25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.
I love this kind of conversation or path of realization Solomon has with himself. Here he seeks wisdom and to avoid folly and foolishness, but finds the seduction of a woman in the midst. As he is continually finding, it is not what we pursue, but why we pursue it. If we do not have God's purposes on our heart, than anything we pursue is worthless.
Lord, continue to remind me of Your purposes for my life as I seek to follow You daily.
Jeff, you are so right about being teachable. It is foolish to think that we have so much knowledge that we cannot learn from young and old alike. God continually uses different ways to teach us about Him and ourselves. I know that watching my wife, my children, and my reactions to them have taught me so much than I could have ever imagined before I was a husband and father.
I love how he has this debate and analyzation with himself. I love politics and follow the news daily (I strive for wisdom and knowledge). After the last election, the results were not what I desired and with the build up it would be natural for me to be discouraged and lashing out because of the impending change, etc. Fortunately, at that moment I had a tremendous peace.... not because the results or my candidate or political point of view won, but because I knew that God was in control and that His purposes in my life were not determined by how much I knew or who was in office.
Lord, help me to continually look away from my own understanding to to seek Your peace and purpose daily in my life!
I love how Paul takes the situation he is in, surrounded by soldiers in prison and uses it to make one of the most powerful analogies in scripture. He was only able to accomplish this by meditating on the word and seeking God every minute of every day. Only when we are engulfed by the grace and power of God and seeking the filling of the Spirit throughout our day can we be in a place to experience His divine revelation in the smallest and largest battles of this war with satan.
Sorry for the late post, but it is 5:45 in New Delhi, India right now, so this is my morning devotion. I have not been as faithful in the journal this past week and a half and have missed it. I have been meditating on some scripture and reading up on discipleship, but there is something to be said about keeping up with daily discipline with the body!
It is pretty awesome how Paul is continuing to experience divine appointments to share the good news with others. It is only when we walk with Christ daily and allow the word and the Spirit to guide our choices and words in the quest to be holy and set apart, that we can experience these types of opportunities to talk about how God is the Lord of our life.
Lord, guide my thoughts, words, and actions, so that as I am transformed by you, more and more each day, I will not be able to share about my life without You being the main topic of conversation.
Good word Ray! I love my oldest daughter Evynn and her heart for giving. My son knows it too and he always asks for a piece of cookie or toy and even though we try to admonish him for always asking, my sweet daughter usually just smiles and says, "here you go Bowden."
It is definitely more blessed to give Lord, give me a child's heart of giving and serving others.
I don't expect to be stoned while being a witness or discipling others like Paul, but how powerful would it be if this was what our community groups were like? Too often we think that walking with God is doing things like going to church and attending a community group, but that is not what we see in Acts. Paul and others were sharing their lives and the gospel with others, equipping them in a discipling relationship and then they would come back and share and celebrate what God was doing in their "community group."
Lord, help me to look for opportunities that you have for me to disciple others and then join with a group of believers doing the same> When we come together, let that it is not for our own sake but to celebrate and encourage each other in what God is going with us in His kingdom.
42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
How often do we feel led by God, but get distracted or hold onto things too tightly when others are led to join us or we are in need of help. The Jews wanted to keep hearing the good news, but only if it involved them.
Lord, help me to recognized each and every day, that, "we, who are many, are one body in Christ, each individually members, one of another." This is a blessing from you and no cause for jealousy or worry of loosing control, because You are in control of all and deserve all the glory regardless of my role or efforts!
A modern day example of Peter's perspective before this revelation is our sense of justice. We feel that when someone who has done something horrible (rape, child abuse, etc.) is arrested or gets killed, that they got what was coming to them and often desire more horrible things to happen to them. This is not reflecting the heart of Jesus. He and the disciples preached a message of good news that all would repent and come to a saving relationship with Him. This does not mean that there are not consequences on earth regardless of repentance and those eternally if repentance does not occur, those are all too real realities. The point is our hearts should break for those who are lost in sin and desire repentance and restoration, not our own sense of justice on them.
Lord, help break my heart for the lost and reveal to me when I put my own ideas of who deserves Your grace ahead of Your character of love.
How great is Barnabas! He stands up and vouches for a man who used to seek out and murder his friends and brothers in Christ. Only reliance on Christ power could lead to such bold confidence.
Lord, help me to a "son of encouragement & exhortation" like Barnabas and lift those up who are seeking You!
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