DEVOTION: The Sacrifice of Praise ~ Judith Robl

Focus verses: Hebrews 13:15-16

Whatever our circumstances, the praise of the Lord should be in our hearts and on our lips at all times. When life is good, we thank and praise Him. When life is not so good, we praise Him that He is our all-in-all, that we need nothing but Him.

The reasons to praise Him are many, but yesterday, we celebrated the most important reason. The faithful world waited for His coming with great expectancy.

Then it happened! The Christ-child came in lowly form, but carrying all the power of the infinite God.

Jesus came because God loved us while we were yet sinners worthy of destruction.

Father, God,
Help us always to have Your praises on our lips. Remind us of Your love for us and our debt to You. Carry us close to Your heart, and put a new song of praise to You in our hearts that your praises might encircle the earth like your love.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

DEVOTION: To the Ends of the Earth ~ by Judith Robl

Focus verses: Acts 10:1-11:18

The disciples were all Jews. And until now, the gospel had been preached in the synagogues, reaching more Jews. It was generally thought that this new religion was a sect of Judaism.

In this passage, however, we see that this man named Cornelius – who was not Jewish – had been selected by God to be a convert to this new faith. Cornelius was righteous, much as Job was righteous. He did all the right things and prayed to God. He simply wasn’t a Jew. But he was a son of Adam.

We also see that Peter had been selected to teach Cornelius. The Jewish dietary laws were very explicit. God had told them that certain things were clean or unclean for eating purposes. Peter, in his hunger, was shown a vision of many living creatures and told to kill and eat them. But he objected that he had never eaten anything unclean – ever. But God told him not to judge. That God can make anything clean.

Peter’s physical hunger seems to have been a metaphor for God’s hunger that all the world should know Him. God’s overriding desire is that all men should be saved. Jesus said that the disciples would be witnesses to Him throughout all the earth.

As the spiritual descendants of the disciples, we should be witnessing, too. We should be witnessing to the pagan, the atheist, the deluded, the deceived, the murderer, the rapist, the robber – the entire world.

Let me be very clear here. We do not convert. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. We merely inform. We tell what we know. God will do the rest.

Father, God,
Teach us more of You that we may tell all the world around us. Keep us open to the movement of Your Holy Spirit and rein in our tendency to prejudge.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

DEVOTION: Teaching in Parables ~ by Judith Robl

Matthew 13:1-23

Jesus frequently taught in parables. He uses the parables as concrete illustrations of intangible principles. Those who hear the parable and can make the connection between the tangible and the intangible are the ones to whom He is actually speaking.

That sounds exclusive or elitist, like He was speaking in code simply for self-aggrandizement. That is not really the case.

God wants our hearts softened towards Him and towards the people around us. When Jesus quotes the passage from Isaiah, he is quoting from the Tanakh version. These are the scriptures many of Jesus’ hearers would have known.

From the beginning of His teaching ministry, Jesus quoted the Old Testament scriptures that the Jews of that day would have been familiar with. He did this, not because He needed the bolstering of that authority, but because it was the authority His hearers knew. They needed that assurance that His teaching came from the correct source.

When He taught in parables, some people “got it” the first time around. Others had to think about it before they could come to the proper conclusion. Others simply dismissed it as a cute story.

Hmmm… How many times do we come away from church, remembering the preacher’s illustration as simply a cute story, forgetting the principle contained therein?

Father, God,

Help us to tune our ears to Your words. Open our eyes to see Your instructions clearly. Soften our hearts toward You that we might turn and repent and be healed.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

DEVOTION: Praise ~ by Judith Robl

Focus Verses:

Exodus 5:21-6:13

Aaron and Moses are in the center of God’s will, but Pharoah is obdurate. He makes life as difficult as possible for the Israelites. The people get discouraged and complain to Moses, who takes the complaint to God. God reassures Moses of the outcome. But when Moses tries to reassure the people, they are too discouraged to listen.

Has this ever happened to you? You’re following God, working on the plans He has for you, and the world caves. You get opposition from your family. Seventy-two things go wrong with your business; the car dies; the washing machine overflows; and the cat scratches your face.

