Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:13-14 NIV

It requires only an ounce of grace and a thimble full of brains to hold a grudge; but to entirely forget an injury is truly beautiful.

The Defender

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman Š

September 18

"Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1). The crafty foe engages an innocent Eve in conversation and controversy and he knows he has her.

Humans don't like restraints, especially moral ones. The serpent deftly touched on the one tree Adam and Eve were told was off limits. They didn't even realize what was happening. And he subtlety puts into our minds what we don't have, and so keeps on fostering discontent and distrust.

Helen Keller, deaf and blind, said, "So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied."

Pat Nordman Š

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions With links to the entire devotion
Spurgeon's Morning for September 18	Spurgeon's Evening for September 18
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." - Galatians 5:25	"And they follow me." - John 10:27
The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian.	We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for he has a right to lead us wherever he pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price-let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood.

dbiblc.gif (5194 bytes)

September 18 Da 10:1 - 12:13

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

Paul was in a shipwreck off the shore of Malta.
How many people were aboard this wrecked ship ?

Previous question and Answer:

What was the name of Ruth's first husband?

Mahlon (Ruth 4:10)

Today's Devotion

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

At the Gait

by Pat Nordman

"Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night...."

(Isaiah 60:11)

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city."

(Revelation 22:14)

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."

(John 14:6)

The Word of God begins with a gate closing on Adam and Eve. Imagine their hopelessness! But in Revelation 22:14 we have the glorious idea of entering the gate into the Everlasting City, and this gate will always stand open for us.

In Isaiah we are told that "He will be. . .a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate." Isaiah 28:6. What is our battle at the gate of life but to "get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every kind of malice," (Ephesians 4:31), all the evil works of the flesh, and go on to develop the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,22).

Jesus died outside the gate as the worst of criminals that we could enter through the gate: "And Jesus also suffered outside the city [gate] to make the people holy through his own blood." Hebrews 13:12. Jesus became the gate so that we who enter will be saved. This will be our theme of gratitude for eternity!

"So let us go out to him beyond the city walls [that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be de- spised] to suffer with him there, bearing his shame." Hebrews 13:13 TLB. We must be willing to bear the cross and the crown of thorns if we would share the crown of life with Him: "Be faith- ful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.".

Pat NordmanŠ

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

Jesus became the gate so that we who enter will be saved. This will be our theme of gratitude for eternity!

More Walking Through the Darkness

T
H
I
N
K

A
B
O
U
T

I
T

~ Who Among Us is Qualified ~

This story comes from a Sunday school ministry in the part of New York City that has been rated the "most likely place to get killed." Pastor Bill Wilson has been stabbed twice, shot at, and had a member of his team killed:

"One Puerto Rican lady, after getting saved in church, came to me with an urgent request. She didn't speak a word of English, so she told me through an interpreter, 'I want to do something for God, please.'

" 'I don't know what you can do,' I answered.

" 'Please, let me do something,' she said in Spanish.

" 'Okay. I'll put you on a bus. Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids.'

"So every week she rode a different bus--we have fifty of them--and loved the children. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap, and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: 'I love you. Jesus loves you.'

"After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. 'I don't want to change buses anymore. I want to stay on this one bus,' she said.

"The boy didn't speak. He came to Sunday school every week with his sister and sat on the woman's lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, 'I love you and Jesus loves you.'

"One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, 'I-I love you, too.' Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.

"That was 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. At 6:30 that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash.

" 'I love you and Jesus loves you.' Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life--from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English.

"Who among us is qualified to minister? Who among us even knows what to do? Not you; not me. But I ran to an altar once, and I got some fire and just went.

"So did this woman who couldn't speak English. And so can you."

— Bill Wilson in Charisma (10/96). Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:11