Am I in the Right Place – Depends on Who led you to that Place – Morning Devotion

And It Shall Come to Pass – Devotionals
Prepared by Pastor Calvin Cook – January 6, 2024
At the Right Place –

Genesis 12: 1-5 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

I often ask myself “Am I in the right place?” This is not when I have traveled 100 miles in the wrong direction or depending on my personal in my mind GPS that I always know the way. It is more than this. It is looking at your life routinely, and asking in your personal life, business life, social life, and for me in my leading of a church life. I admit to praying for guidance and direction. There are times when the answer comes quickly there are other times that God seems slow to answer. In my prayer time this morning, I am seeking direction to a certain situation very diligently and asking, “what is taking so long?” I felt the Holy Spirit answering the question, that I am not yet in mind, body, and soul to receive the answer I am looking for. It is hard to listen and even have a gentle patience at the same time.

As I am reading in my personal study and time of devotion through Genesis, this morning’s reading brought me to the call of Abraham. Though it was certainly a much different time and culture, through Abraham’s example I felt the reminding or renewal of some truth from these opening verses.

1. Be prepared to listen clearly and fully with full devotion to what God is calling you to, not what you are desiring but what God’s call is on your life.

2. Have trusted people around you. People who are willing to accept you in good and bad times. Stand with you, pray with you, laugh with you, cry with you, but give you truthful answers without retribution. This is the main thing that social media has ruined. Not only personal sit at the table and have conversation but to not judge what a person says in a one or two sentence post without knowing what the one posting might be going through or searching for.

3. Be willing to leave what has become normal and usual. God cannot do the thing in you that he has promised, unless you are willing to receive the guidance and direction that might take you out of comfortable. We face this in every way when we are not willing to change from wrong to right or accommodate the move of the Holy Spirit.

4. This might be the most important – make worship the center of your life. If in private or public, in a grand sanctuary or a living room, with 1000 people or 3 people be prepared always to worship and bring praise to the God of power, awesomeness, glory and all authority.

5. Bring a sacrifice. We read that when Abraham and others arrived at the place that God had called them to they brought a sacrifice. What sacrifice can you bring before the Lord. A cup of coffee for someone cold or thirsty, a pleasant hello to the stranger, a monetary gift to a struggling church or ministry that is desiring with all their heart to be the church, giving up a couple hours a week to (mentor) disciple someone or be discipled yourself. And so much more!

The answer to my early question of where, when, and how will be determined by God. Until then may we remain faithful to the cause of Christ in this present age. May we take time to notice God moving all around us. Most importantly may we care for our soul separating us from the evil of the world and of these days.