Daily Devotional for Sunday July 16, 2017

A Word of Encouragement

(Mark 10:43, Galatians 6:2, Psalms 40:8, John 4:36)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Father, bless me this day to have the courage to stand up for YOUR TRUTH in my daily life. Give me boldness to proclaim YOUR TRUTH when I am with those who mock and demean our faith in Christ and for following the teachings of the Bible. No matter what they may say, let me be not afraid to stand for you. In Jesus name...AMEN!

A word of encouragement for you today. As you sit in your home, your office, or wherever you read the Daily Devotional, I want to give you a word of encouragement today. God wants to use your life for His glory! Think about this for a moment. The God who created the heavens and earth, the God who created you and me in His image, GOD HIMSELF, wants to use YOUR LIFE! I don't know about you but just the thought blows me away. The fact that THE GOD wants to use me is mind boggling. It is true, God wants to use your life!!!

I love reading the Biblical accounts when God calls a person to serve Him. Some say no, some obediently follow, and others make excuses why they aren't adequate. The reality is, all men are born to serve and glorify God their Creator with their lives. That is the universal purpose for all men. So we shouldn't be shocked or surprised when God calls us, since He is only asking us to do what we were created for, to serve Him!

Apart from our universal purpose to serve and glorify the Lord with our lives, God calls each of us to do that in unique ways. He gives each of us special gifts and talents in order to be able to serve Him in the specific area He calls us to serve. Most people understand their universal purpose in life is to serve God, but are not very clear what God is specifically calling them to do with their life. This is another area where your daily, intimate, personal walk with the Lord becomes so important.

The closer we are to God, the better we "hear" God, the better we understand God, the easier it is for us to find those areas of service He is calling us to. Never forget the passions you have, what you enjoy doing, what gets you excited, exist because that is how God made you. In serving the Lord, you should find ways to serve that incorporate the things you enjoy and are passionate about in this life. Serving God is not supposed to be something that you dread but something that you look forward to and enjoy!

Remember that a couple of the big ways God speaks to us is thru other people and through our circumstances. Nothing that happens in your life is an accident or a coincidence. God brings people into our life, speaks to us through other people, God allows things to happen to us, He opens and closes doors in our lives, all to guide us where He wants us to be and doing the things He wants us to be doing. That is why we need to be tuned in to what God may be saying to us thru others and through our circumstances. Often it is God speaking to us and trying to guide us where He wants us to be.

In serving God, don't be misled that this means doing something on a grand scale or what the world would notice because it was something so visible and affecting so many people. I would guess that 99.9% of the people who have served the Lord over the ages were people whose name the world never knew. Most people know who Paul is, and Billy Graham, and many of the world-renown men and women of God who have made an impact on millions with their lives. But in the eyes of God, the faithful service of someone carrying groceries to a poor family, someone using their gift of music in their local church, someone visiting those in the prisons and nursing homes, someone who holds a Bible study at their job, someone who passed out tracts, is just as important as someone whose name is known by the masses.

You don't need to stand in a pulpit and preach to thousands, or write books read by millions, or reach nations on TV or radio, or operate an Internet./TV ministry reaching millions of people worldwide daily to serve the Lord. We are ALL called to serve the Lord, each in our own special and unique way, and nobody's service is more important than someone else's. What IS important is that we are faithful and obedient to serve the Lord to the best of our ability. Never forget, it is our heart that God sees and is concerned about.

I love you and care about you so much. My word of encouragement for you today is that God, yes THE God, has called you to serve Him. I want to encourage you that serving the Lord is not only the universal purpose of life we all share, but as a follower of Jesus Christ something we are commanded to do. My challenge to you today is to open your heart and seek the Lord and let HIM guide you to those areas of service He has called you to. Each of us are special and unique, with special and unique gifts and talents, so we have all been called to serve our Lord in different ways.

Never forget that we live in a world that has rejected God, the Truth of His Word, and Jesus. It is to this lost and hurting world that God has called us to service. As each son and daughter of the Lord answers that call to service, we are being the salt of the earth and the light to this world Jesus has called us to be. It is through our service to the Lord that this lost world sees Jesus in us and has a desire to get to know Him. The Bible says that we are His ambassadors. It is in our service that we bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ to the lost and hurting in our world each day.

I will be praying for you. I pray today that God will move on your heart and help you to continue serving Him with even more conviction and enthusiasm. If you have not been doing all you should in serving the Lord, let this word today motivate you and challenge you to follow Him and as He guides you in your service. He will open and close doors, speak to you through others, cause circumstances to occur in your life to show you the things that you should be doing for Him. Don't forget, service is not an option it is a commandment from our Lord.

In these days when the world preaches and teaches that your success is judged by how many people serve you, let me remind you that in God's eyes, your success in this life is measured by how many people you serve!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller