FIND FREEDOM IN GOD My devotion for Tuesday, July 22, 2014 excerpt taken from the devotional book, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Find freedom through seeking to please Me above all else. You can have only one Master. When you let others’ expectations drive you, you scatter your energy to the winds. Your own desire to look good can also drain your energy. I am your Master, and I do not drive you to be what you are not. Your pretense displeases Me, especially when it is in My “service.” Concentrate on staying close to Me at all times. It is impossible to be inauthentic while you are focusing on My Presence. -------------------- My Reflections As I reflected on my devotional, I thought of the connection between Christ as my Lord whom I am called to serve, and Christ who calls me His friend with whom I have been gifted with a relationship and through whom I have been granted a rich and eternal inheritance. Central to this is the truth that Jesus is God and always will be. He is the Creator of all things of which I am apart. As His creation He loves me, and He chose me to have a relationship with Him, to love Him with my whole heart, and to serve and obey Him fully. John 15:14-16 “You are My friend if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friend, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” While we may not fully grasp the role of a slave, we all in some way or the other recognize the authority of human bosses, parents, or leaders, whether they be good ones or not. We know that our approval from the world’s side is often dependent on our attitude and behavior. The big difference with God toward His children is that our approval is based not on our attitudes and actions, but on the work of His Son—Jesus Christ on the cross and even now as our Advocate. But this does not excuse us to do whatever we please, even in response to our earthly “masters.” It is so easy to get lost in the demands that face us and equally easy to grow bitter towards those who place them on us (including ourselves). But Scripture tells us that we need to step back from those internal or external demands and remember Who it is that we truly serve, and then to reframe all that we do in light of our service to Him. God will direct us in the paths that He intends. Our role is to humbly submit ourselves to His direction and to honor Him before all men. This necessitates that we spend time before Him and acknowledge Him in all that we do. -------------------- Dear Father God, I find true freedom through seeking to please You above all else as I have only one master whom I serve and that is You. Father, You are the true driving force in my life, I will not let anything or anyone’s expectations drive me but You as it reflects wasted energy and it goes nowhere. Father, if there is any pretense in me, please renew my mind, heart, thoughts, deeds and make it pleasing to You. Father, I will concentrate on staying close to You at all times. I was once in darkness, but now I am light in the Lord. I will live as a child of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth as I am determine to find out what pleases You.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:00:28 +0000