Daily Devotional: Tuesday, Dec 1
Speaker: Greg Rohlinger
Theme: Whatever it Takes
Weekend Music links on iTunes: Salvation is Here by Hillsong United; Run by Hillsong United; You'll Come by Hillsong United; Unfailing Love by Chris Tomlin.
Read: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10; 2 Samuel 22:7
Think: As I listened to Greg Rohlinger's "Whatever It Takes" sermon Sunday morning, I thought of the book I read last year called, "The Prayer of Jabez" by Bruce Wilkinson. In 1 Chronicles 4, it starts listing off all these descendants of Judah and about halfway through, Jabez' name pops up. He is a regular guy just like you and me, maybe even a little worse off because of the name he received at birth, "Jabez" means "given birth to him in pain". Probably not the strongest or most influential name you could come up with for a guy. But it goes on to say in verse 10, "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.
And I ask myself, why Jabez? After all he was just an ordinary guy... Why did he pray that prayer? Why did God grant him that request? Then I questioned "territories"‒ was he asking for 500 more acres of land? I did some investigation and the word can be translated as boundary, border, or coast. It was a plea to God to enlarge the boundaries of his life so that it would to take him out of his comfort zone, stretch him, to make him grow and be used in new ways.
God loves to see ordinary people like you and I do the extraordinary to show proof of his grace, might and power through the ordinary. Someone from a more powerful family, position or role in society might personally take the credit for accomplishing much but someone from a humble beginning would allow GOD's work to shine through the man of humble beginnings.
Looking back at Sunday's sermon, I really can relate to taking a "whatever it takes" approach to my Christian walk. Hey, if Jabez can do it, so can I!
Do: We know God has a plan for you in your family, church, community and the world, but maybe you've never asked him to take you out of your comfort zone in order to carry it out. Why not take a chance and ask God to increase your territory today, to do things you never thought you were able to accomplish and see what happens.
Pray: Heavenly Father, I am ALL IN when it comes to taking a "whatever it takes" approach to following you. How can you use me to accomplish today that I have never done before? Increase my ability to do your work and to bring opportunities to my attention that I haven't been aware of in the past. Amen.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church. |
