Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Press the arrow to listen to Mercy Me sing “Finally Home”

Scripture
The righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Hab 2:4

The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights. Hab 3:`0

Observation
On a morning walk, time froze as a young buck with velvet antlers crossed my path. I was down wind so he didn’t smell me coming. For a moment both of us were surprised to see the other. The moment unthawed and with a pogo bounce, I watched the deer bound up the hillside. Rocks and undergrowth didn’t phase him. He moved with confidence through uncertain terrain.

As he mounted the hill, I thought to myself, “His feet are my feet.” God’s blessing to us is not always that we can conquer troubles but that we can walk over the top of them to a better point of view. Those with the feet of a deer do not need a paved road to reach the summit. The surefooted do not remove boulders; they bounce over them. The path is not on the ground but in their feet. Their ability to navigate four wheel drive country gives them a vista few others will see.

Application
What keeps the righteous man alive is his record of faithfulness to the Lord. What he sows, he will also reap. As he has been faithful to the Lord, so in turn, in days of need, the Lord will be faithful to him. The greatest investment we can make in our tomorrows is to put one foot in front of the other for today.

Prayer
Father, I have the feet of a deer now help me to use them. I ask not for a better road, but for agility to clamber up to a better point of view. Help me to scamper to the heights and receive the reward of those who take the rugged incline. Amen.

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Scripture
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him….Hebrews 3:1-2

Observation
This week the world has been rehearsing the moonwalk, ala Jackson style. On YouTube a prison yard of men in orange jumpsuits have scored over 27 million hits with their imitation Michael Jackson rendition. Where there is a master there will be mimics. But the risk for the impersonator is that he will forget the sound of his own voice.

I had this thought the other day. Am I living my own life or someone else’s? There are stars I respect who walk on stages that I watch. Before long I can be mimicking their moonwalk.

The fulfillment of life is to have a life calling fully explored. I’m to be metamorphasising, letting the Jesus in me out naturally. The way to find my call is to consider Jesus’ call and his faithfulness. There were moments that Jesus waded up Niagara Falls of expectations to move to the source of his call. Into the roar of the waves, Jesus spoke words like this that parted the waters and let him move closer to the Father:
Father forgive them
Not my will but yours be done
I am willing, be clean
Son your sins are forgiven
The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath
You don’t understand what I’m doing

Application
The message is simple: stay close to Jesus. While the world is telling you who to be like, listen as Jesus reminds who we are. Calling costs. Just consider Jesus. Calling also pays. Consider Jesus again.

Prayer
Father, today, I look to Jesus for instruction so I never have to be reminded how to act. Instead, let Jesus live himself out through me. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong Church sing “Here I Am” as you read today’s devotion about faithfulness.

Scripture
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went.

“The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” Matthew 21:28-31

Observation
We can be half-hearted and not even know it, for promises to do the work can  feel like actually getting the job done. We can show up at work, but leave a part of ourselves somewhere else. It may be in a fantasy of the future or a recollection from the past. Whatever the case, we don’t live up to the promises that we’ve made to the Lord.

The comfort in this little story from Jesus is that we have the space to change our mind and to still be considered diligent sons of our Father.

Application
When I reflect over my life, since my earliest days, there have been many times that while I’ve been “here” my will has been “there”, at some point in the past or the future. I have not been fully engaged in the present. God is only “near” if I am fully “here” for God lives in the eternal present. I can’t live “there” in the past or hankering for another future. I must work “here” living in the now, with my will fully wrapped around the context God has placed me in. And in the here and now God is near to me, as a Father working closely with his son.

Prayer
Father, today I fully embrace the present so that you may be present with me. I live today to do your will. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong London sing “Follow the Son” while you read today’s devotion about faithfulness.

Scripture
I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. “I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. Exodus 23:29-30

Observation
I spoke with a pastor yesterday just fresh into a new ministry. In his former church he had been a respected voice. When he spoke, people listened. But now in a new church he experienced indifference. He was surprised because he thought that the credibility of his last ministry would transfer to his new position. He told me that it is a struggle for him to start all over again. Like John Maxwell says, when we leave one role and move into another we always start again at the bottom.

It is uncomfortable to be an old hack in a new place. The problem is not really a desire to be heard, but something more important. It’s the desire to be useful. The early days in a new place are unproductive. Just think about your first day on a new job versus a later day in the same job. The longer the serve the more we are able to do.

We need to become comfortable with the process. God does not open all at once, but little by little. Ultimately fruitfulness will come and all the territory that God has allocated for us will be available to us. But in the meantime there are little things.

