In our high-tech age, we are bombarded from every quarter to give our attention to something. Everyone has a message or a product they are promoting, and many of them are good and beneficial to humanity. However, one of the things I found myself praying about over the year-end holidays was for the Lord to show me my priorities, as I only have so much time and energy. I want to stay focused on the things the Lord feels are the most important things for me to accomplish at this particular time in my life.
What led me to pray this prayer was that my husband and I took a short sabbatical between Christmas and New Year's this year and I faced the dilemma as to what I should do with this time. My "Things To Do" list was quite lengthy and included personal, business and ministry projects that were all screaming for my attention. Since I wear a number of hats, (as I am sure many of you also do), it is not always easy to know which thing is the most important for me to do at any particular time.
I found the list of priorities in the Bible:
Mark 12:30-31: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
The Lord has my heart, soul and mind, as that commitment was made long ago; but how can I love Him more with all of my strength? As Christians, we must all give an account of how we spend our time and energy, as well as our money. According to the above verse, God comes first above all others, which means I need to first give Him my time in prayer, meditation and the reading of the Word. As I do this, He will lead me by the Spirit as to what I am to do daily, and I will then know how to love others properly. This also means that I must give him the first-fruits of my money, since money represents the energy and time we spend in labor (our strength).
Bud and I spent time seeking Him diligently, and the thing the Lord put on my heart to do during this time was to finish the edits for the daily devotional, "God's Wisdom for Daily Living" that has been in progress for the last two years. We had hoped to have it done in the Fall; however, other battles had to be fought and overcome to bring us to the place of being able to find the time to complete it. Apparently, the Lord feels it is now time to share these writings with a larger audience. Thank you for praying for us as we approach the "finish line."
The Lord spoke to my heart that as I gave my time to complete this book and share it with the body of Christ, He would then give back to me the time and help to get the other things in my life done. He is so good; as during this time, He also furnished four other people to help in the editing process and others to help with all the additional things it takes to get a book in print. We are self-publishing this book with a "print-on-demand" publisher, which allows us to pay for small batches at a time. Since we were unable to come up with the needed funds to do a hardback edition, we are going to launch with a paperback version instead, with the other goal still before us. The book should be in print by the middle of January 2008.
I started these devotionals back in 2004 and posted them daily on the Bible.com website. I received a commission from God to pen these devotionals. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done; yet, the easiest. The hardest, as I had to yield to the discipline of daily devoting two hours to these writings for the period of 365 days. Yet, it was also the easiest, as the Holy Spirit met me in my writing studio each evening. As I sat down to read the scripture for that day's writing (with not a clue as to where that scripture would lead me in my composition), God would grace me to pen the wisdom that is contained in the book of Proverbs. The words would just begin to flow, as the gift of writing that He bestowed upon me settled softly in my heart. I knew that the knowledge and wisdom I was gleaning from this book within the Holy Scriptures was not just for me, but for the extended family of God, as well.
The "Thoughts for the Day" sometimes took the form of a teaching, a sermon, a devotional meditation, or a testimony. At times, I felt as if I penned things that were from the very heart of God Himself. I felt a gratitude and a need to pray at the end of each page I would write, so I thought I should include those prayers as well. The Holy Spirit inspired me to pray simple prayers from my heart that expressed my own need of change, as well as asking for the world around me to be changed.
The writing of this book changed my life because of the treasure of wisdom I discovered in the book of Proverbs. The real treasure is knowing and loving Jesus, for He is ultimate Wisdom. If you decide to read this devotional, and you find just one gem that touches you and brings you into a closer relationship with Him, then my labor of love will bring me great joy. I will meet you daily through these postings, or through this new book as you read it; but I also expect we shall have that Unseen Visitor with us, as this daily devotional book was His idea.
What led me to pray this prayer was that my husband and I took a short sabbatical between Christmas and New Year's this year and I faced the dilemma as to what I should do with this time. My "Things To Do" list was quite lengthy and included personal, business and ministry projects that were all screaming for my attention. Since I wear a number of hats, (as I am sure many of you also do), it is not always easy to know which thing is the most important for me to do at any particular time.
I found the list of priorities in the Bible:
Mark 12:30-31: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
The Lord has my heart, soul and mind, as that commitment was made long ago; but how can I love Him more with all of my strength? As Christians, we must all give an account of how we spend our time and energy, as well as our money. According to the above verse, God comes first above all others, which means I need to first give Him my time in prayer, meditation and the reading of the Word. As I do this, He will lead me by the Spirit as to what I am to do daily, and I will then know how to love others properly. This also means that I must give him the first-fruits of my money, since money represents the energy and time we spend in labor (our strength).
Bud and I spent time seeking Him diligently, and the thing the Lord put on my heart to do during this time was to finish the edits for the daily devotional, "God's Wisdom for Daily Living" that has been in progress for the last two years. We had hoped to have it done in the Fall; however, other battles had to be fought and overcome to bring us to the place of being able to find the time to complete it. Apparently, the Lord feels it is now time to share these writings with a larger audience. Thank you for praying for us as we approach the "finish line."
The Lord spoke to my heart that as I gave my time to complete this book and share it with the body of Christ, He would then give back to me the time and help to get the other things in my life done. He is so good; as during this time, He also furnished four other people to help in the editing process and others to help with all the additional things it takes to get a book in print. We are self-publishing this book with a "print-on-demand" publisher, which allows us to pay for small batches at a time. Since we were unable to come up with the needed funds to do a hardback edition, we are going to launch with a paperback version instead, with the other goal still before us. The book should be in print by the middle of January 2008.
I started these devotionals back in 2004 and posted them daily on the Bible.com website. I received a commission from God to pen these devotionals. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done; yet, the easiest. The hardest, as I had to yield to the discipline of daily devoting two hours to these writings for the period of 365 days. Yet, it was also the easiest, as the Holy Spirit met me in my writing studio each evening. As I sat down to read the scripture for that day's writing (with not a clue as to where that scripture would lead me in my composition), God would grace me to pen the wisdom that is contained in the book of Proverbs. The words would just begin to flow, as the gift of writing that He bestowed upon me settled softly in my heart. I knew that the knowledge and wisdom I was gleaning from this book within the Holy Scriptures was not just for me, but for the extended family of God, as well.
The "Thoughts for the Day" sometimes took the form of a teaching, a sermon, a devotional meditation, or a testimony. At times, I felt as if I penned things that were from the very heart of God Himself. I felt a gratitude and a need to pray at the end of each page I would write, so I thought I should include those prayers as well. The Holy Spirit inspired me to pray simple prayers from my heart that expressed my own need of change, as well as asking for the world around me to be changed.
The writing of this book changed my life because of the treasure of wisdom I discovered in the book of Proverbs. The real treasure is knowing and loving Jesus, for He is ultimate Wisdom. If you decide to read this devotional, and you find just one gem that touches you and brings you into a closer relationship with Him, then my labor of love will bring me great joy. I will meet you daily through these postings, or through this new book as you read it; but I also expect we shall have that Unseen Visitor with us, as this daily devotional book was His idea.
COOl stuff, You got there Tobi
ReplyDelete