Wise counsel for this week...

Brother David responds to a comment with this pastoral wisdom I wanted all to read:

Dear (Brother),

Thank you for writing. May I urge you not to make promises to God, but to act? Combine steps of obedience with prayers of repentance. Throw out the television set. Give up the magazines. Put down the tablet or laptop... that lead to sin. And in their place, take up acts of obedience and faith.

Go to a local nursing home and visit. Take your Bible and read it to the residents. Speak of faith to those whose families never visit them (you can ask the staff at most homes and they will be glad to tell you which residents receive no visitors).

Ask what you can do to help with cleaning work at your church. Visit elderly couples in your church. Volunteer to help in Awana, or something similar.

These steps may sound simplistic, but obedience and victory are simple: act the way God commands us to and He provides power and discipline. Remember His promise that He has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and discipline and a sound mind. Act on that promise and I assure you, you will find it true. 

I have prayed for you, and hope to do so again in the future.

Love in Christ,

David