The Devotional - A Look at the Book #916

by Jesse Abel

 

Thoughts from Papa “J”

 

Sometimes our words are like daggers to others, rather than the scalpel we intended. Removing dross from the heart of the wicked requires words that are pure and pleasant. Proverbs 15:24-26

 

Good Morning

 

When I am in a hurry, these devotionals are not a good read and for some a turn-off. I have sought the LORD in this and am convinced by Him that if I do not have the time then I should wait until I do. You may be saying, “well Jesse; that is just common sense, what does the LORD have to do with it?” True, however I lack common sense in this since I have become much like the mule after a little grain and molasses (Wow! That almost sounds like a good breakfast) and the LORD has to use His rod and staff.

 

Thus, I have decided with prayer and thought that if I cannot find the time in the evening and have no time in the morning as I need then I will send out a one paragraph thought for the day and return to the devotional on a better day. I do not like the thought of this, but oddly enough I feel relieved now to have shared it with you all.

 

1 Peter 1:13 – one of the thoughts that increasingly finds its way to my mind, almost daily is the thought of living moment by moment before God the Father. The pastor and I were discussing last Sunday the omnipresence of God. There is not one place on this earth where God is not present. And like many submarine sailors we know the presence of God one thousand feet below the surface of the ocean Even the astronauts who sail over our planet know the presence of God.

 

Currently mankind is in need of God, we have become complacent and ignorant of His ever presence with us. As a result we have replaced His love for us with our love for religion and idolatry. I know, it is hard to understand the love of God, as I reflected on over thirty years of my life yesterday and the thoughts of God and His love, I was reminded that it has taken that long to be where I am now, but where I am now is not exactly where I should be.

 

I am still girding up (tightening up) the belt around the mid-section of my mind, I am still seeking to be spiritually sober and to rest fully upon the hope and grace to be revealed, or brought to me at the revelation (full revealing) of Jesus Christ. Now this is not just to me (who am I). This hope or confidence that I have, this vigilant spiritual search or journey is for everyone who has that real experience of knowing the love of God; John 3:16.

 

I am still seeking to be more obedient today then I was yesterday, still laying aside those former lusts, done in ignorance. Now just think about this, am I alone in this struggle of being obedient, oh praise God I am not. Because if we say that we are obedient and that those former things of the past are gone, then we are become blind and disobedient and we have no doubt returned to our old ways. And just think if it were possible to be sinless as some have suggested, then why should the apostles Peter, John and Paul use up most of the New Testament to exhort us BELIEVERS in the ever presence of God and in these matters of purity?

 

Or much better explained here by the apostle Peter. “But as He who called you is holy; you also be holy in ALL your conduct, because it is written. ”Be holy, for I am holy.”” Leviticus 19:2 and Leviticus 20:2.

 

1 Peter 1:17 – All of our training in the Living Word of God is for naught, if we do not practice what God commands. We will pick this up tomorrow.