Daily Devotional from The Way Bible Church for December 5th, 2019

As with Mary in today’s scripture text, when people are faced with an opportunity that they know is greater than the ability they possess to accomplish it, doubt is quick to set in. You see it all throughout the Bible. Most every person that God used to bring about something He wanted, when first approached with it was quick to begin listing their inadequacies. Whether it be Moses at the burning bush, Joshua moving Israel into the Promised Land, or Gideon who God wanted to use to deliver His people from a fearsome oppressor, each one was quick to revel how much their faith lacked in comparison to their doubt. All of these ‘Great Heroes’ of Bible began their journeys by trying to talk God out of choosing them. In spite of all of this doubt, God still saw fit to use them, why? Because their lack of faith wasn’t in the Lord but in themselves. This changed, however, when they began looking upward instead of looking inward. When God presents you with an opportunity to do something on His behalf He doesn’t expect you to do it. He wants to do it through you. He didn’t want Mary to try and conceive His Son apart from Him, otherwise what was conceived wouldn’t have been God in the first place. The same is true with anything He asks of you. He doesn’t want you to try to accomplish it apart from Him. The worst thing you can do for the dreams and promises He’s given you is to put your faith in your own ability to make them happen. His plan has always been to for you to do these things with Him, not just for Him. Have you been frustrated by what you feel is an impossible task given to you by God? If so, you’re in very good company. Like the others who went on before you to do extraordinary things for the Kingdom, you must stop looking inward and start looking upward. – Love and Blessings, Pastor Jeff