"For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace."

Ec. 3:1- 8 (KJV) (NIV)

Successful people are at the right place at the right time to a great extent because they have learned how to take certain action steps in proper sequence. They have learned that scriptural truth, "to everything there is a season,/ A time for every purpose under heaven." They know that everything they desire has an appropriate place and time for accomplishment, and toward that end, they set their priorities in certain orders, prepare themselves in certain ways, and refuse to give in to discouragement or failures along the way.

— Denis Waitley, Timing is Everything Swindoll

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

August 2

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1:5).

"The birth of a little child reveals God; the helplessness of a little child proves providence; the innocence of a little child illustrates heaven; the death of a little child implies immortality. Surely no little one sent into an earthly home, even but for a day, and bequeathing these beautiful and sublime lessons can be thought to have come and gone in vain." W.R. Alger.

"But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace" (Galatians 1:15). Yes, He plannedand still plansfor us.

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for August 2	Spurgeon's Evening for August 2
"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." – Ephesians 1:11	"So she gleaned in the field until even." - Ruth 2:17
Is there a fish in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom.	A humble heart is a great help towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving word is not received except with meekness.

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August 2 Isa 5:1 - 9:21

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

What was the name of the wife of Lapidoth and for what is she famous??

Previous question and Answer:

Hannah was the mother of Samuel. What was the name of Hannah's husband?

Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:8)

Today's Devotion

But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)

Short Circuiting

by Cathy Vinson

"In that day you will question Me nothing...until now you have asked nothing in My Name; [but now] ask..."

(Jn 16:21-24)

One wonders when we consider the complexity of our own human problems, and how many questions arise from these, and yet see little detailed description of them in Scripture. Problems have always been complex. Did the earlier Church know something perhaps we do not.

When Paul encourages a church so they would not grieve "even as others who have no hope" (1 Th 4:13), do we? Are we grieving over problems just as the world? Or are we truly holding in hand a Hope. This kind of Hope does not find a necessary overfocus on the problem. "Have" (echo) means to hold in hand or to hold fast. "Hope" (elpis) means favorable and confident expectation.

JB Phillips writes: "The Holy Spirit has a way of short-circuiting human problems. Indeed, in exactly the same way as Jesus Christ in the flesh cut right through the matted layers of tradition and exposed the real issue:...so we find here [in Acts] the Spirit of Jesus dealing not so much with problems as with people. Many problems comparable to modern complexities never arise here because the men and women concerned were of one heart and mind in the Spirit...Since God's Holy Spirit cannot conceivably have changed one iota through the centuries;...He is perfectly
prepared to short circuit, by an inflow of love, wisdom and understanding, many human problems today."

An oversimplification? One would need only look where such simplicity has been tried and proven effective.

Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I HAVE (to hold fast in hand) I give to you, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth..." (Acts 3:6). Does it help us to know WE HAVE the Name that is above every Name, we have it in hand?

This is a wondrous lesson to me one who loves questions and analyzations. But where is there an end to such? May the Name short circuit that which carries no power. "And His Name, through and by faith in His Name, has made this man whom you see and recognize well and strong. The faith which is through and by Him has given the man this perfect soundness before all of you" (Acts 3:16).

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

Since God's Holy Spirit cannot conceivably have changed one iota through the centuries;...He is perfectly prepared to short circuit, by an inflow of love, wisdom and understanding, many human problems today.

Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE

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Cleaning Out, by Phil Ware

Whew! It was tough, but we got it done. Instead of waiting till Spring, we launched into cleaning out the garage and the attic. It seemed like a good time -- it was the right temperature, we were going to have to put away the Christmas stuff anyway, and all of us were home. Sure, it was a big, dirty, ugly job, but we launched into it.

We've gotten rid of a bunch of junk that we were saving for no apparent reason. Anything that hasn't been used in several years is now gone. We either threw it away or set it aside for a resale shop. No more tripping over it. No more arguing about it. No more letting it clutter up our lives. Our garage and attic are neat, clean, and uncluttered. It's a minor miracle.

Now comes the hard part: cleaning out the junk in my heart and head that I've been saving for no apparent reason! It's one thing to get a new start on a new year, a new day, or a new life, but for it to be really new, we've got to put down the old bags of garbage and junk. As Rich Mullins put it in one of his last songs, it often seems "we can't see what's ahead and we cannot get free of what we've left behind" (from the song "Hard to Get").

But we can get free. We can clean out the clutter. We may not know what's ahead, but we can let ourselves go free from what's behind. It's not easy. We're not like God who can forgive the past and then forget it. In fact, the more we try to forget something, the more we seem to remember it. But we can quick picking it up and looking at it. We can set it aside and make room for new things. We don't have to keep tripping over the same clutter. We can clean it out by giving it up to the Lord -- let him forgive it and take lordship over it. But we must give it up -- stack up the bundles of our past regrets, mistakes, sins, and hurts and give them up. It may mean writing all our regrets down on a sheet of paper and burning them or burying them. Or it may mean mentally jotting them down and visualizing Jesus taking an eraser and removing them completely. But we must give them up for us to get on to something new!

I'm not suggesting we simplistically pretend our mistakes and sins didn't happen. We can't stop consequences from our past from sometimes reappearing. But we can quit picking up the problems and "what iffing" them to death! We can quit going over them again and again in our minds. We can clean them out and if we re-find them, or they re-find us, we can consciously give them up again!

Peter denied the Lord three times in his most needed hour. Paul persecuted Christians before he knew the Lord. Neither could completely escape his past. But they chose to set them aside and not live with them. Instead, they chose to live for the Lord and let him take care of the past. As Paul put it, "Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to thelife above." (Philippians 3:13-14)

So how about the clutter in your heart? Is there anything you need to clean out and throw out so you can go on to the Lord's future for you? Then clean it out and let him help you start fresh and finish strong!

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