Broken Bread 3

Week Five: Field Work         Day 31: Guarding         April 26, 2016 
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Harvest image
"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of
unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes
and showers righteousness upon you."
(Hosea 10:12) 
Day Thirty-One Devotions:
 
MORNING MEDITATION
 
Glean the Word:
  Romans 14:1-23 
   
Glimpse of Glory: "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (v. 17) 
  
The priority concern in our Christian walk is that of the inner life, for the kingdom of God is within.  We live in an world that is hostile towards God, and the very atmosphere we breath unfits us for His kingdom.  We walk on a spiritual battlefield, every day we are at war, from without and within; and the only way we will be conquerors is by character, not by force.  How we live is of utmost concern, because the single aim of our life is God and His kingdom, and not ourselves.  Who we are and what we do, as Christians, is meant to above all bring glory to God.  Pleasing God, and not ourselves is to be our greatest priority and pursuit.  Jesus provided the supreme example of living in this realm that is not our home.  His whole life was one of absolute dependence on, and obedience to, the will of the Father.  "My food...is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work" (John 4:34).  As His followers, we must be careful not to get distracted by the insignificant matters of life and ministry, but to remain focused on the more important matters of the kingdom of God. 

As believers, our priority is our intimacy with the Lord.  Yielding to the Holy Spirit and cultivating a godly life are essential to the building up of the body of Christ.  We are to grow in knowledge of the Lord so that we can minister in love to our brothers and sisters, as we seek to build up and edify one another in the faith. "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification" (Romans 14:19).  Our ministry is in righteousness to God, in peace to our brothers and sisters, and in joy in the Holy Spirit to ourselves.  "Because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men" (v. 18). As we pray, let us look for ways to build each other up in the faith and to do those things which lead to greater harmony.  May we all look within rather than looking around us, and seek to dedicate our lives more fully to holy living and godly service so that the body of Christ can be strong and the heavenly Father glorified in our unity!  "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:  to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I" (Isaiah 58:6-9a).

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION
 
Glean the Word: Matthew 6:25-34
 
Gift of Grace: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (v. 33) 
 
In all things and in all ways we are to begin with God first.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13).  He is "the First and the Last", and He deserves the first in our lives (Revelation 1:17b).  From our first thought in the morning to our last thought before we go to bed at night, our mind should be fixed on Christ.  Everything else will fall in place when Jesus has the priority position in our life.  Jesus taught us to seek Him more than the things of this world.  We are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).  His kingdom and His righteousness are to be the highest priorities of our lives. His purpose for focusing first on our righteous character is so that we will be kept morally clean and pure, separated from the pollution of the world and set apart to Himself, so that we can experience all the blessings that a holy life brings.  If we give our full attention to seeking these, then He promises to give us everything we need to walk in His righteousness and experience the fullness of the kingdom life; He will guide us along the path that leads to security and prosperity in His kingdom.

God knows how easily distracted we can become by the cares of this life.  It is our human nature to depend on things rather than on God, while all of nature depends fully on God.  "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?" (v. 26).  Living for the things of this world is sin, and the pursuit of them robs us of our joy and peace in the Lord.  Our Creator gave us this world and everything in it to enjoy, but He is also a loving Father who continues to watch over us and make sure we are well taken care of.  He wants us to experience the best of His kingdom, but we rob ourselves of His best when we run after and store up the things of this world in our hearts and leave no room for Him there. The more time we spend with our Lord, in His Word and in prayer, the more we are taken up into that purified atmosphere of His holy presence and able to catch our breath and breathe more freely there; and all worry and anxiousness disappears.  Let us spend time in prayer and thanksgiving today for all the good gifts and rich spiritual blessings we have received from the gracious hand of our loving heavenly Father.  May we use all that we have been given to build up the body of Christ and bring glory to His holy name.     
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EVENING PRAYER
 
Glean the Word: Ephesians 6:14b

Fruit of Repentance: "Stand therefore...having put on the breastplate of righteousness..."


Evening prayer focus:  Prayer for walking the path of righteousness (click on the image below for our evening prayer).

"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12).


This evening, draw close to the fire and experience the warmth, love and light of Christ as we come boldly before the Throne of Grace and join our hearts together in prayer:

Click on either image below to access the YouTube Evening Prayer Audio
(then click the Play button to listen to the evening prayer) 

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HARVEST The Kingdom of God - 
A 40 Day Prayer and Fasting Journey to The Throne of Grace 
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