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Day 23: W is for Window

“What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” I Corinthians 6:19

W is for window. A window is an opening in the wall of a building which allows light to pass through; a transparent piece of material that also allows one to see inside of a structure.

How many buildings have you seen lately that do not have any windows? There is such a limited quantity that you could most likely count them on one hand, could you not?  Windows not only give a structure character, but they serve multiple purposes as well. I could very well write an additional devotion on just that itself.

A couple of weeks ago our pastor preached on broken windows. He brought out some points that I had never thought about before. When a building has a window broken and it is not fixed, it sends out a message to all those who see it. It is a message of “I do not care.” If someone cared, they would find a way to fix it. If we care enough about the broken windows in our lives, we will find a way to fix them. If we do not already know how, we can seek the help of someone who does. Who better than God?

Something else happens when that window is left in its broken state. More windows are broken. More of the building is vandalized. Where we live, graffiti is a constant battle. If graffiti is not painted over immediately, guess what happens? More gangs come along and add to it. Pretty soon it has gotten completely out of control … and to think that it all started with that first little marking.

After 23 years of traveling in ministry, I can say that we have seen a lot of buildings with broken windows. My mind struggles to comprehend how anyone can just let a building sit abandoned and let it fall in on itself. No matter how many times that I have been frustrated to not be able to conjure up the answer to that, it still always saddens me to know that somewhere along the way someone neglected to fix what was broken.

It all starts with the little things. When we miss one church service, how easy is it to miss another and then another and another? When we do not take time to pray one day, how easy is it to skip another day and then another? When someone does something to annoy us, do we correct our attitude right then or do we leave it there to be added to when it inevitably happens again? When we let pride slip in, it slides in even easier when the door is open even a smidgen.

Our bodies are God’s temples. Let us do our best to keep them cleaned up and in good repair. We definitely do not want to advertise to the enemy that our temple is weak and easily broken into.

Lesson Objective: To understand how important a window is. To learn that it is the little things, left unchecked, that cause the most destruction.

Did you pass or did you fail?

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Day 19: S is for Seek

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

S is for seek. To seek means to search for, to look for, to request, to aim at, or to try. Where do you find yourself today, my friend? Are you all about self? Are you just going with the flow of life not wanting to make any waves? Or do you find something within yourself that yearns for purpose … something that gets such a grip on your heart and life and will not let go?

Do men and women really seek after God today? Oh, many have become very gifted with words … what to say, how to say them and even when to say them. They can make them sound however they want them to sound … and very convincingly to boot! They may fool every single person around them and the entire gamut of social media. But, God is not fooled, my friend. God knows the heart. I Chronicles 29:17 “I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness …”

How many churches yesterday had houses that overflowed out into the yard and the street and the neighborhood? In the United States? I guarantee none. Because men do not seek after God as they try to lead others to believe. Men are lovers of their own selves, their own gain, their own pleasures, their own comforts, and their own time. They love to have the control.

They have no intention to truly seek after God. How do I know? Because the Bible tells me that when men seek God, they find Him! Matthew 7:7-8 tells us that those who seek, shall find. I am reminded here of the woman in Luke 15 who lost a piece of silver … just one piece … and what did she do? Verse 8 tells us that she first lit a candle … she shed some light on the issue. Secondly, she swept the house … she did not leave anything to chance. Lastly, she sought until she found it! Whatever you are seeking for, my friend, can be found in Christ. Do not stop searching for it. It can be found!

The saddest thing of all is that men who claim Christ as their Savior do not even seek Him! They do not read their Bibles. They do not pray. They do not heed His Word. They do not fellowship with His children. They do not attend His house except sporadically aka when it is convenient for them. My heart breaks to see so few truly SEEKING after God! They do not want to surrender control of their lives … if only they knew what freedom is found there!

“With my whole heart I humbly seek You … I yield my stubborn will completely.”1

Lesson Objective: To understand what it means to truly seek til something is found. To acknowledge you and I, as children of the King, need to be seeking everyday to be more like Him! The most important thing is Him, so put your stubborn will aside and SEEK Him first!

Did you pass or did you fail?

