Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 86:14-17
Ps. 86:14-17
14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life--men without regard for you. 15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. 16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. 17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
2 Cor. 3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
What a joy to be a child of God! This gives us the opportunity to be with our spiritual family and to encourage each other and help one another work out our problems. We have the privilege of given strength to each other as we face our trials and overcome our temptations. We can depend on our brothers and sisters to comfort us with God’s comfort when we are burdened with sorrows. Being a part of God’s family, his church is one of our greatest blessing in Jesus Christ.
But like so many things God has given, his church has often been corrupted and has lost its way. It is the mission of the church to reach the lost and change them to live in God’s image. However, in far too many cases, the church has brought in the world and changed the church to be like them instead of the other way.
It is easy to become so organized and institutionalized that our whole mission is the “growth of the church” instead of reaching the lost with Jesus. God has an orderly plan for the functioning of the local church but beyond that, the only organization is that Jesus is the Chief Shepherd with each local group bound only by our kinship in Christ and his love. We must not lose our focus on Jesus.
As a child of God we can depend on Jesus as our brother to always be with us and to intercede with the Father for us. He has been where we are today and knows exactly how we feel about it. When we trust him, he will carry us through life.
Lord God, giver of life, creator of all things, it is with deep humility that I recognize that you are GOD of all things. Help me keep my heart set on serving you and in so doing, to bring honor to you and to glorify your name. Give me a heart of love, even love for my enemies and those who would do me harm but help me hate sin and all evil so I will stay as far away from it as possible in my own life. Be with the leaders of our country so they will learn how to work together in a way that we can have peace and harmony in our land. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
