Please note: there will be no Devotions for the week of 10/24
Spend time in prayer and silence with God, asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
James 1:16-18
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
Acts 17:24-25
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
Romans 11:29
God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
Devotion
This week we have been talking about the gifts that God gives to His children and to His church. Today we will focus on the Gift-Giver. From the above passages, we learn several things about God. First, we learn that God is the only true source of every “good and perfect gift.” God is a gracious Gift-Giver. He gives the best to His people. This shows the generous nature of God. If this is true of God, then it should also be true of those who reflect His likeness. Second, we see that God’s character is consistent throughout the ages. He does not change like “shifting shadows.” Therefore, we can rely on His goodness and know that He will be the same yesterday, today, and forever. Third, we see that the Gift-Giver is the Creator who made the universe. Because of His eternal nature, He is self-reliant. He does not need anything from us. Instead, we are reliant on Him for every good thing in life.
Lastly, we see that the Gift-Giver is reliable. His “gifts and call are irrevocable.” God does not give us something good and then take it back. God does not bestow the gift of salvation on someone and then take it back because of a sin committed. God does not give us the gift of His Holy Spirit and then remove the Spirit because of some indiscretion. God does not give us a spiritual gift and remove it from us because we were not exercising it. Our failures do not alter the plan and purposes of God in our lives. Because God is the one true Gift-Giver, we can live in confidence knowing we are loved by God and that it is His desire to give good gifts to His children.
The Big Question
What good gifts have you received from God? How does it make you feel to know that God never changes? Do you reflect the generous nature of God in your life? What did James mean when he wrote, “We might be a kind of first fruits of all He created”? How does the reliability of God encourage your heart today? Are you confident of God’s love for you?
Spend some time in prayer meditating on what God revealed to you today.