GOLDEN WORDS
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your
heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:18-20 NIV
This verse does not give us a song to sing -- but it
tell us to keep on singing. When we are filled with the Spirit will be filled with JOY. We
can express this joy in song. Thankfully, we don't have to sing well -- just sing. Perhaps
you are not the type to become so dramatic and expressive in you faith. Everyone is
different. It is not so terribly important how much Holy Spirit you have. It is important
how much the Holy Spirit has of you.
Never mind how beautiful or pitiful you may sound. Sing loud enough to drown out those
defeating thoughts that normally clamor for attention. Release yourself from that cage of
introspective reluctance --SING OUT! You are not auditioning for the choir, you are making
melody with your heart.
If you listen closely when you're through, you may hear the hosts of heaven shouting for
joy. Then again, it might be your neighbor ... screaming for relief.
— Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life
Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman
January 9
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" Ezekiel 36:26 NIV.
"You show that you are a letter from Christ...written not with ink but with the
Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" 2
Corinthians 3:3.
Christ has written with sacred blood right across our hard hearts, "Forgiven!"
We are "writeprotected," to use a computer term. No one else can come along and
overwrite that blessed word, "Forgiven." "I, even I, am he who blots out
your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more" Isaiah 43:25.
O! how grateful we are for this gift!
Once absolved, we become living messages and take on the new responsibility of being
legible and intelligible. Letters are written to be read and understood. We don't want to
misrepresent our Lord by a wavering and unsteady script that sends an inaccurate meaning.
A written epistle is permanent; for that reason, we especially want it to be understood.
1) Omissions can change the intention of the writer; the lack of a certain grace which is
a mark of a Christian can cause a fateful translation not intended by the writer.
2)
Indistinctness, where a word can be misinterpreted, can alter purposes; "How long
will [we] waver between two opinions?" 1 Kings 19:21.
3) Worst of all are unsightly
blots that stand out so conspicuously as to cause us to be of no effect at all: "Get
rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of
malice" Ephesians 4:31.
Jesus has blotted out our transgressions for His sake and
ours; let us not blot out His goodness and mercy to others by misrepresenting Him as His
epistles for others!
Pat Nordman ©
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Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions |
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Spurgeon's Morning for January 9 |
Spurgeon's Evening January 9 |
"I will be their God." -Jeremiah 31:33
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"Serve the Lord with gladness." - Psalm 100:2
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| Dost thou want anything but God? Is not his all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight. Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of Heaven. | Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. |
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BE A GOOD STEWARD OF YOUR TIME
If we would define time as "the habitual expenditure of the stewardship of life," we might take better care of how we spend our minutes, hours, and days. All of it is God's time. Ten ways to take control of your time: 1 Realization. Life is a brief appearance. Realize how little time you really have and how quickly it will run through your fingers like sand. 2 Preparation. Take time to plan. Think for a few minutes in the morning, before rushing aimlessly out the door. Ten minutes spent in planning will save at least an hour during the day. That's good stewardship. 3 Standardization. They say you can tell how disorganized someone is by how many different sizes and types of paper they use to write things down. Try to standardize your time-tracking and life-planning tools. 4 Delegation. In a commitment to mutual effectiveness and growth, share the load with others. As you are ready to do your task, ask, "Is there anyone who can accomplish this as well as, or better than, I can?" Usually we think we don't have time to delegate. In reality, you don't have time to do otherwise. If you think you can do it quicker or better, you may be right, but not in the long run. Besides, how will others learn unless you give them an opportunity. 5 Communication. Time-management is a team effort. Remember that you are interdependent with others in what you do with your time. Ask for feedback from co-workers or family. 6 Evaluation. Periodically, it is important to look back as well as ahead. While tedious, track how you have spent a day. Once you've done that a few times, make a serious investigation of how your activities matched your plans and accomplished your goals. 7 Elimination. You can't add important obligations without removing the less important items. Eliminating time commitments is not always easy or popular. It is essential. Goals, priorities, values, purpose, identity, and theology will guide you in what to eliminate. 8 Adaptation. Become flexible. You need to be sensitive to God's leading in executing your well-laid plans. There are no such things as interruptions in a God-planned life. 9 Integration. Take time each day to review your "foundation for living." Make sure that you are investing your time in eternity as you accomplish your daily tasks. 10 Eternization. This means "To make something eternal." Ask yourself, "What can I do in this minute or hour that will matter in eternity?" Take the advice of Jonathan Edwards who said, "I will never do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life." Edwards understood the importance of eternal significance.
Daniel D. Henderson is senior pastor of Arcade Baptist Church in Sacramento, Calif. From The 7 Most Important Questions You'll Ever Answer by Daniel Henderson with P.C. Roberts. Copyright (c) 1998 by Daniel Henderson. |
Today's' final fact about Time and its measurement, a time quotation and a New Year Inspiration.
Absolutely
Worthless Mark 2: 5-10 A friend once showed John Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which a
blot of ink had been made. "Nothing can be done with it now," said the owner.
"It is absolutely worthless." Adapted from Moody Monthly God forgives – forgives not capriciously, but with wise, definite,
Divine pre-arrangement; forgives universally, on the grounds of an atonement and on the
condition of repentance and faith. Richard Salter Storrs More Walking Through the Darkness Religion
News RealAudio format Return to DM's HOME
January 9 Genesis 25:1- 27:46
Linked to Bible Gaitway TM
Today's Devotion
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick
of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes
sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that
they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your
hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee;
or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man
hath power on earth to forgive sins...
Ruskin made no reply but carried the handkerchief away with him. Some time later, he sent
it back to the owner. His friend was quite surprised. He could hardly believe his eyes. In
a most skillful and artistic way Ruskin had made a design in India ink, using the ugly
blot as a center for the design.
In the same way, a blotted life is not necessarily a useless life. Jesus can forgive our
sins. He can make us whole. He can make a life beautiful, even if it once was blotted. All
we need to do is to yield to Him.
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