Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Topic Introduction with headline.
Scripture
John 14:13-14
Jesus: Whatever you ask for in My name, I will do it so that the Father will get glory from the Son. Let Me say it again: if you ask for anything in My name, I will do it.
Devotional
When I was growing up, there was a show in which a multimillionaire went around the country and just arbitrarily wrote a check to people for several thousand dollars.
Not worth quite as much today, but a lot of money then
Never showed the millionaire’s face or mentioned his name
Show focused on what the recipients did with the money
Some squandered the money on frivolous junk
Some spent it on things that seemed like good investments, but only on themselves
Some did charitable things for other people
Sometimes we read these verses with that kind of thought in mind
Santa is coming
Get whatever we want
Just ask and it will appear
All we have to do is tag on His name at the end and it will happen the way we want
Twisted view of these verses
About His name, not ours
About His ministry, not ours
About His plans, not ours
About His wants, not ours
Jesus wants to answer our prayers to bring glory to Him which gives glory to the Father
Goes back, then, to what is the Father’s desires and plans for this world
Desires that all will know His saving grace and follow Him
That all will recognize Him as God and serve Him as God
That all will come to a saving relationship with Him
That all will worship Him
Do our prayers reflect that attitude, that request, that outcome as an end result?
He will answer
He wants the glory
First commandment, He is a jealous God, He will not share our devotion with anyone or anything
He alone deserves our worship
He wants His name untarnished
Ask in His name
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see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 26:42 Jesus: Father, if there is no other way for this cup to pass without My drinking it—then not My will, but Yours be done.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Sometimes those are really hard words to mean. They’re easy to say, but hard to live up to. Jesus knew what was coming and didn’t want to go through it. He knew the agony the Romans could inflict on the human body. He’d seen it enough as His countrymen hung on crosses for the crimes they committed against the state. But He was innocent of those crimes, yet knew He would soon face the executioners punishments soon Himself. He didn’t want to pass through that ordeal.
I’m sure if you’ve listened to God long enough, you’ve faced some of those times, too. Things come into our lives we just don’t want to go through. We would rather skip those chapters of our lives and take the easier road if it’s possible. Sometimes it’s just not possible and still be in the Father’s will, though. I remember when I first told my father, that I was called to preach. His answer to me was, “If you can do anything else and be in God’s will, do it.”
I didn’t understand then why he would give me that advice. I do now as I’ve lived under the pressures of ministry and the burden of watching men and women you know are under the conviction of God’s Spirit walk away from Him. But that feeling, is nothing compared to the burden Jesus carried to the cross for us. He carried our sins on His shoulders. In fact, the Father for a short time turned His back on His Son because of the filth of sin He carried for us. Forsaken by His Father. Jesus didn’t want to do it. But it wasn’t His will He was concerned about. It was His Father’s will He would carry out, no matter what.
You can point to situations, circumstance, events in you life you’d not walk through if you could avoid them. I know I would. Painful times that I want to forget. Yet it’s in those painful, almost unbearable times that God seems to call to us and makes us stronger, like iron forged in the furnace. Tempered by the heat it becomes stronger and more durable. That’s what God often does to us in those difficult times we sometimes face.
At other times, I think God takes us through those valleys to prepare us for the next challenge we might face or to give us the tools we need to help someone we will meet on our journey of life. My first three promotions in the Army happened on time, but only after a my name didn’t appear on the promotion list and a multitude of errors were corrected in my records. I felt what it was like to be “passed over” because my name wasn’t on the list. No one knew what to say. Some treated me like a leper. Some knew I must have done some terrible thing in the past to deserve results. Few recognized the possibility of mismanagement of information when the Army transferred from paper to microfiche to electronic records.
But those promotion problems helped me empathize with other officers and NCOs not selected for promotion or schools or commands. I knew what it felt like. I knew what the possibilities might be, also. I knew how to help and how to keep spirits up even in the face of what could be career ending decisions. I’d been there. It took six to nine months to get to the bottom of the problem each time and then end up with a point–5 promotion number. So even when the problem was solved, until the magic day arrived and my name came out on orders, no public documents listed me as promotable during those interim months.
We go through those difficult times for a reason. We may never know this side of eternity in many cases why God let us endure those things. But looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I can almost always see where God has drawn me closer to Him, helped me grow spiritually through the ordeal, or taught me lessons I could use to share with others once I’d been through the problems myself.
It’s easy to say the word, “Not my will, but Your will be done.” It’s much harder to live through the reality of those words as we actually sojourn through life. But the rewards of letting God have His way in our life always turns out best. For His Son, it meant death on the cross, but it also meant experiencing resurrection power three days later. For my promotion debacles it meant a few months of investigative work figuring out what disappeared in records, reconstructing reports, awards, certificates, schools, and so forth. But in the end, promotions came, I could help so many others along the rest of my thirty year career that I would never have known how to help had I not gone through that experience.
As a child of God, there is a reason you face the troubled times you face. Only God knows how you fit into His perfect plan. But you do. Trust Him and know a resurrection morning is coming. Just wait and be amazed at His power released in you.
Deuteronomy 34 1Moses climbed up from the plains of Moab to the top of Mount Nebo, to the peak at Mount Pisgah on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. The Eternal showed him the whole land that would be Israel’s territory: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all of Judah’s territory to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, 3 the southern desert, and the basin in the valley of Jericho, the “city of palms,” as far as Zoar.
