July 14, 2008

service and discipleship

"Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking,

but He said to look after His sheep,

to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him.

We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service,

yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him,

not what we do for Him.

Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ,

not on following after a particular belief or doctrine.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief,

and that is why so many people are devoted to causes

and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ.

People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus,

but only to the cause He started.

Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today,

to those who only want Him to be their Friend,

and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way.

Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father,

not to the needs of people—

the saving of people was the natural outcome

of His obedience to the Father.

If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity,

I will soon be exhausted and come to the point

where my love will waver and stumble.

But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately,

I can serve humanity,

even though people may treat me like a "doormat."

The secret of a disciple’s life

is devotion to Jesus Christ,

and the characteristic of that life

is its seeming insignificance and its meekness.

Yet it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"—

it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 )."

- Oswald Chambers

(My Utmost For His Highest)

July 13, 2008

all Your wonders

Students were asked by their teacher

to list the Seven Wonders of the World.

One little girl could not make up her mind

because she said there were so many.
The teacher asked her to tell the class

what she had so far and then maybe

all of them could help her.

The little girl hestitated for a moment

and then said...

"I think the Seven Wonders of the World are...

to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh or smile,

and most of all... to love."

"It is the sweet, simple things of life

which are the real ones after all."

- Laura Ingalls Wilder

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders."

- Psalm 9:1 NIV

July 12, 2008

Our loads will be lightened.

"Answer me quickly, O LORD;

my spirit fails."

- Psalm 143:7 NIV

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God."

- Psalm 42:5 NIV

"In this time of sorrow

Help us remember and know

Deeply,

That if we simply turn to You

Our hearts will be comforted

Our loads will be lightened

Our souls will be understood."

- Jennifer M. Spencer

July 11, 2008

a rainy day

"Millions long for immortality

who don't know what to do with themselves

on a rainy Sunday afternoon."

- Susan Ertz

(Anger in the Sky)

Spread a little "Son"shine.

July 10, 2008

behold the turtle

You can't spend a lifetime withdrawn

inside your own protective shell.

"Trust in the LORD and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness."

- Psalm 37:3 NASB

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,

but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord..."

- 2 Timothy 1:7,8 NIV

"So do not throw away your confidence;

it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere

so that when you have done the will of God,

you will receive what he has promised.

For in just a very little while,

He who is coming will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back,

I will not be pleased with him.

But we are not of those who shrink back

and are destroyed,

but of those who believe and are saved."

- Hebrews 10:35-39 NIV

"Behold the turtle.

He makes progress only

when he sticks his neck out."

- James Bryant Conant

July 9, 2008

Sin, a little thing?

"Christian, beware how you think lightly of sin.

Take heed lest you fall little by little.

Sin is a little thing? Is it not a poison?

Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing?

Do not foxes spoil the grapes?

Does not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy?

Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks?

Will not continual droppings wear away stones?

Sin, a little thing?

Who knows its deadliness?

It girded the Redeemer’s head with thorns,

and pierced His heart.

It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness and woe.

Could you but weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity,

you would fly from it as from a serpent

and abhor the least appearance of evil.

Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior,

and you will see it to be 'exceeding sinful'".

- C. H. Spurgeon

July 8, 2008

can't be happy

"This is a great irony —

people who have every reason to be content seldom are.

Though happiness is their aim,

it seems always out of reach.

I wonder if gratefulness is the bridge from sorrow to joy,

spanning the chasm of our anxious striving.

Freed from the burden of unbridled desires,

we can enjoy what we have,

celebrate what we've attained,

and appreciate the familiar.

For if we can't be happy now,

we'll likely not be happy when."

- Philip Gulley

(Porch Talk)

July 7, 2008

glory in the church

"...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

may have power, together with all the saints,

to grasp how wide and long

and high and deep is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—

that you may be filled to the measure

of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us,

to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,

for ever and ever!

Amen."

- Ephesians 3:17-21 NIV

July 6, 2008

forever

"May the light of God illumine the heart of my soul.

May the flame of Christ kindle me to love.

May the fire of the Spirit free me to live

This day, tonight and for ever."

- A Celtic Benediction

July 5, 2008

my five cents worth

"Depositing our faith in Jesus Christ

means God is now responsible for us,

because He has purchased us."

- Franklin Graham

"Most people I know who live free today

have experienced a serious stronghold

or hinderance they fought to overcome.

I rarely meet people

who have come to trust GOD fully

who haven't also painfully confronted the fact

that they can't trust themselves."

- Beth Moore

IN GOD WE TRUST

July 4, 2008

nature's fireworks

FREEDOM

"Freedom has its life

in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men

and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -

else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots,

it will wither and die."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"People demand freedom of speech

as a compensation for

the freedom of thought

which they seldom use."

