Choose You This Day

Joshua 24: 14 & 15
King James Version (KJV) - "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord."
(15) "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

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Of course reading those verses, I want to serve the Lord. I really, really do. But what is sad is Joshua wanted the people to know for sure and to be serious when they said they were gonna serve the Lord. I mean Joshua asked the people like 3 times if they were serious and if so then to put away their idols before them. And the people did. After that, Joshua died and of course the next book in the Bible is Judges.
And if you're familiar with Judges the people sin, go into captivity, God sends a Judge to the people of Israel, the Judge gets them back on track, Israelites get out of Captivity & start doing right again. Until the Judge dies then they go back to sin and captivity & it's a vicious cycle.

I wonder if Joshua before-hand knew that something like that would happen when he'd die cause he questioned the people like 3 times on if they were serious about serving God. Seems like they were only serious about serving God when they had guidance or someone watching them.

I don't want to be like the Israelites. I want to be able to serve God when nobody is watching me. So that kinda convicted my heart. What if Joshua asked me, Are you serious about serving God, Holly? Sure I'd say yes! But I don't want to be so spiritual to where I am prideful and say, "Yeah I can do it. Oh yeah." blah blah
Because remember Peter? Peter walked with Jesus. Peter hung out with Jesus. And he told the Lord he'd never deny Him but he did 3 times within the same hour & day.
Anything can happen at our weakest moment. and the moment we purpose in our hearts like Daniel did, that we'll serve God, we are marked by the Devil and he'll try to trip us up. Of course we are marked when we're saved but the Devil knows he can't keep us from heaven cause once saved, always saved. But the Devil can hurt our testimony to where we can't be an effective Christian for God.

What I'm saying is the Devil is all good with that when we're not reading our Bible. The devil knows that when we're not in the word of God we're not being the right Christian and we aren't the effective christian either. So he doesn't care to where he won't be causing problems, etc. Cause just not talking to God daily is enough to one day add up and without keeping a clean conscious, I mean we could go to the world because of "just" not reading our Bible. It'll lead from one thing to the next... It's happened so many times before.
The Devil is okay with us when we're not in the Bible because we're already self-destructing by not reading God's word.

But see, the moment you start confessing sins, figuring out a accountability plan, and start taking steps to become more spiritual, Oh oh -the Devil will NOT be happy. And at that moment we all become targets again and the Devil will try to get us to miss days of doing our devotions, he'll try to cause problems between us, the Devil will try SO many things to trip us up and to get us to not serve the Lord.

So Here's the challenge God gave me. Don't be that person. Don't be that one that is left alone by the Devil. (Don't get me wrong. We don't want the devil ON YOUR BACK to tempt you but If he's not making the Christian life a little difficult then maybe we're not doing what we're suppose to. Cause if we were, the devil would be trying to trip us up, etc.)

See, if we're not having our devotions daily then the Devil won't have you have a bad attitude (Just an example) or he'll let you be okay, and you won't be like majorly tempted, whatever. But compared to you having your devotions, he'll be fighting you, he'll cause things in your life to get discouraged to where you don't want to have devotions or the Devil will try to get you to doubt God's goodness, and I mean it's just part of the process of the Devil not wanting us to do right so he'll make it hard. I really hope this made sense. Sometimes it IS hard but we need to be tougher than the Devil, Hang in there and with God's help, You can turn this world upside down for HIM. We can be on fire for Him to where our walk with God will help others want to walk with God too.

So that is what I got from those verses. I hope this was an encouragement & blessing to you!

Finish Well for God!

Great Devotion By Paul Chappell - A must read!

This came right from my “Rooted” Devotion Book" I bought in

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California. Written by Paul Chappell. It is really good and I want to share it with you.

The devotion is called, 

"Finishing Kick"

Hebrews 10:24-25

King James Version  (KJV) - "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

In 1954, Roger Bannister became the 1st person in history to run a mile in under 4 minutes, breaking a barrier that had withstood challenges for years. Other runners soon began to match his feat, and an Australian runner named John Landry actually broke Bannister’s new world time later that summer. In August, the two met at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. Though Landry let for most of the race, Bannister surged ahead on the final turn and passed him with a strong finishing kick to win the race.

  Just as on the track, there is enormous value to finishing well in life. The temptation is to let up and coast as we near the end. Society promotes this concept with the view of retirement as a time to sit back and take it easy. Yet the Bible instructs us to do more. Of course there may be physical limitations as we age that will restrict what we can do, but there is no reason for a believer not to continue to grow and mature in spiritual matters throughout life.

(Here is the last paragraph  I have it bolded because it refers to my age group and to the younger generation. Well said Bro. Chappell!) 

It is a tragedy when people make the decision to cut back on their involvement with church, with witnessing, with giving, or with being a help and encouragement to others so they can “enjoy more leisure time”. This robs the church of what is meant to be a great source of wisdom and godly leadership. Those who have walked with God for many years have learned things which they can and SHOULD pass on to others. Rather then looking forward to the day when We can sit back and do nothing, we should be doing ALL WE CAN TO FINISH WELL.

(End Of Devotion)

     I thought that was so good and true! Wow, Sobering as well. Thinking how 80% of young people leave the church after age 18. We DO need to finish well, Not just because in Heaven we'll be rewarded for the work we've done here on earth for God's Glory but also cause the world is watching us. Wanting to see if we're real or not. Show them we are. Remember, We are a Bible the Lost are reading. 

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