The Word To Live By: 10-8-25
Phil Waggoner
Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. Isaiah 55:6 MSG
The Word to live by: Don’t you just love the Message translation? Straight forward and simple. Don’t allow a wicked lifestyle in your life and abandon evil thinking. How do you do this? By seeking the Lord while He’s close at hand. Here’s what I mean. If you have someone or something in your life that is trying to get through to you with the Word of God, that means God is close at hand. Pray and seek His will for your life and then do it. Don’t give me this line that you don’t know what God wants you to do so you are going to keep living in sin until you do. The word “wicked” there means a mental disregard for justice, righteousness, truth, honor, virtue; evil in thought and life; depravity; sinfulness; criminality. If you check any of those boxes in your daily life, then abandon it. The Word “abandon” means to cease to support or look after (someone); desert; to give up completely (a course of action, a practice, or a way of thinking). The word “evil” means anything that is morally or ethically wrong. (And if that confuses you, “morally” and “ethically” as defined by the Bible would be lying, cheating or stealing in any form.) I have a friend who was an alcoholic. He got saved and his testimony was that God had delivered him from alcohol. He was faithful at church to be there and as a helper. His life turned 180 degrees. One day, he came up with the brilliant idea that since God had delivered him, he could hang around his old friends and places and not drink. It wasn’t as brilliant as he thought so he was soon at the bottom of the barrel. Because of a praying wife who wouldn’t let go of him in prayer, he came back to God eventually. One day I asked him what made the difference and his words to me were, “I finally realized I had to come back to God and when I did, I realized I had to completely abandon that lifestyle and way of thinking.” Come back to God first and His mercy will lavish you with forgiveness for all.
Read through the Bible in a year: Revelation 8; Nehemiah 11; Psalms 103;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 8, Luke 6:26-49, 2 Thessalonians 2
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160