It's OK
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 Good morning, Lord V.O.D.: 2 Timothy 2: 11-13 “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. ... If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” M.O.M.: The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.—Romans 13:12 Today's reading: Isaiah 9-10 Ephesians 3
It's OK
It is not OK to walk a way from God and turn your back on His wisdom, Proverbs 1:7-7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
It is OK to seek God for personal gain. Once we commit our ways to Him, He puts the desires in our hearts that He wants us to have and, so, the personal gain you desire is the desire God has placed there to love Him and obey Him. We are all selfish creatures in the beginning but when we really look for what God is about and look for Him, we will find Him. Matthew 7:7 ► "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
It is not OK to leave God's word untouched on a shelf and dusty. It is OK to have a Bible that is used and tattered. 2 Timothy 2:15 ►Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
It's not OK to not practice what you preach. It is OK to prove what you preach. For 35 years I have preached discipleship. This simply means to me, following Jesus with all you have. I have encouraged a life of routine not to prove my love for Jesus but grow in my love for Jesus.
I was always giving tips and lessons and sermons on having a 'quiet time' , praying, memorizing scripture, and journaling(making notes or observations of what God has today, everyday.) So, God put this idea in my head to show it can be done by anyone. For ten years I have sent out things like you are reading now so you and anyone else can know that we can not just practice what we preach but we can prove what we preach. There have been days when the computer crashed or google flinched. There have been days when I was feeling bad or depressed and I copied and pasted a writing from years past. But I have posted over 3000 of these.
If I can do this, anyone can do it. I have never published a thing. There are thousands of writers who are better than I. It's oK-that's not what this is about. This is about proving that we all can be consistent for the Lord Jesus if we choose to be.
Now, instead of just repeating, "Read your Bible on a daily basis", I record it and send it to folks who hold me accountable, and they record it daily and send it to me. That is going on four years now. Everyone has a phone with a recording app-everyone has access to scripture-no one has an excuse. I never listen to their recordings. That is between them and God. It is not for my benefit that they record. It is for theirs.
It is OK that I started with selfish motives. I wanted to force myself be consistent. The more you get into God, the more He gets into you. The personal stuff(sin) is very clearly defined. God's wisdom keeps getting bigger and deeper because He wants us to grow in Him.
It's Ok if we read Luke 9:23 and feel unworthy and inadequate or ignorant of 'how'. And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."Luke 9:23 It's not OK to let that 'feeling' stop you.
What you read everyday from me is my attempt to get closer to Jesus. It's OK if it is not 'liked' by some. It is Ok if even one person is encouraged to grow deeper in their love and intimacy with Jesus. We all can if we make the choice.
So here we go-get that notebook out; read your scripture; repeat the memory verse with that 'brain that can't remember anything'; pray in the name of the Lord Jesus and meditate-just listen for The eternal 'still, small voice'; obey. 2 Timothy 2: 11-13 “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. ... If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
Nothing is OK without Jesus. In Jesus, it's OK.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven, Forgive me my laziness and excuses. Strengthen my faith and my resolve to be faithful. Faithful and loving Lord, In the name of Jesus, Amen