Daily Devotional for December 3, 2016

December 3 ~ Genesis 28:20-22
And Jacob vowed this vow to God: “If God will help and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothes, and will bring me back safely to my father, then I will choose Jehovah as my God! And this memorial pillar shall become a place for worship; and I will give you back a tenth of everything you give me!”

The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

We learn at an early age to “bargain.”  Little children tell adults, “Just let me have five more minutes…eat one cookie…do XYZ…and I will go straight to bed, brush my teeth, or whatever it is we are wanting them to do at the moment. On the flip side, we adults make promises to children if they will behave a certain way, clean their rooms, or simply brush their teeth and go to bed!

But we adults have truly mastered bargaining…particularly with God.  If only He will make life perfect for us, we will serve Him with our whole heart and give back to Him at least a tenth of all we have been given!  If only He will get us out of our current mess, we will serve Him with all we have for the rest of our earthly lives!  Sounds fair…right? 

I can see why Jacob bargained with God.  This was Old Testament times.  Jesus had not come to earth yet.  Jacob felt like this was a fair agreement…and perhaps for the time, it was.  But the God who loved us enough to send Jesus to die on the cross for our sins – before we were even born – deserves ALL that we can give Him.  Of course, everything we have came from God, so anything we give to Him will essentially be a “re-gift!”  But still, to put contingencies on these “gifts” seems as if we don’t believe in His promises.  Surely that is not the case!

How about we do this?  Why not just cut to the chase and lay it all out before God?  What if we simply say, “Lord…I give You my best…all that I can…whatever You desire.  You gave me a promise of eternal life with You in Heaven.  What can I give You while I’m still on this earth?”  Whatever God asks of you, He will equip you to accomplish.  Even if it seems impossible - like giving up a circle of “friends” who are not the right crowd for you…breaking a lifelong habit…or putting yourself “out there” in a way you would rather not - God will assure that everything comes together perfectly.  If GOD ordains it, you cannot fail.

So let’s quit bargaining with God, revel in His promise of Eternal Life, and serve Him on this earth with every ounce of energy and courage we can muster. Let’s put our faith into action and show the world that with God, anything and everything is possible.  And let’s give Him our very best each and every day without a single though about what is in it for us.  Are you with really ready to give?
 
©2016 Debbie Robus

Daily Devotional for August 30, 2015

Matthew 16:26
What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What would you give to get back your soul?

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

I took the children swimming after church today.  Afterwards, as I tried to distribute towels, remove life jackets and water shoes and sack everything wet before we went to the dressing room to change, I promised every child who stayed in his/her seat a Lifesaver ® candy when we got to the car. Every child sat motionless…and then one-by-one, each child popped out of the chair for some random distraction.  By the time we got to the dressing room, nobody was in line for a piece of candy!

Oh, the remorse that can come from children ages 6, 4, and 3!  They were SORRY!  They would never do it again.  PAH-LEASE???  Can’t we just have a Lifesaver®?  So we started over.  Okay…let’s see who can put on their clothes and sit quietly on the bench until we’re all dressed!  It sorta worked…and the children redeemed themselves enough to get the candy when we got in the car.

Here’s the thing…you and I are not little kids…and we cannot bargain with God to gain entry into Paradise.  All of the possessions and money in the world won’t buy us a ticket to Eternity at the feet of Jesus.  Don’t we all know of at least one person who seems to have it all…or “has more money than sense”…yet this person has destroyed his/her life with drugs, alcohol, gambling, a sense of entitlement that ruined any and all personal relationships, and more – and essentially “blown it?” Don’t we know people who seem to have everything going for them…but they don’t appear to have any semblance of a relationship with God – and some downright disavow Him?

If you felt you had blown it completely with God, what would you do to get back your soul?  Do you understand that there is only one thing that matters?  Do you get it that the key to all of this is to love God with all your heart…to love others as He loves you – and as you love yourself…and to put serving Him above everything and everyone else?  This is the “ticket to heaven.”  Inviting Jesus into your heart, confessing your sins to Him and asking that He forgive you is the only way to ensure your Eternal Life with Him in Heaven.

We cannot just sit on the bench and promise to never get down again.  We can’t say, “I didn’t mean it,” and trust that God will look the other way and let us have the “Lifesaver®.”  We are not little kids, and our salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ are nothing to negotiate and treat in a cavalier manner.  What if we gain the world and lose our soul?  The world is NOTHING…Jesus is EVERYTHING!  Without Him, the world doesn’t matter.

What would you give to get back your soul?  Give your heart to Jesus! Commit fully to His will for your life…to sharing His message with others and loving them as He has commanded.  This is the “Lifesaver®” worth achieving!  Are you ready to do what is necessary to receive it?
   
©2015 Debbie Robus

Daily Devotional for October 19, 2014

Matthew 7:7-11
"Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.

It's almost that time of year again...Halloween! Our little "goblins" are already busy working on their costumes. One wants to be Minnie Mouse...another a Power Ranger...Timothy wants to be a vampire - and Zola says she is going to be a "dhost" or a ladybug! They will ring the doorbell and shout "Trick or treat!" But there will be few tricks, if any...and plenty of candy and other goodies.

