DYSMAS CONDUIT
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2010
Question for the day:
How do you define success?
What can we pray with 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.
Sandy Brommer
EVERYONE; Please keep my sisters and me in your thoughts and prayers over the next several days. Our Mother passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly this evening. She went out to dinner with my sister, and had a sudden heart attack (we think) and died very quickly........doctor says she didn't even have chance to feel it.
We will be Celebrating the Life and eternal life of Lida Marie Peasley in a special memorial service at Messiah this Thursday, April 1, at 11am. Luncheon to follow in
Please lift the Family of Marie up in prayer. Lord grant them your comfort and strength at this time. --Pastor Kurt
Please hold up before the Lord a dear friend, Ann Long, who is to undergo cancer surgery today. Also please ask for strength for her family, especially her husband, Dennis.
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY
March 29, 2010
Backwards Bumper-Stickers
"But the LORD said to Samuel,
‘Do not look on his appearance
or on the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him.
For the LORD sees not as man sees:
man looks on the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks on the heart.'"
I Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
Devotion:
Yesterday, when I was finished running—okay, so it was more of a slow trot—anyway, as I was leaving the gym where I work out, I ran into an old friend. She is a woman who attended the church where my husband was on staff twenty years ago when we were first married. She was raising her kids when he was the youth pastor and she saw us begin our family with the birth of our daughter Mackenzie, who is soon to turn 19.
Naturally, the conversation turned to where her children are now—marriage, kids, careers, location, etc. She asked what the future held for our three kids. Where would they go to college? What career path would they choose? She has offspring who all ended up in high-paying, prestigious careers, including one who is a prominent surgeon.
That afternoon encounter made me think about what we say ‘success' is, especially when it comes to our sons and daughters. Is it having kids who grow up to do a job that society deems important? How do we measure success in our kids when they are still young and in our homes? Is it by having ones who are outwardly obedient, saying ‘yes ma‘am' and ‘no sir' and ‘pleased to meet you' on cue?
The more seasoned I become as a mom, the more I find this to be true: obedience, while it manifests itself in outward actions, begins in the heart. While I want to teach my kids to behave—sometimes not an easy lesson to instill—more importantly, I want to teach them to have their hearts right with God.
I used to want kids who did no wrong. Now, I have a different goal. When theydo do wrong—as all kids and adults sometimes do—I want them to correct it rather than hide it. To be sensitive to the times they hurt someone's feelings or disobey God and His wishes. Then to listen to the Spirit's prompting, admit their fault, and right the wrong. I want the very same thing for myself.
As today's verse asserts, so often we humans look at what we can see on the outside—beauty, talents, smarts and such. God sees straight to the heart—motives, intent and character. His measuring stick is far more accurate and important than ours. So many spend countless hours and dollars perfecting the former while completely ignoring the latter. God's Word to us is clear. Who we are inside is really who we are.
One year, our daughter proudly brought home a bumper sticker we could display on our aging mini-van. Having completed seven years of scripture memory at our church's children's program, her sticker read, "My child earned a Timothy Award in AWANA." She had worked diligently and were we ever proud of her!
However, her younger siblings did not have the same knack for memorization nor the academic leanings she had. They too plugged away at their verses and assignments in the same program but just couldn't quite finish all the requirements for earning that high award and its accompanying bumper sticker.
It made me think, should we only be proud of outward skills and academic outcomes? Perhaps we should be just as pleased with character qualities and whole-hearted attempts that, on the outside, seem to fall short. Maybe we should be just as thrilled to display the following bumper sticker prominently on our family vehicle:
"Proud parent of a kid who nearly flunked math,
but whose heart is tender toward the Lord."
Dear Lord, help me strive to please You most with my inward self—my motives, intent and character— and to model for those in my life the importance of doing just that. I want who I am at the core to accurately reflect who You are to the world, in Jesus' Name, amen.
Application Steps:
Name two or three people whom you feel display truly beautiful character. What about their personality makes them stand out?
Reflections:
What inward, God-honoring qualities do you most wish you possessed?
Patience? Peace? Self-control? Kindness? Faith? Perseverance? Pick one. Then, search BibleGateway for verses about this quality to memorize.
Power Verses:
I Peter 3:3-4, "Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." (ESV)
YOU TUBE SONG FOR TODAY
How Great Is Our God
Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpfKli_4LQ0
…and…
Back to the Bible
Woodrow Kroll and Tami Weissert
Mary Magdalene:
Hope for the Troubled Heart
Monday, March 29, 2010
Troubled and grieving one moment,
rejoicing with the greatest news the next.
Woodrow Kroll looks at Mary Magdalene on Back to the Bible...
Series: Finding Hope in Jesus' Resurrection
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Back_to_the_Bible/
Please send your prayer requests to
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