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† ~ Tempted to Shortcut & Awake Early ~ †

BIBLE STUDY

Title: Tempted to Shortcut

Date: Nov 6, 2009

Topic(s): Faith/Trust, Christian Living/Situational

Scripture: Matthew 4:3-4, Matthew 6:33, 2 Samuel 11:1-12:23

"Shortcuts make long delays," argues one of the one of the hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien's book The Fellowship of the Ring. But after some debate, the hobbits eventually take the shortcut—and run into all kinds of trouble.

Shortcuts in our lives often lead to misery, and, more than that, to sin. Let's look at a couple examples from the Bible where people chose to take a shortcut.

What Does God Say?

The story of Abraham and Hagar is a very well-known story from the Bible. In case you're not familiar with the story, take a few moments and read about it in Genesis 16. God had promised Abraham a son to be his heir. Years passed and Sarah was beyond the child-bearing age. So, Sarah came up with an idea and Abraham agreed. Instead of continuing to wait, Sarah gave Abraham her servant, Hagar, to bear a son in Sarah's place.

The right thing for Abraham to do would have been to continue to wait and trust God to bring a son through Sarah as promised. Instead he took a shortcut. The child born out of his relationship with Hagar, Ishmael, became a problem for Abraham and his descendants--and still is even today.

My Thoughts

Read Matthew 4:3-4 and think about the following questions:

1. What shortcut was the devil tempting Jesus to take?

2. Why would this be a sin?

3. What does Jesus' response tell you about what our response to these kinds of shortcuts should be?

My Part

Shortcuts can be hard to spot. Why? Shortcuts boil down to being assertive and claiming something we think we deserve or have earned. These are qualities that are typically praised today. So, how can we avoid these hidden traps? Keep the words of Jesus always in your mind. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). In other words, God knows what you need, and He'll make sure you get it. Just keep your eyes focused on Him, and you'll never need another shortcut again.

BIBLE MINUTE with Woodrow Kroll.  This Bible Study is from "Back to the Bible Ministries." http://www.bibleminute.org/  

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DEVOTIONAL

Author: Woodrow Kroll

Source: Early in the Morning 2

Scripture Reference: Psalm 108:1-13

Awake Early

Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

Are you a morning person? Do you know others who claim to be night people? Whether a morning person or a night person, each of us must ask ourselves if our heart is fixed upon God.

David wrote in Psalm 108, "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory" Whether a morning person or a night person, the one who knows and loves the Lord God can have an unperturbed heart when he sees the world reeling around him. Our hearts bow to sing and give praise with all our intellect, our skills, our resources, ourselves. It is the call to obey the command of the unperturbed heart that causes us to rise in the morning with a song on our lips. David, an early riser, not only resolved to sing and give praises to God with his lips, but he resolved to employ the use of musical instruments in that same melody of praise. He implores, "Awake, psaltery and harp." Not content with singing the praises of God alone, he will use the well-tuned strings of the psaltery and harp, and his flying fingers to accompany his vocal chords.

Still the key to his praise for God is not found in his voice or in the psaltery and harp. The key is found in his call to "awake" himself to the lively pursuit of praise to God. It is only when a thoroughly enraptured soul sings to God that his vocal praise is acceptable to Him. David says, "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early" (Psalm 108:2). His praise to the Lord God will precede the dawn. The best and brightest hours of the day will find the psalmist heartily aroused to bless God. Not only will he awaken early to praise Him, but he will awaken every fiber of his being to praise God. Some engage in praise to God in a halfhearted manner; these sing in drawling tones, as if they were half asleep. They arise early to praise God but do not awaken their minds, their spirits, and their bodies in praise to God. Early risers who seek to please the Lord must make certain that they have awakened themselves thoroughly before they begin to praise Him, or their practice of predawn praise will be reduced to mere ritualism.

Having a time alone with God early in the morning is a blessed experience. But too often our prayer life early in the morning is burdened down with weariness, sleepiness, and a half-awake attitude toward God. When we have our morning devotions, we must be certain that we are wide awake and ready to meet with God. Then will our meeting with the Almighty be something enjoyable, something vibrant, alive, and awake.

Henry Ward Beecher relates an incident about a laborer on his father's farm in Litchfield, Connecticut. Of this laborer he said: "He had a little room, in one corner of which I had a small cot; and as a boy I used to lie there and wonder at the enthusiasm with which he engaged in his devotions. It was a regular thing. First he would read the New Testament, hardly aware that I was in the room. Then he would alternately pray and sing and laugh. I never saw the Bible enjoyed like that! But I want to bear record that his praying made a profound impression upon me. It never entered my mind whether or not his actions were appropriate. I only thought, 'How that man does enjoy it!' I gained from him more of an idea of the desirableness of rejoicing prayer than I ever did from my mother or father. He led me to see that there should be real overflowing gladness and thanksgiving in it all."

Is it any wonder that when David's heart was fixed upon God, he called himself to awaken early in praise of God. To have our minds ready, the psaltery and harp ready, but not ourselves ready is an affront to our early morning praise to God.

Let us always be alert, awake, and available to praise God early in the morning. Only as we are sufficiently alive to engage in a meaningful and enjoyable prayer life with God, will He hear us when we pray, "Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth."

MORNING HYMN

Oh, the pure delight of a single hour

That before Thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God,

I commune as friend with friend!

Content from Early in the Morning and Early in the Morning, Vol. 2.

Bible Study & Devotional from: Copyright © 1996-2009 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. (Back to the Bible) Used by permission. All rights reserved The Copyright Policy website: http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Web-Site-Copyright-Policy.html   Contact by e-mail: info@bibleminute.org or by Mail: Bible Minute, P.O. Box 82808 Lincoln, NE 68501 USA

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DAILY VERSE

Ephesians 1:9-10

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Thoughts on today's verse

    Jesus is Lord! God's plan was purposed in Christ. It centered on Christ coming at the right time. God's plan was to bring unity in Christ by making him Lord of all! What's more, this plan that brings our salvation brings God great pleasure. God is the only saving God and Jesus is both our Savior and Lord. So the real issue we face today is this: What area of our lives, our hearts, our secrets, our sin, our rebellion, have we not submitted to his lordship?

Prayer:

    O Precious Father, I know my heart can be deceitful. At times I can even fool myself. But when I kneel in your presence and am convicted by your Word, I find myself reminded of the areas I have not yet fully submitted to your control and Jesus' lordship. Please, dear Father, use the Holy Spirit to gently show and convict of my self-deception so that I may be wholly lost in your will. Through Jesus, Lord of lords, I pray. Amen.

Phil Ware, President of Heartlight Inc. Minister of the Word phil@heartlight.org  HEARTLIGHT® Magazine is produced by Heartlight, Inc. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. PO Box 7044, Abilene, TX, USA 79608-7044. Copyright © 1996-2009

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NOTE: The Bible Study and the devotional are NOT my work; I had nothing to do with it other than to copy and paste it in this group.   It is solely authored and owned by "Back to the Bible,"and is posted by me so others will get spiritual benefits so to increase their walk with God.  GBU, JeL

† ~ Tempted to Shortcut & Awake Early ~ †

† Father, walk through the homes of those who read these devotionals / Bible studies and take away their worries and illnesses.  Please watch over and heal all those in their time of need; in the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen†