GOLDEN WORDS
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has
been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7 NIV
Remember, LOVE is not a feeling – it is a
choice. Once one has chosen to love, then they need to act on that choice. Often with our
abilities alone it is impossible to love. Then we need to call on the love of God. The
Holy Spirit will empower us to love.
Love: It is the greatest thing that God can give us, for God himself is love. Love is the
greatest thing we can give to God, for it will also give ourselves, and carry with it all
that is ours.
— Jeremy Taylor
Love has a hem to her garment that reaches to the very dust. It sweeps the stains from the
streets and lanes, and because it can, it must.
Mother Teresa, Contemplative in the Heart of the World, 1985
Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman
January 11
"Where did you glean today?" Ruth 2:19.
Where have we gleaned? From what and whose fields have we gathered our sustenance? If the
field is sparse and rotten, we can't gather much that is good for us and, in turn, good
for those who depend on us for their spiritual nourishment. Whose field is it, God's or
Satan's? If we gather from Satan's field of the world, we have nothing but thorns and
thistles; if it is God's field, we will gather lilies in a white field. "Even now
[we] harvest the crop for eternal life" John 4:36.
What have we gleaned? Will it give our spirit strength and hope and commitment or will our
gleanings produce discouragement? Originally we were not supposed to know both good and
evil: "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil..." Genesis 2:16. What bitter and tainted
fruit has come from what we view and hear!
How have we gleaned? Is it with prayer that we will be worthy of our calling and our wage?
Is it with immense gratitude and recognition of who our Husbandman is, and that it is He
who has given us strength to learn and to earn? "But remember the Lord your God, for
it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth" Deuteronomy 8:18.
Who have we gleaned from? "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" 1
Corinthians 1:20b. Jesus chose twelve unlearned men to start His revolution of love and
not the learned of His day. It is Jesus we go to for true knowledge: "Seek first his
kingdom...and all [else] will be given to you..." Matthew 6:33.
Why have we gleaned? Is it for God's glory and honor? Is it to be of service to God's
people in the field of the world? Blessed are the meek, the gentle, the nurturers, for
they will reap the earth!
Pat Nordman ©
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Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions |
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Spurgeon's Morning for January 11 |
Spurgeon's Evening January 11 |
| "These have no root." -Luke 8:13
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"I have prayed for thee." - Luke 22:32
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Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a lively impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the word in the ear is one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another; superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart, and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one. |
How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never- ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, he pleads for us; and then we are not praying, he is advocating our cause, and by his supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. |
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What Time is it in Heaven
A contributor to the Reader's Digest tells this one: "One evening in Albany, New York, I asked a sailor what time it was. He pulled out a huge watch and replied, "It's 7:20." I knew it was later. "Your watch has stopped, hasn't it?" I asked. "No," he said, "I'm still on Mountain Standard Time. I'm from southern Utah. When I joined the navy, Pa gave me this watch. He said it'd help me remember home. When my watch says 5 a. m., I know Dad's rollin' out to milk the cows. And any night when it says 7:30 I know the whole family's around a well-spread table, and Dad's thankin' God for what's on it and askin' Him to watch over me, I can almost smell the hot biscuits and bacon. It's thinkin' about those things that makes me want to fight when the goin' gets tough," he concluded, "I can find out what time it is where I am easy enough. What I want to know is what time is it in Utah." — Reader's Digest What time it is by Heaven's clock is what matters, not what time it is in this world. — Duane Maxey
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What does it mean to
be called the children of God? "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not. " 1John 3:1 Outstanding! What could be greater than to be known as the children
of the King of Kings. What wonderful love is given us in allowing us to be born again and
thus to become God's children. A Father’s Love and Sacrifice Many years ago a boy came back to the city from which he had run away some
time before. He came riding in a box car, drunk and penniless. The next morning, while his
brain was still dull, he stopped a couple of men on the street and asked for money for a
meal. one of the men looked closely at him, and then said to the other, "I must ask
you to excuse me. I recognize here the son of an old friends and I must go with him."
But what he could not bring himself to say in the shock of the recognition was that it was
his own son who stood there. The father took the boy with him. He arranged his business so
he could be away from it, and gave up his life to his son. He never left him day or night,
and never by word or sign rebuked him for the past, but put all the strength of his soul
into the battle until after six months, one night in a city mission boy found Christ and
was saved. What a picture the story gives of the divine Father, seeking and striving with
wandering children, with no recrimination for the past, only an eager longing the sinner
come back into right relationship with his Maker. —Youth's Companion God’s love is primarily not a response to man’s love, but an
appeal to it. Edwin Lewis, A Philosophy of the Christian Revelation More Walking Through the Darkness Religion
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