Thoughts to ponder today as you walk with the Lord in your life...
Do you ever wonder if your actions each day are making the
Lord proud of you? Do you think your life is making the Lord rejoice and be
glad? How can we know what to do in order to be sure we are pleasing Him?
Lets look -in His Word!
My
son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice -- indeed, I myself; Yes, my
inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things.
Do
not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD all
the day;
Hear,
my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way. Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or
with gluttonous eaters of meat; For the
drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And
drowsiness will clothe a man with rags...also wisdom and instruction and
understanding.
Proverbs
23:15-24 (nkjv)
Listen
to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is
old. Buy the truth and do not sell it;
get wisdom, discipline and understanding.
The
father of a righteous man has great joy;
Proverbs 23:23-24 (niv)
Moreover
the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you
see?"And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."
Then
the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My
word."
Jeremiah 1:11-12 (nkjv)
For
He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him
from the Excellent Glory "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with
Him on the holy mountain. 2 Peter 1:16-18 (nkjv)
When we as parents
look at our children and see them making the right choices it makes us proud.
In the same way I believe when we make the right choices, we make our heavenly
Father proud of us.
How do we know if we are making
the right choice as appeased to the one, we think is right but turns out to be
wrong? Let’s think on this a moment and see what the scriptures tell us…
Proverbs
23:15 “… if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice…”
Ps
111:10 The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His
commandments.
Here we see that we need to have a wise heart in order to
cause God to rejoice in us. Also we can see that with the fear of the Lord we
begin to receive wisdom, and that if we do His will in our lives we are showing
that we have good understanding of what He wants of us.
We are told in Proverbs 23 also to buy
the truth and to get wisdom, instruction and understanding. These are all
things that will help us to grow closer to God, and to give Him pleasure.
When we have wisdom, we can choose wisely, thus pleasing Him
with our actions.
When we have instruction or discipline as some versions say,
we can learn what it takes to behave in a manner that will be pleasing to our
Lord.
When we have understanding, we can know why, how, when to do
what He would have us do.
There is one more thing we need though… for without it, it
is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he
rewards those who earnestly seek him.
I think it is
funny but everything we study on seems to come back to trusting God. Because
faith is trusting in God. Trusting Him to give us eternal life, to help us out
of sticky situations, to guide us in our life’s path. We have trusted Him with
our hearts, when we invited Him into our lives, but have we really begun to
trust Him with our lives yet?
Trusting Him,
will please Him.
Once there was
a family who went camping. They found a great spot near a river and enjoyed
playing at the water’s edge with float toys and life vests and just plane
splashing one another. The second day came,
and the water picked up some speed and a current stopped the family from
playing so far out.
Little Joe was
knee deep in the water looking for a special rock when all of a sudden, he
stepped wrong and fell in. “Help Mommy!” he yelled.
Mommy who was
right beside him reached out but missed his little hand as he was swept along
in the current.
She called to
daddy who came running at an angle toward the bend in the river. He reached the corner before the little guy
did and stretched out his and towards the now clinging to a branch twig shaking
and crying little boy.
“Daddy save
me!” he cried.
“ Reach out to
my hand son, I will grab your arm and pull you out.” The daddy assured his
little boy.
But the little
boy was terrified and afraid to let go. “But, Daddy, if I let go, I will float
away again!” he shouted at his daddy wondering what on earth daddy had been
thinking! Letting go meant not having the safety of the branch, he was not
going to let go… daddy would need to come to him right were he was.
“Joey, I can
come closer if that will help, but those branches above you are preventing me
from reaching you right where you are. Son, you chose a shelter that was too
close to danger. You will have to trust me and let go eventually.”
“No-o-o! I
can’t let go I will float away and you have to come closer, just duck and
squeeze through the branches daddy you can get to me.”
“Son,” the
daddy got as close as he could but still could not quite reach the child. After
studying the current again, he could tell it was going to get worse if his son
did not let go soon. If he stood where he was the water would cover him soon
and the boy would be trapped in the branches forever! If he let go right now he
would float into his daddy and into his arms to safety. A small boy could not
know the current was going a certain way, but the daddy could see from his
point of view. “Let go of the twig, and you will float straight to daddy. I
promise you I will not let you float away son.”
Then Joey
closed his eyes and let go. In the instant he released the branch he was
whooshed downstream six feet into his daddy’s waiting arms.
“I told you son;
I would never let you float away! I love you!” the daddy told him as they
walked out of the water and into the waiting towel his mommy was waiting nearby
to dry him off with.
“I am so proud
of you son, you were afraid, but you still let go and trusted me to catch you.”
Joey looked up at his daddy’s smile and smiled one back as
big if not bigger!
This story shows us how even when we don’t see what we need
to know in order to trust God, we need to trust Him. In Trusting Him, we please
Him!
Do you trust
Him today? Do you trust Him to show you what to read in the Word, or what to do
with that last dollar in your purse? Should you waist it on a lottery ticket or
buy a carton of eggs? Give God a chance and He will show you the way to please
Him. In all we do we need to work to please our Lord.
So, to please God, we need to do what He says in His Word.
Trust Him and obey His commands. That seems like a lot, but it can be simple if
we remember to include Him in our obedience! Ask Him to help you to obey, to
trust and to do what He says. Just as the father in the story was there waiting
and maneuvering himself to help, when we trust God, really trust Him, we can
let go and float on the water into His loving arms!
Dear Heavenly
Father, Help me today to release the branches that are holding me back. Help me
to be pleasing in Your sight and to do what You would have me do with my life.
Help me to be a good wife, mother and to be obedient to Your Will and Your
Word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Suggested
Readings for this week;
Monday:
2 Peter 1:1-21
Tuesday: Hebrews 11:all
Wednesday: Psalm 111-all
Thursday:
Romans 8:1-17
Friday:
1Thessalonians 4:1-18
Weekend readings: Titus- all of the chapters
are short and so is the book. Be encouraged today!
***If for any reason you choose ever not to receive this
devotion again please remember that all it takes is replying with a
"Please remove me from this list." I do ask that if there is a
problem with anything I write for you to feel free to write me back and let me
know what the problem was, that we might go over it together and seek the truth
in love.
In His love,
Teresa M. Wilson