Eternal One (to Moses): 4 This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I told them, “I’ll give it to your descendants.” I’ve let you see it, even though you won’t be going into it.
5 So Moses, the Eternal’s servant, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Eternal had said. 6 He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eyesight hadn’t failed and his strength hadn’t diminished. 8 The children of Israel stayed in the plains of Moab and mourned for Moses for 30 days, until the grieving period was over.
9 Now Joshua (Nun’s son) was filled with a spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on this successor. The children of Israel obeyed Joshua, and they did what the Eternal had commanded Moses. 10 Since then there’s never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Eternal knew him face-to-face! 11 No one has ever done anything like the amazing things the Eternal sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to demonstrate His reality and power to Pharaoh and his servants and his whole country. 12 And no one has shown such great power or done such terrifying things as everyone in Israel saw Moses do.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
I had a special plan for Moses from the beginning. I put events in his path to help him understand the plan I had for him. At some points Moses showed some reluctance to carry out My plan and I had to convince him he was the man for the job. I also had to give him assistance all along the way because he knew the job was too difficult for him to carry it out alone.
Moses learned a lot during his 40 years in the desert before he accepted the task I had for him. He learned about reliance on Me. He learned about the covenant I had with his nation and My intervention in the lives of the Hebrews. He understood My place in nature and the part I would play as God in the deliverance of his people. He didn’t know how, but he knew I was able, because I am God.
Moses isn’t the only person for whom I have a special plan in mind, though. I have a special plan for everyone who will listen and obey Me. I may not ask you to lead My children out of bondage, but I will ask you to do things very far outside your comfort zone. Don’t worry about it, though. I will always be with you to work through you and accomplish My plan. I’ve given you just the right gifts – talents, skills, and experiences – to accomplish what I have planned for you. No one else has the same combination of gifts you have, so no one can do what I have planned for you like you can. Trust Me to help you.
You might ask, “What is it? What’s the task?” I will let you know at the right time as you seek My will for your life. I don’t want you to move too fast or too slow. If you move too slow, you’ll miss opportunities. If you move too fast, you won’t be prepared yet. So look for the next step to take. I will make sure you have the information you need to take the next step. I may not give you much more information than that, but that is enough. Trust Me with today’s needs, today’s guidance. That’s all you need for today.
So search My word. Listen to the counsel of wise Christians. Pray diligently. Seek My will. You will know what I have in store for you. You will understand the steps I want you to take. I will not hide from you. I’ve told you to seek Me and you will find Me. It’s the same with My plan for your life. I want you to have a successful, fulfilling life. When you let Me direct you, you’ll have it.
Numbers 9:15-23 15 When the congregation tent was finally erected and assembled, the cloud of the presence of God covered it and the place where the terms of the covenant were kept. In the dark of night, the presence of God looked like a fire and marked the spot until morning. 16 And so it continued—cloud cover by day, and something like fiery storm clouds at night. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted up, the Israelites would pack up and move, and wherever the cloud stopped, they would settle. 18 This is how the Eternal One indicated when the Israelites should travel and where they should set up camp. As long as the cloud stayed still over the congregation tent, the Israelites also stayed at their tents. 19 When the cloud remained many days over the tent, the Israelites stayed there and served the Eternal. 20 When the cloud remained only a few days, they did the same. They always followed the command of the Eternal, whether staying or leaving. 21 Sometimes it happened that the cloud remained in place only through the night. So, in the morning, they would get going again. Day or night, in this manner they went as God directed. 22 Whether it was a couple of days or just a month or even longer, however long the cloud covered the tent, the Israelites stayed put; but when it lifted, off they went again. 23 So it was that the Israelites obeyed God’s command. When the Eternal One indicated that they stop, they stopped; when He directed them to move, they moved. They served Him exactly as God commanded them through Moses.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
I had a plan for the Israelites. I guided them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. I directed them through the wilderness and let them know when and where they were to travel through the movement of that cloud. I remained as a visible presence to them in those early days of the formation of their nation. They needed that visible symbol of my presence to solidify their faith in Me. For forty years they saw the cloud always present before them.
I have a plan for you, too. You won’t see Me in a pillar of fire or a cloud necessarily. You might see me in a newly born baby or in the fresh falling rain. You might see Me in the middle of a storm or during the loss of a loved one. You might understand My plan as you contemplate a single verse or a specific chapter of My word. But I have a plan for you. And that plan will not necessarily lay out in nice neat blocks to give you a pattern for the rest of your life.
You see, My plans for humankind always involve the interaction of one person with another to introduce the lost to My Son for their redemption. So I might use you at a moments notice to be that one to share the message to one of My lost sheep. You might be at just the right place and just the right time to say the right words to make a difference in someone’s life for good. Someone did it for you one day and it’s always right to pay it forward to someone else.
Begin to look around you today for an opportunity to share the message that there is a Savior who died for you and for each and every person on the earth. He died, but He rose again to demonstrate His power over death and the grave and sin. He sacrificed Himself that your sins can be forgiven. It only takes asking in repentance. Letting Him become the Lord of your life. And you can enjoy eternal life with Me.
I have a plan for you just as I did for the Israelites. Follow it and you’ll find eternal rewards ahead.
