I got this wonderful ‘message’ from my friend, Deborah. Can’t wait to share it out with you all. It does mean a lot to me… Never do the thing that God don’t like… 
Read Colossians 1:9-14 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Many people think that a commitment to Christ is something you make once-for-all. It’s like slapping down a million-dollar bill, thinking that your commitment is covered for the rest of your life: “OK, Lord, I’m emptying my wallet of all of its contents. Here’s that million-dollar bill – it’s everything I am and have and ever will have. It’s Yours. I lay down my whole life!”
I like that picture, but I would change it a bit. A commitment to Christ is surrendering everything you are and have, but instead of putting that once-for-all bill in the offering plate, living for Christ is more like giving a million dollars in single bills over your lifetime. Commitment translates into faithfulness to Christ each moment of everyday. Faithfulness at that place of temptation, in a difficult trail, as I’m walking to work, too busy for anyone but stopping for that person who needs to be encouraged. Our commitment to Christ is something we lay down a little bit at a time over a lifetime.
The apostle Paul spent his million-dollar bill this way. He was faithful in persecution, faithful when his motives were misunderstood, faithful when he lacked the comforts of home and security. Why did he do it? He was laying down his life a day at a time. His driving ambition was to be found faithful – worthy to bear the name of Christ. He wrote about it all the time. In Philippians 1:27 we read: “Let your manner of life be worthy.” Ephesians 4:1 tells us: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” And in Colossians 1:10 “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.”
Of all the ingredients that go into walking worthy of Christ, faithfulness tops the list. This goal drives the heart of Jesus’ every follower: “Today I want my life to be pleasing to Him. Tomorrow I want to keep doing this. Next week, next 10 years, I still want to be devoted to Christ and His cause. I don’t know what’s coming, or what the cost will be, but I want to be found faithful.”
If that thought of faithfulness fires up your faith for another day, then praise God for His sustaining faithfulness to you and keep going!
-James MacDonald-
Responding – How does the call to faithfulness help me in the challenge I’m facing today?
Following – Daily surrender all you are to Christ.
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Read Proverbs 7:4-23, Romans 6:11-12 Proverbs 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; 5 they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words. 6 At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. 7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. 8 He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house 9 at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. 10 Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. 11 (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; 12 now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) 13 She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: 14 “I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. 15 So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! 16 I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. 18 Come, let’s drink deep of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! 19 My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. 20 He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.” 21 With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. 22 All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose 23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Captain E.J. Smith, Senior Commander of Great Britain’s White Fleet, was given the honor of commanding Titanic’s maiden voyage.
His plan was to make that voyage his last. He was still in good health and there were many things he wanted to accomplish in retirement. His plan was to take the ship only as far as New York. But serious errors and misjudgments resulted in his going farther than he wanted to do. About 13,000 feet farther – in the wrong direction.
That’s the thing about shipwrecks. They take you farther than you want to go. So does sin.
When David, King of Israel, stood on his roof one balmy evening watching Bathsheba step out of her clothes, the only on his mind was to enjoy her charms firsthand. That was about as far as he wanted to go. But sin will take you farther than you want to go. So while David only planned on a discreet evening of adultery, within weeks he was guilty of betrayal, murder, and a heinous cover-up.
He was shrewd. When Bathsheba turned up pregnant, David immediately brought her husband Uriah home from war. One night together, and no one would know if wasn’t Uriah’s child. But David made the classic mistake so many of us make: he thought he could use deception to cover disobedience. When Uriah refused to take advantage of being home because his friends were dying on the battlefield, David had him murdered to maintain his cover-up.
That’s how sin and deception work. They just make things worse. Your sin will surely find you out. And it’ll take you farther than you wanted to go.
I believe it was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who once said, “To act is easy; to think is hard.” David acted, but he didn’t think. And it took him farther than he wanted to go.
I don’t know what’s going on in your life; and you don’t know what’s going on in mine. But I can tell you this. If either of us is playing around with hidden sin, it’s eventually going to come out.
So stop. Now. If you don’t, you’re going to find yourself a lot farther down the road of destruction than you ever planned on going. And it’s tough – so agonizingly tough – to come back.
-Steve Farrar-
Responding - Where will my sin take me?
Following – When we sin, Satan smirks.
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Read Luke 23:32-38 32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The Last Seven Word of Jesus – The magnitude of the moment of the cross in universal history cannot be overstated. Everything in Jesus’ life led up to it. The cross was the reason He was born in poverty, amid the laments of Rachel weeping for her children, slaughtered by Herod’s ruthless soldiers. The experience of His entire life of becoming acquainted with our deepest sorrows was simply the prelude to this final moment. The fundamental proof of His incarnation, along with blood, was His tears. When the Man of Sorrows was being most used by God, He was lamenting.
There are seven excruciating pieces of this final puzzle – the last words of Jesus from the cross. You will notice that they are all short, gasping phrases. You must understand that in order to utter them, Jesus had to push up on the nails in His feet in order to draw a shallow breath. Once each of these seven statements was made, the full weight of His body fell back onto the nails in His hands. These seven last words make up Jesus’ final lament.
We will look for a progression as Jesus moves deeper and deeper into the misery our sin caused him to suffer. At first He will reach out, calling God, “Father.” Toward the end it will simply be “My God.”
Notice that His eyes are on others – not Himself. He forgives the Roman soldiers who are nailing Him to the cross. He forgives the criminal who asks His forgiveness. He thinks of His mother and of His disciple John. Never Himself.
Jesus’ last statements were scattered throughout a 6-hour ordeal. During the final 3 hours, He was covered in darkness. It must have been like the “darkness that cannot be felt” of the Passover (Exodus 10:21). Luke says the sun simply quit shining. Darkness. Gasping phrases punctuated by lengthy silences. Unutterable pain. A sight that would have sickened even a stranger. That’s the setting of the seven last words of Jesus. Try to hear them as you have never heard them before.
-Michael Card-
Responding – What adjectives would I use to describe the setting of the crucifixion?
Following – Seek to hear His voice.
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Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
Is the habit of praying continually something you can’t imagine becoming a reality in your life? It needn’t be. Once you grasp the meaning of the phrase, you’ll see that the pursuit of it is not out of your reach.
By telling us to “pray without ceasing,” Paul most likely didn’t have our repetitive, wearying formulate in mind. He was talking instead about a perpetual line of open communication with God throughout the day. We’re not given to this kind of mentality naturally, so I’m convinced that we have to learn how to pray unceasingly. This will be an ongoing pursuit and one we aren’t likely to master, but isn’t prayer just like that – a pursuit?
Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century monk, called praying without ceasing “practicing God’s presence.” It simply means to develop a constant awareness of God’s presence at all times. When we live with such awareness, we naturally pick up a conversation with God at any given moment in a day as we would with someone sitting a few feet from us.
Maybe this example will help: my friend’s husband of many years recently died. She says she still catches herself talking to him. The difference is, when we talk to God, He’s always there. It’s called omnipresence.
A “pray without ceasing” relationship includes seeing everything against the backdrop of His presence. In other words, a rain shower reminds us of Him. A difficulty at home or work turns our thoughts to Him. The first bite of a pecan pie prompts us to thank the God who gave us the gift of taste. A near-empty gas tank keeps us hanging tight with God as we coast on fumes to the gas station. Even listening to a worship CD while putting dishes in the dishwasher is prayer without ceasing. It’s constant communication. Sometimes saying a lot, sometimes saying little, but living each moment of life as if He were right there. After all, isn’t He?
-Beth Moore-
Responding – How can I be in constant prayer today? What will help me to remember to pray?
Following – Praying without ceasing is constant communication with Him.
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