VIDEO Who’s In Your Head? – Catch a Better Life

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 1 Peter 1:13, NIV

Have you ever been so distracted that you walked into another room and wondered why you were there? No one likes to admit it, but I think this happens more frequently than people like to admit. This world is filled with so many things that can “occupy” our thoughts that we become “preoccupied,” and lose focus on what we are doing and Who is really important.

Who is in your head? Who occupies your thoughts? Who or what do you think about most? Peter told us to keep our minds alert and sober, and to occupy our thoughts with the coming hope offered by the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of letting troubles and temptations dominate our thinking, we should learn to push those thoughts out with the truths of Scripture.

Colossians 3:2-4 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

Begin the practice of reverent meditation on the being of God. A. W. Tozer

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Catch a Better Life – Daily Devotional, Christian Faith January 21, 2022

Love of Learning

Let the wise listen and add to their learning. Proverbs 1:5

When asked how he became a journalist, a man shared the story of his mother’s dedication to his pursuit of education. While traveling on the subway each day, she collected newspapers left behind on seats and gave them to him. While he especially enjoyed reading about sports, the papers also introduced him to knowledge about the world, which ultimately opened his mind to a vast range of interests. 

Children are wired with natural curiosity and a love for learning, so introducing them to the Scriptures at an early age is of great value. They become intrigued by God’s extraordinary promises and exciting stories of biblical heroes. As their knowledge deepens, they can begin to comprehend the consequences of sin, their need of repentance, and the joy found in trusting God. The first chapter of Proverbs, for instance, is a great introduction to the benefits of wisdom (Proverbs 1:1–7). Nuggets of wisdom found here shine a light of understanding on real-life situations.

Developing a love of learning—especially about spiritual truths—helps us to grow stronger in our faith. And those who have walked in faith for decades can continue to pursue knowledge of God throughout their life. Proverbs 1:5 advises, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning.” God will never stop teaching us if we’re willing to open our heart and mind to His guidance and instruction.

By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray

What fresh truth of Scripture have you added to your knowledge recently? How can you continually pursue a deeper understanding of God’s truth?

Father, please continue to open my mind and heart to grow in knowledge and wisdom as I read from the Scriptures.

Grow deeper in your understanding of faith.

On the Bottom Looking Up

Trusting in God’s power and grace makes it possible to break the cycle of despair.

1 Samuel 30:1-20

Most of us know how it feels to be at rock bottom. Despair is a horrible condition because it continually feeds on discouragement, hopelessness, and failure. And the longer one dwells on these things, the greater despair grows. The only way out is to break free from this vicious cycle of darkness. We do this by . . .

• Repenting of anything that has caused us to doubt the Lord. If we’re in despair, then something has overshadowed God in our life, and that barrier must be removed—the sooner, the better. 

• Recalling the Lord’s omnipotence. Since He had the power to save you from sin, He certainly also has the ability to overcome your despair. 

• Remembering that nothing in our life happens by chance. God works all things according to His sovereign plan, for the good of those who love Him, and for His glory (Rom. 8:28). 

Despair stands in conflict with the abundant life the Lord has promised. If you’re feeling down and out, ask Him to lift you back up today. You’ll never automatically fall out of despair. But with God’s help, you can change your mindset and see your situation through the lens of His Word.

The Mercy Seat

“And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.” (Exodus 25:21-22)

In the “holy of holies” of the tabernacle, God would meet with Israel’s high priest once a year to commune with His people at a meeting place called the “mercy seat.” The Hebrew word was derived from the word for “atonement,” which in turn meant essentially a “covering” for the Ark of the Covenant. On the great day of atonement each year, the high priest was commanded to sprinkle the blood from the sin offerings on the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:14-15) to make an atonement for all the people.

This annual ceremony, of course, merely prefigures the full atonement that Christ would make one day when “by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). Since this blood has been sprinkled once for all on the heavenly mercy seat, as it were, we are now “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25).

In this verse, the word “propitiation” is the Greek word for “mercy seat” (and is so translated in Hebrews 9:5). That is, Christ Himself, with His atoning blood, is our mercy seat, where we can meet with God. Thus, the golden, blood-stained mercy seat becomes the very throne of God Himself, where He meets with those who believe on Him for salvation. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (4:16). HMM

Prayer for Justice

Lord, hear a just cause; pay attention to my cry; listen to my prayer— from lips free of deceit. Let my vindication come from You, [for] You see what is right. I call on You, God, because You will answer me; listen closely to me; hear what I say. Display the wonders of Your faithful love, Savior of all who seek refuge from those who rebel against Your right hand. Guard me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 17 vv. 1-2, 6-8).

