II know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 TLB

Today it seems that we are constantly being told by pop-psych gurus that we have great value. At the same time we are being told by the world that we are wrong in nearly everything we do. Self-esteem is important. Without self-esteem we can live miserable lives. The difficult thing is in how we find our self-esteem. We don’t have to belittle others to have self-esteem. We don’t have to over inflate ourselves and our own value to find self-esteem. PBB

As usual God has the answer. With God’s help and care we can find our true value. With God’s help we can develop a healthy self-esteem.
Each of us possesses incredible value because we are children of the Creator, who has a specific plan for our lives.

Dr. James Dobson

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

June 25

"Many church members think that if they do nothing wrong and make no trouble they are all right. Not at all, sir, not at all. We have a chariot, and we are all engaged to drag it. Some of you do not put out your hands to pull; well then, the rest of us have to labor so much the more, and the worst of it is, we have to draw you also. While you do not add to the strength which draws, you increase the weight that is to be drawn.

"It is all very well for you to say, `I do not hinder you.' You do hinder, and you cannot help hindering. If a man's leg does not help him in walking, it certainly hinders him." Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for June 25	Spurgeon's Evening for June 25
"Get thee up into the high mountain" - Isaiah 40:9	"The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot." - Genesis 8:9
Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is.	If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of his preciousness.

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June 25 Ezra 3:1 - 5:17

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

How old was Noah when God sent the flood?

Previous question and Answer:

What woman had Jesus driven seven demons out of?

Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2)

Today's Devotion

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Job 16:5 (NIV)

Touched

by Cathy Vinson

"We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize (be touched) with our weakness..."

Hebrews 4:15

Jesus sympathizes...to only grasp what this means! The word itself (sympathize = with, to suffer) means to be touched with, to suffer with, to have a fellow feeling with, to be affected similarly.

This bears out in a story shared by the late John Wimber in his ministry. As a result of an earlier rape, a woman over time had become hardened and cold to God. She could not reconcile where God was when this horrible abuse happened to her.

By the time she finally met with John Wimber, the signs of hardening had done their work and were visible upon her gestures and demeanor. As her story came forth, and clenched teeth spit out "Where was God?", John Wimber sensed words, radical words, arise in his spirit. He spoke them out..."When you were raped, Jesus was raped, too."

At this, the woman broke, and what proceeded opened anew the womb of a dear woman to Jesus' mending ministry. These were the words waiting to be heard for those years of strife. They were the words to penetrate a hurt, hard heart.

He is "touched" by our inability to be strong, lack of resources to produce results... Just unable to get it together, weak. Avoid the natural sense of cowering away in shame. Come, come. There is One who is touched in the heavens and moving towards you. His love may be unexplainable, but don't miss experiencing how He is affected by it!

Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.

He is "touched" by our inability to be strong, lack of resources to produce results... Just unable to get it together, weak.

Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE