Tuesday, 4/5/16 Ps 13:1-4
are gloomy. Yet, in v6, David says his situation is “bountiful.” The
difference? An awareness of His mercy and the availability of prayer. Are you
aware? Do you pray? Job
4:5, But now it is [problems are] come
upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 1It’s
easier to talk a truth than to the live the truth, but don’t let that keep you
from talking it. 2Give a lot of leeway to those who may not walk as well
as they talk. 3Their talk could still be true and valid even if their
walk is not. 4(Reread all of those, but especially that last one!!)
Wednesday, 4/6/16 Eph
5:25, Husbands, love your wives as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Husbands, I challenge us to
get alone for a bit and simply think and list what Christ did for the Church
and then apply the list to our marriages. 5:24, As the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be… Ladies,
study how we’re to treat the Lord, and see if you do that to your husband. To
you unmarried: study and learn what you’re to become, and prepare. Eph
4:29, Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. Our speech (& we only speak
what we first think) is to edify believers. This would include thoughts about
you and what you say about yourself. Get
off of your own case...give yourself a break. Don’t be so harsh on you.
(This is for those who tend to go to that extreme...others of us need to be a
lot more condemning and harsh on ourselves.)
Thursday, 4/7/16 How
foolish of us to only wear nice clothes today!! Eph 6:13ff. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of
God...loins girt about with truth...breastplate of righteousness...feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace...shield of faith...sword of the
Spirit. Go accessorize completely!! Ps
23:1, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall
not want. Who is your shepherd...really? Let me ask it this way: On whom do
you rely to direct your overall daily path? On whom do you depend to provide
your food and water and health? Sadly for most of us, it is a big “U-S” and a
little “H-i-m”...He may be our Saviour; He may be our God; but, as a general
statement, He is NOT our Shepherd...we are our own shepherd, which is why we so
often find ourselves in bad situations...scared and helpless.
Friday, 4/8/16 Pro 4:2, For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not
my law. (This isn’t referring to Bible doctrine.) Dad, Mom, is your
doctrine, your teaching, your household’s laws...would they be classified as
“good” or just “convenient”? Changeable? Optional to obey? Phil
4:5-6, Let your moderation
(boundaries) be known unto all men. The
Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. We
often only let our boundaries be known only to Him, while our prayer
requests/needs are make known to all men...we’ve got things backwards!! Maybe
this is why we so often lack the peace of v7?
Saturday, 4/9/16 Exo
10:23, They saw not one another, neither
rose any from his place for 3 days: but all the children of Israel had light in
their dwellings. The world is paralyzed with inner darkness and
cluelessness on the outside, but light is available for God’s people.HONESTLY:
Did you live in the last 24 hours in darkness or light? Ps 66:10,
For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou
hast tried us, as silver is tried. Don’t rebel at or resist His method of
increasing your value. Rest in the fact that the Master is controlling the
situation and monitoring your ability to endure. He has a purpose and an
overall plan. No, the fire isn’t fun, but it’s time is limited...you will soon
feel the cooling breeze and then comes the admiration...not necessarily of so
much of you per se, but of the One Who crafted you into something beautiful and
valuable and useful. (Read the end of v12.)
Sunday, 4/10/16 Ps 28:1b,
...lest if thou be silent unto me, I
become like them that go down into the pit. Are you content to live your
life as an unsaved man: never hearing from God? Never being assured of His love
and presence? Never feeling the security of being corrected by Him? You are
saved, aren’t you? Heb
11:7 Noah...moved with fear, prepared an
ark. Fear is a legitimate motivation
for serving God. Also, this is the only emotion mentioned in the whole chapter.
No one is said to have served because of love.
