- Tuesday, 7/11/17
Leviticus 11:45, For I am the Lord
that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall
therefore be holy, for I am holy. A reminder that we all are to be striving
to become holy. Very simply...are you more so than a year ago? What’re you
doing to become more so?
Psalm 43:5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. It’s an old, oft-used statement, but, truly, “if God be for us, who can be against us?” If we’re saved and simply one heartbeat from Glory, we can take whatever our LOVING, heavenly Father puts on our plates. Now, this attitude takes A LOT of mental discipline, but truly, we have NO reason to be down nearly as often or as deep as we are.
Psalm 43:5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. It’s an old, oft-used statement, but, truly, “if God be for us, who can be against us?” If we’re saved and simply one heartbeat from Glory, we can take whatever our LOVING, heavenly Father puts on our plates. Now, this attitude takes A LOT of mental discipline, but truly, we have NO reason to be down nearly as often or as deep as we are.
- Wednesday, 7/12/17 A
challenge: Psalm 118:4, Let them now that
fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Sometime today, say to
someone outside of your comfort zone, “God’s mercy endures forever.” What do you
do when you feel alone, estranged from the Lord? Hosea 5:15, I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence,
and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. God MAY be
playing hide-n-seek with you. The key to getting Him to unveil Himself is
admittance of our wrongdoing and sinfulness.
- Thursday, 7/13/17 Oh,
that all of us would make these verses be ever true about us!! Proverbs 8:6-7, Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips
shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an
abomination to my lips. Don’t fall into the
modern philosophy that your pastor is to always preach wonderful, uplifting
messages. Note: Hosea 6:5, Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light
that goeth forth. (“Hewed” means cut in pieces. “Slain” means killed.) I
heard an assistant pastor here say several times, “If Pastor didn’t step on my
toes occasionally, I wouldn’t work for the man.”
- Friday, 7/14/17 Are you
in a bad situation that you caused? Psalm 46:7b, The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. I’m
there, and the God of Jacob is our comfort. The God of the sneaky, conniving,
trickster is our refuge. He takes no joy in our self-caused suffering. Matthew 5:4, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall
be comforted. This is one of at least 3 Beatitudes (v6-7) that speak of a
lack of a quality and then the fullness of that quality, thus, pointing out
anew the cyclical nature of life. Are you seemingly stuck permanently in a
storm? It’ll pass...and return. A dear former mentor taught that life goes in 7
year cycles like the plenteous years for Joseph in Egypt followed by the famine
years. Check out your life: ages 0-7; 8-14; 15-21; 22-28, etc. My life is a
very close pattern of feast & famine to those years.
- Saturday, 7/15/17 John
12:7, Then said Jesus, Let her alone:
against the day of my burying hath she kept this. Jesus defended and
shielded people from criticism when possible. (Of course, this means He was
alert and aware of surrounding circumstances, and the possibility of dissent.) 3 John 3, For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren
came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the
truth. A common misconception that “walking in truth” means doing “church
things” 24/7. God gave us our individual tastes and interests. He said we’re
not to have other gods “before [him],” NOT “have NO other gods.”
- Sunday, 7/16/17 Luke
8:10, And he said, Unto you it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables;
that...they might not see, and...they might not understand. What was
special about the apostles that they were “given
to know”? Desire to know... We can do that. Psalm
119:10, With my whole heart have I sought
thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. I sense a feeling of the
psalmist worrying that he’d end up messing up and thereby wasting all the time
he’s spent seeking God. Don’t quit on the Lord and throw away decades of
investment in the things pertaining to the kingdom. A little tingle or a few
more coins in your pocket aren’t worth it...stay faithful. “Oh, don’t wander
from His commandments.” See
Luke 9:11-17. Learn what the Lord did in
the Bible so as to not be thrown for a loop today. The apostles cared about the welfare of the
20,000 people: they suggested to the Lord to send them off to buy food. He
said, “Give ye them to eat,” Luke
9:13. 1) God may put you into a
situation that is difficult. 2) Propose
and attempt to implement your best solution, but, 3) He may reject your reasonings (not you)
and instead, tell you to do the impossible.
4) Argue all you want to, but He doesn’t rescind commands. 5) Do all He commands. 6) Put the ball in His court and let Him do
what He wants to do.
- Monday, 7/17/17 2
Corinthians 9:1, For as touching the
ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.
Conviction....I often pray for people in need, but feel that I don’t DO a lot.
That needs to change. I wish it could be said that it was unnecessary to talk
to me about serving the saints... :( Psalm 119:25, My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou
me according to thy word. We’ve all been there: tired, dragged out, lagging
behind; and we try to get perked up by being around somebody, or going to a
party, or by food, or something else from the world around us. But, it’s a
basic biological fact: life must be gotten from life. Something that is dead
cannot impart life, and everything around us is dead and dying. If you need to
reinvigorate yourself, plug into LIFE. The word “quicken” means to be made
alive. Go read and meditate on the word of God...you’ll perk up your spirit. Luke 9:45, But they understood not this saying, and it
was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of
that saying. Leaders, teachers, bosses, SS teachers: realize that your
pupils might not understand, and might fear to ask you. Here, Jesus was the
best Teacher ever, but He was also the most loving and tactful one. The 12 knew
of His love, and yet were scared. Be aware of this potential in your students,
regardless of how loving you act and how supportive of a class atmosphere you
create, and realize that you may have to ask them questions to ascertain their
level of comprehension.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bible thoughts from some others:
- Acts 9:27, But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared
unto them how he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him and how he
had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Praise the Lord for
Barnabas, and those who defend men of God.
- Matt 13:25, But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and
went his way. This is a picture of the churches of Jesus Christ in America
today: Good men have compromised, refused to fight and run off the enemy, and
to protect her.
- 1 Sam 16:23a, And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David
took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well. It’s
too bad our modern day psychiatric therapies do not learn from the past and put
no profit in music.
- Pro 14:27, The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares
of death. It pays to live a little bit scared of doing evil and not doing
right. All we need to do is check His dealing with the rebelliousness and
wickedness of His chosen people.
- 1 Sam 17:36, Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the
living God. Real men are not intimidated, nor do they back down from a
fight against evil and wickedness.
- Ps 82:3, Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
We need to practice this in our churches, our nation, and our lives.
- If a man
cannot forgive someone, then he must live in the bondage of God's
unforgiveness, not of Salvation, but of spiritual stroke. (Matthew 6:15)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Miscellaneous
thoughts from others:
- Patience is not about how long you wait, but about
how well you behave while waiting.
-
When you fail, just because you learn one way that won't work doesn't mean you
automatically know what will work. Learn to seek counsel.
- You will fall to your Goliath tomorrow if you fail
to fight your little temptations that nobody knows about today. But you know.
- You will
surrender today, either to sin or to the Saviour.
- Why should
a saved sinner be given less grace than a lost sinner? It makes no sense to me.
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