Acts 20:24\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;<\/i>\u00a0my only aim is to finish the race\u00a0and complete the task\u00a0the Lord Jesus has given me\u2014the task of testifying to the good news of God\u2019s grace.<\/i><\/p>\n
Truly I have a deep desire to be doing the works that God has for me to do (Ephesians 2:10, Luke 2:49<\/b>).\u00a0 We people of the earth wonder what the purpose of our lives are.\u00a0 Perhaps I did in the past before coming to the Lord?\u00a0 However I truly began wondering what the purpose of my life is after becoming born again through faith in Jesus our Savior and Lord.\u00a0 I had been saved and then what?\u00a0 Being a new babe in Christ I knew what I wanted.\u00a0 I wanted every bit of God that was available to me.\u00a0 Anything He would give me is what I wanted.\u00a0 I wanted to pray and to hear the response of God.\u00a0 Crying I pleaded to have God live in me and change me.\u00a0 To let His Spirit flow into and through me and to be used of God as He has used so many believers before me was huge.\u00a0 As I realized that we walk in a dark world I sought to be a little lamp that draws people the Light of the World (John 8:12, Matthew 5:16<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>My goal in life was to never leave the presence of God and to never stop doing His will.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that most of us thought and felt the same.\u00a0 I am quick to state that I still think and feel the same way.\u00a0 Doing the work of God is what foremost that matters to me.\u00a0 The particulars about life I leave up to God that I may serve Him in faith without worry in my heart and mind.<\/p>\n
Am I able to truly profess that my life is worth nothing to me and that my only goal is to faithfully do what God has for me to do. \u00a0Yes, and no.\u00a0 Yes, because serving God truly is what I most love to do.\u00a0 But no because I am weak.\u00a0 Like the Apostles who slept when they should have been alert due to imminent danger, I really want to always do well, I really want to always be a blessing to all, but my flesh is weak (Mark 14:38<\/b>).\u00a0 They faltered in work God had for them to then do. Sometimes I also do.\u00a0 Yes, my flesh is weak, or perhaps my flesh remains too strong within me and sometimes overtakes what my heart craves and knows what is best.\u00a0 I do desire to do well, but I too often fall short.\u00a0 Paul wrote\u00a0\u201cI do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do<\/i>.\u201d (Romans 7:15<\/b>)\u00a0 A mortal wound against my flesh was struck in the Garden of Eden and it does cling to me as it dies.\u00a0 Yet, my spirit is born again, revived, through Jesus Christ. (John 3:3<\/b>).\u00a0 So my flesh belongs to the world, but my spirit to God.\u00a0 The war between the two is constant.<\/p>\n
Though the war between the two is constant, the victor has already been declared.\u00a0 The victor is my spirit that belongs to God through the grace He has provided.\u00a0 My heart continuously pursues God as it is encouraged and guided by the Holy Spirit who has sealed me to God.\u00a0 I thank God that He values what my heart desires more than what by flesh does, just as He did with King David (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22, Jeremiah 17:10<\/b>). \u00a0Not that God is indifferent to what is the product of the flesh, but He judges it against the heart and intent in our minds (Revelation 2:23<\/b>).\u00a0 We know that Jesus said \u201cFor where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.<\/i>\u201d (Matthew 6:21<\/b>).\u00a0 We know that if our hearts and minds are fixed on evil, then evil will flow from us and if the things of God, then that will flow from us. \u00a0(Luke 6:45, Ezekiel 11:21<\/b>).<\/p>\n
It is true that I value pleasing God and being with Him more than I value the life of my flesh.\u00a0 Sadly, sometimes the flesh wins.\u00a0 Sometimes I selfishly do what I desire to do rather than what I know the Lord would have me do.\u00a0 Pleasing God is always better than doing what the flesh wants to do.\u00a0 Praise God for His love that has given us His grace that is extended to all through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I am not devaluing the life God has given me.\u00a0 I am devaluing what my will is versus what God\u2019s will is.\u00a0 I have learned that God\u2019s will is where the best and eternal blessing is.\u00a0 I love God and I want to please Him so I want to do what He wants me to do.\u00a0 Most of the time.\u00a0 Praise God who loves and keeps me in spite of me.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,\u00a0who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17\u00a0encourage\u00a0your hearts and strengthen\u00a0you in every good deed and word.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Oh yes, thank you Jesus!\u00a0 Thank you God Almighty.!\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 20:24\u00a0–\u00a0However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;\u00a0my only aim is to finish the race\u00a0and complete the task\u00a0the Lord Jesus has given me\u2014the task of testifying to the good news of God\u2019s grace. Truly I have a deep desire to be doing the works that God has for me to do (Ephesians 2:10,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1841,705,99,100,106,93,101,94,17,711,2514,2187,757],"class_list":["post-1351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-ephesians","tag-ezekiel","tag-jeremiah","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-revelation","tag-romans-john","tag-samuel","tag-thessalonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1352,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}