Friday, March 20, 2009

Our Daily Bread

So most days Paola and I are reading and sharing a devotional together. I won’t lie to you and say that it is everyday but I will say most days. Our goal is to have a Bible devotional together daily. And if we can’t pull it off at this point in our lives then we probably won’t ever pull it off. Because I heard life only gets busier. Can I get an AMEN?

But reading the Bible and praying together daily is our goal. We want Christ to be at the center of our relationship always. And we want to start yesterday.

To be honest I thought it would easier. Two people in love with Christ and in love with each other should be able to find time for God easily each day, right? But it turns out that is not the case. Life gets in the way for everyone. For businessmen on WallStreet and for missionaries in La Paz, Bolivia. Life is full of distractions. And if we don’t fight for our time with God we lose it. And when we lose time with God we slowly lose our relationship with Him. That is just how relationships work.

Well Paola and I want to fight for our relationship with God And that is why this daily devotional together is so key for us. And in several instances already God has used the devotional to really speak to us as a couple.

One instance I will mention was when we were trying to discern whether or not God wanted us to work with the youth of the church. As I think I mentioned in a previous post I was a little scared of this responsibility with the youth at first. I was timid and shy. I did not think that I was capable or ready for this service. But as I also mentioned in that post…God does not always wait for us to be completely ready to do something before He asks us to do said thing. That was the case for boatloads of people in the books of the Bible and that was the case with me.

The verse that was part of the devotional on the day when we were thinking about the youth was 2 Timothy 1:7. And as Ton Loc said… “And it goes a little something like this…”

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.”

That verse seriously hit me hard. Because I am by nature a timid and shy person. Back home it was true and it is certainly true in a foreign country and culture. But I am convinced now more than ever that part of the reason God brought me here to Bolivia was to break me out of that shyness some. Through the experience of moving to Bolivia and now through the experience of trying to be the Godly head of my household, God is slowly taking my shyness and replacing it with boldness.

Take heart in this verse. Most of us have areas of our lives that our controlled by shyness and timidity and I think God wants to replace those areas with the boldness that only His spirit can bring. What is that calling or opportunity that you have on your plate right at this moment that’s got you on the ropes? Don’t forgot this wonderful promise and confidence booster from the Bible. Ask God to give you boldness in that specific area of your life and watch what His spirit can do.

2 comments:

JB said...

This has inspired me to get more focused on this aspect of our marriage...We are slowly creeping to "some days" which I can't stand...Thanks brother...

Anonymous said...

AMENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN