The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep.” —John 4:11

Journal JDV & DJR
Good Morning, Lord,
Lord, I understand why Chambers would write a devotional like this for his students, trying to help them with their fears and worries about how they will live as missionaries. And I think I understand how many of us would erroneously wait to see how You were going to take care of us before we step out into faith. But God, I have stepped out into the unknown, full of faith and hope only to fall flat on my face. Was I really following your leading? Or was it a figment of my imagination, or? It has on occasion seemed like a Peanuts cartoon where Lucy pulls the football away just as Charlie Brown runs to kick it…and Charlie Brown falls on his face. How can I continue to step out in faith, seek waters that will end my thirst, or step out of the boat when I have fallen on my face so often?

And God says…”Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will supply everything else you need. The scripture does not say that I will supply everything else you THINK you need. Your faith cannot depend on your experience of My delivery system or the outcomes of your requests. My ways are not your ways. You must have faith in Me and My judgment about what it is you need to have an abundant and fruitful life. Step one is to put aside your own notions of what you need, and ask and allow Me to guide your hopes and thoughts about your needs and the outcomes of your requests.

When you come to me with pre conceived notions about what the answers are, you are setting yourself up for the Charlie Brown – Lucy scenario. There are many ways to disappoint yourself and you’ve tried a lot of them. Just know that I love you. I am good. I want the best for you. My timing is not your timing. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. My plans for you are good (Jer 29:11) As you can see, none of this depends on your expected result. So keep on knocking and seeking me and my kingdom but just stay curious as to how the answers to your prayers will be delivered and what they will look like. Remember Daniel was answered immediately but had Angelic warfare added into the mix, so it took a little longer. Those things still happen you know…

But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Dan 10:13

None of my men got everything they wanted, exactly when they wanted it. Paul asked 3 times about that thorn. In the end, My Grace delivered the answer for him as it will for you too.

…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. —2 Corinthians 12:15

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
One thing I’ve become convinced of is that I can’t serve well in 27 different capacities. I become too diluted and then do them all poorly and then go on a guilt trip because I’m not doing them well. So it seems that I need to hear you well through our connection and focus on the service that you have for me and learn to say no, thank you, to the other opportunities … without feeling guilty.

If you are doing anything “for me” out of guilt, it is not really for me. It is to assuage your guilt feelings. Know that guilt is not how I motivate my children. Love is my key in your heart. Follow me and follow love and you can leave guilt behind.

I’ve been fighting this guilt monster and the overload monster, saying yes to every offer, for a long time. I think I’ve got it down to a couple of large service areas plus any spontaneous thing that you show me, like a stranded motorist etc. I hope I’m not missing anything, but I’m learning to say no, unless you make it clear to me that you want me involved in an opportunity.
I like the way Eugene concludes it here:

1 Corinthians 9:22The Message

19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.

Help me, Lord to do that this day and every day

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28

Arise, let us go from here. —John 14:31

Arise, shine… —Isaiah 60:1

When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing nothing. If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.

Drudgery is one of the finest tests to determine the genuineness of our character. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine. Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. In some cases the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it becomes different. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now every believer’s body has become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

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February 19 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, does this mean that we are to take on work and or service that is not suited to us?  That we are to “struggle on” when the work or service goes against our grain?  Are we to tackle those jobs and activities that just do not suit us? Chambers says that You will not help us until we take the first step in drudgery? But that hard menial dirty work, is that absolutely necessary to prove our worth and character?

And God says…”Seek first the kingdom of God and I will provide everything else you need; including your motivation and direction for work. Acknowledge Me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight. The key to this devotional is in the line…” If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.” When you are connected to Me, and operating out of that connection, the Holy Spirit will guide you to and through the work and service you are to do. It is not necessary for you to DO anything except believe on Jesus. You cannot add one sliver of legitimacy to your character by doing things for Me or on my behalf.  However, you can transform your work as you give it to Me, and operate out of our connection.”

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Rise, let us be going. —Matthew 26:46

Arise and eat. —1 Kings 19:5


The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things— things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
Depression, it seems to be part of the human condition. Without it, we can’t appreciate non-depression? Is that all there is to it?

There is more than that, but that what you say is true. There are many varied types of depression. People fight it as if it is an evil, never to be experienced if possible. True, evil can lurk there and come out of it, but good can as well. Consider that things can be learned in periods of depression. Gratitude, Perspective and Empathy can be gained in ways unobtainable from textbooks and academic study. So stay curious in your times of depression. Suspecting that I’m in there somewhere. I won’t hide for long. Seek me and you will find me. Look especially in the mundane places and you will find clues that will lead you.

Proverbs 1:20
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square;

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, there have been times recently when I have been depressed, fighting, clawing and scratching…and reading the Bible and every self-help book I can find trying to get out from under it. Are you saying that depression is a part of life, and like trials I should not try so hard to get out from under it?

And God says…”Remember that I use everyday circumstances and situations to help shape you…all things work for the good of those that love the Lord. And recall in James….do not try to remove yourself from your trials too early, let them have their perfect result. You can find Me inside your trials, depression and persecutions. I do not just reveal myself in your rescue or miracles. When you are connected to Me, you can find Me in all areas of your life, and although you may be depressed, I will not let it harm you irreparably. I will simply use this like all other things to work for your good.”

Arise from the dead… —Ephesians 5:14

They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” —Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.