PRESERVATION OF OUR LORD'S TESTIMONY AMONG US: His Eternal Word is a Present and Prevailing Perfecting Power

Starting this month the Devotions Ministry will focus on a prayer list that Pastor Wayne Cockrell created a few months ago for the Genesis Bible Fellowship Church Family. In this ministry of encouragement our writers will devote a week to one topic, and we pray that you will be blessed by their words of exhortation.

I'm sooo glad I'm not 'nice' anymore. Granted it had its advantages. Growing up teachers liked you, and grown folks in the neighborhood wanted to introduce you to their daughters, and so forth... but, with just a glance, it is clear to see that the Bible, our 'basic instructions before leaving earth,' has higher aspirations than our being nice [as supported by the chosen text].

As a personal work, niceness does not even approach permitting 'restoration' of the soul. The law of the Lord being perfect is perfecting; It exceeds being 'nice'. Niceness doesn't bring surety, nor beneath the surface appeal does it wisen we, the 'simple'. Deeper than deep we are all like sheep, troubled and prone to stray. The testimony of the Lord is not 'nice', It is sure, and sure enough to transform. In our heart we are hard-wired for righteousness, and when encountered we deeply rejoice. The precepts of the Lord are not 'nice', They are right. Hence we can rejoice and be glad in the day whereof we dwell. Let each heart say, 'Amen!’

Purity and niceness are worlds apart. Where the commandments of the Lord are pure, our gaze has its dawn, and our being, its beginning in Jesus, who walked the walk we could not, and died the death we should've, to then arise from the grave, imploring we reckon that. Mercy given and ever enduring, be with me and ever assuring! That's not nice. That's 'Bible'. Believe it!
The preservation of the Lord's testimony among us is salvation. O' give thanks!

Prayer: Lord, in our stumbling, help us to see You well enough and increasingly. In the fog of modern life, lead us with that heart-bound 'true religion'. In the presence of the adversary, please strengthen. May Your testimony be preserved within us, and be evidenced for the sake of those near, as Your Spirit wills, I pray, in Jesus' name. So too I yield in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Bless You God! Amen!
Bro. McNeal Brockington