Glory Seed Devotional’s, 2017: Anticipating and Experiencing God...
God Never Fails or Falls…
Shalom!
Let me ask you a very personal question, one you need to answer only to yourself. Have you ever cut yourself off from other people for reasons known only to you, or by circumstances beyond your control? I have on many occasions most of them will remain hidden deep in my memory for as long as I live. The ones I will admit to are those that have come up by circumstances beyond my control. For example, because of physical limitations I have been unable to attend church functions for the past several years. Having said that I do whenever I can attend my home church.
For some reason that has been “hot button” topic the last couple of days and now I think I found the reason why. When we cut ourselves off from others for whatever reason isn’t it the responsibility of the other people to not cut themselves off from us? There is a lot of truth to saying we are living in a throwaway society, but should that include people, especially within our churches?
I am sitting here trying to fathom where I would be now if every time I cut myself off from God (committing sin) God would say, “Ok Gary two can play at that game too.” What happens when God cuts Himself off? That question is answered in chapter 9 of Luke. “As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. So they went on to another village.” (Luke 9:51–56, NLT, emphasis mine)
Off all the nasty things Jesus could have done the worst thing was He denied them the opportunity to know Him, experience His forgiveness, and experience the totality of His ministry. Honoring their position Jesus just passed them by. The words spoken to Joshua echo across the annals of time and reverberate into our lives all these years later. “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.” (Joshua 1:5, NLT)
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in
every situation. The Lord be with you all.” **
Grace and PEACE,every situation. The Lord be with you all.” **
Gary
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“Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”
** 2 Thessalonians 3:16, NLT