Today's Soul Food — May 19 - 20
 

 

GOLDEN WORDS



Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

(2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NIV)

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Until our Master summons us, not a hair on our head can perish, not a moment of our life be snatched from us. When He sends for us, it should seem but the message that the child is wanted at home.

Anthony Thorold

 

Daily Meditations by  Pat Nordman ©

 

May 19

"...Holding on to faith and a good conscience." 1 Timothy 1:19; "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Philippians 3:12.

William Booth (18291912) left an established church to become an evangelist to the poor. He eventually founded the Salvation Army because the churches would not accept his slum converts.

Because of his work with the poor and downcast, General Booth eventually formulated rules for Christian living:

1) Consider your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and treat it with reverence and care.

2) Keep your mind active. Stimulate it with thoughts of others that lead to doing something.

3) Take time to be holy with daily Bible reading and prayer.

4) Support the church of your faith.

5) Cultivate the presence of God. He wants to enter your life and will as far as you let him.

6) Take God into the details of your life. You naturally call upon him in trouble and for the bigger things.

7) Pray for this troubled world and the leaders who hold the destinies of the varied nations.

8) Have a thankful spirit for the blessings of God: country, home, friends, and numerous other blessings.

9) Work as if everything depended upon work, and pray as if everything depended upon prayer.

10) Think of death not as something to be dreaded, but as a great and new experience where loved ones are met and ambitions realized.


Pat Nordman ©

May 20

"Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night..." Isaiah 60:11; "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14; "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." John 14:6.

The Word of God begins with a gate closing on Adam and Eve. Imagine their hopelessness! But in Revelation 22:14 we have the glorious idea of entering the gate into the Everlasting City, and this gate will always stand open for us.

In Isaiah we are told that "He will be...a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate." Isaiah 28:6. What is our battle at the gate of life but to "get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every kind of malice," (Ephesians 4:31), all the evil works of the flesh, and go on to develop the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,22).

Jesus died outside the gate as the worst of criminals that we could enter through the gate: "And Jesus also suffered outside the city [gate] to make the people holy through his own blood." Hebrews 13:12. Jesus became the gate so that we who enter will be saved. This will be our theme of gratitude for eternity!

"So let us go out to him beyond the city walls [that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised] to suffer with him there, bearing his shame." Hebrews 13:13 TLB. We must be willing to bear the cross and the crown of thorns if we would share the crown of life with Him: "Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."

 

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions


Spurgeon's Morning
for May 19

birds in winter


Spurgeon's Evening
for May 19

 

"I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth."

- Ecclesiastes 10:7

 

"And he requested for himself that he might die."

- 1 Kings 19:4


The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons of Satan lord it in the earth!  


There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer of faith. We are not to expect that God will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know that we sometimes ask, and do not receive, because we ask amiss.

 Spurgeon's Morning for May 20 Spurgeon's Evening for May 20
 

"Marvelous lovingkindness."

- Psalm 17:7

 

"I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love."

- Hosea 11:4


He will come into our houses upon his errands of kindness, and he will not act as some austere visitors do in the poor man's cottage, but he sits by our side, not despising our poverty, nor blaming our weakness.  


Our meager faith brings leanness into our souls; we do not open our mouths wide, though God has promised to fill them. Does he not this evening draw us to trust him? Can we not hear him say, "Come, my child, and trust me.

 

 

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May 19    Psalms 101:1-105:45
May 20 2Kings 6:1 - 8:29

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM 

 

Current Bible Question ?



Methuselah was the longest lived man in the Bible. He lived to the age of 969. Who came in second in longevity?
 


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Who made the ark of the covenant?

Bezalel Exodus 37:1

 

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Today's  Devotion
 

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

Still Waters

by Pat Nordman

 

". . .He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul"

Psalm 23:2b,3

 

 

It is beside the still waters where the Holy Spirit meets His saints, not in the winds and waters of strife, for He cannot lead us to the placid waters if we are rushing ahead of Him.


Perhaps He sees that the best pastures for some of us are to be found in the midst of opposition or of earthly trials. If He leads you there, you may be sure they are green for you, and you will grow and be made strong by feeding there. Perhaps He sees that the best waters for you to walk beside will be raging waves of trouble and sorrow. If this should be the case, He will make them still waters for you, and you must go and lie down beside them, and let them have all their blessed influences upon you." H.W. Smith, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, page 31.

In Hebrew the quiet waters means a quiet resting place. We all want an oasis away from the murky and troubled waters of life that seem to drown us at times. Pure water has a soothing and refreshing effect on us. Our Shepherd leads us to the main well of living water from which flow gentle tributaries of peace, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Jesus also asks us to draw deep from the well of His living water, and not with just a paltry cup or broken cistern. "`[But] my people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" Jeremiah 2:13.

This jewel of a psalm has calmed countless hearts. It is beside the still waters where the Holy Spirit meets His saints, not in the winds and waters of strife, for He cannot lead us to the placid waters if we are rushing ahead of Him. If we don't have the time then we must take the time to be led to the peaceful stream of morning hours with Him. This is when He prepares our hearts for the battles of the day. This is where the victory is won before the battle is engaged: in prayer, seeking our instructions for the day. Come, let us rest awhile by the still waters of His gentleness and concern.

 

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


More Walking Through the Darkness

All the Rest - Smiles, quotations and a fact.

All the Rest May 19 -20

Today in History - events and birthdays for this date in history

Today in History May 19
Today in History May 20