Time alone with God

Each morning I enjoy spending time with God, reading His word and seeking Him in prayer.  I often use one of the Bible app plans to aid me in pulling out truth from the scriptures.  This week in particular I’ve been asking God each day to give me a nugget of truth that I can take into my day and apply to my life as a whole.

Today I was reading through the commentary in the Bible app plan I’m using and the writer was speaking about how we establish a good reputation with God and other people.  He made the statement that we should always speak about others as if they were present to hear.  He stated that we establish trust in those who are present at the time by our loyalty to those who are not.

Wow! This was today’s nugget for me.  God was showing me and speaking to me through this writer that it is vitally important that I always speak kindly about others to others.  If what I am saying about someone is not something I would say to them if they were present, then I should NOT say it!

I love that the writer said that we will establish trust with those who are present when we are loyal to those who are not.  That, to me, is profound!

How do we achieve loyalty to others who are not present?  By only saying things that we would want them to hear.

Have you ever heard “through the grapevine”, as the expression goes, what someone said about you that made you mad, or surprised you, or saddened you?  Have you ever found that someone violated a trust with something you shared in secret and asked them to keep that way?  Did you feel differently about that person afterwards?

I am certainly chewing on these thoughts and considering my words that I speak, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and help me establish trust and a good reputation with others (and most certainly with God) by being careful to watch what I say to others about others.

Proverbs 3: 3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” NIV

Proverbs 3:3-4 “Don’t lose your grip on love and loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.” The Message

I hope these truths resonate with you too, my friend.  Let’s all protect our speech, honor others with our words, and build our reputations by staying loyal and true to those who are not in our presence when we are speaking about them!

We also need to remember that God is always present, and He always hears everything we say.  He desires for us to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us when we speak and act, and by doing so we can be assured that we will always do and say the right thing.

Friend, we are living in the Last Days before the return of Jesus Christ!  Are you ready?

Take heed to the words from 2 Peter 3:3-6

³ Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷ By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.^[a]

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.^[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Photo taken at Baptist High in 2001

Be ready my friend.  Jesus is coming back soon!  Don’t be complacent thinking you have plenty of time to get your house in order, your life right with Him.  It could be any day, and many scholars believe it is going to be VERY, VERY SOON!

…I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

~ Ephesians 3:14-19

David, young, handsome, simple shepherd.  How is it that he was able to kill Goliath?

You’ve heard the story, yes?  How all the Israelites cowered in fear toward this Philistine giant, Goliath.  The bible says he stood six cubits and a span.  That’s somewhere between 9′ and 11′ tall!  For this 5’3″ gal, that’s pretty tall!!

Every day as they went to battle, this defiant giant who called out against them and the one true God, tormented and terrified them.  They all retreated in fear and defeat.  For 40 days they did this!  I don’t know about you but cowering in defeat for 40 days is a long time.  I hesitate to think that these Israelites ever thought they would win this battle against these Philistines as long as Goliath was around.

But David…

In response to Goliath’s bold statement, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ~ I Samuel 17:10 …David stepped up to say, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” ~ I Samuel 17:32

“Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep.  When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.  When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.  Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” ~ I Samuel 17:34-37

What in your life is your Goliath?  The battle looming in front of you that seems like such a giant to you? Trust in the Lord your God, the maker of Heaven and Earth.  Believe on the Lord Jesus and all that He did at Calvary for YOU.  Then you can face any Goliath, any giant, any battle…and You Can Have Victory!

The Lord who rescued David from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear…the Lord who rescured you from (fill in the blank from your life), will rescue YOU from the hand of this (fill in that thing that is still standing in your way of victory).

Believe it!  Stand on it!  Thank God for it!  Then GO GET YOUR VICTORY!!  Don’t let your Goliath keep you from it any longer.