BBD 04.13.19 No Shortcuts (New)

#1 · April 13, 2019, 12:44 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 13, 2019, 12:44 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Since June 8^th 1998, this is
the 1808^th

The Burning Bush Devotional

13 April 2019

No
Shortcuts

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV.

The Message puts Matthew 7:13-14 as: Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The
market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that
can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though
crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total
attention.

All the high winds that we have experienced
here in Oklahoma caused our DISHtv system to develop some problems. Monday the DISHtv technician arrived to try to
solve our system problems. I thought it might only take him a few minutes to
remount and reposition the dish and he would be done. Instead, it took a couple
of hours. The technician discovered that the cable in our attic was not a DISH
approved cable, and proceeded to replace it, even though it must have been more
than 100 degrees in the attic. He said the old cable would likely have been okay. Then
he said, “I don’t do shortcuts.” “No shortcuts.”

Sadly,
many try to find a shortcut to God and end up on the “broad” way instead entering at the “narrow gate.” Many try the shortcut of trying to do more
good things than bad things. However, we are told in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them.” There is only One Way to salvation and reconciliation with God.
The narrow gate and the way is Jesus Christ! John 14:6, “Jesus said to him,

‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

After we have believed
upon Jesus unto salvation there are still no shortcuts. There is no shortcut from
being a baby in Christ to becoming a mature believer. There will be no growth
as a Christian without Bible reading and Bible study. There will be no growth
as a Christian without spending time in prayer every day. There will be no
growth as a Christian without faithful church attendance. There will be no
growth as a Christian without serving your Lord and Savior.

Jesus could have taken a
shortcut by accepting the devil’s temptations of Matthew 4, but He
defeated those temptations by the Word of God. Jesus could have rejected the
cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, instead He prayed in Matthew 26:42, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away
from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Just before
being nailed to the cross, Jesus could have taken a shortcut as we are told in Matthew 27:34, “they gave Him

sour
wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.”
This would have been a shortcut, a small shortcut at best, around some
of the suffering of the cross. But Jesus refused to take that shortcut, going
to and through the cross because of His great love for us. There was no
shortcut to Jesus becoming our Savior. It was a long hard road that Jesus
traveled.

Life can be difficult, and your
Savior knows that all too well. There are no shortcuts to a life well lived,
but Jesus will travel with you on that difficult way. Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn
from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For My yoke

is easy and My burden
is light (Matthew 11:29-30).”

Copyright © 2011 - 2019. 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
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 21 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.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for healing
Brandy, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Gary Kirk, Gary Ford, Caleb Freeman, Buck
& Barbara Wright, Mariah W., Wendy Lu, Joseph C., Mary B., Vicki Dudgeon, Gwen
P., Jacqui, Johnny Davis, James Perkins and his wife, Jana Smithy, Bernice
Wilcox and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

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

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

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Since June 8^th 1998, this is
the 1808^th

The Burning Bush Devotional

13 April 2019

No
Shortcuts

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV.

The Message puts Matthew 7:13-14 as: Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The
market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that
can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though
crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total
attention.

All the high winds that we have experienced
here in Oklahoma caused our DISHtv system to develop some problems. Monday the DISHtv technician arrived to try to
solve our system problems. I thought it might only take him a few minutes to
remount and reposition the dish and he would be done. Instead, it took a couple
of hours. The technician discovered that the cable in our attic was not a DISH
approved cable, and proceeded to replace it, even though it must have been more
than 100 degrees in the attic. He said the old cable would likely have been okay. Then
he said, “I don’t do shortcuts.” “No shortcuts.”

Sadly,
many try to find a shortcut to God and end up on the “broad” way instead entering at the “narrow gate.” Many try the shortcut of trying to do more
good things than bad things. However, we are told in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them.” There is only One Way to salvation and reconciliation with God.
The narrow gate and the way is Jesus Christ! John 14:6, “Jesus said to him,

‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

After we have believed
upon Jesus unto salvation there are still no shortcuts. There is no shortcut from
being a baby in Christ to becoming a mature believer. There will be no growth
as a Christian without Bible reading and Bible study. There will be no growth
as a Christian without spending time in prayer every day. There will be no
growth as a Christian without faithful church attendance. There will be no
growth as a Christian without serving your Lord and Savior.

Jesus could have taken a
shortcut by accepting the devil’s temptations of Matthew 4, but He
defeated those temptations by the Word of God. Jesus could have rejected the
cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, instead He prayed in Matthew 26:42, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away
from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Just before
being nailed to the cross, Jesus could have taken a shortcut as we are told in Matthew 27:34, “they gave Him

sour
wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.”
This would have been a shortcut, a small shortcut at best, around some
of the suffering of the cross. But Jesus refused to take that shortcut, going
to and through the cross because of His great love for us. There was no
shortcut to Jesus becoming our Savior. It was a long hard road that Jesus
traveled.

Life can be difficult, and your
Savior knows that all too well. There are no shortcuts to a life well lived,
but Jesus will travel with you on that difficult way. Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn
from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For My yoke

is easy and My burden
is light (Matthew 11:29-30).”

Copyright © 2011 - 2019. 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
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

http://www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 21 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.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for healing
Brandy, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Gary Kirk, Gary Ford, Caleb Freeman, Buck
& Barbara Wright, Mariah W., Wendy Lu, Joseph C., Mary B., Vicki Dudgeon, Gwen
P., Jacqui, Johnny Davis, James Perkins and his wife, Jana Smithy, Bernice
Wilcox and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

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

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

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org