Floodgates of Heaven Devotions: God's Will

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Power to Choose

Today’s Reading: Psalm 23-25, Acts 21:18-40

Today’s Reflection: Psalm 25:12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.

Often when we think of making decisions which we hope will please The Lord, we get caught up in indecisiveness. No doubt we mean well, but please know that The Lord teaches those who make choices with which to move forward, not those who are indecisive.

Now, I do realize that there are times that our Lord may specifically instruct us to “stand still” and watch Him work. However, also note that those are the exceptions and not the rule.

IN (as you are going) all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths (Prov. 3:6). A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps (Prov. 16:9). And again in our text, “Him shall he teach IN THE WAY that he shall choose.”

So, “stand still” moments seem to be the exception, and “in the way” or in other words, God teaching us AS WE’RE GOING seems to be the rule.

I said all of that to say this, which will be a shock to some; God gives you the freedom to choose. Has it ever occurred to you that as life moves on while you walk with God, that there will be many times that you have more than one good choice that you can choose from?

For example, you can be praying about what career path to choose with which to provide for your family, and as far as you can tell, you have more than one option, neither of which would violate your conscience or get you in trouble with The Lord morally speaking.

You fear The Lord and do not want to do anything to offend Him or sin against Him, and so you’ve already narrowed your options down to just a handful of choices, and you still have to make a choice.

It is in these moments that we need to be careful not to allow indecisiveness to hinder us from moving forward with confidence that God will bless us.

Look at the text one more time; What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way that HE shall choose. In other words, as long as all of your options fall within the guidelines of fearing (morally reverencing) the Lord, then God will become your teacher in whichever path YOU choose.

Let that sink in! God is big enough to bless more than one path, any path, or EVERY path that is based on reverencing Him. So, make YOUR choice, then watch HIM teach!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 200 of 365

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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

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There are times we SHOULDN'T talk about God!

Today’s Reading: Job 41-42, Acts 16:22-40

Today’s Reflection: Job 42:7 …the LORD said…My wrath is kindled against thee…for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right…

We CAN talk TOO MUCH about God! That is, we can say a lot more about God than what we actually know to be true about Him. When this happens, The Lord’s wrath is kindled. It is unfortunate today that our Lord is so quickly and so often misrepresented by those who claim to know Him, but know absolutely nothing about Him and His character whatsoever.

Did you know that we can read the scriptures which tell us about many of the acts of God, but without carful study and guidance by His Spirit, we can make assumptions about His person based upon our limited understanding of His acts that may or may not be true?

For example, I think here of when the disciples asked Christ if they should call down fire out of Heaven to consume that Samaritan village which rejected the opportunity to host Jesus temporarily because He wouldn’t stay as long as they wanted Him to.

Jesus rebuked them, saying, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” You see, the disciples made an assumption about the Father’s method of operation based upon the Father’s previous ACTIONS recorded in the Old Testament.

They assumed that His actions of Judgement were to be expected. However, they did not understand the differences of circumstances as it related to the men’s hearts involved, nor did they understand the Father’s mission in each context.

The truth is, His ways are past finding out. We would do better to study His person and His heart rather than His ways. His ways may give us clues, but are often inconclusive as it relates to His future predictability without details which He may never reveal to us.

Furthermore, even though The Word said His ways are past finding out, it never said HE was past finding out! Consider Jeremiah 29:13, which says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Question: Are you busy studying God’s history, or God’s heart? Are you studying His actions, or His ambitions? Are you studying His methods, or His motives? Do you see in the Bible only a list to look at, or a Lord to follow? You see, when you get to know HIM, you can trust His ways, even as varied and unpredictable as they may be!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 191 of 365

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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

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God's best kept secret...

Today’s Reading: 1 Sam. 17-18, Luke 11:1-28

Today’s Reflection: 1 Sam. 17:56 And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.

Before Goliath, David was just a stripling! That is, David was a young man “kept out of site”, as the Hebrew meaning would imply. A man once divinely hidden until it was time for him to be revealed, David is now on full display for all to see. And yet, King Saul is still referencing him as a stripling.

Of course, he is still in disbelief as anyone else, how that someone so young, allegedly inexperienced, and unknown, could just come from out of nowhere and become the national hero of the day. No doubt he was still scratching his head, and trying to figure out how this boy, who previously lived and stayed in the shadows unless he was called upon, and who never spoke unless spoken to, is now taking the stage front and center. How could it be? No one even saw him coming! That is, no one BUT GOD!

David was God’s best kept secret. While everyone else was in a panic, God had a plan! Young David was being groomed and prepared for such a victorious day as this, while being completely hidden from anyone of power or prominence until the time was right. And now, all of the sudden, when God makes His move, everyone including the King himself wants to know more about this kid that came from nowhere!

This proves a couple of things; first, it proves that we should never make assumptions about the outcomes of our battles prematurely. The truth is, we have not seen the end of the story yet, and when we walk by faith, God ALWAYS has a plan. Don’t give up to the battle yet, for it may very well be that God has a hidden strategy in the works, yet to be revealed!

The other thing this proves is that a man’s gift truly does make room for him, and brings him before great men (see Prov. 18:16). Dear minister of the word, obscure as you may be, if you will continue to be a man after God’s own heart, and commit to the promotion of His Word and His agenda alone, God will give you audience.

I’m writing to someone who has a message for the masses while being faithful to the few. You wonder if your message and your gift will ever be shared with all for whom you were created to reach. The answer, according to Matthew 25:23, is YES! “His lord said unto him, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” And it’s not because you desire to “build a name for yourself” as some might suggest, but rather because God has chosen you as a vessel through which He will more thoroughly establish HIS name throughout the earth!

