Community Devotions

He Knows My Name

SCRIPTURE

From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  DEUTERONOMY 4:29

OBSERVATION 

From verses 15 To 31 we read that there is a warning against Idolatry and how easy it is for anyone including myself as a business owner to be swayed into the life style of the world and become camouflaged Christian like chameleon thinking that parts of this world is OK, when actually at every turn it’s a dead end.  However, Praise The Lord, that in verse 29 The Lord continues to grant His Children an “option out” to decline these choices and be reminded that He clearly shows me that He wants me to seek Him with all my heart, and He promises that when I do, I will find Him.

APPLICATION

This morning, I reflect on my daily work activities of overseeing people, businesses and multiple operations and being a true light to know that The Lord knows my name and desires me as one of His children to continue to seek Him through daily devotions that I may sit with Him to learn more about His heart and character.

PRAYER

Lord, Thank you for this “Snap Shot” devotion on how important it is to just to hang-out with you daily.  Continue to mentor me through your Spirit that I’m not swayed by this world, but transformed to who you desire of me in becoming even when I’m not sure. Here I am Lord . . . Send Me.  Amen!

God Comes First

SCRIPTURE
Genesis 22:9-10, "9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son."


OBSERVATION
I have read this passage many times and felt like I as a parent understood the agony that Abraham must have felt so bitterly because he was going to snuff out with his own hands a precious and only son that God gave him at 100 years old. Even worse,, this had to be doubly hard since Abraham literally walked in agony for three days. Then, he was forced to answer Isaac’s obvious question – where is the sacrifice? Abraham had to give him an answer that even he was unsure  – “God will provide” – but he had to have acknowledged that nothing gave him any evidence to support his answer. God was silent all the way to Mount Moriah.  It is one thing to verbally affirm my confidence in God who consistently provides goodness for my life but it is another to demonstrate my trust in his goodness and faithfulness by binding whatever is precious to me and put it on the altar, willing to let it go.

APPLICATION 
How willing am I to put my most precious things, be it my children, possessions, reputation or pride, before God and demonstrate that God comes first?   The toughest challenge is that God is often silent, until the point of death it seems, before his deliverance.  I must have the faith and trust in God in order that God will do great things through my life.

PRAYER 
Father God, I praise your holy name. Your name is great and your love endures forever. Thank you for all your blessings and promise in my life. May you strengthen my faith where I will have complete confidence regardless of what I see or my circumstances. I love you LORD.  In Jesus name I pray. Amen.