Abiding in Him.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Recently I was thinking about the prevalence and accessibility of worldly messages and it made me consider how often I make an effort to take in Godly messages. How much am I listening, paying attention to or taking in the things of God? How many times did I attend church this week? How many times did I open my bible to read His Word this week? How often this week did I have a prayer time? When I did pray, how many of my prayers were for others? Yet, how much T.V. did I watch this week? How many advertisements did I see? How many things came across my path that were disrespectful, or hurtful to others? How many crude jokes or inappropriate images did I see?

Worldly messages are prevalent throughout our culture and they are contrary to the Word of God. We are steadily hearing worldly messages all around us. To counter the messages we hear daily knowing the heart of God is crucial, and the heart of God is complex and profound. Therefore, it is important to realize that attending one hour of worship on Sunday is not enough to get to know God and hear His voice. Likewise, watching religious T.V. programs a couple of times a week is certainly not enough. Abiding with God daily is how we hear His word for us (John 15:5). If we don’t dwell with God more than one or two hours on Sunday morning it will be hard to recognize His voice. We can not have a relationship with Him, abide in Him, without reading the Bible, praying and attending church.

When we regularly listen to, or take in what is on the Internet, T.V., and radio that is what we are abiding in, whether or not it is a conscious choice on our part. It is so easy to ‘take in’ messages from the world around us. In the time it takes to watch one T.V. program or one movie we have seen and heard worldly messages repeatedly, but it takes our effort to take in God’s messages for us.

God doesn’t want us just to obey or abide with Him because He is God and He says so. He wants us to obey and abide with Him so He can bless us and so that our joy can be full (John 15:11)!

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. Ps. 18:30

Read More:
John 15:4-11

Plan of Action:
Find a devotional book that praises God and begin to have a short quiet time with Him as often as possible.

Prayer:
Father, thank you that you always reward our obedience with blessings!

A quick encouragement for today!

I was just having some prayer time about some difficult circumstances that may be coming my way and I wanted to share something that God showed me. Maybe it will encourage you today as well.

God showed me that He often allows obstacles in our lives to give us the opportunity to work on, improve, and learn from weaknesses that we all have within ourselves. He loves us so much that He doesn't want us to remain captive to our weaknesses and insecurities. It is because He loves us and wants more and better things for us, and from us, that these obstacles appear.

In the 'Streams in the Desert' devotional for today it states, "We encounter giants only when we are serving God and following Him. It was when Israel was going forward that the giants appeared, for when they turned back into the wilderness, they found none" (June 29th, page 253).

The bible says we can ask for His help when we lack the knowledge of how to deal with a situation. (James 1:5) So, when we put it all together it means that, when we encounter obstacles we can thank Him that they are there, because that means He is helping us resolve something in ourselves. We can thank Him that we are on the right track, because it is only when we move forward with Him that we encounter these issues. And, we can thank Him that He will give us the knowledge and wisdom about how to handle these issues if we bring them to Him in prayer! Wow, God is good!

Great Value!

"So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:31

Throughout the Bible God isn’t just saying I Love You, He is also saying I Value You. According to Vine's Concise Dictionary of the Bible value means, ‘to excel, to differ from, & honor’(p. 399). God is saying as His children we are set apart from people who don’t believe in Him. He also says that because we do believe in Him, and His only Son Jesus, we are honored in His sight (Isaiah 43:4). Sometimes it is a battle to believe that God values us because we have a hard time valuing ourselves. However, it is important to know that we are important to Him and He does value us because we are His children (Romans 8:15-16), and we are precious to Him. He will never abandon us. He cannot. That would be against His nature (2 Timothy 2:13).

The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Is. 60:19

Read More:
Luke 12:6-7

Prayer:
Father, I know that a battle involves perseverance. Help me choose to believe your Word again and again, even when I don’t feel it.

Plan of Action (James 1:22-25):
Choose to believe God loves and values you. Memorize Matthew 10:31 or Luke 12:7.