Newsletter - What Are Devotions? 3/28/2023
Updated: Apr 5
WHAT ARE DEVOTIONS?
"These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)
I often encourage you to have your daily devotions or to have a walk with God. I believe that these devotions build the necessary foundation for living a sustained victorious Christian life. Yet, what is meant by the word devotions? The most basic answer is simply to have time that you read your Bible and pray. While this is true, I fear that we often are very shallow in our devotions. These tasks of reading our Bible and praying become like duties on a checklist and we miss the spirit of what true devotions should be.
I believe that Webster summed it up well in his 1828 dictionary when he defined devotions as, "A solemn attention to the Supreme Being in worship; a yielding of the heart and affections to God, with reverence, faith, and piety, in religious duties, particularly in prayer and meditation; devoutness." This implies that our devotions are more than a mere checklist of duties, it must begin with a serious focus on God, a desire to worship Him, a readiness to yield to what He has to teach us today. It is the reading and study of His Word as well as meditation. This should be coupled with prayer and supplication to our Heavenly Father. Such a practice faithfully before our God by his children.
I am reminded of how Paul was in Athens when he preached on Mars hill, and he made this statement, "...I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD..." (Acts 17:23) Even the lost heathens and pagans of this world have raised up an altar of devotion to their god. They have no knowledge of the true God, but they still have an instilled desire to give devotion to something.
The follower of Islam will turn towards Mecca and bow himself with a solemn prayer five times a day. Orthodox Jews will thank God for each element of their meal before consuming it. I would hate to think that those who do not have the truth would be more dedicated to their worship of their false gods than those who worship the true God. It would be a pity if those who do not understand God are more dedicated to their misled worship of God than those of us who are His children.
This morning may I encourage you to take your walk with the Lord to a new level of dedication. Focus on the Lord and give him true worship in your devotions each day.
Did you miss any of these this week? Catch up here!
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK AT LBC
We have had a wonderful week here at LBC with five souls trusting Christ as their Saviour. On Thursday morning brother Tim and I went and did some visiting and soul-winning. We met a man named Ming who trusted Christ as his Saviour! Praise the Lord for the Gospel.
After we met Ming we visited Miss Casandra at her house and discovered that she needed a ride to the emergency room for pain in her foot and leg. We were able to take her and her daughter, Miss Amanda, to the ER where they established that she was in need of surgery for a blood clot in her leg. She had the surgery on Friday which was successful and she is currently recovering from that surgery. Please keep her in your prayers.
Friday night Mrs. Faith and I hosted the kids at the church for our church-wide date night. It was a joy to keep some of the kids so their parents were able to get out and spend some time alone. I believe it is very important for parents to have time to spend with each other when they are free from the worries and concerns of the kids for a short time.
On Saturday I hosted the Grow in Grace Bible Study for our Karen folks with Bro Say Ler. We had two adults come out to study our lesson on eternal security. Pray that the Lord would help this ministry to continue to grow!
We had a surprise early spring snowfall on Sunday. We did not get much snow, but enough to make it seem like a gloomy day outside. However, things were not gloomy in church. We had a wonderful day with an attendance of 128 and five adult visitors. Praise the Lord! He is so good to us.
I hope and pray that you will have a wonderful rest of your week. Spend time with the Lord in His Word and in Prayer and reap the benefits of His strength in your day!
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