Can You Hear Me, Now?

[S] 2 Samuel 24:3,14 --
3  But Joab said to the king, "Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" 14 Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man."

[O] David responds two different ways to two different counsels he receives from Joab and Gad.  At first, Joab's insightful and wise counsel was overruled by David which leads to God's anger against Israelites to whcih David pays his price for his own sin.  After his repentence, the counsel of Gad was received with humility and submission before God.  When his eyes were blinded by his own greed and pride of counting how many people was under him he was unable to hear the counselor's wisdom and care for him but when his heart was aligned back to God's own heart he was quick to hear God's voice and follow His instructions.

[A] In order to see how our ministry is doing, I am quick to see the headcount and offering amount from previous Sunday.  While this is one of the good metrics to examine, I need to be cautious not to look at it as a way of measuring the success (or not) of our ministry by these numbers.  God is much bigger than the numbers, and I need to trust that for His ministry to flourish.  Additionally, when my focus is on wrong things I will miss all the wise counsels coming from those who care for me.

[P] Dear Father, please keep my mind sharp in order not to fall into the traps of giving credit to what I or we did rather than staying low on my knees because I have not and cannot do anything to please You.  This is why Jesus had to come.  May Your name be the banner over me.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Don't Forget to Ask His Counsel

[S] Joshua 9:14 --
14  So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.

[O] Whether intended or not the Israelites acted based only on their own reasonings and as a result they were fooled by the Gibeonites resulting in not following God's commands completely of destroying the Canaanites out of the land.  After Jericho, recovery from Achan's sing at Ai, and the confidence they had gained must have made them proud enough to take matters into their own hands rather than relying on God's guidance.  God wants me to lean on Him every step of the way so I won't fall short of anything as well as to give all the glory to God -- as then, it will be clear who was actually at work.

[A] Daily devotion is a good start, but based on that, I also need to rely all the decisions I make during the day so that I will not forget to ask for the counsel of the Lord.

[P] Dear Father, please protect me from going on an auto-pilot of making decisions throughout the day.  May I seek Your guidance regardless of how big or small the decision may be because I want to practice and train my heart to seek You in all things.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Laser Accurate Guidance

[S] Psalm 32:8 --     ⁸I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
         I will counsel you with My eye upon you. 

[O] God says He has a vested interest in where I go and in fact, He's going to guide and counsel me where to go?  He will do this with his laser-guidance (His eye upon me) accuracy.  That's what He will do.  The question is will I be catching that signal to steer in the right direction?  I need to make sure I develop a way to soak up his instructions and counsel for my life's ways because it will truly be a total shame for me to forgo of His wonderful guidance.

[A] Sharpen up my spiritual antenna daily by oiling, calibrating, and QA'ing against God's written word.  I need to take what's written in the Bible (the book itself) and transcribe it into my heart because this process is what makes the Bible holy.

[P] Dear God, I feel so confident after reading this passage because it assures me that You really want to guide my path leading to a successful life You intended for me.  Thank You and I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.

Don't Go Into Spiritual Autopilot

[S] Joshua 9:14 --
 ¹⁴So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD.

[O] Today's devotional topic seems to continue from yesterday's "My Calculations Are So Accurate" because both deals with how I can easily fall into an autopilot mode of living out my spiritual life solely depended on my own efforts based on my previous experiences and/or knowledge when the fact is I need to rely on spiritual guidance to live out my spiritual life -- i.e., since it is about my spiritual life, I cannot lead it with my physical abilities.  The Israelites got so excited after defeating two cities and so when the Gibeonites came to them with deceived looks, they fell for their trick because, according to verse 14, they didn't seek God's counsel first.  The decision was made solely on their thoughts and experiences.  What may have seemed a small thing to them actually made them to disobey God's commands while foregoing their opportunity to cleanly destroy all inhabitants of Canaan who later lured the Israelites away from God.

[A] Every decision, small or big, in doing God's ministry must be made after seeking God's counsel through prayer and consultation of the spiritual leaders.  Is there any area in my own walk with God as well as in the small group ministry that I switched into the autopilot mode because I've done it enough times?  I need to be cautious about checking with God on every account of my spiritual milestones.

[P] Dear God, may my heart not be hardened to make decision of my life on my own just because it seems trivial.  May my heart seek Your wonderful and perfect counsel on every decision of my ministry and life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Counsel on Routine Matters

[S] Joshua 9:14 --
¹⁴So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD.

[O] Could God have stopped them from making this serious mistake?  Yes, but He didn't because they did not ask for His counsel.  It appears that this event for the Israelites seemed to be a normal routine task and did not feel necessary to seek God' counsel because the circumstance look OK to proceed on their own.  From this passage I am learning that no task is too insignificant to ask God's opinion before making the decision especially even when it comes to my routine tasks.

[A] My old car's transmissions came to its end of life last week.  The cost of fixing it is going to out weigh the value of that car so I am going to donate this car and buy a new one.  At first it seemed like this is my routine task for researching for the next car under budget and go buy it but after reading this passage what came to my mind was to seek His counsel on which car we should select and purchase.

[P] Dear God, Your direction is always the best one for me and even purchasing a new car is something You would guide me best.  Please let us know which car is best for our family situation to be used for your ministry as well.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.