{"id":19644,"date":"2022-01-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/?p=19644"},"modified":"2022-01-20T18:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T18:50:58","slug":"faith-devotionals-fit-for-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/2022\/01\/faith-devotionals-fit-for-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit For Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19646\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-website-1200x800-1-1-681x454.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\">Psalm 119:101\u2013104 \u2018I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.\u2019 (vv101\u2013102)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\">The verses quoted address the hardest aspect of walking God\u2019s way. Jesus says that it\u2019s the character of our heart that determines the quality of our Christian walk (Matt. 15:16\u201320). So we daily engage with God\u2019s Word to align our heart with Jesus\u2019 instructions. These qualities are also regularly picked up in the epistles, which act as practical instruction manuals for Jesus\u2019 disciples, the first Christians. Our intentions are more important than our actions, for these may be no more than a customised costume created for convenience. Such intentions indicate our true heart, and are little more than gesture religion (actions or positions intended to gain publicity or attract public attention, requiring little effort and having no real effect).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\">Engaging with God\u2019s Word demands that I start to apply Scripture to my inner life which will shape how I live in reality. It is God\u2019s medicine. What are my prejudices? Where do the boundaries of my insecurities lie? Is the source of my inner thought life creating purity of heart (Matt. 5:8)? This is the substance of our daily devotion if we intend to keep our eyes firmly fixed on God. Living every day with Jesus requires us to pay close attention to our inner life and collaborate with God\u2019s Spirit in seeking to grow a faith fit for purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>Scripture to consider: <\/strong>Psa. 119:89\u2013120; Prov. 20:9\u201330; Col. 3:1\u201317; 1 Cor. 6:12\u201320.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>An action to take: <\/strong>In what ways might I use God\u2019s Word as the benchmark for my behaviour?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong>A prayer to make:<\/strong> \u2018Lord, \u201copen my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law\u201d. Amen.\u2019 (Psa.119:18)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-black-background-color has-black-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo by Nastyaofly on Depositphotos<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 119:101\u2013104 \u2018I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.\u2019 (vv101\u2013102) The verses quoted address the hardest aspect of walking God\u2019s way. Jesus says that it\u2019s the character of our heart that determines the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":19646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19644"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19651,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19644\/revisions\/19651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barnabastoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}