DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018
Dear Lord, teach us to trust you to give us strength when we face temptation. Amen.
No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you
to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out
so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 (CEB))
I was overjoyed. It was Friday and payday. But I had a problem. I had no money to take the bus to my job to pick up my check. I thought long and hard and decided that I would try to pass off an old ticket, hoping the bus driver wouldn’t notice. I walked to the bus stop, feeling sick about my decision. Facing this temptation to use deception, I thought of Joseph.
When Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph (Gen. 39:9-12), he didn’t give in to the temptation. Instead, he ran from it. Joseph’s response gives us all a model for when temptation is present. God will deliver a way out of temptation; we just have to take it. I prayed for God to help me, and just as God rewarded Joseph for resisting temptation, God rewarded me as well.
When the bus came, I walked on behind everyone else with my balled up used ticket — and walked back off, deciding not to lie. The bus driver called after me, asking if I needed a ride and allowed me to ride that day for free. Sometimes our problems may seem unbearable and definitely unfixable without deceit, but God knows. If we prayerfully look for another way out of the situation, we can find it.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
I was overjoyed. It was Friday and payday. But I had a problem. I had no money to take the bus to my job to pick up my check. I thought long and hard and decided that I would try to pass off an old ticket, hoping the bus driver wouldn’t notice. I walked to the bus stop, feeling sick about my decision. Facing this temptation to use deception, I thought of Joseph.
When Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph (Gen. 39:9-12), he didn’t give in to the temptation. Instead, he ran from it. Joseph’s response gives us all a model for when temptation is present. God will deliver a way out of temptation; we just have to take it. I prayed for God to help me, and just as God rewarded Joseph for resisting temptation, God rewarded me as well.
When the bus came, I walked on behind everyone else with my balled up used ticket — and walked back off, deciding not to lie. The bus driver called after me, asking if I needed a ride and allowed me to ride that day for free. Sometimes our problems may seem unbearable and definitely unfixable without deceit, but God knows. If we prayerfully look for another way out of the situation, we can find it.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
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James 4:2 You desire things and don’t have them. You kill, and you are jealous, and you still can’t get them. So you fight and quarrel. The reason you don’t have is that you don’t pray! 3 Or you pray and don’t receive, because you pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own desires.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
God provides a way when we resist temptation.
PRAYER FOCUS:
Bus drivers
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4 You unfaithful wives! Don’t you know that loving the world is hating God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy! 5 Or do you suppose the Scripture speaks in vain when it says that there is a spirit in us which longs to envy? 6 But the grace he gives is greater, which is why it says,
“God opposes the arrogant,
but to the humble he gives grace.”[James 4:6 Proverbs 3:34]
7 Therefore, submit to God. Moreover, take a stand against the Adversary, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded people! 9 Wail, mourn, sob! Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom! 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
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God provides a way when we resist temptation.
Bus drivers
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Header Photo Credit: "Harvested Land," Beth Shumate. August 15, 2014. (link)
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