Each day during the  month of March we will be sharing a devotional from a booklet written by Steve Love. Steve is a member of Canton First and a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor. If you would like a complete PDF of this devotional, it can be downloaded here.

Day 18

1 Chronicles 28:9 (New International Version)

And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you for ever.

He gives instructions to his son Solomon to be the same. David had served God with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind. He knew that his son was to carry on the work God wanted done in Israel and Solomon would need these qualities to succeed. David has learned and he wants Solomon to know that “If you seek him, he will be found by you.”

With the instructions given Solomon are good one for us to follow. We need to serve God wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind. Wholehearted means 100% of our heart/mind is to serve God. When we give God 100%, we give Him the control of our lives. David wanted Solomon to give God total control of his life. David had learned this fact the hard way when he chose to rebel earlier in his life. A willing mind points to the idea that we make the choice to give God the control of our lives.

By giving God control of our lives, we are showing our trust in God. We trust God to show us the right choices for our lives. We trust God to provide for our needs. We trust God to give us the strength we need to deal with life with a brain injury. When we give God wholehearted devotion and a willing mind we are giving ourselves to God.

God knows when we hold back on giving Him 100% devotion. David tells Solomon “The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” God knows our heart/mind and the motive behind our way of thinking. He knows what is in our heart/mind and the why behind our actions. There is no fooling God. Human parents know when their children try to hide something. God sees within our heart/mind, and He sees us for who and what we are. No one else can see the true us but God.

Too many people try to deceive the world and themselves about who they really are. God knows who we truly are. David knew this fact and wanted his son to understand it. David gave God control over his life. David wanted Solomon to give God 100% control of his life to prepare him for the task that God had for him to do. Even though we are living life with a brain injury, God has a task for each one of us that needs to be done. Only when we have given God control of our lives and given Him 100% of our lives can He use us to complete that task. Who is in control of our life?

Pray and thank God for the fact He know the true us and so He know how to help us.

Pray and thank God for taking control of our lives and for being a God who we can trust.

Pray and ask God for a understanding of the special task He has for us to do.