Daily Devotional For Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Yesterday, I shared with you in part 1 some basics to how to have a daily quiet time from a book I wrote years ago called, Time Alone With The Captain. Today, I want to givde you part 2. 

Sailors use “flags” to communicate to one another on board ship and to other sailors on other ships. There are several “flags” that you will need in order to complete your spiritual voyage across the sea of life.  They are Bible Study, prayer, focusing on God, witnessing, scripture meditation, stewardship and tithing and church involvement.  We will discuss how to focus our attention to God, how to have a good Bible study, how to pray and how to memorize scripture.  These are our flags for a great, growing and genuine quiet time.

There are three steps to confession:  A.I.R.

1. A = Acknowledgement: This is where we agree with God that we have disobeyed Him.  You can say something like, “Lord, I have disobeyed you, I’m sorry.” 
2. I = Identification: This is where you name or identify the sins.  You say something like, “Lord, I lost my temper at my wife today,” or “I lied at work today” or “God, I got mad in traffic today and used this curse word” (name it). These are only examples. The reason we name the sin is so that we will feel ashamed and not want to do it again. You specifically identify your sin so that it shows your humility, agreement with God and are ready for the next step.

Think back over the times as a child when you have disobeyed your parents. Have you ever had them to tell you to look them in the eyes and answer this question, “Why did you do that?” Usually we just bow our heads. We feel ashamed. We know that we have let them down. Because we have let them down, it is very hard to look them in the eyes.

Naming a sin to God is just like that. It is where we face our wrong and accept the responsibility for it. It is where we agree with God that our short-term sin experience could have have long-term consequences.

3. R = Repentance:  This is an old fashioned word. It actually means 180 degree turn.  You are going in one direction and you turn and go the opposite direction.  Repentance is where we show the sincerity of our confession. This is where our words of acknowledgement and identification become actions.

Repentance involves:

1. Claiming by faith God’s forgiveness. Read Psalm 103:12,  “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He (God) remove our transgressions from us” (ESV).This is where we thank God for forgiving us.
2. Decide ways to correct the wrong you have done (ex. apologizing to someone for something you said or did that was wrong, or admitting to a friend your sin, etc.). This is the hard part. These are the toughest “mines” to remove from the “spiritual waters” you are traveling in at this point. This is where we become real, vulnerable and responsible. The point here is to correct the sin so that we establish a navigational buoy that guides us through the temptation (i.,e, read daily devotional on our web site here about this: https://www.southsidebaptist.church/blog/daily-devotional-for-saturday-january-13-2024). To not correct the sin or the wrong is to perpetuate it. That “mine” in the sea of life will eventually sink you spiritually.
3. Agreeing with God and thanking God that He has removed the sin means that we will still have to live with the consequences of that sin. Read Colossians 3:25, “For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality” (NASB). For example, God will forgive you for premarital sex, but He will not cause a miscarriage or protect you from some STD (i.e., sexually transmitted disease). God will forgive you for smoking or overeating but He will not protect you from lung cancer or a heart attack. 

Sailboats need AIR to glide along the water. In order for you to continue on your spiritual voyage, you will need AIR.  Remember, NO AIR – NO FORGIVENESS.

• T = Thanksgiving > this is our next letter in our  A.C.T.S. acrostic.

This is the third alphabet-flag-signal we should send to God.  Because we live in such a materialistic society, we are prone to complain.  The Bible tells us to be thankful.  Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (ESV).

Being unthankful is a “mine.”  Consider these questions:

1.     Have I thanked God today for eyesight, hearing, good health and etc.?

2.     Have I thanked God today for the beauty of nature and His creation?

3.     Have I thanked God today for my family, friends and fellowship at church?

4.     Have I thanked God today for taking care of my basic needs?

These are only examples.  The point is to be thankful and grateful.

• S = Supplication > this is our last letter in the A.C.T.S. acrostic.

 This is the fourth alphabet-flag-signal we send to God. At this stage, I like or organize my prayers by days. This helps me be intentional in who I am praying for and it insures that I pray for them There are two phases to this one:

1. Praying for others first
2. Praying for yourself

• Praying for others is called “intercession” because we are praying in behalf of them. Because people have real needs, our requests to God needs to be specific.  It is more than saying, “God, please be with Betty Sue today.”                                                                              

To be specific means that you will:

• Be sincere. Read James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (ESV.  Imagine God working in their life.
• Be faithful:  Keep praying about this request until God answers. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing . . .” (ESV). 
• Get others to pray with you and for them. Read Romans 15:30-31, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, (31) that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints” (ESV). The Apostle Paul asked others to pray with him and for him.
• Make a prayer list.  Here is a suggestion:
  • • • • • • Monday:  Pray for family
            • Tuesday:  Close friends
            • Wednesday:  Church staff and all leaders
            • Thursday:  Lost friends
            • Friday:  Tasks God wants you to do
• Saturday:  Church services
• Sunday:  Government officials
• The second phase is to pray for your own needs. We usually have no trouble in this.  As you can tell this is the last signal we send up rather than the first.  Here are some basics to remember when praying for your own needs:

1. Your requests should never violate the moral will of God. Your requests should never support anything the Bible prohibits. This means whatever God said to you from His Word as your read it, then you include this in your prayer time back to God. It is a way you remind yourself of it and a way you acknowledge to God what He said to you as you read His Word. I would do this when you to to “praying for yourself” as mentioned above.
2. Your requests should include self-involvement.  For example, you’re a student. It is better to ask God to help you discipline yourself to study rather than get an “A” on a test, especially if you chose not to study for it. God expects us to do our part.
3. Your requests should include requests for spiritual growth as well as for material things. Deliverance from temptation (Matthew 6:13, Jesus taught us to pray this in The Lord’s Prayer, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (ESV).
4. Your requests should go up in faith that God will honor your requests. Jesus said this in Matthew 21:20-21, “And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. (22) And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (ESV).
5. Make sure your request does not violate God’s will. Jesus taught us this in The Lord’s Prayer.  Read Matthew 6:10, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (ESV).

I pray this helps you in your prayer time of your daily quiet time.

Scripture to Meditate On:  1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV).

Prayer to Pray: “Dear Jesus, I am so sorry I do not take my sin(s) seriously. I tend to excuse it, justify it and even rrationalize it. I understand that when I rationalize my sin I am making up rational lies about my sin. God, I know You take sin seriouly. That is obvious by looking at You on the cross. God, I do not want to be a slave to my sin. Please help me to be more like You when it comes to my sin -- to take it seriously. I want to be holy, godly and righteous for You out of gratitude for Your death on the cross, Your resurrection from the tomb, and because You command it. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”