Monthly Archives: August 2013

Devotion

I Will Lift Up My Eyes – Psalm 121:1-2

Scripture: Psalm 121:1-2 (AMP) “I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]. From whence shall my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Who made Heaven and Earth.”

Observation:  As the writer lifts up his head, his eyes lite on the hills around Jerusalem, Mt. Zion and Mt. Moriah.  These hills are very important to God’s people.   Setting his eyes on the hills brings forth memories of what God has done for him and his people in the past (Mt. Moriah) and of God’s promises for him and his people for the future (Mt. Zion). The writer already knows his help is not in the hills. The hills are just reminders of his Helper. His Helper/Rescuer is the Lord. The writer finishes the thought with a reminder of just what type of Helper the Lord is: He made Heaven and Earth. There is nothing He can’t do!

Application: The psalmist reminds me to not look to things, people, or ideas to help me through or rescue me from the hardness of life.

Ephesians 6:12 says ” We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  Therefore, I need a spiritual Helper – a helper not of this physical world (but who understands it) but of the spiritual world. I NEED JESUS!

The battle really isn’t about the situation in which I find myself. It’s about my soul and my living victoriously through the battle Christ has fought and won for me. I need to stop looking at the physical world for answers (“If I just had” type of thinking) and look to the Lord.  I can and should put “the hills” around me as a reminder of what God has done for me and what He promises to do, but I cannot look at the hills as my help. They are only reminders.

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, that You have my back. I am so thankful that you and your angels are fighting the battles for me – battles I can’t possibly fight alone.  Holy Spirit, please remind me those battles that you have won for me, the times You have rescued me, and the times you have helped me. Thank you, Lord, for being faithful to this unfaithful human. I will keep Your mercies and loving kindnesses before me as a Mt. Moriah as I, at the same time, look to Mt. Zion to remind me of all the promises you have given me.  I love you, Jesus, and I give you my all.  Amen.

Something to consider:  Pinpoint a victory and a promise that Christ has given you, or select some from the Bible, and place it in your mind as a Mt. Moriah and Mt Zion.  When the challenges of life rear their heads, look to the hills not for your help, but as a reminder from where your help really does come.

What is your Mt. Moriah (past victory)?
What is your Mt. Zion (promised victory)?

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Devotion

Promise of New Life in Isaiah 60: 1, 18-22

Scripture: Isaiah 60:1 (AMP) “Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you; rise to a new life]! Shine – be radiant with the glory of the Lord; for your light is come, and the glory of the lord is risen upon you!”

Observation: In chapter 59, Isaiah explains that God sees Israel is lacking in righteousness. It grieves Him (59:1-15), but God promises to send the Messiah (v. 16-21) to rescue them from themselves. Chapter 60 is the dawn of a new day. The day everything changed.

There is a marked change in the reader’s life at the opening of chapter 60.  He or she went to sleep depressed, exhausted, and involuntarily submissive, but when he or she woke, everything had changed. The reader is to look and stand up to see how the Lord has changed his or her life.  The reader is told to shine and be radiant with light that has cut through his or her darkness.

Moving to verses 18-22, the Lord lists all the things that will be different for the reader:

      • No more violence in the land
      • No more devastation or destruction within the boarders
      • No more depending on the sun or moon for light the way
      • No more mourning

Instead, the reader is promised:

      • Salvation
      • Praise
      • the Lord will be the everlasting light
      • God will be his beauty and crown
      • that his people (descendents) will be uncompromisingly and consistently righteous
      • that God will secure them and prosper the reader’s descendents

Application: Thanks you, Jesus!

My house has been a war zone the past few years. I’ve been praying for peace and calmness for so long without seeing any results.

I started a Bible study about gentleness with my children, and they struggled with it.  Neither one of them took it seriously. My daughter thought it was silly, and my son was convinced nothing would change, but this scripture is a great promise to me!

God hears me and He will answer me. He is promising me that my family will not be hateful to one another and the mourning for a loving family will end. He will give me what I seek. I have to trust that as I continually teach my children to be gentle, loving and kind to each other that the Holy Spirit will change them. The Holy Spirit will change us.

God told Israel of His plans to totally alter their lives before He did it; therefore, they had a vision, a standard, a promise to look forward to. Likewise, I have a promise to look forward to and a standard for my family to live up to. I can now say with confidence that my family is righteous, and the standard for my children is right living.  I can now say with confidence that my children are God’s planting and will glorify Him, and I can hold that as a banner and standard for them.

What excites me the most is that if I allow the Holy Spirit to work, my children will go on and become thousands and a strong nation. I want my descendants to love Jesus with all their hearts and be “uncompromisingly and consistently” committed to Him.

Prayer: Thanks you, Jesus for showing me this promise. I know it wasn’t a coincident to read this portion of scripture while in the middle of this struggle. You are so good to me!  I will use this scripture as a reminder of what you not only want my family to be, but also what You have promised my family will be if I surrender all to You. Help me to stay focused on what You will make my family and not what it looks like right now. Help me, dear Jesus, to gently turn them away from the actions that cause chaos and destruction and toward the actions that bring peace, love and kindness to our home.

Thank you, Lord, for knowing what I need before I even know it. Everything I have been praying for, You have already provided. I only have to see it and live in it.   Amen.

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