BBD 03.11.15 Build Your Life (Classic)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
03.12.15
Build
Your Life
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:1-2 NKJV.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. - 2 Peter 3:18 NKJV.
To be healthy physically it is well known that you cannot
just stop eating bad foods and start eating good foods. No, something else is
needed. There are many in our churches that are blessed to live long lives
while still remaining very active. How have they been able to do that? One part
is that they have had a lot of physical exercise over the course of their
lives. No, they haven’t been going to a gym and working out. No, the exercise
that they have received for the most part has been in the form of good old hard
work. They have worked hard all of their lives and that physical exercise has
paid off for them by helping keep their bodies running well and active even
into their older years.
Physical exercise is vital to obtaining and maintaining
physical well-being. “Physical Activity and
Health: A Report of the Surgeon General,” gives the following benefits of exercise: reduce the risk of premature death; reduce the risk of developing and/or
dying from heart disease; reduce high blood pressure or the risk of developing
high blood pressure; reduce high cholesterol or the risk of developing high
cholesterol; reduce the risk of developing colon cancer and breast cancer;
reduce the risk of developing diabetes; reduce depression and anxiety, and there are many more benefits of exercise listed in
the report.
Although it is possible to misuse your body usually hard
work and exercise results in your body becoming stronger. Your body is a
machine designed to be used and if you do not use it then it will grow weak.
Without use, your body will grow weak, even if you are not eating or drinking
things that are harmful; and it will grow weak even if you are eating and
drinking those things that are good for it.
Your spiritual self is much like your physical body. You
can be avoiding sin and having an intake of prayer, the Word, and church and
still grow spiritually weak. Why? Because you need exercise, you need to put
into practice those things that you have learned and are learning - to grow
strong spiritually. So, I want to share with you how you can change your life by
building your life, exercising your life.
One thing that you should already be doing is spending
time in prayer, talking to your Lord. However, many Christians never go beyond
praying about their own needs, what is going on in their own lives. To build our
lives we need to go beyond ourselves and begin to pray for others. The apostle
Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1-2a, “Therefore I exhort first of
all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made
for all men, for kings and all who are in authority….” If we want to change our lives, and build our lives,
then we must become prayer warriors; and surely it is a sin (1 Samuel 12:23) for us not to be prayer
warriors.
Another spiritual exercise that needs to be an active
part of our lives is servanthood. “For even the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a
ransom for many (Mark 10:45).” Surely, we
are to follow the example of Jesus and be servants. If we want to change our
lives, and build our lives then we must become servants. As we become servants,
we will find that we are not only changing and building our lives, but we are
changing and building the lives of those around us as well.
Witnessing is also a spiritual exercise that we need. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).” We are
witnesses. If you are a Christian, a child of God, you are a witness; there is
not an opt-out provision in this verse. But you do have the option of being a
bad witness or of being a good witness. Being a good witness will build your
life giving you fulfillment and joy. There is nothing like joy of sharing
Christ with someone that is lost. Being a good witness will also give you
empowerment to live the Christian life, to enable you to witness as you should.
“But you shall receive power….”
One last spiritual exercise that we need is discipleship.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen
(Matthew 28:18-20).” The Great Commission
tells us that we are to go beyond witnessing. We are not to just lead people to
Jesus, but to make disciples. Then we are to teach those disciples, and train
those disciples. In the teaching and the training, we will find that we
ourselves are growing and our lives are being built up as well.
The year is 2015 and isn’t it time to change your life
for the better? You can do that if you stop pouring the spiritual trans-fat of
sin into your life. You can do that by having an intake of the spiritual foods
of prayer, the Word of God, and faithful attendance in church. And you can do
that; change your life for the better, by exercising your spiritual life
through becoming a prayer warrior, a servant, a witness, and a discipler.
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
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Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please pray for Justin Lewis who is battling cancer. He is a young
Christian man with a wife and two children. Unless God intervenes there is
little hope for him. Please also pray for Shane Hall who has cancer and for all
those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s surgery for
removal of kidney and cancerous tumor went better than expected. She will now
need chemo for nodules in her lungs. Many prayer needs are posted at the
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requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
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