Tim Hetzner – Daily Devotions

Depend on God – Part Three

“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5)

In the Bible, when God calls someone to do something, you will notice they don’t jump up and say, ‘No problem, I’m ready.’ In story after story, they tell God why they can’t do it. Consider the following list of people.

Moses: ‘I have never been eloquent…I am slow of speech and tongue’ (Exodus 4:10).

Gideon: ‘How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family’ (Judges 6:15).

Abraham: ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?’ (Genesis 17:17).

Jeremiah: ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD…I am too young’ (Jeremiah 1:6).

Isaiah: ‘Woe to me!…For I am a man of unclean lips’ (Isaiah 6:5).

Esther: ‘All…know that for any man or woman who approaches the king…without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death’ (Esther 4:11).

Rich young ruler: ‘He went away sad, because he had great wealth’ (Matthew 19:22).

Saul: ‘The LORD said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage”’ (1 Samuel 10:22). (This occurred when Samuel was proclaiming Saul as king, and the people couldn’t find him and asked the Lord where he was.)

What a list of excuses: too inarticulate, too weak, too old, too young, too sinful, too dangerous, too rich, too hesitant – yet God used every one of them to fulfill His purposes. And Paul tells us why: ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.’ Today, depend on God.

Prayer

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Depend on God – Part Two

“I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

The last thing Jesus said to His disciples before returning to heaven was this: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…I am with you always.’ When God gives you an instruction or an assignment, it will always require His involvement, His strength, His guidance, and His provision. Will He use your talents? Yes. Will He use others to assist and bless you? Yes. But He will never allow you to depend on anyone more than Him.

Back at the point when Jesus sends His disciples off to change the world, there are two remarkable challenges. One, there are now only eleven disciples present with them. Throughout the Gospels, the number twelve reminds readers that the disciples have been selected to be a representation of the redeemed, restarted twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve is the number of completeness, wholeness, and readiness. Now it would seem they don’t have sufficient players.

But it’s not merely that they have the wrong number. Following Christ’s resurrection, we read: ‘The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted’ (vv. 16-17). They already have a quantity dilemma; now they have a quality dilemma. They don’t have enough disciples, and even those don’t believe enough. Yet God used them mightily. Indeed, the accusation levelled against them by their enemies started with one of their greatest compliments: ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too’ (Acts 17:6).

So, the key to success is not in your ability but in God’s ability to work through you. That’s why you must live each day in dependence on God.

Prayer

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Depend on God – Part One

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Paul shares with us the key to his amazing success in life: ‘I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].’ There is a syndrome called ‘failure to launch’. It’s experienced by people who feel insecure about their future. They never seem to get to the place in life where they feel ready, so they miss out on opportunities.

Life says, ‘Ready or not, here I come.’ Now, life’s inevitability doesn’t mean that preparation is trivial; it’s important. But feeling ready is very overvalued. We are called to ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7).

When God brought the Israelites into the promised land, He told them to step into the Jordan River first; after, He parted the water. If they had waited for evidence first, they would be waiting on the banks still. Faith grows when God says go and you say yes. The truth is, you don’t realize what you can do until you do it. ‘Ready’ happens quicker if you are already moving. If you wait to move until you’re completely ready, you will wait until you die. Jesus doesn’t tell us, ‘Go; you’re ready.’ He tells us, ‘Go; I’ll go with you.’ You will grow as you ‘go’. You will develop as you ‘do’.

Here is the key: the thing that makes you ‘ready for anything and equal to anything’ is ‘Him Who infuses inner strength’ into you. God designed it that way because He wants you to depend on Him.

Prayer

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Take Time to Rest and Relax

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.” (Psalm 23:2)

When you find yourself saying, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,’ you may need to change some of your priorities and adjust your lifestyle. The psalmist said, ‘I am…wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14). God designed your body to give you warnings when you’re pushing too hard, like an ache here or a pain there. But, we ignore these warnings until we become too sick to ignore them any longer. And because we live in the most medicated generation in history, we take prescriptions, pills, and potions, hoping that’s the answer. But it’s a short-term cure.

We can’t ignore God’s direction to take time to rest and not pay a price for it. Nobody had a greater purpose or a more important mission than Jesus and His disciples. Yet He instructed them to take time out for rest and relaxation (see Mark 6:31). Pastor, is this an area of discipleship you need to practice and teach your people? The church should not keep people so busy that it negatively affects their health and hurts their family relationships. If you are living an unsustainable life today, stop putting off making the changes you need to make. Don’t wait until something happens, like a health problem or a family problem. Make changes now to live the kind of life God wants you to live. When you live God’s way, you will discover a new level of peace in your life. ‘He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside still and restful waters.’

Prayer

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Taking Control of Your Thoughts

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Your mind is the battlefield where victory or defeat is decided. That’s why Paul writes, ‘We lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ.’ You have a choice: either you lead your thoughts, or your thoughts will lead you. Either you take your thoughts captive, or your thoughts will take you captive. Where do thoughts come from? Everywhere. If you spend quality time with God each day in prayer and the Scriptures, your thoughts will be guided by God. If not, your thoughts will be guided by the world around you.

You don’t have to accept every thought that comes into your head. Instead, you should measure each thought against the standard of Scripture, which calls for obedience to Christ. Here is a practical example: if someone hurts your feelings, make a decision right then and there that you won’t be upset with them for days on end. That only gives Satan the opportunity to plant seeds of bitterness (see 2 Corinthians 2:11). Instead, you can reject negative thinking and refuse to let it drain you of your peace and joy. The same is true when you are tempted.

