Daily Devotions: To Obtain an Overcoming Life
The Road to Eternal Life
by
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Self
Day 1
Introduction
Psalm 101:1-8;
Read this chapter carefully, commit it to heart, put it into action, be the Overcomer for God that is In Your Power:
The Bible has much to say about David. As we read about this great man, we learn what an awesome attitude he had. He was called ‘a man after God’s own heart.’ He made wrong choices failed many times, committed moral sins and premeditated murder. In all of this and most important, he had a repentant heart and a right spirit. He was quick to fall on his face and cry out to God in repentance, asking forgiveness. He didn’t point his finger nor blame others for his transgressions.
Verses 1-3; David’s song of praise to God. Verses 4-8; God speaking to David (to us) saying what He will do when we do certain things, [as in praying ‘not my will but yours O Lord].’ Each verse characterizes a trait in these devotions.
1. Praise: “I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee O Lord, will I sing.
2. Attitude: I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way; I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3. Choice: I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.
4. Pride: A froward heart shall depart from me, Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will I not suffer.
5. Fault-finding: Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour will be cut off from God.
6. Jealousy: He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
7. Faith: Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
8. Reward: I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; in that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of my Lord.”
When we take a job there are certain conditions and requirements that come with it. There are rules and regulations we must follow. We are given a handbook, to learn about the company, and how to advance and other pertinent information. When a problem arises we go to the handbook to learn how to handle the situation.
So it is with our walk with the Lord. We can go to the handbook, the Bible, to learn about Jesus and heaven and what it takes to get there. It tells us how to cope with situations we’ll be faced with that can hinder us in our Christian walk.
The Bible tells us how to overcome all negative traits. It teaches us how to grow spiritually and tells of the benefits and rewards of living an overcoming lifestyle.
Let us all pray,
“Lord, give me the spirit of David!”
Following Jesus
Day 2
2 Corinthians 5:17-21;
When we make Him Lord of our life we become one of His ambassadors.
When we make Him Lord of our life all of our old desires, ideals, and longings are now gone. We have new desires, ideals and longings. We used to love partying, gambling, pornography, and many other pleasures of the world. It may have been greed for money, prestige or power and such like. We now have no desire for those things; we hate the things of the world and have replaced them with the spiritual. We love to talk to God in prayer, read His Word, listen to Christian music, fellowship with other Christians and faithful to the House of God. This does not make us perfect. We will still have struggles with carnality and negative traits that we will be talking about in these devotions. But we know to whom we can go for our source of strength, help and support.
People in Jesus’ day followed Him for many reasons. Healing, material gain, miracles, curiosity, or excitement but mostly for what Jesus could do for them.
Mark 6:44; “And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.”
Mark 8:9; “And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.”
Why do you want to follow Jesus?
There are many rewards in living a disciplined life. While the undisciplined person cannot deny himself from partaking of the pleasures of the world, control his temper, resist temptation, an immoral lifestyle or a good feeling for the moment. The disciplined person lives free from condemnation, having peace and joy within, enjoying the Spirit of God and preparing for eternal life.
Once I was in attendance when the pastor who was preaching the sermon made this statement, “If it were not for the burning lake of fire, I wouldn’t be living for God. I’d be in the world enjoying myself, and having a good time.”
This man who calls himself a minister of the gospel, had totally missed out on the concept of the joys of serving God. He had not grasped the truth that he was preaching about. He lacked the understanding of the great and wonderful life he could have had if he had totally denied self and given his all to God.
Do we choose to serve the Lord because we love Him? Or do we attempt to serve Him while looking over our shoulder, wishing we could have both lives. The grass may look greener over on the other side. That is until we get over there. Then we’d wish we were back over on the other side.
Whose side do you want to be on
A New Life
Day 3
John 12:23-26;
In these verses Jesus is foretelling of our death, burial and resurrection in Him.
When we plant seeds, in order for them to live and grow and bear fruit they must first die. We are the seeds. We are planted (hear the word). We die out to self (typifies Repentance; or death ‘to self’). Are the seeds just put into the ground and left there? No, they are watered; (typifies Burial; or water baptism). It’s not long before we see green sprouts springing up out of the ground (typifies Resurrection; or the infilling of the Holy Spirit).
The little plants are still not left alone, in order to bear fruit they must be hoed, weeded, watered and nourished; signifying our continual spiritual growth, thus bearing spiritual fruit. [More about the fruit of the Spirit in a later devotion].
A vital part of our spiritual growth we obtain thru prayer, reading and studying our Bible. We cannot survive spiritually without daily communing with God, thus having a close relationship with Him. We will then be able to apply what we learn through hearing the preaching of the Word, prayer along with our daily devotions. Having fellowship with other believers who are consecrated prayer warriors will also be beneficial in our spiritual growth and a New Life in Christ, and in living an overcoming lifestyle.
One of the most valuable spiritual lessons we can learn is from a young child. As they learn to walk, when they fall, do they stop trying to walk? No, they get right back up and start all over again. They keep trying until they learn to walk and run and jump and skip and hop. As they get a little older the child is running, skipping and jumping everywhere. We could also look at it this way; when we want to go upstairs to the bedroom or attic; we climb the steps one at a time, step by step. So it is with our spiritual walk with the Lord. We climb the stairway to heaven one step at a time. When we stumble or fall we get right back up; ask God’s forgiveness and keep on in our walk with Him.
Luke 14:26-33; The word ‘hate’ used in verse 26 does not mean to hate as we normally think of the word. It means that we must not put any love before our love for God. In verse 27 it speaks of our cross. There is a cross for the follower of Christ to bear. Jesus himself had a cross to bear.
For the Lord Jesus, His cross meant a cruel death as a sacrifice for our sins. For us, our cross is the denying of self, or ‘death to self,’ (verse 33), “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
New Life = Death Burial Resurrection
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About the Book
To Obtain an Overcoming Life is a series of devotions on how to overcome the negative traits and behaviors in our life such as; fear, pride, temptation, finding fault, jealousy, making excuses, rebellion and self, or selfishness. These are very important and valuable as they teach us how to obtain the power to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus. It begins with self for unless we can overcome self we won’t be able to overcome other negative traits, as all hinge on self. There are devotions on making right choices and how to set goals and priorities; about attitudes and faith, having a continuous praise in our heart to the Lord and how to obtain our final reward in heaven – thus the
‘Road to Eternal Life.’
As we strive for the Kingdom, we have mountains to climb and valleys to cross, we’re faced with hills and barriers, and each step has a new name. They are there to keep us out of ‘Heaven’s territory.’ We must over - come and step – over; failures and past failures, handicaps of every kind, peer pressure, fear, anger, and defeat.
Approximately two-thirds of Jesus’ teachings were in parables. A parable is an earthly story with a spiritual or heavenly meaning, teaching Christian morals, principles and values. Many of these devotions will be based on some of these parables.
About the Author
Joyce Tracy is a senior citizen living in Pensacola FL. Her children live near-by. They attend and are involved in the same church. She spends countless hours crocheting blankets, afghans and making fleece blankets, donating them to various agencies. She has received several awards, for her volunteer work and was nominated outstanding volunteer of the year, for the National Senior Corp Association. Joyce says her writing comes solely from inspiration and is spontaneous. Her poems have been published in over ten poetry volumes, of which she has received several editors’ choice awards, and chosen semi-finalist. She’s written two pro-life booklets which she also distributes. This is her fourth published book.