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Pursue Righteousness

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The Virtuous Life - Day 207 - 2 Timothy 2-22 - Pursue Righteousness - Growing As Disciples

The Virtuous Life – Day 207 – 2 Timothy 2-22 – Pursue Righteousness – Growing As Disciples

Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV)

Flee, Pursue, Call

Do you want to flee evil? Do you want to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace? Do you want to be able to call on me out of a pure heart? Yes, I want all these things. I will flee evil and pursue you. I want to live a life that is filled with faith and love and peace. I want to call on you out of a pure heart. How can I do all these things? How can I be successful? Is there some secret? Is there a proper approach? What technique must I employ? Those are good questions. And yes, there is a secret and proper approach, that involves some technique. You didn’t expect me to say that did you? No, not really. But you have my full attention, I’m listening carefully. That’s good.  Here goes. You must react quickly. Your fleeing evil must be immediate. You will never have the strength to linger around evil. You must run with all your effort, at top speed, as if a gun has gone off to start a race. Run forward. Run straight and do not look back. Got it? I got it. That is only the first part of what you must do if you want to live a life that is pleasing to me. Next as you are fleeing evil, you must pursue righteousness, faith and love, and peace. You will run away from evil to what is good. You will leave the world and all its evil far behind you. You will pursue the new life that I have for you. You will pursue things of the Spirit rather than the things of the flesh. Do you understand? Yes, I understand. Finally, after you have fled evil and are now pursuing righteousness, you must call on me. You must draw near to me. You must come into my presence. You must live in an intimate relationship with me. You must hold on to me as I hold on to you. Am I being clear? Yes, you are being quite clear. I will flee evil, pursue righteousness, and call on you. All these, I must do at the same time. All these, I must do continually throughout my entire life. Then I will be able to live a life that is pleasing to you. Yes, you will. This is what I will do. That will be very good. Thank you, Lord.

Lord, I will flee the evil desires of youth. Instead, I will pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with all those who call upon you out of pure heart. Help me to fully live the life that you have called me to live. Help me to be the person you want me to be. Amen

Key Question…  Why must fleeing evil, pursuing righteousness, and calling on the Lord, be joined together in one effort?

Living It Out…  Immediately flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace as you call on the Lord.

Seeing It Happen…  Have faith that the Lord will help you to flee evil and pursue righteousness as you love, follow, and serve Him.

Get Ready To Share…  Share with another person or your small group how you are feeling evil and pursuing righteousness.

Prayer To Bless Others…  May you flee evil and pursue righteousness as you call upon the Lord.

For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Devotional Study Guide click here

The Virtuous Life – Day 207 – 2 Timothy 2-22 – Pursue Righteousness – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide

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By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved                                                        Copying not permitted                                                                                    http://www.GrowingAsDisciples.com

Take Hold

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Discipleship Devotional Study Guide - Life - 1 Timothy 6:11-12 - Take Hold - Growing As Disciples

Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – Life – 1 Timothy 6:11-12 – Take Hold – Growing As Disciples

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12  (NIV)

Flee And Pursue

Are you ready to fight the good fight of faith? Yes, I am. I will fight with all the strength that you give to me. Great, I’m glad to hear that. Now run! Run? Yes, I said, “run” and run as fast as you can. Run, that doesn’t sound at all like fighting. Oh, did you think that you would stand around and do battle with evil and ungodliness? Yes, I did. That’s not a strategy that has worked very well for you. Why is that? Why do you want me to run away from evil? You tell me. I’m not sure that I know why. Have you ever been attracted to evil? Have you ever enjoyed doing evil? I have to say yes to both your questions. So, do you know for sure that you will actually fight evil if you hang around to check it out? No, I don’t. Are you positive that you would be able to overcome evil if you stayed for the fight? No, I’m not positive. When I have made a way of escape from evil for you when has that way opened up? Your way of escape from evil has always come immediately. Hanging around evil has never led to a good result for me. That’s right, so run! I’m out of here right now! That’s Good.

