{"id":446720,"date":"2024-09-24T02:20:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.com\/?p=446720"},"modified":"2024-09-24T02:20:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T20:50:17","slug":"the-go-of-preparation-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/24\/the-go-of-preparation-7\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cGo\u201d of Preparation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-89990dbd3cae424231ec3897cdd68a5a wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. \u2014 Matthew 5:23\u201324<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s easy to imagine that someday we\u2019ll get to a place where we are complete and ready. But preparation isn\u2019t accomplished suddenly; it\u2019s a process that must be steadily maintained. Our lives must be preparation and preparation. To be in a settled state of experience is a dangerous thing.<br>A sense of heroic sacrifice appeals readily to young Christians; humanly speaking, what attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense that he was a heroic figure. But the words our Lord speaks in Matthew 5:23\u201324 soon put our enthusiasm to the test. Don\u2019t come to the altar in a moment of enthusiasm, Jesus says. \u201cFirst go\u201d and reconcile yourself to your brother or sister; first prepare yourself to make your offering. The \u201cgo\u201d of preparation involves submitting yourself in advance to the scrutiny of Jesus\u2019s words. Simply having a sense of heroic sacrifice isn\u2019t enough.<br>Do you have anything to hide from God? Let him search you with his light. If you are harboring within you the disposition that can never work in his service, his Spirit will detect it and reveal it. When he reveals sin, don\u2019t admit it; confess it. Never ignore the Spirit\u2019s conviction. If it\u2019s important enough for the Spirit of God to have brought it to your mind, it\u2019s something God wishes you to confess. Perhaps you were looking for something big to give up, but God has pointed out something tiny. No matter what it is, God is telling you about it because beneath it lies the great stronghold of obstinacy: \u201cI won\u2019t give up my right to myself.\u201d This is the very thing God intends you to give up if you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Are you willing to obey your Lord, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?<br>By Oswald Chambers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. \u2014 Matthew 5:23\u201324 It\u2019s easy to imagine that someday we\u2019ll get to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[686],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-daily-devotion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}