BBD 10.14.16 Overlooking the Obvious (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Classic from 2009
Burning Bush Devotional
14 October 2016
Overlooking
the Obvious
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. - Acts 2:42 NKJV.
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 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 Church are not optional accessories; they are essentials
that every child of God needs integrated into their lives.
Yesterday, I mowed for a couple of
hours and survived being stung by a wasp. It had been more than two weeks since
the last time I mowed, because of the trip we took. Finished mowing just as it
began to rain. Can someone tell me why we
need wasps?
Copyright © 2009-2016. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
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Prayer
Requests:
Please continue to pray for healing for Michelle Abetz,
Shane Hall, Brad, Damon D. & wife, Will J, Reta (my sister – she is
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Our son, Nick has improved, but
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