Confessing and returning to the Lord are good, but prevention is even better.
p.252
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
Returning to God
Confessing and returning to the Lord are good, but prevention is even better.
p.252
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
When we first accept God into our lives as our ultimate hope and savior, this is only the first step of our long journey of faith. We do not just remain there we are constantly moving forward with God’s word and strive to become more and more like him. We need God in all aspects of life, we need to seek him intentionally in our daily interactions. We should be feeding our heart, mind and soul with God’s words and soak in his love. Worldly pleasure and activities can become a danger zone where we lost focus on God if we don’t invite Him to participate in with us
The line that stood out to me in today’s devotion was, “be careful what you allow into your mind and your heart.” I have found this line to be true in my life and even with the knowledge of this truth, I find that I will always have to be on guard. Many times when I self-reflect, I will find that shows I watch or things I listen to can find ways to slowly influence how I speak or how I think. I have found that reading my Bible and doing devotions can also have the same effect so I know that when I neglect these things that I am losing my relationship with God. I know that we must be aware of what we are watching, reading and listening to so that we don’t lose sight of God and fall out of fellowship with Him. I pray that anything that may be negatively influencing my relationship with God would be highlighted to me so that I can remove it from my life.
Like the carelessness that lost a valuable coin, you may fail to guard your heart and mind. When temptation comes, your strength to resist is not strong. Then sin robs you of your intimacy by breaking fellowship with your Lord.” It’s hard to believe that God forgives and still loves me despite how many times I’ve fallen away from Him. My temptations block me away from my relationship with Christ or anything that has to do with him (serving, community, etc). God I pray that I continue to run towards you to experience and have a real fellowship with you. Help me turn away from the world around me and draw me near to people and things that keep me close to you. Thank you for always being consistent, faithful, and loving. I pray i remember that my temptations will fail me, but you will never nor leave me.
In today’s reading, we are reminded of how to return to God when we drift away. There are different ways that we could’ve gone astray either being like the lost sheep, the lost coin, or the lost son. Different steps we can take to restore our relationship with God is come before to Him, humble ourselves, pray, seek Him, and turn from our wicked ways. And he promises to hear us, forgive us, and heal us. My prayer is that we would remain true, steadfast in our faith, and continue to guard our hearts, seek godly counsel, love God, and walk in obedience.
“Confessing and returning to the Lord are good but prevention is even better.” I, too, struggle with the vicious cycle that is sin where I fall away from the Lord, commit a sin I’ve sworn off, wallow in regret before finally crawling back to the Lord asking for forgiveness. And I’m thankful for God’s mercy and how He still wants a relationship despite my flaws, but going through this cycle isn’t doing my relationship with God any favors if I’m in this limbo between obedience and falling. Which is why I appreciate tonight’s message as it’s a good reminder that I don’t have to keep going through this abusive cycle, that I can take preventative measures against these temptations and inclinations. And I find the help of an accountability group helps with prevention as I have a group to turn to for guidance or for accountability, so if I do fall I can reconvene with them and try to diagnose the issue.