we love. I remember some years ago hearing the words “tough love” being used to describe the times when, as difficult as it might be to say it, the naked truth must be voiced. If the recipient fails to see the truth, devastating consequences will result. The major problem, however, is that usually, the person in the position to see the truth struggles with how to present the information, and no matter how soft the approach, the one receiving the information rarely takes it with ease. Still it’s clear that the truth must be told. The prayer is that the truth will somehow penetrate the heart, have the necessary impact, and affect the change needed so the negative consequences can be avoided.

In our current cultural climate, though, Satan has so twisted the truth, that bearers of it are labeled as judgmental haters and “phobics”. You had better not speak out contradicting socially acceptable norms. If you dare to do so, be ready for a barrage name-calling and rejection, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. The curious thing is that the same ones lambasting your right to voice your opinions are the ones screaming about allowing them to have the right to voice theirs. Double standard at its best.

God’s word never backs down from cultural norms or socially accepted practices, so neither should we. God’s word boldly proclaims the hard things, and we are under obligation to do the same. The prophet Ezekiel said straight out, “Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me and said to me ‘Speak!’” (Ezekiel 11:5 NKJ) And what was the message God had him to proclaim? “I will judge you… And you shall know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments, but have done according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you” Ezekiel 11:11–12 (NKJ).

Yes, God is love, but we must not forget that God is also a God of wrath. One attribute does not cancel out the other. Unless we are living under the blood of Jesus, shunning the ways of the world (with the help of the Holy Spirit), we are heading for doom. God told Ezekiel that those living “according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you” are not walking in His statutes. Much that is socially acceptable and culturally “normal” is spiritually, flat-out wrong and sinful. Listen to Hebrews 6:4-6:

  • For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame (NKJ).

Saying the hard things is never fun and its never easy, but it’s always necessary. Pray that God’s truth, however hard it may be to hear, will be effectively communicated to those we love. Worship God today for the truth of His word that is able to penetrate hearts and pull those we love back from the brink of catastrophe.

____________________________

©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

 

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)