{"id":1255,"date":"2022-03-13T12:21:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T02:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2022-03-13T12:21:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T02:21:19","slug":"pure-and-sincere-devotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/2022\/03\/13\/pure-and-sincere-devotion\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure and Sincere Devotion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bible Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John 2<br>2 Corinthians 11<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Devotional Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paul begins 2 Cor 11 with concern for the Corinthians that they would be deceived by Satan\u2019s cunning schemes, just like Eve was. That their thoughts would be led away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Interesting that he says he is concerned for their thought life! How did Satan tempt Eve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Genesis 3:1 Satan asked the woman, \u201cDid God really say\u2026\u201d Then he follows her response by planting doubt in God\u2019s Word and God\u2019s character; \u201cYou won\u2019t really die! God knows that your eyes will be opened and you will be like God\u2026\u201d (Gen 3:4-5) Satan was planting seeds of doubt in Eve\u2019s thinking! Instead of sincere and pure devotion to God, Satan introduced Eve to thinking about herself. As she entertained those thoughts, those thoughts led her away from devotion to God, and she became devoted to herself. That thinking led to an attitude of doubt towards God\u2019s goodness. The attitude resulted in the action of eating the fruit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How often does this happen in my life? How often does it happen in your life? You probably don\u2019t hear Satan\u2019s audible voice saying, \u201cHas God said\u2026\u201d But, how often do you doubt what God has clearly told you in His word? Have you ever had thoughts like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I\u2019ll never be able to do this.<\/li><li>This is just the way I am. I will never change.<\/li><li>I\u2019ll never be as good as so and so.<\/li><li>I will never be the father \/ mother \/ husband \/ wife I should be.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here in orientation I have heard things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I\u2019ll never be able to learn a tribal language.<\/li><li>I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever find the right team mates.<\/li><li>I can\u2019t imagine this ever getting any easier.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Winning the War in Your Minds, Craig Groeschel said, \u201cLies we live by, affect our lives as if they were true.\u201d What are the lies in your life that hinder you from believing God and living by faith in what God has said? Paul\u2019s words echo in my mind, \u201cI am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your THOUGHTS will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What does \u201cSincere and pure devotion to Christ\u201d look like? I think we see a good example in the disciples journey in following Jesus. Their journey began in John 2:11, \u201cThis, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The more time they spent with Jesus, the more devout \/ devoted they became. So much so that in Acts 4:19-20 after they are arrested and told to stop talking about Jesus they said, \u201cWhether this is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, that\u2019s up to you to judge. But we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Titus 1:8 Paul describes the characteristic of an elder. He says, they must love what is good, live wisely and just, and they must live a devout and disciplined life.\u201d What does that mean? Here\u2019s a few thoughts on that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Being totally committed<\/li><li>Living with discipline &#8211; not legalist, but disciplined<\/li><li>A lack of discipline is a failure to be intentional.<\/li><li>Discipline sees what is important and pushes everything unimportant to the side.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t allow your thoughts to be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ! (2 Cor 11:3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Declarations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I choose today to take captive the thoughts that undermine what God has said. (2 Cor 10:5) God, reveal the lies that affect my life as if they were true, so I can replace them with truth.<\/li><li>I choose to devote myself to God. God reveal those things that distract me from completely being devoted to you.<\/li><li>I choose to pursue pure and sincere devotion to God by starting each day in His Word, praying through these declarations for myself, and those whom God puts on my mind.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bible Reading John 22 Corinthians 11 Devotional Thoughts Paul begins 2 Cor 11 with concern for the Corinthians that they would be deceived by Satan\u2019s cunning schemes, just like Eve was. That their thoughts would be led away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Interesting that he says he is concerned for their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[130596],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-declarations-of-truth","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}