Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
The Same Every Time
Pastor Scott
Monday, February 09, 2004
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"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
(James 1:17)
See how loving and how approachable your Father is. You should be confident of His purpose to bless you beyond your worth, to establish you beyond your ability, and to proclaim your victory that you're incapable to perform. That's the rest God has called you to. As you catch glimpses of Him, you need to understand that with the infinitude of God, there's no limitation to His love, His mercy, and His justice. As we pray to our Father, most of us have a lot of trouble with His immutability. You're going to find God the same every time you approach Him. His Word and His promises are yea and amen; they never change and are sure to a thousand generations. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's Word will not pass away.
James 1:17-18 says, "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his [creation]." Nothing can change the fact that God purposed your spiritual birth. Nothing in your life happened by chance. Nothing can thwart the will of God, His sovereign purpose, or His determinant counsel. Of His will He has begotten you. He has called you out that He might call you in. God has put you where you are today. He put you in the family you were born into. God chose you. That blows my mind. In the natural, when you have kids, you get what you get. God knew what He was getting, yet He still chose you. God loves you! God chose you as you are and made you what you are; and God will make you what He wants you to be. Aren't you glad He's not through with you yet?
Did you do anything today that embarrassed your Father? Dad loves you. God says, "That's My boy." You say, "Man, I'm a dog! Dear Lord, what a failure." God sees you just like He saw Abraham and David and Peter. He sees the finished product and says, "It's good." His creation is good, and we are His creation in Christ Jesus. As we get to know Father, we can come to Him. He loves us and knows what we are. The problem is we don't know who He is! We judge Him out of our own hearts, by our own frailness, and by our own finite understanding. Every good and perfect gift comes from your Father; and it comes to you. His presence is the unspeakable gift. God is saying to you, "Here is free access to My presence, to My love, to My power, to your peace, to your forgiveness." Only your ignorance is keeping you from stepping through. Only your pride is keeping you from entering in. Only your willful choice to irrationally judge God causes you to say, "He doesn't care; He doesn't love me anymore; He can't forgive this; I'll never be free from this." I want you to know that He has made available to you all things that pertain to life and godliness in Christ Jesus--and He doesn't change. His pursuit of you has not changed. His proclamation of who you are in Jesus has not changed. The benefits of faith have not changed. The unspeakable promises have not changed. He is the Giver of every good and perfect gift with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.