Keep a Close Watch

Keep A Close Watch

James 4:8 NLT

"Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world."

2014 is the year to meditate on "Coming close to God".

What does it mean to come close to God?

How do you do it?

What will it cost?

How will I know if I am close to God -- or not?

If coming to God is a good thing -- then why isn't everyone doing it?

Recently I had one of those faith shaking moments when someone I dearly trusted, spent 2 hours expressing doubt about me and every aspect of my service to God.

The sad part is that I could not salvage the friendship.

The positive aspect of the experience is that it served to encourage me to examine areas of my life that I often take for granted.

1 Timothy 4:16 NLT
"Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you."

My thought for today is this,
"How often do you stop and ask yourself if your life pleases God?"

"How often do you stop and ask yourself if what you believe is consistent with what God's Word states?"

It is easy to "drift" along and avoid causing waves.

The problem is, drifting moves you further away from God.

For you to draw close to God -- you have to desire it and make decisions that move you closer to Him.

So what decisions move you away from God?
I will give you a HINT:
99% of them involve your thought life.

What you choose to think about determines your values and beliefs -- which eventually determines your decisions.

Do your thoughts move you toward God?

What do you spent the majority of your time thinking about?

Philippians 4:8  NLT
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

Perhaps this is something you and the good Lord should spend some time thinking about.

I'm praying for you.....