SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2020
10:27 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Way of Holiness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:8
Message of the
verse: “"Happy
are the utterly sincere, for they will see God!”
I want to begin this SD with a short
story that happened to me back in 1974 or 1975.
Once I had become a believer I did not go to a church for four years, but
was meeting with people at a Christian book store. One evening the owner, who had been mentoring
me, asked me to watch the store while he had something to do. A man came in to look for a book on
holiness. He believed that after living
the Christian life for a long time that God would miraculous eradicate not only
his sins but his old sin nature. I was
very knew in the faith, but I did know enough to show him a couple of books,
one that went alone with his point and one that did not. I tell this story because there are some
people in this world today, and for that matter for a long time who believe
that they can live without sinning, which the Word of God certainly does not go
along with, and there are some people who will run away to be by their selves to
pray and meditate on the Word of God in order to become sinless. It is good from time to time to be by one’s
self to do that, but that in and of itself will not make you without sin or get
rid of the sin nature. I once read a
story about a monk who went away to meditate for a long time and the first
thing that he said after returning was “I never thought of a woman the entire
time I was there.”
God will always provide for what He
demands, and He has therefore provided ways for us to live purely. In his commentary on this section John
MacArthur gives four ways to help us live purely.
1.
Believers must
realize that we are not able to live a single holy moment without the Lord’s
guidance and with His power. Prov. 20:9 “Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from
my sin"?” Perhaps this was a rhetorical
question, for the answer is that no one can do this other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jeremiah writes in 13:23a the
following “"Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots?” Cleansing begins with recognition of
weakness. After that weakness reaches
out for the strength of God.
2.
We must stay in
God’s Word. A friend of mine Dr. Mike
Peck writes a short devotional story each day and today’s story was about a
woman who was afraid much of the time, and she was directed to spend more time
in God’s Word, and prayer. This helped
her out of the fear she had. Jesus said
the following in John 15:13 “"You are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
3.
It essential to
be controlled by and walking in the will and way of the Holy Spirit. “But I say, walk by
the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).
4.
We must
Pray! In order to know God’s will for
our lives prayer is essential as we must stay close to the Lord, and we do this
by talking to Him. Ephesians 6:18 tells
us to “pray at all times in the Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us “pray without
ceasing,” and Warren Wiersbe use to say in order to do this we have to keep the
phone off the hook with heaven. In John
3 we learn about Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night to talk to Him about
something that was on his heart.
Nicodemus was given an answer by Jesus, but not answering the question
that was ask by him, as Jesus knew what His real issue was. I am learning for this that throughout the
day I must just talk to the Lord like Nicodemus talked to Him, and my prayer is
that He will answer the needs that I am facing each day.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I desire to always keep my phone off the hook
as I talk with the Lord at different times of the day. He know what I need before I ask and for that
I am thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to guide me in His ways
through His Word and His Spirit. I
continue to seek contentment and humility in my life and to continue to have
joy as I study His Word each day.
5/20/2020 11:08 AM
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