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 101 of 365

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What you are holding back from God is linked to what God is holding back from you! Read more...

Day 41 (Category: God’s Will)

Today’s Reading: Lev. 8-10, Matt. 25:31-46

Today’s Reflection: Lev. 8:33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.

Has your consecration been completed? I know we don’t do things today like they were done during the Old Testament era; however, within this text is found a principle which is applicable to us all as believers. The truth is, when we are bought by the blood of Christ, we are His property, and therefore He sets us apart for His purposes; however, we must be willing to participate in this process, that we “die not” (see v. 35). This means that we only begin to live when we discover God’s purpose for our existence and begin to walk therein. But before we say more, let us answer the question, what is consecration? To consecrate, according to Webster, means “to make or declare to be sacred, by certain ceremonies or rites; to appropriate to sacred uses; to set apart, dedicate, or devote, to the service and worship of God; as, to consecrate a church.” A similar word used more commonly in the New Testament is the word “sanctify”, but basically, you get the idea that you as a child of God are supposed to be different. You are supposed to be set aside for the specific purpose of bringing glory to God with your presence on this Earth. That said, I ask the question again, has your consecration been completed? Meaning, are you truly and wholly set aside for God, or like many Christians today, only partially consecrated? I know we all have a long way to go, but that does not negate our responsibility as His children to make sure that we are entirely sold out to Him, imperfections and all! Could there be areas in your life that are supposed to be His that you have yet to yield to His rightful place of ownership and control? I wish to challenge you as I have personally been challenged myself this morning by The Holy Spirit, that you search out your soul and ask God to help you thoroughly and completely sanctify and set apart EVERY area that has not been brought to that place of total surrender as of yet. It could be tithing, giving, loving, forgiving, repenting, praying, witnessing, or a number of things, but whatever it is, please understand that you will never experience the life God wants to bless you with outside of that place of total surrender to His will and purpose for your life! Let us be consecrated wholly to Him!

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God certainly guides the affairs of men, and it is a wonder to behold! Read more...

Day 36 (Category: God’s Will)

Today’s Reading: Exodus 36-38, Matt. 23:1-22

Today’s Reflection: Ex. 36:2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.

What is The Lord depositing into your heart to do? I find this text most intriguing, as it gives us a close up look of what happens when God inspires not one, but an entire group of people to do something. We ought to rejoice that we have on record in the scriptures sure evidence that God indeed guides the affairs of men, and not only so, but He can unite many under one cause, even when they are not naturally inclined to do so. This ought to be an inspiration to those of us in ministry, who are called to lead others in the cause of Christ, wherever our field of service may be. Indeed, it is refreshing to know that when God gets in your ministry, He can pull some strings that you would never be able to pull yourself! It should be the prayer of every pastor on the planet, that God would put wisdom in the hearts of their respective congregants, coupled with a stirring up to come unto the work to do it. After all, we do understand that unless The Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Why then do we rely so much on our own leadership skills that we fail to pray like we should? We can do more on our knees before the God of Heaven, than we could ever do on our feet before a group of people, no matter how big or small. Let us pray, even as Christ instructed us to, that The Lord would send forth laborers into His harvest. Let us pray for their wisdom, that it would be profound, and their zeal, that it would be never-ending. Let us pray that God would raise up an exceeding great and mighty army, and that this sleeping giant called the Church would rise up and be all that God has called us and equipped us to be. It is only when God leads the charge that it will ever be accomplished. That sounds a whole lot like revival to me; when God’s people are so filled with His spirit, that they follow His leading to accomplish His will for their lives. If we were to see God inspire His people to accomplish the great commission, both with wisdom and with action, as He inspired the Israelites to build the tabernacle, not a corner of the globe would be without a Gospel witness for very long. May God truly pour out His spirit upon ALL flesh, so that the work will be done!
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Small moments lead to big moments! ~ Read more....

Day 21 (Category: God’s Will)

Today’s Reading: Exodus 1-3, Matt. 14:1-21

Today’s Reflection: Ex. 2:6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

This is amazing! Here, the cries of a baby set in motion a chain of events that eventually changed the course of history! If we’re not careful, we will overlook all the small steps in our journey that are leading us to our destiny. Somehow, in each of our day by day moments, we lose site of the big picture; we forget that every step we are taking is leading us to the brink of greater, more significant steps. Nonetheless, each step is important, no matter how small. Who would have thought that it would have been the simple crying of a baby that would spare his life and preserve him for his day of service to God? But, when your life is full of purpose, you can see tracings and hints of the Sovereign’s planning, maneuvering, and influence threaded all throughout your life, preparing you for something bigger than you would have ever dreamed for yourself. It is absolutely inspiring to see the life of Moses, with such humble beginnings, to become such a patriarch of our faith, and yet, he too had many seemingly average and ordinary days filled with average and ordinary events, or so it seemed. We often mistake our lives to be of less value than they actually are, because we’re not daily conquering some new quest, going on some new great adventure, coming up with a cure for cancer, or something we look at as worthy or noble. However, could it be that your so called average and ordinary life, filled with days of monotonous routine and natural inclinations have been guided ever so discreetly by a Divine hand, who has something in mind He’s preparing you for that you’ve never even considered as of yet? This is often how God works! So, don’t be surprised when He informs you of plans He has had for you since before you were even born, even if it’s not until you think you are too old to make a difference. You see, there was nothing strange about baby Moses crying, as all babies cry. Even so, your life may seem to be filled with normal things that happen to normal people all the time, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t become a vessel of honor fit for God’s use! Your course has been guided by His hand all along; only trust and obey when He gives you your assignment.

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