Pusing Blogger : 2018

TAKING IT CAPTIVE

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4  (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.


When a person commits a crime, the law goes after them to bring them into captivity.  In these verses, this is what Paul is saying to us.  We have to cast down imaginations that do not line up with the Word of God, and take every thought captive.  We need to keep getting to a place in our lives where we think God’s thoughts, and not the thoughts of the secular news.


“Oh Pastor,” you might say, “that is a tall order,” and you know what, it is!  But I have found that if I spend a good portion of my day listening to the news and checking every website to see what is going on, it brings no edification whatsoever.  However, if I think God’s thoughts, and make a conscience decision to let His Word stay in my life, it lifts me up and helps me throughout the day.


Paul states here that though we walk in the flesh, our battle is not with people, but with ourselves.  We do not like to hear that, but it is the truth.  Most of my battles are in my mind, and if I am just putting more junk in there, how am I ever going to win this battle and be victorious in life?


So today, take those thoughts captive that have been pulling you down.  Put them in jail, and do not give them a “Get Out of Jail Free Card.”  Bind them up, hold them down, and let God’s Word fill your mind and heart in Christ Jesus!


Confession:  Today, I am taking control of my thoughts.  This is my mind, and I do not have to fill it with trash.  I can fill it with the good Word of God, and with things that build me up.  Today, I am taking the trash out, and bringing good stuff in!


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 14:12 – 16:41


Hebrews 7:18-28


Psalms 106:1-12


Proverbs 27:4-6


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


The Greatest Pains

“As many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19).

God takes the most eminent and choicest of His servants for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. They who have received most grace from God are able to bear most afflictions from God. Affliction does not hit the saint by chance, but by direction. God does not draw His bow at a venture. Every one of His arrows goes upon a special errand and touches no breast but his against whom it is sent. It is not only the grace, but the glory of a believer when we can stand and take affliction quietly. –Joseph Caryl

If all my days were sunny, could I say,
“In His fair land He wipes all tears away”?

If I were never weary, could I keep
Close to my heart, “He gives His loved ones sleep”?
Were no graves mine, might I not come to deem
The Life Eternal but a baseless dream?

My winter, and my tears, and weariness,
Even my graves, may be His way to bless.

I call them ills; yet that can surely be Nothing but love that shows my Lord to me! –Selected

“The most deeply taught Christians are generally those who have been brought into the searching fires of deep soul-anguish. If you have been praying to know more of Christ, do not be surprised if He takes you aside into a desert place, or leads you into a furnace of pain.”

Do not punish me, Lord, by taking my cross from me, but comfort me by submitting me to Thy will, and by making me to love the cross. Give me that by which Thou shalt be best served . . . and let me hold it for the greatest of all Thy mercies, that Thou shouldst glorify Thy name in me, according to Thy will. –A Captive’s Prayer

His Billows

“All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me”

(Ps. 42:7).


They are HIS billows, whether they go o’er us,
Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam;
Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us,
And to our haven bear us safely home.


They are HIS billows, whether for our succor
He walks across them, stilling all our fear;
Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer,
And in the lonely silence none is near.


They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling
Through tempest-driven waves that never cease,
While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling;
Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.


They are HIS billows, whether He divides them,
Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed;
Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us,
Rushing unchecked across our only road.


They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them;
So He has promised, so His love will do.
Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding,
To His sure harbor, He will bring us through.
–Annie Johnson Flint


Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain. The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship. –Selected


THINK ON THESE THINGS

Philippians 4:8 (KJV) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.


Sometimes we catch ourselves wondering what we should think about.  It seems like our minds can go off in so many directions.  The Bible tells us what to think about, and we find it in this verse.  I have found that our minds seem to want to go to the negative, so when we see here the different things to think on, it helps us to correct our “stinking thinking.”


The Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, says that we should think on things that are TRUE, HONEST, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, OF GOOD REPORT, VIRTUOUS, AND FULL OF PRAISE.  Now, for many of us, this will take an adjustment, but the Bible would never tell us to do something unless God has put within us the ability to do it.  It does take effort, but the rewards are so great.  Instead of being down and out, you will have joy and peace.


Making decisions in our lives to do it God’s way, and not ours, can really bring us from the lows to the highs in our lives.   Many wonder why they are down, or seem to be so bummed.  I would venture to say that many times it is what we are thinking about.  We have to make a decision to look at bad thoughts, or even just down thoughts, like garbage.  I do not know about you, but when there is garbage in the house, I take it out.


So today, if you have garbage thoughts, go ahead and take them out, and fill your house (your mind) with the thoughts found here.  Think thoughts that are TRUE, HONEST, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, OF GOOD REPORT, VIRTUOUS, AND FULL OF PRAISE!


Confession:  Today, I am taking the garbage out.  I am taking out the negative thoughts, and filling my mind with God’s Word.  His Word is spirit and life, and that is exactly what I need; His life!


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 12 – 14:11


Hebrews 7:1-17


Psalms 105:37-45


Proverbs 27:3 


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


ONE THING

Philippians 3:13-14 (NKJV) Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


What is the one thing that we need to do in our lives?  What is the most important decision that we can make?  These verses tell us what it is.  It is a decision that will last throughout all eternity.  We need to set ourselves to go after one thing, and that one thing is Jesus!


This world can offer us so much, but here the Apostle Paul says that all that he did in the past is nothing.   What is really important is to press to the goal of our call in Jesus.


When we think of this, it is so true!  I can gain the whole world (I can gain the wealth, the power, and the fame) but it is all going to pass away.  If I gain Christ in this world, He will last me for all eternity!


I remember when Diane and I were dating, we went to a meeting and the minister said, “I am not looking to get my name put up on a billboard like you see on Broadway.  Instead, like the Apostle Paul, I want my name in the spirit realm where demons tremble.”  We should want our names in the most special place, and that is in the Lamb’s Book of Life.


