Daily Devotional #1,824

The great English preacher of 19th century, Charles Spurgeon said “God gives you faith, but you must believe.  God gives your repentance, but you must repent.” God has given us great gifts, incredible opportunities…but  we have to receive them…to act on them. Imagine waking up on Christmas morning and there are gifts under  the tree with your name on them. You can be excited, and you can even be grateful…but until you open them  and make them yours…they are useless. God has given us the gift of faith…but we still have to choose to  
believe. And he has made it possible for us to turn in a different direction in our lives…repentance. But we  need to actually repent! To actually go in a different direction in our lives. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus is  quoted as saying “Why do you keep calling me Lord, Lord…when you don’t do what I say? Jesus also  reminded us that the ones who obey his commands, they are the ones who really love him. So don’t just  applaud the real opportunities, the real gifts that God has presented to us. Make them yours by doing what God  wants you and I to do. He wants us to do those things because it is the best for us, the path to an ultimately  happy and successful life. So, look for yourself in the Bible and see what God offers…and then do what he  says. It will make you happy and will certainly bring pleasure to God as well. Here’s our Bible verse for  today…  
  
Luke 6:46 NLT “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?  
Remember I’m praying for you!  
With love, PJ