October 29, 2020 CAC Living Water Devotional : Topic – MANAGING YOUR THOUGHTS
Read previous CAC Living Water Devotionals here
LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Thursday, October 29, 2020 – International Internet Day & World Stroke Day
MANAGING YOUR THOUGHTS
Read: 2 Samuel 11:1-4, 12:1-14
2 Samuel 11:1-4 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
2 Samuel 12:1-14 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
MEMORISE:
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23)
EXPOSITION
Thoughts encompass an aim-oriented flow of ideas and associations that can lead to a reality-oriented conclusion. The Scripture made it known that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, meaning it is our thoughts that produce our actions. Also, it is what comes out of a man’s heart that defiles him not what he takes in. This tells us that our hearts are the factories of our bodies that process whatever we do on earth. If this be so, then we need to manage the thoughts of our hearts so that it will not land us into troubles.
In our today’s text, it was first the thought about the woman’s beauty that came to David’s heart, but because he couldn’t manage that thought, he ended up committing adultery, which later led him to murder. In the world today, many things are there to pollute our minds and thoughts like pornographic pictures, corrupt or ungodly movies, corrupt messages, or information from internet and social media, ungodly songs, ungodly advice, etc. Hope you remember that today is International Internet Day.
Thank God, we can manage our thoughts in this corrupt world by guiding what we allow to enter therein. Philippians 4:8, has given us a cue on this, ‘Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things’.
Allow only the thoughts about the things of God run in your mind, do not process whatever evil or ungodly thoughts that flash through your mind, discard them immediately and replace with the thoughts of things that are profitable.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Purge my heart, O Lord, from every negative thought that makes me sin against You, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, destroy the spirit of pornography, masturbation and other sexual sins in the life of our youths and teenagers.
3. Lord, help our church leaders to serve as good examples to those they lead and not to mislead them, in Jesus’ name.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Jeremiah 14 – 16