Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Many believers have a special place, a quiet place where they go to spend time with the Lord. This is a very important thing. But how many believers have actually 'prepared a way' for the Lord? As sacred as that special quiet place is to us, it is limited. It has definite boundaries. But a way never ends--it goes on and on. The key of a life of blessing is not preparing God places to fill, but preparing a way for Him. The Hebrew word for way is 'derech'. Derech means a path, or a way of life.
If we want to be blessed, we need to prepare a derech in our lives. We need to develop Godly ways, Godly habits, Godly consistency, and practices. We need to turn all our holy places into holy ways that carry on throughout our daily lives. The blessings of God need to flow through us to others around us-- let's give Him a derech through which to do so. There's so much work to be done!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. ...
In the 4th century lived a Christian named Telemachus, in a remote village, tending his garden, and spending much time in prayer. One day, he believed he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome, so he obeyed, setting out on foot. Some weeks later, weary from his journey, he arrived in Rome about the time of a great festival.
A survey asked mothers to keep track of how many times they made both negative and positive comments to their children. The surveyed mothers admitted that they criticized at least ten times for every one time they said something favorable. Another survey taken in one city's schools found that the teachers were negative seventy five per cent of the time. This study concluded that it takes four positive statements to a child from a parent or teacher to offset the effects of one negative statement. Wow, when I think about how many times I've said negative things to people in my lifetime, I have some positive paying back to do!
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