Word for Today: Look to the LORD! -- each day, each moment
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Look to the LORD!
How many of you really "Look to the LORD?" What does that look like for
you?
May I suggest a few things.
1. Read your Bible regularly. Reading the Bible every day is a good
practice.
If possible, do so. If not, at least read your Bible regularly,
certainly several
times a week. If you have never read the Bible from cover to cover,
look into
various methods - chapter by chapter, mixing Old and New Testament, Psalms,
and Proverbs reading. Plan on spending at least a half hour a day,
especially
if you have truly never read the entire Bible.
2. Think about what it says. The Bible says that faith comes from
hearing and
hearing comes from the Word of God. The Bible also says that it is true and
that God cannot lie. Finally, the Bible says that all scripture is God
breathed,
that is, even though it was recorded by men, every single word was inspired
directly by God. Therefore, it is well worth thinking about the Bible
each and
every day.
3. Pray. God speaks to us primarily through His Word, the Bible. We speak
to God both audibly and silently, by thinking about what He has said and
responding to it. We ought to either first read the Bible before we pray or
we ought to have read it sometime within the day if we expect to be in the
same reference as God. We must confess that we have sin in our lives, and
we must be cleansed before our prayers can be effectively heard. Without
the right attitude, realizing that God has done a great deal for us, there
really is no basis for prayer. However, God is good. He wants us to
acknowledge Him, He wants us to accept the provision Jesus Christ gave,
loving us so much that He sacrificed convenience, closeness with His own
Father, and willingly took on human flesh, only to be misunderstood and
ultimately tortured and killed, all so that He could present Himself a
perfect
sacrifice on our behalf, thus paying God's wrath for sin. Because of
Christ,
we have an avenue to God. He is the One who makes prayer possible.
Give Jesus Christ His due today. Confess your need of Him. Realize the
sin in your life. Confess it to God and trust what Jesus Christ has done
to forgive us. Don't think that you have earned anything at all. Instead,
know that it is Jesus who gives us access to God, for He is, in fact, God
in the flesh. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, lives inside those who recognize
this and call upon Him. That is what we call "being saved".
This is not nonsense, but to those who do not believe, it is foolishness.
To those who believe, it is life itself.
Do you believe?
Yours in Christ,
--
Brian Masinick
masinick at yahoo dot com