- Soren Kierkegaard

"There are two freedoms -

the false, where a man is free to do what he likes;

the true, where he is free to do what he ought."

- Charles Kingsley

"Freedom is not procured

by a full enjoyment of what is desired,

but by controlling the desire."

- Epictetus

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves

be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

You, my brothers, were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom

to indulge the sinful nature;

rather, serve one another in love."

- Galatians 5: 1,13 NIV

July 3, 2008

do not doubt

photo by Erin Doyle

Has the Holy Spirit been talking with you?

Are you at the point in your faith

where you have made the right choice,

but the temptations to look back to your old life

are just too great?

Don't be like Lot's wife...

increasing the world's salt supply is not worth it.

"There is a point at which everything becomes simple

and there is no longer any question of choice,

because all you have staked will be lost

if you look back.

Life's point of no return."

- Dag Hammarskjold

"...but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

- Matthew 10:22 KJV

The Lord allows U-turns

but don't make yourself dizzy

going in circles

because at some point

you may fall.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers,

whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith

develops perseverance.

Perseverance must finish its work

so that you may be mature and complete,

not lacking anything.

If any of you lacks wisdom,

he should ask God,

who gives generously to all without finding fault,

and it will be given to him.

But when he asks,

he must believe and not doubt,

because he who doubts

is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

That man should not think

he will receive anything from the Lord;

he is a double-minded man,

unstable in all he does."

- James 1:2-8 NIV

July 2, 2008

simplicity of Your love

O Lord, keep us sensitive to the glory of your creation that surrounds us.

I pray that the familiar not be neglected but looked upon

with a newer insight so we may learn your ways

growing in wisdom and understanding...

finding peace and joy

in the simplicity

of Your love.

Amen.

July 1, 2008

no other purpose

"He works on us in all sorts of ways.

But above all,

He works on us through each other.

Men are mirrors,

or ‘carriers’ of Christ to other men.

But usually it is those who know Him

that bring Him to others.

That is why the Church,

the whole body of Christians

showing Him to one another,

is so important….

The Church exists for nothing else

but to draw men into Christ,

to make them little Christs.

If they are not doing that,

all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons,

even the Bible itself,

are simply a waste of time.

God became Man for no other purpose.

It is even doubtful, you know,

whether the whole universe was created

for any other purpose."

- C.S. Lewis

June 30, 2008

look away to the Perfect One

"I have a great need for Christ;

I have a great Christ for my need."

- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Tozer once said,

'Like the eye which sees everything in front of it

and never sees itself,

faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests

and pays no attention to itself at all.

While we are looking at God,

we do not see ourselves- blessed riddance.

The man who has struggled to purify himself

and has had nothing but repeated failures

will experience real relief

when he stops tinkering with his soul

and looks away to the Perfect One.

'Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable

and receives the impossible."

- Corrie Ten Boom

June 29, 2008

conscience free

photo by Erin Doyle

The greatest reward is God's peace.

"Therefore,

since we have been justified through faith,

we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ..."

- Romans 5:1 NIV

"I have to live with myself, and so,

I want to be fit for myself to know;

I want to be able as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand with the setting sun

And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself as I come and go

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of man I really am;

I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in this struggle for fame and pelf,

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to think as I come and go

That I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me,

I see what others may never see,

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself -- and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free."

- Edgar Guest

(Myself)

June 28, 2008 (kept in simplicity)

kept in simplicity

"Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly.

In intellectual matters you can think things out,

but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself

into further wandering thoughts and more confusion.

Bring all your "arguments and . . .

every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ"

regarding the matter,

and everything will become as clear as daylight to you

( 2 Corinthians 10:5 )

...reasoning is not how we see.

We see like children,

and when we try to be wise we see nothing

(see Matthew 11:25 ).

Even the very smallest thing that we allow in our lives

that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit

is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion,

and spending all of our time thinking about it

will still never make it clear.

Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience.

As soon as we obey, we have discernment....

when our natural power of sight is devoted

and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit,

it becomes the very power by which we perceive God’s will,

and our entire life is kept in simplicity."

- Oswald Chambers

(My Utmost For His Highest)

June 27, 2008

keeping watch

Prophecy?

The Rapture... the second coming of Christ?
We don't know when but we do know this...

1. More and more signs point to soon.

2. Right this minute, it is closer than it was a minute ago.

Be ready and keep watch.

"See, the former things have taken place,

and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

I announce them to you."

- Isaiah 42:9 NIV

June 26, 2008

the back porch

(perhaps the best secular investment

we ever made)

In the past it was the front porch

now the back porch separates us

from the hustle and bustle,

and the noise, of the automobile.

Many an evening in the summer

is spent on our back porch.

We talk and we read,

we pray and we meditate.

