Today's Soul Food —   November 20

Golden Words

      


 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 

James 4:6  NIV

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Humility is a good quality. Pride was the sin of Satan. Pride causes us to believe that we deserve all that we can see, touch, or imagine. Pride causes us to develop appetites for greed instead of needs. 

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True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us.

Tryon Edwards



Daily Meditations by  Pat Nordman ©

 


November 20

"Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, `I was only joking'" (Proverbs 26:19b).

Practical jokes are not funny and lies are no less lies because they are spoken in jest to the destruction of the victim, literally or figuratively. What a pity that one person will tell lies to and of another and, when caught, say it is but a joke. What an imposition on the trust and credulity of those who take life and others seriously and, in that sacred trust, accept what is said and are mocked for their faith in that person. The perpetrator loses his most valuable gift: his credibility.


Pat Nordman ©

 


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Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions

With links to the entire devotion

Spurgeon's Morning for November 20

Spurgeon's Evening for November 20

"0 Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul."

- Lamentations 3:58

"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks."

- Proverbs 30:26

 

Let us, by the aid of the gracious Comforter, shake off those doubts and fears which so much mar our peace and comfort. Be this our prayer, that we may have done with the harsh croaking voice of surmise and suspicion, and may be able to speak with the clear, melodious voice of full assurance.

The master of ten thousand chariots is not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the mountain’s cleft. In Jesus the weak are strong, and the defenseless safe; they could not be more strong if they were giants, or more safe if they were in heaven.

 

   

 

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November 20  Romans 4:1 - 7:25

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM 

 

Current Bible Question



 What comes from sleeping two in a bed?    
 

Previous question and Answer:

When was an iron ax made to float on water?

2 Kings 6:5-7
But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.

 

 

Reverence Without Gratitude

I've been in places where I've felt reverence without gratitude. I remember several summers ago standing in the massive cathedral of Notre Dame, in the heart of Paris. As I stood there in the quietness, unexpectedly the six thousand pipes of the organ began to sound. They echoed through that building, shaking the thousand-year-old pillars. As I listened and looked up at the beauty of the light coming through the world-famous rose window, I was forced to sit down with the awe of the place. I cannot say that in my heart I suddenly felt gratitude. 

At another time, I stood outside the concentration camp at Buchenwald, East Germany. I experienced one of the most mysterious eerie feelings I ever had in my life. As I looked at the mounds of dirt, which were the mass graves of those who had been exterminated, I was moved with a sense of reverence for what happened there--but not with a sense of gratitude. 

-- Joel Gregory, "The Unlikely Thanker," Preaching Today, Tape No. 110.

 

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Today's  Devotion
 

 

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

 

Gift of Forgiveness 

by Pat Nordman 

 

Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV

I'm convinced that our mental and physical health depends on our attitude toward others and how we treat them. Included in this is forgiveness. In fact, if I could choose the one gift from God that I personally need to have and to give, it would be the gift of forgiveness both for others and for myself (by the way, have you forgiven yourself, dear reader?!).

Maltbie Babcock wrote years ago: "How sure we are of our own forgiveness from God. How certain we are that we are made in His image, when we forgive heartily and out of hand one who has wronged us. Sentimentally we may feel, and lightly we may say, `To err is human, to forgive divine;' but we never taste the nobility and divinity of forgiving till we forgive and know the victory of forgiveness over our sense of being wronged, over mortified pride and wounded sensibilities. Here we are in living touch with Him who treats us as though nothing had happened -- who turns His back upon the past, and bids us journey with Him into goodness and gladness, into newness of life." Well, God asks that we do the same for others and ourselves.

We all know someone we are reluctant to forgive, for whatever reasons. There's that bit of pride that hides in the corner of our heart and flashes out to bite us when that certain person digs in with sarcasm and corrodes our self-esteem. After being bitten royally one day -- again -- I asked myself if someone else had said this same thing, would it have bothered me so much? What a surprise to realize that I wouldn't have thought once much less twice about it. But it was this person! Why? I still haven't figured it out!

But it was at that moment I realized that my attitude is wrong, and that I'm only hurting myself, not the other person who probably isn't even aware of what is happening. So I am learning to treat this person "as though nothing had happened." And if there is one certainty in life, it is this: love never fails! And it is God who gives us that love to love. What a revelation and relief to finally put aside how I feel and to will a love that only God can give. The great gift is that I truly love this person now!

© Pat Nordman

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

And if there is one certainty in life, it is this: love never fails! And it is God who gives us that love to love..

 

More Walking Through the Darkness

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Today's 'All the Rest' Fact and the 'Soul Food' Think About It are found combined for the Thanksgiving Season on the following pages:

Thanksgiving 1 - Thanksgiving 2 - Thanksgiving 3 - 
 Thanksgiving 4 - Thanksgiving 5 - Thanksgiving 6 -  
Thanksgiving 7 -  Thanksgiving 8 -  Thanksgiving 9 -  
Thanksgiving 10 -  Thanksgiving 11

 

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephes. 5:20

 

Today's Religion News
From Goshen Web News Service

 

 


All the Rest November 20



Today in History for November 20

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