Experiencing God Day By Day
Read Experiencing God Day By Day Online
Authors: Richard Blackaby
The devotional thoughts presented in this book reflect a lifetime of seeking God in Scripture each day. Many of the thoughts reflect insights God has graciously shared with us over the years, and it is our pleasure to share them with you. Nothing can replace the life-changing experience of reading Scripture. This book is designed not to take the place of God's Word in your life, but to introduce verses for you to consider and meditate upon. The Holy Spirit is your Teacher, and He will impress things upon your heart as you read the devotional thoughts. One verse is usually presented each day. You will want to have your Bible at hand to read the context of the verse and to read the further revelation God gives in the larger Scripture passage.
We appreciate those who have graciously assisted us in putting these thoughts together. Richard's wife, Lisa, spent many hours editing this material. Marilyn Blackaby has, as always, been wholly supportive. Phyllis Lincer and Anne White, as well as John Landers at Broadman & Holman, gave valuable technical assistance. It is our desire that this devotional guide will bless you as much as these truths have enriched our lives as we have experienced them in our time walking with the Lord.
Certain people have significantly enhanced my walk with God over the years. The positive influence of my godly parents continues to shape my life, especially my desire for integrity before God and others. Oswald Chambers's devotional book,
My Utmost for His Highest
, has been a companion to my life, challenging me to an ever-deepening relationship with Jesus Christ my Lord. The pages of my copy are filled with dates and personal notes about special events in my life. These notes record how special a truth, a Scripture, or a statement has been to me; the pages of Chambers's book have become a spiritual journal that I treasure. My prayer is that
Experiencing God Day by Day
will become for you a source of encouragement, as well as a journal for your walk with God through the years.
I was privileged to be raised by godly parents. They did not just tell me about the Christian life; they lived it out before me. One of my most treasured possessions is the worn-out Bible my father passed down to me. (My father is hard on Bibles!) He has given a well-used Bible to each of his five children over the years. As I browse through his Bible, I find notes written in the margin, verses underlined and highlighted, and dates beside verses recording times when my father experienced the truth of that passage. I have also found his tattered copy of
My Utmost for His Highest
. In the margins are his comments and dates when key events occurred in our family. Could there be any greater family heirloom than a journal of the parents’ spiritual pilgrimage? We hope that this devotional guide will provide a similar opportunity for you. As you read it, write down the thoughts and impressions that God gives you about the Scripture. Note the date when God speaks to you or when specific prayers are answered. Let this book guide you as you walk with God; then leave it for your children as a record of their parents’ spiritual journey.
January 1
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
John 21:15
J
esus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.
Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had been capable of being Jesus’ disciple when he was unfaithful to Jesus in His most crucial hour.
As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you have failed your Lord in many ways. Perhaps you were not faithful. Perhaps you disobeyed His word to you. Perhaps you denied Him by the way you lived. Jesus will take you aside, as He did Peter. He will not berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” If your answer, like Peter's, is “Yes, Lord,” He will reaffirm His will for you. If you truly love Him, you will obey Him (John 14:15). Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.
Woe Is Me!
So I said: “ Woe is me, for I am undone …
for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:5
A
n exalted view of God brings a clear view of sin and a realistic view of self. A diminished view of God brings a reduced concern for sin and an inflated view of self. Isaiah may have been satisfied with his personal holiness until he saw the Lord in His unspeakable glory. Isaiah's encounter with holy God made him immediately and keenly aware of his own unholiness and the sinfulness of those around him. It is impossible to worship God and remain unchanged. The best indication that we have truly worshiped is a changed heart.
Have we so conformed ourselves to a sinful world that we are satisfied with unholy living? Have we sunk so far below God's standard that when someone does live as God intended, we consider that person “superspiritual”? If we only compare our personal holiness to those around us, we may be deceived into believing that we are living a consecrated life. Yet when we encounter holy God, our only response can be “Woe is me!”
You will not see those around you trusting Jesus until they recognize a clear difference between you and the rest of the world. God wants to sanctify you as He is holy. When God deals with you, there will be a radical degree of purity about your life that is absolutely different from what the world can produce. The world, including those closest to you, will be convinced you serve a holy God by your consecrated life.
January 3Making a Difference
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king's delicacies.
Daniel 1:8
W
ould you dare to believe that God, who called you to Himself and equipped you with His Spirit, could work mightily through you? Have you made the connection between the time and place in which you live and God's call upon you? World events never catch God by surprise. He placed you precisely where you are for a purpose.
Daniel did not let the temptations of his day interfere with his relationship to the Lord. He knew that to make his life useful to God he must be obedient in all things. Regardless of what the most powerful king in the world commanded, Daniel refused to compromise what he knew God required of him.
History is replete with examples of Christian men and women who believed that God would work through them to make a significant difference for His kingdom. God placed Esther strategically in the king's court at a crucial time when she could save the lives of God's people (Esther 4:14). God placed Joseph strategically to become the most powerful adviser to the pharaoh in Egypt and to save Jacob and his family from a devastating drought (Gen. 41:39–40).
Are you allowing your surroundings to determine how you invest your life? Or are you letting God use you to make a difference in your generation? Ask God to reveal His purposes for you and His will for your life today.
Trembling at God's Word
But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at My word.
Isaiah 66:2
D
o you tremble when God speaks? When was the last time you were physically affected by the reality that Almighty God just spoke directly to you? John lost all physical strength when God spoke to him (Rev. 1:17); Paul fell to the ground when Christ met him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4); Moses trembled when God spoke to him (Acts 7:32); and Peter, when he realized who Jesus was, “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” (Luke 5:8).
Have you lost your sense of awe that the Creator still chooses to speak to you, His creation? Do you approach the reading of your Bible with a holy expectation, listening for the life-changing words that God has for you that day? Scripture says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). There are things you will see and hear out of your fear and reverence for God that you will not experience in any other way.
As you study your Bible, you may sense that God has something to say directly to you through the verses you are reading. Take a moment to consider the awesome reality that the God who spoke and created a universe is now speaking to you. If Jesus could speak and raise the dead, calm a storm, cast out demons, and heal the incurable, then what effect might a word from Him have upon your life? The possibilities should cause you to tremble! The next time you open God's Word, do so with a sense of holy expectation.
January 5Ritual or Relationship?
Neither did they say, “Where is the Lord, who brought us up out
of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness?”
Jeremiah 2:6
C
hristianity is an intimate, growing relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a set of doctrines to believe, habits to practice, or sins to avoid. Every activity God commands is intended to enhance His love relationship with His people.
God designed worship for us to see Him in His glory and to respond appropriately; for many it has degenerated into “religion,” one more meeting to attend out of habit. God established the sacrificial system so that we, His people, could express our love to Him; but we often diminish our gifts to our Lord into futile attempts to appease Him and to pacify our guilty conscience. God gave us prayer so we could have conversation with Him, but we often distort this by “saying prayers” and hurrying off without ever listening to what is on our Father's heart. God instituted His commandments as a protection for those He loves, but the commandments can become a pathway to legalism rather than an avenue for a relationship with our Father in which He protects us from harm.
The people of Jeremiah's day were satisfied to have the ritual without the manifest presence of God. They became so comfortable with their “religion” that they didn’t even notice God's absence. Is it possible to pray, to attend a worship service, or to give an offering, yet not to experience the presence of God? It certainly
is
possible! And that has been the sad commentary on many a Christian experience. Don’t settle for a religious life that lacks a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. When God is present, the difference will be obvious.