- Tuesday, 12/5/17 Psalm
27:13, I had fainted, unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. God’s
economy runs on faith. Sometimes we see how things could work and just have to
trust that they will. Sometimes we can see zilch, and have to trust that the
Lord has a plan. Psalm
27:4, One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after;that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life... This is a popular verse among God’s people. Truly church
is a blessed place with true friends, and it is a treasure to be highly desired
and cherished, but the verse doesn’t stop there. ...to
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. Does your church
going focus on what a blessing it is to you, or does it focus on the Lord? Do
we go seeking Him, or His peripheral trinkets? Do we ever tear up during a song
service because He is so awesome? Do we ever weep and repent because we’ve
treated Him so poorly. Let’s resolve to make more tadoo about going to church
and let’s try to focus on why we’re really there.
- Wednesday, 12/6/17
Psalm 34:8, O taste and see that
the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. He tastes as
sweet and is as good as He ever did. If the world’s cuisine is leaving you with
a sour aftertaste, or if you just want “a better diet”...come on back or get
closer to the Lord. 2
Timothy 2:15, Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. (A thought from a friend): Life is like going to school:
it’s not always ‘recess time.’ There’s a lot of classroom learning, and then
testing to see if we’ve learned the lessons or not. Then, there’s the lab where
we put theory into practice. Eventually, we all get to go home...and do
homework. Lesson for the day? Keep on studying...graduation’s coming.
- Thursday, 12/7/17 Psalm
35:1, Plead my cause, O Lord, with them
that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Let God speak on your behalf: He can make a
more persuasive argument. In other words, stop defending yourself. Here is what
could be a very instructional and/or comforting homework lesson. In Psalm 37,
there are at least 19 commandments of things we’re to do or not to do. Also,
there are about 34 promises of things that the Lord will do. (Look for
shalt/shalt or will/wilt.) Enjoy your reading!!!!
- Friday, 12/8/17 Psalm
39:4, Lord, make me to know mine end, and
the measure of my days, what it is... Paraphrase: “Lord, help to remember
that I’ll appear before and live with You forever, and it won’t be very long
until that happens because this life is short. And remind me “how frail I am.” Psalm 42:11 (& 43:5 too), Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why
art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,
who is the health of my countenance, and my God. We all face adversities
and storms, and, at times, we all allow ourselves to fall into depression.
However, to whatever degree we can discipline our minds, we can overcome most
of that. We WILL “yet praise him.” We
CAN “hope in God.” Also, the “yet praise him” line indicates the
psalmist knew/remembered that in the cyclical nature of life, the negative will
pass and the sun will rise again. So, broken one, one ‘who is cast down,’ ‘hope
in God for you shall yet praise Him.’ This too shall pass. Focus on and deal
with today...you can do that.
- Saturday, 12/9/17 Psalm
41:4, I said, Lord, be merciful unto me:
heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Receiving mercy and
forgiveness from the Lord and from others is wonderful, but that’s not the end
goal. We need healing, i.e. growth, so as not to sin again, i.e. to become
holy, godly, Christlike. Psalm
43:2-3, For thou art the God of my
strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me...
Dear believer, please quit just reading your Bible. Instead, comprehend it. Bible
characters were just like you and I, and they endured situations that we do,
and God recorded their stories to instruct and encourage us. Here, the psalmist
felt discarded by his God? (Ever been there? My hand is up.) While being “cast
off” he had to face enemies. (Ever felt that God had left you to just slowly
sink and die? Been there, done that.) He also asked for light and
truth...meaning he didn’t feel like the Lord was leading and communicating.
(Ditto.) v4 says that he ran TOWARD God and not away from Him. Comprehend?
- Sunday, 12/10/17
Proverbs 6:32, But whoso
committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it
destroyeth his own soul. The tingling and thrill may be awesome, but will
last but a moment...the destruction is long-lasting, if not permanent. Don’t do
the act; don’t do the lusting; don’t do the fantasizing. Deuteronomy
24:17, Thou shalt not pervert the
judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to
pledge... Leaders, be sure to not allow the personalities involved in a
situation cloud your judgment. The law/rule is to be applied fairly even if it
benefits that one you “don’t like” as much or who irritates you most of the
time, or if the rule goes against your favored underling. As judge, you must be
just.
- Monday, 12/11/17
Deuteronomy 24:22, And thou shalt
remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command
thee to do this thing. Remembering what we used to be (lost, destined for
Hell) and what we are (a child of the King, assured of Heaven) will make the
commandments less of a burden. 2
Thessalonians 1:3, We are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly... Faith is like a muscle: it can grow, get stronger, or weaken
and deteriorate. The Bible is our food (many passages say that), so it’s like
the protein and carbohydrates we ingest. Using our faith (i.e. being in
trouble, stressful situations that cause doubts) is like lifting weights in the
gym: “Can I lift this and set a Personal
Best?” So feed your faith with your own Bible reading and church and hearing
preaching, and exercise your faith by stepping out of your comfort zone for God
and working up a little spiritual sweat.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bible thoughts from some others:
- Matt 25:40, And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me. We’d better take good care of the needy, poor, troubled,
down and out, etc.
- Pro 7:26, For she hath cast down many wounded: yea,
many strong men have been slain by her. Men wounded in spirit and strong in
body are vulnerable to the advances of the seductress. He must be on the alert,
and very careful when down and depressed.
- 1 Cor 11:28a, & 31, But let a man examine himself, For if we
would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. This is not only good
advice for us at the Lord’s Supper, but each and every day of our lives. This
could prevent a lot of church and personal problems.
- Matt 24:44, Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son
of man cometh. I wonder if we really believe this.
- Jer 29:13, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall
search for me with all your heart. Our Lord will not force Himself on us,
or make us to love, spend time with, or worship Him. However, He will be found,
and especially near and dear if we seek him diligently.
- I just
finished reading the book of Jonah the other day. Quite frankly, I would
surmise that many of us respond daily as Jonah did. God calls us to reach out to a world in
darkness and we turn the other way. We hide behind a busy schedule or family
matters, or even our own selfish desires.
Lord, may we remember to give everyone the most important gift this
year; the Gift of Jesus! He’s the true Gift that keeps on giving!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Miscellaneous
thoughts from others:
- It's far easier to be flexible when you're
spineless.
-
You can put an elf on a shelf, Then hope to find him later. Put church on a
shelf, And soon become an ol’ cold tator.
- I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends.
Some of them would not call me their friend. But I am their friend. They will
only call me when they need me, but they will call because they know I am their
friend. I am so blessed!
- Jesus was a friend of sinners. It just doesn't say that they
were friends. READ THAT AGAIN!!!
- Love this analogy. "You are holding a cup of coffee when someone
comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee
everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee? "Well because someone bumped
into me, of course!" Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because there was coffee
in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.
*Whatever is inside the cup, is what will spill out.* Therefore, when life comes along and shakes
you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to
fake it, until you get rattled. *So we
have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?" When life gets tough, what spills over? Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility? Or anger, bitterness, harsh words and
reactions?
- If your kids would rather be with their electronics than with
you, perhaps there is nothing wrong with them, maybe there is something wrong
with you.
- Get mad at the tempter not the one who succumbed to his
temptations.
- Liberty gives us the right to do some things that grace will lead
us not to do.
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Contact me at baptistcity@gmail.com for information on subscribing to the weekly email or daily text messages from Terry.