"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God"
(Acts 20:24).
(Acts 20:24).
Today's Morsel: One of the toughest things for me reading the Bible through each year, is staying focused on my daily Bible reading. Because I love the word of God so much, my mind has a tendency to wander when I come across passages that I know that relate to other scriptures. The other problem I have is being a soldier and having knowledge of warfare. The problem here for me is that I always want to strategize the situations and that comes from my military training. I can see why God fired Saul, removed Moses, got upset with David, directed Gideon, and chastised His disciples in the boat for fear. Good commanders are compassionate, but they will hold you to a higher standard than your followers for mission accomplishment. This is one reason many people say that living and serving God is hard. They say that the standards are too high. And I believe the reason the standards are high is because God wants you to see that you can do things in your life if you will just try. Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). If you want to know the truth, God's standards aren't really high. It's all about what you love that drives you. When you love something, you'll commit to it, learn it, and do it. But if it isn't important to you, you'll buck the system every time. Paul never complained that the things of God were too hard. He simply said, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24). He told Timothy, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing"(2 Timothy 4:7-8). If we are planning to make it to heaven, we have to meet the standard that God has set for us.
Sing: I'm going through, yes, I'm going through, I'll pay the price no matter what others do. I'll take the way with the Lord's despised few, I started out with Jesus, and I'm going through.
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