DAILY VIDEO DEVOTIONAL
When I first came to know Christ, I had a friend who was also a new believer. Together we experienced much of the newness and thrill of walking with Jesus. We both led people to Christ. We saw God provide for our material needs. We spent hours in prayer together. There was great joy in seeing God answer those prayers.
But my friend had a tendency to forget what God had done. A week after God had miraculously answered our prayers, my friend would begin to doubt God. He would start saying, “Where is God? He must not care about me or He would answer my prayers.” I’d constantly have to remind my friend that God cared about him deeply — so deeply that He saved him and forgave him. God cared so deeply that He had answered many of his prayers.
Something in our basic human nature causes us to forget quickly the great things God has done. Satan knows this bent in our lives all too well and is quick to take advantage. So we constantly need to make a conscious decision to go back and remember the great things God has done for us.
God knew this tendency in mankind. So He told Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight … [Joshua] said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever’” (Joshua 4:2-7).
It took faith for Joshua and those men to go back into the middle of the Jordan and fetch the stones. God had stopped the river. But how long would the waters remain stopped? It took as much faith to establish a place of remembering how God had stopped the waters as it did to see God initially open the way. They went back into the center of the river, trusting that God would not allow them to drown.
Such an act of remembrance was important to God, so it must be important to the believer. It’s important for us to continually reflect on the great things God has done. Such contemplation will be the source of great praise and thanksgiving — praise for who God is and thanksgiving for all He has done. Those stones would remind them that God had stopped the river. When they dwelt safely in the land, they needed something to remind them how God had answered prayer.
But those stones were not to be a reminder only to those who had seen the mighty power of God in opening the Jordan; they were also to be a reminder to their children. If it’s easy for us to forget what God has done, it’s even easier for our children. Every generation must have a fresh touch from God. Our children must know that God answers prayer. They must know His greatness is apprehended by faith.
When I first came to know Christ, an older Christian friend said, “Read the biographies of the great Christians of the past.” That was some of the best advice I received as a new believer. I was new in my walk with God. I needed to know that the God who had saved and forgiven me had been saving and changing people for a long time. God’s faithfulness is great to every generation. I needed a reminder of the great things He had done.
Where is your place of remembrance? Do you take time to reflect on the great things God has done in your life? Perhaps you need to gather the stones from your memory and spend some time worshiping and thanking God today. Great is His faithfulness.
James : Chapter 1
19) My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20) because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21) Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25) But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Book of the Month
Sammy Tippit told his fiancée, “I can’t promise we’ll be rich, but life won’t be boring.”
Sammy had no idea what an understatement that would become. Beginning in the bars of Baton Rouge and the nightclubs of Chicago, Tippit has shared the news of life-changing faith in Christ all over the world – including in the middle of a revolution in Romania, the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, and war in Burundi and the Congo.
Sammy’s lifelong adventure has come at a great price. He’s been cursed, threatened, arrested, deported, and blacklisted. He’s also been personally broken, ravaged with illness, and devastated by grief.
Yet he continues to preach to in stadiums, in open fields, and via satellite technology to hundreds of thousands around the globe. For all other books…
About Sammy Tippit Ministries
STM has been providing inspiration and help around the world for nearly 50 years. Sammy Tippit, founder and president, is a world renowned counselor, teacher and evangelist with experience serving and helping people in over 80 countries. Sammy provides materials that help people tackle a broad array of social, societal, psychological and spiritual issues. He is particularly passionate about making materials accessible to other countries around the world. Sammy is married to Debara “Tex” Tippit, and they have two children and five grandchildren.
Sammy Tippit Ministries is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization.
Contact: info@sammytippit.org
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