BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s
mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
(Romans 12:1)
MEDITATION:
There are a number of folks who have difficulty praising and worshipping God.
Due to their frustration and disappointment,
some have wandered away from the church.
Some change churches frequently in an effort to find fulfillment,
while others stop going altogether.
Have you ever wondered what causes ‘dedicated’ believers to lose their devotion?
The problem could be a result of their lack of total surrender to the Lord.
Why? Because they are not willing to sacrifice some things in their lives.
They want God, but they want things that are displeasing Him as well.
In the Old Testament, the priests would offer an animal as a sacrifice to God.
What do believers offer today?
Romans 12:1 tells us to ‘offer our bodies as living sacrifices’.
In Old Testament times, the altars had two flesh hooks
to keep the sacrifice from slipping off the altar.
Today, we have two hooks that hold our bodies on the altar.
Our hooks are ‘discipline’ and ‘devotion’.
Discipline equates to obedience, and devotion equates to appreciation.
Have you noticed how attending worship services suddenly
becomes secondary to some folks who were disciplined at one time?
In the Old Testament,
the priests would burn incense as a fragrant offering to the Lord.
What do we do today?
Hebrews 13:15 says that we continually offer to God a ‘sacrifice of praise’.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God
a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
Our incense of praise should be going up out of our body,
because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
ACTION:
Perhaps you are one who was disciplined at one time,
but now you have no time or interest in attending God’s house of worship.
Have you stopped disciplining and devoting yourself
as a living sacrifice to the glory of God?
One day you will see God face-to-face and realize that the things
you valued more than Him are of no value at all when compared to eternity.
They may not be categorized as sinful things,
but if they are taking the place of obeying God’s command to “meet together”,
then they have caused you to disobey and rebel against God, which is sin.
Put yourself on the altar of God today as a living sacrifice.
Ask Him to give you the strength, determination, and love for Him
to be 100% disciplined and devoted to His cause and glory.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I confess that I have allowed other things to take
Your place in my life. I now realize that I have been victimized by
Satan’s lies – that if I am not doing things that are sinful, then it is okay
to give You second place in my life. When I pause and reflect, I know
that an eternity with You is my greatest desire. But I also realize that
if I am not disciplined and devoted to You, then I may not be considered
as a child of Yours. Help me to decide today, that I will set aside anything
that prevents me from praising and worshipping You. Help me to strive
to please You in all things.”
blog: UTVOLWOODY.WORDPRESS.COM
BREAD FOR BELIEVERS 
I have been low the last 24 hours after having an argument with my son. Although it is going to make him have to take positive responsibility for his life… I hate that it had to happen through argument and not through the many times I have just encouraged him.
So my nerves are not well and all I want to do is sleep. i dont have interest in doing anything. I am on my way to work and thinking I would just come home and sleep when I get back. Then I read these words that you wrote:
“Have you stopped disciplining and devoting yourself
as a living sacrifice to the glory of God?”
There are things I know I need to do to follow through on what God has shown me. I just need to discipline myself today to devote myself to God’s instructions which bring him glory.
Discipline is what carries us through when our emotions rebel.
Thank you for this post Don…it has changed my outlook and plans for the day.
KAte
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Posted by Kate Hufstetler | July 24, 2019, 7:26 amAwesome!! Self-discipline is not easy for anyone (includig me), but the rewards are worth it. We see in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus was able to discipine Himself and endure the cross for us because He saw “the joy set before Him”. It sounds to me like He looked past the problems to the joy awaiting Him in Heaven. That too is hard to do, but if we can keep our mind focused on what awaits us after this life, we could probably tolerate and cope with things better. Hope you have a great day! Thanks for sharing.
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Posted by Don Woodruff | July 24, 2019, 9:43 amI have been having difficulty with Life having a positive attitude as a disciple of Jesus. Actually, I could say that I am positive that I live in a broken, sin-stained world that continues to be a place where evil things keep occurring even to folks already suffering. What’s happening makes it plain that as citizens of God’s Kingdom we are not at home on this planet. At least not until there is a new heavens and a New Earth. Maranatha!
However, I have begun this week reading an ebook I borrowed from the public library to read with my Overdrive app on my android device. It is entitled More, and my expectations have been exceeded and it is just what I needed to hear. The focus of the Bride is to be on the Groom, and he is coming back for us. Your post here is in synchronicity with my desire to seek first the Kingdom of God.
I have uni-polar Depression, I live in poverty, I’m disabled since a stroke and acute heart attack. My diet is erratic and poor, I suffer from insomnia, and Oh so much more. So there are many things I have aside from Depression due to the chemical imbalance in my body.
But I do not despair about myself as such, I’m more thrown by how far distanced I feel from God and even other believers. Your blog post here is direct to the point and confirms what I’m reading in More.
I’m grateful God works through us to exhort, encourage, and engage as designed to bring glory to God and be His Will. Turning my spiritual eyes back onto Jesus has instantly made a difference in me, and I know much more sanctification is due and welcomed.
I tried to subscribe to your blogs, but the button at the top referred me to a page of html. I shall attempt to subscribe to new posts with the link below as I submit this comment.
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Posted by gralan | July 24, 2019, 12:32 pmGralan, thank you for sharing how the Lord is speaking to you through His devotionals that I distribute. Wow, you have had your share of problems, and then some. Prayed for you tonight, that God would use you and your testimony to point others to the Lord.
If you continue to have problems subscribing, you can always google “utvolwoody” and it should show a link to Bread For Believers. Thanks again for sharing…much appreciated!!
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Posted by Don Woodruff | July 25, 2019, 12:18 am