Precepts for Personal Devotions

Yesterday at Mom's Group I had the opportunity to share my testimony again. Last time I shared it was at Titus 2, which was a larger group and a mixed group of age ranges. That time was a little less scary than yesterday morning. Yesterday, I had to share with girls my age and girls that are my friends. The message I had to share was hard. It was a personal part of my testimony and what I learned from it was something that applies to all of us. It was humbling, but yet so rewarding. As I began to share I was so thankful that God had made those few months so hard. Not only because He grew me, but because as a result, I was able to share the lesson and hopefully encourage those ladies there.

You see I spoke on Abiding in Christ. At first, that doesn't sound so bad, but when you really study it and see what it means, it is profoundly convicting. Abiding is a constant, on going, continual process. It's not just perusing you Bible as you find the time. It's going deep into God's Word, so that you have a remaining and abiding relationship with Him. You can not remain in God and He in you if you are not constantly learning about Him. The Bible says several times that if you don't abide Him, not only will you not bear fruit, but you aren't saved. Abiding is evidence of salvation. I had to humbly share this with my fellow mom's and admit that I hadn't been abiding with Christ. I was walking weakly and superficially with my Savior. How could I do that with the Lord who saved me? As God worked in my heart and upheld me ever so faithfully I realized how much more I needed to know Him. In the past few weeks, that has turned from a need to a deep desire.

I called on the mom's to get to know their Savior in a deeper way. To abide in Him. We talked about how that is so important not only for us as individuals, but also as mom's. Our church provides us with so many opportunities to grow and we all need to make every effort to be there. After I shared, Tiffany followed up with some advice on what to do for daily devotions. It was so helpful and so practical. That's really what I wanted to share with all of you. She found an acrostic of the word PRECEPTS providing us with 8 different ideas we can meditate on as we are doing our daily reading. I hope you all can benefit from them just as I hope to.

P - is there a PRAYER to pray?

R - is there a REASON to praise Him?

E - Is there an ERROR in this passage I need to avoid?

C - Is there a COMMAND to obey?

E - is there an EXAMPLE to follow?

P - is there a PROMISE to claim?

T - Is there a TRUTH to believe?

S - Is there a SIN to confess?

So basically, you keep these 8 questions in mind as you are reading through a passage and pull out one or two things to meditate on and apply to your life. It's simply, but has so much potential to be profound. We will hopefully fill the prick and be changed. It's a great way to find something and to keep us focused in our reading. The goal is to walk away everyday from reading our Bible a little changed and knowing our Lord better.