So today, I challenge you with this: What is the one thing that is the most important thing in your life?  If it is not Jesus, then everything else is worthless.  But if you put Jesus as the main thing, then everything else that you do in life will be blessed.


Confession: Today, I choose the one thing that is the most important thing, and that is Jesus.   As I choose Him, He helps me to succeed in all that I do in life.  Jesus is the prize of my life!


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 10 – 11


Hebrews 6


Psalms 105:16-36


Proverbs 27:1-2


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)

The Power of Silence

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).


Is there any note of music in all the chorus as mighty as the emphatic pause? Is there any word in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one word, Selah (Pause)? Is there anything more thrilling and awful than the hush that comes before the bursting of the tempest and the strange quiet that seems to fall upon all nature before some preternatural phenomenon or convulsion? Is there anything that can touch our hearts as the power of stillness?


There is for the heart that will cease from itself, “the peace of God that passeth all understanding,” a “quietness and confidence” which is the source of all strength, a sweet peace “which nothing can offend,” a deep rest which the world can neither give nor take away. There is in the deepest center of the soul a chamber of peace where God dwells, and where, if we will only enter in and hush every other sound, we can hear His still, small voice.


There is in the swiftest wheel that revolves upon its axis a place in the very center, where there is no movement at all; and so in the busiest life there may be a place where we dwell alone with God, in eternal stillness, There is only one way to know God. “Be still, and know.” “God is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” –Selected


“All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or moonlight or sunrise. The sullen blackness gloomed above us as if it would last forever. And out of the dark there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.


“But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps. It was Thy ‘still small voice’ that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard. We looked and saw Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life came back to us as life comes back to withered blooms that drink the summer rain.”


Discovering God’s Graces

“Show me wherefore thou contendest with me” (Job 10:2).


Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never have been discovered if it were not for the trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too oft like a glowworm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star–not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black folds in which God doth set the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better.


It was but a little while ago that, on thy knees, thou wast saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.”


Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?–for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it. God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery; real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials.


God trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers and climb mountains, and walk many a weary mile with heavy knapsacks on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which you are passing? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you? –C. H. Spurgeon


To be left unmolested by Satan is no evidence of blessing.




GOOD NEWS

Romans 1:16-17 (NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes–the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”


What Good News God our Father has given us, that through the cross of Jesus Christ, all those that have accepted this amazing gift are made right with Him!  When I think of the fact that at one time I was totally separated from God with no hope, and without any chance of getting to Him, I am amazed!


Now, by what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary, I am forgiven, restored, and set in His family.  I like the way the second part of this verse states this: “This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.”  I now have to accept what Christ has done, not by how I feel about it, but by what His Word states as truth.  God’s Word, the Bible, is a legal document, and if He says that He has set me right, then I am set right.


What freedom this gives me, to know that because of what Jesus did on the cross, I am in right standing with God!  Too many believe this will happen when we get to heaven, and thank God we will have it in heaven.  But these verses say the Good News is that we have it now, in full!


I will not be any more righteous than I am the moment that I ask Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior.  He, at that moment, made me the righteousness of God in Himself.  Let me tell you, that is Good News!


So today, no matter what your mind tries to tell you, say, “I am justified in God’s sight, not because of what I have done, but because of all that my beloved Jesus has done for me.”  This is truly Good News!


Confession:  I declare, today, that I have been made right with God through the Good News of the Gospel.  I have been set in this great position, not by my accomplishments, but through what Jesus has done on the cross!


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 7 – 9


Hebrews 5


Psalms 105:1-15


Proverbs 26:28


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


LET’S GROW UP

1 Peter 2:2-3 (NKJV) …as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.


Each of us, when we come into the kingdom of heaven, is what the Bible calls: “born again.”  So, just as a baby is born into this world and has to grow up, we, when we are born again, have to grow up.


This verse makes it pretty clear how we are to grow up in God: We need to desire the milk of God’s Word, get hungry for the Word of God, make it our delight, mediate on it, chew on it, drink deeply of it, and as we do these things, we will see that we will grow.  I have watched in my own life that as I stay hungry for the Word, and the things of God, I grow!


I believe, just like in the natural, that we have to grow from a baby, to a toddler, to a child, to a teenager, and then to an adult.  That is also how we grow up as Christians.  We do not become a mature Christian overnight; it happens in steps.  Too many times, people try to rush this, and they become freaks.


So take it one day at a time.  I like how it says it in Isaiah 28:10: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  Grow a little today.  Read a little, listen to a teaching, get faithful in your church, and you will see, after a while, a good solid growth.


Do not get discouraged and say, “It seems like I am not growing.”  It might have taken you a while to learn how to tie your shoes, but once you did, no one had to teach you that again.  So go ahead and enjoy the ride of growth.  You only get to do this once!


Confession:  I am growing today, as I read this devotional and eat of His Word.  God’s Word in me is like milk and meat, and I am enjoying this meal every day.  God’s Word is good!


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 3:16 – Ezekiel 6


Hebrews 4


Psalms 104:24-35


Proverbs 26:27


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


God Knows

“He knoweth the way that I take” (Job 23:10).


Believer! What a glorious assurance! This way of thine–this, it may be, a crooked, mysterious, tangled way–this way of trial and tears. “He knoweth it.” The furnace seven times heated–He lighted it. There is an Almighty Guide knowing and directing our footsteps, whether it be to the bitter Marah pool, or to the joy and refreshment of Elim.


That way, dark to the Egyptians, has its pillar of cloud and fire for His own Israel. The furnace is hot; but not only can we trust the hand that kindles it, but we have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine; and that when the refining process is completed (no sooner–no later) He brings His people forth as gold.


When they think Him least near, He is often nearest. “When my spirit was overwhelmed, then thou knewest my path.”


Do we know of ONE brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun, visiting our chamber with the first waking beam of the morning; an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following us throughout the day, knowing the way that we take?


