When my mom was in the hospital and the doctors said there was nothing else they could do, my dad pulled all of us into a room. He explained that the hospital was sending her home and that hospice would be providing care at the house. He then said, “I still believe God can heal her, but if He chooses not to, we need to be prepared for that. I want each of you to determine in your heart that you won’t get bitter against God.” That choice, made with determination, is what kept my relationship with God during my stages of grief.
The word “determine” comes from the Latin words “de” and “terminare”, which means to completely terminate. When we determine something, we completely terminate all other options. We have a single-minded focus to do what we are set out to do. I believe Jesus was determined to pay the price for you and I. The Bible says His face was set like a flint toward Jerusalem. He had terminated all other options and was determined to complete His mission. You and I can have that same determination to do what God has called us to do, but we have to terminate all other options in our heart first.
Here are some verses in the Bible about being determined:
1. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 5:10 NLT
2. You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.
1 Thessalonians 1:5-6 MSG
3. But Ruth answered, “Don’t ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried. May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
Ruth 1:16-18 GNT
4. Indeed all who delight in piety and are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Christ Jesus will meet with persecution [will be made to suffer because of their religious stand].
2 Timothy 3:12 AMPC
5. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
6. Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 GNT
7. Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset–rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9 AMPC
8. I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations.
Psalms 119:30 NLT
9. As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.
Hebrews 12:1 GNT
10. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:7 NLT
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 