Wednesday Words of Encouragement

Psalm 119:57-62 (HCSB) ~

The Lord is my portion;I have promised to keep Your words.
I have sought Your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to Your promise.
I thought about my ways
and turned my steps back to Your decrees.
I hurried, not hesitating
to keep Your commands.
Though the ropes of the wicked
were wrapped around me,
I did not forget Your instruction.
I rise at midnight to thank You
for Your righteous judgments.

James 1:22-25 (HCSB) ~

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

As a parent, I can always tell when my children are just "yessing" me when I ask them to do something, or when they are sincere in their desire to do what I ask.  The proof is in the pudding!  If what I want happens, then I know they truly heard me and were willing to obey, or if they were just paying me lip service.

As believers, we often do this same thing to God.  We say, "Yes." with our lips but our hearts are saying something else.  The proof comes in our action.  We either do it or we don't. 

I love how David hurries to follow God's commands.  Here is a man who truly desires to be obedient.  And because of that he was called a man after God's heart.  He was continually thankful for the Lord's word.

Are we like that?  I confess that I often fail here.  I feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to do something, but often I make excuses or forget or get too busy to obey.  Sometimes, I outright ignore that nudge because, to be honest, I don't wanna do it!

Let's work together to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading in our life and then actually rush to obey.  Let's put the priority on doing what the Lord wants us to do and be then be faithful in following.  Don't just listen to what the Lord is telling you to do, but put your faith into action.

 

That's where we will find the blessing in our lives!