"It's Not Neglect"

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Isaiah 49:15

 

I have a word specifically for someone this morning-- but it is also for the rest of us. That word is-- Stop accusing God of child neglect.

 

God, your Heavenly Father, has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned you. He is not neglecting you. You are falsely accusing Him just because He has not come through when you thought He should or because He has not moved in the way you wanted Him to. 

 

God, being the Father, is wiser than the child. He knows what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. His ways, and thoughts, are so much higher than ours. He moves in perfect ways with eternity in mind. We want things done in a way that will get the need met quicker. We also think in terms of the "here and now".

 

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the mockers in the crowd kept taunting Him by saying, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." (Matthew 27:40) He was the Son of God and He could have come down from the cross to prove it. Had He done what they wanted Him to do, some of those standing there that day would have believed that He was the Son of God when they saw it. It would have changed some of their lives that day, but what about the rest of us. What about all of lost humanity? What about those of us who were not born yet and still needed a Savior? He stayed on the cross because there was a greater eternal value in doing so-- there was an eternal purpose to fulfill. 

 

When He delays in answering, when He delays in moving on your behalf, He is working out a greater plan than to just run to your rescue. It is a plan that will touch many other lives. It is a plan that will bring Him the greatest glory. It is a plan that will work all things together for your good.

 

Have a great day. Don't accuse God of neglecting you. He is working out a far greater, and eternal, plan on your behalf. 

 

For further reading:

Romans 8:28

Isaiah 55:9

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Light For The Path"

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105

 

When I have to go outside at night, and it is very dark, there is one thing I take with me.... a flashlight. If I don't have one, I wish I did. It brightens up my path so that I can see where I am walking. God's Word is light to our path, it shows us the way to walk when we are in darkness.

 

Are you walking on a "dark" path today? You don't know which way to go? You have decisions to make but aren't sure what to do? Are you are going through a dark place and aren't sure how to get out? Then go get a light. Bring God's Word into your situation. What does it say? Look to it to direct you through this. Perhaps this sounds a little simple, but God's Word has been giving guidance and instruction to millions for thousands of years. It will still do the same for you today. If I am walking around outside and stumbling over objects, falling down, getting tripped up because of the darkness and my inability to see in it, one simple way to change that is by getting a light. 

 

Have a great day.  When you are walking around in darkness, not knowing what to do, take God's Word and let it enlighten your path.

 

For further reading:

Psalm 119:130, 133

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry

"Clean The Inside"

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." Matthew 23:25,26

 

Is the most important part of a cup the inside or the outside? Is it more important for the inside or the outside to be clean? Jesus compared a person's life to a cup. We have an inside part of us and an outside part. In these verses He was talking about the Pharisees and how they made sure the outside was clean, but neglected the inside. 

 

Religion always works at cleaning the outside. Religious people try to look "outwardly" good to prove that they are something that they aren't. They clean the outside by doing good deeds. They clean it by doing religious works. They go to church. They sing in the choir. They give offerings. They volunteer for special tasks. They may look pretty "clean". They may look "good", but they are "dirty" where it counts the most-- on the inside. 

 

Jesus' focus is always on the "inside". It is what is on the inside of a person that matters most. It is about the condition of the heart-- whether it is clean or dirty. We can only clean up the outside, we can't clean up the inside. Being religious can only clean up the outside, but not the inside. Jesus is the only One who can clean the inside. He is the only One who can make our hearts clean and brand new. It takes coming to Him in repentance and establishing a relationship with Him in order for us to become clean. 

 

Let me ask you this morning, "Are you a clean or dirty cup?" Do you do have an outward appearance that looks clean but inside your heart you are still unclean? Are you trying to wash yourself and make yourself clean? Are you deceiving yourself into thinking that you are clean because you act better than those who profess to be clean inside? Are you deceiving yourself into believing that you are clean because you believe in Jesus and you try to be good and you aren't that bad? Maybe you aren't "that bad". Maybe you do believe in Jesus. Maybe you do do some religious deeds. But you are still dirty because even a little dirty is still dirty. You have to be washed totally clean, and again, only Jesus can do that. Only He can wash you and make the inside and outside clean.

 

Have a great day. Are you trying to clean yourself up on the outside, but you are still dirty on the inside?

 

For further reading:

Titus 3:6

Ephesians 2:8,9

2 Corinthians 5:17

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry

"Don't Tell It"

"And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." Genesis 22:5

 

The Lord had spoken to Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed the Lord. The next morning Abraham got up early, saddled his donkey, took two of his servants, his son Isaac, and the wood for the burnt offering and went to the place where God had showed him to go.

