Solid

 

Those who fear the Lord are secure; He will be a refuge for their children. Proverbs 14:26

Our youngest son, Elijah, just recently passed his driver's test and now has his license.  This is another milestone for our boys as our oldest, Elliott just started his first semester of college at UTC.   Now that both boys are mobile and thankfully both have been pretty healthy in the past few years of high school, I remember those earlier years when the boys were in and out of daycare due to sickness which caused us to take time off many days from work in order to stay home with them.  Looking back, it was (and still is) pretty stressful for the both of us to miss work and balance time at home with sick children.  We are all promised difficulties during the course of our journey and the above passage from Proverbs is one to remember during those difficult times…

You see, when you strengthen your faith with the truths of God's Word every new morning, you build a solid foundation that will not easily crack under pressure.

When the troubles of life come your way, the attacks may come close to knocking you down, but a strong foundation will keep you on your feet because God's truths are eternal.

Stand firm and solid like a rock on a foundation that comes from trusting and fearing God!

Everyday I Write The Book

 

“Stop your striving and recognize that I am God!  I will be exalted over the nations!  I will be exalted over the earth!”  Psalm 46:10

God sure has a unique way of speaking to me.  As stubborn as I am, He often hits me with the same truth(s) over and over again until I finally yield.  The past month has provided a wonderful season of Spiritual growth for me and the reoccurring themes that I have been focusing on are: ‘giving up control’ and ‘yielding to God.’  Almost daily, I have either read or heard something regarding the subject matter of ‘letting go and letting God.’

The key to giving up control in our life and submitting to God requires us to be patient and wait while remaining hopeful and trusting.  These virtues certainly do not come natural for me, as I would like to have some say over matters or hang onto a false sense of belief that I am actually in control of my life.  Our strength is found in our weaknesses and our patience in waiting for Christ to do His work, which is evidence that we honestly do trust Him.

Hoping is directly tied to our future inheritance in heaven, but the benefits of hope can be experienced right now.  Instead of trying to manipulate or ‘control’ every aspect of our lives, we must learn to just live each day simply looking for or just being aware of His presence.  Your eyes will be opened to a whole new world realizing that God is the one who is in control and his plans are for our good!

Money

 

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.  Matthew 5:3

We all have basic needs that need to be met in order to survive: food, water, shelter, and love.  When our needs are met, you are content and satisfied, but when your wants are unmet, we are left discontent and wanting more.

Don't get me wrong, our wants are not always negative, but sometimes they can lead us astray from what God desires for our lives.  Wants can also lead us to ruin if we become obsessed with pursuing them.

Having our needs met by God shows us His almighty power and provision that teaches us that He is indeed good and trustworthy.  We must learn to trust God and not money and learn to distinguish between our needs and our wants.

Christian author, Max Lucado, said it best: 

"Those who trust money are foolish.  They are setting themselves up to be duped and dumped into a dystopia of unhappiness.  Have you ever noticed that the word miser is just one letter short of the word misery?"

Don't Change

 

O Lord, you examine me and know.  You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives….Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. Psalm 139:1-2, 6

After binge watching pretty much every single available television series over the past few months, there is nothing "new" to watch and I must admit that I have found myself watching a reality television show with Alicia that we consider our ‘guilty pleasure.’  On this show, the men and women are in extremely good shape, with no substance, and are competing to win 'love', I mean, a ridiculous amount of money and publicity.  After watching this week’s episode, I began to feel a little negative about my personal appearance, despite the substantial amount of exercise I engage in most every day of the week.

If I am feeling this way, I can only imagine how much of the viewing audience feels after watching a show like this.  It’s easy to compare ourselves to what society considers  ‘attractive’ and at the same time, it is also very unhealthy.  God made each one of us in His own image and we are all created uniquely.

We were all paid for by a high price, Christ’s death on the cross, all because of God’s love for each one of us.  We are all designed to be in a relationship with our Father and our whole being belongs to Him.

Any pursuit we follow to look, feel, or perform better will never give us the satisfaction we seek if we do not live in communion with God.  He loves us and created each one of us in His image, so don’t compare yourself to someone else; you will always be precious to Him!

Mysterious Ways

 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My Ways..." Isaiah 55:8

Have you ever found yourself frustrated with God when you really depended on Him to provide a miracle or blessing and it didn't happen the way you wanted it to?  I would definitely have to answer "yes" to this question myself, but am also just now beginning to learn and understand God's ways are always much better than my own, and by no means are they my ways.  That, my friends, is a good thing! 

