SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2019
11:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Lord’s
Purposes”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:17
Message of the verses: “17 So then do not
be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
As
we look at this 17th verse we see that the phrase “do not be foolish”
actually reinforces what Paul wrote in verse 15 for believers not to be unwise,
and “understand what the will of the Lord is,” and this expands and makes more
explicit his plea to walk wisely.
John
MacArthur writes “In light of the urgency to make the most of our time, not
being ‘foolish’ includes, among other things, not becoming anxious or
panicked. When we look around at the perverseness
of evil and at the unending needs for evangelism and service to others in
Christ’s name, it is easy to be overwhelmed.
We are tempted either to give up and withdraw or to become hyperactive,
losing precision, purpose, and effectiveness in a frenzy of superficial
activity.
“The
proper sense of urgency, however, drives the wise believer to want more than
ever to ‘understand what the will of the Lord is,’ because he knows that only in
the Lord’s will and power can anything good and lasting be accomplished. He will not ‘be foolish’ by running
frenetically in every direction trying to see how many programs and projects he
can become involved in. Such activity
easily become futile and leads to burnout and discouragement, because it works
in the power of the flesh even when it is well-intentioned. Trying to run ahead of God only puts us
further behind in His work.”
As
I look at these two paragraphs from MacArthur’s commentary I have to say that I
agree with the points that he is making.
There is a fine line in a believer’s life to be doing things in the
power of the Spirit and doing things in the flesh. We can never help God out for He needs no
help, but if we are in tune with Him in the Spirit and doing the things that He
has planned for us to do from eternity past then we will be doing what He
desires us to do. The flesh is deceptive
and so we all must be on guard not to fall prey of the flesh even though at
times this can bring pride in our hearts.
Those who have been following my Spiritual Diaries know that I have been
thinking about being more humble, and certainly not prideful in my walk with
the Lord and in my Spiritual Diary from Psalm 131 which I put onto my other
blog this morning I found it was all about humility and pride. In that Spiritual Diary I found to wonderful
quotes from the late Warren Wiersbe who said “We move toward maturity when we
honestly accept who we are, understand what we can do, accept both and live for
God’s glory. Rejecting or hating
ourselves, fantasizing about ourselves, and envying others are marks of
immaturity.” Next quote “When you accept
yourself and your lot and thank God for the way He made you, you do not need to
impress people. They will see your wroth
and love you for who you are.” So when
we do things in the power of the flesh we are doing them with pride, but when
we are doing things in the power of the Spirit then we are being humble, for
after all it is the power of the Spirit who is the One working through us.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire to follow the Spirit of God in doing
the things that God planned for me to do in eternity past as seen in Ephesians
2:10.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I am thankful for more information that I
have learned about humility in my lesson from Psalm 131 and desire to follow
what I have learned.
Today’s quotation is from Dwight L.
Moody who states “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care
of itself.”
6/25/2019 12:19 PM
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