Struggles, Priorities and Transparency

From my devotional journal this morning:

I Corinthians 15: 34 "Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God..."

I Corintians 15: 12-19 Disasters if there is no bodily ressurrection:

1. Christ is not risen
2. Preaching is vain
3. Faith is vain
4. We are false witnesses (that is referring to Paul and the apostles but applies to us as well if we are telling others about Christ)
5. We are yet in our sins
6. Those who have died are truly perished (no hope of seeing them again)
7. We are miserable if we only have hope for this life and not for eternity

I Corinthians 15:20 "But now IS Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."

I Corinthians 15: 57-58 " But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Yesterday I gave up the Zoo World and FarmVille games on Facebook. They were distracting me from the priorities God had for me. I had been feeling the still small voice of the Savior through the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart to give them up. Yesterday morning at Ladies Bible Study I was really feeling the Lord tugging on my heart telling me to give them up and feel his blessing for obedience and following his leading. So yesterday I put this message on my Facebook account then quit the games. "Due to spiritual conviction about how I am spending/wasting my time on Zoo World and FarmVille I am quitting. I have been sucked in to the point that it is affecting other areas of my life like: relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, doing Zoo World instead of morning devotions, lack of following the priorities I have set for myself the lack of relationship with the Lord then affects many other areas. I have been down lately and that is because I have not made Bible reading, prayer, and praising the Lord through daily worship a part of my daily life."

I said I would do my devotions after I checked Zoo World and FarmVille but for weeks I have not done my devotions. I could feel my spiritual side at war with the carnal and the carnal was winning all day long because I was not starting my day in the strength of the Lord, but in my own strength. You may have noticed my blog has suffered, too. Posts have been few and far between. Mostly pictures for the 365 Project, in clumps, and reviews for TOS, but nothing personal.

Relationships at home were suffering, too, as I became reluctant to keep up with my responsibilities and my attitude toward my family was that I deserved more ME time. I also got snappy and surly toward my husband and prone to argue or avoid him. All because of a game... no.. all because my priorities were out of whack! Games were taking the place of God in my life and I used them to escape the troubles in the house instead of running to God for help, comfort and strength to bear up under the trials.

This morning having devotions it was interesting to read in the book I am using along with my Bible "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God" on pg. 72 it says: "We need to let go of the strange notion that he only way to be a good Christian is to project an image of sinless perfection and hide our struggles and shortcomings." That is a Godincidence for sure that I would be on this chapter this morning. 

Keep me in your prayers as I re-order my priorities and trust God to lead me throughout my days and accomplish a lot more. I feel better already just doing my devotions and listening to praise music all morning while blogging and checking on my friends and what is actually happening in their lives as they share on Facebook instead of just playing games that suck up so much of my time.

Enjoy your weekend and enjoy this video... one of the many of the Gaither's that I have listened to this morning.

Debbie