Life Plan Devotion #121 [Just do it]

Hi, Everyone.
Can you believe July is half over! Before you know it, another school year will begin. Just so you know, I'll be glad, because I'll get my house back!
Are you enjoying the only verse in the Bible that uses the word "success"--Joshua 1:8? It's an awesome promise, but you must pay attention to The Book. :)
As always, I love hearing from you. It blesses and encourages me.

Life Plan Devotion #121 [Just do it]

Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (NKJV).

     We have looked at two of the three "my part" clauses in this promise of success. Today, let's look at the third clause of Joshua 1:8, "that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it."
     The Hebrew word for "observe" for Joshua 1:8c is shâmar (shaw-mar’), which means "guard, protect, attend to: be cir****pect, take heed, keep, mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, watch."
     It is not enough to read God's Word. Without illumination of the Holy Spirit, without being cir****pect ("heedful of cir****tances or consequences, Webster's), the reader may as well be reading the newspaper or a novel, for all the good it will do him/her.
     The following is a list of how some versions state our Joshua 1:8c clause:
--"...so that you may be careful to do everything written in it" (TNIV).
--"...take heed to do according to all that is written therein" (Darby).
--"...Make sure you do everything that is written in it" (NIRV).
--"...observe and do according to all that is written in it" (Amplified).
--"...obey it completely" (CEV).
--"...obey everything that is written there" (NCV).
--"...making sure you practice everything written in it" (Message).
     God's Word is our instruction book, and it is essential that we know it and meditate on it. There is a third key aspect, and that is that we must do what the Word tells us to do. In John 14:15, Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (NKJV). He also said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching" (John 14:23, NIV). 
     I remember a church marquee that said something like, "If you're a child of the king, there ought to be a family resemblance." How true. I fear we have many who think they are Christians, may have grown up in the church, may attend church, may even have signed a card or repeated a prayer, but are not truly born again.
     Don't get me wrong. I'm not judging. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, KJV), but each of us must take a good long look at our own life, at what we see, say, and do. In I John 2:3, we are told, "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands" (NIV).
     God's Word is meant to transform us, to help us "look" more like our Father and King. In James 1:22-25, we are admonished to "be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)" (Amplified).
     Reading, meditating on, heeding and obeying God's Word is not legalism; it is liberty. It's the "my part" of the promises found in Joshua 1:8 and James 1:25 (among many other promises).

What this has to do with weight loss: As you allow God's Word to transform you on the inside, your "outside" will reflect that, as well. See what God's Word has to say about your weight-loss journey, and then just do it. The end result will be amazing.

Confession:
I read, meditate on, heed, and obey God's Word, so I can claim God's promises.

Blessings,
Mary