Daily Devotional – 5/7/12 “We need a squirrel like mentality!”

As I was getting out of the car this morning, thinking about what I would write to God’s people, a squirrel passed in front of me. So, I thought, ok Lord, what’s the message in this? Then as I watched this squirrel, I saw him/her quickly run to the nearest tree and climb it. It didn’t matter that is was raining or even that I was standing there because at this point, the squirrel’s goal was to make it to the top of the tree. So, then I thought, maybe we, as Christians, need to get a squirrel like mentality. See, even though it’s raining in your life and it seems like you can never get right because you keep going left keep climbing. Yea, I know that you may have received bad news from the doctor but you’re not dead, so keep climbing. You may have even received a pink slip or was laid off from your job but you’re still capable of working, so keep climbing. Even if you’ve applied for 10 jobs and they all said no, keep climbing. I’ve always noticed that even if squirrels were being chased by a dog, all they had to do was make it to the nearest tree because they could climb higher than what the dog could reach. Well, if you keep climbing, you’ll soon reach the highest point you’re supposed to which takes you out of the reach of man and once you’re there and you’ve been placed by God because you’ve done all that he asked you to do, there isn’t anyone who can knock you down or reach you but God. Deuteronomy 28:13 says, “If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.” See, the squirrel doesn’t worry about the branches they have to climb over or the knots in the trees that may scratch them because they are on their way somewhere, to the top. And when you’re on your Christian journey, you have a place to go and even though you’re going to encounter some branches and knots on the tree, keep climbing and don’t give up.

Besides, no one ever told you the road you’re walking or the mountain you’d be climbing would be easy, so why do you give up so easily? You do know that as you go along and the higher you get, you will be knocked down when the wind starts blowing and the branches start swinging or that you’ll probably get cuts on your hands and knees from climbing, right? So why are you crying? Get up, dust yourself off, and clean up the wounds you have, bandage the cuts and try again. Do you think that every baby squirrel that comes out of their mother’s womb is ready to climb a tree? I would think not but they have to learn and through their learning they will encounter falling at some point and time but I would imagine if they gave up every time they fell, we wouldn’t have as many squirrels running around. See, just because you’ve reach the top it doesn’t mean that you won’t sometimes fall and even if you never fall all the way to the bottom, you can still fall enough to make you take notice. This is because sometimes, we get to the high places and forget about who and how we got there. We start making a little more money and then stop paying tithes. We start working a little bit more and then become too tired to fellowship with God. We start hanging out more with the top people and now God has been placed on the bottom and we have to wonder why he has to send us a reality check instead of a bonus check. Baby, God doesn’t elevate us so that we can become an earthly mess but he elevates us because he knows what we’re capable of being because it was he who designed us to be the head and not the tail. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Even before we were born, God had great intentions for our lives but can we honestly say we are living up to each of them?

Good says believe in me, accept me into your heart and work for me and then we stand before the church accepting God, get baptized, attend church for 2 Sundays and never come back but Ecclesiastes 5:4 says, “When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.” God says keep my commandments, yet we think because we steal, kill and cheat without being caught that we’ve gotten away with it but God isn’t fooled. John 14:21 says, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” God says have faith and not a bucket full but just faith in him the size of a mustard seed but as soon as the ship starts rocking with the waves or the lightning flashes loud from the storms of life, we start doubting but God is asking, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Don’t you know that if folk knock you down, God can lift you up or when folk have walked all over you, he can clean you up and make you look and feel new? Aren’t you aware of the healing power God has in the hem of his garment, then why do you see death when the doctor says cancer? Don’t you know that God has given us the power to speak life into dead places? Well, Proverbs 18:21 say, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” See, when you speak life you receive life but when you speak death, death is what you shall reap but don’t be surprised, after all, you spoke it. You are capable of climbing to higher heights but you have to first stop being afraid to climb. Stop looking up thinking that you’re fall because you will only fall if you stop holding on to God. Get a squirrel like mentality and climb. I can only imagine the sights squirrels are able to see once they reach the top of a tree or to the highest peak on the roof. I’m eagerly waiting for my elevation so that I can finally see the top of the mountain top God has waiting for me. I’m not in a hurry to get there so that I can look down on all those under me but I’m ready to reach back and help those folk up. What sense would it make for me to be on the top all alone when all I have to do is reach over and pull the next person up? God has enough power to give us all mountains and tree tops to reach but we have to keep climbing because there isn’t another way to reach the top without it.