For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17 (NIV)

The soul that mounts up to heaven's kingdom cannot fail to triumph.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

July 28

God has given us such beauty and we walk by it every day. In her wonderfilled book about a certain unreachable child, One Child, Torey L. Haden tells of a difficult little girl who she graced with a flower and the child's reaction to the flower: "Tenderly she reached out and caressed one of the daffodils...Holding the flower gently and stroking its golden cup, she smiled...`My heart do be so big,' she whispered, `it be so big and I do reckon I be about the happiest kid for it.'

When is the last time we held a flower in our palm and saw life's astonishments? "My heart do be so big...!"

Pat Nordman ©

July 29

"Only...among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor" (Mark 6:4).

O! the grief felt by those who want so much to share the hope and the joy of Christ Jesus with their families...
Take heart from this sad commentary by Jesus Himself on the ignorance and hardheartedness of those we would bring to Him. Familiarity bred contempt for the Man who wanted to do a mighty work there. But He could not, and neither can we, much as our heart is breaking to do so. How we long to take the grieving son into our arms and present God but he seeks comfort in gods.

Our comfort is in knowing Jesus loves our beloved even more than we do.

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for July 28	Spurgeon's Evening for July 28
"So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee." – Psalm 73:22	"Who went about doing good" - Acts 10:38
Think how often you have chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure was a root of bitterness to you! Surely if we know our own heart we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly; and conscious of this "foolishness," ...	A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts.

Spurgeon's Morning for July 29	Spurgeon's Evening for July 29
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." - John 6:37	"Nevertheless I am continually with thee." – Psalm 73:23
Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words "shall come." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may come if they will, but they "shall come."	Here is comfort for the tried and afflicted soul; vexed with the tempest within--look at the calm without. "Nevertheless"--O say it in thy heart, and take the peace it gives. "Nevertheless I am continually with thee."

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July 28 Ec 1:1 - 4:16
July 29 Ec 5:1 - 8:17

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Today's Devotion

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

THE WAY

by Pat Nordman

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God."

(Luke 12:6)

Paul Harvey tells about the farmer who heard irregular thumping sounds against his kitchen storm door. He went over and watched as tiny sparrows beat in vain against the glass in an attempt to get to the warmth inside. The farmer bundled up and plodded through the fresh snow to get to the barn door and open it for the freezing birds. He switched on the light and threw some hay into a corner for them. But the sparrows hid in the darkness. The man tried various schemes to get the birds into the barn, but nothing worked. They could not comprehend that he was trying to help them. Finally, the farmer returned to his house and watched the doomed sparrows with deep sorrow. He thought to himself, "If only I could become a bird — one of them — just for a moment. Then I wouldn't frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety." At that moment he also grasped the reason Jesus was born.

For those who doubt Jesus' existence, there is an interesting passage from The Works of Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews:

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, — a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross* (*A.D. 33, April 3), those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Jesus lived and died that He might show us the way to warmth and safety!

Send a note to © Pat Nordman, the writer of this devotion..

Jesus lived and died that He might show us the way to warmth and safety!

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