Life can be hard…sometimes to the point of feeling as though yourstruggles will never end, and God isn’t anywhere near. The Looking Up Devotional Journal is BethMoore’s timeless message of hope and deliverance taken from Psalm 40. You’lldiscover you are indeed not alone,and that God’s gracious provision of love and faithfulness is at work, pointingyou toward a life of wholeness and fullness. Guided journaling gently leads youout of hardship into a brighter future of purpose and peace.
This lovely devotional journal is based on Beth’s bestselling book, Get Out of That Pit.
Life can be hard…sometimes to the point of feeling as though yourstruggles will never end, and God isn’t anywhere near. The Looking Up Devotional Journal is BethMoore’s timeless message of hope and deliverance taken from Psalm 40. You’lldiscover you are indeed not alone,and that God’s gracious provision of love and faithfulness is at work, pointingyou toward a life of wholeness and fullness. Guided journaling gently leads youout of hardship into a brighter future of purpose and peace.
This lovely devotional journal is based on Beth’s bestselling book, Get Out of That Pit.
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Overview
Life can be hard…sometimes to the point of feeling as though yourstruggles will never end, and God isn’t anywhere near. The Looking Up Devotional Journal is BethMoore’s timeless message of hope and deliverance taken from Psalm 40. You’lldiscover you are indeed not alone,and that God’s gracious provision of love and faithfulness is at work, pointingyou toward a life of wholeness and fullness. Guided journaling gently leads youout of hardship into a brighter future of purpose and peace.
This lovely devotional journal is based on Beth’s bestselling book, Get Out of That Pit.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781404189508 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nelson, Thomas, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 01/02/2011 |
| Pages: | 211 |
| Sales rank: | 995,416 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Looking Up Devotional Journal
Trusting God with Your Every NeedBy BETH MOORE Lisa Guest
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2010 Beth MooreAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4041-8950-8
Chapter One
Looking UpLord, today I'm going to trust You to fill my heart with purpose.
Life can be excruciating. Crushing, in fact. The sheer magnitude of our worries can press down on our heads until we unknowingly descend into a pit of despair one inch at a time. Something so horrible can happen that we conclude we'll never be okay again. We can blow it so badly we think God would just as soon we stayed under that dirt and out of His sight.
But the Bible teaches that there are no lost causes. No permanent pitdwellers except those who refuse to leave. Every person can know the complete redemption of Jesus Christ, purpose for life, and fullness of joy. No, life won't ever be easy, but the trade-off is a spin around Planet Earth that actually means something. I am convinced that when the last chapter of each life story is recorded in the annals of heaven, people would rather have lived out their fullness of days with purpose rather than painlessness.
You are not a lost cause. Read Psalm 139:1-16 and jot down two or three phrases that suggest how much God loves you-and believe it! _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
Living with purpose requires energy and focus, time and sacrifice. What keeps you from pursuing a more purpose-filled life? List those things here-and also write down your ideas about what your purpose in this life actually is. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
Are you willing to hand over to the Lord the things you listed ... release them to Him ... and allow Him to empower you to fulfill the purpose He has for you?
Lord God, how wonderful that we can live our days on this planet with purpose-and how wonderful that when You call us to fulfill that purpose, You empower us as well! I ask for that power, Lord. Whether I'm living out my purpose by being a wife, a mother, a friend, an ambassador for You, a servant, or a worker in the marketplace, may I find in You strength and joy.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:8
Looking Up
Lord, I'm going to look for real contentment in You and You alone.
You don't have to stay there in your pit. Even if you've been there your whole life, you can call it a day. Even if you somehow-at least in your own mind-deserve the pit you live in, you're still not stuck there.
Maybe you're the noble type trying to make the best of your pit. You keep wondering why you can't get satisfied there. Why you aren't mature enough to be content where you are. After all, didn't the apostle Paul tell us that we should learn to be content in any circumstance?
Has it occurred to you that maybe a pit is one place where you're not supposed to be content? Maybe you should thank God you're not. Some things weren't meant to be accepted. A pit is one of them. Quit trying to make the best of it. It's time to get out.
