by Marcie Bridges, @Marcie_Bridges
And cry for help; I hope in Your word.
My eyes are awake through the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.
Psalm 119:147-148
NOT ENOUGH TIME
I rushed right through my devotions
didn’t take much time to pray
there was too much on my schedule
just couldn’t afford any delays.
But when temptations surfaced
and trials came I couldn’t bear
I didn’t have the strength to endure them
With sudden guilt and frustration
I fell upon my knees
asking God to please forgive me
for treating my time with Him so casually.
With a heart redeemed and restored
I knelt down upon the floor
took time to thank my loving Savior
for His mercy and His Word.
We talked for quite awhile
didn’t worry or fret about the time
and in those precious moments
we communed with bread and wine.
Now I know how extremely important
it is to begin my day with Him
to receive from Him the armor
that will shield my day from sin.
~Marcell Warner Bridges
©2015, All Rights Reserved.
priorities are in the right place. Am I giving God first priority? In my
heart? In my life? In my day?
As my final essay for my English
degree, I am reading John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. The main
character is a man named Christian. He lives in a city called
Destruction. Christian has been reading a book that explains to him that
his city is doomed to be destroyed—burned with fire from Heaven.
Christian carries a heavy burden on his back and laments about his
plight so much so that he is willing to leave his wife and children to
go to the Celestial City. He has tried and tried to persuade them to
come with him; but since they refuse to, he makes the decision to make
the journey by himself.
As I have been reading this allegory by
Bunyan, the thing that strikes me hardest is Christian’s
single-mindedness to his goal. He meets with many hardships and
temptations along his way, but he is so focused on finding relief from his burden and getting to the
Celestial City, he will not let anyone persuade him to leave the
path that he has been told to follow.
So I wonder, why have I
let my priorities lead me astray? How many times do I go off that narrow
path only to find myself wishing that I’d had that talk with Jesus that
morning? Wishing that I’d put on the armor God was holding out for me
to ward off Satan’s attacks.
Christian’s priority was to serve God and follow Him alone to that Celestial City at any cost. Am I willing to do the same? Where is my focus in the mornings?
Think on these things…
TWEETABLES!
Is God your first or last priority of the day?
I rushed through my devotions, couldn’t afford any delays
Communion with Jesus in the morning starts my day off right
*********************************************************************************************************************
Dear Readers, Friends,
of college to graduate in May with my Bachelors of Arts in English. I
would cherish your prayers as I work to accomplish this goal. I am so
excited to introduce several guest bloggers to you over the next few
weeks as I will be so busy. But please know, I will be praying for each
of you and thinking of you during this time of my absence. Thank you for
your faithfulness in reading my blog posts.
Marcie
Excellent reminders, Marcie!
Wise words and wonderful poem, dear Marcie. I've read Pilgrim's Progress several times and often think of it when I'm tempted to swim in the "Slough of Despond". He is risen to set us free. I can always tell when I've neglected my early morning prayers, and I usually remedy that with late morning prayers before I lose all my peace and all sight of the path. 🙂 I'm weak and lost without Him.
Easter Blessings ~ Wendy
Hey Wendy! I read the children's version growing up but this is my first time reading the "adult" version. I'm enjoying it. I know exactly what you mean! I think when we recognize we've not started the day off with prayer the sooner we can do it the better our day becomes. Blessings to you sweet friend 🙂
I love this Marcie. Thank you for sharing your heart with us and for being an accountability partner for me as we walk this journey together 🙂
Many thanks for being one with me as well. So glad you enjoyed this Nan 🙂