“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

Proverbs 1:19…  So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.  (NKJV)

I spent my last day of writing, posing the question…“What Feeds Your life ??”…  The original focus was on what we allow our kids watch on TV…where evil lurks in many forms…   When young or old focus their eyes on worthless things, or worse…things that fill the mind with violence, hatred, sexual immorality, or any other perverse thing that God would look upon with disgust…Satan’s influence is alive and well, as the mind is saturated with the ways of the world…1 John 2:15-16…

I opened up this writing with the following scripture… Psalm 119:37-38… Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, Andreviveme in Your way. ³⁸ Establish Your word to Your servant, Who is devoted to fearing You.  (NKJV)

After presenting my case for what not to visually fill our minds with, my focus changed to what we find in this piece of scripture from Psalms…“Establish Your word to Your servant”…  Instead of feeding our minds and wasting our time with “worthless things”, I presented an alternative that ALL Christians should embrace…

Find time each and every day to feed your heart, mind, and soul with the Word of God, the Bible…  I only scratched the surface with the benefits that Jesus speaks about, as a necessary part of the Christian’s life…when He teaches us this, in… Matthew 4:4… But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by breadalone, but by everyword that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”  (NKJV)

Go to www.Godsmanforever.wordpress.com and type 6/15/2013 into the search window, to read about it…

As I was thinking about what to write on today, I remembered that anything that comes before God is taking a Christian’s eyes off of Him, and is a sin…  God tells us in the very first of His 10 Commandments that we shall have no other “gods” before Him, in…Exodus 20:1-3… And God spoke all these words: ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ “You shall have no other gods before me.  (NKJV)

For the pre-working younger generation, these gods could include such things as computers, cell phones, texting, friends, video games, sports, Facebook, the internet, or any other distractions that come before God…  But for the working world, making the all mighty buck just has to be at the top of the god list…  Why else would Jesus tell us this, in…Matthew 6:24… “Noone can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”  (NKJV)   Mammon is typically described as material wealth or possessions…

And then we see this penned by the Apostle Paul, in…1 Timothy 6:9-10… But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  (NKJV)

I lived for over 50 years in a mode where money, and loving and providing for my family were absolutely the most important things in my life…  I believed I was a Christian…but I also believed that going to church on Sundays took care of my obligations to the Lord…  I am so thankful for the Lord’s patience and longsuffering…and now praise the Lord that I am one of His redeemed children…  

If we are truly a Christian in God’s eyes…then we are filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment we became one of God’s redeemed children…John 14:26…  From this point on in the Christian’s life…our focus should be first and foremost on glorifying God with everything we say and do…  Our priorities should center on God…and not our work, or our families, or any other personal possession or agenda… 

I would have to tell you from my experience…that for a personal relationship with the Lord to be fruitful and vibrant…keeping the Lord first in one’s life, constant communication with the Lord through prayer, daily spiritual feeding upon God’s Word, joining a Bible believing and teaching church (where you get plugged in by sharing your spiritual gift), and sharing your blessing of God’s grace with those around you…are all part of God’s plan for His obedient children…

Thinking about money…pride…stressing over finances…anxiety or fear about anything…anger, greed, hatred, bitterness, drunkenness, complaining, covetousness, deceit, dishonesty, envy, fornication, idolatry, mockery, swearing, un-thankfulness, and wrath are but a few of the sins that should just not be a regular part of the life of a Christian that is being conformed into the image of Christ…Romans 8:29…  Will the Christian sin ??  Yes…but any sin should be short lived, as it is confessed and repented of…1 John 1:9…

Any Christian that says they have no time to read their Bible on a regular basis…is a Christian that cannot be focused on living their lives for Christ…  Spiritual growth, in my humble opinion…just can’t occur apart from allowing God’s Word to saturate your heart, mind, and soul…Colossians 3:16… Let the word of Christdwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  (NKJV)

So if you are a Christian, who knows they really should be in the Word every day, if possible…then ask God to help you find the time…  The Apostle James pens this, in…James 4:17… Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it,to him it is sin.  (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word would convict all of Your children to spend more time diligently reading their Bible…  Once they experience the many benefits that saturating their lives in Your Word will bring them…I am hopeful that they will become as addicted as I am at spiritually feeding upon Your Word…  I pray Lord, that hearts, minds, and lives will be illuminated by Your Word like never before, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen… 

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills