Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
When I was younger, my mom gave me and my siblings different chores to do. First and foremost, our rooms had to be clean. We have to have our beds made, our clothes picked up, and all of our toys and what not put away before we could even think about asking to go outside and play or hang out with our friends. In addition, we had our weekend chores. My chores included cleaning one of the bathrooms and dusting. Plus, we took turns doing the dishes. I hated doing chores, but, since my parents paid me an allowance (and all of the other household bills), I had to do my part to take care of the house. But, I vowed that when I had my own home, I would not make my bed every day. When I was younger and I wanted to play, but didn’t feel like thoroughly cleaning my room, I would just make my bed, and then, shove things under the bed and in the closet to make it look like I had done my chores. Unfortunately for me, both of my parents were Navy veterans, so I rarely got away with it. Many of us try to dress up our outside while completely ignoring our inside and we call it cleaning up our lives. We make sure that we say the right things, hang out with the right people, and get caught doing the right activities. But, what is the use of looking clean on the outside when you are dirty on the inside? Surely, we will all make mistakes because none of us are perfect. Still, we need to make every effort to clean up the messes in our lives. A season of singleness is a fantastic time to do so. The single season is the perfect time to really focus on ourselves; not for the purpose of being selfish, but for the purpose of being more like Christ. We can go to our Father and ask Him to reveal to us the dirty places in our lives that we have hidden so well that we forgot they were there. I have to warn you, though, if you ask God for this, you must be prepared to be shocked. Every time I think I am all cleaned up, I ask God to show my where I am falling short. And, when I do so, it is usually because I am fully confident that I have little to no dirty areas. But, oh my! God will place some people and some situations in your life to reveal the dirt that is still lingering well beneath the surface. I don’t know about anyone else, but when God does bless me with a mate, I want to be the best person that I can be. Actually, if God never sends me a mate, I still want to be the best I can be for Him. Has this ever happened to you? You’re super thirsty, so you go to the cabinet and pull out a cup. You fill the cup with your favorite drink, take a couple of sips and then look in the cup and find some gunk the dishwasher left behind. The cup sure looked clean from the outside, but none of that matters if there is some nastiness on the inside. The same goes for us. We must all make sure that we are clean inside and God gave us a perfect example and a perfect sacrifice to be sure that we could be. Prayer Thank You, God for sending Your Son to be an example of how to truly live a clean life. Please forgive me for trying to cover up the dirt in my life, as if you are not omniscient. Lord, please help me to never be haughty enough to think that there is not something inside of me that can be cleaner. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
During the Lent season, forty days before Easter, many people of all different religions think of something to give up for forty days. I did not grow up observing Lent, so I do not know the purpose and I am sure that each person must search his or her heart to know their true purpose of observing Lent. From what I have observed, most people go on this fast in order to grow closer to God, which is always a good thing as far as I am concerned. Some people choose to give up particular foods or drinks: fatty foods, fried foods, chocolate, carbonated drinks, or alcoholic drinks. Some people give up behaviors like watching television or hanging out with certain people. I can see how in choosing to sacrifice things that we love we can honor God and grow closer to Him as we deny our fleshly desires. But, why limit ourselves to just the Lent season. Each and everyday of our lives, we should be seeking to live a life that is a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God. We should constantly be seeking to purify ourselves. We should take inventory of our lives and notice any person or habit that has become an idol to us. We should be honest with ourselves and decide daily if we are putting God first in our lives or if we are living to please someone else, even if that someone else is the person we see in the mirror. God sent Jesus to this earth to walk in human form and to show us that our lives can be lived without the filth and grime of sin. Yes, Jesus was God Son, but he was also human and faced with every temptation with which any of us could ever possibly be faced. And yet, Jesus was able to pass every test this world threw at Him, even unto death just so that He could show us how to live and to help us know that He is there for us. Admittedly, there have been times when I thought about fasting from certain foods or behaviors and the thought of not getting my daily nap or not getting to eat a Snickers bar has been terrifying. However, there is nothing scarier than knowing that I am consciously making the choice to include filth in my life on a daily basis and I am justifying it by pointing out all of the “good things” that I do. No, napping, eating candy, or drinking soda is not the filth; allowing ungodly thoughts, words and actions into my life is the filth. So, rather than trying to fast once a year, we all need to purify daily. We need to grow in Christ and grow closer to Christ. We must seek holiness and righteousness in every deed, and the only way to accomplish that successfully is through Christ who gives us strength. Prayer Thank You, God for giving us all an example of One who could live life free from all impurities. Please forgive me for ignoring areas of sin in my life. Lord, please help me to purify and die to self daily, so that I can live in holiness and reverence for you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pray While You're Prey Weekly DevotionsI pray that this 52-week devotional honors Him and blesses you. Enjoy! Archives
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