The world, in its cold vocabulary in the hour of adversity, speaks of “Providence”–“the will of Providence”–“the strokes of Providence.” PROVIDENCE! what is that?


Why dethrone a living, directing God from the sovereignty of His own earth? Why substitute an inanimate, death-like abstraction, in place of an acting, controlling, personal Jehovah?


How it would take the sting from many a goading trial, to see what Job saw (in his hour of aggravated woe, when every earthly hope lay prostrate at his feet)–no hand but the Divine. He saw that hand behind the gleaming swords of the Sabeans–he saw it behind the lightning flash–he saw it giving wings to the careening tempest–he saw it in the awful silence of his rifled home.


“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”


Thus seeing God in everything, his faith reached its climax when this once powerful prince of the desert, seated on his bed of ashes, could say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” –Macduff



My Father’s Giving

“Prove me now” (Mal. 3:10).


What is God saying here but this: “My child, I still have windows in Heaven. They are yet in service. The bolts slide as easily as of old. The hinges have not grown rusty. I would rather fling them open, and pour forth, than keep them shut, and hold back. I opened them for Moses, and the sea parted. I opened them for Joshua, and Jordan rolled back. I opened them for Gideon, and hosts fled. I will open them for you–if you will only let Me. On this side of the windows, Heaven is the same rich storehouse as of old. The fountains and streams still overflow. The treasure rooms are still bursting with gifts. The lack is not on my side. It is on yours. I am waiting. Prove Me now. Fulfill the conditions, on your part. Bring in the tithes. Give Me a chance. –Selected


I can never forget my mother’s very brief paraphrase of Malachi 3:10. The verse begins, “Bring ye the whole tithe in,” and it ends up with “I will pour” the blessing out till you’ll be embarrassed for space. Her paraphrase was this: Give all He asks; take all He promises.” –S. D. Gordon


The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father’s giving: it is beyond that we can ask. –J. H. Jowett


“All the rivers of Thy grace I claim, Over every promise write my name” (Eph. 1:8-19).



STOP THE FLOW

Proverbs 17:14 (AMPC) The beginning of strife is as when water first trickles [from a crack in a dam]; therefore stop contention before it becomes worse and quarreling breaks out.


Oh, how true this is!  We all know it.  When we say, “Man, I wish that never came out of my mouth,” but it is too late.  We just had to give him or her a piece of our mind.  We let it flow, and then it was like a crack in a dam, and we cannot get it back.


This verse is talking about more than just what we say, but it does seem like what we say causes a lot of issues.  James says it like this in James 3:6: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.”


We let things out of our mouths that cause explosions, and then we say, “What caused that?”  Well, here it says that it is our tongue.  Let us watch what comes out of our mouths.  Let us be people that close cracks, and not ones that make the cracks bigger.  Jesus said that it is the peacemakers that are blessed; the ones that will walk the extra mile, or turn the other cheek.  That is the kind of person I want to be.  How about you?


Another good scripture for watching what comes out of our mouth is in Proverbs 21:23.  The Complete Jewish Bible says it like this: “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”


Let us make a decision today to slow down the flow of strife, and let peace rule our lives and our mouths.  Let us strive to be ones that bring peace and love to situations.  It is all up to us.  What we will do with it is in our hand, or should I say, our mouth.  Today is a new day!  Let us make it a good day!


Confession:  I am making a decision, today, to walk in love, to stop the strife, and to let peace rule in my heart.  I am going to share that goodness with others.  Today, I choose to be the peacemaker and the peace-giver.


Today’s Bible Reading


Ezekiel 1 – 3:15


Hebrews 3


Psalms 104:1-23


Proverbs 26:24-26


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


Be Sure of His Promises

“Do as thou hast said, that thy name may be magnified forever” (1 Chron. 17:23-24).


This is a most blessed phase of true prayer. Many a time we ask for things which are not absolutely promised. We are not sure therefore until we have persevered for some time whether our petitions are in the line of God’s purpose or no. There are other occasions, and in the life of David this was one, when we are fully persuaded that what we ask is according to God’s will. We feel led to take up and plead some promise from the page of Scripture, under the special impression that it contains a message for us. At such times, in confident faith, we say, “Do as Thou hast said.” There is hardly any position more utterly beautiful, strong, or safe, than to put the finger upon some promise of the Divine word, and claim it. There need be no anguish, or struggle, or wrestling; we simply present the check and ask for cash, produce the promise, and claim its fulfillment; nor can there be any doubt as to the issue. It would give much interest to prayer, if we were more definite. It is far better to claim a few things specifically than a score vaguely. –F. B. Meyer


Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request: “Do as Thou hast said.” The Creator will not cheat His creature who depends upon His truth; and far more, the Heavenly Father will not break His word to His own child.


“Remember the word unto thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope,” is most prevalent pleading. It is a double argument: it is Thy Word. Wilt Thou not keep it? Why hast thou spoken of it, if Thou wilt not make it good. Thou hast caused me to hope in it, wilt Thou disappoint the hope which Thou has Thyself begotten in me? –C. H. Spurgeon


“Being absolutely certain that whatever promise he is bound by, he is able also to make good” (Rom. 4:21, Weymouth’s Translation).


It is the everlasting faithfulness of God that makes a Bible promise “exceeding great and precious.” Human promises are often worthless. Many a broken promise has left a broken heart. But since the world was made, God has never broken a single promise made to one of His trusting children.


Oh, it is sad for a poor Christian to stand at the door of the promise, in the dark night of affliction, afraid to draw the latch, whereas he should then come boldly for shelter as a child into his father’s house. –Gurnal


Every promise is built upon four pillars: God’s justice and holiness, which will not suffer Him to deceive; His grace or goodness, which will not suffer Him to forget; His truth, which will not suffer Him to change, which makes Him able to accomplish. –Selected



GOD’S EYES

2 Chronicles 16:9a (NKJV) “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”


God has eyes?  Well, according to this verse, He does.  What does He do with them?   He looks.  What does He look for?  Is He looking for me to make a mistake?  No, He looks for those who love Him, and whose heart is towards Him.  He looks for those He can pour out His blessings on.


