Tag: Selfish

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Can You See God?

JANUARY 25

MATTHEW 5:8_for they shall see God.

Just like the negative things we dwell on are embedded in the heart, Jesus’ teachings cleanse the heart. When your heart is purified; you will see God.

You see God when you fill your heart with the truths of His principles found in His Word.

You see God when you make sacrifices in your life in order to help someone weaker or needier than you.

You see God when you stand for truth even in the face of ridicule, scorn, and lies.

You see God when you make choices for righteousness and purity over self-satisfying indulgence.

You see God because your heart has been purified by agreeing with His truths over the world’s lies. You have made decisions in your heart to walk that road, follow that path, take up that cross, and become a disciple of Jesus.

You will never purify your heart by agreeing with the world’s standards. This means looking at images of impurity, speaking words of impurity, engaging in acts of impurity, reading novels filled with impurity, watching entertainment full of impurity, or listening to music about impurity.

You are not going to see God on any of those roads.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, Forgive me for the times I have chosen impurity over purity and the times I have agreed with lies because I didn’t want to walk the road of truth. Help me. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                    

Christ’s truths are the road to purity—He will lead me!

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The Empty Spaces

 JANUARY 19

MATTHEW 5:6_for they shall be filled.

Because you have a free will you can choose not to be a righteous person. You can choose to be self-centered, egotistical, all-about-me. Everyone makes those choices from time to time. All choices have consequences. That’s because of God’s great love for you.

Let’s revisit the cause and effect sequence. Good choices equal good consequences and wrong choices equal hard, painful consequences. Do you realize what that means? You can make good choices. God created you with a free will. Hallelujah!

There is hope. If you want righteousness in your life so much you hunger and thirst for it – you will be filled! When you become weary of being spanked by life because of wrong choices, you will turn to God for a rescue. When you are filled with love for Jesus and fall before Him weeping over the pain you’ve caused Him – that’s hungering and thirsting! This kind of hunger and thirst opens up all the empty spaces in your heart that need to be filled.

The filling is a life-long process. The empty spaces become fewer and fewer.

PRAYER

Holy Jesus, Forgive me for any wrong choices I have made in my life. Help me love You and Your people. Help me show Your righteousness to all the people You bring into my life. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                    

Christ knows my empty spaces – He can fill them!

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The Proper Title

NOVEMBER 24

MATTHEW 7:21_that saith unto me Lord, Lord…

Jesus says these not everyones are calling Him Lord, which is His proper title from birth. Luke 2:11(KJV), “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Using Jesus’ title of Lord is a form of praise. Praise comes from a heart overflowing with love and admiration. Love that flows from one heart to another in order to:

Give encouragement,

Convey respect,

Send a message you have been blessed by actions, words, or deeds,

Say, “I’m on your side.”

The ultimate flow of praise from one heart to another is to say, “I want to be like you.” 

Romans 10:9 (KJV) tells us the primary reason Jesus is Lord, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” 

There is another way that Jesus’ title of Lord could be used—a form of flattery. Flattery comes from a heart overflowing with self-centeredness, which flows for only one reason—to get what it wants from the recipient. It has nothing to do with love, respect, or admiration.

It has to do with, “You possess what I want, I don’t have the means of obtaining it without you, so I’ll appeal to your ego.”

PRAYER

Lord of Lords, I desire to praise You as the Lord who saves the lost. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                                              

Christ is Lord of Heaven and Earth—I believe, He saves!

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Freely Let Go

JUNE 9

MATTHEW 6:11_Give us…

To give is to freely let go. There is no holding back when you give. If you have something that meets the need of someone else, will you give it? 

There is no charge involved in giving. Giving supplies needs, fills an empty place. Giving comes from one who has the supply. Would you ask for supply from someone you knew did not have it?

God worked many miracles in the process of freeing the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. Psalm 81:10 (KJV), “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” God says don’t be afraid to open your mouth and ask for your needs. He calls you to remember His miracles of the past.

Psalm 143 (KJV) is one of those Psalms to pray, especially when going through a time of trial. Verse 5 says, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.”

God gives.

God wants to give.

God has a full supply – to give.

If he can, the devil will intimidate you into feeling it is selfish to ask God for your needs.

Go back to Psalm 81:10!

 PRAYER

Giving God, Thank You that You want me to ask for my needs. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                      

Christ teaches me to ask in prayer—I will!

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Can Your Prayers Be Wrong?

MAY 30

MATTHEW 6:7_for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Can you pray wrong? Absolutely. James 4:3 (KJV), “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

You can pray and never receive when you ask for something which will be harmful to your character. You may think of lust as sexual, but you can lust for clothes, cars, homes, gadgets, and many kinds of things. It isn’t wrong to pray for needs or even for wants. It’s what we’ve learned over and over – the condition of the heart. The heart is the center of lust and of righteousness.

God, who reads the heart, knows which reigns. The one that reigns produces the prayers

In this verse, Jesus refers to praying to idols and false gods. Psalm 115:4-8 (KJV), “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.”

Idol worshipers must think if they babble enough they will be heard. The problem with that is idols “have ears but they hear not.”

One of the best stories on idols and those who worship them is found in I Kings 18. Read this powerful, and somewhat humorous, account of God’s prophet Elijah, wicked King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, the false god Baal, and Baal’s priests.

Learn what happens when the priests call on Baal, and Elijah calls on God.

PRAYER

True God, Please show me when I am praying selfish prayers. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ knows a destructive prayer—He does not answer!