Some people do not believe that God actually works miracles at all, while others are convinced that something is wrong with their faith if God is not performing miracles on a daily basis.

You see, God works in both ordinary and supernatural ways.  God used a pretty ordinary stream to provide the prophet, Elijah, water when he needed it the most.  When the brook ran dry, there was no miracle, it just signaled Elijah to move on to the next thing that God had planned for him.  Think about Jesus' first miracle; He transformed water to wine at a wedding celebration.  Jesus also raised a man from the dead and He Himself rose from the dead after three days.  I don't know about you, but I would label all three as miracles!

It's easy to look at God's bigger works, the miracles, to see His presence. We must also look for His works in the everyday, common events in our lives too.  For He is there and is always opening and closing doors, creating new opportunities, when we are not even aware that He is there!

Impossible

 

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible.”  Matthew 17:20

The past several months have been very challenging as we have experienced some life changes.   Our oldest is off at college and our youngest is another driver so this has been an adjustment period for both me and my wife.  I keep coming back to Jesus’ words in Matthew.  “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible.”

The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, so it often used to refer to something small in size.  Our faith is not a matter of quantity, but more of quality.  What do we put our faith into?  Is it ourselves or others?  Is it in money we have in the bank or our material possessions?  Or, is it in the One, the Solid Rock? 

We do not have to have great faith in God before you can do what seems impossible; just faith in a great God!

Would I Lie To You?

 

Because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.  In view of all of this, make every effort to respond to God's promises.  2 Peter 1:4-5

If I had to be perfectly honest about the season I am currently in, I would undoubted tell you that I am one blessed man, but at the same time I am also in a new and uncharted territory that sometimes leaves me doubting myself and questioning God on a few items.  

At home, I am blessed by all means, but managing our busy schedules and also making time to spend with family and friends remains a never-ending challenge.  At work, I am blessed with my career track and new opportunities, but things are still difficult with the uncertainty that many employers are facing as it pertains to health care reform. We are seeing rates increases on group medical insurance that are simply not affordable with no end in sight. 

Doubt is okay, and it doesn't necessarily mean that we have less faith, it just means our faith is being challenged in new ways.  When we find ourselves in uncharted territory, we must allow our doubt to move us closer to God instead of further away from Him.

God gives us all many promises and the last time I checked, He has never broken a single one.  We must learn to trust Him instead of doubting Him.

When we trust, we fall deeper in love with Him and our faith grows even stronger.

Tomorrow

 

So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.  2 Corinthians 4:18

 

Following a series of unforeseen events that transpired between work and home, I pretty much felt defeated by the time the day ended on Monday.  Simply stated, I was feeling overwhelmed.  As hard as it was, I really made a conscious effort to keep my focus on Christ as best I could.

God promises us all that the troubles looming in our lives today will not last forever.  So, our goal should be on focusing our attention away from our hurt and pain and looking towards the things that will last forever-God's never-ending love, His gift of grace and mercy, and eternity in heaven with Him.

When you fix your eyes on Him, your present troubles will be seen as only temporary because you know that they won't last for long.

We can live our lives with confidence today because we have a greater hope in God's promises for our lives tomorrow.  

Rock of Ages

 

Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is always the same, yesterday, today, yes and forever to the ages.  Hebrews 13:8

Think of how many friends and relationships you have had over the course of your lifetime.  Now, think about how much people (yourself included) have changed during the friendships/relationships.  It's human nature that we change; sometimes we change for the better sometimes it's for the worse.

Now, think of the reasons why you love Jesus.  The obvious answers are that He loves us, or He gave His life for us on the cross to save us from certain peril, or He rose again on the third day.  But what about your daily relationship with Him?  When you look at how constant Jesus is with us, one of the qualities you will appreciate the most is that He never changes.

The reason we can love and trust Him is that He is never changing.  Jesus said "This is the way I was, and this is the way I'm always going to be."

There are not many constant things or people that you can count on any more, but you can always count on Jesus.  He can change anything that needs to be changed in your life, but he will always stay the same!

