I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
God’s Word is the exact thing that each of us needs in order to change to be more like Jesus. We don’t even recognize that we need to change unless we see the truth in His Word. Sharp like a sword, sometimes, the Word hits me deeply with a reminder of how I have fallen short. That is God’s Spirit gently telling me not to get off the path with the Lord, but to stay on that narrow way. Facing the truth about ourselves is not easy, but it’s necessary. I think it’s easier to see the truth about others and then point it out to them. But that is not what we are supposed to be doing. The only person we can change is ourselves, from the inside out. So, my prayer is to be open to the truth, even when it’s painful, because I know that god is still working on me and I want to be all that He created me to be.
As Christians, we are still tempted and need to call on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us turn away from sin and say “no.” How often do we just give in because it is our natural way of acting or reacting? Our testimony would be so much greater if people saw us tempted and also saw us say no to sin and yes to God. That’s what life is…a series of saying “yes” to God and His ways and no to our natural inclination to sin, to fulfill our own appetites and desires for things that please us but that don’t necessarily please God. The next time you are tempted, whether it’s to watch a movie or lose your temper or show pride, whatever the temptation looks like in your life, take time to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to turn away from the bad choices and towards the good ones.
Oh, my! This devotional certainly made me think about how I battle daily and sometimes I don’t win that battle against my flesh. But I keep trying and with the power of the Holy Spirit, I can win each battle, one day at a time. My battle recently has been too much of the worldly things that I enjoy. I started playing games online against family members several years ago. Now it has become almost an obsession, and I need to rein it in so it is fun with my family but not dominating my time. I go online to read my Bible and devotionals, then I listen to my Bible podcast and then I pray and go on with my day. I have found that too much of my time is occupied with entertainment, so I fight that battle daily. I make the excuse that the games are a release from the tension and stress of the news and family issues. But I realize as I write this that I am only fooling myself, and I am not even doing that well. They are also a pleasure, and one that takes away from other things I should and could be doing. So, I am confessing, asking for prayer and also committing to step away from the temptation and move closer to what God wants me to be doing. The war is real…but so is God!
Sanctification is a process, not a once and done thing that happens immediately. We have to be willing to go before the cross daily, confess our shortcomings and sins and continue on with the Lord in the process of being made more like the Lord. Sometimes we fall…but we have to get up and keep going. As the song says, “He didn’t bring us this far to leave us.” And one of my favorite children’s songs is “He’s Still Workin’ on Me.” I am not done with life, and thank the Lord God that He is not done with me either. Let Him continue to work in your life…listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit when He prods you to change and grow. The Master Potter is making a masterpiece from the broken shards of your life…let Him have His way!
There needs to be more stories in the news like the one in this devotional about the selfless acts that one person does for another person in need. How much more pleasant it would be to watch a news show with some positive news on it? We may never make the news but we are called upon to be selfless and Jesus modeled that for us when He went to the cross. God’s gift is completely free for us, but it cost Him dearly. When we accept His gift of grace, mercy and ultimately salvation, we are part of His army of volunteers that He sends into the world to represent Him. We may not be able to do big things, but we can do something every day to show someone the love of Jesus in our lives, opening a door for them to get to know Jesus for themselves. I confess that I have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to do something for a stranger and have walked away instead, sometimes due to shyness and the thought that I might be embarrassed. I am trying to do better and to follow the His leading, to help others selflessly regardless of how I personally feel about stepping outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes God prods us to do something that costs money (He knows we have it or He wouldn’t ask us to give), sometimes He encourages us to give time or a tangible gift of some sort. Whatever it is that He tells us to give, we need to be ready and willing to reach out to others. God reached down from heaven to each of us when He sent His only Son to die for us. It seems to me that it’s a small thing for us to obey His call to reach out to others. His undeserved favor is supposed to be passed on, not hoarded.
Jesus went around encouraging others by His words and His actions. Can we do any less? If you are feeling discouraged, I urge you to pick yourself up and find someone who needs encouragement. In encouraging others, you yourself will be encouraged. I know this because I have done it. When I least feel like being upbeat and encouraging, if I will go ahead and say positive words and demonstrate positive actions, then I end up not only helping the other person but also myself.
Have you ever started something new and gave up after a few tries? Maybe you tried to create a new morning routine or Bible reading habit, only to give up after a few weeks? It can be hard to build enough discipline to start something new.
It is also hard to receive discipline from someone. Maybe you remember being disciplined as a kid by your parent. Or maybe you’ve been disciplined at work for a mistake you made.
