Daily Devotional - 8/23/15 (10/23/09)

Prayer Focus - Enemies


Day 2
Pray for:
One person who was mean to you when you were a child
One person who has given you a lot of trouble recently


Pray about:
Their physical needs
Their mental needs
Their emotional needs
Their spiritual needs
Your ability to offer complete forgiveness from your heart
Your ability to let go of the hurts and move on whether they will ever apologize or not



Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear and grant me the strength to obey.



Psalms 53



"God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Will evildoers never learn - those who devour my people as bread and who do not call on God? There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread."

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad." ( vs. 2 - 5a, 6)


When we think about our lives and the lives of those around us, we see a lot of failure.  Even the best of us, those of us who are really trying to be good, fail; sometimes miserably.  What is interesting, however, is that, although the Bible speaks of the universality of sin, it also differentiates between those who sin.  The psalms consistently speak of a difference between people.  There are the "evildoers" and there are the "righteous".  Yet we all have turned away and become corrupt this passage says.  This seems contradictory but the psalmist in this psalm outlines two ways that we can become what is referred to as "evildoers".

The first way to become an "evildoers" is to use others ("Will evildoers never learn - those who devour my people as bread").  We eat bread. We use it to stay alive.  So someone who is devouring people in this way must be using them to get what they need. I know in the past I have used people. I am not proud of this but I think it is probably more widespread than we would like to admit. How often do we call someone only when we need something from them. Isn't that a form of using them? We are not thinking of them or of how they are doing. We are only thinking of what we need. How about in our conversations? Are they all about us and what we are going through? Do we use others as a dumping ground and then leave after we feel better? Isn't that using others? I am sure that we could come up with even more ideas of how we do this. Take for example our involvement in church, our work, or even our citizenship. Are we focused more on what we are getting out of our church services or our small groups rather than what we are giving to them? At our work, are we known to be someone who gets involved and gives their best or are we just getting a paycheck. How about as citizens of our country? Are we just taking the benefits and not getting involved to help others and make the world a better place to live in?  We need to stop being takers and users and start being givers if we do not want to become "evildoers". I know I do.  Righteous people give.  There are so many passages in the Bible about giving.  This is one of the key differences that we have to pay attention to.  We are by nature selfish so we need to deal with this daily.  It is not something that will just go away once we make a commitment to God.

The second way to become an "evildoers" mentioned in this passage is to not acknowledge and turn to God (and who do not call on God).   This little phrase is so easy to just read over and not pay that much attention too.  It doesn't seem that serious.  We can tell ourselves we are okay with God because we don't do any of the "BIG" sins like murder or adultery but here is this seemingly insignificant thing listed instead.  Not calling on God or paying attention to Him is actually the root from which all the other sins grow out of.  Because we do not value God, we do not care what we do to others or what we engage in.  When we value God and are turning to Him on a regular basis, we do not want to do wrong.  It is so easy to not call on God though.  It is easy to not pray or listen to God. Often, no one even knows. Rarely do people ask us how we are doing spiritually these days. It is just not the focus of our society.  If we are being selfish, someone usually is affected by it and we tend to feel worse about being mean but not calling on God is all within us.  We can cover it up for quite awhile, perhaps even a whole lifetime.

But using people and not calling on God does have consequences.  In eternity, there will be consequences, but here on earth right now as we live, we will also suffer.  I believe these things cause dread.  They cause an unsettled feeling to stay with us.  Almost as if we are always looking over our shoulder; always worried about what people know or will find out.  So when we are stressed out and feeling a nameless sense of dread about life, it is a good idea for us to look for these two qualities in our lives.  There will not always be one of these issues at the root of our feelings but sometimes there will be a connection.  I know when I make a deeper inspection of myself when I am feeling uneasy, I usually find some sin, selfishness, or abandonment of God occurring.  Once I turn back to Him, and draw near again, the sense of dread disappears. Sin does make us feel guilty. Our consciences and the feelings of guilt we have sometimes were put in us by God and they help us to come back to Him. We need to stop searing our consciences and accept that they are there and that they are there for a good reason.  Thank God we can change and deal with our lives and our characters.  I am grateful  that God can enable us to overcome our sinful natures and that He can transform us. We will feel peace when we walk with God. He is a God of peace. Salvation will come out of Zion.  He can and will do it and we will feel joy.




Prayer for the Day



Dear Lord,


We do not want to be evildoers. As we look at the attitudes of our hearts and our actions, we pray that they will be those of a giver and not of a taker. We do not want to use people, even if it is advantageous to us. Help us to not think like the world does because to the world this is normal behavior. Help us to rise above and strive each and every day to be like Jesus. Although He was a part of You, He did not claim equality with You but made Himself nothing and became a servant to us all. He went the ultimate distance in dying for us and He calls us to do the same. Help us to rise to the challenge.

We also ask Your forgiveness for all of the times that we have not called on You. We get tired, weak, or lazy at times and neglect You, our ultimate power source. Help us to remember that it is all about You and not about us. We want to pray more. We want to commune with You and walk each day with You. Help us to not be so distracted. Our flesh is so weak. We are tired of walking around in dread. There is nothing to dread. There is no virus, no foreign government, no debt, not problem bigger than You. There is nothing to dread and here we are dreading. Forgive us and help us to turn away from this faithlessness and sin. You are here. You have always been here. Help us to see You in all that we do. You are surely woven into life. We pray for peace.


In Jesus' Name,
Amen


QFT


1. Have I used people in the past? What can I do to make amends?  Can I see any situations where I am using people presently? Why do I do this?  How can I stop?

2. Am I a giver or a taker in my relationships?  Am I a giver or taker in my church, work, and social environment? What evidence is there for what I think I am?  What can I do to become more of a giver?

3. Am I calling on God on a regular basis? How is my prayer life? Do I go to God first, or my friends? What can I do to improve my reliance on God?

4. Am I at peace or am I consistently in a state of dread? Do I have reason to dread? What am I fearing? Is God able to handle it?

5. Is there something I need to clear up/ resolve or repent of to eliminate the sense of dread that I am experiencing? What will I do to deal with this?  When will I deal with it?   If there is not an issue, how can I turn to God and trust Him more?