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  Today's Soul Food —March 8
 

 

GOLDEN WORDS



For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead too.

James 2:26 KJV


For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

James 2:26  NASB


As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James 2:26 NIV

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Faith will beget us three things: Vision, Venture, Victory.

George W. Ridout

 

Daily Meditations by  Pat Nordman ©

 


March 8

"Those who look to him are radiant..." Psalm 34:5; "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12:2.

Walk down any street and count the happy faces! We don't need to worry about running out of enough fingers. Our generation seems harried and hurried, rushing with long faces to Nowheresville and Everywheresville. Technology has become our shepherd and goes before us and we will never catch up, physically or ethically. Poor God must weep at our woe.

"Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its hard appearance" Ecclesiastes 8:1. Wardlaw shares this about wisdom: "It does not dazzle and overpower by the studied brilliance of self display, but with soft and gentle radiance inspires delight, and wins affection; for of genuine wisdom, self diffident humility is the invariable associate. Such wisdom gives to the countenance the expression both of dignity and grace."

Moses came down from the lofty mountain where he had spent forty days with God. "He was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord" Exodus 34:29b. When we look to the world we are darkened in mind and face, for there is little there to brighten our day. When we look to the Word and Him who gave it, our minds and countenances are illuminated and we are granted wisdom to know what is truly excellent. We are given light for priorities and direction and, ultimately, joy. "So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast" Genesis 4:5. Then we have this contrast: "...They saw that his [Stephen's] face was like the face of an angel" Acts 6:15. They were of two different spirits. The difference lay in their hearts and it showed on their faces. Stephen was willing to offer himself and Cain, after he murdered his brother, asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4:9.

Pat Nordman ©

 


Today's Bible Question ?



At what age were the Hebrew boys to be circumcised?  


Previous question and Answer:

Where was Jesus when he turned water into wine?

Cana John 2:1-11

 

 

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions

Spurgeon's Morning for March 8

Spurgeon's Evening for March 8

 

"She called his name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand)."

-   Genesis 35:18

 

 

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

- Acts 14:22

 


To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. ... Dark clouds distil bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of evil.


It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them...


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March 8  Deuteronomy 1:1 - 2:37    

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM 



 

 As yet I do not have enough pages finished for each day of this wonderful season of lent. Pages will appear here sporadically through the Lenten season. 

Easter 1 | Easter 2 | Easter 3  




 


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Children


We are responsible for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak Popsicles before supper, who erase holes in math workbooks, who never find their shoes.

And we are responsible for those who stare at photographs from behind barbed wire, who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never "counted potatoes", who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead, who never go to the circus, who live in an x-rated world.

We are responsible for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish, who hug in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who cover themselves with Band-aids and sing off key, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who slurp their soup.

And we are responsible for those who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can't find any bread to steal, who don't have any rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser, whose monsters are real.

We are responsible for children who spend all of their allowance before Tuesday, who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church and scream on the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we are responsible for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who aren't spoiled by anybody, who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep, who live and move, but have no being.

We are responsible for children who want to be carried and for those who must, for those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance....for those we smother...and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

by Ina J. Hughes

 

 

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Today's  Devotion
 

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SUCCESS

 

 

"To one he gave five talents. . .to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability" Matthew 25:15

If we who claim to be Christian would claim the dormant power sealed within us and exercise whatever talents–gifts–God has graced us with and then use them for God and others, just think of the revolution that would take place on this earth! God never intended for any of us to be unsuccessful. In fact, He called us to be bright lights and preserving salt and people who serve.

Elbert Hubbard, a very successful man, described a successful person as one who tries, not cries; who works, not dodges; who shoulders responsibilities, not evades them; who gets under the burden instead of standing off, looking on, and giving advice. Charles Kingsley said: "The men whom I have seen succeed best in life have always been cheerful and hopeful men, who went about their business with a smile on their faces, and took the changes and chances of this mortal life like men, facing rough and smooth alike as it came." 

The following is a ladder of success: 0%-I won't; 10%-I can't; 20%-I don't know how; 30%-I wish I could; 40%-What is it?; 50%-I think I might; 60%-I might; 70%-I think I can; 80%-I can; 90%-I will; 100%-I did. Someone commented that success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Together that gives us the 100% of "I did." We moan that we have no talent and opportunities when it is perseverance and concentration we need.

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke. The birds don't worry about which of them sings best, either; they just do what is natural for them. Instead of worrying about others' talents, let us thank God for our own and get on with using them, for what we don't use, we soon lose.


© Pat Nordman

 

Elbert Hubbard, a very successful man, described a successful person as one who tries, not cries; who works, not dodges; who shoulders responsibilities, not evades them; who gets under the burden instead of standing off, looking on, and giving advice. 

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