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Daily Devotional: Friday, Sept 11
 Speaker: Paul Diaz Theme: Myth: God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle Weekend Music links on iTunes: Happy Day by Tim Hughes; Not to Us by Chris Tomlin; Came to my Rescue by Hillsong United; You'll Come by Hillsong United; Shine Your Light On Us by Robbie Seay Band. Read: Matthew 4:1-11; Matthew 6:20-21 Think: Pastor Paul gave us some pointers on how to respond to trials.
I'm reminded of a story about a boy who watched a cocoon waiting for the butterfly to emerge. When at last it began to break through it was struggling so much that the boy carefully broke the cocoon open to allow the butterfly to escape which it then did. Sadly the butterfly was unable to fly and soon died. It is the struggle that builds strength in its wings enough to allow it to fly and so live. By taking shortcuts we miss the growth and strengthening that God knows we will need. For Jesus taking the shorter path and showing people who He was would have made His life much easier but at a cost.
If God has led you to a place, wait for Him to do his miracle don't give up. God has perfect timing but it is not the same as ours. I'm sure Noah would have appreciated a few drops of rain when he was building the ark or even for some sign of land when he was on it with the animals but he waited for God to do what He had planned.
Jonah though he may have run away at first turned into God's direction and followed God's travel plans for his life...though now smelling a bit fishy I'm sure! Jonah shows us that though we will have troubles in our lives following God going our own way is much worse as we cut ourselves off from God.
Sometime it is hard to see that God is anywhere near us until we look for signs of His presence.
We are told that we should focus on building treasures in heaven and have hope in eternity and we can be thankful that God has the master plan. Do: Look at the list of pointers above and think about which you need to focus on today? Do you need support in one area or do you need to make more of an effort in another, perhaps you need a little more of all of them or need to refocus from time to time. Pray: Father we ask that you would help us see the areas we need help in or where we can help others. Help us be a supportive community that leans on You when times are tough while helping each other.The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church. |
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Timberlake Church | 4505 236th Ave. NE • Redmond, Washington 98053 • 425-869-4400 • info@tlcf.org | ||||||
