Daily devotion – Even greater service is required!
Genesis 32: 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Whilst attending the Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference, whenever I am away on such times, I always seize the opportunity to seek the Lord in times away from then usual demands of being home. This time away was an intense period of wrestling with the Lord over many matters, seeking God’s wisdom, His direction and also just crying out to Him, and wrestling with Him in prayer.
Overs several nights, unable to sleep, I sat with my Bible and sought the Lord to reveal His will again, to clarify, to guide, and to know clearly the direction He is wanting for us here at Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour. Then during the many speaking sessions at the conference, seeing the confirmation and re-enforcing of God’s will on such matters.
As I read through the Bible I find others such as Jacob/Israel, seeking God in what are intense moments of communion, and there is always a cost associated with such times and God’s revelation during those periods.
It is at these times, that I find myself like Isaiah when he saw the throne of the Lord in Isaiah 6, and Jeremiah, when he thought things could not get tougher, in Jeremiah 12.
In Isaiah’s case, he found that God’s holiness just amplified Isaiah’s own uncleanness – Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”
To young Jeremiah who thought things were already tough the Lord said…Jer 12:5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
To each of us today God’s call on our lives never dwindles in its intensity or tapers off with age. No, in fact, God seeks more and more from each of us, as the time is growing shorter and there are still so many lost souls to reach. In addition, the Lord commands each of us to be His bright lights and His flavour laden salt in these dark days like never before.
This Sunday as we continue in our study of God’s Word in the Book of Revelation, I pray that God’s call on your life will be louder, stronger and more intense, than ever before, as we draw closer to the time of the Churches removal from this world.