Daily Devotional for Sunday July 31, 2016
Facing the Battles in Your Life Each Day
(Joshua 6:8-20)
***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, give me your strength to stand for your Truth no matter what the cost. It is easy to call myself a follower of Jesus, but when confronted, when challenged, when faced with persecution, will I still say I am a follower of Jesus? I love you Lord and ask for your strength so no matter what I have to endure for my faith, I will stand firm. In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!
I get so many emails each day from people all over the world, who are in the midst of major battles in their life. They are desperate, looking for something magical to happen to make their circumstances different overnight. I pray that by now, you know how much I love you and care about you. I try to give myself each day to standing with you and helping you through the trials of everyday life.
This is one of those days that I need to use some tough love on you. So many of you have absolutely unrealistic expectations about resolving your problems, that you need someone to tell you the truth. I hear over and over each day people say, "God has abandoned me, He doesn't love me or how could He make me go through this." The fact is God has never left you, God loves you unconditionally, and you go through most of the battles in your life because you do not have a plan to win!
In today's scripture, we read about the plan God gave Joshua to take the city of Jericho. Granted, it was an unusual plan, but it was a plan given by God, that when faithfully executed, worked. When the allies stormed the beaches of Normandy on DDay, do you think they just woke up one mooring and decided to give it a try? Absolutely not. The generals spent months planning, looking at all the different scenarios, strategizing, coming up with the best plan they could to win that important battle.
When you face the battles in your life each day, why do you think you can just wake up and wish those battles to go away? That is unrealistic. It is also unrealistic to think that God is some genie in the bottle you call on when in trouble to snap His fingers and make it all go away. The fact is, most of your battles didn't just happen overnight, they developed over a period of time. Victory will probably not happen overnight either, it will take place over a period of time.
Let me interject that God can do anything, and if He, in His sovereign will, chooses to eliminate your problems overnight He CAN do that. However, that is normally not the way God works. He will make you work for victory because in the process several things occur. You learn how to be obedient, faithfully execute God's plan for your life, and depend upon Him.
The question then becomes where do I get this plan? God gives us His plan for victory in many ways. This is again why it becomes critical to have that intimate daily relationship with Him. It is in that close daily contact through prayer, the Word, that He speaks to us. In our circumstances He speaks to us. Through the counsel of others He speaks to us. It is a combination of all the above that helps us formulate a gameplan, His plan to overcome and be victorious.
One important element I just mentioned was the counsel of others. God has placed mature, Godly people in our life strategically to help us overcome our battles. Drop your pride, and reach out to the wise counsel of others. let them know your struggles, ask them to help you formulate a viable plan to see victory. Once armed with the plan God gives you, it requires you to be like Joshua. Faithfully and obediently follow the plan. Trust God, put your faith in Him, He won't let you down.
I will be praying today that these words find a fertile resting place in your hearts and minds today. Focus today on spending time with the Lord to formulate a gameplan to gain victory over whatever battles you might be fighting today. God will give you the plan, than it is up to you to follow the plan. There really is victory in Jesus. He has won the victory over whatever battle you are facing 2000 years ago on Calvary.
It is time to start living your life in that victory. It is tough for God to use defeated soldiers to fight the spiritual battles each day. That is why it is critical to get victory in your life, so that you can lead others to victory. May your number one priority today be getting a plan from God to win the battles you are facing in your life, execute the plan faithfully, and as my signature scripture from 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller