When I went to my Facebook page, there was a need for prayer. I have taken to writing prayers as I go... the best I can, for all to see, so that the prayer is actually made. It is too easy for me to say I will pray and then not follow through. I do the best I can.
When I went to my Twitter account, I decided to add some short prayers... and wound up with more than one. I think Twitter may be the place I do this more often. I have been trying to decide what to do at each site... I already add daily "Today I am thankful for..." posts at Facebook and another Etsy Team thread.
I am finding these all help me keep my focus going in the right directions, especially when I am more homebound than I have been in the past.
It is hard to keep our lives in touch with GOD and all that He is. We can fill our days with a lot of activities, and many of them have no meaning in the global sense, or deepen our spiritual levels, or affect either us or others. Household chores have to be done, we have to eat and sleep and shower and shop, and there is always some kind of "work" to do for our money needs.
When I remember to start the day with reading the Bible, it is a totally different kind of day. My time with the Bible reminds me of my relationship with GOD, the expectations we have for each other, and my commitment to what is right and good.
A young person came to the door the other day, sharing the gospel of OSPIRG (currently antibiotics in our food supplies). In talking to this person, I mentioned that the real issues is morals. If people were governed by a moral code (Biblical standards), they wouldn't be doing the things that are causing havoc in our world. The rest of the world has no moral code or a different moral code than the Bible. What standard is the best? How does a government operate without some kind of moral code? (It becomes the moral code of the dictator if it isn't a separate document, but we can see that documents are subject to interpretations by the current populations -- so they don't guarantee success, either.)
I came across a Facebook post last night that was also focused on how we make our decisions, and was prompted to enter a comment about how our beliefs create our behavior. I found it and have pasted it below ::
Your beliefs create your behavior... and peer pressure, running with the crowd, and gang affiliations, all create your behavior because they become the way you think.... People who believe in the Bible strive to discover what GOD thinks and make it part of their lives, and it translates into their behavior. --- I think your beliefs come before your behavior.
We become like the people we are surrounded by... no matter who we are, where we are, or what we are trying to accomplish... work, play, school, prison, family, neighborhood, charity, and all the activities that we become involved in. That can be a good thing or a harmful thing...
I made a decision to follow the influence of GOD, the words He has shared with us in the Bible, and the boundaries they present. It has changed my life and helped me in ways that cannot be explained to either believer or non-believer. We each have a personal relationship with GOD even when we are sharing the same Bible.
I have tested GOD, tested His Words, and I would challenge anyone to do the same. GOD is GOD, He doesn't lie, and we can depend on Him, even when we don't like what is happening in our lives. Once we understand that HE is the authority, we can begin to interpret the words that we read in the Bible for ourselves.
This is important because each man is at a different place in the learning process and has a different task in the Kingdom... we see the "elephant" with different eyes, so our sharing with the rest of the world becomes based on what we see at that time.
I am not saying that any part of what the Bible says is wrong... I am saying that GOD is the authority, not the men we sometimes put in a place of authority. You need to test GOD for yourself and make sure you know what is true and what is not.
