Dear friends:
The following is an excerpt of an email received from my mentor, Lori. The timing of this letter goes so well with my last post on being in devotions, that I wanted to be sure to share this with you. Hope you enjoy it.
A quote from Charles Swindoll:
"Let me mention one more 'cheap substitute' so common among Christian wives in our day. It is learning about what's right rather than doing what is right... It has been my observation that a large percentage of Christian wives know more--much more--than what they put into practice. And yet, they are continually interested in attending another class, taking another course, reading another book, going to another seminar...learning, discussing, studying, discovering...and what results? Normally, greater guilt. Or, on the other side, an enormous backlog of theoretical data that blinds and thickens the conscience rather than spurs it into action. Learning more truth is a poor and cheap substitute for stopping and putting into action the truth already learned."
God's Word has much to say on this but here are just a couple of verses on the topic....
James 1:22-25 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and , after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it ~ he will be blessed in what he does."
We are not to deceive ourselves into thinking that hearing or reading or being taught or writing the Word or posting the Word up in our homes, is enough.....God says if we stop here, we deceive ourselves! He tells us to "DO WHAT IT SAYS!"
He tells us to not forget the truth of God's Word and His Ways that we've been taugtt (by the Holy Spirit, by God's Word, by the pastor, by our Bible study teachers) not forgetting what we've heard....BUT DOING IT!
Then we will be blessed in what we do!!! :)
Many of us want to be blessed by what we do...
but if we are NOT DOING what Jesus tells us to...
we will not receive the blessings that we could be!
Often we are frustrated by things not going well in our lives and by the struggles we face....but as we DO WHAT IT (God's Word) SAYS....
we will be blessed in what we do! :)
Luke 7:46-48 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came,the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built."
I know there were times in all of our lives when wisdom was shared with us, but we didn't do what we were told to do....and then when the consequences come we call for help! God says why won't you do what you should?
He wants us to:
1. Come to Him! To pray, to look to Him, to see our need, to draw close to Him.
2. Hear his Word. To be in his Word daily, to hear his Word taught, preached, spoken, and to remember it...not forgetting it, but meditating upon it...thinking about it...stopping and really seeking to truly HEAR it and remember it!
But the final step is sooooo important and one we usually have the most problem with....
3. Put it into practice!
We need to come to Jesus, to see our need for him, to realize we need his wisdom and truth and help and salvation!
Then we need to read his Word and listen as it is taught truthfully and well and be encouraged by it....but we also need to put it into practice...walking it out much like a toddler learning to walk! We will fail and fall many times...but just like a toddler, we will learn to walk in the Lord's ways as we keep getting up and practicing again and again and again what the Lord is telling us to do! :)
This is as much a reminder for me as for anyone else! :) I know that one word has helped me sooo much to keep in mind what I should be doing each morning when God's mercies are new...and I meet with him.
The one word that has helped me so much is the word "purpose!" I seek to purpose each day to do what the Lord is showing me and encouraging me to do...what his Word tells me to do and what the Holy Spirit is leading me to do.
Phil. 3:12-14 says it best....
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Oh, that we would be godly women that are not only hearers....but doers!
That each day, we would "forget" what is behind (God's grace is sufficient to cover the mistakes and sins of yesterday as we humble ourselves before him) and instead PRESS ON, STRAINING toward what is ahead...putting into practice the truth that the Lord has given us as we COME to him, and HEAR his Word....may we also be faithful in his grace to PRACTICE obeying what he has given us! :)
Hope this was an encouragement and blessing to you today!
