Have you heard the story of the chef who was teaching his assistant to cook a frog? Referring to a live frog the chef said, "Now, son, if you drop him right into boiling water, he'll jump out. But if you put him in cool water and slowly turn up the heat, he'll never know what hit him.

This may describe some of you tonight...your inner anguish is intense; you feel "out of sorts" with God, but don't know how it happened. "Suddenly I feel like I'm in the fire," you cry. "How did I get so far from Him when I thought everything was going so well?"

Sometimes that's the problem - everything was going well. Little by little you became successful; accumulated riches; engaged in more pleasures, and learned how to pay the price for success. But God got lost in the shuffle.

God's Word warns us that we are most tempted to fall away, not in times of need, but in times of plenty. Satan can slowly turn up the "heat" of worldly values and material greed until God becomes only a name. The Lord warns, "When you have eaten and are satisfied...Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe His commands... Otherwise, when you...build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God..." (Deuteronomy 8:10-14, NIV).

Tuck this scripture in your spirit tonight and heed it's warning so you can be sure, when you think you're immersed in "the good life," you're not in the boiling pot instead!

Heavenly Father, help me to keep re-evaluating my life by Your standards. Forgive me for having fallen away, even a little, covering it with pleasures, success and striving to maintain a new "status" in life. Turn me back to You...I surrender it all! In Jesus' Name, Amen.