Getting Out of the Rut

The picture on your left show ruts formed by wagons in the 1800s on the Oregon Trail. When the rut first started it was shallow. But the more it was traveled on, the deeper the ruts became—and the harder it was to get out of it. It has been said that years ago a sign on the road said, “Avoid this rut or you will be in it for the next 25 miles.” Even so, it was possible to get out of the rut if they were determined to do it.

When we keep doing the same things over and over, we start developing a rut. There’s nothing wrong with doing the same daily routine if we’re faithfully doing God’s will. But the problem comes when God calls us to make a major change and do something entirely different. It might be changing your career, getting married, moving to another city or making a life-changing decision.

Sometimes God places His blessing outside of your comfort zone and then asks you to come get it. To get something that you’ve never had before, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before. You’ll probably make a number of major changes in your life, but don’t do it without considering these things:

1. Make sure God is leading you. Don’t make a major change unless you’ve prayed about it and have God’s peace in your heart. God promises to lead you on the right path. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

2. Count the cost before you do it. Jesus said, “For which of you, when he wants to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to finish it?” (Luke 14:28) Every decision is an exchange—you’re giving up one thing to get something else. When you get married, you give up single life for married life. If you don’t count the cost before making the decision, you won’t stick with it.

3. Trust God to give you the power to make the change.  A wagon can only get out of the rut by being jolted out of it. You can’t do it in your own power, but you can get out of any rut through the power of the Holy Spirit. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). 

Once you've done these things, then move forward and don't look back. Looking back will only make you doubt your decision. www.makinglifecount.net   

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BIBLE STUDY  “Does everything happen for a reason?”

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

Little Things Are Actually Big Things

Jesus told us little things are actually big things. He said, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). Sometimes God will give us something small as a test to see how trustworthy we’ll be in handling it.

Martha Berry founded a school for needy children in 1902. She once asked Henry Ford (owner of the Ford Motor Company) for a million dollars to help her school. He didn’t donate the huge amount she requested, but gave her a dime. Instead of being insulted, she accepted the dime and bought peanuts for her school children to plant.

They harvested the peanuts and used it to plant a larger field. Eventually they harvested enough peanuts to buy a piano for their music students. Martha wrote a letter to Mr. Ford telling him how they had used his dime to grow enough peanuts to buy a piano. Ford was so impressed by her faithfulness with the dime that he gave her school a million dollars! (Making Today Count for Eternity, p.149).

Don’t gripe about your insignificant job or the small amount of money you handle. God's watching to see what you’ll do with it. “For who has despised the day of small things…they are the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth” (Zech. 4:10).

Martha died in 1942 and never saw the future of her little school, which is now Berry College in Georgia. You may never see on earth what your faithfulness will produce in the future. But if you’ll faithfully manage your little things on earth, the Lord promises to give you something really big in heaven. www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY  “Little Things God will Reward in Heaven”

Receive these devotionals (free) by email: You can subscribe in the box on the right at www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com (Your email will not be given out. You’ll receive an email when the new devotional is posted)

Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com

God Always Has Perfect Timing

Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, was a newly licensed pilot and was flying from Vero Beach, Florida to Longview, Texas. He met with bad weather over Mobile, Alabama and air traffic controllers told him to fly north toward Jackson, Mississippi in order to avoid the approaching storm.

As he rose above the clouds, the instrument panel lights flickered. A minute later the radio and instruments went dead; then all the lights went out. Franklin realized he was in a desperate situation so he prayed for God to intervene.

He dropped below the clouds hoping to see the ground. When he spotted the distant lights of Jackson, he headed for the airport's rotating beacon. He circled the control tower and since he didn't have any electrical power, lowered the landing gear manually. At that moment, the runway's emergency landing lights came on and he landed.

As soon as he was on the ground, the lights went off. “That's odd,” he thought, “at least they could have waited until I taxied to the ramp.” After he got out of the plane, a man from the tower asked, "Who gave you permission to land?" No one in the tower had seen the small plane circling overhead. 

Why would the lights be turned on if they hadn't seen him? They “just happened” to be turned on by an air traffic controller who was explaining to his visiting pastor what he would do in case a plane ever attempted to land without radio communications! At the exact moment when Franklin needed the lights, the controller turned them on without knowing the plane was there. (Franklin Graham, "When the Lights Went On,” Dimensions for Living, 1992).

God’s timing is always perfect. The ram was caught in the thicket at the exact moment Abraham was about to offer up Isaac (Gen. 22). The fish with a coin in its mouth bit on Peter’s hook at the right time so he could pay the temple tax (Matt. 17). Mary arrived in Bethlehem at the right time to give birth to Jesus and fulfill the prophecy of Micah 5:2.

Maybe you’ve been praying for something for a long time and nothing has happened—yet. God knows the exact time when He will answer. Since His timing probably isn’t the same as yours, remove the deadline you’ve placed on Him. Be patient and keep trusting God even though you don’t know when it will happen. www.makinglifecount.net

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BIBLE STUDY  “How Did We Get the Bible?”

Receive these devotionals (free) by email: You can subscribe in the box on the right at www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com (Your email will not be given out. You’ll receive an email when the new devotional is posted)

Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com