Focus
Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.
Read
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.”
Reflect
“Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place, I can feel His mighty His mighty power and His grace.” This hymn penned by Lanny Wolfe has been sung for decades. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we sing, then go out to change the world.
Alas, like Jacob in today’s reading, we can quickly lose that feeling. Jacob dreamed of angels going up and down a stairway between heaven and earth. He was told by God Himself that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust and would possess the very land upon which he slept. Jacob woke practically singing, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.”
But the next morning, after erecting an altar, Jacob put conditions on his worship of the Almighty. “If,” he said. “Do what I ask, and then I will worship you.”
Pray
Almighty Lord, forgive me when I see all that you have done for me and respond by asking for more. Teach me to kneel in awe and worship of your great goodness. Amen.
Go with God.
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