"Ignoring the Conscience"

READ ~ 1 Timothy 1:18-19; 4:1-2

Are you making certain choices today that your conscience would not have allowed in the past? If that’s the case, you may have become desensitized over time. This is a dangerous place to be.

As we discussed yesterday, God uses our internal “moral compass” along with the Holy Spirit’s guidance to direct our daily choices. The conscience serves as an “alarm system,” intervening when a Christian is about to take part in ungodly behavior. In that way, it offers protection. But sin can throw off the system’s sensitivity.

The insidious process begins if we choose to disobey and then refuse to deal with our rebellion. The conscience warns us repeatedly, but it will eventually become “gummed up” and ineffective if we persist in ignoring the distress signal. When that happens, there are no longer any signals from the heart to point us back toward godliness. In other words, the conscience has become seared.

This situation is akin to removing all traffic lights from a busy intersection: it is a recipe for disaster. If you are at this place, get on your knees and repent, immersing yourself in God’s Word and bathing your life in prayer. Pursue accountability and fellowship with other believers. A healthy conscience is worth the effort.

Are your internal signals in good working order, or have they become muffled? Don’t delay. Scripture warns us that we have a real Enemy who desires to lure us away from godliness and into destruction. God uses a clear conscience to guide, protect, and lead us into His light and peace.

Be Blessed and be a Blessing to One Another!
 
Dawn

"JUST WALK"

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.   Genesis 5:24

Again and again the Bible uses the picture of walking to describe the Christian life. Galatians 5:16 tells us, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Ephesians 5:2 says, "Walk in love." And Colossians 2:6 says, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." In 1 John 1:7 we read, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Genesis gives us a great example in Enoch of walking with God. And though there is not a lot about Enoch in the Bible, what is there is fascinating. We read in Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." The phrase, "God took him," could also read, "God translated him" or "carried him over" or "carried him across." Enoch did not have to die like everyone else. He just took a walk one day and went home.

Enoch is an example of how we are to live as last days believers. Notice the Bible doesn't say, "Enoch sprinted with God." Rather, "Enoch walked with God." Walking speaks of regularity. It speaks of doing something over and over.

I was always a good sprinter, but I was never a good long-distance runner. I would have a burst of energy, but then I would give out. In the same way, people will have a burst of energy in their Christian life, but then they crash and burn. They will get up again and go for awhile, only to run out of steam once more. It is better to simply walk with God and be disciplined enough to maintain that relationship.


Are you walking with God? Keep walking. Stay with it. Be regular. Be consistent in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

BE BLESSED!
 
DAWN

The Good Story

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then

they went in and did not find the body

of the Lord Jesus.

Luke 24:2-3

People tend to remember negative images more than they do positive ones, according to an experiment conducted at the University of Chicago. While people claim that they want to turn away from the barrage of bad news in the media—reports on tragedies, diseases, economic downturns—this study suggests that their minds are drawn to the stories.

Catherine Hankey (1834-1911) was more interested in the “good news.” She had a great desire to see young women come to know Christ. In 1866, she became very ill. As she lay in bed, she thought about all those with whom she had shared the story of Jesus’ redemption, and she wished that someone would visit and comfort her with “the old, old story.” That’s when she wrote the poem that later became a hymn, “Tell Me the Old, Old Story”:

Tell me the story slowly, that I may take it in—

That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin.  Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon; The early dew of morning has passed away at noon.    We never tire of hearing the story that because of His great love God sent His one and only Son to this earth (John 3:16). He lived a perfect life, took our sin upon Himself when He was crucified, and 3 days later rose again (Luke 23:44-24:3). When we receive Him as our Savior, we are given eternal life and become His children (John 1:12).

Tell someone the old, old story of Jesus and His love. They need some good news. The good news of Christ is the best news in the world.
 
Be Blessed!
 

Dawn

"You Belong to God"

So there was Paul in the midst of a tempest. Yet somehow, he had an amazing calm in the midst of this storm.  We too have our storms in life, and we wonder how to get through them.  Here is one of Paul's secrets to surviving life's challenges.  He belonged to God.  Again, Paul said, "Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me."

Do you belong to Jesus? It can make all the difference.

Only the follower of Jesus Christ has this confidence. In the Song of Solomon, we read, "My beloved is mine and I am his" (Song of Solomon 2:16).

Over and over in Scripture, we are given the analogy of being in a relationship with God like that of a bride to a husband to whom she is deeply in love with. This reminds us of His affection and love toward us.

But we are also given the analogy of a sheep belonging to a shepherd. In John 10, Jesus told us that He is "the good Shepherd and we are his sheep." This reminds us of His constant care and awareness of our whereabouts.

It's hard to be proud about being compared to a sheep. They are basically defenseless, vulnerable, dim-witted creatures. But when under the care of a loving shepherd, they are safe and content.

We are also given the analogy of a child to his father. Romans 8:15 reminds us, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba Father'" (NKJV). This reminds us of His tenderness and protection over each one of us.

We are also told in Scripture that we are his very property. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "You are not your own" (NKJV). In the Greek, it is "You are not your own property. You are bought with a price.

If something belonged to a king, it carried his seal. In the same way, 2 Corinthians 1:22 says, "He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us" (NLT).

I read a story about an old gentlemen who known for his godly life. One day, someone asked him, "What do you do when you are tempted, old man?" He replied, "I just look up to heaven and say, 'Lord, your property is in danger.'"

