Easy, Quick Or Great?

January 17, 2025

 

KEY FROM GOD’S WORD:

Matthew 22:36-40
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

THOUGHTS ON GOD’S WORD:

   

     The world today seems to want to make everything easier and quicker. We have fast food restaurants, online stores, and online or drive-through banking. I even heard of a McDonald’s-type church service: quick in and out, no frills, just the basics. WOW. When you have so little time for God, it just does not sound like worship to me.

 

     Nevertheless, friends, it is not a new idea. Even when Jesus walked the earth, people were asking, “Give me the basics, I mean just the barest I need to know.” Therefore, Jesus did just that. He told them first, love Me completely. Not just part of you, all of you. Make me the center of everything in your life. Next, show the people around you the same type of love that I have had for you. The idea was that if you had given Jesus your whole self, heart, mind, and soul, then loving others as He did should be no problem.

 

      Do you know what happened? They walked away the same way they came. Looking for something more out of something less, they missed the simplicity of salvation because of unbelief. Salvation is so simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ completely, and He will save you completely. True worship will take time. Salvation happens in a moment.

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CARRYING THAT THOUGHT THROUGH THE DAY:

   The answer is in total surrender. If you will simply surrender your life to the one who created you, who wants the best for you, and put your faith in Him, He will be your Lord, and you will be a child of God. He does not want to ruin your life and destroy your happiness. He wants to guide you into real everlasting joy.

 

Will you walk to, or away from
the Lord’s Leading in your life today?

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and today’s Devotion?

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

  

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JANUARY 17, 2025

THROUGH THE BIBLE ACCELERATED READING
^{(OT-1, NT & PS-2, Prov-Monthly)}
Genesis 31 – Psalm 17
Proverbs 17 – Matthew 22

 

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
Genesis 35-37 – Matthew 12:1-37

 

First And Last Words
January 16, 2025

KEY FROM GOD’S WORD:

Proverbs 16:3
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

THOUGHTS ON GOD’S WORD:

    I have read several books over the years. Some were better than others. For example, I had to read a textbook for a counseling class. Reading that book seemed like work. Then there are the books that just draw me into them as if the story had been written around me. It was as if the author knew what would captivate my every thought and wrote this book just for me. Even during the day when I wasn’t reading it, I found myself thinking about it. When I got around others, my conversations would often wind up somehow mentioning the book and the author. These are by far my favorite books to read.

    I believe this idea of losing ourselves into something is what the author of our verses today had in mind. If we commit ourselves to the Lord, I mean completely fall in love with Him, then all we do and say becomes praise and worship of who He is. In addition, all our thoughts will automatically be established in Him. When Jesus becomes the center of our life, everything we say and do causes us to think of Him. We can actually get lost in Jesus just as we do in the pages of a really good book.

    In John 1:1, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the word into which we need to let our minds escape into each and every day. He was the first word of all History and should have the last word in all our lives.

     

 

CARRYING THAT THOUGHT THROUGH THE DAY:

     As you do your Bible readings today, read with the desire of the psalmist in your heart when He wrote Psalm 119:18 which says; “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Then walk in the revelation of His person all day. Get lost in Jesus today.

Where will your mind wander today?

IF YOU ARE JOURNALING:

Ask yourself, what are MY THOUGHTS concerning this Passage, and today’s Devotion?

Do I find within this reading a CHALLENGE for my life?

What are one or two things I WILL DO today or this week to accept that CHALLENGE?

  

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JANUARY 16, 2025

THROUGH THE BIBLE ACCELERATED READING
^{(OT-1, NT & PS-2, Prov-Monthly)}
Genesis 30 – Psalm 16
Proverbs 16 – Matthew 21

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
 Genesis 33-34  – Matthew 11:20-30