Have you ever heard people proclaim one thing and then watch them practice something totally different? For example, a person might proclaim that it’s utterly wrong to lie, yet at tax time, that same person’s practice is to hide income so as not to pay the government his/her fair share. A person might say she does not steal, yet she will purchase bootleg videotapes of movies, knowing full well that the actors, producers, and studio will not receive a dime of the money that is rightfully theirs from the sale of their stolen property.

How often do we proclaim something to be true about the Lord and then live out in practice that which is diametrically opposite?

In the book of Ezra, chapters seven and eight, King Artaxerxes allowed Ezra to head up a delegation to go back into Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Ezra responded, “Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem… So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me…” Ezra 7: 27-28 (NKJ).

After Ezra gathered the men together whom he needed to do the work, he proclaimed a fast to humble themselves before God, and to seek the right way they should do things. Then Ezra must have had a thought. What if their company was ambushed along their way to Jerusalem and all the treasures were stolen that they were carrying back to the temple? I am supposing this unwritten thought, because right after discussing the fast, Ezra said, “For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, ‘The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him…’” Ezra 8:22 (NKJ). Ezra realized he had to practice or live out that to which he had testified. How could he say God’s hand was upon him and then ask a heathen king for protection?

What do we say God can do and then renege by not allowing God to do it? Let’s be mindful today to live by what we testify.

___________________________

©2016 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

________________________________

Mission Trip Update! ZAMBIA AND OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONS, here I come! I started getting the necessary vaccinations for the trip and all that medication is really expensive. Our team will be purchasing our airfare soon. Then the next money due will be for our hotels, food, and visas. Finally, I want to take books for the women who attend the Power Suit Women’s Conferences. Please do not hesitate. I really need your financial donations now. Thank you in advance! Click this link:  https://sanewriter.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/33116-special-request/ to go to the full request. You can give three ways:

1. Via Paypal through my ministry website: www.lifethatmatters.net (Click “Donate”)
2. By check sent to my post office box: P.O. Box 1519, Inglewood, CA 90308
3. Via Paypal through the HSBN.tv website. (Be sure to let the network know your donation to for Rev. Sharon Elliott.)

________________________________

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. 

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Pick up a copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available:

When Paul returned to Jerusalem in Acts chapter 21, “…all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality” Acts 21:18-25 (NKJ)

Paul had been accused by the hard-line, old-school Jews of teaching some scandalous stuff that disrespected the Law and the temple. Of course, none of that was true. The Jerusalem elders sat and listened to Paul as he told them “in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” The elders glorified God when they heard it and they wanted to prove to the naysayers that Paul was okay and was not roaming around like a loose canon teaching things contrary to the Gospel.

As we keep reading in this chapter, we find that everything was going well until some Jews from another region came to town. Even though the elders had backed Paul up, these outsiders stirred the people of Jerusalem into such a frenzy that they almost beat Paul to death because of their false accusations.

What’s my point? No matter what we do, or who is on our side, there are still going to be some times when we are going to have to be able to answer for ourselves concerning what we believe and teach. Some will listen; some won’t. Some will agree; some won’t. First Peter 3:15-17 says, “ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (NKJ).

Our only responsibility is to be able to clearly communicate the Gospel and let the chips fall where they may.

___________________________

©2016 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

________________________________

Mission Trip Update! ZAMBIA AND KENYA, here I come! I started getting the necessary vaccinations for the trip and all that medication is really expensive. Our team will be purchasing our airfare soon. Then the next money due will be for our hotels, food, and visas. Finally, I want to take books for the women who attend the Power Suit Women’s Conferences. Please do not hesitate. I really need your financial donations now. Thank you in advance! Click this link:  https://sanewriter.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/33116-special-request/ to go to the full request. You can give three ways:

1. Via Paypal through my ministry website: www.lifethatmatters.net (Click “Donate”)
2. By check sent to my post office box: P.O. Box 1519, Inglewood, CA 90308
3. Via Paypal through the HSBN.tv website. (Be sure to let the network know your donation to for Rev. Sharon Elliott.)

________________________________

Links you won’t want to miss: 

• Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network: 
  • Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
  • A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. 

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

• Pick up a copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

• Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

• Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

• Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Sharon’s other books still available: