Tag: #chaos

God Speaks – Hear The Word of God

The Wisdom of the Proverbs:

Proverbs 24:10 (NLT)

If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.

The Encouragement of the Psalms:

Psalm 78:1 (KJV) Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

The Hope of the Old Testament:

Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT)

This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

Jeremiah 6:19 (NLT)

Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.

The Gospel Message:

Colossians 2:8-10 (NLT)

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Observation:

How are you handling the circumstances and conditions in your environment? How are you dealing with the pressure of living in a fallen world? Do you have the strength to make it in these times of chaos and strife?

If you depend upon your strength or the strength of the world to get you through these troubling times, you will find it is too small. Where do you discover the power you need? Where can you find peace in the midst of the chaos that is happening all around the world?

Why not listen to the one who made the world and every living being? Today’s reading from the One Year Bible Reading Plan is where I started my day. Then the Lord spoke these words of comfort to my heart.

Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT)

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

John 14:27 (NLT)

“I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Prayer:

Father, we are so thankful that even in the most chaotic of times we can find in You the strength that we need and the peace that the world cannot give us or take away from us.

Father, I pray that we, the people of God, will learn to live in prayer and receive the gift that will enable us to live in peace.

Father, we are so grateful that there is nothing that is beyond the reach of prayer when we trust in God, who can do anything but fail.

Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT)

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

—

1 Samuel 3:10 (NLT)
10  And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

Read all the Daily Devotionals by Herb Cotton; click here:

http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/

Listen to all of the Daily Devotionals by Herb Cotton; click here:

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What Is Your Response to Chaos?

 

Text:

Isaiah 26:8-9 (ESV)

8  In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.

9  My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Observation: 

Have you  experienced an unusual amount of chaos recently? The Bible tells us that there would be days, and seasons similar to what you are experiencing.

2 Timothy 3:1 (AMP)

1  BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

What should be the response of believers in times like these? I find in the reading of our text, and life experiences some guidance. It involves taking the upward look.

In verse eight of our text Isaiah says, “Your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul”.

In verse nine Isaiah says, “My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you”.

The Lord’s heart and hands are not far from His people. He longs to have His people draw near to Him.

1 Peter 3:12 (ESV)

12  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

There is nothing that comforts the soul during times of great stress, and trouble than singing praise to God. One of the songs I love to sing is this one by Valerie Boyd.

“My soul loves Jesus,

my soul loves Jesus,

my soul loves Jesus;

Bless His name.

He’s a wonder in my soul,

He’s a wonder in my soul,

He’s a wonder in my soul;

Bless His name.”

Prayer:

Father, I unite my voice with the Psalmist, and all of Your people who agree, in lifting up my voice in praise and adoration of Your most holy, and righteous name.

Father, if Your people ever needed the nearness of Your presence, the time is now. Father, you are the desire of our soul; Lord, we seek Your face, and long for Your tender heart, and strong hands to give us Your peace in exchange for the stress and chaos we are facing. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Are You Asking the Right Questions?

 

Text: 

Job 37:2-7 (HCSB)

2  Just listen to His thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

3  He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; His lightning to the ends of the earth.

4  Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His ?rumbling? voice is heard.

5  God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.

6  For He says to the snow, “Fall to the earth,” and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,

7  serve as His sign to all mankind, so that all men may know His work.

Observation:

What is the question you hear most often?

How big are my problems?

How big is my God?

Why not change the way we look at our circumstances and our challenges, and the questions we ask?

The God who speaks so loudly in nature is the same God that speaks in His Word; the Bible.

The God who made the world and every living being is the same God who is able to speak into our hearts.

The Bible says that God can speak, and the stormy sea listens to, and obeys His voice.

Mark 4:39 (HCSB)

39  He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

There is great comfort available in the midst of our chaos and circumstances. We can have a peace that surpasses understanding if we will begin to listen to the voice of God.

Mark 4:40 (HCSB)

40  Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?”

Prayer:

Father, hallowed be Your name. Father, I am so grateful for the faith that You give Your children; the faith that enabled us to believe in Jesus, and to abide in Him.

Father, increase our faith, and give us the courage to look to You in the midst of our chaos and circumstances.

Father, I pray that You will never have to say to us, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith? In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

—

Isaiah 55:11 (KJV) 
11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Read the Daily Devotional by Herb Cotton; click here:

http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/

Hear the Daily Devotional by Herb Cotton; click here:

https://soundcloud.com/praying-for-you-ministry