Devotional for August 21

My Joy is in God

5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. Psalm 62:5-8 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

To be in the world, but not of the world, is to be spiritually minded. Having the thoughts conformed to the mind of Christ, and the affections set on the things above, is to walk in the Spirit. Not by fits and spurts, but all the time. The longer we go throughout the day without thinking about God, the weaker our spiritual battery becomes. Look for moments throughout the day to plug into the Word to snatch a little recharge from the Spirit. There are certainly times when business requires our total focus, but when business is done let the mind return to the Lord. Some thoughts are like evil birds of prey. We may not be able to stop the birds from flying over our head, but we can certainly deny them a place to land and chase them away. The ability to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ is a hallmark of the spiritually mature worthy of all aspiration. (1 John 4:19; Zephaniah 3:17; Colossians 3:2; Romans 12:2-3; 1 Timothy 4:16; Ephesians 4:27-30; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11-18; 1 Corinthians 2:12-16; John 17:14-19; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; Romans 8:5-6; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; John 7:24; James 4:3; Galatians 5:16-26; Mark 11:22-26; 1 Peter 3:7; Ephesians 5:15-20; Philippians 4:8-9, 23)