Today's Soul Food — April 6
 

GOLDEN WORDS



As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15: 9 -13  KJV  


"Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. "You are My friends, if you do what I command you.

John 15: 9 -13  NASB


As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends

 John 15: 9 -13  NIV

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It is love that asks, that seeks, that knocks, that finds, and is faithful to what it finds.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

 

Daily Meditations by  Pat Nordman ©

 


April 6

"For this is the Eternal's promise: `Those who survive the sword shall find grace in the dungeon'" Jeremiah 31:2 Moffatt; "About mid-night Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God..." Acts 16:25.

So how do we find grace in our dungeon of despair or fatigue or circumstances? What grace can there be in the dark night of our souls, the midnights of our lives? What is grace, anyway? And do we find it in the any-ones and anyhows and anywheres of our lives? Can we really sing songs in the strange land of affliction (Psalm 37:4), as did Paul and Silas? Yes, we can find grace in our cir-cum-stances, and we can sing songs in our dungeons, for God has promised that it is exactly when we are in the dungeon of dole that we will then find His com-passion.

We complain of our circumstances; we think it is impossible to live a believing life in the environment and situation that makes a knot out of our heart and life. But frustration can become fruitfulness, and resistance can become resourcefulness. Corrie Ten Boom found grace in her dungeon. She shares the horror of her and her sister Besie's imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, Ravensbruck, and watching her sister Betsie die, in her classic book, The Hiding Place. Corrie survived the camp, her private and terrible dungeon, and found strength and grace to bring comfort to mil-lions worldwide.

There are very few of us who will ever be called upon to endure what these people suffered. We have no excuse to lay in our dungeon, not if we believe that all things are possible, even serenity in the midst of what is a humanly hopeless situation. The foundation for the dungeon experience is laid while we are in the Light, in prayer and study of God's precious Word. One doesn't learn to swim when one is drowning, and the anchor must be se-cured before the storm; otherwise, it is too late.

Pat Nordman ©

 

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions

Spurgeon's Morning for April 6

Spurgeon's Evening for April 6

birds in winter

 

"In the name of the Lord I will destroy them."

-  Psalm 118:12
 

"Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp."

-  Hebrews 13:13

Our Lord Jesus, by his death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man.

The Christian's reason for leaving the camp of the world's sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master.


   

 

 

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 April 6  Judges 10:1 - 11:40

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM 


 

  


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Fearing Death

  A boy and his father were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon, when a bumblebee flew in the car window. The little boy, who was allergic to bee stings, was petrified. The father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. The boy grew frantic as it buzzed by him. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his palm. There stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he asked. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you." We do not need to fear death anymore. Christ has died and risen again. He has taken the sting from death. 

-- Adrian Dieleman, Waupun, Wisconsin. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 1. 

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:11

 

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Today's  Devotion
 

Participation

 

"Where He leads me, I will follow. When He calls me, I will hear."


Twila Paris

Gethsemane offered several levels of participation for the Disciples.

Sit. This was all that was asked of the remaining eight disciples. The Lord asked of them to sit while their Lord entered His anguish. "Sit here while I go over there to pray" (Mt 26:36).

Stay and watch. Closed in with His closest disciples, His condition began to become apparent..."He began to be sorrowful and troubled." His deepest feelings were expressed to them, mere men. To them, He said "Stay here and keep watch with Me" (Mt 26:38).

Watch and pray. In the heaviest, most ponderous moment, the call came for keenest alertness of spirit, not only to sit, not only to stay. "Watch and pray that you will not enter into temptation" (Mt 26:41).

Their moment had come to protect themselves from the coming danger. They slept and rested, leaving themselves open to the prey of denial and desertion (Mt 26:45).

What did He ask of us today? For us to sit? then we should sit...maybe watch the trees blow in the wind. A word may or may not come, but we have watched with Him.

"Which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to SEE or to HEAR?" (Jer 23:18) Let us at least stand to see or to hear whether a word comes or not. "Who has listened and heard His Word?" (Jer 23:18). Who has heard when the word comes?

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© Cathy Vinson
Gethsemane offered several levels of participation for the Disciples.

More Whispers from the Wilderness