....attention

Solomon's divided heart - his lack of full devotion to God - eventually led to the division of the kingdom of Israel. We are then encouraged to continually draw closer to our Heavenly Father and prevent the kingdom of God within us from becoming divided in the sense of rebellion and lack of pure worship.

When we consider our closeness to God, we tend to look at our priorities and schedules. Closeness to our Heavenly Father requires a certain amount of dedicated time. We cannot expect to hear His direction if we do not spend time learning to recognize His voice and then make the effort to turn off the competing inputs so we can truly listen. And once we have set aside those times to hear God through the reading of His Word, hearing and in answer to prayer and working with Him, we are encouraged in the very strongest of terms to pay close attention to what we hear.

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away Hebrews 2:1 It will do no good to make adjustments to our schedule - to give God more priority - if we do not become disciplined students of His Word. 

We can fill our time with Him in His word, good preaching and quality books, but if we do not do as the Bereans, who "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" Acts 17:11, we will be easily swayed and subject to spiritual drift. As disciplined students we must maintain an excitement for the things God has done, as well as for the promises He has made for our future through His Word.

God has given us a wonderful gift, a gift without which we could never know Him. Through the lives of many different writers, God has presented us with a love letter which calls us into fellowship through Jesus Christ...we call His letter the Bible. 

In His authoritative and essential letter, God has revealed the fullness of His character and established a set of unchanging truths. A deep belief and understanding of these truths will push aside fears, erase lingering doubts, and instill a new sense of hope.

We need not allow our kingdom to be divided; we need not drift away. The Spirit has made our hearts receptive and hungry for God's Word. We must now submit to His leading and become as the workman who "correctly handles the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2:15. 

Let's give Him the total devotion of our heart as we read His word, listen, pray, and witness to others of a precious friend we have found in Him. And as we hear, let's maintain a great excitement and always pay more careful attention.

- with steve troxel's inputs