Daily Bread 4/17/2021

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Acts 2:25 – David also said concerning Him, “I always saw the Lord before me, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Part 2 ~ Father’s Mindfulness Of Us & Our Mindfulness Of Him
As we become aware of how mindful Father is of us and how He is constantly watching over us, a whole new dimension of accountability begins to take hold of us (Psalms 121:3, 115:12; Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7). Too many times we have looked around to see who might be watching before we made the decision to do something we should not do. Unfortunately, we did not have the eyes to see that the Father was watching. In times of urgent need, we have wondered where God was; but when we were being tempted to engage in something unholy, we failed to give thought to His mindfulness of our situation. We must become aware of the fact that the eyes of the Lord behold us (Psalms 11:4). His mindfulness and interest in us causes Him to look at our lives very closely to see if there are any of the sons of men that desire to know him (Psalms 14:2). The Almighty is searching for someone He might show himself strong on their behalf. God looks at us from His throne in His Holy Temple (Psalms 11:4; Hebrews 1:8-9). If we will respond to Him in love and obedience, He will perfect everything concerning us and empower us to be mighty (Daniel 11:32; John 14:12; Psalms 18:32, 138:8; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28). God desires to show himself strong for those whose hearts are perfect (2 Chronicles 16:9).
What other people think about us is much too important to us. We adjust our behavior to correspond to the expectation of those who we hope to win favor from. Yet, somehow we fail to realize how this is a snare. Our concern should be first towards what Father thinks of us. We need to have a conscious awareness of His presence in our lives. It should be our desire to win His favor more than the favor of men. If we will be honest and transparent before God, the Holy Spirit will cause us to become more concerned about what He thinks rather than what men think. Jesus said if we seek the honor of men, then we are unable to believe (John 5:44). On the other hand, if we live only for the honor and glory of God, then faith will begin to work at a greater level in our lives and there will be no unrighteousness in us (John 7:18).
Unfortunately, it is common for us to continue to practice wrong things so long as we think no one knows. Then, as soon as someone discovers what we have done, we feel bad and run for the mercy of God as Joab did when he had to face the consequences of his evil deeds (1 Kings 2:28). Even David was able to deceive himself and act like he had done nothing wrong until the prophet Nathan came and made his sin public (2 Samuel 12:7). Of course, God is always there to love us and forgive us, but at some point we need to understand that when we sin, it is against the Lord and Him alone (Psalms 51:4) We must allow the Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom and revelation of how Father is always before us and on our right hand to help us (Ephesians 1:17-18; Psalms 84:11). As we yield to what the Holy Spirit is teaching us, we will become more aware of His indwelling presence (Ephesians 3:18; John 17:22, 14:20). Father is willing to make the relationship we have with Him more real to us than any other relationship we have. This is eternal life, that we may know Him (John 17:3; 1 John 4:16, 5:20).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen