Devotional Thought of the Day:

15 Moses built an altar and named it “The LORD Gives Me Victory.” 16 Then Moses explained, “This is because I depended on the LORD. But in future generations, the LORD will have to fight the Amalekites again.”   Exodus 17:15-16 CEV

Raw belief, a passion for others
grows in me,
encircling each moment
with instinctive prayer.
I will carry the freshness
of the dry lands after rain.
Compassion lives in me again.

Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus.

As I am going through advent, the Old Testament readings each week promise life in a way that seems, impossible. A complete utopia where enemies have become friends, where those that can’t do, where those who prey on others, now protect and nurture them. A time when those who are broken, rejoice in being restored, in being healed.

It is as Paul says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has any man imagined…” (my Adaptation of 1 Cor. 2:9) 

As I read the lesson this morning from Exodus, one concept stuck more in my mind than anything else. “the LORD will have to fight the Amalekites again.” Maybe it is because I’ve fought the same battles over and over again. That has led me, personally into a tired, nearly pessimistic view, on which wonders about Christ’s return.  I get tired of the battles, I get tired of the traumas, I get tired of seeing people manipulated, and division being the cause of the day.

Even as I write this, I am being drawn back to Spurgeon’s gentle correct… about relying on myself.  While I saw the promise of more battles, I didn’t see it is the LORD that will fight them, and I forgot the battle in context, where they just had to depend on God’s promise for victory.

When I stop trying, and simply entrust it to Jesus, some wonderful, miraculous things happen.  I see that raw belief growing in some people I work with, I see their passion for others growing, and for them to see God ministering through them.  I look around at what some would call amazing coincidences, and I see God’s hand at work, for the coincidences are too amazing.

When I leave it in God’s hands, I see the victories, not the promise of more challenges, and even then, I realize what Moses did, those challenges will meet God head-on and will suffer defeat again.

Prayer will grow in me too, for seeing God at work stimulates prayer, knowing He will respond.  Then I will see the growth, and the freshness that comes, as God pours out the blessings, just as they always are being poured out.

The difference is my eyes see them…. and my heart begins to resound with praise.

An excerpt from Today’s Meditation in the Morning Prayer at northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-pra    yer for December 9th. written by Andy Raine

C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).