DEVOTION TO GOD Dr. Dennis Prutow

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1 DEVOTION TO GOD # 041 Week of When you are devoted to someone, you attempt to do all you can to please this person. For example, you use every effort to spend time with that special fellow or gal. This is how your relationship with God ought to be. First, you should do all you can to please Him. As the Bible says, Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Even when you sit down at the table to eat your bacon and eggs and drink your coffee, you think about pleasing God. Second, if you are devoted to God, you will also spend time alone with Him each day. You will listen to what God has to say to you. You do this by reading the Bible. When you read the Bible, God speaks to you from the pages of this great book. You will also talk with God. This is prayer. We call spending time with God each day in Bible reading and prayer our daily devotions. Whether or not you have daily devotions may be an indicator of the depth of your devotion to God. Are you devoted to God? How do you respond to these questions? Do you attempt to please God in all you do? Do you spend time alone with God each day?

2 WISDOM FOR YOUR CHILDREN # 042 Week of If you are a parent, you want your children to grow into wise and understanding adults. That is, you want your children to properly understand the world around them so they will be happy and well adjusted. All parents want this. You are anxious for your children to excel in school. You no doubt encourage and help your children with their schoolwork. However, the three R s, reading, riting and rithmatic, do not, in themselves, make your children wise. They give your children access to the wisdom of the men and women of old. They open them to the many technological advances of modern science. For these reasons they are of utmost importance. Yet the original reason schools were begun in this country was to enable children, and adults, to read the Book of books, the Bible. Here is real wisdom, wisdom from God. As Moses said to the ancient people of God, See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me... So keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding (Deuteronomy 4:5-6). Yes, reading, understanding and following God s Word in the Bible makes you wise and understanding. Don t insulate your children from the single most important source of wisdom there is. Lead them to God and to His wisdom found in the Bible.

3 AUTHENTIC LIVING # 051 Week of TV commercials picture athletes towering over mountains and tough minded women driving 4X4 s over those mountains. These ads and commercials have one thing in common. They portray a competitive spirit that sets forth the attitude of real winners. Here is the authentic man or woman. Do most wives really want a husband who spends most of his time playing volleyball? Do most husbands want a wife who spends her time driving around the mountains? The average man craves a wife who will provide wholesome loving companionship. The average wife wants a husband who will love her and care for her. This is amazing! God says, Husbands, love your wives (Ephesians 5:25). He adds, You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7). If you are going to be a real man or woman, you must be filled with love and understanding. God says, This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments (1 John 5:3). These include commands forbidding adultery and requiring you to keep your word. Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant (1 Corinthians 13:4). Real winners in the game of life, and in marriage, are not the men and women who follow the models shown in TV commercials. Winners follow the advice given by God.

4 OCTOBER 31, GHOSTLY DAY OR GODLY DAY Dr. Dennis J. Prutow #049 Week of Martin Luther ( ), not Martin Luther King, Jr., was born over five hundred years ago. He became a monk in a religious order. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted ninety-five statements on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The church door was like a bulletin board. Martin Luther wanted to debate his ninety-five statements. A debate of historic proportions did begin. We call it the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was protesting certain teachings in the church and wanted to bring about reform. The center of the protest had to do with how people get to heaven. The church taught men and women they could buy their way into heaven. If they offended God by their conduct, they could pay the church certain sums of money and literally buy tickets to heaven. Through his experience, Martin Luther discovered nothing he did could rid his conscience of the awful burden of guilt he felt. Nothing would do except faith in Jesus Christ. Luther learned to be right with God and receive eternal life you must trust in the death of Christ on the cross as the only adequate payment for your sins. We know October 31 as Halloween. It is also Reformation Day, a day to remember Martin Luther and his renewed discovery of faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven.

5 USING GOD'S NAME Week of How often have you heard God's name used to punctuate a statement or to curse a situation or a person? It's common to hear the names God, Lord, or Jesus Christ used in these profane ways. And those who use God's name in such useless, empty, and vain ways seem to think nothing of it. But God does not take the profane use of His name lightly. He says, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). Do you who have the habit of misusing God's name? God will not overlook this violation of His moral Law. If you refuse to repent of this sin, the gates of heaven will be closed to you on the Day of Judgment. And you will hear these awesome words, "Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23). But here is the "Good News". The gates of heaven will be thrown open to you if you turn from your sin and trust in Christ as the One who paid the penalty due to you for your sins. The gates of heaven will be open to you if call on God to forgive you. "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13).