Inspirational Words (1) January 15, 2015 Doug & Linda Christian Devotions Paradoxical Peace – Diana C. Derringer He will proclaim peace to the nations. Zechariah 9:10 NIV We read, sing, and dream of peace on earth. Yet we’ve never known earthly peace. Nations fight nations. Ethnic groups throw slurs, stones, and worse. Families, teams, workers, politicians, even churches, fight without and within. Such constant blaming, bickering, and breaking down of relationships make the celebration of peace questionable. Nevertheless, the peace prophesied in Isaiah and Zechariah and proclaimed by the angels in Luke remains as relevant today as the night of Jesus’ birth. Those who experience God’s salvation know peace that transcends any circumstance. As Paul tells us in Ephesians, Jesus is our peace. When we allow His presence to reign in our lives, we enjoy true peace, whether the world around us is peaceful or not. When we hurt, Jesus’ peace eases our pain. When facing death, His peace provides comfort and reassurance. When abused, He wraps us in arms of peace. When darkness engulfs us, we walk by the light of His peace. When persecuted for our faith, we can respond with and proclaim His peace. When we fall flat in failure, He picks us up, dusts us off, and tells us to try again – to go in His peace. We celebrate daily the peace made possible through His all-sufficient gift of grace. We also look forward to the everlasting peace Jesus will usher in at His return. All conflict and pain will disappear for those who follow Him. Proclaim Him as Lord and let Christ cover you in peace. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. The Pocket Testament League Devotions Celebrating Miracles Acts 3:8-10 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Thoughts for Today: Have you ever run a race, when as you turn the final corner you see in the distance the finish line? You get this tremendous burst of energy and the fatigue of the race (or life trial) melts away. If you are the winner you are jumping for joy and the old worn out you begins to become a distant memory. I was in Chicago recently during the annual running of the Chicago Marathon. It was a cold blustery day as only Chicago can produce in October. Im sure you saw the race highlights on the news -- what made this race different was the winner was taken to the hospital. You see, in an effort to cross the finish line he leaned forward, lost his balance, and fell -- giving himself a concussion in the process. There wasnt much of a victory celebration. Equally, how disappointed God must be when He brings us through a time of trial in our life, and just as we cross the finish line victoriously we utter, That was lucky! Im sometimes guilty of this. I want to blame God when things dont go right, but when He plucks me from the clutches of defeat I say, See how clever and smart I was! Or I explain Gods miracle with some worldly wise explanation. Questions to Ponder: Are you guilty of demonstrating your healing (walking and jumping as the cripple did) yet not praising and honoring God? I know to our non- Christian friends and the world in general it is difficult to talk about God -- they may tune you out. But does this stop you from acknowledging God? A Holy Experience Letters to Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine - “Perhaps we are not following Christ all the way or in the right spirit. We are likely, for example, to be a little sparing of the palms and hosannas… Let us, in heaven’s name, drag out the divine drama from under the dreadful accumulation of slipshod thinking and trashy sentiment heaped upon it, and set it on an open stage to startle the world into some sort of vigorous reaction… If all men are offended because of Christ, let them be offended; but where is the sense of their being offended at something that is not Christ and is nothing like him?…” A letter to the Church that seems meant for these kinds of days. Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style - “The particular type of curriculum you choose is not as important as the need to develop your child’s mind with that curriculum. Christian teaching by the Trivium is more than Latin and Logic. It is a way of life. It is about developing proper appetites. It is developing imagination and creativity. It’s having time to play and explore in the old fashioned way. It’s encouraging a love for learning. It’s building a firm foundation in the child’s mind with memorization and narration. And it’s about learning to obey and serve our heavenly father.” Always a cornerstone read for another year of learning here. The Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning – “It should not be ‘How much has our child covered? but How much does he care? and About how many times does he care?” “Whatever the specifics of the curriculum used in your home, be sure that your children each day have Something or someone to love Something to do Something to thin about.” …yes, yes, yes Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers - “Children do not experience our intentions, no matter how heartfelt. They experience what we manifest in tone and behaviour. Unconditional parental love is the indespensible nutrient for the child’s healthy emotional growth. The first task is to create space in the child’s heart for the certainty that she is precisely the person the parents want and love. She does not have to do anything or be any different to earn that love – in fact, she cannot do anything, since that love cannot be won or lost… The child can be ornery, unpleasant, whiny, uncooperative, and plain rude, and the parent still lets her feel loved. Ways have to be found to convey the unacceptability of certain behaviors without making the child herself feel unaccepted. She has to be able to bring her unrest, her least likable characteristics to the parent and still receive the parent’s absolutely satisfying, security-inducing unconditional love.” Just like God does for us.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:02:35 +0000
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