June 26-28

2 Peter 3:17-18
17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
18but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
I've used these verse as a TWT topic back in the day, but i think its time we looked into this again.
Its vital in our walk with the Lord that we keep to a scheduled part of our day that is set apart for prayer and meditation in the word. The same way Abel gave his "first fruits" to the Lord we must also give God the best of what we have; time, money, relationships, the things we focus on and hold as high responsibility in our lives. (Gen 4:4-5, Prov 3:9)
Its also very important that we don't let anything get in the way of our personal 1 on 1 time with God. The day i skip my bible reading time or loose focuse in my scheduled prayer life is the day i feel the attack of Satan more than ever before. I can always root the problem to skipping out on my time with God and it leaves me feeling vulnerable, frustrated and confused and in the end i know i could have been more proactive to keep myself from reaching that place of spiritual desperation.
A big thing that gets in the way of my time with the Lord are my friends and family. In regards to 2 Peter 3:17-18 most of my friends and all of my family are (in most free time situations) exempt from the description in which Peter is referring to the "unprincipled men" so when i'm with them i know, for the most part, that i am safe building relationships with them, and its easy keeping the Holy Spirit involved and in mind when being with them knowing together as the body of Christ we are moving forward. And on top of it they would never allow themselves to get in the way of my schedule.
But there are certain times when even they could pose a treat to takeing me away from my closet time before the Lord (if i allowed myself to draw away with them, as oviously thier schedual is different than mine) and there are other people/things that are in my life that could also pose a possible threat to drawing me away from the Lord in my secret place, or personal 1 on 1 closet prayer time.
Its important that we recognize these threats and bring them before the Lord and ask for grace to move forward to be cautious and on guard so that we are not taken from an intimate place in our day to day dwellings with God.
So this week, weather we've been strong in the last little while with staying true to God and ourselves and held to somewhat of a scheduled meeting time with the Lord or weather we've veered off from that, or haven’t started in a relationship with God in that sense at all, lets re-evaluate ourselves and put ourselves back on track, or press on to a deeper and more consecrated week before the Lord.
One of the best ways to actually do this is to find a friend or family member to hold us in their prayers and to keep us accountable to a standard that we've set out for ourselves. So this week lets find someone who we can partner with and have a time of sharing weather its to allow them to hold you to a righteous standard this week, or weather its to get together to confess sins or to just pray a few nights out of the week so that a deeper level of involvement with the Lord in that sense is accomplished.
So if you have any questions or concerns or prayer requests e-mail me at andrewgusztak@hotmail.com
Have fun this week and be blessed!
-Drew