Daily Devotional: Thursday, July 18 – Be Freed From Your Fish

“I stated, ‘I’ve been banished out of your sight; but I’ll look once more towards your holy temple.’” — Jonah 2:4

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Is there something in your life that deep down you recognize the Holy Spirit is wanting you to do, however you might be resisting?

Possibly God is making an attempt to name you to increase love, grace, kindness or care to a teammate, coach or neighbor. Maybe God is making an attempt to steer you to open a door to have the ability to use your platform as an athlete to glorify Him, however you might be hesitant as a result of societal stress, group or group restrictions, and even maybe your individual ego.

Maybe probably the most well-known particular person within the Bible for “tuning out” God’s voice was Jonah.

The Biblical account of Jonah’s life particulars his reluctance to God’s wishes and functions for him. Whereas God desired Jonah to go to town of Nineveh and preach, Jonah was so reluctant that he went the exact opposite route and sailed for Tarshish as a substitute. Whereas crusing, he encountered a storm so drastic that the sailors threw him overboard in an try and appease God, since they suspected calamity was coming upon them as a punishment for Jonah’s disobedience.

As soon as overboard, probably the most well-known portion of the account of Jonah occurred as he was swallowed up by a fish till he got here to repentance. Finally Jonah cried out to the Lord, “I’ve been banished out of your sight; but I’ll look once more towards your holy temple” (Jonah 2:4), and upon his declaration, Jonah was free of the fish.

With a repentant coronary heart targeted on listening to and following God’s will, Jonah preached to the folks of Nineveh, and so they turned from their depraved methods to observe God.

As we mirror on our personal hearts, a few of us could also be following Jonah’s lead and trying to ignore what we all know the Holy Spirit wishes. Because of this, we might discover ourselves in our personal “fish” — a state of restlessness, lack of peace and turmoil. Identical to Jonah and the sailors within the story, we might also be bringing battle to the folks round us.

If you end up in your individual state of reluctance to observe God’s plans for you, I invite you to cry out to God, simply as Jonah did. Let Him know that you’ll “look once more towards [His] holy temple.” And be free of the fish you end up in as you start following the Holy Spirit.

— Ryan Vilfer

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