Father, I benefit greatly from Your encouragement. It would be easy to waste a gross amount of time of things of little importance, but You help to stay focused on what needs to be accomplished. I am grateful that You watch over me.

Mark 14:27-31 (<<click to read the passage)

Empty promises. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

I won’t fall away.

I won’t desert You.

I won’t be ashamed of You.

I won’t be afraid of being associated with You.

I will not deny You!

Peter is recorded as saying those things but they all were saying the same thing as well.

Peter and John bailed initially but at least were in the vicinity a little later. Though of course Jesus knew what would happen and told Peter so. “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you will deny [that you even know] Me three times.”

Empty promises. We are guilty as well… Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

This life is a struggle. So many things grab our attention and they may be cheap and tawdry but we just can’t seem to shake them!

Paul was right there in the struggle with us. He said in Romans 7:18,

“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.”

We all want to do what is right. We all want to be good boys and girls. But…the world is so enticing! And what makes it even more difficult is that the world is here and now! We can see it. We can touch it. We can experience it. Following Jesus is hard work. We have to focus! We have to listen! And listening to the world is easy! It’s not going in the opposite direction of our minds, our hearts…our flesh! We just go with the flow! No thinking necessary and everyone else is doing it that way!

Jesus clearly told us in Matthew 7:13-14,

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

And then later He says,

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26 (AMP)

It may be a difficult way but it is the best way.

Lord Jesus, help my promises to be full. It is a lot of hard work but You promise (and Your promises are never empty!) to always be by my side. The devil who is a “thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.” But Jesus, You “came that we may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].“ John 10:10 (AMP) Amen – I will lay claim to that one!

July 30th, 2019, Tues, 4:34 pm