101 Devotionals for Boys from the Lives of Great Christians and 101 Devotionals for Girls from the Lives of Great Christians will both be published in 2017. We’re publishing one or two devotionals a week to give you a taste of what you’ll get in those two gift books. This one is based on a story from Return of the White Book: True Stories of God at Work in Southeast Asia (Hidden Heroes #4).
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Since the Karen people thought the true God, Yuwah, had gone far away from them, they thought they had to deal with the evil spirits themselves. And there were plenty of them. Spirits of the trees, weather and gardening, hunting, war, life, and death. They spent almost all their time trying to appease these nats, with prayers and offerings.
Appeasement looks sort of like worship, but it isn’t really. Worship is full of love and thanksgiving, but there’s no love in appeasement, only fear.
For the Karens, though, the nats took the place of Yuwah—they thought and worried about them all the time. The nats became like little gods to them.
Maybe you know someone who is practicing appeasement. Maybe they’re afraid of something in the spirit world, or maybe they’re afraid of a person. But somehow, that thing or that person has taken the place of God. That somebody in your life needs help.
“You shall have no other gods before me.” ~Exodus 20:3
Dear Lord, please show me how to help my friend who is living in fear and practicing appeasement. Help my friend to know the truth of what it’s like to worship a God of love.
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