 

The Bible never says that Abraham told anyone of his intent-- not his wife, not these two servants, not even Isaac. You can't always tell everything that God tells you to everybody. You have to learn to be quiet and keep it to yourself. We have a tendency to want to "tell all". We want to tell everyone what God has told us- we can't wait to tell. You can't do that. 

 

I can picture it now had Abraham said to those two servants-- Isaac and I are going up to the mountain and when we get to the top God has told me to sacrifice him-- and what their response would have been. I can hear them trying to talk him out of it. I can hear them reasoning with Abraham-- surely, master, you didn't hear this from God, Isaac is your only son, he is the one that God promised you, he is the one in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, you waited so long for him. They would have thought Abraham was crazy. They would have done anything to convenience him not to do it. They may have even tried to forcefully take Isaac away from him. Had reasoning with Abraham not worked, they may have threatened to go tell Sarah-- surely she would stop this madness. 

 

This happened to Jesus. When it was nearing His time to go to the cross, He begin to prepare His disciples by telling them He would be delivered up and killed. Peter rebuked Jesus telling Him that this wasn't going to happen. I can only imagine what Peter was thinking when he heard Jesus' words about being killed. "But you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. How can that happen? What do you mean? You are greater than to allow Yourself to be killed. You are our King, You have to set up a kingdom and deliver us from Roman oppression." 

 

The point is this, when the Lord tells us something and we know that there is no doubt that we have heard from Him, we can't tell everyone. They won't understand and they will try to talk us out of it. They will try to detour us from God's plan. Yes, there is a time to "write the vision and make it plain" and we tell what the Lord is saying. But there is also a time when we are to keep it to ourselves and do as Mary did-- ponder it in our hearts. 

 

Have a great day. When God tells you something, you don't have to go and tell everyone else. Some things you are to keep to yourself. 

 

For further reading:

Luke 2:19

Matthew 16:20-23

Genesis 22

Habakkuk 2:2

 

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Dysfunctional"

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:16

 

A few months ago some of you may remember that I wrote a devotional about me pulling my back. After all these weeks I have finally discovered what happened. It seems as though I pulled my SI Joint out of place. If my understanding is correct it is called SI Joint Dysfunction. For the past nine weeks I have suffered terrible pain in my lower back, my leg muscles and my sciatic nerve-- all because this joint was "out of place".

 

When something is out of place from where it should be, it is not doing what it was designed to do. This is called dysfunctional. A dysfunction from not being in its proper place can cause many other problems to arise and even cause suffering. This is true in the church. When God calls you to be one thing and you are operating in another area, you are out of place. For example, you may be called to be an evangelist but you are trying to operate as a pastor, so you are out of place. You may be called to be a Psalmist but are trying to operate as a teacher you also are out of place. When one member is out of place, this is a dysfunction which will cause suffering in the church. 

 

This is also true in our individual lives. If you are called to one area of ministry but you are trying to operate in another area, your life is out of order. If you are living with sin in your life, your life is out of order. If you are living in opposition to the commandments of God, if you are not living a holy lifestyle, if you are living in adultery or with some addiction, then you are out of order. If you are living in hate and bitterness, you are living a life out of order-- you are not fulfilling what you were designed to fulfill. You are not living as you are called to live. You are "spiritually" dysfunctional. 

 

The interesting thing about what has been going on in my body with this joint out of place was that I was still doing all the things I needed to do-- working at the shop, cooking, cleaning, keeping my grandchildren, etc. Most people who know me didn't even know I had this dysfunction because I was still "functioning". Only I was functioning with pain, suffering and misery the whole time I was doing it. Often we are "out of order" not functioning where and as God wants us to and it is not noticed because we are still "prospering", still "functioning", still going on with the business of life, still seeing some "good" results. But it is only a matter of time before this is not the case. A dysfunction will eventually catch up with you. You will eventually reap the consequences of being "out of place". You can't continue like that forever.

 

Are you "out of order"? Out of the place the Lord designed you to fit into? Doing what He has not intended you to do? Not functioning as He planned for you to function? Then you are in a place of dysfunction and eventually it will cause suffering to you and to those you are connected with.

 

Have a great day. Are you living a dysfunctional life? Out of God's order for your life?

 

For further reading:

1 Corinthians 12:18, 26

 

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email: mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.