Daily Devotional

It's one thing to know you should be walking in the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, desiring to do them. But it is another thing to actually do it when it goes contrary to what you really want or feel like doing. I have been in two situations these last couple of weeks when I felt like the Lord was on one end of the rope, pulling me toward Him, and me on the other end, knowing what was right in my Spirit but not wanting to do it. There were several reasons in both scenarios why I was in such a tug of war with the Lord; humility, fear, disgrace. I knew the result of obeying the Lord would be the right one, so why the tug of war? With each pull of the Spirit that drew me closer to His will I was able to surrender the humility, the fear and the disgrace that was keeping me from obedience. The second time the battle began I recognized the drawing and surrendered more quickly because I saw that the fear, humility and disgrace were not as real as I imagined and the peaceful rest of an open communion with my heavenly Father was so much more valuable.  

The more I thought over this lesson the more I recognized the reality of 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  The breath of life that God breathed into Adam to create life is the same breath that will put to death sin and transform and conform our lives to become more like His when we breathe in His Word daily ("And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being" Gen. 2:7). Pruning is painful but the fruitful reward of obedience is life changing.

Tis’ so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know
Thus saith the Lord
Jesus Jesus how I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.