It’s easy, while you’re caught up in the day to day activities of life to miss God’s plan, to lose site of Him and to start focusing on yourself.  Each and every day I get up to do basically the same thing, with little variety, attempting to take comfort in the knowledge that God works even in the mundane, and yet the Holy Spirit has been at work in my heart to want more.

How do I know it’s Him?  Because God always comes first.  This is one of the first truths that I came face to face with in my devotional study.  We want more of God because He is at work in our hearts.

I say this because I believe that God is currently working a plan out that I have yet to see the end of– but I know it’s Him.

To understand my walk with God, you have to look back over my life, and so– as boring as it will probably be, I want to take some time of reflection, time to show you God at work, and point the way to where I see God at work right now.

When I first read this I knew that I must share it.  This list of questions from the ladies of Beauty of the Heart hits right to the core and exposes us for who we truly are…

• Do you act out of obedience to Christ and a passion for His glory–or your own?
• How do you spend your time?
• How much of your time per day is spent chatting with friends (online, on the phone or in person)?
• How much of your time per day is spent daily in conversation with family members?
• How much of your time is spent daily speaking to God?
• How often do you meditate on the Cross? (Once a day? Once a week? Once a year?)
• Do you set time aside every day for prayer and Bible study?
• Do you try to faithfully obey God in public and at home?
• Do you ask God for the grace to help you obey consistently?
• What people, books, movies, etc. influence you the most?
• Do you read books, watch movies, or listen to music that does not encourage your walk with Christ? Do you think this is wise?
• Are your friends fellow Christians who are seeking after godliness? Or do they encourage you in gossip and ungodly thoughts?
• If so, do you also join in that gossip and allow those thoughts to dominate your mind?
• What are your main spheres of influence?
• What steps could you take to become a stronger influence of a Christ-like attitude to friends, siblings, neighbors, relatives, etc.?
• Do you actively serve in your community?
• When making decisions, do you consider how they affect others?

Wow, talk about a lot of questions, but they’re terribly accurate.  I would add one of A.W. Tozer’s questions where he asks “Where does your mind go when you have nothing else pertinent to think about?”

I was reminded, reading Anna’s post on Daily Devotions, just how important it is to get into a routine, not just because I want to do it in a wrote way, but because I need my relationship with Him to be more important than any other relationship in my life:

Reading the Bible and praying are two of the most important disciplines in a Christian’s life. They are difficult for a lot of us to maintain regularly, I know. Yet they are so important. If I want to build my life on a foundation of the Word, then I have to read the Word. And if I am going to build my life on a foundation of prayer, then I have to make time to actually pray.

My wife and I have been (off and on) working through the Experiencing God workbook, though I did read through Hebrews 3 times (I have to get back to that!) which I know some of you were doing with me though my other blog.

How about you?  What do you do for devotions?  If you’re doing Hebrews with me, how far are you?

Sometimes we learn the most when times are bad, not when they’re good.  Each of us is impacted in different ways by different events.

• When I was a kid, I didn’t like the way some of the older children in church treated me, so when I grew up I made sure to treat them well.
• When I chose to go to summer camp instead of my family trip and I look back on that decision, I remember that family is more important than a girlfriend.

That latter touches on the subject at hand– the impact of love on our lives. You see love impacts how we think, what we choose and how we act. It impacts how merciful we are, and what we overlook. It can make us value certain things more than others.

A lot of “ink has been spilled” on dating and it’s negatives. One of the biggest negatives is the rebound. When you’re on the rebound you make really bad choices:

• You can choose to go after someone that you wouldn’t have considered before because of bad judgement.
• You can choose to compromise your previous standards.
• You can start to believe that simply because one person did not want you that no one will.

But you can also learn a valuable lesson, which is something that I did. My lesson was that it’s important to find someone that you can trust, someone that will be faithful.

Lord-willing, all of our relationships will be long ones, but it’s the trust in the other person that allows us to grow together, to know that when you fight it’s not the end, etc.

The important thing to know about rebounds is that they will end, but not as quickly as you think. And during that time you need a lot of God and a lot less of the opposite sex.

One of the most difficult things to do in this present, sex-driven culture is to remain pure in our thoughts and those things that we see.  This is even harder when you’re on the Internet– though it’s much different than it was just a few years ago.

The problem is a mixture of curiosity and the differing views society has on the matter.

Curiosity

Curiosity killed the cat, so they say. Curiosity is one of the reasons that we’re now in a sinful state. Satan said to Eve, “You won’t surely die,” but catch the next phrase: “and when she saw that it was good for food…” Sure, Satan talked Eve into doubting God, but Eve also had to become curious once she saw that she could eat it.

Near my house are two adult book/video stores. Every time we get fast food (which is more often than it probably should be!) we have to drive by them. We’ve watched as they’ve built fences around their parking lots (which have fallen down), commented on how many or few cars are there, etc., but there has been times that we were curious as to what’s inside. It’s not that we’d ever go there, but curiosity can take you places that you shouldn’t go under the guise that “I just want to see what’s there.

Society

Society doesn’t perceive purity as a high standard any more. And who can blame them? Sex sells all sorts of products from shampoo to Life Insurance. Women are told to base their value on how they appear. Men are told that they are supposed to take advantage of women, and now there are sites that will help you cheat on your spouse.

When you combine this attitude with Curiosity and mix it with the Internet, you can have a recipe for trouble if you are not careful. The reason is that you can never un-see something. That which you allow in, even in your curiosity, will be with you and it will effect you.

And worst of all, this impact to your purity will effect your relationships with others, especially your spouse.

So, guys and girls, it’s important to maintain a pure spirit– to rejoice in the husband/wife of your youth, to find in him/her the pleasure and prize that is uniquely yours, and to make sure that you take good care of that relationship.