Twenty Years Later

 

God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.  2 Samuel 22:33

It’s been over two decades since I invited Jesus Christ into my life as my personal Lord and Savior.  Through the years, God has given me total assurance that He loves me, first and foremost, and that He is much larger than any problem that I will ever face over the course my lifetime.  Knowing that He loves me and will never leave my side has provided me with a Supernatural strength of sorts that allows me to hold on to hope and retain joy, regardless of my circumstances.  After all these years since my mother passed away, the pain is still raw, but with God by my side I have been able to keep moving forward...  

This same confidence can be yours if you are willing to accept that He has every available resource in the universe to draw upon to help us through any type of crisis, if we will only trust Him.

He delights in showing me daily that He is the ultimate source of my strength, my protection, provision, and success in life.  He is in control of my life and knows everything that is going to happen to me tomorrow, next week, next year, until my time on this earth is up.

Give up the control in your life and turn it over to the One who loves you and is larger than anything you will face in this life!!

Imagine

 

The Lord gives His people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace. Psalm 29:11

You don’t have to search too hard to determine that we live in a broken world these days.  If you don’t agree, just watch the news or read a newspaper.  I have made a conscious effort to keep the television, especially the news, off over the past year or so and it has helped my mental state.  Sometimes, it is overwhelming and hard to find peace with so much going on in the world around us. 

The above passage from Psalm 29 assures us that true peace can only come from God.  Furthermore, peace with God comes from living the way that God wants his people to live.  Once we are in a relationship with our loving Father, we must choose to live according to the standards he provides us in his Word.

When we follow God’s instructions on how to live, God strengthens us and blesses us with a peace that is only found in Him!

The End Of The Innocence

 

For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).  But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).  

1 Corinthians 13:9-10

Being 52 years old now and a little wiser (not really), the more I realize that I simply do not have all of the answers to life.  Not even close.  This is a far cry from my attitude of being younger where I was convinced that I knew everything, much to my parents’ amusement.  

I can now see these same tendencies both of our boys, Elliott who is off to college for his freshman year, and Elijah who recently celebrated his 16th birthday earlier this month.  We have multiple disagreements about who is the GOAT; Michael Jordan or LeBron James and heated debates over our favorite comic book characters and neither realize that I just may know a little more than some of the boys in his circle of friends, especially when it comes to the Marvel and DC Universe.  (After all, I am still a comic book nerd and not ashamed to admit it)!

We must change our attitudes and thinking from believing that we know it all, to trusting God  and living with unanswered questions.

No matter where we are in our walk of faith, God will continue to lead us and in doing so, He requires us to fix our eyes on Him, and follow Him one step at a time.

Keeping The Faith

 

He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might.  No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.  Psalm 147:10-11

With the summer coming to a close and school back in session, the month of August always makes me reminisce about 'two-a-day' football practices in the blistering heat of East Alabama.  Most players start the preseason off competing for a spot as a starter on the team.  During practice, the players give their best effort on the field with hopes that the coaching staff will award them with a coveted position on the team.  As exciting and competitive as this entire process is, I am convinced that God is more impressed with our faith than our actual abilities.

If we want to accomplish great things in this life and delight God in the process, we must be willing to step out in faith and allow God to accomplish great things through us.  Our abilities give us the potential to do good while our faith gives us the power to do good.

Our potential and limited power is not sufficient; we must change our limitations to an unlimited faith in God!!

Hold On To Hope

 

We have thought of Your steadfast love.  O God, in the midst of Your temple.  Psalm 48:9

There are times that I certainly feel overwhelmed with trying to balance my life-responsibilities at home and at work, obligations with family and friends, and as a result it’s easy to feel down.  I question if I am being the husband and father that my family needs me to be.  Am I a good son to my father? What about my sister? Am I the brother she needs me to be? Am I being a good neighbor?  How is my performance at work?  Am I going ‘above and beyond’ to serve as God would have me serve?  Before I get too far down, I have found that it always seems to help to recall all of the good things that God has done, is doing, and is going to do in my life.

When we ponder the doings of God and the works of His hands, it  is hard to stay down for long.  The enemy will always come against us to make us feel depressed or discouraged, but we must choose to remember the times where God has blessed us and delivered us in the past.

When we focus on His good works, hope will rise in our hearts and our troubles won’t seem too big!  Praise His holy name!

Tomorrow's Dust

 

I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and He is the judge.  John 8:50

It was SIXTEEN years ago this very day that I made an attempt to write and posted the first Daily DEVO on this “God’s Will; Fisher of men" Blogger site. It has truly been a joy and labor of love, both personally and spiritually, and I would like to say a very grateful and humbled “THANK YOU” to all of the folks who take time out of their day to read the Daily DEVO.

