April 17

 Joshua 15:1-63, Luke 18:18-43, Psalm 86:1-17, Proverbs 13:9-10 

Pray: There are many things that I have surrendered to You Lord. But the things that I haven’t released to You rise up over and over again to defeat me. Lord, I need to let go. Help me to do just that! Help me to store my time, energy, and treasure in heaven. Help me to do what You say even when what You say is hard for me.

Read: In Luke 18 we read the story of “the rich young leader”. The young ruler was a religious guy. You might say he was the type of person who was in church every Sunday. In many ways he was “picture perfect”. But he didn’t trust God. His trust lay in his possessions. Jesus pinpointed his issue by asking him to sell all that he had and give to the poor. This he could not do. Wealth was his savior, not Jesus.

Edify: Could you do it? Could I do it? If Jesus spoke to me and told me to sell everything and give it to the poor, would I? Would you? This much I know. Money has a stronghold on many of us. We are commanded to tithe. We are told to give 10% of our income to the Lord. Giving everything starts with giving the first 10%. God’s blessing on the remaining 90% soon changes us. Giving whatever God asks becomes doable. Why? We experience a simple but profound truth. We cannot out give God and God can be trusted.

Practice: Don’t wait to experience God until you stand before Him facing eternity. Start today to take Him at His WORD. Simply put into practice what He says to do.