Devotions 08-02-07

Ps 31: 23-24
" O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord."

My primary responsibility is to love my Lord. It is not to do things for the Lord although I should do that but that is secondary to loving the Lord. Especially for those of us who enjoying doing things to honor the Lord we tend to do more service for the Lord and fail to love Him as we should and it shows in the quality of our service.

God reminds me that He is the one that preserves me and others who are faithful to Him. It is not what I do or how much I do that gain God's favor but just my faithfulness to what He wants me to do. That is to first love Him with all my heart, soul and mind.

There is a danger in my doing that He warns me about. That danger is our pride! I look at all I do and began to take more credit for it than I ought and that is displeasing to the Lord. God hates pride! He knows how so quickly that can destroy me. This is why my love for the Lord must come before the things I do for the Lord. Love is a protection that delivers me from my pride.

God urges me to be strong and to have courage as I keep my focus on the Lord. He knows this is not an easy assignment. Is is so easy to get caught up in whatever task I am doing and lose my focus on the Lord. I must find ways to keep my attention on the Lord even in the midst of very demanding tasks that consume so much of my attention.

I have been fighting the flu since I have returned from the US and my times in the Word have been weak. I have been able to read but I have not had the mental strength to do any writing. It has been difficult getting my body clock in tune with Estonia time and getting the rest I need to fight the flu. Today is the first day I have felt like doing much since we arrived back a week ago.

Lord, I pray I would be strong and have the courage to love You first of all and keep that love for You foremost in my thinking. I think pausing for prayer from time to time would be a help to me in keeping my focus on You. Thank You for all You have done for me the past three weeks.