Give, and it will be given to you. A good Measure, pressed down, shaken together And running over …. LUKE 6;38 NIV There is no happiness In having or getting, But only in giving. Henry Drummond. October 16, 2014 Add Bookmark Mysterious Detours By Dave Branon Read: Genesis 12:1-10; 13:1 Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. —Psalm 22:4 Bible in a Year: Isaiah 47-49; 1 Thessalonians 4 Before my wife and I embarked on a 400-mile road trip, I set up the GPS with our daughter’s home in Missouri as the destination. As we traveled through Illinois, the GPS instructed us to get off the Interstate, resulting in a detour through the city of Harvey. After the GPS directed us back to I-80, I was baffled by this mysterious detour. Why were we directed off a perfectly good highway? I’ll never know the answer. We continued on our way, and we trusted the GPS to get us there and home again. That got me to thinking about detours in life. We may seem to be traveling on a smooth pathway. Then for some reason, God redirects us into an unfamiliar area. Perhaps it is an illness, or a crisis at work or school, or an unexpected tragedy occurs. We don’t understand what God is doing. Abraham faced a mysterious detour when God told him, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house” (Gen. 12:1). Surely Abraham must have wondered why God was routing him to the Negev desert. But he trusted God and His good purposes. A GPS may make mistakes, but we can trust our unfailing God (Ps. 22:4). He will guide us through all our mysterious detours and lead us where He wants us to go. We seek Your guidance, Lord, but we understand that our path won’t always be without challenges. Help us to trust You through the detours—knowing that You have our best interests and Your honor at heart. We don’t need to see the way when we stay close to the One who does. Bob Hoekstra :: Day By Day By Grace :: October 16th Once More on the Source of Faith Then He who sat on the throne said…Write, for these words are true and faithful…Then he said to me, These words are faithful and true…So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Revelation 21:5; 22:6; and Romans 10:17) Jesus is the faithful and true witness, who gives us the reliable truth that we must have in order to find life and live life as God intended. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness…the Faithful and True Witness…And He…was called Faithful and True (Revelation 1:5; 3:14; and 19:11). Faith toward Him develops in our lives, as we see His faithful and true character. His word is a vital part of this process, since it has the same character that He has (faithful and true). Write, for these words are true and faithful… These words are faithful and true. When people humbly receive the word of God, the Scriptures change their lives. This is how we started out with God: Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you (1 Peter 1:23-25). We were born again into the family of God in conjunction with the incorruptible, living, eternal word of God being planted like a seed into our lives. This occurred when we heard the gospel. We then believed the good news of Jesus Christ, and this gospel seed germinated within us unto life eternal. After being born again by grace through faith in Christ, Gods plan was that we continue to respond to His word (like those in Thessalonica did). For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13). These saints welcomed the Scriptures into their lives. They knew that it was not a mere human message. They knew it was from the Lord. They were eager to hear it and to rely upon its life-nurturing message. Therefore, it effectively worked in their hearts, as they believed in the truths they were hearing. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Initially and continually, faith comes by hearing the faithful and true words of God, and that faith accesses grace. Dear Lord, even as You are faithful and true, so Your word is faithful and true. I began by a faith that was stirred through the gospel message of Your word. I know that I can only grow in faith as I humbly receive Your word into my life day by day. Lord, I long to live by faith that I might grow in Your grace, in Your holy name, Amen. ________________________________________ The Key to the Master’s Orders October 16, 2014 Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest —Matthew 9:38 The key to the missionary’s difficult task is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work— that is, not work as the word is commonly used today, which often results in the shifting of our focus away from God. The key to the missionary’s difficult task is also not the key of common sense, nor is it the key of medicine, civilization, education, or even evangelization. The key is in following the Master’s orders— the key is prayer. “Pray the Lord of the harvest . . . .” In the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd. We have to realize that prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view. From Jesus Christ’s perspective, there are no nations, but only the world. How many of us pray without regard to the persons, but with regard to only one Person— Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced through distress and through conviction of sin. This is the harvest for which we have to pray that laborers be sent out to reap. We stay busy at work, while people all around us are ripe and ready to be harvested; we do not reap even one of them, but simply waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities and programs. Suppose a crisis were to come into your father’s or your brother’s life— are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? Is your response, “Oh, but I have a special work to do!” No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, “a servant [who] is not greater than his master” (John 13:16), and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. “Pray the Lord of the harvest,” and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 04:14:24 +0000
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