Monday, 4/11/16 Col 1:2, To the saints and faithful brethren in
Christ which are at Colosse... Would you be more likely to be classified as
just a “saint” (saved one), or would you earn the higher classification of
“faithful” one? Yes, you’re saved, but there is higher ground for you to occupy
and more holiness to incorporate. Ps 32:8-9, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I
will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye
not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must
be held in with bit and bridle... The alternative to “eye guidance” is
coercion. Do you respond when God just gestures with His eyes or head, or do
you require Him to “jerk you around”? “Be not as the horse...”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Miscellaneous thoughts from
others:
- When you make the issue and the individual synonymous, you have
to destroy the individual to get rid of the issue.
- Humility involves a deep sense of unworthiness, but never a
sense of being worthless.
- Nuts and bolts, Grit and grime, In the trenches, Doing
the time, Never a hurry,... Steady we
plod, Ne’r a worry, Trusting in God!
- Old Dr. Alexander used to say to us students, “Young
brethren, envy is a besetting sin with the ministry: you must keep that
abominable spirit under.” When a servant of Christ is willing to take a back
seat, or to yield the preeminence to others, he is making a surrender which is
well pleasing to his meek and lowly Master. One of the hardest things to many a
Christian is to serve his Saviour as a “private,” when his pride tells him that
he ought to wear a “shoulder strap” in Christ’s army.
- Standing for Christ is not measured when standing before
believers. For Judas Iscariot was also in good standing before believers. Standing
for Christ is measured before unbelievers; at our work place, in parent
teacher's meetings, before our creditors, at family gatherings and even on
vacations.
- Your most powerful testimony is how you treat others after the
church service is over.
- If a marriage is miserable, the fault lies with the
participants, not the institution.
- The ultimate rebellion would be for me to reject God's
way of salvation and try to pay for my sins by myself. The ultimate ingratitude
is that a day would go by where I am not completely humbled to realize that
Christ suffered to pay for my sins by Himself. If I am living in defeat today,
it is because I am living too much in this present world, and not enough in the
world that Jesus suffered so greatly to introduce to me.
- When you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.
- You will be disappointed at some point, but you do not have to
be discouraged at that point.
- No politician can stop the decay of America, but soul winners
can delay the decay of America.
- People who do not try will never amount to much in life. . . If
you give up, you will not succeed at what you try today; but even worse, you
will not even succeed at trying!
- The church really isn’t a holy place. I wish it was, but it
isn’t. Most of us hide the truth of who we are, what we’ve done, and the shame
we feel. That is why there should be at least one place where people can feel
safe to deal with their sin and shame. That place should be our churches, which
should be extensions of the cross where sinners can come and go and know there
is forgiving power available to them there.
- The only time we should look down on another is when we are
reaching down to lift them up.
- The only time I struggle with low self esteem is when I am
esteeming myself too much. The word esteem comes from the word estimate, in
other words esteem is a guess. Why guess my worth when I can go the cross and
see exactly how much I am worth? I know my exact worth to God. I am worth the
life of HIS OWN SON.
- Bitterness is the result of someone not being as sorry for
hurting you as you think they should be.
- Many Christians are too busy yelling at drowning people for not
learning to swim, that they don't have have time to throw them a lifeline to
rescue them from drowning.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bible
thoughts from some others:
- Pose questions that
cause yourself (and others) to think hard enough about the practicality of the
answer it conjures up. Pros 8:1, Doth not
wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
- Bible thoughts! Ps
8:4, What is man, that thou art mindful
of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? What a beautiful verse!
Not only does God think of us, but He acts on those thoughts by being there for
us! That ought to put a spring in our steps! Woohoo!
- Jud 1:21a, And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that
inhabited Jerusalem. Incomplete obedience is a disease that is both
dangerous and extremely contagious. Much of the trouble in the world, and in
our individual lives, is because of it.
- Pro 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own
understanding. This may be one of the most difficult, if not impossible
commands/admonitions to follow in all of God’s word, but it is the only way to
enjoy the full blessings of God.
- Ps 27:1, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? When we have our faith
and confidence in the Lord God Who made and controls all, there is no need for
fear, panic, or distress. He’s in control!!
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