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| ISBN-13: | 9780446572866 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | FaithWords |
| Publication date: | 01/08/2010 |
| Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Sales rank: | 630,971 |
| File size: | 971 KB |
About the Author
Joyce has written nearly 100 inspirational books. Her bestsellers include Power Thoughts; The Confident Woman; Look Great, Feel Great; Starting Your Day Right; Ending Your Day Right; Approval Addiction; How to Hear from God; Beauty for Ashes; and Battlefield of the Mind.
Joyce travels extensively, holding conferences throughout the year, speaking to thousands around the world. Joyce resides in St. Louis, MO.
Read an Excerpt
hearing from GOD each morning
365 DAILY DEVOTIONSBy JOYCE MEYER
Faith Words
Copyright © 2010 Joyce MeyerAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-446-55785-6
Chapter One
January 1God Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know
The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He Who is called the Christ (the Anointed One); and when He arrives, He will tell us everything we need to know and make it clear to us. (JOHN 4:25)
Learning to hear from God and be led by the Holy Spirit is an exciting adventure. God wants to speak to you and tell you what you need to know to enjoy your life, be blessed, be wise, and fulfill the good plans He has for you. He always has something good and helpful to say, but sometimes people miss knowing these things because they fail to recognize that God is speaking to them. They need to learn how to hear and obey His voice.
Earthly parents talk to their children all the time, so why wouldn't our heavenly Father speak to us? Human parents do not expect their children to know what to do if they don't tell them, and God feels the same way toward His children. He wants to tell us everything we need to know in life.
We often want to go our own way so we can do what we want to do, when we want to do it. But, when we live this way, we end up losing our way and wasting our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us through each day of our time on Earth, and He is committed to doing so by speaking to us and telling us everything we need to know.
* * *
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: You have a guide and a comforter in the Holy Spirit, who is with you 24-7.
January 2
A Vital Necessity
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. (PSALM 27:4)
If we desire to hear from God, then seeking Him must be a priority in our lives. David summarized life's one requirement in the verse for today. He required God's presence as a vital necessity in life.
David had enjoyed many opportunities to succeed and gain confidence. Empowered by the presence of God, he had killed an imposing giant with nothing more than a slingshot and five small stones. God chose this simple shepherd boy to become king of Israel even though he was the youngest brother of a family of men. His eventual fame and wealth offered everything most people might think would bring satisfaction.
David's pursuit of more of God, even after experiencing God's presence in many ways, should give us a realization that we must continue seeking God no matter how many victories we have enjoyed. After all, even David needed to know God more intimately.
Many people want guidance from God, but they don't want to lay aside other things in order to hear His voice. But David narrowed down everything he wanted to just one thing-more of God all the days of his life. I believe the only thing that truly satisfies the longing within us is to know God more intimately today than we did yesterday.
* * *
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: Pursue "more of God" in your life-today and every day.
January 3
Come Close
Come close to God and He will come close to you. (JAMES 4:8)
Not everyone is willing to pay the price required to be close to God. Not everyone is willing to simply take the time required or make the investments needed for spiritual growth. God doesn't ask for all of our time. He certainly wants us to do things we don't consider "spiritual." He designed us with bodies, souls (minds, wills, and emotions), and spirits, and He expects us to take care of all these areas.
Exercising our bodies and caring for our souls takes time and effort. Our emotions need to be ministered to; we need to have fun and be entertained, and we need to enjoy being with other people. Our minds need to grow and be renewed daily. In addition, we have a spiritual nature that needs attention. To stay balanced and healthy, we must take time to take care of our entire being.
I believe the whole issue of intimacy with God is a matter of time. We say we don't have time to seek God, but the truth is that we take time to do the things that are most important to us. Even though we all have to fight distractions every day, if knowing God and hearing from Him is important to us then we will find time to do it. Don't try to work God into your schedule, but instead work your schedule around time with Him.
Getting to know God is a long-term investment, so don't get discouraged if you don't get instant results. Be determined to honor Him with your time and you will reap the benefits.
* * *
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: Just like physical exercise, spiritual exercise needs to be done regularly. You're sure to see the results.
January 4
Let Peace Be Your Umpire
Let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts. (COLOSSIANS 3:15)
I try to run my life by finding peace. If I am shopping, I don't buy something if I don't have peace about it. If I am involved in a conversation and find myself losing my peace, I become quiet. When I make decisions, I look at the options before me and see where the peace is. When I am trying to discern between the voice of God and the other voices that compete for my attention, I listen to see which voice or message brings the peace of God into my heart.
I have learned that maintaining peace is important in order to maintain power in our lives. When we don't have peace, we may very well be making a serious mistake. I would go so far as to say we should never act without peace. We might say that peace is an "internal confirmation" that God approves of the decision we have made.
