Put It On The Altar | Daily Devotional 1614

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional episode 1614. Today's Devo is called Put It on the Altar.

Hey there, we're the Alestees, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Good morning, everybody.

Stephanie Weena here, and I'm very excited to jump into our devos today, all coming out of James 2. Let's dive into it. I'm reading James 2, verse 21 through 22, which says, Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. Let me repeat that last line. Today I'm going to talk about how sometimes faith means trusting God with the very thing that he gave you. It's one thing to trust God for something that you don't have, but it's another thing to trust God with something that you really love. Abraham waited years for Isaac. God promised him a son, he prayed for a son, he believed for a son, and finally Isaac arrived. But then God asked Abraham to place Isaac on the altar. Can you just imagine that moment? The same thing actually happened to Hannah in, I think it was first Samuel, the prophet Samuel's mother, where she was wanting children. She never had a child, and she finally had a young boy, and she told the Lord, If you give me a son, I will bring give him right back to you. Can you imagine what that must be like? That it Isaac wasn't just Abraham's son. Samuel wasn't just Hannah's son. They both represented a promise, a promise fulfilled, an answered prayer. And yet Abraham trusted God, the giver, more than the gift. And that is just so powerful. You know, I'm about to have my third baby, and I'm a working mom. I love to work. Um I love my stay-at-home moms. You guys are rocking it too. You are working very, very hard. I work at the church all the four days a week. I have a full-time job. And I know that when this third baby comes, my life is gonna really change. And I love working. I love working in the ministry. You gotta know, you gotta know that about me. I don't work just to work because I can get a breakout of life. No, I genuinely love to have a job, to have a to-do list. I I like to put my hands to the plow. And um, I know that when I have this next baby, this baby that I've been praying for, this baby that I have been longing for, the children that I've been longing for, I know that things are gonna look very different. And all of my aspirations and my dreams, I'm already feeling that sense to lay a lot down. Because my number one priority is my children and my husband. They're my number one. I need to make sure that that I do well with my kids and my husband. I want my home my home life to be good. And when a third baby comes, it's gonna be chaos. And I'm already feeling like all these dreams and aspirations that I have for ministry, for my church, for my job, I'm gonna have to probably lay them down for a little bit and just trust the Lord. Because the truth is, God opened the greatest door for me that He could open, and that is the door of children, the door of my family. And I am willing to lay down my dreams and aspirations so that I can walk into the door that God has widely opened for me, which is being a mom. And those dreams and aspirations will come later, or they'll they'll change and they will become something else. But I am feeling my Abraham moment where I'm laying down the things that I've been clinging to, the dreams that I've been longing to make happen, I'm laying them down on the altar to obey where the Lord has placed me right now. Because I'm slowly starting to realize that my faith is becoming more visible because I'm being obedient. I can sacrifice everything, but it's more about the fact that I have to walk in obedience to God. And I am having my third child, which means God wants me to be a mother. He wants me to be a caretaker, he wants me to focus on my husband, he wants me to focus on my home. That's me obeying the Lord. That is my faith becoming complete. So ask yourself today: is there anything in my life I'm afraid to surrender to God? And you don't have to live afraid that God is going to take everything you love away. These things can circle back. That's not the point. The question is whether anything has become more important to you than obedience to God. Hold God's blessings with open hands. Thank Him for them, enjoy them, steward them well, but never allow the gift to take the place of the giver. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for every blessing you've placed in our lives. Help us never love our gifts and the gifts you've given us more than we love you. Give me Abraham's kind of faith, a faith that trusts your character even when obedience is difficult. Everything I have belongs to you, God. So allow me to be obedient to where you have me and to where you're taking me. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you've found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.