The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.

John 1:14 (NIV)

If you look upon Jesus Christ from the commonsense standpoint you will never discern who He is; but if you look upon Him as God "manifested in the flesh" for the purpose of putting the whole human race back to where God designed it to be, you get the meaning of the Redemption.

— Oswald Chambers

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

July 18

The theory of the Peter Principle is that we are promoted to incompetence. There is a story of the pocket watch that went to London with its owner. It became dissatisfied as it looked at Big Ben, the immense tower clock of London. "I wish I could be up there," the watch mused. "I could serve the multitude." Suddenly the little watch had its wish and was drawn up to the tower and it became invisible. Its rise became its demise.

"God has appointed...apostles...prophets ...teachers...workers of miracles...gifts of healing...those able to help others...those with gifts of administration..." (1 Corinthians 12:28). There is no shame in being in our place, wherever or whatever that is.

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for July 18	Spurgeon's Evening for July 18
"They shall go hindmost with their standards." – Numbers 2:31	"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path." - Joel 2:8
There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy.	Affection must not smother honesty, courage must not elbow weakness out of the field, modesty must not jostle energy, and patience must not slaughter resolution. So also with our duties, one must not interfere with another; public usefulness must not injure private piety; church work must not push family worship into a corner.

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July 18 Job 38:1 - 40:24

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Current Bible Question

What was Achin's sin?

Previous question and Answer:

Solomon was always called Soloman, but at his birth God gave him what name?

Jedidiah. 2 Samuel 12:25

Today's Devotion

But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job 16:5 (NIV)

Meaningful Encounter

by Cathy Vinson

"Our Gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."

(I Thess 1:5)

How profoundly does God want to touch us? How great is His desire to be made real in our midst? Just how relational does He want to be?

"Someone there. It was this that filled with abiding wonder the first members of the Church of Christ. The solemn delight those early disciples knew sprang straight from the conviction that there was One in the midst of them. They knew that the Majesty in the heavens was confronting them on earth: They were in the very presence of God." (A W Tozer from THE DIVINE CONQUEST)

How are we treating this God in our midst? He is. He waits for ministry into the now, ministry that moves into an encounter.

For example, He wants to meaningfully touch the freshly divorced. "Deep calls unto deep." Wherever that point of entry for Jesus can be, there will be healing. He is all relevance. Let us not count Him less.

I Thess 1:5: "Our Gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." God does not merely desire an exchange of words. He wants a demonstration that "deeply convicts" or "fully assures." (Plerophoria=pleros-full + phero-to carry, full-carrying, entire confidence, full assurance.) Like an evergreen branch drooping with snow, every word can desirably be laden with conviction and relevance.

What occurs when this happens? We are meaningfully encountered: transformation. "Water may change from liquid to vapor, from vapor to snow, and back to liquid again, and still be fundamentally the same...surface changes leave him exactly what he was before...The changes are in form only; they are not in kind" (AWT). What we are after is new creation (2 Cor 5:17). (Kainos=new, unaccustomed, unused, "not new in time or recent, BUT new as to form or quality, of different nature...")

To know possible transformation has always been there can be painful, because we have waged efforts and are still getting away only with words and surface changes. Let us not deny our longing for MORE, our yearning to touch and be touched meaningfully. Let us uncover the hunger.

"Before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, the desire to be filled must be all-consuming." Let such longing become our compass point, directing us.

Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.

Let us not deny our longing for MORE, our yearning to touch and be touched meaningfully. Let us uncover the hunger.

More Whispers from the Wilderness