Leviticus 19:35-37
Leviticus 19:35 "You must not act unfairly in measurements of length, weight, or volume. 36 You are to have honest balances, honest weights, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord."
Matthew 7:2 "For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
My pastor opened with very similar scriptures to these on Sunday and then commenced to preach a very convicting message. The gist of his message was that we have to have an honest measure when dealing with God. If we say we are praying every day, we need to really be praying every day. If we say we are fasting once a week, we should not be "forgetting" and eating food that day. If we say we are on a daily reading program, it's not all right to catch up the whole week on Saturday. We are going to be measured with the measure we use, and unfortunately, most of us don't give our best very often.
Ouch! That hit where I live. Take prayer for example. I pray quite a bit, but most of the time I'm also doing something else like driving, walking, getting ready for work, waiting for an appointment, etc. I've been counting these bits and pieces of prayer in my total prayer time, but is that an honest measure?
Many of us have had the frustrating experience of trying to talk to someone who is watching television behind you or reading the newspaper. You get the distinct impression that you are not the top priority in that discussion. Occasionally, we will go so far as to throw some nonsense in the conversation to see if the other party even catches it. That must be how God feels when I talk to him while paying attention to my driving! I'm not having a conversation with my Creator, I'm merely "multi-tasking".
Now for the record, I do believe that God hears "arrow prayers", but that certainly does not make me the rich, intercessory, fervent effective prayer warrior that I know God has called me to be. And I truly, with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, want to be what God has called me to be.
So if you discover that you are not giving God an honest measure, what do you do now? You start over. You confess to God that you have gotten off track somewhere along the way. Maybe you readjust your expectations to the reality of your situation. If you can only spend 30 minutes a day in your prayer closet focusing 100% of your attention on Jesus Christ then you tell yourself that you pray 30 minutes a day. That other two hours of multi-tasking are great, but they don't count in the 30 minutes. If you are only reading your Bible 3 times a week, then you don't tell yourself or God that you are reading it every day. The principle is to not be deceived yourself. Once you start being honest with yourself, it will be much easier to be honest with God. Good Luck!
Sincerely,
Deborah
Matthew 7:2 "For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
My pastor opened with very similar scriptures to these on Sunday and then commenced to preach a very convicting message. The gist of his message was that we have to have an honest measure when dealing with God. If we say we are praying every day, we need to really be praying every day. If we say we are fasting once a week, we should not be "forgetting" and eating food that day. If we say we are on a daily reading program, it's not all right to catch up the whole week on Saturday. We are going to be measured with the measure we use, and unfortunately, most of us don't give our best very often.
Ouch! That hit where I live. Take prayer for example. I pray quite a bit, but most of the time I'm also doing something else like driving, walking, getting ready for work, waiting for an appointment, etc. I've been counting these bits and pieces of prayer in my total prayer time, but is that an honest measure?
Many of us have had the frustrating experience of trying to talk to someone who is watching television behind you or reading the newspaper. You get the distinct impression that you are not the top priority in that discussion. Occasionally, we will go so far as to throw some nonsense in the conversation to see if the other party even catches it. That must be how God feels when I talk to him while paying attention to my driving! I'm not having a conversation with my Creator, I'm merely "multi-tasking".
Now for the record, I do believe that God hears "arrow prayers", but that certainly does not make me the rich, intercessory, fervent effective prayer warrior that I know God has called me to be. And I truly, with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, want to be what God has called me to be.
So if you discover that you are not giving God an honest measure, what do you do now? You start over. You confess to God that you have gotten off track somewhere along the way. Maybe you readjust your expectations to the reality of your situation. If you can only spend 30 minutes a day in your prayer closet focusing 100% of your attention on Jesus Christ then you tell yourself that you pray 30 minutes a day. That other two hours of multi-tasking are great, but they don't count in the 30 minutes. If you are only reading your Bible 3 times a week, then you don't tell yourself or God that you are reading it every day. The principle is to not be deceived yourself. Once you start being honest with yourself, it will be much easier to be honest with God. Good Luck!
Sincerely,
Deborah
posted by BreadBakers at 5:56 PM
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