Give your complete attention

Bible Reading (July 12)

• 2 Chronicles 30-31
• Proverbs 5
• 1 Tim 4

What Spiritual Gift has God given for me to thank Him and praise Him for in worship today? (Rom 1:11)

Prov 5:18-20 Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?

My wife is such a gift. In Proverbs 5 Solomon warns men to avoid the immoral woman. In today’s world there are so many ways we as men can get ourselves into trouble. I am certainly not exempt and often have to make the choice to be captivated by my wife, and not what the world throws at me. Solomon asks the question, “Why be captivated by someone else? “Rejoice in the wife of your youth and let her breasts satisfy you always.” That’s Solomon’s words, not mine. Why do we even entertain finding satisfaction somewhere God has not ordained it? I’m speaking to myself here as well as you men.

Men, today I pray for thought life. That you will find your satisfaction in your wife. That she will captivate your heart, your mind and your sexual desire in every way.

• I pray that you will not entertain even a hint of sexual immorality (Eph 5:3 NIV).
• I pray that you will clothe yourself with the presence of God and not let yourself even think about ways to indulge your evil desires. (Rom 13:14 NLT)

What encouraged me in my faith? (Rom 1:12)

2 Chron 30:9 “For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you.”’

God did tell Israel that if they reject Him, He would reject them. If they abandon Him, He would abandon them. Here, they did reject him. Ahaz closed the temple and forbid it’s worship after all (2 Chron 28:24). They rejected Him. they abandoned Him. But, when they turned to Him, when the king encouraged the whole nation to repent and turn to God, He returned to them! “If you return to Him, He WILL NOT CONTINUE to turn His face from you.”

Even when we choose to sin, and choose to walk away from Him, He will never abandon us! (Heb 13:5) He is faithful that when we agree with Him (confess our sin), and we turn back to him (repent), He will forgive (1 John 1:9) and will restore our relationship Because he says, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Ps 103:12)

• I pray you will be quick to confess your sin, and repent (turn back to God).
• I pray you will experience God’s forgiveness and that it may motivate you to live for Him out love and gratitude.
• I pray that the love you experience from God will continue to motivate you to choose to pursue Him over your own desires.

What spiritual fruit does God want to work in me and in those I share this with today? (Rom 1:13)

Prov 5:22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him.

1 Tim 4:1-2 …in the last days some will.. follow deceptive spirits… These people are hypocrites and liars and their consciences are dead.

1 Tim 4:15-16 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.

• I pray that you will give your complete attention to following God. That you will not become, or be held captive by your own sins and desires. Whether that be sinful desires, or simply desires for comfort or ease or personal pleasure.
• I pray that you will keep a close eye on how you live for the sake of your own salvation, and for the sake of those God is calling you to minister to now, and in the future!
• May your conscience always be sensitive to the Holy Spirit! May there not be any area in your life where your conscience has become dull, or even dead to the Holy Spirit because of a desire that has become an idol that you don’t want to give up.