I want to pray with the same warmth, intimacy, and immediacy with which King David prayed. He unveiled his inner self, crying out to God and pleading for refuge. The old gospel song says it so well:

Under His wings I am safely abiding,

Tho’ the night deepens and tempests are wile;

Still I can trust Him, I know he will keep me,

He has redeemed me and I am His child.

Under His wings, under His wings,

Who from His love can sever?

Under His wings my soul shall abide,

Safely abide forever.

Under His wings, O what precious enjoyment!

There will I hide till life’s trials are o’er;

Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me,

Resting in Jesus I’m safe evermore.

Words by William O. Cushing. Music by Ira D. Sankey.

Once again David confronted his problem head-on and talked honestly to God about his callous, arrogant, and murderous enemies who were frustrating him on every side.

He ends with an exquisitely beautiful verse: “But I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence” (v. 15).

Personal Prayer

Help me, Lord, to give up my quest to find satisfaction in anyone but you. Make me intensely aware that only you can totally satisfy.

Prevenient Grace

His brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.—Genesis 37:28

Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God.—Genesis 45:8

Sometimes God—the Divine Eagle—disturbs the nest to further His purposes. An illustration of this concerns that remarkable Old Testament character, Joseph. When Joseph’s anxious and unenlightened brothers are ushered into his presence, they fall before him on their faces. What a moment! Joseph must have seen in a flash the panorama of his strange and eventful life: his boyhood in Canaan, the dreams by which he had been haunted, the growing hostility of his brothers, the awful day when they fell upon him, cast him into a pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites, the journey down into Egypt, and his life as a slave. He must have remembered, too, the extraordinary events that led to his becoming the Keeper of the Royal Seal with an authority second only to the throne.

But it is not the events, significant as they are, that interest me most, but the conclusions that Joseph comes to as he ponders the past: “Don’t be worried or angry with yourselves,” he says, “for selling me here, because God sent me …” Three times he says it: “God sent me ahead of you …” and “It was not you who sent me here, but God …” The astonishing thing is that there was no anger or bitterness in his heart. And why? Because he recognized the work of the Divine Eagle who had pushed him out of the nest in Canaan in order that he might be the provider for his family in time of famine. God moved him into a position of greater usefulness. “You sold me,” he said, “but God sent me.”

Prayer

O Father, as I look back, the whole meaning of my life is made plain. Many times I have rebelled against the stirring of my own nest, but now I see it was for Your glory and my eternal good. I am so thankful. Amen.

Further Study

Gn 37; 47:11-12, 27; 50:15-21

How was Joseph used as an instrument in God’s hand?

What was his final response to his brothers?

Walk the Talk

Philippians 2:15

In the cut and thrust of business, entrepreneurs are constantly seeking that “winning edge.” One corporation established as a requirement for its merchandise the following standard: “zero defects.” The level of excellence was set; the company would not tolerate a blemished product on the market.

The very nature of Christian integrity is that it calls us toward zero defects. When our actions, thoughts, words or deeds become compromised, Christian integrity becomes blemished.

It is only by the grace of God that such integrity can be attained. This is an inner disposition rather than a coded set of behaviors. Such a high criterion, however, is possible, and when engaged it can be a witness to the grace of Christ.

General Arnold Brown has written of The Salvation Army: “If we are to hope that as a movement we will last through the next century, let alone the next millennium, then our byword and our hallmark must be integrity.”

In due course, integrity will stand out in an influential way simply because it will be in contrast to so much else: “Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” (Phil. 2:15).

The essence of integrity is utter honesty. The word literally means “not a fraction.” In other words, there is wholeness between who we are and what we profess. It means we are for real. It answers the question, “What do you do when no one is looking?” There is a perfect match between our words and our deeds. In the language of the street, we “walk the talk.”

One can sense the desperate need for people of integrity in the world today. Many among the generation of young adults have become cynical regarding the notion that politicians or even church leaders are people of honest principle.

Into this uncertain moral climate every Christian has an opening to be a refreshing agent of the gospel, in the privacy of home and in the openness of the workplace.

Richard Munn, The War Cry