Weekly Devotional: Gems From Pastor Jim 11/2/2020

by Jim Hughes

Hosea 14:9 Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those who are discerning listen carefully. The paths of the LORD are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But sinners stumble and fall along the way.

Wise are those who know the paths of the Lord and walk on them. Wise are those who know the ways of the Lord are always true and right and when we follow them we will make it to heaven. The Lord has never led one soul astray and, He never will.

The paths of the Lord are whatever it is that leads us to God. God makes himself known to us clearly and in a wide variety of ways. When we follow the path that leads to God, we will find Him. God makes himself abundantly clear in the Scriptures. You cannot read the Scriptures without encountering God. When we pray with sincere hearts seeking God, we find Him. God hears the prayers of those who sincerely seek Him and answers them. God is found in the fellowship of the church. You may have to look hard in some churches in order to find Him, but in most churches, He is there. God is found in the lives of those committed to Him. Getting to know godly people helps us to find Him. God is found in creation; all we have to do is to look honestly and humbly at creation and we can only conclude that God is. God is found in music, books, movies and we will find Him if we are sincerely looking for Him.

Righteous are those who are sincerely seeking God. They want to see God. They are observant in life and attribute to God the things that flow from God. They pursue those things that lead them to God. They strive to avoid those things where God cannot be found. The passion of the righteous is being in the presence of God.

Sinners stumble over the paths that lead to God. They are so blinded by sin that they have a very hard time seeing the paths that lead to God, let alone follow them. The desire of the sinner’s heart is not for God so they don’t pursue Him. They stumble and fall over the witness of God all around them. Sinners who are content in their sin will not find God.

Lord, help us to understand that we must always walk only on the paths that lead us to you and to not be content with the life of sin we are prone to drift into. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

About the Author:

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one's self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn't broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.