Week 2 Day 5 Devotional
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Reflect:
The “ancients”…an impressive word. It means ancestors, those who have gone before us. Since what matters most at the end matters most now, then a great place to learn about what matters now is from those who have come to an end. God commended the ancients for their faith. Their journey is finished, the final chapter written, and what did God write on their “tombstones”? “Here lies the ancients, I commend them for their faith.” So of all he could have said about them, “They worked hard”, “They endured much”, “They made an impact”, God commended them for their faith. Why? It was their faith that led to all the other commendable aspects of their lives. Their work was prompted by faith, as was their endurance and their love. All the many commendable aspects of those in our spiritual lineage are “sub-aspects” of their faith. They believed God and from that belief flowed acts of faith. What if you decided that “faith” was the most commendable quality you could have? What if you made it your ambition to be a man or woman who actually “believed God”? Not for some miracle, but rather you believed God by actually loving people around you: forgiving them, serving them, refusing to see them as roadblocks to your own interests but rather as your main interest. Faith is not a detached, otherworldly demeanor. Faith is impressive to God, commendable to him…because it causes us to live as if he really exists. It results in actionable love for others. Our faith in him shows up in the way we act towards others. Close the gap today on “the commendation of God”…live with faith, revealed in love.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.