Daily Devotional - 10/11/15

Prayer Focus - Dreams



Day 2
Pray for:
One dream you have for yourself
One dream you have for your family



Dear Lord - Please open my ears to hear Your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey.



Psalms 101


"I will be careful to lead a blameless life - when will You come to me? 

I will walk in my house with blameless heart.  I will set before my eyes no vile thing.

The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.  Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.

Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.

My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me, he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence."   ( vs. 2 - 7 )


What a challenging call this is for us to live differently.  It calls us to be careful how we live our lives and to be different from the people around us.  Not many people in our society value living carefully anymore.  It is almost looked down upon to try to watch what we do.  Our society prides itself on being open and free.  We want to be free to do and say whatever we want even if it hurts others in some way.  Yet God has called us to check ourselves; to deny ourselves and to follow certain guidelines so that we will have something better in the long run.  Sin often feels good in the here and now, but it is later that we regret and reap consequences that are not always pleasant.  Self-control on the other hand is almost always difficult and uncomfortable in the immediate and yet it produces wonderful results that we look back on with gratitude. 

Let's look at a few of the things set out for us to watch out for in the verses of this psalm.  First, it mentions walking in our homes with blameless hearts.  I think this is especially interesting, because it is in our homes that we most often let our true selves come out.  It is here that we are not so guarded and we indulge in behavior  that we would never do in public.  It is important to think about this and evaluate if we have a double standard in our lives.  We should be the same in our homes as we are everywhere else. 

Then we are called to not set any vile thing before our eyes.  When I read this, it makes me think about the movies and shows we watch and the books and magazines we look at.  Are we being righteous in this area or are we trying to be "relevant" by watching what is popular even if it has questionable content?  Do we really need to fill our minds with some of the stuff that we do?  Once something has entered our mind, it is almost impossible to get those thoughts and pictures out.  A good question I ask myself is  - "Could I imagine Jesus watching and enjoying this?"  Even news can fill us with negative and vile images.  I like to look at all the current news stories on the Internet and do so nightly, but even this is not always a productive activity for me.  It tends to make me very down and upset.  I also waste a lot of time reading these negative articles when I could be doing something more productive like spending time with my girls or getting some sleep.

The next stanza of the psalm talks of staying away from men of perverse heart and from evil in general.  It speaks to us of watching the company we keep.  This is also not a popular concept in our world today.  We tend to want to hang out with whoever we want to.  We want to do what we want and become who we want to become.  There is often little thought to plans beyond our desires.  We are often draw to people with wild lives.  Look at the celebrities that we hold up and esteem by buying their albums, watching their movies, or reading about.  Our heroes today are more often than not, not people of strong character.  They are not people that most of us would want our children to become like. 

The issues of slander and pride are also addressed here.  God says He will silence those who slander their neighbors, even if it is in secret, and He also states that He will not endure proud hearts and haughty eyes.  In another part of the scriptures, it states that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble ( James 4:6 ).  This is very concerning as pride and slander are commonplace.  We are even considered unusual if we do not talk about others.  It is difficult to get through a day with out hearing gossip and often we are immersed in it before we even realize what is going on.  Our society also looks up to and admires a certain amount of pride.  We strive to be independent and confident.  Often this goes over board and we become self righteous and arrogant. 

Finally, the passage talks about deceit and lying.  It says that we will not be able to dwell with God or stand in His presence if we practice deceit or speak falsely.  How can we stay away from doing this, however, when it is almost expected that we will lie in certain situations.  People will even ask us to lie for them and we have found many ways to defend our deceit.  We are thought to be odd if we say no to others when they ask us to lie for them and we are often ridiculed if we take a stand for honesty; often by friends and family members. 

What a high calling this psalm is to us.  We are challenged to change and stand out in so many ways.  It seems overwhelming just thinking about it.  But God promises that His eyes will be on the faithful and that He can and will take care of us.  If we lead a blameless life, God will come to us and provide for us.  It must be possible or the scriptures would not for call us to do it.  We can with Christ.  We can if it is important to us.  It all comes down to our heart.  If our heart is right and we are striving with all we have to obey God, He will make up the difference.  He will see our faith and count it as righteousness as He did with Abraham (Galatians 3:6).  Let us then sing of God's greatness and be careful to live a blameless life.  It is worth it.




Prayer for the Day



Dear Lord,


We want to lead a blameless life.  Help us to put aside all of these sinful ways and embrace You.  It will be alright to walk a different road than those around us.  It will be worth it.  Help us to fear You and not men.  You are the one worth following.  You are the true one.  We praise You and sing of Your love and justice.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen



QFT


1.  Do I act the same in my home as I do elsewhere?  Do I have any double standards?  What do I struggle the most with at home?  Why?  How can I change?

2. Am I careful about what I look at?  How are my standards when it comes to movies and TV?  How are my standards with what I read and the magazines that I look at?  Am I spending too much time on the Internet and am I unproductive/unrighteous in any way with this area?  What do I need to change? What is going well?  

3. Do I stay away from people that are a bad influence on me?  Why or why not?  Am I drawn to people that are not very godly?  Why or why not?  Who are my heroes?  Why?  How do I feel about this concept of watching who I associate with?

4. Do I slander others, even if it is just in my mind (in secret)?  Do I engage in gossip or listen to it?  What harm does this do?  How can I change?  Am I prideful or arrogant in any ways?  Do I look down on anyone?  Why?  How can I deal with this?

5. Am I deceitful in any way?  Why?  How do I justify this?  Do I lie?  Do I feel there is a difference between "big" and "little" lies?  Why or why not?  How does God feel about this?  How can I stop lying and stop being deceitful if this is something I do?