Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT) Glory is somewhat of a religious jargon word. A similar word nowadays is 'fame'. We're to live to make God famous. To eat in a way that glorifies God would be to not eat in excess. It would also be to share with those in need. There should also be times of fasting to show God we mean business. To drink in a way that glorifies God would be to not drink in excess. We don't have to be teetotal. Yet we do have to drink in moderation. Whatever we do, should be for the ultimate purpose of making God famous. If He's saved us, we should realise that we owe Him everything. He deserves to be glorified by us, and by others who glorify Him for His work in our lives. 'God Almighty, please help us to do everything for Your glory, because You have given everything for us in sending Your Son to give His life for us. In His name we pray, amen'.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 1 John 4:11 (NLT) God loved us so much that He sent his Son to give His life for us. We deserve His condemnation. Yet we can receive His acceptance. Because God has loved us so much, we ought to love one another. If we claim to love God, but don't love one another, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We don't love others to earn God's acceptance. It's because God loves and accepts us that we love others. We love, because He first loved us. We should love each other enough to die for one another. Day to day though, love is expressed in countless small blessings to others. If we don't love in the small things, we won't love in the big things. 'Loving heavenly Father, we're so grateful for Your love to us, demonstrated by Your Son's sacrifice on our behalf. Please help us to love one another as we ought, in His name we pray, amen'.

 Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD     and take refuge in him!   Let all the upright in heart exult! Psalm 64:10 ESV We might assume the righteous one would rejoice in Himself. We might think that righteous people would be all self-congratulatory. Yet the psalmist commands the righteous to rejoice in the LORD. We become righteous through faith in the LORD. We don't become righteous by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We need to take refuge in Him. We need to take refuge in God from the condemnation we deserve for our natural unrighteousness. We need His salvation. We need Christ's righteousness to be credited to our bankrupt spiritual accounts. We have every reason to rejoice in the LORD. If our salvation depended on ourselves, we'd be miserable. After all, we let ourselves down, never mind God Himself. Yet because salvation depends on God we have hope. 'God of our salvation, we rejoice in You for sending Christ to bear our punishment and to be our rig...

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Hebrews 12:7 ESV  We might not like the thought of being disciplined. Yet discipline is a quality we all need to develop. By being disciplined, hopefully we become disciplined.  God can use difficult circumstances to discipline us. The Hebrew Christians were coming to realise that the Christian life requires endurance. They were being persecuted for abandoning Judaism for Christ.  The writer to the Hebrew Christians was helping them to realise that God could turn what seemed like a negative into a positive. Getting disciplined by our parents never felt good at the time. Yet hopefully it produced the good outcome of making us disciplined.  None of us are naturally self controlled. We need God to develop that fruit in us. He often does so through challenging circumstances, but He always gives us the grace to endure.  'Dear Father in...

Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalms 103:2 (NLT) We have every reason to praise the LORD for all His goodness to us. Sadly, we have a tendency to forget all the good things He does for us. Everything good we enjoy is a gift from Him. God is the Source of everything good. Food, drink, shelter, relationships; all ultimately come from His hands. God forbid that we would forget all the benefits He provides for us. The greatest thing God does for us is to give us eternal life, through faith in His Son, crucified on our behalf. If we trust in Him, we are safe for eternity. We mustn't become like spoilt children who forget His goodness. To remember is a conscious decision. Some things we'd rather forget. God's goodness is something we should consciously seek not to forget. 'LORD, we praise You for Your goodness to us, in Christ Jesus ultimately, in whose name we pray, amen'.