In either case, discipline is hard and takes a lot of work.
Scripture says that for those who endure discipline and persevere, there is a harvest of righteousness and peace waiting for them. However, it doesn’t happen easily and often makes us uncomfortable. We have to be trained through discipline to create godly habits that will then produce righteousness and peace in our lives.
Take some time today to consider: Where can you allow the Holy Spirit to build discipline in your life? What daily habits should you begin working on today?
It’s always worth building discipline because the result is peace and righteous living.
I have generally always considered myself fairly well self-disciplined. The habits I have formed stem from a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and never wanted me to embarrass her. Now that I am older, the discipline I face comes from within me, and the choices I make are guided by my conscience and the Holy Spirit. I don’t like the strict diet that I have to follow because of my health problems, but I watch others enjoy potatoes and tomatoes and know that they could harm me irrevocably. I would like to partake of toasty breads but I know that they are off limits for me. On the other hand, God has gifted me with extra years of life, so I am thankful and continue to discipline myself. An area in which I faced difficulty in self-discipline is expressing my thoughts about what is happening in the world, the foolishness of our leaders and the godlessness of many in our nation. But I know that my spouting off my opinion will not lead others to agree with me, but it more likely to push them away so that they avoid me or don’t listen to me at all. Thus, I am learning the discipline of not saying everything that I am thinking. Just think if we were in error and God started spouting off His opinions about our actions. Would we be more or less likely to comply with His advice? As an adult, discipline is built from within but we have to be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His advice. He wants what is best for us and for others.
Please to the original post and follow the author. This post is about Pentecost and how the Holy Spirit changes people. I hope that it will touch your hearts.
In the current political climate wherein those of us who are conservatives and Christians are being ridiculed from all sides, it’s hard not to become defensive. Sometimes, I feel like shouting out to everyone that I see that they are going to hell and need to repent. Not a good idea, however, not because it’s not true (there are probably some around me who will go to Heaven), but because their ears are not going to hear me anyway. I wouldn’t be saying anything they want to pay attention to me and the best way to pretend that all is fine in their world is to ignore me. God, in His usual timely manner, had a Scripture verse for me to apply to my level of frustration.
Since I am not a ruler then shouting wouldn’t do any good anyway. But since I am sometimes wise, depending on how much time I have spent with the Lord and His Word that day, if I speak in a quiet voice, then others might be still just so they can hear what I am saying. I found that worked well in the classroom. It is a well-known and accepted fact that one teacher cannot possibly talk over two dozen or more chattering students. I had a bell that I rang to get their attention to begin with. If the chatter didn’t stop or started again, I learned to sit down on my stool in front of the class and start teaching the lesson very quietly. Ending each sentence with something like “if you can hear me and can show me your notes at the end of this lesson, I will allow you to use them on the next quiz.” Or, a really dramatic conclusion, “The quiz will be tomorrow” said in a regular voice. The students would usually alert instantly to the word “quiz” and complain that I couldn’t give a quiz because I hadn’t taught the material yet. I would then firmly explain that I did teach it; they just were not listening. After a few times of that happening, the students learned to listen when I got quiet, knowing that what I said would affect their grades and ultimately their all-important GPA. Thus, I think God is telling me to wait until the right time (the Holy Spirit will prompt me) and then quietly say what I need to say about God, salvation, His Word and how the events today line up with the Bible. No shouting is needed because God says that quiet voice is better (more effective) than shouting.
How do you deal with those who are too stubborn and lost to listen? Have you tried speaking quietly?
One of the arguments that I have heard for years about the existence of God and the Holy Spirit is that although you cannot see the wind, you see what its effects. Likewise, we don’t see God, but we see His actions on the earth. I am eternally grateful that God sent Jesus to save me, filled me with His Spirit and continues to guard my heart and mind through Him. It is up to me to continue to walk with God. The wind continues to blow, drawing my attention hither and yon. But the blowing wind is not what I should be focused on. I need to focus on the power that created that wind and how much love is behind all of creation.
I cannot explain my salvation or the change in my heart and my life, but I know that it is a fact. Just as the wind blowing through the trees causes the leaves to move, God’s Spirit moving in my heart causes me to draw closer to Him and away from the world.
www.bible.com/reading-plans/1201/day/15
www.bible.com/reading-plans/1201/day/11
www.bible.com/reading-plans/1201/day/8
www.bible.com/reading-plans/39304/day/5
www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/5
www.bible.com/reading-plans/13828/day/3
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