I hope that along the way, the DEVOtionals have been what you needed to read, at a time that you needed to read them.  After all, I try to write about something that is relevant to people in their walk of faith; things that we struggle with as spouses, as parents, as friends, as siblings, as neighbors, as co-workers, etc.

There are so many blogs out there, each one different in many aspects and many are focused solely on the glorifying the individual author/writer.  I have prayerfully sought God’s will and have attempted to apply His word with my personal life experiences to ultimately glorify Him and not seek glory for myself.

I am convinced that God puts certain people in your life for a reason.  Just like each of His many provisions-He always gives us what we need, just when we need it.  The same holds true for His living and breathing Word; when we seek Him though scripture, He speaks to us and gives us His infinite and Holy wisdom.  When I had my ‘calling’ into the ministry, I would have never imagined in a million years that it would begin in the blogging world, by writing a daily devotional.

It’s inspiring to know that the Daily DEVO has been viewed over 780k times (WOW!!) over the past sixteen years, and I hope that God will continue to use this Blog to reach even more people in the days, weeks, months, and years to follow.

Again, I thank you for reading the Daily DEVO and I hope you have a blessed day!! 

Much Love and Peace,

-Will

Sunrise

 

 

His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning.  Lamentations 3:22-23

I truly enjoy watching the sun rise in the mornings.  The sunrises are exceptionally beautiful here in East Tennessee and this time of the year, I run outside in the mornings, just to enjoy God's beauty before the rigors of life begin...

With every sunrise that I witness, I am reminded that God is the One who meets our needs each and every day.  His supply is never-ending and He always gives us precisely what we need at precisely the time that we need it.  He never gives us stale leftovers; instead we are each given something that’s new and alive.

It’s hard to begin each day without being reminded of His mercy, forgiveness, compassion and love.  On any given morning, the dark night’s sky is pierced by the red and purple rays of the morning sun and the peaceful sounds of living creatures stirring to begin their day.

Regardless of what happened to us the day before, God greets us with open arms so that we can start fresh every morning.

What Are Words For?

 

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.  But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  Galatians 6:8

Just like a loaded gun, the hurtful words we say to another person can have a lasting effect on someone else's life.  Too often, the words come quickly before we have had a chance to think them through and once they have left our mouths, the damage has already been done.  Similarly, the encouraging words we share with another person just may lead someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

In both cases, words have consequences.  Sin always leads to negative and deadly consequences, while faithfulness to God always leads to positive consequences and life.

We must focus on doing things that have positive consequences; starting with the words we choose. Let us build others up rather than tearing people down.

Ant Music

 

But like a boxer I buffet my body (handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships) and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit (not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit.)  1 Corinthians 9:27

The above verse from Corinthians has always perplexed me, but Paul is referring to self-control, self-denial, controlling urges and subduing our sinful flesh lives.  Unfortunately, many people, myself included have the wrong idea about life-it’s not always supposed to be easy.

Proverbs 6:6-8 talks about the ant, “which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.”   We need to be more like the ant, who is self-motivated, self-disciplined and self-controlled.

We must do right because it is right, not because someone is always watching us or making us do it.  

Miracles

 

The joy of the Lord is your strength!  Nehemiah 8:10

 

Sixteen years ago today (do we really have another teenager driving now?!?), Alicia and I welcomed our second and youngest son, Elijah Foy Fisher, into this world.  He was born without any complications and seemed to be doing just fine those very first hours of his life. Of course, he arrived in the middle of the night and after all was said and done, Alicia and I were simply too exhausted to notice anything out of the ordinary.  Less than 48 hours later, we found ourselves in the NICU at Children’s Hospital as Elijah was having small contractions that the doctors eventually diagnosed as seizures.  After multiple tests, exams, prayers, and tears, Elijah was discharged from Children’s Hospital three days later and we were never more happy to be in the confines of our own home.

During those days of uncertainty and fear, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace and joy that couldn't have come from anywhere or anyone else but our loving Father.  You see, joy springs from God’s love, which is not dependent on our circumstances or our performance, good deeds, etc.

The more we seek Him, the more we find Him.  The more we find Him, the more we know and love Him, and the greater our joy will  be.

We will only find perfect peace and everlasting joy in heaven, but we can experience joy now by walking with God.