And you simply want to throw in the towel and crawl into a cave to get away from all the irritants.

Don’t do it! This is the time to praise the Lord.

God lives in the praises of His people. Now is the time to offer up the sacrifice of praise. It isn’t always easy, but it will make things better.

When you are in the very center of God’s will for your life, the world and the enemy will conspire to keep you from remaining there.

Despite the turmoil and chaos around you, God is the ultimate authority. He will reward your steadfastness with the freedom of His promised land.

Father, God,
Help us to keep our eyes on You and Your vision for our future. Let us not be distracted by externals, but keep us focused on the eternal.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

DEVOTION: What's In A Name? ~ by Judith Robl

Focus verses:

Ruth 1:6-18

The story is that Naomi and Elimelech went to Moab with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, during a famine in Judah. And the sons took wives named Orpah and Ruth.

Translating the names into their respective meanings we get: “MyDelight and MyGodIsKing went to Moab with their two sons, Sickly and Pining, during a famine in Judah. And the sons took wives named Gazelle and Friendship.

During their stay in Moab, MyGodIsKing died. And later both Sickly and Pining died as well. So MyDelight and Gazelle and Friendship were left as widows.

MyDelight decided to return to Judah, the home of her God. Both Gazelle and Friendship started back with her, but MyDelight told them to return to their homes in Moab. Gazelle did go back home (to her old gods), but Friendship had tasted the world of MyDelight’s God and would not leave.

She loved MyDelight and the ways of MyDelight’s God. She would not leave MyDelight’s side.

When we cultivate a friendship with God, nothing can induce us to leave that friendship. We can leave all that we ever knew to be close to God. We cannot pine for what is behind us. We only go on with God.

Whatever is in our past that is not of God deserves to be left behind without regret, without remembrance.

Father, God,
Help us to go on with You, leaving all else behind. Let us not be pulled back into our old ways and old habits.
In Jesus most precious name.
Amen.

JUDITH ROBL is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married fifty years and have four children who have presented them with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.

DEVOTION: Are We There Yet? by Judith Robl

Focus verses:
Genesis 11:27-13:18

"Are we there yet?" Every parent who has taken a driving trip with children knows this question. The answer is easier with a stated destination and a road map showing the landmarks along the way. Without that map and those landmarks, the answer is more nebulous.

Abram set out with his father, Terah, to go from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. But they didn’t go there. They stopped at Haran. Scripture doesn’t tell us when they arrived at Haran, but Abram left his father there when he was seventy-five and Terah was a hundred and forty-five years old.

Terah had set out for Canaan, but stopped short. Abram set out for “the land I will show you” and arrived at Canaan. It seems a continuation of his father’s journey. We can trace it on a map of Bible times.

There are other journeys that are harder to trace. The journey of our life has different landmarks and a different path. For some, we begin at birth, travel through youth, make a stop at marriage and parenthood, progress on to old age and finally arrive at the beginning of eternity, otherwise known as death.

The beginning of eternity can occur at any point on this “typical” journey. But our destination is the Kingdom of God. The only map we have is in this book, the Bible. We can only gauge how far we have come and how far we have yet to go by examining ourselves in light of the Word of God.

We are told several times about the Kingdom of God. Studying these landmarks will help us stay on the right path for our destination. The question is not “are we there yet?” Are we closer than we were yesterday?

Father, God,
Shine the light of Your truth on our path. Keep us faithful to the journey, walking closely in the footsteps of Jesus. Help us to grow in grace and righteousness.
In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

Judith Robl is the founder of Reflected Light Ministries and speaks to women’s groups about prayer, forgiveness, and drawing closer to God. Trained as a secondary level English teacher, Judith has a heart for mentoring. She and her husband, Martin, have been married forty-five years and enjoy time with their grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Her book, As Grandma Says, is a devotional gift book, incorporating her grandmother's adages with an appropriate scripture, a pertinent life lesson, and a word of prayer. Visit her at her website or on Facebook.