Review and Re-Center Around God
Hebrews 13:15,16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
God reveals that He is aware of everyone’s situation, especially those in difficult circumstances. Through Moses we are that told that "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10:18).
Similar to Monday’s devotion saying that God gives to the Levites, here we see God giving food and clothing, loving the alien, and defending the cause of widows and orphans.
Let’s review our lives in light of God giving to such people through us.
Review the Week
Have I enabled God to give food and clothing though me? Is God able to express love to aliens through me (not UFO types, but rather ex-patriots and immigrants)?
Do I aid the cause of widows and orphans?
How am I doing good and sharing with others?
Repent (if necessary)
If these answers are “Yes” then praise God and hopefully those benefitting are thanking God as well. If the answers are “No” then apologize to God for your stingy nature.
Return (as necessary)
Either thank God for building such a generous spirit in you or ask God to help you become the generous soul He desires to see in you. A life if discipleship that lacks generosity will ring hollow. Pray for His guidance and a freely giving spirit to arise.
Micro-Meditation Scripture
Psalm 95:1-11
- Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. - Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song. - For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods. - In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him. - The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land. - Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; - for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice, - “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, - where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did. - For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, they area people whose hearts go astray,
they have not known my ways - So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’
Micro-Meditation
Teaching or Command of God
2 Corinthians 6:16
We are the temple of the living God. As God has said “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Micro-Meditation Pondering Point
The call started with "come together and worship" – to sing and make music. Now that call deepens to bow down and kneel before the Lord. Think of it as intensifying the worship experience with a humbled-but-grateful spirit.