Ticket to Seeing God's Face

[S] Hosea 5:15 --
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

[O] God awaits our confession of our status and seek Him earnestly as if a drowning person grasping for the lifeline.  Until that happens we have no choice but to wander and fall away from His presence, not because we actively choose to but because we fall into the whirlwind of the world void of God's presence which will sweep us far away from God.  During this time, we may feel like God is hiding away from us but as stated in this passage, He will return to His place and wait until we recognize of our guilt and begin to seek His face earnestly.

[A] I can get so used to living out a Christian life, I can easily fall into the mode of thinking I'm doing good enough.  I need to not excuse myself from seeking His face earnestly every day and that involves taking a breaking during the busyness of the workplace to lift up a prayer to God to seek His face.

[P] Dear Father, thank You for giving me the ticket to meeting You face to face -- my earnest prayer.  May I not take this for granted but use it often throughout the day?  Please let Your Spirit remind me and may my heart respond to the reminders.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Point of Grace

[S] Genesis 42:21 --
 ²¹Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."

[O] This statement of confession made by Joseph's brothers of their crime from about 29 years ago displays God's righteousness and how His righteousness reaches with His grace.  All those years, Joseph's brothers must have struggled with the guilt and probably regretted their actions especially as they pictured Joseph's pleading in their minds.  Just putting myself in their shoes (sandals) for a second this is really a moment of encountering God's grace revealing my own sins, convicting me to repent -- which is the right response.  The brothers responded to this point of grace by repenting of their sins.

[A] When God reveals my sins to repent whether committed yesterday or years ago, I need to resist temptation to justify myself and slip into His point of grace to repent and rejoice for His setting me free.  And if appropriate I need to reconcile with parties involved.

[P] Dear Father, Your point of grace poured out to Joseph's brothers who committed a terrible crime touched my heart today.  It's really simply awesome and powerful and yet with the beauty of Your loving care.  I want to praise You for being such a God in my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

[Additional Comments]
Timeline for Joseph's life transitions (source):

• He was 17 when he was sold into Egypt
• He was 30 when he was made overseer
• He was 39 when his brothers first came to Egypt (second year of the famine, or nine years after being made overseer)
• He was probably 41 or so when the brothers came a second time and Jacob comes to Egypt
• He was 110 when he died

Just Like Comparing Acorn Sizes

[S] Genesis 31:6-7 --
 ⁶"You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷"Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.

[O] This statement from Jacob is almost funny because he himself ended up where he is now because of his cheating his brother Esau.  And later we find out Rachel cheats her own father by hiding the stolen household idol (of all things) right before her father.  So, what's the big deal about Laban's cheating Jacob?  Everyone's doing the same and all goes around.  This was a good reminder for me to know that ways of men are so limited and we end up short-changing ourselves because of our shortfalls.  And just like how Jacob concluded that without God we would all be hurting each other more.

[A] Whenever I am irritated by someone else, put that thought on hold and examine my own life to see how much of the same issue I hold.  And based on that confess my own shortcomings before God and be sanctified myself.  By then I should be more forgiving of the other person.

[P] Dear Father, thank You for teaching me how to re-examine my own life for the exact same issues other people have who offend me.  After all, I am born attached with sin, so more than judging others, I myself need more of Your grace and mercy.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Not Everything Has a Return Policy

[S] Matthew 27:4-5 --
 ⁴saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!"  ⁵And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

[O] Judas realized the fault he had committed and wanted to reverse it the next morning by going back to the priests willing to return the 30 pieces of silver they gave him as the payment of leading them to Jesus.  But the priests already got what they wanted and had no desire to refund.  In despair, Judas throws the money back and then goes away to hang himself.  I see the result of repenting in wrong places.  Only God through the life of Jesus on earth can accept our repentance and forgive, there is no one else who may do this.  In fact, short of God, we will only make things worse as we see in this situation.

[A] With my faulty commitments, I need to bring them to God and surrender to Him in exchange for His peace and forgiveness because if I bring them to any one else, including holding them within myself, it will only rot away my mind and will lead me to self destruction.

