Ben & Ruth Devotionals

“Goals and Vision for the Future and God's Tomorrow”

May 29, 2022

 

Ask God to enlarge your vision, to show you how much more He has for you beyond what you have ever seen, or felt, or heard, or known! It's there! --But He's waiting for you!  If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else.

 

Let's not allow the enemy to distract us...

 

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his demons, he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep Christian believers from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep a Christian from having good values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them have their fellowships, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus. This is what I want you to do, demons. Distract every Christian from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection with Him throughout their day!"

 

"How shall we do this?" shouted the demons.

 

Satan answered:

 

Keep them busy with the nonessentials of life and invent tons of schemes to occupy their minds.  Tempt them to spend, spend, spend and then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the Christian wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day so they can afford their lavish lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. Keep them from spending time reading the word of God. As their family breaks apart, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work.

 

Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice of the Holy Spirit. Entice them to play on their phones, listen to worldly music or to the radio whenever they drive. Encourage them to keep the TV on all the time and their computers going constantly. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays my demonic music all the time. This will jam their minds and break that connection with Christ.

 

Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with news, 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail and every kind of newsletter, free products, cheap services and false hopes.

 

Even in their recreation, get them to be excessive. Have Christians return from their recreation exhausted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out into nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for inspirational, spiritual fellowship, get them to gossip and have small talk so that they leave with troubled minds and unsettled emotions.

 

Crowd their lives with so many "good" causes that they have no time to seek power from the Holy Spirit. Soon they'll be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause.

 

It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.

 

Has the devil been successful at his schemes? You be the judge.

 

*****

 

We must not be limited by the scope of the acts of the children of God of the past! Keep your hopes high, no matter how low you feel. The outlook for us in this World and our future here could hardly be darker! But the uplook could hardly be brighter or more glorious!

 

It's exciting to look forward and up to heights you're soon to attain if you keep fighting, climbing, winning and don't quit! Always attack each challenge not with why we can't, but how we can.

           

Nearly every great accomplishment took years of planning and laborious engineering. Keep your eyes on the goal, and the victory in your soul! And if you go, go all the way!

 

Only he who attempts the ridiculous can achieve the impossible. Nothing ever built arose to touch the skies unless some man dreamed that it should, some man believed that it could, and some man willed that it must. There is no limit to the possibilities for a man with imagination.

 

If you aim at nothing, you're sure to hit it. The man who walks with God always gets to his destination. The poorest man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream. If God is your partner, make your plans large. Anybody who thinks the sky is the limit has no imagination. Everything that man has ever dreamed of or imagined is somehow going to be fulfilled or is possible in the realm of God's possibilities.

 

Don't let all these nagging little details get your minds and hearts off the end of the road! There may be a lot of flat tires, car troubles, breakdowns, repairs and delays, but we'll hit the road again and keep on rolling, and nothing can stop us till we've reached the end and that Heavenly City with its Space King, Who makes it worth it all!

 

I like to set my sights high and aim at a goal that I know would be good if we could ever attain it. We shouldn't bring our goals down to the level of little faith, but rather try to raise our faith to the level of higher goals. When you see the vision, you've got to be willing to believe it, have the faith to trust and act on it. Even if it's crazy or they may think you're crazy, you've got to believe it and you've got to act on it and have the faith to try it and be willing to have the courage to really see it through in spite of what it costs. And it may look for awhile like you lost all and it's cost everything.

​

“He Holds Tomorrow”

by Ruth Davidson

 

While we live in a world full of unrest and uncertainties, it’s wonderful to know that we have a loving Savior who knows our every heart cry, our every need. He fills us with certainty from His word, and as we put our hand into His, we have nothing to fear.

 

“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

As we look upon the horizon of a new beginning, we will do so without trepidation, knowing that we have the assurance of hope for the future. “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.” 

 

Our Creator beckons us to walk ever closer to Him. While we are focused on our Lord and eager to change, we become transformed. He tells us not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, and pleasing will.

 

The Lord said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” 

 

We may not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.

 

Girded with all these precious promises, let us march onward, fully equipped with the knowledge that our wonderful Creator will keep us through today, tomorrow and beyond as we keep our eyes fixed upon Him.

 

Through the years, the hymn “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,” has been a tremendous inspiration to me whenever I waver or falter.

 

Song:

“I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”

 

“I don’t know about tomorrow; I just live from day to day.
I don’t borrow from its sunshine for its skies may turn to grey.

I don’t worry o’er the future, for I know what Jesus said.
And today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.

      Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand,
     but I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.

      Every step is getting brighter as the golden stairs I climb;
     every burden’s getting lighter, every cloud is silver-lined.
     There the sun is always shining, there no tear will dim the eye;
     at the ending of the rainbow where the mountains touch the sky.

      I don’t know about tomorrow; it may bring me poverty.
     But the One who feeds the sparrow, is the One who stands by me.
     And the path that is my portion may be through the flame or flood;
     but His presence goes before me and I’m covered with His blood.

      Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand,
     but I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.”

​

*****