Our Heavenly Father is a good God Who loves us and wants to bless us.  However, He can only do this when our hearts are right.  If our hearts are full of pride, fear, and hurt, it is hard for God to pour out His blessings.  Someone who is keeping his heart right before Him, or as this verse says, “…whose heart is loyal to Him,” He can bless abundantly. 


That is the kind of heart I want and I endeavor to have.  How about you?  Make the decision today to have a pure heart, because Jesus said in Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”


Do you want God to see you, and do you want to see God?  Then keep a right heart.  When you mess up, ‘fess up!  Do not let it sit there for days, and weeks, and months.  Make a decision to keep your life pure before your Father who loves you and is looking out for you.  Never let pride, or hurts, hold you back.  Look deep within today.  Talk to God, and let Him know when it hurts or when it is difficult.  He knows, yet Jesus said to ask Him and talk to Him.  So no matter what is going on today, or what someone has done to you today, LET IT GO AND LET GOD!


Confession: Today I look within.  I look at my heart, and I am going to be truthful.  I am not going to cover it up and say, “Well, that is just me.”  No, I want a heart that God, my Father, can bless.  So today, I start a new a day, in a new way!


Today’s Bible Reading


Lamentations 4 – 5


Hebrews 2


Psalms 103


Proverbs 26:23


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


When We Are Ready

“Blessed are all they that wait for him” (Isa 30:18).


We hear a great deal about waiting on God. There is, however, another side. When we wait on God, He is waiting till we are ready; when we wait for God, we are waiting till He is ready.


There are some people who say, and many more who believe, that as soon as we meet all the conditions, God will answer our prayers. They say that God lives in an eternal now; with Him there is no past nor future; and that if we could fulfill all that He requires in the way of obedience to His will, immediately our needs would be supplied, our desires fulfilled, our prayers answered.


There is much truth in this belief, and yet it expresses only one side of the truth. While God lives in an eternal now, yet He works out His purposes in time. A petition presented before God is like a seed dropped in the ground. Forces above and beyond our control must work upon it, till the true fruition of the answer is given.–The Still Small Voice
I longed to walk along an easy road,
And leave behind the dull routine of home,
Thinking in other fields to serve my God;
But Jesus said, “My time has not yet come.”


I longed to sow the seed in other soil,
To be unfettered in the work, and free,
To join with other laborers in their toil;
But Jesus said, “‘Tis not My choice for thee.”


I longed to leave the desert, and be led
To work where souls were sunk in sin and shame,
That I might win them; but the Master said,
“I have not called thee, publish here My name.”


I longed to fight the battles of my King,
Lift high His standards in the thickest strife;
But my great Captain bade me wait and sing
Songs of His conquests in my quiet life.


I longed to leave the uncongenial sphere,
Where all alone I seemed to stand and wait,
To feel I had some human helper near,
But Jesus bade me guard one lonely gate.


I longed to leave the round of daily toil,
Where no one seemed to understand or care;
But Jesus said, “I choose for thee this soil,
That thou might’st raise for Me some blossoms rare.”


And now I have no longing but to do
At home, or else afar, His blessed will,
To work amid the many or the few;
Thus, “choosing not to choose,” my heart is still.
–Selected




THERE ARE MORE ON OUR SIDE

2 Kings 6:17 (NKJV) And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.


Oh, if we could ever get our eyes open to the army that God has all around us!  It is an army of mighty angels.  It is an army of powerful beings that could take care of any situation that comes against us.


In Hebrews 1:14 it says this about angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”  Who are those who will inherit salvation?  That is us!  We are the ones that are born again, new creations in Christ, and God has sent His angels to help us in life.


As children, we used to call them our guardian angel, and we thought of them as little cotton puffs that floated around.  But now we see from the Word of God that these heavenly beings are mighty and powerful, and they are sent to help us and to protect us.  As we call on the Name of Jesus, our angels watch out for us.


Angels obey God and His Word, so as we read the Word, speak the Word, and do the Word, we will see angels assist us.  So look to God today, and remember that right now, right where you are, there is an angel that God has assigned to watch over you and help you in your life.  Like Elisha with his servant, remember that there are more with you than with them!


Confession: Today, I believe that there are angels helping and assisting me in my journey called life.  God, my Heavenly Father, has placed this mighty warrior to protect me from every demon that would try to come against me.  God is good!


Today’s Bible Reading


Lamentations 3


Hebrews 1


Psalms 102


Proverbs 26:21-22


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)




WE HAVE NOT BECAUSE WE ASK NOT

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV) 9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”  So God granted him what he requested.


I love this story about Jabez.  Here is a man whose mother gave him a bad name, but he would not accept it.  He did what we all need to do when life throws us a curve ball: he called on God. 


Each of us has stuff from our past, yet, even with all that stuff, we can let life make us bitter, or make us better.  It is really our call how we want to live.  Do we want to be blessed?  Then call on the Name of the Lord.  Do we want to stay in bitterness?  Then do not do anything.


The old saying is so true, “When life throws you a lemon, make lemonade.”  I can receive bad from the past and things that have happened to me, or I can say that I am a new creation in Christ, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new!


Our God is the God of second chances, and twenty-fifth chances.  His mercies are new each morning.  Do not let your past hold you down.  Lift yourself up and do as Jabez did.  Talk to your Heavenly Father and tell Him that you want a new start, and that, by the blood of Jesus, you believe that you have it now.  This is faith, and faith is what pleases God!


Confession: My God is the God of second chances.  Today, I believe that I have a new start.  I believe that the old things are truly passed away.  I confess today, that God has great things in store for my life!