I doubt many children fully understand the meaning behind the phrase "Trick or treat!" If a homeowner replied, "Trick!"... they would probably look perplexed. And while a few adults may actually try this, we all know that in the end, the kids get what they were after...candy - and lots of it!

Imagine if we asked God for help, and He gave us something ridiculous instead. What if we beseeched God to heal our bodies, and He presented us with even more diseases...or we asked for help with a struggle at school, work, or church, and instead, He said, "Here's a pet alligator!" This wouldn't make a lick of sense...would it?!

I am so grateful that God does not play "Trick or treat!" I am blessed by the knowledge that anything I ask for with humility and sincerity, God will consider. That doesn't mean I will receive it exactly. But God will take my prayers and requests and consider what is best for me and my situation...and He will answer - and meet all of my needs and more!

This leads me to one more thing...we don't often pray specifically enough. Yes, God already knows that you are having a problem with your girlfriend or that your back is killing you. But He wants you to express this. He doesn't want to hear a broad-spectrum request for "complete peace and healing in all areas". This doesn't mean that God won't answer anyway...but He really, really wants us to be specific, transparent, and fully communicative with Him. And aren't we glad?!

We don't seem to grasp what an honor, blessing and privilege it is to be able to speak directly to God...about anything and everything...and to expect Him to answer! Let's not take this for granted. Let's get busy talking to God and letting Him know what we need and how we feel. Let's trust Him to answer in the best way possible for every situation. With God, there are no tricks. But "treats" abound at every turn. You just have to know how to ask.

©2014 Debbie Robus

Daily Devotional for May 20, 2011

Judges 11:29-39
Then the LORD's Spirit took control of Jephthah, and Jephthah went through Gilead and Manasseh, raising an army. Finally, he arrived at Mizpah in Gilead, where he promised the LORD, "If you will let me defeat the Ammonites and come home safely, I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first."

From Mizpah, Jephthah attacked the Ammonites, and the LORD helped him defeat them. Jephthah and his army destroyed the twenty towns between Aroer and Minnith, and others as far as Abel-Keramim. After that, the Ammonites could not invade Israel any more.

When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, the first one to meet him was his daughter. She was playing a tambourine and dancing to celebrate his victory, and she was his only child.

"Oh!" Jephthah cried. Then he tore his clothes in sorrow and said to his daughter, "I made a sacred promise to the LORD, and I must keep it. Your coming out to meet me has broken my heart."

"Father," she said, "you made a sacred promise to the LORD, and he let you defeat the Ammonites. Now, you must do what you promised, even if it means I must die.

But first, please let me spend two months, wandering in the hill country with my friends. We will cry together, because I can never get married and have children." "Yes, you may have two months," Jephthah said. She and some other girls left, and for two months they wandered in the hill country, crying because she could never get married and have children. Then she went back to her father. He did what he had promised, and she never got married.

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Okay, first of all, if our father promised someone something that involved a sacrifice on our part, I seriously doubt we would be so agreeable, don’t you?! Even if it didn’t involve human sacrifice – OUR human sacrifice – I still don’t think we would be so accommodating. We would hope that our dad would say, “You’re right… I really didn’t mean it! I would never think of allowing you (or your friends or possessions) to be harmed, just because I promised.” Never mind that God had saved an entire clan of people because of Jephthah’s promise…after all, we bargain with God all the time, don’t we? Surely we don’t mean to follow through… even if He delivers!

This passage illustrates a very important point… if we are going to bargain with God, we better be ready, willing, and able to deliver on our end… because God doesn’t play around! Moreover, if we do bargain with God, we had better be careful what we offer in return for whatever we ask of Him. I am pretty certain I could not have done what Jephthah’s daughter did. For one thing, she really had nothing to do with her father’s bargain with God… she was an innocent bystander caught in the cross-hairs.

On the other hand, had I been Jephthah… even considering his daughter’s willingness… I am not sure I could have followed through with killing her. I would probably have been on my knees, asking God to have mercy on me and find a suitable substitute. But that is not where we want to be, is it? We don’t want to be in a relationship with God where we are making promises we can’t possibly deliver, and hoping He will be merciful and accept something else!

Because of the blood of Jesus, living sacrifices are no longer necessary from us mere mortals. But there are plenty of times we do come before God and ask for His help, promising all sorts of things in return… “Just let me lose this 10 pounds, and I promise I will give up ice cream and start jogging every day.” We tell Him, “Please heal my loved one, and I will never miss another Sunday of worship services!” We ask, “Can you just help me make it through these finals, and I promise that next semester, I will study really hard and be ready!”

When we make promises to God in return for requesting His help, we had better be ready, willing, and able to deliver. If we don’t have the courage and fortitude of Jephthah and his daughter to fully make good on our vows, we better rethink what we are asking – and how we ask for it. Is your word your bond… with people in everyday life – and especially with God? Shouldn’t it be?

©2011 Debbie Robus