Daily Devotional (07/24/24)

I don’t know about you, but I do not like the idea of being lost.  In other words, I don’t like being in a fog and not knowing what I am going to do next.  For one thing, it is a scary thing and it is something that a lot of people tend to deal with on a regular basis.  When people tend to go on a hiking trip or an excursion, there are some incidents where they become lost and they don’t know where to go or what to do next.  Time has passed and eventually they receive the help from the proper authorities to help from being lost to being found.  

While people can be lost in terms of their physical and human nature, how about people who are lost in the spiritual sense?  What is unfortunate is that people would turn to psychics or anyone else like that to bring them a sense of spirituality to their lives.  Psychics don’t know what is best for you.  Only God knows what is best for you.  He brings us out from being lost to being found.  Much like how the father rejoiced over the unification of him and his son (Luke 15:11-32), God wants us to be found and He rejoices over the fact that we are found and brought into His kingdom and His family (Philippians 3:20).  

In today’s passage from Luke 15:1-7, it speaks about Jesus telling a parable.  A parable is a story with a deeper meaning.  He tells a parable of the lost sheep.  He states that a shepherd has 100 sheep but yet he only had 99 in his flock.  So instead of forgetting about the one and leaving it behind, the shepherd decides to pursue after the one and bring it back to their flock.  When are feeling lost, we can have the assurance that God will always bring us home.  Are there times where we do get distracted and start to slip from God?  Sure there is, however, we cannot continue to slip further away from God.  As James 4:7-8 says, we need to submit to God.  When we submit to God, we must resist the devil.  How can we resist the devil when we are still drawing closer to him?  It is so important that we draw closer and closer to God.  

Challenge 

I challenge you to always draw closer to God.  He will always be there for you and He knows what is best for you.  

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, 

I thank You for always being there for us.  Thank You for always pursuing after us and bringing us into Your family.  We recognize that this world is trying to bring us further away from You.  Help us to submit to You and what You have for us.  Open our eyes to see You and our ears to hear You.  Help us to be obedient to You and Your instructions.  May we all be blessed by what You have for us.  In Jesus name, amen

Luke 15:1-7

“1. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.  2. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people-even eating with them!  3. So Jesus told them this story: 4. ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do?  Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?  5. And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.  6. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’  7. In the same way, there is Moore joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine other who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!’”  

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