Friends are invited to eat with us

and stories, laughter, and wisdom are shared.

"All manner of lessons were learned on the front porch.

When the porches went,

so did the stories and the wisdom with them."

- Philip Gulley

(Porch Talk)

(Quaker author and pastor)

Always find some time

from your hectic schedule

to enjoy a bit of the simple life.

Slow down, keep the TV off,

spend some time enjoying life

rather than being so busy

trying to live the "good?" life.

"It is always the simple things that change our lives.

And these things never happen

when you are looking for them to happen.

Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so.

You feel like running, but life is on a stroll.

This is how God does things."

- Donald Miller

(best-selling American author and public speaker...

who focuses on Christian spirituality

as "an explanation for beauty,

meaning, and the human struggle")

"Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

...seek [God's] peace and pursue it."

- Psalm 34:12-14 NIV

June 25, 2008

God is there.

"Do not anticipate trouble or worry

about what may never happen.

Keep in the [SonLight] sunlight."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Therefore I tell you,

do not worry about your life...

See how the lilies of the field grow.

They do not labor or spin....

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life....

O you of little faith?

...your heavenly Father knows [what you need]

....seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own."

- Matthew 6:25-34 NIV

"Some of your hurts you have cured,

And the sharpest you still have survived,

But what torments of grief you endured

From the evil which never arrived."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do not be afraid of tomorrow;

for God is already there."

- Author Unknown

June 24, 2008

radiant quilt

photo by David Keller

Sometimes we agree and sometimes we disagree

on things religious as well as secular.
This should in no way affect our friendship,

or our brother/sister (in Christ) relationship.

Even if we continue to disagree on some things,

we can learn from each other, we can grow,

and we can make necessary changes

to our way of thinking by listening

with a heart turned toward gentleness.

"Maybe that's what God has in mind

when He brings different folks together-

that we each bring our scrapes of truth

and piece them together

into this radiant quilt

that is so much finer than anything

we could have ever made alone."

- Phillip Gulley

(Home Town Tales)

June 23, 2008

Trust completely in the Lord.
photo by Bob Johnson

"Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?"
- Matthew 6:26 NIV

June 22, 2008

Read the Word of God
over and over again.

Each time you read the Bible,
whatever your age
and wherever you are
in your daily walk with Him,
you can find new treasure
even within the same verse.

Treats await the one
that takes the Word of God in hand
and carefully moves from verse to verse
seeking sweet morsels of life
to feed upon.

"My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding."
- Proverbs 2:1-6 NIV

Your cup will runneth over.

June 21, 2008

like a little child

"A complete life is the life of a child.

When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ,

there is something wrong.

It is the sick person who really knows what health is.

A child of God is not aware of the will of God

because he is the will of God.

When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God,

we begin to ask, 'Lord, what is your will?'

A child of God never prays to be made aware

of the fact that God answers prayer,

because he is so restfully certain

that God always answers prayer."

- Oswald Chambers

(My Utmost For His Highest)

"But Jesus called the children to him and said,

'Let the little children come to me,

and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

I tell you the truth,

anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God

like a little child

will never enter it.'"

- Luke 18:16,17 NIV

June 20, 2008

from death

"But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead."

- Isaiah 26:19 NIV

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;

I will redeem them from death."

- Hosea 13:14 NIV

June 19, 2008

be that life

"There is only one relationship that really matters,

and that is your personal relationship

to your personal Redeemer and Lord.

If you maintain that at all costs,

letting everything else go,

God will fulfill His purpose through your life.

One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes,

and yours may be that life."

- Oswald Chambers

(My Utmost For His Highest)

June 18, 2008

pray

If you took the time to look at this

with the intent of reading a devotional

then, instead, take the time

to say a short prayer to the Lord...

thanking Him for loving you

and all of us... so much.

June 17, 2008

loved by Him

(photographer unknown)

"Consider the mysteries of love,

and you will then have a vision

of the bosom of the Father,

whom the only-begotten God alone

has declared.

God Himself is love,

and for the sake of this love

He has made Himself known."

- St. Clement of Alexandria

"If we truly love Christ,

we shall care for those

who are loved by Him."

- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

June 16, 2008

like dead leaves

"You will find it less easy to uproot faults

than to choke them by gaining virtues.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults.

In every person who comes near you

look for what is good and strong;

honor that; try to imitate it,

and your faults will drop off

like dead leaves when their time comes."

- John Ruskin

June 15, 2008

Father

"The Greek word in the Bible for father is "pater"
which means: one who has infused his own spirit into others,
who actuates and governs their minds;
one who stands in a father's place
and looks after another in a paternal way."
- The New Testament Greek Lexicon

"Our Father, which art in Heaven..."
- The Lord's Prayer

"Father!
- to God himself
we cannot give a holier name.
- William Wordsworth