Author: Celticgirl

Today’s Devotional: Day 1: 5 Days of Prayer for My Nation

Why Pray for My Nation?

Unity is our only hope for all that divides us. Jesus prayed, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me” (John 17:21).

  • Lord, regardless of our own preferences or traditions, draw each of your followers together as a witness of Jesus to the entire world.
  • Father, use your church to serve as the unifying body of people in our nation.
  • Holy Spirit, wake up your church to spiritual revival, experiencing the manifest presence of God as a people.

Our leaders must turn toward His Word and will: “The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1).

  • Lord Jesus, we ask you to turn the heart of our president, vice president, and both houses of Congress toward your Word and your ways.
  • Father, we ask you to inspire and lead the hearts of our political leaders to come together for the good of our nation.
  • Holy Spirit, we ask you to place God’s armor upon each of our leaders, protecting them and their families in every way.

The truth is that the next great spiritual awakening can usher in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This is why Paul reminds us, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).

  • Father, we ask that your sovereign will be for the next great spiritual awakening to occur in our generation.
  • Lord Jesus, because of your grace, pour out your power upon our nation, bringing forth a spiritual awakening that will result in millions coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Holy Spirit, move your church to pray extraordinarily until we see the next great spiritual awakening in our generation

Today’s Devotional Verse

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord , for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:2‭-‬18 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/gen.22.2-18.KJV

Today’s Devotional

Discerning the Voice of God by:Priscilla Shirer. Day 7 and final study of the week long devotional.

But don’t take my word for it. We go to God’s Word for instruction. In the story of the patriarch Abraham, we find both the value and profitable results of making plans to obey. 

Read Genesis 22:2-18.

Old Testament sacrificial rituals were quite laborious. The process was painstakingly detailed and time-consuming, not to mention messy (what with all that slaying and dismembering going on). But the succinct summary of Abraham’s activity in verse three, outside of the emotional torment invoked by verse two, makes the whole thing sound rather easy.

Yet the assignment Yahweh gave to Abraham could not have been accomplished on a whim. No haphazard spontaneity would enable Abraham to follow through on this mission. It was too arduous and meticulous of a task to accomplish without adequate preparation, strategy, intentionality, accountability, and dedication to detail. Each of these would be required in order to fully obey God’s directive.

Consider the following as it related to Abraham’s plan of obedience.

1. PREPARATION AND STRATEGY: The journey to Mount Moriah in Jerusalem required three days (see Gen. 22:4). This meant gathering supplies ahead of time for overnight camping as well as measuring out rations for food and drink, all in order to sustain the entourage as they made their trip to the place of sacrifice.

2. ACCOUNTABILITY: Abraham’s choice to bring two servants along may have been to provide help in carrying enough wood to build an altar. But, perhaps he brought them along for companionship as he carried out this difficult assignment.

3. INTENTIONALITY AND DEDICATION: Along with the wood, “glowing pieces of charcoal or other embers would have been carried in small pottery containers and carefully nursed along until a fire was needed.”

He refused to leave anything to chance. He didn’t just hope to carry out God’s instructions. He put measures in place to be certain of it. Abraham’s plan put him in position to hear what God would say or do next.

This may not be what we prefer our obedience to feel like. But this is what obedience looks like. When Abraham lived out his trust in God by making plans to obey what he’d been told, his faith was rewarded with the miraculous appearance of a substitutionary animal and the subsequent salvation of his son Isaac.

So what about you? What about me?

Will we, like Abraham, prepare to be obedient to God?  

To read more of Discerning the Voice of God, visit LifeWay.com/DiscerningTheVoiceofGod. There you’ll also find teaching videos and other resources from Priscilla Shirer.

Today’s Devotional

Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer Day 6.

My three sons and I have a morning routine. Maybe you do too, whether you’re wrangling toddlers or teenagers or just trying to get your own self out the door in one piece. For my brood, our morning plan typically involves a strategic engagement of assignments for which each person, or at least somebody, is responsible—bed making, bathroom cleaning, dishwasher emptying, taking out the trash. You get the picture.

Now listen, I’m not saying it comes off without a hitch every day. Don’t ask me to take this illustration too far, unless you’re willing to come over and help me sort some laundry. The only thing I’m trying to say is, I don’t come up with this list of chores on the fly. That would never work.

Know how I know? Because I’ve tried that before. And trust me (or say a firm, confident, head-bobbing amen with me), it’s a recipe for chaos and frustration. 

Despite my own affinity for spontaneity and impulsiveness, I learned a long time ago that nothing—and I do mean nada—is accomplished during our mornings without a plan. Spur of the moment, flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants operations invite complete mayhem. Only a predetermined commitment to a plan is able (or, again, at least potentially able) to hold our mornings together.

Let’s pivot here and apply this same logic to something even more important than mama’s sanity on an average weekday. Let’s talk about that key we shared a conversation about earlier—the key of surrendered obedience that leads to actually hearing from God and being able to live with the pure satisfaction of doing His will. Is anything really more important than that?

No? Then what’s your plan for doing it?

We aren’t haphazard with a lot of the things we deem important in life: our health, our retirement plan, our monthly calendar of appointments. We even enlist others to help us stay on track with some of those things—help we’re sometimes willing to pay for! So, what about our commitment to being spiritually aligned with the God of the universe and with how He wants to direct our hearts? If we don’t put an intentional resolve and strategic course of action for following Him in place, we’re basically leaving it up in the air, susceptible to the flighty whims of our circumstances and feelings. There’s simply too much eternal treasure at stake for that.