Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Today's scriptures are about being cutoff from the Lord. Subjects like these are hard to write about, because we often turn to devotionals to be uplifted, and enlightened. However, I would be doing you an injustice, if I didn't share the whole truth. God loves us unconditionally, and I will write this everyday, just to remind you of this fact. It is one thing to say, "yeah I know God loves me", but it's another thing to believe that God loves you. If you truly know that God loves you, you'd do everything in your power to do right by Him. You would consciously avoid sin, to the best of your ability, and follow His will for your life. There are things we do daily, that clearly doesn't magnify God, yet we do them anyway. God has revealed certain paths to us, and we sometimes ignore them, to venture off on our own, in an attempt to make ourselves happy. Nevertheless, when we blatantly sin against God, we'll be cutoff from Him, because He cannot look upon sin, nor will He tolerate our consistent disobedience. The people of Israel, who were freed from slavery, and taken to the Promised Land, strayed for years. They made mistakes, and oh did they suffer, but God never took the Promised Land away from them. He gave them leadership, His Word, prophets, and many warnings to persuade them to follow His will, but they didn't listen. They experienced the wrath of God, due to their own personal choices. There were a few strong ones who cried out to the Lord for their people, and God listened. A man named Ephraim cried out to the Lord: "You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the LORD my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth." (Jer. 31:18-19) Ephraim must've lived a wicked life, but he eventually became tired of suffering. He never blamed or questioned God as to why he suffered, but he made himself accountable. I'm sure he had been crying out to God for help all along, but nothing changed until he changed. That often happens to us. We pray and pray for miracles, and ask for answers to the things that hold us down, yet we aren't willing to change our actions. It wasn't until Ephraim repented, that God took mercy on Him. God answered his cry, it's written: Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD. (Jer. 31:20) God's heart yearns for each of us, so it isn't easy for Him to allow us to suffer. He only wants what's best for us, but we have the responsibility to choose Him over the flesh. Jesus lives because we needed Him to redeem us, but we cannot take that privilege lightly. God asks us to live righteously to the best of our ability, and He understands when we make mistakes, but there's a difference between a mistake, and blatant disobedience. I'm warning you today to turn away from your evil ways, or God will help you do it. Have you ever experienced so much pain in your heart that you could barely get out of bed? Have you ever cried yourself to sleep? Have you ever been warned by the Holy Spirit not to do something, but did it anyway, and ended up messing things up, worst than they were before? Yes God loves us, but we have choices, and each choice we make, whether right or wrong, comes with a consequence. You're meant to mature in your faith walk, but you won't be able to, until you surrender you heart to Him, just as Ephraim did. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past, simply go to Him, confess your sins, and repent. I can guarantee you, as long as you live obedient to the Word of God, you'll never be cutoff from God again. However, if He keeps calling you, giving you signs, blessing you with the things you ask for, and you don’t give Him that love in return, you'll be cutoff. You won't lose your Salvation, but your quality of life, and inner peace and joy, will suffer tremendously. If it seems like things just aren't getting any better for you, then you're lost in the wilderness. You'll find plenty of stories about this in the book of Psalms. Read some of David's Psalms, which start at chapter 3. David was blessed with so much, but he suffered tremendously, because he often surrendered to his flesh. Allow God to give you freedom, through Jesus Christ. It's yours for the asking, so follow Ephraim's lead, and cry out to Him. If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, that's the first step. Get to know Him today! My favorite verses today are: I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455303&dtype=Scripture
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I love you!