"Getting A Grip"

First off, let me say thank you to anyone that has kept up with this blog over the last three years and five plus months; I still have not missed a single day, but there were times of testing. Better yet, let me say that I have been encouraged by some of the traffic; and yet, I try not to base this blog on popularity or followers, that is not what I have intended this blog to be all about; it is about this being a living journal, in which I post what God puts upon my heart every morning after my devotions. Beginning on January 1st, 2012, I started the Book of Psalms as my topic of discussion; although I am reading more than just the Psalms, my intention was to take one verse at a time, and let God speak to my heart. Sometimes there was good study material that came out of that, and sometimes there were mornings where I really did not know if the text was covered at all; but there was hardly a single morning in which I did not hear God speaking into my heart, and that is really what this blog is all about. Having come to the end of the First Book, that being Psalms 1-41, I tried to discover if there was any kind of a pattern or structure to these five Books; but it would appear that they are as random as the days of our lives; sometimes giving thanks, sometimes complaining, and sometimes just overwhelmed by the fact that God even loves us at all; but in all things, we are secure in the hands of a God that does not change! We are the ones who change, sometimes within seconds; and if we are going to have any stability in our lives, then it is God that we must cling to, and it is God we must seek after with all of our hearts. I have just learned the news about Pastor Bob, whom I had thought had a church of about 8,000 people, but I based that on the last time I had personally meet with him, which was about the late nineties; I guess it has grown quit a bit since then, because the post I saw yesterday said it was 18,000 people. I'm thinking about now, Bob wishing it was still 30; just 30 people to love, which is still enough to be held accountable for, yet not enough to make you leave your first love. We are weak and worldly people, we need to understand that, and it is only by the Spirit of Jesus Christ dwelling within us, that we even have a snowballs chance in hell of making it unscathed through this world. Oh, we might be saved, and we might be going to heaven, but it's not just about us individually, it's about one another; it's about making sure that we don't stumble or offend each other, and that we love each other with a sacrificial love that puts others first, which means that we take a back seat to the concerns of others, placing the needs of others before the needs of ourselves. This is the "reasonable service" that Paul speaks of in Romans 12:1, because it's not just about purity or holiness, it's about our bodies being "A Living Sacrifice"; we are to be slaves for Jesus, for Jesus is our MASTER, our LORD, our KING, and our GOD... "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of ME gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with ME." (Revelations 3:15-20)