Today’s Bible Reading


Lamentations 1 – 2


Philemon 1


Psalms 101


Proverbs 26:20


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


Picture of Rest

 “My own peace I give to you” (John 14:27, Weymouth).


      Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains.


      The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam; and at the fork of the branch, almost wet with the cataract’s spray, sat a robin on its nest.


      The first was only stagnation; the last was rest.


      Christ’s life outwardly was one of the most troubled lives that ever lived: tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time until the worn body was laid in the grave. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there.


      At any moment you might have gone to Him and found rest. And even when the human bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets of Jerusalem, He turned to His disciples and offered them, as a last legacy, “My peace.”


      Rest is not a hallowed feeling that comes over us in church; it is the repose of a heart set deep in God. –Drummond


      My peace I give in times of deepest grief,
Imparting calm and trust and My relief.


      My peace I give when prayer seems lost, unheard;
Know that My promises are ever in My Word.


      My peace I give when thou art left alone–
The nightingale at night has sweetest tone.


      My peace I give in time of utter loss,
The way of glory leads right to the cross.


      My peace I give when enemies will blame,
Thy fellowship is sweet through cruel shame.


      My peace I give in agony and sweat,
For mine own brow with bloody drops was wet.


      My peace I give when nearest friend betrays
Peace that is merged in love, and for them prays.


      My peace I give when there’s but death for thee
The gateway is the cross to get to Me.
–L. S. P.




In The Heavenly Places

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6).


This is our rightful place, to be “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” and to “sit still” there. But how few there are who make it their actual experience! How few, indeed think even that it is possible for them to “sit still” in these “heavenly places” in the everyday life of a world so full of turmoil as this.


We may believe perhaps that to pay a little visit to these heavenly places on Sundays, or now and then in times of spiritual exaltation, may be within the range of possibility; but to be actually “seated” there every day and all day long is altogether another matter; and yet it is very plain that it is for Sundays and week-days as well.


A quiet spirit is of inestimable value in carrying on outward activities; and nothing so hinders the working of the hidden spiritual forces, upon which, after all, our success in everything really depends, as a spirit of unrest and anxiety.


There is immense power in stillness. A great saint once said, “All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent.” The words are pregnant with meaning. A knowledge of this fact would immensely change our ways of working. Instead of restless struggles, we would “sit down” inwardly before the Lord, and would let the Divine forces of His Spirit work out in silence the ends to which we aspire. You may not see or feel the operations of this silent force, but be assured it is always working mightily, and will work for you, if you only get your spirit still enough to be carried along by the currents of its power. –Hannah Whitall Smith


“There is a point of rest
At the great center of the cyclone’s force,
A silence at its secret source;
A little child might slumber undisturbed,
Without the ruffle of one fair curl,
In that strange, central calm, amid the mighty whirl.”


It is your business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation.



LOOK TO JESUS

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.


There is a song we used to sing, and it went like this: “Look to Jesus and believe, look to Jesus and receive.”  That is the truth!  When we look to Jesus believing, He seems to get everything put together for us.  I want my life to be a reflection of Him.  The way that I see a reflection is by looking into a mirror.


This verse is saying to us to look to Jesus.  He is the One that began this work in us, and He is the One that will bring it to completion. The NASB says it like this, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”  I like that!  What I have to do is fix my eyes on Him, and He will do the rest.  He started this work in my life many years ago.  For some of you, it could be many years, or just a few days, but it does not matter.  What matters is that He is going to do a perfect work within us.


I always say it like this: “It is all about Jesus!”  When I get me out of the way, and let Him be Lord and King of my life, everything just seems to work out.  When I try to make me king in my life, things just seem to go downhill.  You know, He made us, and He can sure finish this up in us.


So today, be encouraged.  He has got your life in the palm of His big hand, and He will not let you down.  He started it, and He will complete it.  That is great!


Confession:  Today I am encouraged, because I see that what God has started in my life, He will bring to completion.  This is not about me.  It is about Christ in me, and He cannot fail!


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 51:54 – 52:34


Titus 3


Psalms 100


Proverbs 26:18-19


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)



Made Perfect Through Sufferings

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).


I kept for nearly a year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the perfect insect forces its way, so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibers having taken place. The great disproportion between the means of egress and the size of the imprisoned insect makes one wonder how the exit is ever accomplished at all–and it never is without great labor and difficulty. It is supposed that the pressure to which the moth’s body is subjected in passing through such a narrow opening is a provision of nature for forcing the juices into the vessels of the wings, these being less developed at the period of emerging from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.


I happened to witness the first efforts of my prisoned moth to escape from its long confinement. During a whole forenoon, from time to time, I watched it patiently striving and struggling to get out. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. Very probably the confining fibers were drier and less elastic than if the cocoon had been left all winter on its native heather, as nature meant it to be. At all events I thought I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, and I resolved to give it a helping hand. With the point of my scissors I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just a very little easier, and lo! immediately, and with perfect case, out crawled my moth dragging a huge swollen body and little shrivelled wings. In vain I watched to see that marvelous process of expansion in which these silently and swiftly develop before one’s eyes; and as I traced the exquisite spots and markings of divers colors which were all there in miniature, I longed to see these assume their due proportions and the creature to appear in all its perfect beauty, as it is, in truth, one of the loveliest of its kind.


But I looked in vain. My false tenderness had proved its ruin. It never was anything but a stunted abortion, crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying through the air on rainbow wings. I have thought of it often, often, when watching with pitiful eyes those who were struggling with sorrow, suffering, and distress; and I would fain cut short the discipline and give deliverance. Short-sighted man! How know I that one of these pangs or groans could be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks the perfection of its object does not weakly shrink from present, transient suffering. Our Father’s love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakers of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation. –Tract.


