GOLDEN WORDS
My GOD sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not
hurt me.
Daniel 6:22a NIV
Pray with confidence. When we can't see what God's doing, only faith believes
he's at work.
— Elisa Morgan
December 30
"You are those who have stood by me in My trials" (Luke 22:28).
Tenderly our precious Friend tells this to His disciples after they have just argued over who is the superior among them. Because of His nature, He could not bear to scold or
discourage them, for they were indeed His beloved friends. With us, too, it is our bits of nobility and generosity He quickly
recognizes and rewards.
We don't think about Jesus needing friends and affection. He turned grate-fully to His faithful
followers for personal emotion-al needs. He needs us, too.
December 31
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away" (Revelation 21:4).
What a celestial promise this is. We cannot explain suffering; it is an offense to us, but it surely
was—and still is—a worse offense to our Lamb, slain that He might lead us to serene springs of
living water and to the tree of life.
"There will be no more night. [We] will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give [us] light" (Revelation 22:5). We can only imagine, while clothed in
mortality, what it will be like to live for-ever with the Lamb whose light will for-ever dispel darkness. We will go from mourning to morning. Thank You, God, for Your love!
Pat Nordman ©
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Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions |
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Spurgeon's Morning for December 30 |
Spurgeon's Evening for December 30 |
| "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." - Ecclesiastes 7:8 |
"Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?" - 2 Samuel 2:26 |
You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." |
You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because others go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning. I will suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared to go on as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of grace, but having no heart in the matter. |
Spurgeon's Morning for December 31 |
Spurgeon's Evening for December 31 |
| "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." - John 7:37 |
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." - Jeremiah 8:20 |
Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Savior in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy! |
You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. |
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The
Right Use of Time Philip Yancey tells of a painting in the Prado Museum in Spain by Hans Baldung titled "The Stages of Life with Death." On the ground is a newborn baby. The baby is surrounded by three elongated figures. In the left of the painting is a beautiful young woman--nearly nude, alabaster skin, hair flowing down her back, the perfect picture of classical beauty. — Donald W. McCullough, "Now is the Time," Preaching Today, Tape No. 73. |
Today's' fact about Time and its measurement, a time quotation and a New Year Inspiration.
But my mouth would encourage you; comfort
from my lips would bring you relief. Job 16:5 (NIV) by Cathy Vinson "brought
to him one debtor of ten thousand talents, not having..." (Matthew 18:25)
Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found
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Today's Devotion
Not
Having
Can there be any more agonizing situation in all existence than to be empty-handed before
a Holy God when He is settling His accounts? "Tekel: you have been weighed in the
scales and been found wanting" (Dan 5:27), "cover your shameful nakedness"
(Rev 3:18). What do you do when you have nothing to cover with? Surely it is then that
this panicked expression finds accuracy: "They called to the mountains and the rocks,
'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him...!'" (Rev 6:16).
Do we know what shame feels like? Do we see our nakedness? When we do, we will desperately
cry out for mercy (Mt 18:26). Only because He is the compassionate King will Jesus cancel
the debt and add upon our shame His robe of righteousness.
We then turn to the brother who has missed the mark with us and sinned directly against
us. What are we doing with their nakedness, realized or not? Do we revel for a time in it?
Does it give us the needed edge of dominance we enjoy when another is indebted to us?
But they are naked, too, shamefully. What will we do with their vulnerability? Will we see
their nakedness and go outside to tell our 2
brothers (Gen 9:22)? We must let it slip away without hesitation, we must "turn the
other way" (see Gen 9:23), without viewing their dishonor, and cover their plight
with our release.
We have nothing to pay our debt to the Master, not even with our own soul. Neither does
the brother who offends. "'Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just
as I had with you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers until he should pay
back all he owed. 'This is how My Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you
forgive your brother from your heart'" (Mt 18:33-35).
Do we know what
shame feels like? Do we see our nakedness? When we do, we will desperately cry out for
mercy.
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