Thursday 14 Feb 2013

Thursday Reading: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Key Verse: 2 Timothy 4:5
5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Devotion:
There are going to be times when all of us lose focus on what we should be doing or on our ultimate goal for Christ. I am afraid that I also fall into this trap now and again, the week of writing this devotion as being one of those times for me. It is so very easy to go with the flow and think that everything is happening because of some hidden meaning or because of some special reason, whereas it may well just be that this is the way that life unfolds and we should accept things the way that they are instead of looking for those hidden meanings. God has a plan for each of us and that plan should be our ultimate goal; we are going to face a lot of things along the way, things that will make us grow in strength and stamina as well as a lot of enjoyable moments that God gives us for encouragement – what we do with those moments must always be according to God’s plan and not according to our own plans.

God will always show us that we are doing something wrong when we do; whether we hear what He says will show us if we are truly listening to Him or not. I am afraid that I have not listened to everything that He has been trying to tell me over the last week but only been listening to what I wanted to hear – thereby causing problems for those people around me. I am sorry, truly sorry.

So why these verses? God has given me a task and that task is to take His Word out to as many people as I can and I have just been running along with the flow this week instead of standing up for our Lord and Saviour like I should have been. Just reading these verses this morning has made me realise that each of us needs to focus on God’s plan, each of us according to the plan He has given us and not according to what we want at that time. Last night something happened that made me realise that God has given me a very privileged position in His ministry; to be able to share the pure love He shares with me with others in all purity. At times I do ‘human’ things and may get into trouble for my ‘human’ ways and that trouble is just another direct or indirect reminder that my God is giving me that I have lost focus on sharing His Word and His Love in His ways and not my ways. We all need to make full use of what God gives us, but also make sure that we do things His way because whatever we actually do do will be seen as how we are actually treating others instead of the ways we think we are doing things…

Points to Ponder:
God’s ways are always the best ways…

God’s ways are always the best ways… (Sometimes we need to be told twice)