FROM TODAY'S READING (4/8/2016)...
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
- Winston Churchill
APOSTLE PAUL'S RESPONCE TO THOSE WHO WERE CRITICIZING HIM...
1 Corinthians 11:21-27 (NLT) "But whatever they dare to boast about—I’m talking like a fool again—I dare to boast about it, too.
Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more!
I have worked harder,
been put in prison more often,
been whipped times without number,
and faced death again and again.
Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.
Three times I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned.
Three times I was shipwrecked.
Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
I have traveled on many long journeys.
I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers.
I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles.
I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas.
And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.
I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights.
I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food.
I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.”
Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
