Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please, before you take in my blog below, use this link and hear a song sung by the group, Selah, singing “Press on!”, which gives any of us encouragement to continue to walk the walk of faith, … no matter what the challenges or circumstances of life might be..
Highlight Passage of the Day: Luke 12: 38-39 [Be prepared!] … [NLT] … 39 “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”
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Contextual Study involving today’s passage found in Philippians, Chapter 1 … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage of the Day #1: John 10: 8-10 ... [Always be vigilant; … our enemy stalks us incessantly.] … [NLT] …
“… 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
Reference Passage of the Day #2: 1st Peter 5: 8 [Our cunning enemy, Satan, is always prowling to take us out. ] … [NLT] …
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Reference Passage of the Day #3: Philippians 3: 14 [Ever vigilant, never looking back, we press on!] … [NLT]
14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
My Journal for Today: When I was a young boy, I was encouraged by my parents to become an Eagle Scout [see photo]. To achieve that scouting rank, a boy had to strive and complete 21 merit badges, finishing tasks in many different categories of choice and action. Some of the tasks were required, some were optional; but they all were rigorous and required what I call “stickability,” or the willingness to stay with the task until it was completed as required by the standards set by scouting. And yes, maybe you can see it on my face in the photo, I was a proud young boy when I got my Eagle rank.
The motto of the Boy Scouts of America [BSA] back then was “Be Prepared!” Right now that motto has been seriously scarred of late by the admission of openly homosexual scouts into the BSA. However, that’s a separate discussion, which I’ll not encounter here. But we scouts, when I became an Eagle Scout, were taught that we had to remain vigilant and disciplined in our living, staying with a task until it was completed, … not falling prey to hardships or difficulties which will come our way [and they will!!], … and being willing to KEEP ON KEEPING ON until we persevered to complete the challenge before us.
That’s what Jesus was trying to get across to His disciples in His teaching above from the highlight passage in Luke 12, as well as in the first reference passage from John 10, both copied above. The Apostle Peter also wrote to Christians in the passage quoted above from 1st Peter 5 that we have an enemy, who will patiently prowl about and when we’re weakened, he will strive to do all he can to damage our testimony or our witness.
But, as the devotional song (linked above) charges us (as well as did Paul in Philippians 3: 14), we must PRESS ON, … being as prepared as possible and being ever vigilant, standing-in-the-gap with patience and fortitude to do what Jesus has charged us to become (see Acts 1: 8 and Matthew 5: 14-16, which I hope you have memorized and internalized by now).
So, I hope that you’ve been stirred to “BE PREPARED” and to press on by Selah’s song; and I pray that we all, as the Apostle Paul exhorted, “… strain to … receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”
My Prayer for Today … Lord, help me to always be ready and willing to stand for You, ever pressing forward in Your Name. … Amen
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