You are reading Joni and Friends 2 October 2022 Devotional, Sunday Daily Devotional Message. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Read Joni and Friends 2 October 2022 Devotional below;
TOPIC: Eager Anticipation
My husband’s friend Jan has two much-loved yellow Labrador retrievers named Star and Babe. And there is nothing in this world those two dogs love better than going bird hunting with Jan and Ken.
Show them a lake and they’ll take a diving leap. Throw them a Frisbee and they will turn themselves into knots to catch it. Let a bird cross their paths and they’re ears-up and at ‘em. These dogs are serious retrievers.
Not long ago Jan invited Ken on yet another bird-hunting excursion. As soon as Babe and Star saw the Jeep loaded up with camping gear, they went ballistic. It was all Jan could do to restrain them. They were the very picture of eager, wildly joyous anticipation. They knew they were going, knew where they were going, knew what they were about to do, and couldn’t wait for it to begin.
All the way up the freeway and out into the high desert toward the pheasant farm, Babe and Star whined in their kennel. And when Jan turned down the road toward the farm, the dogs literally began rattling the cage, fully aware of the boundless pleasure that lay just ahead.
When God created Labrador retrievers, I think he must have been smiling. He gave us those beautiful, intelligent, willing, and happy dogs to remind us of what eager longing really looks like. Once Star and Babe realized where they were heading, they were overcome with anticipation, willing their master behind the wheel of the Jeep to drive faster!
In Philippians 3:20, the apostle Paul wrote, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Eagerly. I love that adverb. The dictionary defines it as “marked by enthusiastic or impatient desire or interest.” Paul tells us that this sort of eagerness ought to mark our anticipation of the Lord’s return and our future home in heaven. In other words, we ought to be rattling the cage and straining at the leash.
I have a bit of that eagerness myself. After long decades in this wheelchair with arms and legs and hands and feet that don’t work, I’m more than ready to trade in this old body for a brand-new one. Better still, I’m ready to trade in my heart for a new one—and I can’t wait for that day when sin and sorrow, sighing and suffering will be forever behind me. Just like Star and Babe, the joyful golden Labs, I know where I am going. And I can’t wait to get there. This isn’t a death wish—not at all. It’s a life wish.
Let yourself get excited today as you think about the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds for you, giving you a new body in the twinkling of an eye, and taking you home with him for all eternity.
Going Deeper
Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory.
John 17:24 (The Message)
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
Heaven really is THAT wondrous and Jesus truly is THAT awesome. Just five minutes with him in the home he has prepared for you will be worth every tear on earth you ever cried. There’s no shame in showing your eagerness to get there!
Thank you for reading Joni and Friends 2 October 2022 Devotional Message