[P] Dear Father, I'm so thankful for Your forgiveness through the Cross Jesus carried for me way before I was even conceived because through that all of my faults can be lifted up freeing me to live a life that will please You alone.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Seek Repentance, not Miracles

[S] Matthew 11:23 --
 ²³"And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

[O] Capernaum was one of the city that did not repent (v.20) faced the consequence of descending to Hades.  Jesus also mentions that enough miracles took place in Capernaum and yet people's overwhelmingly unrepentant hearts could not save from the city ending up in Hades.  At times, I wish God's miraculous power be revealed in this world falling away from God every day as if that's going to turn the ship around, but this passage set me straight by explaining that it's not the presence or God's miracles that's going to save people (city, nation, or the world) but the repentant hearts of the very people Jesus died for on the Cross that is going to save us.

[A] As I face the challenges of daily life, and the struggles I must face, I wish for some sort of God's miracles to take place in my life to lift me out of these circumstances.  Instead of that mentality I must examine my own heart to make sure it is aligned with His through repentance, commitment, and devotion to His wonderful grace and love because my own pure heart for Him is what's going to bring forth His beauty and in turn lift me out of my own struggles.

[P] Dear Father, I want to increase my commitment for You out of gratitude for Your wondrous grace.  May I not seek an easy way out by way of some lightning bolt from Heaven to set my life straight because it is my dedicated and pure heart You're after.  I humbly offer up my heart to You in surrender.  In Your precious name.  Amen.

Who's Pleading? God or You?

[S] Luke 15:21,28 --
 ²¹"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 
 ²⁸"But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.

[O] The responses from the two sons in these verses are quite contrasting.  The younger son after repenting of his wrong-doing to his father, he submitted to his father's authority and was willing to be treated as one of the servants while the elder son was angry at the situation at hand where his father's rejoining over his younger brother's return.  The younger son was pleading with his father (which by the way was ignored by his father because he was just too excited to have him back, it did not matter to him) while it was the father pleading with the elder son who by the way was supposed to have been serving his father (v. 29) all these years.  What's wrong this picture here?  Who really understood the heart of his father?

[A] Serving God doesn't mean just being a busy body.  Today's Life Journal reading of Psalm 147:10,11 wrote about this as -- ¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.  I need to be careful of being like the elder son where I self-justify with all the "hard works" I put in towards God's ministry how well-intentioned they may be.  Stay humble and submissive to His leadership through those leaders He placed over me regardless of their spiritual and physical age or experiences.

[P] Dear Heavenly Father, please guard my hearts against the virus of this elder son; instead instill in me the heart of the younger son's repentances and humbleness as I pour out my life for your ministry's sake.  Thank You and I ask this in Your Son's precious name.  Amen.

A Passionate U-Turn

[S] Acts 22:6-7 --
 ⁶"But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,
 ⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'

[O] From the verses leading up to this passage we can see what Saul did to "passionately" persecuted the Christians and how he lived his life zealously (v. 3) to live for God in his own way.  The word, "but" in v. 6 signals the turning point in his current way of life because out of His love toward all of us including Saul, He took the initiative to reach out to Saul in that form of a bright light from heaven.  Likewise, turning points in my life are marked by God's reaching out to me even when I'm happily veering off in the opposite direction whether I intended to or not.  This is when God gives me an opportunity to turn around recognizing His amazing grace and love.  In v. 7, did He really have to ask that question to Saul?  No, Jesus already knew the answer but His question provided the chance for Saul to respond and make his U-turn toward His warm-welcoming arms.  This question reminds me of when God asked Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:9 -- Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"  Again, He already knew the answer but in this question is the opportunity for Adam and Eve to make that U-turn (which they didn't).  Saul, did make the U-turn and through his life forward, God did mighty works.

[A] When (not if) I am faced with God's gracious question of invitation into His grace and love, stay humble and make the U-turn into His bosom and rest there.  I am bound to veer off repeatedly no matter how hard I try not to just like a sheep, so need to be sensitive to His invitation to my turning points in life and respond humbly to align myself in order to take part in greater projects He has for me.

[P] Dear God, I know You will continuously signal me to make those U-turns in my life so I thank You in advance and desire to stay humble to Your callings to make necessary adjustments in my own life. I desire to be used by You in each phases of my spiritual maturity.  I am also thankful for the brothers in my small group to begin sharing our devotions to allow greater accountability for each others growth.  Please honor our commitments by showing Your wonderful presence in the midst of us.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.