February 14th - The Discipline of HearingWhatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light... Matthew 10:27Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.
February 15th - "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"None of us lives to himself... Romans 14:7Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers.
February 16th - The Inspiration of Spiritual InitiativeArise from the dead... Ephesians 5:14God does not give us overcoming life- He gives us life as we overcome. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiriation of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.
February 17th - Taking the Initiative Against DepressionArise and eat. 1 Kings 19:5When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things- things we would never imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there.
February 18th - Taking the Initiative Against DespairRise, let us be going. Matthew 26:46Whenever we realize we have not taken advantage of a magnificent opportunity, we are apt to sink into despair. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him. Never let the sense of past failure defeat your next step.
February 19th - Taking The Initiative Against DruderyArise, shine... Isaiah 60:1When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step. There is no point in waiting for God to help us- He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it.
February 20th - Taking the Initiative Against DaydreamingArise, let us go from here. John 14:31If you are in love with someone, you don't sit and daydream about that person all the time- you go and do something for him. That is what Jesus Christ expects us to do. Daydreaming after God has spoken is an indication that we do not trust Him.
February 21st - Do You Really Love Him?She has done a good work for Me. Mark 14:6Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? I'm referring to ordinary, simple human things- things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him.
February 22nd - The Discipline of Spiritual PerseveranceBe still, and know that I am God... Psalm 46:10If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God.
February 23rd - The Determination To ServeThe Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve... Matthew 20:28Once we realize that Jesus Christ has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
February 24th - The Delight Of SacrificeI will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls... 2 Corinthians 12:15The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus Christ (see John 15:13). I don't throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His intrests in other people.
February 25th - The Destitution Of Servicethough the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. 2 Corinthians 12:15Paul's idea of service was the same as our Lord's. He did not care how high the cost was to himself- he would gladly pay it. It was Paul's delight to spend his lfe for God's interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost.
I would like to expand on this one- if I may. It is so important. I have to keep reminding myself of this. :-) Natural human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, "It doesn’t really matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but also that I may be able to get you to God." "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor . . ." ( 2 Corinthians 8:9 ). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did not care how high the cost was to himself—he would gladly pay it. It was a joyful thing to Paul. The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually "out-socialized" the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11 ). The real test of a saint is not one’s "willingness to preach the gospel", but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet—that is, BEING WILLING TO DO THOSE THINGS THAT SEEM UNIMPORTANT IN HUMAN ESTIMATION BUT COUNT AS EVERYTHING TO GOD. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns—"What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things." All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes BROKEN BREAD and POURED OUT WINE in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others. ~Oswald Chambers
February 26th - Our Misgivings About JesusThe woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." John 4:11If I detect misgivings about Jesus in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly- "Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."
February 27th - The Improverished Ministry of JesusWhere then do You get the living water? John 4:11Jesus doesn't bring anything up from the wells of human nature- He brings them down from above. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and unto Him.
February 28th - "Do You Now Believe?""By this we believe..." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?" John 16:30,31Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on its own religious understanding. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless Him.
February 29th - What Do You Want The Lord To Do For You?"What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may recieve my sight."Is there something in your life that not only disturbs you, but makes you a disturbance to others? If so, it is always something you cannot handle yourself. Be persistent with your disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself. If it is an impossiblity, it is the very thing for which we have to ask. God will do what is absolutely impossible.
I have to share the entire devotional for this day.. its just to precious.. Lord make this our cry today.. help us to trust you for the impossible. Give us a vision for our lifes that goes beyond what is possible in ourselves so you can work.--------Is there something in your life that not only disturbs you, but makes you a disturbance to others? If so, it is always something you cannot handle yourself. "Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more . . ." ( Luke 18:39 ). Be persistent with your disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself. Don’t deify common sense. To sit calmly by, instead of creating a disturbance, serves only to deify our common sense. When Jesus asks what we want Him to do for us about the incredible problem that is confronting us, remember that He doesn’t work in commonsense ways, but only in supernatural ways. Look at how we limit the Lord by only remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past. We say, "I always failed there, and I always will." Consequently, we don’t ask for what we want. Instead, we think, "It is ridiculous to ask God to do this." If it is an impossibility, it is the very thing for which we have to ask. If it is not an impossible thing, it is not a real disturbance. And God will do what is absolutely impossible. This man received his sight. But the most impossible thing for you is to be so closely identified with the Lord that there is literally nothing of your old life remaining. God will do it if you will ask Him. But you have to come to the point of believing Him to be almighty. We find faith by not only believing what Jesus says, but, even more, by trusting Jesus Himself. If we only look at what He says, we will never believe. Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. The agony we suffer is only the result of the deliberate shallowness of our own heart. We won’t believe; we won’t let go by severing the line that secures the boat to the shore—we prefer to worry. -Oswald Chambers
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