Above all things, the Lord deserves all the praise and glory. We are so blessed and He ought to be thanked more than He deserves. So often do we get caught up into following different people in life. We love to follow our favorite sports athlete or team. We love to watch movies with our favorite actor or actress in it. Even our superhero, most times, it is not God but superman, or some other man made person. The center of attention, if you evaluated yourself, most likely is not God but on other things. The Lord is not the light you follow but what the world offers. 2Do you not know that where you spend your most time is also where your heart is? A lifestyle devoid of God must be disposed of, in order to go to heaven. 3Jesus says that if we are not born again, then we cannot enter the kingdom of God. We must reach a point in our lives when God is more important than the world. This can only happen when we yield our hearts to the Holy Spirit and less of our own desires. We must voluntarily submit ourselves to God that He might do a work inside of us. In doing so, He will open our eyes to our sins. He will show us where our priorities truly stand. He will show us the idols we serve, instead of Him. Even our time with God in prayer and His Word is being replaced by technology. Phones, tablets, computers and TVs are the main source of everyone’s time and enjoyment. Know that when you are doing these things, God is being replaced. Your desire to live with Him in heaven is replaced with your lusts on earth.
David declared, 1“Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.” This is my heart for God. I love to give Him thanks and honor for what He has done in my life. Above TV, God’s Word comes first. Above my phone, prayer comes first. I am only drawn to use a computer to share God’s Word. In all things, I ask, “what can I do with it, in order to give God praise”. What we have been given is good, if it is for the Lord’s work. The Lord can surely do great things through each of the technological resources on earth. However, this is not what is happening, most times. It isn’t because God isn’t willing. It is because people aren’t willing to be directed by the Holy Spirit. They’ve made idols in many different things. 4Their beliefs are simply by word and not actions. They know of God but He is unable to do a work with them. People’s hearts are so succored into the outside appearance and how it makes them feel in the moment. What excites them is a good movie, game, or sports event. Priorities truly are messed up, in not only the people that are lost but also many so-called Christians. They do not live for Christ and Jesus does not know them. They are not living for His will but their own lusts. Know that 1“God is the judge.” He will judge the wicked with wrath and the righteous with mercy. 1“The righteous shall be exalted.” God may not have been able to deal 1“with a stiff neck” person on earth but they will get what’s coming to them in hell. Come to God before your time is up.
Let us pray:
Oh Lord, my heart aches at the wickedness of the world we live in. People’s hearts have not drawn closer to You but in the world. The more technology advances, the less time, people spend in Your presence. Wow, how far people have fallen. I don’t even know what to say or ask but Lord, come change the atmosphere. Stir up a renewed focus to live for You and not the world. Bring revival in the hearts of all people. May their desires be less of themselves but in You. May they come openly to Your presence through prayer and Bible study. May they give up anything that is stopping them from knowing You personally. Anything that is halting their desires to follow You, I pray that they cast it off forever. May your commandments reign true in the ears of all people. Help them know that nothing should ever come before You. All idols must be done away with. Your will brings me happiness. I give my life over to You freely. Take me as I am. Help me do Your will. Lead me. Guide me. I love You. Amen.
Let us read the Bible:
Note: Any Numbered References, found above, are listed below.
1Psalm 75 (KJV)
1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
2Matthew 6:19-24 (KJV)
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
3John 3:1-7 (KJV)
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
4James 1:21-25 (KJV)
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