Look back at your pit-dwelling days or look around at the pit you're currently in and be honest with yourself. What clues do you see that you aren't (or weren't) supposed to be content?
_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
What, other than the lie that you should stay there, keeps you from trying to get out of your pit? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
Will you think outside the box-outside the pit-and accept the truth that God doesn't want you in there any longer?
I praise You, Lord, for being my Deliverer, my Rescuer, my Redeemer! I know I'm not supposed to be content in my pit. And I believe You can get me out-You want me out-of it. I will look to You to give me strength and to lead me to a place of true contentment.
Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Psalm 31:3
Looking Up
Lord, I praise You for the fact that You hear me whenever I cry out to You.
My husband, our two dogs, and I travel a lot, and we're often asked why we don't get an RV. The answer: the bathroom. The small space and lack of fresh air in an RV makes the presence of a bathroom so ... well ... inescapable. They say you get used to it, but do I really want to? Nope, the way I see it, we were not meant to get used to some things. Like living in a pit.
Let's say for years you've been living in an old RV so small you can't stretch your legs or stand up straight. Then imagine being offered a brandnew home. A real one on a solid foundation with big closets and wide-open spaces. You can hardly wait to move in. Filled with anticipation, you rev up the motor of the old RV and plow it right into the new living room, taking out a wall or two on the way. Ah, finally! A new place to call home! You settle back in your RV seat, take a deep breath, and then it hits you. That deep breath tasted a lot like that old lavatory.
If I can get out of a pit, anybody can. Trust me on that-and trust the Lord. Write Psalm 40:2 here. Personalize and pray that truth. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
What is the cry of your heart today? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
God really does have the tools to unhitch that mobile pit from you. He also has a firm place for you where you can stand. And, yes, He hears your cry!
You are gentle and powerful, patient and loving ... and nothing is impossible for You, Lord God! So I ask You-who hears me whenever I call out for You and for whom nothing is impossible-to unhitch that mobile pit of mine!
To you, O Lord, I called; To the Lord I cried for mercy ... You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. Psalm 30:8, 11
Looking Up
Lord, I'm choosing to believe that You can and will redeem the years I have spent in my pit.
In our Christian subculture, we think a pit of sin is the only kind of pit there is. But we have to think much more broadly. For starters, I see in God's Word three ways we can get into a pit. First, you know you are in a pit when you feel stuck, and you can't get yourself out. David's pit was "slimy," muddy, and miry (Psalm 40:2), and Jeremiah "sank down" in his (Jeremiah 38:6).
Second, you know you are in a pit when you can't stand up ... against your enemy. In other words, a pit is an early (figurative) grave that Satan digs for you in hopes he can bury you alive. Satan can't make you stay there, but God will not make you leave.
And you know you are in a pit when you've lost vision ... because pits have no windows. In that darkness, we can no longer see things that may have once been obvious to us. Also, the close confinement of a pit exhausts us with the endless echo of self-absorption. We can't see out, so we turn our sights in, and that nearsightedness breeds hopelessness.
In what ways, if any, are you feeling stuck ... or caught in the mud ... or sinking down? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
You don't have to stay in your pit, but maybe that pit has gotten way too familiar and comfortable. 'Fess up: what have you come to (almost) like about your pit? And what might God have for you that is better? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
Isn't it crazy that even the painful but familiar can be comfortable? It may be comfortable, but it's never God's best for you!
Thank You that You are a loving God who wants what's best for me-and a wise God who knows what's best for me! And this pit isn't it, Lord. So please help me get out. Start showing me how to get out-help me want to get out!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
Looking Up
Lord, You are the source of Light-the Light of hope and healing, of truth and guidance; Light that darkness can never extinguish.
Created in the image of God, we are intended to overflow with effervescent life, stirring and spilling with God-given vision. That's partly what the apostle Paul was talking about when he prayed that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened in order that we might know the hope to which Christ has called us (see Ephesians 1:18). The Amplified Bible calls it "having the eyes of your heart flooded with light." That's what you miss in the pit.