 



OPEN DOORS, SHUT DOORS

Isaiah 22:22 (NKJV) The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open.


Our Lord Jesus is the One who can open doors for us and also close doors for us.  What a comfort to know this.  Many times I come to a place of prayer, and I do not know what to do, or what decision to make.  So I pray this prayer: “Heavenly Father, You said that You would open doors for me and also close doors for me.  I have this decision to make, and I am not sure what to do, but my trust is in You.  I believe that you will open this door if it is Your will, or shut this door if it is not Your will.  I thank you for this in Jesus’ Name!”


In a prayer like this, we put our complete trust in the will of God, which is always the best.  Now, in saying that, we have to accept what God knows is best for us, and that might not always be what we want.  We might want what we just prayed about, but God knows the future, and He only wants what He knows will be a blessing for you.  It is not always easy, that is for sure, but if we could see into the future and see what our loving Father sees, then we would want His will.


The Bible says in Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.”  God has my back!  In fact, I want Him to have all of me.  So today, trust Him as the Lord and King of your life, and place yourself into His care and trust.  Then, watch your steps line up with His good will for your life.


Confession: I believe, today, that my steps are ordered by my Father, and that he will open the good doors for me and shut the bad ones.


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 51:1-53


Titus 2


Psalms 99


Proverbs 26:17


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)



Christ’s Business is Supreme

“His disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray . . . and he said unto them, When ye pray, say. . . Thy kingdom come” (Luke 11:1, 2).


When they said, “Teach us to pray,” the Master lifted His eyes and swept the far horizon of God. He gathered up the ultimate dream of the Eternal, and, rounding the sum of everything God intends to do in the life of man, He packed it all into these three terse pregnant phrases and said, “When you pray, pray after this manner.”


What a contrast between this and much praying we have heard. When we follow the devices of our own hearts, how runs it? “O Lord bless me, then My family, My church, My city, My country,” and away on the far fringe as we close up, there is a prayer for the extension of His Kingdom throughout the wide parish of the world.


The Master begins where we leave off. The world first, my personal needs second, is the order of this prayer. Only after my prayer has crossed every continent and every far-flung island of the sea, after it has taken in the last man in the last backward race, after it has covered the entire wish and purpose, of God for the world, only then am I taught to ask for a piece of bread for myself.


When Jesus gave His all, Himself for us and to us in the holy extravagance of the Cross, is it too much if He asks us to do the same thing? No man or woman amounts to anything in the kingdom, no soul ever touches even the edge of the zone of power, until this lesson is learned that Christ’s business is the supreme concern of life and that all personal considerations, however dear or important, are tributary thereto. –Dr. Francis


When Robert Moffat, the veteran African missionary and explorer, was asked once to write in a young lady’s album, he penned these lines:


“My album is a savage breast,
Where tempests brood and shadows rest,
Without one ray of light;
To write the name of Jesus there,
And see that savage bow in prayer,
And point to worlds more bright and fair,
This is my soul’s delight.”


“And His Kingdom shall have no frontier” (Luke 1:33, the old Moravian version).


The missionary enterprise is not the Church’s afterthought; it is Christ’s forethought;
–Henry van Dyke



RECEIVE THE PROMISE

Hebrews 10:35-36 (NKJV) 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.


Many times, we can feel like hanging it all up.  You know, when we say things like: “Is this really ever going to happen?  Will this healing ever manifest?  I have been praying for a mate for so long, and it just seems like I am getting older and older.”


In this verse, it says, “DO NOT GIVE UP!”  It is not always easy, but I will tell you, it is rewarding.  Remember that God is always doing a work in us and around us.  He is bringing situations together, and when it involves others, He has to get everything all lined up, and He is the only One Who knows how that all works.


God is developing us into the image of His dear Son, so when it takes a little longer then we would like it to, hold on!  Let God, your loving Father, take the reins of your life, and you will see how it will all work out for the best.


The journey may seem bumpy, or even scary, at times, but know that God made the train, and He sure knows how to drive it.  The last part of this verse states that we need endurance.   We know that, but we do not want to wait for it.  Yet, if we will hold on, and be patient, and do His will, it says that we will receive the promise.


So today, get your eyes on Him.  Make Him the most important person in your life, and at the right time, things will happen and you will say, “Man, I am glad I waited!”


Confession: Today, I choose to do it God’s way, and not my way.  I choose to wait on God, and I know that He has my best interest in mind.  He will make it all work for His good, and for mine. 


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 49:23 – 50:46


Titus 1


Psalms 97 – 98


Proverbs 26:13-16


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)



Believing Prayer

“Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way” (John 4:50).


“When ye pray, believe” (Mark 11:24).


When there is a matter that requires definite prayer, pray till you believe God, until with unfeigned lips you can thank Him for the answer. If the answer still tarries outwardly, do not pray for it in such a way that it is evident that you are not definitely believing for it. Such a prayer in place of being a help will be a hindrance; and when you are finished praying, you will find that your faith has weakened or has entirely gone. The urgency that you felt to offer this kind of prayer is clearly from self and Satan. It may not be wrong to mention the matter in question to the Lord again, if He is keeping you waiting, but be sure you do so in such a way that it implies faith. Do not pray yourself out of faith. You may tell Him that you are waiting and that you are still believing Him and therefore praise Him for the answer.


There is nothing that so fully clinches faith as to be so sure of the answer that you can thank God for it. Prayers that pray us out of faith deny both God’s promise in His Word and also His whisper “Yes,” that He gave us in our hearts. Such prayers are but the expression of the unrest of one’s heart, and unrest implies unbelief in reference to the answer to prayer. “For we which have believed do enter into rest” (Heb. 4:3). This prayer that prays ourselves out of faith frequently arises from centering our thoughts on the difficulty rather than on God’s promise. Abraham “considered not his own body,” “he staggered not at the promise of God” (Rom. 4:19, 20). May we watch and pray that we enter not into temptation of praying ourselves out of faith. –C. H. P.


Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His Word. –Evans


The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. –George Mueller


You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings. God gives us the promises in a quiet hour; God seals our covenants with great and gracious words, then He steps back and waits to see how much we believe; then He lets the tempter come, and the test seems to contradict all that He has spoken. It is then that faith wins its crown. That is the time to look up through the storm, and among the trembling, frightened seamen cry, “I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me.”


“Believe and trust; through stars and suns, Through life and death, through soul and sense, His wise, paternal purpose runs; The darkness of His Providence Is starlit with Divine intents.”




DON’T GIVE UP

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.


It is so easy to get weary and lose heart.  We gave it our best, but it was not good enough.  We went out of our way to help, and no one even noticed.  Life brings many times where we can get discouraged and ask, “Why?”  Yet, one thing that we have to always remember is that God knows, God sees, and God rewards.  He sees you in the prayer closet making intercession for someone else.  He sees you when you give your last dollar to help someone else.  God knows, and God sees.


This Scripture tells us to not get weary, because at the right time the answer will come.  God has a book in which He records all the good that you have done.  The reference to it is found in Malachi 3:16, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.”


When we read the Bible, we see that Moses got discouraged.  So did Elijah and many others.  So if you are having a blue day and you feel like, “When is it going to be my turn?  When is this prayer that I have been praying for so long going to get answered?” I want to encourage you not to get weary.  Hold on, be strong, and you will see the answer to your prayer at the right time.  Remember, God knows, and God sees, and He is FAITHFUL!


Confession:  Today, I remind myself that God knows, and God sees.   God answers prayer.  I will not get weary in doing good, and I will not get discouraged.  God is faithful!


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 48 – 49:1-22


2 Timothy 4


Psalms 95 – 96


Proverbs 26:9-12


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)

Above the Clouds

“Men see not the bright light which is in the clouds” (Job 37:21).


      The world owes much of its beauty to cloudland. The unchanging blue of the Italian sky hardly compensates for the changefulness and glory of the clouds. Earth would become a wilderness apart from their ministry. There are clouds in human life, shadowing, refreshing, and sometimes draping it in blackness of night; but there is never a cloud without its bright light. “I do set my bow in the cloud!”


      If we could see the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should be amazed at their splendid magnificence.


      We look at their under side; but who shall describe the bright light that bathes their summits and searches their valleys and is reflected from every pinnacle of their expanse? Is not every drop drinking in health-giving qualities, which it will carry to the earth?


      O child of God! If you could see your sorrows and troubles from the other side; if instead of looking up at them from earth, you would look down on them from the heavenly places where you sit with Christ; if you knew how they are reflecting in prismatic beauty before the gaze of Heaven, the bright light of Christ’s face, you would be content that they should cast their deep shadows over the mountain slopes of existence. Only remember that clouds are always moving and passing before God’s cleansing wind. –Selected


      “I cannot know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know–God watches all my path,
And I can trust.


      “I may not draw aside the mystic veil
That hides the unknown future from my sight,
Nor know if for me waits the dark or light;
But I can trust.


      “I have no power to look across the tide,
To see while here the land beyond the river;
But this I , know–I shall be Gods forever;
So I can trust.”




GUARD YOUR HEART

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.


The last part of these verses that I would like to look at is verse 23: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”  The word “keep” means to watch, and to guard.  God told Adam to keep the garden, and God is telling us to keep, guard, and watch our hearts.


Our heart is where all life is, and God knows that if we do not watch what gets into our hearts, we can let the enemy control us.  Our heart is not the pump in our physical body, but the spirit man within us.  That is the real us, the one that is born-again when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 


Peter said in, 1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”  When we are born again, our spirit is new and alive unto God, and now needs to be filled with His Word and protected from the junk in this world.  That is why it is so important that we are careful about what we watch, and what we listen to, because our heart can be hurt by the junk in this world.  Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:2, “…having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”


We do not want that to happen.  We want to stay soft and pliable before God.  So today, watch what gets into your heart, and let the good things of God fill you.


Confession: I am careful about what gets into my heart.  I make a decision not to watch or listen to things that would sear my conscience.  I make a decision to grow into the person God wants me to be.


 Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 44:24 – 47:7


2 Timothy 2:22 – 3:17


Psalms 94


Proverbs 26:6-8


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)







A Very Present Help

“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?” (Psalm 10:1.)


God is “a very present help in trouble.” But He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, that we may be brought to the end of ourselves, and led to discover the treasure of darkness, the unmeasurable gains of tribulation. We may be sure that He who permits the suffering is with us in it. It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is passing; but we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible. Our eyes are holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul loveth. It is dark–the bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He is there, deeply touched. Let us not rely on feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelity; and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him. Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present, though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own. Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven!
–Daily Devotional Commentary


“What though the path be all unknown?
What though the way be drear?
Its shades I traverse not alone
When steps of Thine are near.”



AND HEALTH TO ALL THEIR FLESH

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.


They are health to all our flesh.  I will take that, how about you?  As we put into practice all the parts that we have been talking about these last few days, God’s Word becomes, as one person said, “Medicine to all our flesh.”


I do not know about you, but when I am hurting, I want some good medicine so that the pain will go away.   Here, it says that God’s Word is our medicine.  As I read it, and attend to it, and incline my ear to it, and keep it before my eyes, and let it have first place in my heart, it produces medicine to me and my flesh.  It brings heath to my body!


So many people spend so much time trying to get healing by so many ways, and God is a good God and has made many ways to be healed.  Thank God for doctors and medicine, but we can also take His Word, God’s Medicine, everyday to receive healing.  I know that when I take a pill, I thank Him that He gave the doctors wisdom to help heal me. I put my faith in God in all things, because all wisdom comes from Him.


