EXPAND TO READ: MATTHEW 17 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 20): Yesterday You spoke loudly to me to confess towards my lack of faith at times. I see today You are bringing forward the same topic. Although I have struggled with my depth of faith in all situations at times, You have always been faithful to me. Although I did have worries about securing a job as I’m leading up to my military retirement, You have continued to stay faithful to me throughout the process. I now know that all things work together for Your glory and in Your timing. If I simply hold firm in my faith, then I will have no worries in this life. Please forgive me for my worrying personality, Father. Forgive me for often giving into worry, even when I know You are there with me through it all. Help me to remember that with You all things are possible, but if I try to do some things on my own then they are impossible. Leaning on You throughout this has been my crutch, but I really should be leaning on You for strength instead of to hold me up just enough.
PROMISE (verses 20-21): The promise here I have heard before, but I don’t think I ever truly grasped its power before. Your disciples were wondering why they couldn’t drive out the demon. Jesus told them they were of little faith; His own disciples were of little faith! WOW! In this You say that even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains, yet the disciples couldn’t even expunge a demon from a little boy. Help me to embrace this power of faith through prayer and petition, Father. Help me to embrace this power of faith through my growing relationship with You. Help me to no longer be one who can claim the unfortunate title of “you of little faith” in my spiritual journey, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 17): I know this was spoken and written a couple thousand years ago, but I felt like Jesus was speaking directly to me in this verse. He called them an unbelieving and rebellious generation. I have embraced both of these attitudes quite a bit in my life—unbelieving and rebellious. I don’t say this to boast, rather to confess and hopefully continue to embrace the new attitudes You want me to live by. You want my faith and beliefs to be the strongest thing about me as I truly embrace my new, born-again identity in Christ. You do not want me to embrace an attitude of rebellion towards You, rather towards the world and towards my old self. Help me to be better at walking in these attitudes, Father, so that as I do continue to mature in my faith, it is You who shines through me and not my old self or the world.
COMMAND (verse 5): This was a command which God the Father spoke directly to three of the disciples while in the presence of a glorious moment alone with Jesus during the transfiguration. The command was that Jesus is Your beloved Son and that You take delight in Him, so we should listen to Him! The command is to listen to Jesus. I know I’ve had quite a bit of struggles with listening in general to sound advice throughout my life, but especially towards Your teachings since coming to faith. I have been stuck in my old ways for most of my faith and I am not proud of that. Thankfully, You brought some amazing Godly men into my life who helped me to reveal my flaws and mistakes so that I may mature past them. You used them to remind me that I am not alone in this life and that Jesus’ teachings are always fruitful to me, no matter what my flesh, Satan, or the world may try to say about it. Help me to be better at following this command, Father. Help me to mature in my faith so that Your teachings are what I listen to and embrace into my heart at all times, Father.
EXAMPLE (verses 11-13): I found this story by Jesus to be an interesting one. The disciples questioned Jesus as to why the scribes all say that Elijah must come first. Jesus agreed with them and affirmed them that the scribes were correct. What they didn’t realize, however, was that Elijah had already come and gone, but man’s evil hearts did a lot of negative towards him in a similar way that their evil hearts will do a lot of negative towards Jesus Himself. The disciples then had the revelation that Elijah was John the Baptist and that Jesus was making it clear that Elijah, John the Baptist, had already walked this earth with great faith but was taken down by man due to the evil in their hearts and their need to be in control of all things in this life. This isn’t true faith if we are attempting to control the outcome and that’s exactly what man has been doing for so long, even me.
*DAILY NOTE: You are such an amazing Father to me. I am truly undeserving of the grace and love You give to me, yet You never stop giving them and more freely to me. I had great worries about my upcoming career transition and finding a job, yet You remained faithful to me. I now have my final interview with a company that sounds absolutely amazing next week and the technical interviewer said they anticipate the official offer to be made at this call because they are a two-step process—technical interview then the President of the company speaks directly to candidates and makes an offer based on their recommendations. I did have doubts, I did have struggles, I did have worries, but You remained faithful to me throughout all of that and blessed me with great joy, peace, and calm. Thank You, Father, for everything You are doing in my life. Thank You for revealing to me my little faith that I have at times. Thank You for reminding me that I need to listen to Jesus’ teachings more often. Thank You for all You have done, are doing, and will continue to do in my life, Father. I am so grateful for You.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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