Devotion: The One Thing - Isaiah 40:31

Devotion: The One Thing

"But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."  -  Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)

The Target That Changes Everything

The ancient sage wrote:

知止而後有定，定而後能靜，靜而後能安，安而後能慮，慮而後能得。

Know your target → stability → still → peace → deliberate clearly → attain.
But what is the 止 (zhǐ)—the target? Most read it as stop/boundary. But the old masters knew: 止 is the bullseye. The destination. The one thing that gives every step meaning. Without a target, you wander. Wandering wears you out, leading to weariness—exactly what Isaiah promises you won't do if you wait on the Lord.

The One Thing

David: "One thing I have asked of the LORD... that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life..." — Psalm 27:4

Paul: "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." — Philippians 3:8

Moses: "Show me Your glory." — Exodus 33:18

Not a place, reward, or goal to conquer—a Presence, Relationship, and Person to know.

The Stillness That Soars

The Chinese character for stillness—静 (jìng)—is made of grass and fight. A blade of grass in the middle of a battlefield: trampled, chaos-surrounded, yet remaining. Bending, not breaking. That is the stillness of one whose target is God.

The eagle locks its gaze, catches the thermal, and rises. The archer fixes her eye on the 止—hands steady, breath calms. The one who waits on the Lord binds herself (qavah) to God, making His strength her updraft.

The Progression of the Soul

Step / CN	With God as Your 止	Isaiah's Echo
1. 知止	Know your Target (Him). His presence is your destination.	"Be still and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10)
2. 定	Stability. Life finds its center in His nearness.	"His heart is steady..." (Ps 112:7-8)
3. 靜	Stillness in fight. Noise fades; present with Him.	"In quietness and trust is your strength" (Isa 30:15)
4. 安	Peace. Safe in the Presence of the Target.	"Peace I leave with you..." (John 14:27)
5. 慮	Clear thinking. Strategy flows from stillness.	"Be transformed by the renewal..." (Rom 12:2)
6. 得	Attainment. In having Him, you have everything.	"Mount up with wings like eagles" (Isa 40:31)

The Paradox of Strength

• Sun Zi: Plan first, then fight. 
• Kung Fu Master: Stand firm, then strike. 
• Sage: Know target, then be still. 
• Isaiah: Wait on the LORD, then rise.

All agree: Posture before power. But Isaiah adds: Waiting isn't bracing yourself—it's binding yourself to God so His wind carries you when legs give out.

The Grass and The Eagle

The grass (静) holds ground; the eagle (Isaiah) rises above. When your 止 is a goal, you endure like grass. When your 止 is God, you ascend like an eagle—riding His presence.

Today's Practice

1. Name your 止: Ask: "Lord, is my target truly You today?"
2. Wait in stillness: 5 mins of silence. Bound to Him.
3. Move from peace: Act from 安 (ān)—not anxiety.
4. Walk without fainting: Keep eyes on the Target daily.

The Final Word

When your 止 is God's presence, you stop striving yet run without weariness. 得 is not getting—it is becoming. You become the arrow, carried by the Breath of God into His heart.

Prayer

Lord, You are my 止. Not my achievements, legacy, or comfort. You. Your presence is my destination, face my reward, nearness my peace. Let me fix my eyes on You—the One Thing. In stillness, storm, or soaring, carry me. Amen.

A Final Question: Is God truly your 止 today? If He is—stillness is not an escape. It is arrival. You soar because the Wind you're riding is your Destination.

When "More" Looks Different - A Devotion on Ephesians 3:20–21

When "More" Looks Different

A Devotion on Ephesians 3:20–21

📖 Scripture: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”— Ephesians 3:20–21 (NIV)

🕯️ Reflection

We come to God with our requests—specific, hopeful, and often urgent. We know the verse: He is “able to do immeasurably more” than we ask or imagine. So we pray big, expecting big.

But what happens when His answer doesn’t match our imagination?

Sometimes we ask for healing, and He gives sustaining grace. We ask for the door to open, and He closes it firmly. We ask for relief, and He gives refinement. In those moments, the “immeasurably more” feels like “immeasurably less.”

Yet Paul’s doxology doesn’t stop at our requests. He anchors God’s “more” to His power at work within us—not our comfort, not our plans, not our timeline. And that power is always aimed at one ultimate goal: glory.

• Glory in the church — through a community that loves when it’s costly.
• Glory in Christ — the source who makes every sacrifice meaningful.
• Glory throughout all generations — so your children and their children will see God’s faithfulness.
• Glory forever — because what He’s building is eternal, not temporary.

When God’s answer doesn’t look like what you asked for, it doesn’t mean He wasn’t listening. It means He loves you too much to give you a counterfeit when He has the genuine article waiting. Your “no” today may be the foundation for a “yes” that will echo into eternity. Your disappointment may be the very stage upon which He displays His “immeasurably more”—not more stuff, but more of Him.

🛠️ Application

Take a moment to examine the prayers you are currently praying—or the ones you’ve stopped praying because the answer hasn’t come the way you expected.

• Are you clinging to your vision of the answer, or are you clinging to the Giver?
• Can you release your demand for a specific outcome and trust that His silence, delay, or detour is actually His “more” in disguise?

Today, practice this: Thank Him in advance—not for the answer you want, but for the answer He knows you need. That is the posture of faith that brings Him glory.

🙏 Prayer

Father, You are able to do far more than I can fathom—but I confess that my imagination often limits You to my own comfort and timeline. When Your answer looks different from my request, help me to trust Your heart over my understanding. Let Your power at work within me bring You glory—not just in my circumstances, but in my church, in my generation, and for all eternity. I release my expectations into Your better hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

✧ Key Takeaway

Your problem is never too big for God;
your vision is often too small for God.

And when His answer doesn’t match your expectation—
trust that His “different” is actually His “better.”
Because His ultimate goal is not your comfort today, but His glory forever—and He invites you to be part of that eternal story.

Ephesians 3:20–21 · Devotion · ©