Psalm 63:8 "My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me."
Someone made the statement..."The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." It isn't an easy thing. We are constantly being pulled in many directions.
The main thing is to maintain a right relationship with God. A person could pray everyday...read his/her Bible...attend church...and be separated from the world...yet his/her heart not be right with God. A good example of this was the Pharisees. They prayed (Matthew 23:14 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer:") ....read the scriptures...engaged in winning others (Matthew 23:15 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.") ...tithed (Luke 18:12 "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.") ...and they were separated from the world (Luke 18:11 "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.") . They were right externally...but their heart was not right. Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:28 "Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
When the heart is right with God...the external things will follow suit. It begins with salvation...until you are saved you have no relationship with God. It breaks with sin. Just as one small "glitch" in a computer program will cause it to crash...so will sin cause your fellowship with God to be broken. It is blessed with surrender. God only blesses what is given to Him. Anything we withhold from Him...can't receive His blessing.
Like any other relationship in life...your relationship with God must be maintained. You must invest some time into it. How's your relationship with God?
12 comments:
That's good, Mrs. Julie. Our Pastor likes to say that when it comes to the ministries of our church. Keep the main thing, the main thing!
It's easy to get distracted and try things you THINK will work, but then ends up costing too much spiritually.
~Kristi
Julie,
this post really spoke to me today...when you said God only blesses what is given to him.Anything we withhold can't receive his blessing... sometimes I find myself trying to solve my own problems without relying on God... and of course it can't receive his blessing if I am holding on and trying to solve it myself..
thank you for this post
sis. kristi....that is so true. Love you girl!!
sis. mimi....Praise the Lord that so many are getting blessed by these posts lately. I know that the Lord has been ministering to me through each one.
Amen. That was a blessing, it is easy to get our eyes off what really matters!
jessica..it definitely is easy to get our eyes off those things that matters. So much comes our way in our busy lives it seems. Its crucial to strive to keep Christ first!! Love you!!
Mrs Julie a great and timely post. HOw true this post is. We must learn to keep him first, and make sure our relationship with the Lord is right and then everything else will fall into place. I like the added music on your site. Have a good day.
Bro Tim
bro. tim...thank you so much for your faithfulness to read my posts and to leave comments. You are always such an encouragement to me...as everyone is. Thank you for your comment on the music too. I don't hear it on my computer until I scroll all the way down to activate it for some reason. I'm glad others are hearing it and enjoying it. Have a great day!!
without knowing it, you just described my sister and her Husband.
And as the heart that is right with God shows, in time, the hearts that are not right with God will show. They will get sick of "Playing Church" and go back to what they were. It's the truly saved that stand firm.
sis. theresa...I'm sorry that you have family members that are proving this to be true. But then....I do too. It is very sad to see. But you are so right...those that are living for God will stand firm.
Wow, this is so true! I have to constantly remind my sunday school class that, even though it's fun and exciting to be against everything and preach the fire out of sin, the most important thing is our relationship with God. If that's not there, nothing else matters. Thanks for posting this.
bro. david....Amen!!
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