Covenants!

Job 31: 1

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin.

Most people instantly think this verse is just for men—but maybe not.

Let’s be honest, I think both men and women have an issue with the subject of today’s short devotional.

Honestly, when a drop dead gorgeous lady—or a hunk of a handsome man appears, who doesn’t take a good long, look?

Again—if we’re honest, both sexes of the human species has this issue.

Can we summon up enough self control, to look the other way?

Many of us can—but most of us would have to admit to taking second, third and even multiple looks.

The problem that comes into play, is when we take multiple looks, and linger there in the moment.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with noticing and admiring God’s work of art.

It’s when we stay in the play land of thoughts, that lust can give way to blatant sin.

Maybe it would just be easier, if husbands and wives, admitted their weakness, and prayed together for strength.

Maybe if we better understood the covenant we made together in marriage, we could improve the divorce statistics in the church.

We all deal with the struggle of sin and temptation every day, but this is a war that can be won together.

An old preacher gave me some really good advice one day, when we together, gazed at a raving beauty.

He said and I quote… “She’s awful pretty—but she’s not mine!”

Amen & Amen…

Doing it God's way!

Isaiah 30: 18

The Lord longs to be gracious unto you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

Who would you consider as your primary targets for discipleship?

Did you know that the main people we’re called to lead to Jesus, are our own family members?

The most difficult task though, are leading people we love the most, to Jesus.

Many times, we might give up way before we’ve given it a real college try.

So what will you sacrifice in your relationship with God, just to be a friend to a family member?

Many people do, and that’s the absolute backwards approach.

Any time we compromise God’s Word just to make friends with a lost loved one, we dismiss God’s power completely.

It’s the Lord that longs to be gracious, and He’s the One who longs to have compassion.

Anything we try to fabricate regarding God’s love, isn’t authentic, and it never works very well.

Instead of giving into our plan, we have to stay with God’s plan.

What we need is persistence, and not weak minded approaches.

The same God that waited for you, is still waiting for the person you love, to respond.

We have to do things God’s way—and not our way—because we’ve all found out way too often—our plan never works very well…

Meditation!

Psalm 119: 97

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

 

Psalm 119 is often called the meditation Psalm.

8 verses in this Psalm, use the word, “meditate”

 

Much of what we should reflect on or in this case, meditate on, is the relationship we have with God.

We should as often as possible, think about His deep love and influence in our lives.

 

I wonder how often the average person considers God’s awesome power and mighty deeds?

Do we really joyfully give thanks for all that He has done?

 

Just like our digestive system processes the food that we eat, so also meditation digests the things concerning God.

God uses the meditation renewal power to strengthen our hearts.

 

Mediation centers on the relationship factor that we have with God, that comes through Jesus Christ.

Our relationship is improved by allowing the Holy Spirit to use God’s Word to program our minds.

 

Meditation involves reflective study and sometimes memorization of the scriptures.

This at some point, will bring God’s Word right to our fingertips, when we really need it the most.

 

Some people actually say they can’t understand the Bible—and that their attention spans are short.

I’m amazed though, at how easy people are able to memorize and understand all the APS on their smart phone

What are your thinking?

Psalm 77: 12

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.

 

Did you know that each of our characters are being formed every day.

The things that influence our charter the most, are;

What we read—What we look at—What we listen to—The people we associate with—and what we think about.

 

Honestly, when’s the last time you thought about the great works of God?

What about His mighty deeds?

 

Maybe if we fed our brain more of God, we’d think about Him more than we do.

Meditation on the things of God, yields more godly thoughts…

 

“Mighty God, would You help us all today, to think on the things of Your greatness?

We all need help in this area, and we know You are faithful to bring us into commune with your loving character.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

A Frightening thought!

Psalm 1: 1 – 2

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

 

I use this verse at every wedding I perform.

I wonder how many kids ever take to heart, this word from the Word of God?

 

This verse is not just for the pleasure of reading it, it’s actually what each follower of Jesus should be doing.

Meditation on God’s Word does not come naturally—we must find the resolve to do it in the supernatural.

 

Children of God are actually called to something better.

They are called to greatness.

 

We are told through God’s Word, to live lives of purity and holiness.

This has to be lived out in the inside first, and then on the outside.

 

Living a life of pure thought, can only become through rigid mind training.

If we take full advantage of training the mind, the outward appearance will be holiness.

 

How do we accomplish holy thinking?

We must first become aware of what we spend time meditating on the most.

 

For most people, it isn’t the things of God or His Word.

One day, we will have to give a detailed account of our thought life.

Now that’s a frightening thought…

Pleasing!

Psalm 19: 14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

A.W. Tozier once said… “Listen to no man, who fails to listen to God.”

There’s a group of us from church—70 of us in total who are attempting to listen to God’s still small voice through the meditation of scripture.

Meditation is said by many Bible scholars, to be the lost art of discipline in the Christian faith.

Even some of the 70 who signed up, might have already disregarded this rare opportunity.

Some didn’t think it was all that important to sign up in the first place.

Could it be that we’re too busy to sit for 30 minutes per day, and listen for God’s voice to speak through His Word?

Do we have life so figured out by now, that we don’t need God in the equation any longer?

Mediation is a function between the mind and the heart.

It is what we think in our hearts, and it is something we each do every day.

Whether we realize it or not, we all spend a large portion of our time in some form of meditation.

The thing is, what we meditate on, may or may not be worthwhile.

The fact is, what we habitually think upon, might actually be unhealthy for our Christian growth.

I think maybe Tozier was on to something. I’m not so sure I want to hear anything from a person—opinion or otherwise, who does not desire to hear it from God first...  

Give Yourself!

Psalm 54: 6

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.

I was listening to a worship song this afternoon.

The words went; “I give myself away to You Lord, so You can use me…”

I wonder how many people have no trouble singing the words to that song, but when it comes to actually giving ourselves away, I wonder how easy that really is.

I think it shows in the church—those who are true at giving sacrifice.

Actually, it is blatantly obvious, those who do, and those who don’t.

Romans 12: 1 tells us about being a living sacrifice.

I wonder how often do we truly see living sacrifices in the church?

Remember, our relationship with Jesus is not dependent upon what we get from Him—it’s dependent upon what we give to Him.

People usually evaluate a good church, by what they get from it—not what they give to it.

That is exactly opposite of what we should do to live a godly life.

The primary reason to live for Christ, is to give to Him worship from ourselves.

Would you say you’re giving yourself as a living sacrifice?

What needs to change for that to happen?

A freewill offering is given freely—with no strings attached.

Maybe we’d all be better off, if we removed the condition from our giving to God…