So go ahead and take a big dose of the Word of God, and watch what it does to your life and health.  You can never have enough.  His Word is so good!


Confession: I partake of the Word of God, and it brings health to me and to all my being.  His Word is medicine to all of my flesh.


 Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 42 – 44:23


2 Timothy 2:1-21


Psalms 92 – 93


Proverbs 26:3-5


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)




After The Frost

“Why go I mourning?” (Psalm 42:9).


Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! for God fails thee not. –C. H. Spurgeon


“He was better to me than all my hopes;
He was better than all my fears;
He made a bridge of my broken works,
And a rainbow of my tears.


“The billows that guarded my sea-girt path,
But carried my Lord on their crest;
When I dwell on the days of my wilderness march
I can lean on His love for the rest.


“He emptied my hands of my treasured store,
And His covenant love revealed,
There was not a wound in my aching heart,
But the balm of His breath hath healed.


Oh, tender and true was the chastening sore,
In wisdom, that taught and tried,
Till the soul that He sought was trusting in Him,
And nothing on earth beside.


“He guided by paths that I could not see,
By ways that I have not known;
The crooked was straight, and the rough was plain
As I followed the Lord alone.


I praise Him still for the pleasant palms,
And the water-springs by the way,
For the glowing pillar of flame by night,
And the sheltering cloud by day.


“Never a watch on the dreariest halt,
But some promise of love endears;
I read from the past, that my future shall be
Far better than all my fears.


Like the golden pot, of the wilderness bread,
Laid up with the blossoming rod,
All safe in the ark, with the law of the Lord,
Is the, covenant care of my God.”




 

FOR THEY ARE LIFE TO THOSE WHO FIND THEM

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.


Life is what we want!  Jesus said in the second part of John 10:10 ”…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  God wants us to have a good, full life; a life filled with Himself; a life of victory and success.


So how do we have this?  This verse says that we get life when we find the Word.  His Word is like a treasure.  You can get good things from it by reading it, but the true wealth of His Word comes as we dig into it.


Look at Psalm 19:10: “More to be desired are they then gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”  His Word must become more valuable to us than the riches of this world, and when we put His Word in that high of a place in our lives, God, our dear Father, takes care of all the needs that we have.


His Word is life to us, so let us start digging into it and see what treasures we might find today.  You might ask, “What does that mean, to dig into the Word?”  Well, it means to not just read it, but to let it change us.  We are not blessed because we hear the Word; we are blessed when we do it.  So when you find a verse that you know needs to come alive within you, hang out there for a while.  Read it, ponder it, and then do it, and it will become life to you!


Confession:  God’s Word is life to me, because I have found it.  I am a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only.  I put His Word in my heart, and it is life to me and to all my being.


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 39 – 41


2 Timothy 1


Psalms 90 – 91


Proverbs 26:1-2


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)


Only Through Death

“Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains a single grain, but if it dies away in the ground, the grain is freed to spring up in a plant bearing many grains” (John 12:24).

Go to the old burying ground of Northampton, Mass., and look upon the early grave of David Brainerd, beside that of the fair Jerusha Edwards, whom he loved but did not live to wed.


What hopes, what expectations for Christ’s cause went down to the grave with the wasted form of that young missionary of whose work nothing now remained but the dear memory, and a few score of swarthy Indian converts! But that majestic old Puritan saint, Jonathan Edwards, who had hoped to call him his son, gathered up the memorials of his life in a little book, and the little book took wings and flew beyond the sea, and alighted on the table of a Cambridge student, Henry Martyn.


Poor Martyn! Why should he throw himself away, with all his scholarship, his genius, his opportunities! What had he accomplished when he turned homeward from “India’s coral strand,” broken in health, and dragged himself northward as far as that dreary khan at Tocat by the Black Sea, where he crouched under the piled-up saddles, to cool his burning fever against the earth, and there died alone?


To what purpose was this waste? Out of that early grave of Brainerd, and the lonely grave of Martyn far away by the splashing of the Euxine Sea, has sprung the noble army of modern missionaries. –Leonard Woolsey Bacon


“Is there some desert, or some boundless sea,
Where Thou, great God of angels, wilt send me?
Some oak for me to rend, Some sod for me to break,
Some handful of Thy corn to take
And scatter far afield,
Till it in turn shall yield
Its hundredfold
Of grains of gold
To feed the happy children of my God?


“Show me the desert, Father, or the sea; Is it Thine enterprise? Great God, send me! And though this body lies where ocean rolls, Father, count me among all faithful souls.”




 

KEEP THEM IN THE MIDST OF YOUR HEART

Proverbs 4:20-23 (NKJV) 20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.


What is in your heart today?  You will know right away by what you are thinking about all day long.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, ”…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  So, is your mind filled with worry, and bitterness, or is it filled with the peace of God and His joy?  What comes out of your mouth?  This shows us what we have put in our heart.  This is not to put us down, but for us to make a decision of change; a decision for growth.


Here it says to put God’s Word in the midst of our heart.  Get God’s Word in you.  You might ask, “How?”  Well, here is how I do it.  Instead of listening to the news, I listen to teachings, or the Bible on CD.  I download different podcasts of good Bible teachers, and I listen to “Good News,” instead of all the bad news of the day.


Little decisions can change your life for the good.  I heard one person say it like this: “If you like where you are with your life today, then do not do anything different.  But if you are not satisfied and you want your life to change, then start with some changes today so that your tomorrows can be different.


So I encourage you to get God’s Word in your heart, and let it push all the worries and fears out.  That is truly “Good Medicine!”


Confession:  I keep God’s Word in my heart by thinking about it during the course of the day.  I also am making a decision to listen to good stuff and not all the junk that is out there.


Today’s Bible Reading


Jeremiah 37 – 38


1 Timothy 6


Psalms 89:38-52


Proverbs 25:28


Bible in a Year: 365-Day Reading Plan : English | King James Version (KJV)