The best way to conquer a wrong thought is to replace it with a right one. As you renew your mind with God’s Word each day, your thinking will change and begin to line up with Scripture. Then, day by day, godly boundaries around your thoughts will be established and reinforced. These limits will not only keep you out of deception and defeat but help you to live a more enjoyable, godly life.

Prayer

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Nothing About You Surprises God

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (Ephesians 1:4)

Nothing about you surprises God. He knew what He was getting when He chose you. He ‘actually picked us out for Himself as His own’. You didn’t just randomly show up one day. And God hasn’t decided to merely tolerate you. He is not rolling His eyes when you have a problem. Instead, He will always remind you how far you have come, how well you are doing, how precious you are in His sight, and how much He loves you.

God already knew your weaknesses, every flaw you would have, and every time you would fail, yet He still said, ‘I want you.’ Ephesians 1:5 says that God ‘adopted’ you as His own. He is your father, and you are His family. Yes, He will discipline you when you need it, but He will never discard you. And with Him on your side, things are bound to work out all right in the end.

‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son’ (vv. 3-6).

Prayer

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Share Your Wisdom

“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding.” (Proverbs 3:11)

The wise old adage goes, ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.’ Sometimes what people need more than your money is your wisdom. By taking the time to share with them the insights and wisdom you have learned through your life’s experiences, you’re investing in their future. What a gift! But that means you must never stop learning.

Sometimes we stop learning because we become complacent. We believe we have grown enough, or we want only to make the most of what we already have in terms of skill and knowledge. That’s when we start to plateau and then decline. We lose our innovative spirit. We begin to think about being efficient instead of breaking new ground. We cut costs instead of investing in growth. Our vision becomes very limited. Instead of playing to win, we start playing not to lose.

We all love doing what we’re good at, but being good at something requires us to keep our skills sharp. Less skill leads to less enthusiasm and eventually to discontent. If we reach this stage, we start looking behind us because that’s where our best days are. We think about the good old days, the glory days. At that point, we’re only a few short steps from obsolescence. Nobody wants to learn from a has-been. If you want to give until you have given all you have, you must keep growing until you can grow no more. ‘Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding.’

Prayer

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Knowing Who You Are ‘In Christ’

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” (Philemon 6)

If you’re struggling with self-worth, the answer is knowing what you have and who you are ‘in Christ’. Paul writes, ‘I pray that…you understand every blessing we have in Christ.’ Here are some practical steps you can take to increase your sense of confidence and self-worth:

1) Don’t speak negatively about yourself. Instead of focusing on your weaknesses and flaws, start acknowledging and verbalizing every good thing you ‘have in Christ’. Peter writes: ‘By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him…he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:3-4).

2) Avoid comparing yourself to others. One day Peter pointed to John and asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ (John 21:21). Jesus corrected him by saying, ‘What is that to you? You must follow me’ (v. 22). Instead of comparing yourself with others, work on being conformed to the character qualities of Christ.

3) Let God determine your worth. As His redeemed child, God sees you clothed in the righteousness of Christ; therefore, you are always loved and accepted by Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).

4) Keep your flaws in perspective. It’s okay to see where you need to improve, but make sure you appreciate your progress.

5) Discover the true source of confidence. If you place your confidence in God, you can’t help but have a healthy attitude. So, do your best and leave the results to Him.

Prayer

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Led In a Roundabout Way

“So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.” (Exodus 13:18)

The Bible says, ‘When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road’ (vv. 17-18). There is a lesson here for you. God knows where you are on your spiritual journey, and He is directing you accordingly, even when it seems like a roundabout way. ‘The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives’ (Psalm 37:23).

The shortest route from Egypt to the promised land was through enemy territory, and God knew His people were not ready for battle. ‘God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road.’ Getting God’s people out of Egypt proved to be the easy part; getting Egypt out of God’s people proved to be the hard part. After forty generations of depending on Pharaoh, they needed to know God, learn His ways, and trust Him. So, He arranged their journey accordingly.

Are you having a wilderness experience at the moment? Be encouraged. The fulfillment of what God promised you may be taking longer than you thought, but it’s not time wasted. And God is not punishing you; He is training you for your destiny. What should you do? 1) Spend time with Him in prayer and His Word. 2) Lean less on yourself and more on God. 3) Draw on His grace and follow His guidance.

Prayer

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When God Says Go

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

The two parts to God’s ‘go’ are going from and going to. Ur, Abram’s home, was considered the place to be. Setting out for ancient Mesopotamia, all the trading wealth from around the Mediterranean had to travel through Ur. It was a place of immense affluence, trade, education, and technology. One author writes, ‘The first written legal code that began civilization was there in Ur.’ So, it would have been a hard place to leave – especially if you were going to Canaan. Canaan was unsophisticated, unrefined, and underdeveloped. No one who had enough money to live in Ur, the great center of civilization, would move to Canaan.

Here is the point: you must trust God with your future when the path He has called you to take doesn’t look like the obvious one. But if you’re willing to go, you will discover that God has blessings in mind you never dreamed of. He told Abram, ‘I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (vv. 2-3). The reward God gives you will always be greater than any sacrifice He calls you to make.

Has God called you to go, but you want to stay? Is He telling you to stay, but you want to go? Here is the score: if you obey God, you will never regret it. And that’s a guarantee!

Prayer

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