BBD 04.03.09 Overlooking the Obvious

#1 · April 3, 2009, 1:15 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 3, 2009, 1:15 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 363 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

04.03.09

Overlooking the Obvious

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in
the breaking of bread, and in prayers. - Acts 2:42.

A woman in Kissimmee, Florida had a real problem, and so she called 911. The
woman thought that she was locked inside of her car after the electrical
system stopped working. She tried again and again to open the doors with the
electric door locks but nothing happened. She complained to the 911
dispatcher that it was getting hot, and she was not feeling very well. The
dispatcher though had a great idea, the dispatcher told the woman to
manually unlock the car door, and.it worked. In the words of the woman who
thought she was locked inside her car, "Um, I'm sorry."

Have you ever been in a similar situation, a situation in which you were
growing more and more desperate, but suddenly you realized or someone told
you the solution which was very simple? I know I have been in situations
like that before. Even though we may have been Christians for many years we
still often overlook the obvious spiritual solution.

One of those things that we often overlook as Christians is the vital
necessity of prayer. No matter what the situation prayer is available to us.
We can verbalize our prayers and God will hear us. We can pray non-verbally
and God will still hear us. We may only have time for a very short prayer,
as in, "Help me!" But God hears all prayers that are according to His will
as the apostle John tells us, ".if we ask anything according to His will, He
hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we
have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14b-15)." When the
world around us is going crazy we can pray and God will give us peace, peace
"which surpasses all understanding," and that peace "will guard your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus."

Something else that should be obvious to Christians that we overlook is the
reading of the Bible. We know we ought to read the Bible, but we have not
made it a habit and put it into our daily schedule. As a result we may go
for weeks or months without really sitting down and reading the Word of God.
We wonder why it is so hard to cope with the circumstances that life sends
our way. We wonder why we have a hard time handling things emotionally. It
is because as Jesus says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)." If we want strength
to live life as it ought to be lived, we need a daily intake of the Word of
God.

It is troubling to me that one of the most overlooked things in the life of
many Christians today is attending church. It should be obvious that
attending church is God's will because the church was God's idea. Christ
died for the church, and He is head of the church (Colossians 1:18). It
should be obvious that if you are not attending church that you are not in
God's will for your life. Yes, there are hypocrites in the church, but they
are God's problem not yours. If we want to grow as Christians we need the
church, and we should do as the writer of the book of Hebrews says, "let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but
exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching
(Hebrews 10:24-25)."

Let us not overlook as Christians the most obvious essentials of our faith.
Prayer, Bible, and the Church are not optional accessories; they are
essentials that every child of God needs integrated into their lives.

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me. Pray for my voice since I continue
to have problems with it.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 363 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

04.03.09

Overlooking the Obvious

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in
the breaking of bread, and in prayers. - Acts 2:42.

A woman in Kissimmee, Florida had a real problem, and so she called 911. The
woman thought that she was locked inside of her car after the electrical
system stopped working. She tried again and again to open the doors with the
electric door locks but nothing happened. She complained to the 911
dispatcher that it was getting hot, and she was not feeling very well. The
dispatcher though had a great idea, the dispatcher told the woman to
manually unlock the car door, and.it worked. In the words of the woman who
thought she was locked inside her car, "Um, I'm sorry."

Have you ever been in a similar situation, a situation in which you were
growing more and more desperate, but suddenly you realized or someone told
you the solution which was very simple? I know I have been in situations
like that before. Even though we may have been Christians for many years we
still often overlook the obvious spiritual solution.

One of those things that we often overlook as Christians is the vital
necessity of prayer. No matter what the situation prayer is available to us.
We can verbalize our prayers and God will hear us. We can pray non-verbally
and God will still hear us. We may only have time for a very short prayer,
as in, "Help me!" But God hears all prayers that are according to His will
as the apostle John tells us, ".if we ask anything according to His will, He
hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we
have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14b-15)." When the
world around us is going crazy we can pray and God will give us peace, peace
"which surpasses all understanding," and that peace "will guard your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus."

Something else that should be obvious to Christians that we overlook is the
reading of the Bible. We know we ought to read the Bible, but we have not
made it a habit and put it into our daily schedule. As a result we may go
for weeks or months without really sitting down and reading the Word of God.
We wonder why it is so hard to cope with the circumstances that life sends
our way. We wonder why we have a hard time handling things emotionally. It
is because as Jesus says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)." If we want strength
to live life as it ought to be lived, we need a daily intake of the Word of
God.

It is troubling to me that one of the most overlooked things in the life of
many Christians today is attending church. It should be obvious that
attending church is God's will because the church was God's idea. Christ
died for the church, and He is head of the church (Colossians 1:18). It
should be obvious that if you are not attending church that you are not in
God's will for your life. Yes, there are hypocrites in the church, but they
are God's problem not yours. If we want to grow as Christians we need the
church, and we should do as the writer of the book of Hebrews says, "let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but
exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching
(Hebrews 10:24-25)."

Let us not overlook as Christians the most obvious essentials of our faith.
Prayer, Bible, and the Church are not optional accessories; they are
essentials that every child of God needs integrated into their lives.

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me. Pray for my voice since I continue
to have problems with it.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.