Seize the Moment – Day 1148

Practice the Promise of Stillness!

Psalm 46

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 9.

 

Psalm 46:10-11 teaches us the promise of stillness, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.” It may sound more familiar to you when I read the KJV, “Be still, and know that I am God” (NIV & ESV). The Message explains it “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” However you translate it, the point is the same – God’s got this, so stop trying to do it by your own power!

 

Whatever it is you are going through, there is an action plan that involves stillness – setting apart a moment in time to be reminded by your inactivity of God’s activity to cause “all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Prioritizing time for silence and solitude in your busy days is the spiritual discipline of the promise of stillness; it is the intending of your attention on the presence of God. It’s not passivity; stillness is the sacred activity of being “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). As I explained about Jesus in Live Like a Champion Today:

 

Jesus intended His attention on the presence of God throughout His ministry. He prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21) and then immediately went off for a prolonged forty days of silence and solitude in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-2). Jesus gave Himself to the Cross after a time of being still before the Lord, as was His custom, in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-42).[1]  

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 46, meditating upon the presence of the Lord of hosts in your life, and His power to exalt Himself through every situation you will face.

 

God bless you!

 

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

 

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 

FOOTNOTE:

 
[1] Jerry D. Ingalls, Live Like a Champion Today: The 40 Promises in 40 Days Challenge (New Castle, IN: AGF Publishing, 2022), 87.
 

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