Worthy Devotions - Daily Christian Devotion » Endurance

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

The other day, our little one year old, Obadiah started playing with a blown up balloon left over from Elianna’s birthday party this past weekend. When it accidentally popped in his face, Obi was a bit startled, as you might imagine. Thinking quickly, in order that he wouldn’t start bawling, I grabbed an unblown balloon from the table, blew it up real big and then let it go. Boy did he love that! He started laughing hysterically as he watched this balloon fly quickly all around the room until it ran out of air and plopped down on the floor. As we playing this game, I thought of a funny analogy.

In a sense, I think we need to be like balloons, filled to entirety with God’s breath and then let go to experience the ride of our lives. Equally important is that we recognize when we’re running out of air — when we’re depleted of His power, anointing, and purpose and need to run back to Him for more. Recieving the infilling of the Spirit is not a single event, but a lifetime of refilling, sothat we don’t become useless for His Kingdom, trying to do things on our own strength. Amen?

The Lord doesn’t entrust us with His power in order for us to sit around idly — but rather that we would boldly share the good news of the Gospel, and do great things for Him wherever He may take us. Let’s get filled again today! Ask, seek, knock, read, worship, meditate on His promises, get FILLED! There’s so much work to be done!

Luke 19:12-13 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

During the American Civil War in the 1860’s, a fierce battle took place at Altoona Pass. It was a key supply point for the Union Army, so the Confederate Army led by General Hood sought to take Altoona Pass which held over a million and a half rations. When Union General Sherman realized Hood’s plans, he dispatched General Corse along with 1,500 men to hold the city.

As the battle ensued, General Corse and his forces were forced into a small fort on a crest of a hill. The Northern army was being overwhelmed, with nearly half the men either killed or wounded in the battle. Things were looking extremely bleak, when in the distance from a mountain top twenty miles away a while flag was being waved, and those in the fort knew the message being sent, “Hold the fort; I am coming. W.T. Sherman.”

This sign gave the beleaguered army renewed strength to continue fighting the battle for another three hours until reinforcements finally arrived.

From this battle, a famous Christian song was written and its chorus is so eloquent for us today, “Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus signals still; Wave the answer back to heaven, By thy grace we will!”

In the midst of spiritual battles we can often feel besieged on every side – but HOLD THE FORT! Get some rest this weekend and renew your strength in the Lord for the victory is already won – we just need to continue fighting because He is coming!

2 Kings 23:16-17 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.

This is an interesting passage of Scripture which details how Josiah, a young and Godly king, went forth to cleanse the land, and in doing so, finds that he was fulfilling a prophecy given years before. Josiah went forth doing what was right — and in doing so, was walking out the works that God preordained for him — he was fulfilling the calling that God had set into motion years before!

Each of us is alive for such a time as this, living in this day and hour, and all around us prophecy is being fulfilled. Quite honestly, the prophecies of these last days seem to be being fulfilled faster than I anticipated — but nevertheless, we are witnessing the signs all around us, and they are not so comforting.

So what is our mandate, our calling, our destiny for these days? Will we walk as Josiah, steadfast after God? Because in our day as well, there is prophecy spoken by Jesus himself concerning these last days in which we live: “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” [Matthew 24:12] Josiah walked amidst incredible idolatry and sin in Israel, (just like we are now), but instead of catering or yielding to it, he used all the authority he had to tear it down. He was fearless in his hatred of sin because of his intense love for God. Jesus’ words imply a specific calling for us in these last days: Don’t allow your love to grow cold!

Sin abounds all around us, and maybe to some extent, IN us– but it’s already written that we can triumph over it if we will just keep our love for him HOT! On the cross he won an astounding victory which we can claim and walk in each and every day of our lives! If we walk in his victory, we too can fulfill the prophetic words of the greatest prophet, because he did not say “the love of ALL will grow cold”. So let us be those who fulfill this prophetic destiny the way King Josiah did. We CAN be the ones who keep that passion for God, even in these terrible times!

Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet (shofar in Hebrew) in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Today in Israel begins the feast of Rosh Ha Shannah, or Yom Teruah — the Feast of Trumpets.  At the end of the summer the Hebrews are commanded to blow the shofar — the ram’s horn, all day long.  The sound of the shofar was a sound of alarm– it told the people to get ready.  It marked in the calendar that the summer harvest was over and the day of atonement was near and it was time to stand before God.

The feast of Trumpets is amazingly prophetic.  Right now we are in the midst of the great harvest and the next major event is the sound of the trumpet — just before the great day of the Lord.  Within the feast of trumpets contains a personal message for us.  It’s God’s wake up call:  We don’t have forever!  We only walk through this life once– and as quickly as steam rises from hot water and quickly disappears, so it is with our lives.  Soon it will be past and we will stand before our Maker.   If we are going to do great things for Him — now is the time!  If we need to repent for anything — now is the time.  The Lord commands us to arise and shine and let our light shine throughout the world! The shofar is sounding, the summer harvest is nearing completion, and the day of the Lord is near.

Become God’s shofar, sound His warning of judgment and radiate the love He’s given us through His Son, that those around you will be able to stand pure before God.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I suppose one of the hardest questions to answer is: “Why do I have to deal with so much adversity?!”

Quite honestly, one of the best answers I’ve ever come across was written by C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity. Lewis likened God’s use of adversity to walking a dog. If the dog gets its leash wrapped around a pole and tries to continue running forward, he will only tighten the leash more. Both the dog and the owner are after the same end: forward motion. But the owner must resist the dog by pulling him opposite of the direction that he wants to go. The master, sharing the same intention, but understanding better than the dog where he really wants to go, takes an action precisely opposite to that of the dog’s will. It is in this way that God uses adversity!

We really don’t like being pulled and corrected by the Lord — but when we understand there’s a greater purpose involved, then we can pass through adversity with hope, expectation and steadfastness knowing these events are for our greater good!

Let’s learn from the trials and tribulations we go through because God has a purpose in them. We may not enjoy it, but when all’s said and done, enduring trials faithfully will produce perseverance, character, and hope. And hope will not disappoint us for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…[Romans 5:4-5] We truly can trust in the God who loves us with an everlasting love because He knows the direction we need to go, AND He knows exactly how to get us there!