1http://bestillandknow-elsabeth.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-life-is-yours.html

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Day 8: H is for Holy

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” I Peter 1:16

H is for Holy. What do you think that the definition of the word holy is? Well, holy means to be morally and spiritually excellent; to be pure; to be dedicated or consecrated to a life of righteousness. I always thought of holiness as purity. But, as we see here, it is so much more!

You all know how I LOVE definitions and using my dictionary when studying my Bible. Why would I want to do that? Well, for this very reason … because I have heard most of these verses preached on sometime in my lifetime. In fact, many of these verses I have committed to memory over the years. But … you just knew there was a ‘but’ coming, did you not … when I go back to those verses and look up the words, they take me to an entirely different level of understanding. If you have never done this, I strongly encourage you to do so … and soon!

What is the command that we find here? To BE holy! Wow! The command could not be more simple or more plain, could it? Yet, have we obeyed it? Oops! I do not know about you, but I failed that test … BIG time!

Have you ever carried on … or tried to carry on … a conversation with an analytical, detailed person? Whew! It is a chore, is it not? I am that person; yet, there are times when I have been talking with others that I Just want to scream, “Just get to the point! Stop dilly-dallying around and just spit it out!” Are you like this? Now, be honest! I know that I am not the only one who is like this.

There are times when we need the details and knowing every step before we take it. But, this is most assuredly not one of those times! We just, in simple faith, need to obey!

We, as Christians, can get so lazy and so lackadaisical in our Christian lives that our only goal seems to be how we can portray to others (in hopes to convince them … and oftentimes ourselves) that we are a Christian. We do this totally over-looking the fact that if we are truly a Christian that we are called to not only be a follower (“be ye holy, [even as] I am holy”) of Christ, but we are to be LIKE Christ … HOLY!

We want the name of Christ, but at the same time, we do not want to live too closely to Him. I mean, what would others think of me then? We would be called one of those “goody-two-shoes,” or an “extremist,” or a “holier-than-thou” person. That is the last thing that we would want. But, the fact still remains … we are to be HOLY!

Lesson Objective: To understand what true holiness is. To understand that it is more than just being clean and pure, but it is something that we dedicate or commit or consecrate our whole being to. Is that you? Is that where you find yourself, my friend?

Did you pass or did you fail?

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Day 7: G is for God

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9

G is for God. God means the Creator and Ruler of the universe; one who is the source of morality. Many believe that there are no gods. Others believe that there are multiple gods. Then there are others who believe that there is one, true and living God. That is my God!

This past week we had Vacation Bible School at church. The theme this year was “God Always Wins!” I absolutely loved this theme! Why? Because it clearly showed us from God’s Word that there is only one God. We saw that in our verse for today too. Not only is there no other God, but there are no other gods who can even compare to our God!

Sunday we saw that God wins over kings and armies. We see this in numerous passages of the Bible. One example is one of my favorite Bible stories that is found in Judges chapter 7. In this chapter, we see the story unfold of Gideon facing the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon that there was a problem though, and that problem was that Gideon had too many men in his army. So the Lord weeded out the weak and fearful ones, 31,700 in all, leaving him with only 300 men. But, God was with those 300 men and they were able to defeat the 135,000 Midianites. Truly God always wins!

Monday we saw that God wins over all other gods. I Kings 18 was the setting to the lesson on that night. This is another Bible story with a powerful message. Elijah, with complete faith in his God, stood up against the 450 prophets of Baal. No matter how hard the prophets of Baal tried to get their god to bring fire down upon their sacrifice, it did not happen. But, what did happen? The true and living God, the God of Elijah, not only brought fire down from heaven but completely consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust and all of the water that surrounded it. God always wins!

Tuesday we saw that God wins over Satan. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But, then Romans 5:8 does not leave us in that place … “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ became our sacrifice. He shed His very own blood that we might live. God always wins!

Wednesday we saw that God wins over all other masters. Matthew 6:24 tells us that “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other …” How many times have we found ourselves trying to serve man and the world around us when we need to be serving God ALONE? It does not work, my friend! Do as Joshua did in Joshua 24:15, “… choose you this day whom ye will serve …” God always wins!

Lesson Objective: To understand that there is only one true and living God. To understand that no matter who or what our God goes up against, He ALWAYS wins! Is this your God? Are you living in defeat in the battles of life? If so, you have the wrong god. You need the God with a capital “G!”

Did you pass or did you fail?

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