God leads us by peace. The verse for today says peace is like an umpire that decides what is "safe" or what is "out." If there's no peace, it's "out"! We are to let the inner harmony in our minds and souls rule and act as an umpire continually in our hearts, deciding and settling with finality all the questions that arise in our minds and the decisions we must make in our lives.
We must learn to obey our own sense of right and wrong and resist doing things our inner conscience is uncomfortable doing. God gives or takes peace from our conscience to let us know whether or not we are on track.
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: Let peace be your umpire today. Know that your decision is "in" when you have peace, and "out" when you don't.
January 5
God Is Not Hiding
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork. (PSALM 19:1)
God does not hide from anyone. He reveals Himself to all humankind (see Romans 1:19-20). He speaks to everyone through His handiwork, and nature itself testifies of His power and plans.
Look around and pay attention to the world God has created. The main thing He says to us through nature is that He truly exists. He tries to reach us every day and He leaves clues about Himself everywhere, clues that say, "I am here! You don't have to worry or be afraid. I am here."
Every morning the sun comes up and every evening it goes down. The stars come out to sparkle against the night sky and the universe remains in order as a reminder that God is watching over us.
When we consider how some trees look totally dead during winter and come back to life each spring, we are reminded that God will bring our lives back into full bloom, even if we feel lifeless or hopeless because of our circumstances.
I enjoy simply looking at a tree and watching it blow in the wind. I have noticed that dead leaves sometimes cling to branches for a while, and then a big gust of wind comes along and blows them off, making room for new buds to grow and thrive. This reminds me that the wind of God's Spirit is faithful to blow away everything that is no longer needed in our lives and that He will protect all that needs to remain. He will bring new life and growth and times of refreshing.
Remember these examples of how God speaks through nature and look for His clues everywhere you go today!
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: Look for one of the many clues God has left for you today.
January 6
God Wants to Take You to a New Level
Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man (one upright and in right standing with God) and he will increase in learning. (PROVERBS 9:9)
Even though God wants us to live joyful, contented lives, He sometimes causes discontent or a feeling that something is not right because He does not want us to continue doing the same old things anymore. He wants to prod us to seek Him so He can take us to new levels.
God always wants us to grow stronger, to go deeper, and to increase in intimacy with Him. Most of the time, He leads us into that process of maturity by leading us out of places where we have been comfortable in the past. Too much comfort for too long can mean that we are not growing. If you feel something stirring in your heart that you don't quite understand, just ask God what is happening and take time to wait on Him to answer.
Our time with God is vitally important to our growth and maturity, but we cannot do the same things all the time and experience all that God has for us. I have had times when reading the Bible became laborious and God simply led me to read a different translation for a few months. Just that little change brought new growth because I saw things in a different way. Satan tried to condemn me because I did not want to read the Bible, but God was just trying to get me to make a change in the translation I was reading. One day I felt a bit bored as I tried to read and pray so I moved to another chair in my office and suddenly I saw things that had been in my office for years, but I had not noticed them. A little adjustment caused me to see things from a whole new perspective and God taught me a spiritual lesson just because I sat in a different chair.
* * *
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: Don't be afraid to move your chair.
January 7
Trust God Completely
In You, O Lord, do I put my trust. (PSALM 31:1)
I remember when God told me to quit my full-time job where I was making very good money. He began to deal with me, saying, "You're going to have to put that down and stay home and prepare for ministry."
I didn't obey quickly because I was afraid to leave my job. After all, how did I even know for sure that I was hearing from God? He continued dealing with me so I finally tried to make a deal with Him, saying, "I won't work full-time, but I'll work part-time."
So I went to work part-time because I was afraid to trust God completely. Dave and I didn't have as much income as we had before, but I found we could survive on less money than we had previously. We had to cut down on expenses, but we were able to pay our bills. I also had more time to prepare for ministry. This seemed like a good plan, but it was not God's plan.
I learned that God doesn't want to make "deals" and I ended up getting fired from my part-time job. I was a good worker and had never been fired from a job before. Even though I didn't like my circumstances, I was finally where God wanted me to be all along-totally dependent on Him.
Without a job, I had to learn to trust God for every little thing I needed. For six years, we needed divine intervention each month just to be able to pay our bills, but during that time I learned a lot about God's faithfulness. He always provided and what we learned through our experience enabled us to trust Him for the resources we now need to run an international ministry. I encourage you to obey God completely and don't try to make deals with Him because they never work.
* * *
GOD'S WORD FOR YOU TODAY: When we negotiate with God, we never win.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from hearing from GOD each morning by JOYCE MEYER Copyright © 2010 by Joyce Meyer . Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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