Application
I need to not only make the most of the steady process but also make the most of little things. There is a temptation to brush little things aside. Instead they need to be fully embraced.

Prayer
Father, thank you for promises of things to come, but what I have to live is today. I will make the most of every little thing you give me today. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to “Oceans will Part” sung by Annie Mcintosh at Hillsong while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11

Observation
Life is like a coloring book. God draws the lines and we are to fill them in. There is a call he gives to us, but within that call there is latitude to explore, create and express. There are nuances in us that God delights to discover. He finds these by granting us some degree of freedom of expression in the work he has given to us to do. How we color in the lines gives him delight.

The bottom line is that God is not a micro-manager. There is a pattern well established in the Bible. He gives a person an opportunity and then leaves them for awhile to see what they make of that responsibility. When he returns to inspect, the future work given depends on what has been made of the first assignment. Faithful servants are given more talents. Unfaithful ones are left empty handed.

How then can we know what color to choose and how to shade in the spaces? Paul expressed it well when he wrote, “May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.” (NLT) There are good ideas. There are demands. But in the midst of them all are some responsibilities glow with our faith. No one has to talk us into them. We find them on our minds and in our prayers, because there is something intrinsically right about them. We can do more than just imagine it, we can believe it.

Application
When we find that thing to do that we have faith to do it with, we must pour heart and soul into getting it done. Faith filled acts is where God desires to bless us.

Prayer
Father, today, as I choose my Crayolas and color in the lines, help me to chose the works that make the greatest eternal difference. There is so much latitude in your call. Help me to use that freedom to its fullest. Sometimes I am daunted by the freedom you give to us. Instead, let me be released. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Jeremy Camp sing “No Matter What”

Scripture
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys. 1 Samuel 15:2-3

Observation
Saul did not clean up his plate and left a mess for others after him to contend with. Moses had been given a promise that one day the pesky Amalekites would be destroyed. They were the first nation to attack Israel when they left Egypt. It was gifted to Saul to fulfill the promise. But he didn’t do the job thoroughly and a few slipped through the net.

Roll the clock forward centuries to the book of Esther and discover the cost of Saul’s mistake. Haman, prime minister of King Artaxexes (the Persian king of the movie 300 fame), plots a holocaust to execute every Jewish person in the world.

Who was this Haman? Esther 3:1 gives the link. Haman was a descendent of the king of Amalek. He had a centuries old score to settle with Israel. Because Saul did do the job completely the entire nation was threatened and it was left to a woman to save the day.

Application
There is a cost of half-heartedness. We may pay the price, or those that we love. Whoever pays it, the longer the wait, the more the inflation of cost. We must complete the works God has given us to do.

Prayer
Father, let me be a completer of your works and not just a starter. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to this worship song while reading today’s devotion.

Promises by Desperation Band

Scripture
Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true. Joshua 21:45

Observation
I read this news story last week from Tampa, Florida:

“In the early months of the Civil War, the city of Tampa needed ammunition and other supplies to defend against attack but apparently was short on cash. So it issued a promissory note for $299.58 to storekeeper Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861. Kennedy’s great-granddaughter says the city never made good on its loan. Now, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment plus 8 percent annual interest. The total bill: $22.7-million.” (Taken from the St Petersburg Times, tampabay.com, March 16, 2008, Janet Zink, reporter)

It will be interesting to see the legal outcome of this way past due debt collection. The prospect of the City of Tampa coughing up some dollars is there from earlier legal precedents.

As I read that news clipping today I thought, the Lord would remember a promise longer than that, and pay up as well with no statute of limitations. The promises of God are something like uncashed checks that he feels compelled to honor. God can no more forget a promise than we are allowed to forget an unpaid bill. Many have had the experience of finding an answer to a prayer long forgotten, because the Lord never forgets.

The promises of God will not let go of us. They cling to us and pursue us until they are fulfilled. Time is involved, as well as obedience, but the words will be accomplished.

The Book of Joshua was written to show how 400 year old promises made to Abraham were completed. God never forgets his word; he won’t forget his promises to us either.

Application
There are times we remind the Lord of the promises he has made to us, but there is another way to live in God’s promises. Instead we can rest in the presence of God and watch the word of God do its work. Though we pray we must always remember that the fulfillment of promises is not up to us, it is all from the Lord. He will not forget them, even if we do.

Prayer
Father, I have a safe deposit box in my heart full of words you have spoken to me. I sift through them wondering what will come of them. I am certain that what you have in mind is bigger and more beautiful than I could accomplish. I’m counting on you to fulfill your word. You will not forget. I trust you in that. Amen.

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