Balance

Mike Ratliff offers a good challenge…

Our focus must be on God fully devoted to Him and His glory. This is an all day, everyday thing. I challenge everyone reading this to have devotional in the morning and another in the evening every day that is possible. Also, give God your free time. I’m not talking about doing church stuff. I’m talking about getting into the Word of God, praying and worshipping Him. Fast and pray whenever possible. Start taking time away from feeding your flesh and give that time to God. Fast from the world and feast on God. I challenge you to do this and see what happens. What will happen is that you will find yourself walking in the Light. When we walk in His Light we can see into the darkness. What will we see? We will see multitudes of professing Christians blindly practicing their religion thinking they are on the same path that you are when, in fact, they are on the Broad Way which leads to destruction. On the other hand, those walking in the Light are on the narrow way that is hard to find. This way is deadly to the flesh and pride, but it cultivates humility and walking in the spirit.

Fellow believers, let’s get very serious about our walk. Let’s get into the Light, walk in the Light and leave spiritual darkness far behind.

I have to admit the past year or so I’ve lost some of that focus. Between keeping up with politics and the world and misbehavior in the church I’ve had plenty of distractions.

So I’m interested in rebalancing. I can see two ways for me to cover the Evening & Morning devotions.

Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening short devotions are just a click away on my iPad, this is a great way to start, find it and read it yourself.

November 13, 2024 Morning. “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.” — Jhn 15:4

Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Psalms 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
Psalms 95:7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheepe of his hande: to day, if ye will heare his voyce, 

I was thinking 🤔 of also starting my reading through the Bible in a year for 2025. But after reading those verses which came to mind from Spurgeon’s reading this morning why wait? I’ve found this is a good daily plan, and with four chapters I can easily split it between Morning & Evening.

M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The classic M’Cheyne plan–read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels every day. Duration: 365 days King James Version (KJV)

The challenge for me will be the evening portion, when to do it and being consistent. And whether it is wise to take my iPad with me to bed 🛌 or do it before leaving the family room. And when I fall behind do I read extra to catchup or just continue from today on?

So the next question is when do I see the fruit, and what form does it take? Having a garden with Apples 🍏 , Granny Smith & some form of Russet, which are tart & ugly respectively, and Plums and Boysenberries, and Wild Blackberries, which are sweet, as are our few Strawberries 🍓, but Lemons 🍋 and Limes 🍋‍🟩 which need a bit of sugar for a nice lemonade. And of course one of our favorites the Tomato.🍅 You can read more about those in this interesting history.

The mistaken idea that tomatoes were poisonous probably arose because the plant belongs to the Nightshade family, of which some species are truly poisonous. The strong, unpleasant odor of the leaves and stems also contributed to the idea that the fruits were unfit for food.

Aka also known as the devil’s fruit…..

“Tomatoes were nicknamed the “devil’s fruit” due to their red appearance and the belief that they were responsible for causing illnesses and food poisoning”

Even today there are strange things said about Tomatoes 🍅. We had a good friend who lived in Louisiana and would not eat them. Here’s an interesting 🤨 note.

Ok, I wandered off track. But one thing about fruit we know is they all have different characteristics and come in their season, you can’t hurry them and although they produce seeds and can reproduce the plant 🌱 they can’t make their fruit on their own efforts.

Anyway time to signoff and start the M’Cheyne reading for this morning.

Btw, If you open an account(free) at Bible Gateway you can access the Plan. Even if you have another version I highly recommend the KJV for these readings, and I even listen to Max McLean reading it as I follow along and highlight in my e-Sword HD app, highlighting along the way. I find reading the Word with both eyes and ears to see and hear useful.

Are you walking in the light?