It’s a new week—Monday, January 27th, 2025. On my way to breakfast with a friend, I slipped some vitamin supplements into my pocket. However, when I arrived at the restaurant, they were nowhere to be found. Upon closer inspection, I discovered a rip in the corner of that very pocket. Those supplements now lie woefully lost somewhere between home and the restaurant. I wonder if God provides in the same way, but the rips and holes within us allow His blessings to be lost. Read on …
Today's Reading:
Exodus 17,18,19,20; Acts 3
Scripture
“When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways” (Acts 3:26)
Observation
It might seem like a strange approach, but God’s first way of blessing us is by patching up the holes in our lives—turning “each of us from our wicked ways!” That may sound more like a rebuke than anything!
But it’s actually called the “first blessing.”
If we’ve been prone to shading the truth, coveting, gossiping, complaining, or harboring any subtle vices hiding within us, these must be eradicated. Otherwise, our blessings get lost, and the favor of God is forfeited. The first blessing begins with God mending the holes that have kept us from fully enjoying His promises.
Application
I need to make one of my core prayers the same as David’s: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there be any wicked way in me…”
I realize I will always be a sinner and often fall short, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, I can grow wiser and less susceptible to the lure of sin. God's first blessing is to diminish my worldly desires and self-centered habits so that the blessings He places in my pocket will be there when I need them!
Prayer
Father, thank You for revealing that the first blessing You give is mending the holes I have allowed to remain far too long. Forgive me for ever resisting or begrudging Your efforts to patch those areas. Help me to stay still and trust as You sew up the rips so that what You provide will remain!
Sign up to receive Pastor Wayne's devotions daily
