Rejoice:

Read:

Proverbs 3:¹¹ My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,¹² because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

One of the deepest issues in our country today is the lack of fathers, or even in the physical presence STILL a lack of fathers. Unfortunately many are without fathers and that plays a detrimental role in their lives. It leaves them with one parent trying to discipline, love, and lead their children while simultaneously providing for them. More often than not, leading and disciplining the children is the one thing the single parent will allow to go to the wayside as they tirelessly work to assure they are not homeless.

In the same way, it seems, even in most homes with both parents this tends to be the process: neglecting discipling the children as both parents tirelessly work towards maintaining the process of life we think is most important…. while simultaneously failing in the MOST important area. We have developed a generation of people who have not properly been lead because their parents were to busy.

God is not this way. He patiently and uniquely disciples His children regardless of how “busy” He ends up being. However, we will often grow weary of His discipline because it seems we are so busy and focused on the important things yet God is disciplining us in areas that seem frivolous, and it’s annoying. Yet God sees the bigger picture, which is what most parents lack. Now this is not isolated to parenting, it permeates every level of leadership in America. This is one of the greatest MOs (Modus Operandi) of the enemy. He has us focus on the ‘more important’ in our own eyes and we neglect the ones who could ultimately help us in those areas. Let me explain it this way:

A lot of people are busy working, taking care of their kids (not discipling), and a multitude of other things. Well, one of the things we often neglect is cleaning-specifically our toilets lol. SOOO we have this lime buildup within the toilet, or yellowing around where the water sits. As we tirelessly work day in and day out we find time passing by so quickly and we know the pressing need but seem to never get to it because… well priorities. So, when we finally get to cleaning it (maybe someone is coming over) the once shiny white porcelain is now clean… but not as shiny. This ritual is now hastened as each time we leave the grime it seems to build up FASTER and gets even more marred. NOW after cycles our toilet is left looking dirty even when it is clean. All because of our priorities. However, if you spent 5 minutes every day whipping down your bathroom it would NEVER take a long time because you’re simply keeping the dirt at bay instead of scrubbing it all off. Our priorities are generally: URGENT, Important, Less Important, so on and so forth.

So what? What do we do man?! Well, change your priorities. Stop letting the loudness of your mind’s evaluation be the thing that sets your priorities. Instead, ask the Lord what He would want you to do. It’s time to take back our priorities. I know, I know, it seems like life is filled with 100 5 minute tasks which we don’t have time for. However, if you get a grasp on the truly important things you’ll find yourself having more time for the “urgent” and your mind is clear and less stressed. Not always. Yet you’ll no longer be neglecting the big things for the urgent things. We need to pray for priorities simply STOP. Be willing to let go of things your flesh is saying is more important. Is it really a good thing to spend all your time working for money to pay for the things you have while wasting all your time working is letting the things you have degrade and become useless (including your children)? Perhaps it is time for American Christians to wake up and realize that they are tirelessly working towards providing while passively destroying the things they are looking to provide for.

Respond:

Spend 1 minute giving thanks for the Lord’s discipline and training even while He is clearly holding the world together and keeping it from blowing up in hate. THEN spend 2-3 minutes praying for the Lord to guide you to the RIGHT priorities… and be willing to listen and change!

Relate:

Like the recent devotions: I hardly have to tell you have to relate here because I am trusting you prayed and God told you what to do. If you listen to Him and obey you’ll see how you should be relating. HOWEVER I suggest maybe simply sharing the truth God is telling you about priorities with ONE friend. That’s all it takes. If we all share God’s truth with just one other person we’d be reaching 160+ people (we get around 80 readings of the devotion per day). Can you do that? Listen to the Lord for His specific instructions but don’t forsake sharing this information with someone. That doesn’t have to be sending them this devotion (though that’s the easiest method). Instead, TELL them. When they see the specifics in how your life is changing, this won’t be just some random guy writing a devotion. When you open your life and relate with others you show them a real world case study about how God is changing people.

 

I know the devotion turned from fathers to priorities, but I just open the Scripture, pray, and start typing. What the Lord brings to mind and pours through my hands is what it is. Once it’s written I only change grammar etc. lol. 😀