- Tuesday, 5/12/20 What’cha got planned for today? Here’s God’s plan: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me, Luke 9:23. Deny your sinful inclinations; accept unjust wrongs graciously, and
obey Him. Go to it. Proverbs 9:13, If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. Foundational truth: we’ve gotta live with US. So, we’re about as happy as we choose to be. Also, as godly, holy, disciplined, pure, forgiving...etc. Do you need to refocus your efforts and stop the blame game? It’s not “THEIR/HIS/HER” fault that you are like you are. Refocus and rededicate and redouble your life.
- Wednesday, 5/13/20 What’re you (not)willing to do for God? Will you make some choices for His sake that you wouldn’t dream of otherwise? Hosea 1:2, And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. He may ask the unthinkable of you. Will you? Where’s your line that you won’t cross? 1 Timothy 6:1, Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Notice what God wants protected: His name and the teachings about His name. Do any of our actions, beliefs, practices, jokes, demeanor, habits cause the unsaved to look askance at either of these valuables of God?
- Thursday, 5/14/20 Acts 8:19, [Simon] offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Remember that unsaved/newly saved people have a totally different mindset concerning how things work in God’s realm. How’s your mindset? Is it different from 3 years ago? Are you willing to grow? Acts 8:27-28, ...behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. This man had been given very unjust treatment: he was made a eunuch. It wasn’t right; it wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t going to change. Did he get mad and quit on God? No, he did the best that he could with the life he had. He rose in his career, and he prospered in his spirituality. How’re you doing with your “bumps in the road”? All of us have them; all of us have to deal with them; not all of us prosper despite them.
- Friday, 5/15/20 Acts 9:1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest... Saul soon got saved. Remember that things can TOTALLY change in the blink of an eye. We must simply stay faithful in deed and in prayer. God’s actively working. Psalm 3:4, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Sometimes, we KNOW that God has heard us and sometimes we wonder. Sometimes, we, by faith, have to believe that He did. Those times are hard...but we still have to function in the moment. Will your/my functioning be directed by obedience to the commandments right in front of me, or will we get mad at God and say, “I’ll show You!!” It’s hard being human and not God...but being God is a VERY hard job...I know: I’ve tried to do it many times, and failed miserably each time.
- Saturday, 5/16/20 Psalm 85:4, Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Notice the wisdom and maturity here. So often we focus on how “God isn’t doing a good job.” Here, the psalmist asks to have his own aggravating errors to be fixed. Who needs to change in your life: you or God? There are no little things to God. Proverbs 12:22, Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. We often excuse a “little white lie,” but God says it’s a horrible affront to Him. Likewise, we may act like common faithfulness is just “how we are; it’s no big deal,” but to the Lord, that’s a HUGE birthday present. God is aware of everything about us and it’s all VERY important to Him...go give Him a present today.
- Sunday, 5/17/20 Proverbs 12:3, A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. I love this: winds of adversity may make the righteous sway and groan; attackers with axes may destroy the beauty and usefulness; the seasons may change and a “new normal” may come and even stay, but the root will never move!!! Hosea 10:13, Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. The laws of agriculture could teach us a lot about life: we can’t sow wheat and expect an apple. Whether we like them or not, God has instituted certain laws in the universe. One of them is that the wages of sin is death, and that means the death of our happiness, of a relationship, our inner peace, our influence for God...as well as the death of our soul. Quit playing with sin!!! You won’t like the crop!! (If you don’t know 100% FOR SURE that you’re on your way to Heaven, message me ASAP.)
- Monday, 5/18/20 Proverbs 12:15, The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. A fool starts and ends with himself, but we SHOULD always keep in (the front of our) mind that we may be wrong, undereducated, misinformed, proud, prejudiced, jaded, angry, etc. Luke 12:1b, [Jesus] began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. It’s easy, popular, and unoffensive to emphasize and trumpet only the positive aspects of Christianity, but remember that Christ said a LOT about false teachers, hypocrites, proud arrogant pretenders, as well as Hell and judgment. Don’t proclaim half of His doctrines and pretend to think you’ve gotten it all, or just “the important” part.
 |
----------------------------------------------------------------- Contact me at baptistcity@gmail.com for information on subscribing to the weekly email or daily text messages from Terry. |
|
|