Just Us: Manna for July 30, 2009

Question for the day: How might you extend grace to someone who is suffering the consequences of their own poor choices today?

What can we pray for YOU about today?

Good morning,

This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.

God’s blessings, our love,

George & Sidney Granger

CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:

Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead him to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage today from St George UT to Houston TX.

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN

Pastor Bob is doing so well that he gave his testimony about his accident and road to recovery at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Saginaw on Wednesday evening 7/22. He also preached on Saturday at 5 pm and Sunday at 8 am and 10:30 am! What a miracle of healing...prayers have been answered! Please remain in prayer concerning his continued healing and that he is upheld by the Spirit, becoming physically strong as he returns to serving the Lord… what he loves to do!

Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg, whose doctors found 5 tumors in his bladder. He had surgery June 29^th and the biopsy results showed a cancerous condition. He will be undergoing chemo & radiation treatments and will need the Lord’s Hand to overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.

Please lift before the Lord our friend Teri who is facing an extremely large personal challenge. Pray that she will seek Jesus’ Face, and strength, and the power found in strong Christian relationships, before it is too late for her to do so. Thank you, George and Sidney

To all prayer warriors

After weeks of testing, my father was placed on hospice Monday. He has pneumonia, emphysema, a hole in one lung, an aneurism the size of a baseball, loss of weight (down to 115 lbs). Please pray for the family to have strength, courage and faith as we see Dad through this. MOST IMPORTANTLY...That Dad would come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior before the end. Roger Miller

FREE FOOD

(Isa 55:1)

Today in God’s Word

THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2009

Please join your brothers and sisters

studying and praying with us today…

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY

July 30, 2009

Learning the Hard Way
Whitney Capps

"A wise son heeds his father's instruction,

but a mocker does not listen to rebuke."

Proverbs 13:1 (NIV)

Devotion:

As of January, I am now the mother of three boys under four years of age. Our house is full of testosterone and a loud, unbridled enthusiasm for life. This is most true of our middle son Dylan. He is wild and rambunctious - a boy through and through.

If you were to watch him enter a room, you would notice that he makes a mental list of every structure that he can scale, leap off of or turn over. He is as creative as he is fearless. It's a dangerous combination.

To make matters worse, he has an extremely high tolerance for pain. My husband Chad and I are regularly amazed at the bumps, scrapes and knots that do not elicit tears or pleas for comfort. He is remarkably tough. Or stubborn. I am not sure which.

Unfortunately, he has gotten more brazen in his attempts of late. He has noticed that I spend most of my day incapacitated with a nursing child in my arms as my primary responsibility. This has greatly slowed or halted my efforts to keep Dylan from his version of "extreme sports." If the mere warning from my voice was enough to stop my little acrobat, he'd be fine. However, my two-year old doesn't always listen the first time I say, "No."

So I have resigned myself to the fact that he is going to learn a few lessons the hard way. He is going to fall. He might even get hurt. I can't always be there to physically remove him from every obstacle he scales. I can't prevent every painful consequence of doing precisely what he chooses.

While I was praying for him the other night I asked God to make him more sensitive to my voice and to protect him when he ignores me and falls. I prayed for a gracious and forgiving attitude when he does need my comfort. In the quiet of my bedroom the Creator whispered, "I'm pretty good at that; that's how I often parent you."

I knew in an instant what God meant. I regularly dive head-first into a situation analyzing how I'll attack it. It's not long after God has chastened my heart that I move onto the next dangerous display of independence. If I would simply listen to His voice, I'd be fine. He has desired on many occasions to protect me from painful consequences, to protect me from myself. Instead I chose to learn the lessons the hard way. I wish I could say it only happened once or twice, but like my two year-old, I am remarkably tough, or stubborn. Neither is a good characteristic for a child.

I finished my prayer that night asking my Heavenly Father to forgive my toddler-like ways. I am trying to listen more carefully to His voice. I want to respond immediately. I am sure to encounter fewer bumps and bruises along the way. More importantly, I am sure to enjoy the smile and warm embrace of my all-gracious Father.

Dear Lord, thank You that You are patient and kind with me in my follies. Help me heed Your warnings the first time. It is good to rest assured that You guard me, smiling on Your daughter as You watch my steps. Thank You that You discipline me because of Your great love, in Jesus' Name, amen.

Application Steps:

Look for ways to extend grace to others who are suffering the consequences of their own poor choices.

Reflections:

What painful circumstances have you endured because you didn't heed the Father's voice?

In what ways are you testing the Father?

Power Verses:

Deuteronomy 8:5, "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you." (NIV)

Hebrews 12:5-6, "And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: 'My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.'" (NIV)

Numbers 6:24-25, "God bless you and keep you, GOD smile on you and gift you..." (MSG)

…and…

Why Is Believing Better Than Seeing?

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Faith with or without sight--which is better?

How do we balance faith and fact?

Well, with a little help from Thomas in John 20...

Series: John: Answers to Life's Questions (Week 8 of 8)

VIEW OR LISTEN AT

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Back_to_the_Bible/

GDLC Message: http://www.gdlc.org/worship/sermons.aspx

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