Keep it up! In His Word 1-27-2025
We have been focused a lot on prayer and going forward because it is January. Many people start out doing all kinds of changes this month to make what they think are better decisions and improving their health and lives. One thing that is most important that we need to do, even if you already have done this, is to get in His Word daily! Do not allow a single day to go by without at least a short devotional to meditate on throughout your day and night. Of course its meant to be a beginning to daily reads but I do have a few books out that will help get in the habit of prayer, reading, seeking God’s Word to get in the pattern of study each day. My studies are mostly ‘daily read’ style for the purpose of habitual starts.
But this one is not just about me! It is also about me, but
it is about us keeping up the start to the year! Just as we wind down from the prayer and
fasting days, weeks, month, etc., we tend to wind down and start to slack off
in our daily reading.
Some people like to follow a plan to read the Bible in a
year. My favorite way of doing that is with the Daily Reading Bibles. I like
the style of it because I can see the date, I can see the scriptures and I can
see the explanations. I think the one I like the most is actually called “Daily
Bible” and I have it in paperback. So I can stuff it in my bag and take it with
me anywhere with less weight too!
Weight, that’s another thing. I am talking about the
heaviness in His Word!
For instance, Abraham was told by God that Sodom and Gamora
would be demolished because of their lack of Godliness. Now if you have been
reading along the daily Bible you would know that Lot, Abraham’s relative was
living there, so he prayed to try to save them from death and destruction. Below is
where in Genesis that he petitioned God
and pushed a bit to get the answer he wanted. Read the rest of the chapter to
get more information and a better picture.
Then Abraham pressed his request further. “Suppose there are only forty?” And
the Lord replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the forty.” Genesis 18:29
The conversation continues on until God agrees not to destroy
the city of Sodom if there were even 10 righteous men living there. But the
story goes on from there. You really want to read the rest! It is exciting and
really makes you sit up and take note. It makes you consider your heart and why
you should push forward, not looking behind you. Lot’s wife does. She looks
back against God’s direct command not to. You will have to read to see what
happened to her.
Don’t look back!
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these
things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess
that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers
and sisters, I have not achieved it but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting
the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of
the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is
calling us. Philippians 3:12-14
Push on, go forward, keep moving ahead; these are mentioned
several times in the Word of God. He wants us to look to where we are going not
back to where we have been partly because we can do nothing to fix what is
behind us to make today different. All we can do is trust that what we do from
today forward will push us on toward the place He wants us to be in tomorrow.
Your justice is eternal, and your instructions are perfectly
true. As pressure and stress bear down
on me, I find joy in your commands. Your laws are always right; help me to
understand them so I may live. Psalm 119:142-144
Sometimes it can be hard to do, we want to go back and start
yesterday over so we can save the person we love from demise, tripping up or
worse. We want to go back and not get robbed. We want to go back and not break
our leg, ankle or arm. We want to look back and remember the times and carry
the weight of pain, sorrow, or anger with us into the future. Ouch? Yes, it’s
true, sometimes we hang on to things from the past because its what we know. It’s
a save to rub in our wound. Sometimes when we have to put ointment on a cut we
do not see that it says not to put it on an open wound. When we put it on it
actually adds more pain than good for a while. Only for a while, then we learn
to leave it alone healing.
If we go on in Philippians 4 it reads…
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will
experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace
will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear
brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true,
honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things
that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and
received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of
peace will be with you. Philippians 4:6-9
Keep moving forward. You can’t do anything about what is behind,
so we let go of it! Fill our mind with the good things and think on these
things instead of the pain, etc. Read Chapter 3 again. In verse 13 it says to
forget the things behind.
For more encouragement to keep going look up the math in 2
Peter 1:1-9. Read it and think of the math verses to figure where to go next!
What will you add when you keep going?
Keep it up! Don’t give up, don’t give in, give it all to
Him. In Jesus’ name. ..