Yes, we are His bride, children, sheep, and property. And when the Devil sees that "I.D. tag," he respects it.
And just like Paul, we too can say, "I belong to God!"


Be Blessd!
Dawn

Wake Up, Sober Up, and Suit Up

Wake Up, Sober Up, and Suit Up

via Harvest Minisyries

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the

 breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet

 the hope of salvation.  

1 Thessalonians 5:8

For 17 years of my life, I lived in an alcoholic home. I spent a lot of time around drunk people. That is pretty much all I saw from morning to night. I observed a variety of drunks and the way they reacted to alcohol, and I noticed something about people who come under its influence: they try and act as though they are not affected by it, and they do stupid things.

Alcohol is not the only thing that can intoxicate us in life. There are many things people come under the influence of and don't even realize it. In speaking of the last days, Jesus warned, "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth" (Luke 21:34–35).

The apostle Paul urged Christians waiting for Christ's return, "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8). To be sober means to be clear-headed. We are to be alert. We are to be awake, sane, and steady—not drunk and sleeping.

There is false teaching today that is designed to entrap you and pull you away from God (see 1 Timothy 4:1). That is why there has never been a time when it is more important for us to know the Bible and to walk closely with God.

We are to wake up, sober up, and suit up with our spiritual armor, because we are in a spiritual battle. And if we fail to realize that, then we will become casualties of war.
 
BE BLESED!
 
DAWN

Crisis Management

Crisis Management
by: Joyce Meyer

Surely I know that it will be well with

those who [reverently]

 fear God, who revere and worship

Him, realizing His

continual presence.  

 Ecclesiastes 8:12

God has taught me some valuable lessons about crisis management. Jesus said, “Come to Me” (Matthew 11:28); He didn’t say run to the phone and call three friends when we face an emergency. I am not against asking people to pray for us, but if we run to people, we won’t find a cure; we will find only a bandage.

We face many challenges and crises in life. Sometimes the crises are major; sometimes they are minor. To avoid living in a constant state of emergency, the Lord impressed on me to seek Him continuously, or diligently. I used to seek time with God once in a while or when my life was in big trouble. Eventually, I learned that if I ever wanted to get out of crisis mode, I needed to seek God as if I were in desperate need of Him all the time—during hard times and during seasons of great blessing.

We often give God low priority when things are going well for us. But I have observed that if the only time we seek God is when we are desperate, He often keeps us in desperate circumstances in order to keep us in fellowship with Him.

God will always rescue and help us when we come to Him. But if we want to stay in a place of constant peace and victory, we must diligently seek Him at all times, as the verse for today urges us to do.


God’s word for you today: Practice good crisis management by staying in fellowship with God at all times.
 
BE BLESSED!
 
DAWN

:The Blessings of Forgiveness

Devotion:

by Marybeth Whalen


I sat listening to my Bible study leader as she took us through our lesson in Genesis. I should have been paying attention but my thoughts kept drifting back to hurtful words and bad memories. It had been weeks since I had spoken to the person who had said those hurtful things, but the pain was still fresh.

I wanted to move on, but I didn't know how. I was caught and I could not get free. The hurt replayed in my mind over and over, a never ending film-loop of words and actions.

That day in Bible study we covered the story of Joseph. I will never forget as we got to the place where his brothers cowered in front of him after realizing who he was...and what they had done (Genesis 50:18). In that moment I will admit that in my humanness, I wanted Joseph to hurt them as much as he had been hurt. At the very least, I wanted him to turn them away as they deserved. Even though I knew the story, I still hoped for a different ending.

And yet, the ending went on just as it had before. Joseph offered his brothers—the brothers that had sold him as a slave—forgiveness. He reached out to them and restored them to a place they didn't deserve. He didn't do it because of them. He did it because of God. He knew what it meant to be forgiven, and he knew the power in extending forgiveness to someone else. I will never forget that moment when God spoke to my heart: "You need to forgive as Joseph forgave."

I will confess I didn't want to offer my forgiveness. God showed me that I was hanging onto my unforgiveness like a burlap security blanket. It was time to offer my forgiveness—not because the person had earned it or deserved it, but because God had asked me to forgive out of simple obedience to Him. Just as He had forgiven me. It was, He reminded me, the least I could do.

In my novel, The Mailbox, the main character Lindsey has several people she must forgive during the course of the story. She learns that there is freedom and peace that is released at the moment we forgive, which makes her eager to forgive even more. This happened to me as well. I heard once that unforgiveness is like eating poison while waiting for the other person to die. Better to walk in the freedom of simply doing what God has asked and let Him take care of the rest. God required me to sacrifice my pride in exchange for the blessing of peace in that relationship. It was definitely worth it and I would do it all over again.

Dear Lord, help me extend forgiveness to those who have hurt me,

 even when I don't feel that they deserve it. The truth is, I didn't deserve

Your forgiveness. Thank You for forgiving me and please help

 me forgive others as freely as You do. In Jesus' name

Amen

Application Steps:

Is there someone you need to forgive? Spend time journaling about what's holding you back, then pray and ask God's help in extending forgiveness to that person.

Reflections:

Why is unforgiveness like eating poison while waiting for the other person to die? Have you ever experienced this personally or seen it with someone else?



Power Verses:

Luke 11:4a, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." (NIV)

Mark 11:25, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
 
BE BLESSED!
 
DAWN