Throughout Scripture we see the Bible testifying of the generating power of God's Word. Beginning in Genesis 1 we read that God spoke this world into existence creating life out of darkness. In Ezekiel 37 we have the fabulous vision where the Prophet is called to preach to the dry bones and through the preaching of God's Word, God's Spirit would bring deadness to life. This is how God gives us spiritual life. This is how God takes spiritually dead corpses and regenerates them through the teaching of His Word. 1 Peter 1:23, 'For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God' (cf. Jas. 1:18). In Romans 10 the familiar verse says 'faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ' (Rom. 10:17). That is why Paul told the Corinthians, 'God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe' (2 Cor. 1:21b; cf. 1 Cor. 1:17; 23; 9:16, 18; 15:11).
Randy Smith

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BBD 09.01.14 Out of Control (New)

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#1 · September 1, 2014, 2:33 pm

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

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The Burning
Bush Devotional

 

 

09.01.14

 

 

Out of
Control

 

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV.

 

 

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and
to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you
will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. - 2 Peter 1:5-8 NKJV.

 

 

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down,
without walls. - Proverbs 25:28 NKJV.

 

 

What do
you do when the wasps are out of control? You don’t call ghost busters; you do
call the pest controller! What would you do if you walked into a bedroom in
your home and found a giant wasp nest? A wasp nest about five foot long by
three feet wide by two and half feet tall! Now that is a wasp nest! That is
what a homeowner in Britain found in an upstairs bedroom that she rarely used.
The pest controller estimated the colony of wasps contained approximately 5,000
wasps with thousands more grubs and 500 queens. The pest controller had to wear
a bee keeper’s suit while he attacked the nest. The wasps were trying to attack
the pest controller as he sprayed the nest and the room and then removed the
dead wasps. The wasps had eaten an eight inch hole into the bed and the pillows
were also destroyed. It took several hours to complete the removal the giant
wasp nest and dead wasps. (Orange News 08.28.14)

 

 

There
are some clues here for how loss of control of situations and lives occur and
how to maintain control or regain control of lives or situations. The first
thing we notice about why wasps were able to build a gigantic nest is that the
nest was built in a room that no one had entered in months. In 2 Peter 1:5-6, we are told “giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge
self-control….” To avoid having another huge wasp nest built in a spare
bedroom the homeowner in the future will need to take a look at the bedroom
more frequently and check for any signs of nest building by the wasps. The same
goes for our spiritual lives; we must have “diligence.”
The Free Dictionary dot com defines diligence as: “Earnest and persistent application to an
undertaking; steady effort; assiduity. Attentive care; heedfulness.”
We often hear the term used in regard to legal situations as in exercising due
diligence. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
describes this as: “The attention and care legally expected or required of a
person as a party to a contract.”

 

 

To keep
from losing control of your spiritual life, there must be a frequent
examination of your life. Are you moving forward in your spiritual life? Are
you standing still? Are you going backward? If you are standing still or going
backward, immediate action must be taken to prevent your life from going out of
control. To move your life forward increase your contact with God by having
more Bible, more prayer, more church, more giving, and more service.

 

 

If your
spiritual life is completely out of control, you will likely need help to
regain control. Ask for help from a pastor or mature Christians. Ask them to
pray for you and monitor your progress as you move toward God having control of
your life. Just as with a gigantic wasp nest, cleaning up the mess may take
some time. It is unlikely that it will occur in a moment of time, but it will
begin with a renewed commitment to Jesus being the Lord of your life. Once that
renewed commitment to Jesus has been made you will be able to step by step regain
control of your life through His power.

 

 

Copyright © 2014. 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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Burning Bush websites:

 

 

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Ed Wrather has retired from
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prayer - please pray for me.).

 

 

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