GOLDEN WORDS

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

  Jeremiah 29:11  NIV



  Imagine, God plans to give us success this year; to give us enthusiasm, expectation and a perspective of the excellent in life.

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!" (Psalm 139:17). Thank You for Your concern for our physical and spiritual well-being, God. There isn't a moment that You don't ache for our victory in life. May we always believe this, even on the dark days. And let us remember, with You, anything is possible this year.  

—   Pat Nordman

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman

January 5

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" 1 Thessalonians 5:18; "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Job 2:10b.

What faith it takes to give thanks in ALL circumstances, especially the circumscribed ones! God's will becomes ours when we can accept divine providence as our confidence of His divine love, as well. The seemingly unbearable yoke that presses on our neck becomes lined with down when we can say, "Thank You, Father, for this, too!"

"Then Jesus looked up and said, `Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me...'" John 11:41. What a perfect prayer of faith! We, too, can look up and thank Him and know that our Father hears our prayers. "Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear" Isaiah 65:24. What comfort to know that we are heard and our anguished prayer answered, even before we present our petitions!

Again Jesus is our example. He said this at the grave of one of His dearest friends, Lazarus. He wept for Lazarus, as we weep for our loved ones when we stand beside the grave. In His intense humanity at His friend's grave, Jesus gave us faith that God understands our brokenness and hope that our anguish will be turned into joy.

Thanksgiving is a mark of the Christian; an unthankful heart is a mark of the wicked. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" Romans 1:21. "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be...ungrateful..." 2 Timothy 3:1,2. Gratitude is the umbrella that covers nobility.

Pat Nordman ©

 

T H I N K A B O U T I T

Take Time To Love An ethics professor at Princeton Seminary asked for volunteers for an extra assignment. Fifteen students showed up. He divided the group of fifteen into three groups of five each. He instructed the first group of five to proceed immediately across the campus to a certain spot; if they did not get there in fifteen minutes their grade would be affected. A minute or two later he instructed the second group to also proceed across the campus to the same spot; but they were given forty-five minutes to get there. After they left he instructed the last group to go across the campus to that spot too; but they were given three hours for the trip. Now, unknown to any of these students, the teacher had arranged with three students from the Drama Department to meet them along the way, acting as people in great need: the first one they met covered his head with his hands and moaned out loud as though in great pain; the second, a little bit further along the way, was on some steps lying face down as if unconscious; the third, on the very steps of the destination, acted out an epileptic seizure. You know what the ethics professor discovered? Not one of the first group stopped, two of the second group stopped, and all five of the third group stopped.

Today's' fact about Time and its measurement, a time quotation and a New Year Inspiration.

New Year 10

January 5  Ge 13:1-15:21 Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

 

The Sacrifice No other sacrifice would do. God sent His son to die for me and you. Let this cup pass from me, Jesus cried, It wasn't enough though, until, He died. On the cross again Jesus cried, He had suffered enough so He died, Now God was fully satisfied. Never again, would He be tested and tried. Now we come to God, in Jesus name, The One that was and will always be the same. How would I have ever known the way. If Jesus had not come and died that day. God thought His plan out very well, Because He knew without His Son's death, I would go to hell. Then the time came and He died for me that day. Many years have come and gone, And things are certain to go wrong, Satan sees to it that it happens that way, But sacrifice was sufficient for me on that day. Now, no other sacrifice is needed, My life according to His word I have heeded. His word now always shows me His way, All because He sacrificed His life for me that day. So now the only sacrifice I ask of you. Is to give your life to me and I will show you what to do. And I will keep you as you go down life's pathway. As I listened to my Father and died for you that day. Philip C. Vinson 11/1/99

Philip Vinson has given permission to copy and use poems as the need arises. He only requests that you not amend or change them in any way.

 

 

Today's  Devotion

 

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. Job 16:5 (NIV) To Know Again by Cathy Vinson When I first met my husband, he shared with me his love of reading. As the years have passed, his library of books has greatly accumulated. Reading has just become being taken for granted as a way of life. But what is reading..words written on a page? letters of the alphabet that we have come to recognize? What is reading, and what is it meant to be and do? The desire to even strip down this most common act to its basics came by just seeing the original meaning the word "reading" has derived from. Reading (anaginosko; ana-again, ginosko-to know) means to know again, recognize, to know certainly. So reading comes from the concept of knowing again. Take, for example, Chuck Swindoll in his study. He experiences a truth helpful to himself and others, and in order for it to be known again, he writes it down. As we come along at a later date and read a book of his, we recognize the letters he penned that formed words that formed ideas that now form experiences...hence the revelation he had known earlier can be known by us, and experienced. It is known again, and reading has reached its potential. Isn't this the highest calling of reading? Isn't this what the reading of Scripture is all about? We can know today experientially, we can know intimately (as Adam "knew" Eve experientially) what was known at an earlier date and time when the writer of a Scripture was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and we can be changed! This being the intent, what awesome possibilities are in reading! To take this consideration of the basics of "reading" one step further, we, too, are called "an epistle...known and read (anaginosko) of all men" (2 Cor 3:2). How do books vs humans such as ourselves connect together? Rather than an alphabet, WE ourselves are the "alphabet" that provide recognizable letters and symbols through our lives that can be acknowledged by the world of onlookers. They are "knowing and experiencing again" the Gospel message that has been preached to them. They see this through the testimony of change that has first happened within our hearts (3:3). We become the message read to the world. When Jesus above asked the same Pharisees who sought to tempt Him (Mt 19:4) if they had "read," He was asking a question of relationship as they had poured over and sought to apprehend the Holy Scriptures. Let us take the admonition to heart and value reading as being the open gate of opportunity to the experience of many before us who have entrusted through their writing down: to us another knowing again. "Haven't you read...?" (Matthew 19:4)   WE ourselves are the "alphabet" that provide recognizable letters and symbols through our lives that can be acknowledged by the world of onlookers. Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion. Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE

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