Question for the day:
When did you last say “no” and wish now that you’d said “Yes”?
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:
THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN
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 29th 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.
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
Today in God’s Word
MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009
Please join your brothers and sisters
studying and praying with us today…
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY
August 17, 2009
Getting Ready for Tomorrow
"Then Joshua told the people,
"Purify yourselves for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you,"
Joshua 3:5 (NLT)
Devotion:
Last year the Lord whispered to my heart to stop watching a certain television show. This show came on once week in the evening. It was not anti-God, but let's just say it did not promote healthy family and personal values, nor did its' writers use the Word of God as a basis for the show's content.
I would love to say I obeyed the Lord with a glad heart and immediately did as He asked, fully confident that He had my best interest in mind. I wish I could say that but I can't. I believed I had the right to challenge the Lord on His request. Can you imagine my nerve?
I remember huffing and puffing like the wolf when he tried to blow down the little pigs' house. I wanted to watch my show and could not understand what I was doing wrong for the Lord to discipline me in such a way. I argued, "My watching this show is not causing anyone to stumble in their walk with the Lord." I was not influencing anyone else to watch, in fact my family was all in bed. It was my time. Time set aside each week for just me. What possible reason could the Lord have for asking to do this?
Under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I realized the audacity of my attitude and understood my egoistical reasoning. I thought since I had been obeying the Lord in other areas of life I had the "right" to negotiate His other instructions. I finally saw the fallacy of my arguments to the Lord but up until that point, I'd failed to see that I was the person I was causing to stumble and being wrongly influenced.
Shortly after my tantrum was over and I obeyed God, He introduced me to today's key verse. He also used an incredible book to hammer in His point. His point being: God has something planned for tomorrow and He wants me to be ready for it. In his book i am not but i know I AM, Louie Giglio suggests that we are "i am nots" playing supporting roles beside the star of the story, the great I AM.
Joshua told the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. God was going to do something amazing in His story the next day and He wanted them to be a part of it. But they needed to prepare for that. They needed to purify themselves. Purify, or sanctify as it is written in the NKJ version, means to wash, to deal with your sin, and perhaps even make a sacrifice so that heart, body, mind, and soul are ready for the day. I was not preparing for my role in God's Story by continuing to watch the TV show God asked me not watch. I was ending my day in disobedience and separation from the Lord. How could I be ready to take my supporting role beside Him the next day if I was not purified before Him?
Do you realize God wants to do amazing things among you each day? Are we ready each morning to wake up and join the story of God? In order to prepare ourselves for our supporting role in God's story we need follow His instructions -- meditate on the "book of instruction day and night" (Joshua 1:8). Be ready my friend! He has a role only you can fulfill.
Dear Lord, help me to know what I should and should not do as Your child. Will You give me a desire to mediate on Your Word day and night? I want to see You at work and join You, fulfilling the role You have for me. Thank You for wanting me to participate in Your story. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
Personalize today's key verse and pray each night: "Dear Lord, help me to be ready for tomorrow. Show me the ways I need to purify and prepare myself for my role in Your story." Read a few verses of Psalm 119 each night and listen to what He has to say.
Reflections:
What if anything is the Lord asking me to do to purify myself for Him?
Do I mediate on the Word of God day and night? If not, why? If yes, how?
Power Verses:
Psalm 147:15, "He sends His command to the earth; His Word runs swiftly." (NIV)
Psalm 119:1, "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord." (NIV)
Psalm 119:11," I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (NIV)
…and…
God's Providential Protection
Monday, August 17, 2009
Have you ever slept through your alarm?
You rush around trying to get ready quickly while running into every possible road block.
Finally, you're on the road, coffee in hand,
when you realize there's been a major accident
yet another holdup.
But did you ever stop to think that maybe you were running late for a reason?
Maybe God was protecting you from the serious accident just up ahead.
In this message, we learn that even in the smallest details,
our protection can be attributed to God's faithfulness.
Series: Church in Action 5: The Faithful Prisoner of the Church
VIEW OR LISTEN AT
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Turning_Point/
GDLC Message: http://www.gdlc.org/worship/sermons.aspx
Today’s Chapter in God’s Word
Acts 3
Listen at
http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
1-5
One day at three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John were on their way into the
6-8
Peter said, "I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of
8-10
The man went into the
11
The man threw his arms around Peter and John, ecstatic. All the people ran up to where they were at Solomon's Porch to see it for themselves.
12-16
When Peter saw he had a congregation, he addressed the people:
"Oh, Israelites, why does this take you by such complete surprise, and why stare at us as if our power or piety made him walk? The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his Son Jesus. The very One that Pilate called innocent, you repudiated.
You repudiated the Holy One, the Just One, and asked for a murderer in his place. You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead—and we're the witnesses. Faith in Jesus' name put this man, whose condition you know so well, on his feet—yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole right before your eyes.
17-18
"And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.
19-23
"Now it's time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. Moses, for instance, said, 'Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.'
24-26
"All the prophets from Samuel on down said the same thing, said most emphatically that these days would come. These prophets, along with the covenant God made with your ancestors, are your family tree. God's covenant-word to Abraham provides the text: 'By your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.' But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, from your evil ways."
Find us at…
http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php#
or
No comments:
Post a Comment