Do you know where you are running? Do you know what to pursue? Aren’t I just supposed to run away? Isn’t one place just as good as another? What do you think? I suppose not. I might run into more evil. Yes, that’s right. You are fleeing evil. Yes, that’s right. What do I want you to pursue? You want me to pursue godliness and righteousness. Yes, I do. You will never be able to fight the good fight of faith and take hold of the eternal life that you have in me by simply fleeing evil alone. You must pursue me and the godly and righteous life that I have given you to live. That is the way that I have called you to live. Fleeing evil and pursuing me is what I have called you to do. Do these two directions seem clear enough to you? Yes, they are crystal clear.

What will you be doing as you flee evil and pursue godliness? Beyond fighting the good fight of faith and taking hold of the salvation that I have in you? Yes, beyond that. I’m not sure. Will anyone be watching you? You will be watching me. Yes I will be watching you. Will anyone else be watching you? The world will be watching me. Yes, that’s right. Now, do you have the answer to my question? Yes, I do. Let me hear your answer. When I flee evil and pursue righteousness I will be living as your witness in the world. Yes, you will. People will notice how I live and some of them will be drawn to you through the testimony of my life. Yes, they will.

Lord, help me to fight the good fight of faith. Help me to take hold of the eternal life that I have in you. I will flee ungodliness and pursue the righteous life you have given me to live. Help me to live as your witness in the world. Amen

For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Devotional Study Guide click here:

Life – 1 Timothy 6-11-12 – Take Hold – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide

Please consider sharing these devotionals with others through the social media you use.

Individual users may save the Discipleship Devotional Study Guide to their desktop for private use. All the blanks in the study guides are fields that allow typed responses. To use the fields on the study guide you may need to open the guide with a free version of adobe reader.

By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved                   Copying not permitted                      www.GrowingAsDisciples.com

Flee From All This And Pursue Righteousness

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Discipleship Study - Rhythms - 1 Timothy 6:11-12 - Flee - Pursue - Growing As Disciples

Discipleship Study – Rhythms – 1 Timothy 6:11-12 – Flee – Pursue – Growing As Disciples

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NIV)

Take Hold

Do you want to take hold of the life of salvation that you have in me? Do you want to live the life that I have given you to live? Yes, I want nothing more than and nothing less than to live the life that you have given me to live. How can I fully take hold of the life of salvation that I have in you? How can I live my life fully with and for you? Those are very good questions that I know you can answer. Have you started to notice that I won’t answer a question that I know you can already answer? Yes, I have just started to notice that. It took me awhile. You won’t mind if I keep asking you a lot of questions. No, you can ask me any question. Don’t be real surprised when I ask you to answer some of your own questions. I will be listening to every word that you have to say. There is one more time when I might not give you an answer to your questions. When is that? I won’t give you an answer to your questions when my answer is already right in front of your eyes as you look in my word. That’s the case right now, isn’t it? Yes, it is.

What answer to your questions is my word giving to you? If I want to take hold of the life of salvation I have in you I will do two things. If I want to live the life that you have given to me I will do two things. What are the two things you must do? Tell me what two things you will do as you continue to live your life with and for me? First, I will flee the desire for more. I will flee the desire for worldly wealth and earthly possessions. I will not try to find my peace and joy and contentment through all that the world has to offer. I will not allow my life to become a continue quest for more. I will get off that never ending treadmill. I will step away from worldly desires that will lead me away from you and the life that you have for me. That will be very good. There is more. I’m listening. Second, as I am fleeing worldly desires I will pursue you and the life that you have for me. I will pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Will these be easy to pursue? No, I will need all the help that you will give to me. I will need to come to rely on you for strength. Yes, you will. Fleeing worldliness and pursuing the righteous life you have given me to live will be a battle. It will be a fight. But, I know that you will help me to take hold of my salvation and fight the battle of faith as I pursue you. Yes, you will have my help. You will have my strength.I will help you to pursue me and the life I have for you.

Lord, I have found myself being captivated by the things of this world. I have had to fight against the continual desire for more. Help me to be content with what I have. Help me to flee worldly pursuits so that I can pursue you and the life that you have for me. Amen

For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide click here:

Rhythms – 1-Timothy 6-11-12 – Flee – Pursue – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide

Please consider sharing these devotionals with others through the social media you use.

Individual users may save the Discipleship Devotional Study Guide to their desktop for private use. All the blanks in the study guides are fields that allow typed responses. To use the fields on the study guide you may need to open the guide with a free version of adobe reader.

By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved                   Copying not permitted                      www.GrowingAsDisciples.com