NSM Evotional 06/20/2012

[GPiper]

Be Presistent.jpg

A Glory Seed Devotional
Voices…

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 ESV)

Not a day goes by but at one point I will hear a voice screaming at me, “Give up, it’s no use, you’re too tired, I know you’ve come a long way but you have so much farther to go and you just don’t have what it takes any more. Just give up, who’s gonna know?” You ever hear whispering words like that?

One day while bike riding on Fort Gratiot Township’s Green Trail I stopped to take a drink of water and when I looked down growing through the asphalt were a small clump of weeds casting a shadow. I opened up my camera bag and took a picture of them and never thought that much about them. That was two years ago. Then a couple of days ago while riding on the Trail I remembered them and as I did so I could hear them saying, “Don’t give up, we know you’re tired, we know you’ve come so far, but don’t work at getting past several days at a time just go one day at a time, you’ve come this far therefore you’ve got what it takes to go the distance. Just don’t give up and remember you are not alone.”

In our world today we are bombarded by so many voices many of them undermining our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well being. I’ve watched a couple of television commercials about diet products that never told me I was fat but left me thinking so. Then I remember the commercial reminding me that “male pattern baldness” wasn’t socially correct. (When I see ads like that I always think of the boys that made fun of Elisha and the two bears that came out of the woods and tore up 42 boys, 2 Kings 2:23-24.)

Experience has taught over the years that it’s not always the loudest, strongest voice that is the one we should listen to. Elijah experienced that first hand and it was recorded so we too could learn from his experience. “And he said, ‘Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave….” (1 Kings 19:11-13 ESV)

One way to discover which voice to listen to is to ask yourself this question – Is this voice discouraging me or encouraging me? And remember even when God disciplines he encourages.

Grace and PEACE!
Gary

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“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
(Psalms 121:1-2)

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Scripture quotations marked ESV "Are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."