Stay Busy Doing the Lord's Work

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I
recommend to you.  He has given me permission to
copy his e-mails, and I'm sure he would be happy if
you would share this with people you know as well.

Did your Mother ever warn you against the dangers of
idle hands?  Today's devotional is a good reminder of
that lesson . . . with the further suggestion to use
extra time for the Lord.

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   MONDAY APRIL 3, 2006
(  Romans 7:18, 25, 8:8,13, Galatians 5:17, 6:8,
1 John 2:17 )

The battle with the flesh, the allure of this world, versus
the desire to please God.  I believe that by God's grace, I
just summed up the struggle every Christian faces each day
in those first 16 words.  The never ending battle with our
flesh, fighting the allure of this temporal world that we
live in for this brief season, overlaid with our desire to
honor, please, and follow God.  It is the classic struggle
of giving into our will and desires or surrendering to God's
will and desires.  It is those many choices we all make each
and every day to either honor God or rebel against Him.  It
is walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit.  This is a
battle that EVERY follower of Christ fights every day.  It
is a battle that the men and women of God in the Bible
fought, it is a battle that every follower of Christ these
past 2000 years has fought, it is a battle that you fight,
and it is a battle that I fight.

Throughout the Old Testament, we don't get much instruction
on fighting this battle we all face each day.  We are given
the Law, the commandments from God Himself and told to
follow them or there would be consequences.  We read the
Biblical accounts of men and women from Adam and Eve through
the prophet Malachi 400 years before the birth of Jesus.  We
clearly see the struggles many of them had in following the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob versus giving into the
lusts of their flesh and the desires of this world.  We
also clearly see the blessings that came from following God,
as well as the great price paid when living in disobedience
to God.

As we read the Gospels, we hear Jesus laying down those
classic challenges to "pick up your cross and follow me,"
that "whoever loses his life for Me gains it," and "what does
it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul." 
Jesus preaches the message of giving your life completely
to Him, of surrendering your very life to follow Him.  This
was a foreign thought in His day just like it is a foreign
thought today.  The world clearly teaches that you should
have all the money, pleasure, and things that it can offer. 
It is the eat, drink, and be merry mindset.  So many come to
faith in Christ having lived many years according to the
world's philosophy that says "deny thyself no pleasure,"
when they are now being told by God's Word to deny your very
life and give it to Jesus.

It is in Paul's letters that we get the most insight into
the practical application of how to fight this battle we
each fight every day.  Paul was dealing with the reality
of bringing people to faith in Christ that were used to
dealing with life in a carnal way and were now being asked
to deal with life in a spiritual way.  That really is the
bottom line to this war we are each in.  A battle between
living life in the flesh and living life in the Spirit. 
Walking after the desires of our flesh and the temporal
things of this world that can have such a hold on us, and
having a deep desire for the things of the Spirit and
keeping our focus on the eternal things of God. Paul even
details this classic struggle of the flesh versus the
Spirit in those verses in Romans 7 where he states that,
"for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."

Many of Paul's writings dealt with this struggle between
our carnal nature and our spiritual nature to help us
understand it.  So today, I want to do my best to help you
with this battle we all face.  Whether you have been saved
for 2 minutes or 70 years, whether you are seeking God for
what you are to do to serve Him or you are a highly visible
man or woman that has served God faithfully for many years,
please understand that NOBODY is immune from this battle of
the flesh versus the Spirit and it is a battle you will
fight until this brief journey though life is complete.

The most effective way I have found to fight this battle
each day, and most important to WIN this battle, is through
my relationship with Christ.  You have got to understand
that when Christ died on the cross, He died so that you
could live in VICTORY, not defeat.  His victory on that
cross 2,000 years ago insured you would be able to live in
victory too:  victory over death, victory over this temporal
world, and victory over sin.  The key to you seeing victory
each and every day is to walk in the victory Jesus won on
the cross, and that means walking with Him each day.

This is why I implore you so often to be in the Word, to be
in prayer every day.  Our walk with Christ is not an hour a
week on Sunday morning.  Our walk with the Lord is literally
24/7/365.  If we are to live in victory over the flesh, over
our carnal nature, deny the temporal pleasures of this world,
we have got to have the strength that only comes from Christ
and that is why being in His Word and in prayer each and
every day is so critical The closer you are to Christ, the
stronger you are to withstand the temptations of this
world  The way you become closer to Christ is through the
Word and prayer.

The other way you keep walking in victory each day is by
staying busy.  Did your mother ever tell you that an idle
mind is the devil's workshop?  Sadly, most days I end up
dealing with pastors or people in the ministry who have
fallen into sexual sin.  One of the things I have noted
over these many years is that a common element to most of
these stories is the church or ministry was doing well and
the person who fell had lots of free time on their hands. 
The reality is, when you are growing a church or a
ministry, finding enough hours in the day to sleep is a
huge challenge, let alone finding the time to get involved
in a relationship outside of God's will.

However, with success often comes a season where things are
not as frantic every day, there isn't as much pressure, and
there are now free hours during the day that didn't use to
be there.  It is often in those seasons when things are
going well that most pastors or people in ministry tend to
fall.  Look at David. It was during a time of rest, of
relative peace that he fell with Bathsheba.  So it is
critical to live in Christ's victory over the flesh to stay
busy, to have things to do.  There is nothing wrong with
being busy throughout the day.  The more you have going on
in your life, the less time you have to be tempted by your
flesh and by the things of this world.

Of course, the best way to keep busy is by serving the
Lord.  After all, our purpose in this life is to serve and
glorify God.  So while we have many things to do in our
life, when you need something to do to stay busy, find
ways to serve God!  Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but
the laborers are few.  There is so much work to be done, and
too few willing to do the work.  So I would encourage you to
make the time and effort to look at your daily schedule and
try to find places in your week that you can devote to
serving God.  You will not only be fulfilling your purpose,
but taking another step in winning the daily battle of
honoring God with your life.

I love you and care about you so much.  The battle we face
with our flesh, with the allure of this world we live in,
versus our desire to please God with our lives is something
every follower of Christ has to fight every single day. 
Please don't underestimate satan and his goal to kill,
steal, and destroy YOU!  He knows your flesh is weak.  He
knows you love the things of this temporal world.  He also
knows you love the Lord and want to please Him.  That is
why he attacks you.  He wants you to fall, to see your
testimony ruined, to bring shame upon God through you.  He
is waiting for you to get away from the Lord by not praying
every day, by not reading the Word every day, and by not
serving Him.  He knows the further away from the Lord you
get, the easier a target you become.

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that you will walk
in the victory that Jesus won on Calvary's cross 2,000 years
ago.  He died so that you could live your life in victory
and not defeat.  By putting your faith in Him, you have the
assurance of spending all eternity with Him when this brief
journey is over.  It also assures you that you can live THIS
LIFE in victory as well.  Victory over the desires of your
flesh.  Victory over the temptations of this temporal world
we live in.  Victory by living a life that is pleasing and
acceptable to the Lord and fulfilling your ultimate purpose
in bringing glory to God through your life!

The battle lines are drawn.  It is a battle each follower
of Christ must fight every day.  The lusts of our flesh
and the things of this world versus pleasing God with our
life.  May you stand in VICTORY today as you defeat the
flesh, say no to this world, and please God with your life!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell
Bill Keller