Diligence Colossians 4:2-6 MSG. Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude
Diligent is an adjective; Meaning constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything.
Be Diligent! The more you make your time valuable to the Lord, the more time He will free up for you. If you waste the time you have now, forget it.
Contrary to popular opinion, prayer is hard work. You must pray diligently! Prayer is not just daydreaming in front of God, or wishing. It isn’t just some easy warm and fuzzy thing you do to make yourself feel better. Either you really believe you are talking to the creator of the universe or you don’t. If you really believe your prayers worked, I really think you would pay more attention to you pray for.
God doesn’t want us to be diligent in just our prayer lives. Our whole lives should clothed in diligence. Diligence in being a good testimony. Diligence in avoiding any appearance of sin. Diligence in studying God’s Word. Diligence in tithing. Diligence in offerings. Diligence means giving it your all. Pride gets in the way of diligence because you measure yourself against others, not what YOU know you can do. Diligente people are never late nor slow. Just saying you believe in God isn’t enough. Even demons believe in God. That’s nothing. Believing in God and acting on it is the life of a true believer. God wants YOUR 100%. If it isn’t 100% there’s probably sin somewhere in there, which always leads to more sin.
2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
True Christianity is free technically, it doesn’t cost money but it costs you your life. Accepting Jesus is easy. Following Him can be a little difficult, but it’s well worth it. People expect Christians to be diligent. The Christian life isn’t tiptoeing through the tulips, it’s being diligent.
Matt 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.Following Jesus means diligence. It is not something you can do half heartedly. God really dislikes half-heartedness because it’s a heart condition.
God would actually prefer that were were ice cold to Him than lukewarm.
Rev 3:15-16
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.These are strong words because He hates half-hearted easy Christianity. People confessing God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.
Matt 15:8
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.If you love God you are attentive. You are ready to follow Him at the drop of a hat. You are anticipating His next move. You are early, never late. USUALLY God will test you by seeing how you serve others that he shows you to serve. Talk is cheap.
I planted a church once. I had a lot of great people helping me, too many to count. The one guy that really stood out in my memory was the first guy to help me plant that church. He stood out not because he was the first, nor especially talented, but because of his diligence. Although diligence doesn’t always guarantee personal success, (although it sure helps) he is now a big time Senior Pastor in the Ukraine. I can see why he is so successful in the Kingdom of God. LONG TERM UNENCUMBERED DILIGENCE to the things of the Lord contributed to his wonderful future. He was laser focused in making OUR little church a success, for the glory of God, and ONLY for the glory if God. Whenever I was up, he was up. Whenever there was a problem, he was there fixing it (I am NOT the greatest nor smoothest problem solver, so he was protecting me from myself). If something happened that made me late for an event, he covered for me. If the microphone broke, he was there with the 2nd one. I broke my guitar pick, he had a spare one in his pocket. his diligence always left me flabbergasted. It wasn’t really skill that led him to greatness. It was just him giving 100% and not being distracted. He was paying close attention to the things that really mattered. God and obedience to God’s calling (at that time his calling was to get this church off the ground.) He was only there for a few months but he impacted my life and many others. His business was God’s business. Diligence I have seen, first hand, through his example. It makes me want to emulate that so others can see it in me. When they see diligence in me, they see faith in God.
Proverbs 22:29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
—-Spanish——
Diligencia Colosenses 4: 2-6 MSG. Ore diligentemente Manténgase alerta, con los ojos bien abiertos en gratitudDiligente es un adjetivo; El significado es; constante en el esfuerzo para lograr algo; Atentos y persistentes en hacer cualquier cosa.
Contrariamente a la opinión popular, la oración es un trabajo duro. ¡Debes orar diligentemente! La oración no es solo soñar delante de Dios, o desear. No es solo una cosa fácil, que uno hace para sentirte mejor. O realmente crees que estás hablando con el Creador del universo o no.
Dios no quiere que seamos diligentes solamente en nuestra vida de oración. Diligencia en ser un buen testimonio. Diligencia en evitar cualquier apariencia de pecado. Diligencia en el estudio de la Palabra de Dios. Diligencia en el diezmo. Diligencia en ofrendas.
2 Pedro 1: 5 Y además de esto, dando toda diligencia, agrega a tu fe virtud; y al conocimiento de la virtud;
El verdadero cristianismo es gratis técnicamente, no cuesta dinero pero si te cuesta la vida. Aceptar a Jesús es fácil. Seguirlo puede ser un poco difícil, pero vale la pena.
Mateo 16:24. Entonces Jesús dijo a sus discípulos: Si alguno me sigue, que se niegue a sí mismo, que tome su cruz y me siga.
Seguir a Jesús significa diligencia. No es algo que se pueda hacer a medias. A Dios realmente le disgustan las cosas a medias porque es una condición del corazón. Dios realmente preferiría que fueran fríos para Él que tibios.
Apocalipsis 3: 15-16. Sé que no eres ni frío ni caliente, ni frío ni caliente. Así que, porque eres tibio, y no frío ni caliente, te vomitaré de la boca.
Palabras fuertes porque odia el cristianismo a medias. La gente confiesa a Dios con sus labios pero sus corazones están lejos de él.
Mateo 15: 8 Este pueblo se acerca a mí con su boca, y me honra con sus labios; pero su corazón está lejos de mí.
Si amas a Dios estás atento. Estás listo para seguirlo. Estás anticipando su próximo movimiento. Llegas temprano, nunca llegas tarde.
Una vez planté una iglesia. Tuve muchas personas que me ayudaron, demasiadas para contarlas. El único que realmente se destacó en mi memoria se destaca por su diligencia. Su nombre era Benjamín Morrison, quien ahora es un gran pastor de Calvary Chapel Ukraine (ni siquiera puede comenzar a deletrear la ciudad en la que se encuentra). Puedo ver por qué tiene tanto éxito. Su diligencia a largo plazo a las cosas del Señor contribuyó a su maravilloso futuro. Él se enfocó para hacer que NUESTRA pequeña iglesia sea un éxito, para la gloria de Dios, y SOLO para la gloria si Dios. Cuando yo estaba despierto, Benjamín estaba despierto. Siempre cuando hubo un problema, Benjamin estuvo allí para solucionarlo (NO soy el mejor ni el más suave en arreglar problemitas). Si sucedió algo que me hizo llegar tarde para un evento, Benjamin me cubrió. Si el micrófono se rompió, él estaba allí con el segundo. Rompí mi púa de guitarra, el tenía una de repuesto en su bolsillo. La diligencia de Benjamín siempre me dejó estupefacto. No fue realmente la habilidad lo que lo llevó a la grandeza. Era solo él prestando mucha atención a las cosas que realmente importaban. Dios y la obediencia al llamado de Dios.
Dicho diligencia he visto, de primera mano. Me dan ganas de emular para que otros puedan verlo en mí. Cuando los veo diligencia en mí, ellos ven la fe mía en Dios.