A MONTH OF PRAYING THE WORD: DAY 14 and Good Enough, Halfhearted Living: Part 1 of 2

Greetings. I need to start today with a couple of warnings. First of all, today's lesson might take you a week to get through. Next, you will feel very uncomfortable with this lesson. You might even wonder why I am including this in this book. But, wait. You will see. It will come together. Now, brace yourself. This is one big "ouch" day. 

Please grab your journal at this time. 

I need to ask you. No. Not ask. Beg. I usually do not like to do that. But, I implore you today. Please be honest with yourself. If it makes you feel uncomfortable--good. We ALL need to feel very uncomfortable about this. We need to analyze ourselves and see where we might be erring so we can confess, repent, and fix it. 

Now, open your journal and answer the following questions:

~*~ Do you ever do a task and then say, "Good enough."?

~*~ Is it okay to fail?

~*~ Is it acceptable to give a halfhearted attempt at... (You fill in the blank...)?

~*~ Do you think perfectionism is bad?

~*~ Is it okay or acceptable not to give someone or something your best? 

I am serious. Please take your time and really delve into those questions. Answer fully and completely. Do not read ahead until you do. 

Now, let's get even more real. Please answer all of these questions. I am serious and am not being sarcastic. 

~*~ Is it okay to go to church on Sunday (if we go at all) and hear a sermon--and never refer back to it over the next week, let alone over the next year?

~*~ Is it okay to only open your Bible on Sunday (and how many do that? How many of us just look at the screen upfront--when it could be the wrong verse or they could have typed the verse all wrong)?

~*~ Is it okay not to remember everything God has done in your life? (The monuments. The blessings. The answered prayer.)

~*~ Is it okay to pray 10 minutes a day?

~*~ Is it okay to not apply the Word to your life?

~*~ Is it okay to give God your leftovers? Where you devote yourself to everything and everyone else first and then see what time you have left for him? 

~*~ Is it okay to have a good enough faith--where you say, 'Good enough. He will forgive me.'?

~*~ Is it okay not to give God your absolute best 24/7/365?

~*~ Is it okay not to meditate on the Word morning, noon, and night?

~*~ Is it okay not to pray continually? 

Again... Be very real here. Go back and spend even more time with those questions. Take your time. 

WHAT IF?

So, what if Jesus said, "I know, Father, you want me to bring thousands to you while I am alive on earth. But, is it okay if I only bring a couple?"

Or, what if Jesus said, "Take this cup from me because I really do not want to go through all of this. It's really inconvenient for me. I have plans?"

Or, what if God ever said about forgiving you, "I will forgive you yesterday. That's good enough. Today? Nah. I rather like doing just enough." 

~*~ Journal your thoughts. 

MORE TOUGH QUESTIONS

Journal your thoughts:

~*~ What if you died this second? What if you had to face the Father and the throne? What if he asked you about your faith? Would he classify it as a good-enough or complacent or lukewarm faith? 

~*~ Will you be able to stand before him and know he could trust you with the small, medium, and large things? Will you know he will say to you emphatically, "Well done my good and faithful servant and child?"

~*~ Journal your thoughts.

MORE TOUGH QUESTIONS

~*~ When you die, how many times do you want to say to God you read the Word from cover to cover? 

~*~ When you die, how many missed opportunities to be with God (in prayer) will you want to have missed?

~*~ Journal your thoughts

Please do not skip any of this today. These are tough questions that must be addressed. I think in today's society, if we feel convicted, uneasy, or uncomfortable, we are too quick to run, deny it, excuse it, or flat-dab refuse to do anything about it because it might take work. 

We need to feel uncomfortable every now and then. 

Now, here's the catch.

What do we do with it? 

That is what separates the followers of Christ and those who do not. 

Journal your response:
~*~ What has God said to you today?
~*~ What have you said to God?
~*~ So, what will you do with this knowledge?

CONCLUSION

God demands our excellence. He is a jealous God and demands our all. Not our partial. Not our good-enough. Not our, I will get to it later. He demands us now. Today. This second. All of you. All of me. He will never settle for our less than best. 

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that giving him, or anything or anyone in our lives, good-enough is good enough. He abhors it.

We are people of value. We are people of excellence. Good enough is never good enough.

We are to work for others as though we work for God. Remember that as you go to work. You serve God--not your boss. What you do at work, you do for and to God. 

Give your all to your life in prayer and in the Bible. Pray the Word. 

~*~ Journal whatever comes to mind.

Do not kick yourself. Confess. Repent. Turn around and stop doing whatever you are doing. And do whatever you haven't been doing.

*** SIDENOTE: This is all just as much for me as it is for you. I am guilty of all of these things at times. I am looking in the mirror-not at you. ***

Stacy Duplease
Bible Study Writer & Blogger
A Loyal FaithFind my books at/store: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hisfiction