Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”
Our Bible verse for today: “The people worshipped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works He had done for Israel.” Judges 2:7 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “You cannot live on yesterday’s walk with God.”
In the Bible study “Fresh Encounter” Henry and Richard Blackaby note that there is an observable pattern that exists in the lives of God’s people, and which repeats itself with respect to how they walk with God. For a while they are faithful in their walk and they honor Him with their conduct. Then they get spiritually lazy and begin to drift from Him. Then they become progressively more and more involved in unbiblical behavior. God then disciplines then and that then causes the people to repent and to once again walk closely with God.
We see that pattern most clearly in the lives of the people of Israel as recorded in the book of Judges. In Judges 2:7 we read of how in the days of Joshua the people were faithful. Then in 2:11 we read that the entire nation began to drift away from God, “The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.” Then in 2:15, “So they suffered greatly.” And then in 3:9, “The Israelites cried out to the Lord.”
What we read about in the lives of those early Jews is a pattern of conduct that is all too common in God’s people throughout the ages. Most of us do at one time have a vital and dynamic relationship with God. But over time the passion often cools and we end up on cruise control, just going through the motions but thinking we are still being faithful. That’s the equivalent of trying to live on yesterday’s walk with God. Because it was good yesterday, we fool ourselves into believing it is still good today.
For many Christians that’s the beginning of a downward spiral which leads them away from God, out of church, and often into conduct that is unbiblical.
However many other Christians simply stay in a lukewarm condition. They never descend into the depths of serious sin, but neither are they on fire for the Lord anymore. They’re just sort of “being” Christian and “doing” church. That condition is much more common. Our churches are filled with people who are lukewarm and on cruise control.
Are you living today on yesterday’s walk with God? Have you been a Christian so long that the practice of your faith has become routine and your passion for God has become lukewarm? Do you even realize that has happened? When Christians drift away from God it’s almost always a subtle thing that happens slowly, almost imperceptibly, over a long period of time but which in the end, leads them to be far from God and they don’t even realize it.
I encourage you to spend some extra time today just sitting quietly before God and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you about where you are really at in your relationship with the Lord. Then be willing to make changes as needed to get back on track if necessary.
God bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 