.I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then. Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper (Counselor or Comforter) to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come. When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment.

John 16:4-9

The Spirit cannot guide us...as long as we insist on finding our own way. It is as if we, groping along in the dark, are offered a powerful lantern to light our path, but refuse it, preferring to stumble along striking one flickering match after another. ... I can affirm from experience that allowing the Helper to guide one's life is an exciting, fulfilling way to live. His plans for each of us are so startlingly superior to anything we can imagine.

— Catherine Marshall

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

July 9

"The purpose of a book of meditations is to teach you how to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently if you pick up such a book and simply read it through you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun." Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation.

What a pity our progressive world has no time to think, to slow down and feel the breeze. Instead, the gentle breeze becomes a wind as we whiz through it. Perhaps our modern meditation could be, "In quietness and trust is your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for July 9	Spurgeon's Evening for July 9
"Forget not all His benefits." - Psalm 103:2	And God divided the light from the darkness." - Genesis 1:4
We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that He wrought all His mighty acts, and showed Himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare His arm for the saints who are now upon the earth.	A believer has two principles at work within him. In his natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles disagree.

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July 9 Job 1:1 - 4:21

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

Abram was brought out of what land?

Previous question and Answer:

How old was Moses when he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter?

4 months old. Acts 7:20-21

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

Today's Devotion

...and by his light I walked through darkness! JOB 29:3 NIV

Wait for the Lord

by Pat Nordman

"Wait for the Lord."

Psalm 27:14

Waiting has four purposes. It practices the patience of faith. It gives time for preparation for the coming gift. It makes the blessing the sweeter when it arrives. It shows the sovereignty of God — to give just when and as He pleases." Dr. James Vaughan, Streams in the Desert, V.2, January 4.

There is also a condition attached to our waiting: "Don't be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing." (Psalm 37:34 RSV). We are to attend to the little duties as well as to the large ones. Wait and work; pray for grace and then exercise it.

It is interesting that God also waits: "Then he waited for the harvest" Isaiah 5:2 RSV. He waits for us to regard His nature which proves His intelligence and beauty and goodness; He waits for us to consider history threaded through and held together with His justice and mercy, and whose mission it is to turn sin into righteousness; He waits for us to realize that the alternates of adversity and prosperity, friendship and enmity, sorrow and joy, are but the implements of His spiritual instruction that we may finally dwell in the mansions He has prepared for us.

Much time is wasted waiting for signs and wonders. Christ told the expectant crowd, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign" (Luke 11:29). In our day of the Gospel, which is filled with the plainest evidence, we do not need to use a flashlight to shine it on the Son who is the Light of the world and we don't need to dump our buckets of contaminated water into the Living Water. To ask a sign from God when He has already pledged numerous promises is sinful and insulting.

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Much time is wasted waiting for signs and wonders.

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