Devotional 020109

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. I hope you had an enjoyable New Year day like I did; the weather was just so wonderful. It is also enjoyable to have a quiet and misty morning to begin my first day of work in 2009. To me, 2008 was indeed a year of transitional adventure. I was glad that God put me in a mental stage of inadequacy; every assignment was new lesson to explore more about my job and what this organization stands for. “Let me check with my boss” was my frequent reply to question related to my work. It was hard in the beginning to feel so dumb and ignorant. But after a while, I felt liberated from being always the “answering machine” that has to know what I am doing and “in control” at all time. Isn’t it what Christian life to be? We learn to “check with our God” before we can have confidence to know what to do next.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Have you been "going out" to places in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are going to do. I could identify with this passage, because it was how I felt call to step out of my comfort zone to obey His leadership. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do next?" You want to be in control of your future. But in reality, you do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning when you wake up, it is to be a "going out" by faith, building in confidence on God. "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear " (Matthew 6:25) - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He only reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised at anything He does in your life?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an unnecessary worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an indescribable charm about it, which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

Life is a never-ending adventure. Some may prefer high risk and other may prefer less. However, God will bring you surprise in life that you have least expected. Those are the times when God wants you to draw close to Him and trust Him more. No matter what 2009 may bring to you, I pray that you will grow in your relationship with Him and seek to obey His leadership.

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence