DYSMAS CONDUIT
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
Question for the day: What will you do today that will have a lasting impact?
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
Today’s Chapter in God’s Word
Romans 6
(The Message)
Listen at
http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
When Death Becomes Life
1-3
So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
3-5
That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.
6-11
Could it be any [more clear]? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.
12-14
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.
What Is True Freedom?
15-18
So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
19
I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
20-21
As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22-23
But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
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
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.
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY
September 16, 2009
Finding God in the Laundry Room
By Lara Krupicka
"The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
1 Samuel 17:37a (NIV)
Devotion:
As I carry a load of clothes into my laundry room, I glance at the breakfast dishes in the sink and the piles of toys in the family room. Here we go again, I think. Another day of cooking and cleaning that will only be repeated again tomorrow. What is the point of it all? Why am I stuck with such a meaningless existence? When will I ever get to spend my days doing things that have a lasting impact?
Everyday life can be so uninspiring at times. I want action and excitement. I want something to happen. But then when it does (like the day the washing machine overflowed into my basement), I get all out of sorts. I have a hard time handling the disruption to my simple routine. This is not the kind of excitement I'm wanting, I think to myself. I grumble and complain my way through the problems that come my way.
When I consider this verse from 1 Samuel, I realize that, unlike me, David had learned the benefit of being faithful in seemingly insignificant work. He did not despise the lonely job of shepherd. Instead day in and day out he patiently watched in the fields, making sure the sheep didn't wander or get eaten. He took his work seriously, and in doing so he trusted God to be with him in the simple task of herding sheep. He didn't say that once he was a mighty warrior like his older brothers were, then he would trust God. He did it right where he was. Then when trouble came to his quiet field, in the form of a lion or a bear, it was God he relied on to come to his aid.
This dependence of David's is what prepared him for one of the turning point moments in his life. He was able to face the giant Goliath with confidence, not because he'd fought in many battles. He could do this because he'd seen God work in the everyday and knew God would show up on the battlefield too.
I still have a lot to learn about dependence on God. Yet I know that as I depend on Him in the routine tasks of my life, He is preparing me for circumstances yet to come. When I turn to Him in the midst of my laundry room troubles, I experience His care for me and I grow in my ability to know that He will "deliver me" from things both great and small. And in my dependence on God, the chores of cooking, cleaning and laundry begin to take on meaning. My life isn't as pointless as it once seemed.
Dear Lord, thank you for being with me today. Help me to see You in the mundane things of my life and show me how You can bring significance to those things. Teach me dependence on You as You taught the young shepherd, David. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Application Steps:
As you engage in the rote tasks of your day, take the time to acknowledge God's presence. Ask Him to be a part of your day and the things that your hands find to do. Take even the smallest problems that arise to God in prayer and ask for His help with them.
Reflections:
In what area of your life can you begin seeking a greater dependence on God?
How can relying on God bring significance to the everyday things of your life?
Can you think of a time that God "delivered you from the paw of the lion"? How can recalling that help you through other circumstances that you come upon?
Power Verses:
Deuteronomy 31:8, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." (NIV)
Phil 4:11b, "for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." (NIV)
…and…
TURNING POINT
Dr. David Jeremiah
Slaying the Giant of Temptation Part 2
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
What would you say is the greatest temptation facing Christians today?
Many people would say the addiction to pornography is among the greatest threats. With more than four million pornographic websites, it's no wonder that people are falling victim daily, with lives and families being destroyed. But in this message, Dr. Jeremiah helps us understand that temptation is the common enemy of every person, and it always has been - but God has provided a way of escape.
Series: Slaying the Giants in Your Life
VIEW OR LISTEN AT
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Turning_Point/
GDLC Message: http://www.gdlc.org/worship/sermons.aspx
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