SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2013
7:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Don’t Rob
the Lord PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl. 5:1-7
Message of the
verses: We will continue to look at
the first main point from the fifth chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes in
today’s SD, by looking at the first seven verses: “1 ¶
Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen
rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are
doing evil. 2 Do not be hasty in word or
impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in
heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few. 3 For the dream comes through much effort and
the voice of a fool through many words. 4
When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no
delight in fools. Pay what you vow! 5 It
is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your speech cause you to sin and
do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why
should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your
hands? 7 For in many dreams and in many
words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.”
We looked at the offering of sacrifices in yesterday’s
SD, and today we will begin by looking at careless praying that he speaks about
in verses two and three. Solomon has
also talked about this in the book of Proverbs that he also wrote.
Here is what our Lord had to say about this in Matthew
6:7 “’And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the
Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.’” Jesus went on to give us His great example of
prayer by giving us what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” I have mentioned in many earlier SD’s that I
have been reading different books that speak of the attributes of God, and I
have also mentioned that I believe that this is one thing that is greatly
lacking in our churches today. I mention
it here because it has much to do with prayer and the importance of prayer and
how we pray. If we are going to take the
time to pray about things that are near and dear to our hearts we had better
know the God to whom we are praying to, we had better know that we are to fear
our God, and that as a believer we have God living in our hearts in the person
of the Holy Spirit. The better we come
to know our God the more effective our prayers will be.
Dr. Wiersbe states “The secret of acceptable praying is a
prepared heart (Ps. 141:1-2), because the mouth speaks what the heart contains
(Matt. 12:34-37). If we pray only to
impress people, we will not get through to God.
The author of Pilgrims Progress, John
Bunyan, wrote: ‘In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than
words without a heart.’”
Verse three presents an analogy about prayer in that a
hard working person will have good sleep and also dreams because of his hard
work, while a person with many words to say to God is a fool. I believe that it also shows that fervent prayer
is truly hard work. The story is told
about John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church was riding his horse to
get to the places that he was to preach the Word of God at when a man came up
to him and began a conversation about prayer to him to which Wesley told him
that if he could pray for thirty minutes without stopping that he would give
him his horse. About five minutes into
his prayer the man stopped and asked Wesley “does the saddle go with it too.” Satan will bring many things to our minds to
do while we are praying, things that may be important for us to do, but the
reason for the thoughts is to keep us from the important thing we are doing and
that is praying.
Next we will look at verses four through seven to which
Solomon speaks of the admonition of making vows to the Lord. First we must realize that God did not
require his people to make vows to Him so that they would be accepted by Him,
however there was a great opportunity there for them to express their devotion
if they felt the leading of the Lord in their hearts. I mentioned in an earlier SD that very early
in my Christian life that I was not satisfied with how much time I spend in the
Word of God. While going to a conference
that was headed by Bill Gothert (? Spelling), he asked if anyone would like to
make a vow to the Lord to read His Word for five minutes a day, and so I raised
my hand because I felt that this is was God’s way of getting me into His Word
each day. This happened in October of
1980 and God has been faithful in helping me keep this vow to Him I made many
years ago. I suppose that I have missed
at least six days since that time, but there were also many times when God
would wake me out of a sound sleep at 11:55 PM to impress upon my heart that I
had not read His Word that day and so I would read it thanking God for the
reminder. Praying was another vow that I
made to the Lord to pray at least five minutes a day and God has been faithful
in this area too. The times I missed in
praying or not reading I have confessed to the Lord an began again to read and
pray.
Solomon is mentioning two sins in these verses. He mentions the sin of a person making a vow
to the Lord and not having any intentions of keeping it, and then a person who
makes a vow to the Lord knowing that he will delay in keeping it. I suppose that in both cases that the person’s
making the vow had little fear of the Lord otherwise they would not have made
them in the first place. Dr. Wiersbe
states that if providence permits us from keeping our vows to the Lord that God
will surely understand that and will release us from the vow. How many foxhole conversions and prayers have
been lifted up to the Lord that if He will only get me out of this situation
that the person will serve him the rest of his life. I made one like that in July of 1966 telling
the Lord that I would never swear again if he would only get me out of the
army. God did get me out of the army through a medical problem that I never had
before and not had since, but I did not keep my vow to Him. Eight and a half years later God save me and
took away my dirty mouth showing me that I could not do it on my own, but that
He could do it. I am thankful that God
did this miracle in my life of not only cleaning up my mouth, but saving me and
giving me the opportunity to serve Him.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I desire to
remember that it is important for me to remember that I am to fear the Lord,
not the kind of fear that causes dread, but the kind of fear that a loving son
has for loving parents, knowing that they have his best interest at heart. Yes God is a God to fear, and God is a God I
want to know better: “that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To continue my quest of “Knowing God.”
Memory verses for the
week: Mark 14:38 & 2 Cor. 5:17
38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into
temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Faith, hope, charity (love).” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Today’s Bible
Question: “What were the two men wearing
who told the disciples that Jesus would come back in the same manner in which
he went to Heaven?
Answer in Tomorrow’s SD.
5/2/2013 8:38 AM
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