Our imaginations were fashioned like wicks to be ignited by the fire of fresh revelation, dripping with wax that God can imprint with His endless signatures. In the light of God's face shining upon us, we also glimpse reflections of our true selves. We were meant to see ourselves as part of something vital, something incredibly thrilling. But the eyes of some of us have adjusted to the darkness of the pit surrounding us. The resulting dim vision ages us rapidly, and we lose the childlikeness that once made us feel like real princes and princesses in a kingdom. We can be young and yet feel old. Heavy laden. Burdened. In a pit where vision is lost and dreams are foolishness.
Read Psalm 18:28. Pray and ask God to reveal any part of your life needing more of His light. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
What dreams do you need to once again pursue? Know that God's Light can enable you to do exactly that. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
The lack of light and fresh air we experience in a pit can lull us to sleep, but the light of God's truth-about how precious you and I are to Him, about the "wonderful future" He has for us-can help us start to wake up.
Lord God, help me regain a sense of hope for the future ... wonder at the gift of life ... and joy in Your amazing grace and love for me.
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called, what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his holy people. Ephesians 1:18 NLT
Looking Up
Lord, great is Your faithfulness!
You can get thrown into a pit. That's right, without doing one thing to deserve it and without wallowing your way into it. I'm not talking about a pit of sin here. This one's a pit of innocence-the kind a lot of believers don't realize exists. You can get thrown right into the miry deep before you know what hit you. Or, worse yet, before you know who hit you. In fact, those were the very circumstances surrounding the first pit ever mentioned in Scripture. Genesis 37:23-25 records the details:
When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal (HCSB).
Of all the ways to get into a pit, getting thrown in-by something but especially by someone-can be the most complicated to deal with emotionally and spiritually. Drunk drivers, a violent criminal, a loved one suffering from mental illness or alcoholism, divorce, disease, a special needs child, a house fire, a stock market crash, the death of a child-the list of ways we can get thrown into a pit goes on and on.
What or who has ever thrown you into a pit? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
Make a list of all the ways God remained faithful to you during that time. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
The truth does indeed set us free-truth about how difficult and painful certain chapters of our life have been and truth about how God can and does absolutely redeem those times.
Lord, may the darkness of the pit I was thrown into make Your faithful deliverance appear that much brighter and more radiant with love and hope.
For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, Which they have dug without cause for my life.... My soul shall be joyful in the LORD; It shall rejoice in His salvation. Psalm 35:7, 9 NKJV
Looking Up
Lord, I'm so glad that You are with me always!
A gain, of all the ways to get into a pit, getting thrown in-by something but especially by someone-can be the most complicated to deal with emotionally and spiritually. For starters, when someone throws us in, we've obviously got someone to blame: It's all that person's fault. Talk about a scenario with the capacity to eat us alive!
You want to talk complications? Okay, how about times when you've been thrown into the pit by someone else's sin-and that someone happens to be a family member? Or a loved one who was supposed to love you back? Getting over the trauma would have been hard enough had Joseph been thrown into the pit by strangers who picked him randomly. Instead, his own flesh and blood did it-and they did it intentionally. Been there? Me too.
And what about the times when a person has been used by the enemy to throw us into a pit, and he or she remains close by, lives on as if nothing has happened, sees our distress and anguish, but will not hear us? Maybe even despise us for our weakness? Ah, that's complicated. I know from experience.
Take a moment to simply acknowledge the complications you've faced by being thrown in a pit. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
What aspect of your life, if any, do you need to stop blaming another person for? How will you benefit from doing so? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
The God of all compassion knows your complicated situation as well as your aching heart, and He is at work in both for your good.
Father God, acknowledging how tough it is to be in this pit isn't hard. The assignment to stop blaming the one who threw me into this pit is very hard. Help me to do what I can't do on my own.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies-make straight your way before me. Psalm 5:8
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Looking Up Devotional Journal by BETH MOORE Lisa Guest Copyright © 2010 by Beth Moore. Excerpted by permission.
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