Daily Devotional - 9/1/10 (10/1/09)

Prayer Focus - Leaders



Pray for:
One leader who inspires you

Specifically:
their physical strength and needs
their emotional strength and needs
their mental strength and needs
their spiritual strength and needs


Dear Lord - I pray that you would open my ears to the messages You want to share with me today. I also ask for the strength to obey.




Psalms 31



"I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place." (vs . 7-8)


"My times are in Your hands;" (vs. 15a)



Everything is in God's hands. He has determined the times and places for me so that I would turn and seek Him (Acts 17: 26-27). Nothing is done away from the eyes of God. He has seen everything about my life and has been calling me all along. My times are truly in His hands. When I was 17, I made an ultimatum with God. I had grown up going to church and had gone to a Christian school from 1st through 8th grade. I knew the Bible. I knew what a Christian should be. I had tried at times. I had given my testimony before a large crowd at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes my junior year of high school. I had taught people to pray the prayer. I had tried, but the next year found me at every party I could find, drinking anything I could find. I was a hypocrite and almost everyone else I knew that professed to be a Christian was pretty hypocritical as well. I was done with it.


I went to Europe as a graduation present that year and proceeded to party across the continent. While in utter desperation with my life one night in Paris, I told God that I would give it one more try. I was going to go away to college where no one knew me. I would start over. If I could find people truly being Christians as the Bible said, and if I could actually do it myself and find freedom from the many sins that plagued me, then I would be a Christian and give it my whole heart. If I could not find it, then I would become an atheist. I reasoned that if God was real, He would answer this prayer, although I didn't really believe I would find anything different in San Diego. I would then become an atheist because there was no God and the Bible was false since it offered something that didn't exist. There was no grey area for me. Either God and His word were real and true and really did offer freedom as it said, or it was all a lie and I was going to live my life however I wanted and not worry about it anymore. It would be "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow I die." I prayed that prayer and I finished my trip out unchanged.


I went away to college at UCSD that September and the first night I was there met someone from the church I now attend. What a surprise! My times were in God's hand! I went to church and was amazed, although I did not like it the first time. These people were truly different I was soon to discover. Initially, I had hope that perhaps I could be different, but I was not convinced. I studied the Bible, and although no one particularly thought I would become a Christian, one person from the church stuck it out with me. I remember one particular study, she challenged me about some issues in my life and I became angry with her. I did not even see her out of my apartment. But when she left, I went and took some inappropriate pictures down off my wall. I sat on my bed and looked at the empty wall for quite awhile. I felt a strange emotion. I felt relief and I was surprised. For the first time in a long time, someone had called me on something that was wrong and I was so happy. Not even my parents were willing to ask me why I had these types of photos up, but here was a stranger that cared enough to lay our friendship on the line. It was the beginning of a great change for me.

I was so grateful to become a true Christian not much later. I had called out to God in desperation and He had truly answered me. I knew that finally. God did exist. The Bible was real. God would not let me be put to shame and God has not let me be put to shame all these years. At the precise time that I was most open, God was there. He put me where I needed to be back then so that today, I would be here where I am now. I praise God for never letting go of me. Despite all the years of ups and downs, there is nothing I would trade my life for. There is nothing I would trade my relationship with God for. I have spent all of my adult life trying to do this. Trying to be a disciple of Christ, and I can truly say with the psalmist:


"How great is Your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you,...Praise be to the Lord, for He showed His wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city...The Lord preserves the faithful, ...Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord." (vs. 19, 21, & 23-24)


I hope and pray that everyone reading my posts may someday feel the same, if you do not already. Amen.




Prayer for the Day

Dear Lord,

Thank You for continually reaching out to us.  You have placed us exactly where You want us to be so that hopefully we will find You and come to know You.  We are so grateful for Your unseen hand.  A life with You is truly the best life we could find.  We praise You for Your faithfulness.  You are good.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen



QFT



1. How did I become a Christian? Has there been a change in my life? What has it been?

2. Have I experienced God placing me in a particular place so that I might turn to Him and find Him? What happened and how did I become closer to God from this event?

3. How do I feel about God's faithfulness and about the truth of the Bible? What holds me back from trusting completely? What can I do to develop greater trust in both?

4. How do I feel about my relationship with God? What is great about it and what could be improved?

5. Have I ever shared with anyone how I became a Christian?  If not, why?  What would I gain by letting others know about my experiences?