Press the arrow to listen to Nichole Nordeman sing “I Am” while reading today’s devotion on perspective.

Scripture
Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. John 21:6-7

Observation
Perspective is not for the nearsighted. How well I know that! I have middle-aged eyes, so I use glasses. I wouldn’t need them if my arms would only grow longer!

Distance is what gives perspective. A wide panaroma takes in more information than we can see up close. Peter was in the boat. He saw water. Jesus was on the shore. He saw patterns in the waves. The Master could see the fish under the waves.

Without distance and perspective we waste our time. Peter fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus stood on the shore without a boat or net, spoke one sentence and pow! the boat was overloaded. It is not so much that we need to get out of the boat to see the pattern in the waves. It is rather, that we need Jesus’ point of view on our lives. This is what prayer is all about. Prayer is not so much persuading heaven as it is seeing things from God’s perspective. There are fish if we just ask which way to turn.

Application
It is interesting that the man who had fished all night left the boat as soon as the fish came. It proves what mattered to him most was not fish but Jesus. To get perspective, we must have a greater desire than just having more. If we want the Lord alone, then we will get more than we have asked for. If we just want fish, we can stay in the boat. I need Jesus more than anything else.

Prayer
Father, help me to see my life from heaven’s point of view. Help me to put the net out where it really belongs. Amen.

Press the arrow for Newsboys  “In the Hands of God” while you read about developing potential.

Scripture
“How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you? Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall return to me.” Joshua 17:3-4

Observation
Most of us die with undeveloped potential. We occupy only a small beachhead of the continent that was given to us at birth. God has laid out potential for us that few fully inherit. So we end life wondering if we ever lived.

How can we avoid a superficial life? By making an assessment of the potential that God has given to us. Here are some questions to ask to find that potential.

1. As I look across my life, where is God’s hand of blessing resting?
2. What responsibilities have been entrusted to me and what is yet to be developed in them?
3. What strengths do I have that are unused.
4. What areas am I working in that are not designed for me?

Application
I’m writing my list right now!

Prayer
Father, I want to use all of my inheritance from you. I often look at what’s not mine and ignore what is given to me to develop. Help me to work within the fences you’ve blessed me with. Amen.

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.

Scripture

“Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

Observation

It was not enough that two pastors walk out on a new adventure. They needed to wear the hand prints prayer left on them from their home church.The request for the prayers of the church do not come from two trembling missionaries. It is God who asks the church leaders to pray for them. The prayers of the church were significant to the Lord because somehow it gave him elbow room to bless these two new traveling pastors.

To many a missionary is just a faded fridge magnet. For about six weeks sent ones are remembered but within six months the memory of their work is run over by the freeway of daily busyness.

But God never lets the memories of missionaries fade. The finger prints of prayer left by praying leaders are like a tattoo residue on a Christian worker’s life to remind the Lord to keep blessing them.

Application

I’ve had many hands laid on me over many years. They were prayers prayed in the front of a service and then life rushed on. If I were to visit those churches now few would remember who I am. Yet from God’s perspective the residue of their prayers still lingers on my life. I am a sent one representing many churches that have sent me. I trust this day that the prayers prayed will be answered through my life in blessing many, many people.

Prayer

Father, remember the prayers prayed for me over many years. Remember the prayers of my ordination. Remember the prayers at my wedding. Remember the prayers at churches I have left that have blessed me. Today let me see the answer to those prayers. Amen.