As I was finishing my devotional this morning and making the usual rounds to read my list of blogs that I enjoy, I began to notice a theme. And that theme I see not only in the blogs but also my devotionals and my wife’s devotionals. But as if we needed more than that I saw it last night in my E3 group that met. Now before I get into the theme I want to put out there that if you are not participating in an E3 group I want to urge you to do so. All the groups that are meeting are seeing people visit that are not Christ followers and I believe that we are making an impact for the kingdom. But all believers can grow from the experience of watching the lost come to know Christ. Just wanted to get that plug in there ;o) !

Anyway back to the theme: My wife was doing her devotional yesterday and read Isaiah 59:2 and then wrote it out and posted it on the refrigerator.

Isaiah 59:2 (NASB)
2But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

I don’t know if she specifically posted it for me or not but I am glad that she did. And as I was reading a blog written by a fellow pastor, he commented on the importance of prayer and keeping ourselves right. And also staying in the word and how simplistic this sounds. Well this runs right into our meeting last night and what our thoughts were on the fact that the Christian life seems very simplistic in terms in that all you have to do is try to live godly. Well that in and of itself is impossible for us as humans, so how do we do it and how can we possibly say that it is simple?

Well, the fact of the matter is that it is not simple at all. The more you try to live for Christ the more you will be tempted, the more barriers that will be out up in your way, and the harder in some regards life becomes. If you life has not issues and you never have a single trouble in this world that means that the devil is leaving you alone and I would be very concerned about my status with God if I were you. Jesus tells us that we will face trials and even hatred because we love him.

Matthew 24:9 (New International Version)
9“ Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

So in that almost unsurpassable path that we as Christians must travel how do we make it? Well the answer is Simple! You trust in the one who can overcome everything even death. You must learn as much as you can and try to live out what you learn (not simple). But the most important thing is that you must cling to the Cross and remember that you cannot do it by yourself. You must stay in the word and pray daily to stay right and true with Him. If I asked you to drive to a house that you had not ever been to before would you want to know at least the address? How can you possibly know where God is; to go to Him if you don’t read his word? As Christians we must, MUST, stay in His word, pray, and fellowship with other believers so that we can know what we believe and why we believe so that we can try to limit the stumbles.

The best thing about all of this is the promise that God makes to us at the end of that very chapter in Isaiah.

Isaiah 59:21
21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

In layman’s terms that means this: It you repent and stay close to me I will stay close to you and your children and your children’s children. All I can say to that is praise God because that means all worry is gone. All we have to do is follow Him and He will make sure in His power that He will stay close to us!
God Bless ~ Tyler