Joey's Journal August 16, 2006

Dear Father, I thank and give You praise for Your protection on my household. Lord, I offer to You my joys, works and sufferings of this day; may they be pleasing to You as I continue to walk with You. May Your grace always be with me to have humility, patience, kindness and forgiveness to the people I will be dealing with this day. Gracious God, may Your Holy Spirit watch over me and be my alarm bell when I swerve away from the righteous path. I also pray my loved ones, wife and children and relations and nannies to be under Your watchful eyes and protection. All in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

My reading - Psalm 14 Will those who do evil never learn?
The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; He looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God. But no, all have turned away from God and all have become corrupt. No one does good, not even one! Terror will grip the evil doers for God is with those who obey him; the Lord will protect and restore his people and salvation would come from Mount Zion.

My reflections – This is a clear warning to those who do evil! For God knows everything that happens to us. And if we do evil, we should be gripped with fear because of God’s wrath. But, for those who obey Him, they will be protected and salvation will be with them. I believe the major word here is ‘obey’; and it is the most difficult instruction to follow in our Christian walk. A Christian can say the sinner’s prayer and profess his belief in Jesus who died for his sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior, but after that what happens to his life. Most often, this person thinks he has been promised the salvation and is unaware of his disobedience to God and His decrees. What happened when he accepted Jesus was more of giving God lip-service and then, resorting to his old self.

The righteous things we do after accepting Jesus is what counts. We are all sinful people and can easily ‘go back to our old self’. This is when we need Jesus’ strength to get us through these sinful phases in our lives when we are weak and can easily fall to Satan’s traps. His Holy Spirit will be our helper in advising us to avoid sinful thoughts, desires and actions. All Christians are not assured of salvation to God’s Kingdom. It is a requirement to acknowledge God and believe that He sent His Son to die and wipe away our sins, but our response and follow through to this belief is the one that will save us, and this is living a godly life and obeying God’s laws. 

My prayer – O Lord, I am grateful for Your Hand to be guiding and protecting me on the right path. May I stay dedicated to living a life that is godly and pleasing to You. Although in my trying times, I stumble and fall, may Your grace help me to get up and be reminded of Your forgiveness and love. Lord, keep me focusing on You and the salvation You offer. I pray in Jesus Name. Amen.

by Joey B