Bible League: Living His Word Come close to God, and God will come close to you.— James 4:8 NLT It's so easy to drift away from God. It's so easy to neglect your relationship to Him. After all, life happens. Things get busy. Concerns that you put on the back burner must be brought forward to the front burner. Can you be blamed for taking care of business? Can anyone find fault with you for being responsible? It takes time to come close to God and time is a precious commodity. There's never enough of it to go around. Something has to give. God is always there. He'll be there when you have the time, won't He? He is kind and compassionate. He'll understand that you've been busy. There is, however, a problem with that philosophy. The problem is that when you drift away from God you tend also to drift away from your love and service to God. Instead of going to Him for the guidance and help you need, you go at it alone. You take on the burden yourself, doing what you think is right. It doesn't take long and you're a good distance from the will and ways of God. If that was all there was to the problem, it would be bad enough. But it gets worse. When you turn away from God, sometimes He stands back and lets you suffer the consequences of your poor choices. The Bible says, "The LORD will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you" (2 Chronicles 15:2). Is there anything worse than being abandoned by God? He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. To be abandoned by Him is to be abandoned by the one you need more than anyone or anything else. You thought you'd be fine going at it alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. You need God more than you'll ever know. If this scenario describes you, come back to God today. Come close to Him again. Spend some time in prayer and ask Him to forgive you for drifting away. Ask Him to guide you again and help you do what He wants you to do. If you will humble yourself in this way, He will come close to you and you will enjoy fellowship with Him again. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingIsaiah 10, 11, 12 Isaiah 10 -- Judgment on Assyria; A Remnant to Return NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 11 -- The Root of Jesse NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 12 -- Joyful Thanksgiving NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Galatians 5 Galatians 5 -- Standing Firm; Walking by the Spirit NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.Insight Apparently the Corinthians were ready to make wholesale changes without thinking through the ramifications. Paul was writing to say that people should be Christians where they are. Challenge You can do God's work and demonstrate your faith anywhere. If you became a Christian after marriage, and your spouse is not a believer, remember that you don't have to be married to a Christian to live for Christ. Don't assume that you are in the wrong place, or stuck with the wrong person. You may be just where God wants you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Songs 5:4 My Beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.Knocking was not enough, for my heart was too full of sleep, too cold and ungrateful to arise and open the door, but the touch of his effectual grace has made my soul bestir itself. Oh, the longsuffering of my Beloved, to tarry when he found himself shut out, and me asleep upon the bed of sloth! Oh, the greatness of his patience, to knock and knock again, and to add his voice to his knockings, beseeching me to open to him! How could I have refused him! Base heart, blush and be confounded! But what greatest kindness of all is this, that he becomes his own porter and unbars the door himself. Thrice blessed is the hand which condescends to lift the latch and turn the key. Now I see that nothing but my Lord's own power can save such a naughty mass of wickedness as I am; ordinances fail, even the gospel has no effect upon me, till his hand is stretched out. Now, also, I perceive that his hand is good where all else is unsuccessful, he can open when nothing else will. Blessed be his name, I feel his gracious presence even now. Well may my bowels move for him, when I think of all that he has suffered for me, and of my ungenerous return. I have allowed my affections to wander. I have set up rivals. I have grieved him. Sweetest and dearest of all beloveds, I have treated thee as an unfaithful wife treats her husband. Oh, my cruel sins, my cruel self. What can I do? Tears are a poor show of my repentance, my whole heart boils with indignation at myself. Wretch that I am, to treat my Lord, my All in All, my exceeding great joy, as though he were a stranger. Jesus, thou forgivest freely, but this is not enough, prevent my unfaithfulness in the future. Kiss away these tears, and then purge my heart and bind it with sevenfold cords to thyself, never to wander more. Daily Light on the Daily Path Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?"Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." Matthew 4:4,7,10 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" • Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" • Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. 1 Kings 13:16-19,26 He said, "I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. • "For a command came to me by the word of the LORD, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'" • He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him. • So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water. • Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him." Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! Psalm 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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