Psalm 119:43-48 (NIV)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/30/2017)...

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

Ronald Reagan

Psalm 119:43-48 (NIV) Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws. I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees.

 

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Galatians 5:1 (NIV)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/29/2017)...

"This is all the inheritance I can give my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed."

Patrick Henry (Last Will and Testament)

Galatians 5:1 (NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 

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Psalm 33:12-22 (NIV)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/28/2017)...

"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained."

George Washington (1789)

"It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness..."

Abraham Lincoln (March 30, 1863)

Psalm 33:12-22 (NIV) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. 

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. 

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

 

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Romans 13:1-5 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/27/2017)...

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead top political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars?

George Washington 

Romans 13:1-5 (NLT) Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

 

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Nehemiah 9:16-18 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/26/2017)...

"The high heaven covereth as well tall mountains as small mole hills, and mercy can cover all. The more desperate thy disease, the greater is the glory of thy physician, who hath perfectly cured thee."

Abraham Wright

Nehemiah 9:16-18 (NLT) But our ancestors were proud and stubborn, and they paid no attention to your commands. They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them, even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ They committed terrible blasphemies.

Matthew 18:32-33 (NLT) Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?"

 

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Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/23/2017)...

 "The question should really be why we even think of a supreme being. Why do we ask if there is a sovereign power over the universe? Is it because we are deluded into thinking there should be, or is it because reason demands a cause and a purpose? Is it possible that deep within our hungers is the quest to know why we are here in the first place, and the naturalist's cavalier dismissal of that question falls upon questing souls that search of a reason as much as the body yearns for water? 

There were no professors of science in the original created order to question revelation. From deep within the human soul arose the challenge for autonomy over against a boundary within which to live."

Ravi Zacharias ("Jesus Among Secular Gods," pg. 16)

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NLT) What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

 

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Genesis 6:5-9 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/23/2017)...

"No matter how ungodly the environment you may be in, God will always find you and walk with you. Noah lived in perhaps the most wicked age in history. No one worshipped God...Nevertheless, Noah was not lost to God in the crowd of sinners. God noticed every act of Noah's righteousness. Noah had chosen to live uprightly before God despite what everyone around him was doing, and God had observed him. There may have been times when Noah wondered if it mattered if he lived a righteous life, since no one else was. Yet he continued, and his persistence in righteousness saved his life and the lives of his family members."

Henry & Richard Blackaby (Experiencing God Day By Day, 6/14)

Genesis 6:5-9 (NLT) The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord. 

This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

 

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Colossians 3:16-17 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/21/2017)...

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty."

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Colossians 3:16-17 (NLT) Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

 

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Romans 1:19-20 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/20/2017)...

Some contemplative thoughts for atheists to consider...

-How everything ultimately came from nothing

-How order came from chaos

-How harmony came from discord

-How life came from non life

-How reason came irrationality 

-How personality came from non-personality

-How morality came from amorality

Robert Morey, (The New Atheism and the Erosion of Freedom)

Romans 1:19-20 (NLT) They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

 

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Proverbs 4:1-3 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/16/2017)...

FATHER'S DAY THOUGHT

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan."

Garrison Keillor

Proverbs 4:1-3 (NLT) My children, listen when your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn good judgment, for I am giving you good guidance. Don’t turn away from my instructions. For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved as my mother’s only child.

 

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Psalm 127:3 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/15/2017)...

FATHER'S DAY THOUGHT

"We wondered why when a child laughed, he belonged to Daddy, and when he had a sagging diaper that smelled like a landfill, He wants his mother."

Erma Bombeck

Psalms 127:3 (NLT) Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

 

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Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/14/2017)...

FATHER'S DAY THOUGHT

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."

Chuck Swindoll

Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (NLT) So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

 

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Colossians 1:11-14 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/13/2017)...

"If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going."

Harriet Tubman

Colossians 1:11-14 (NLT) We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

 

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James 1:2-4 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/12/2017)...

Many times what we perceive as an error or failure is actually a gift. And eventually we find that lessons learned from that discouraging experience prove to be of great worth. 

Richelle E. Goodrich

James 1:2-4 (NLT) Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT) So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

 

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Psalm 20:4-5 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/9/2017)...

You're a Grand Old Flag...

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

by George M. Cohan (1906)

Psalms 20:4-5 (NLT) May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.

Romans 12:21 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/8/2017)...

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."

John Wesley

Romans 12:21 (NLT) Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

 

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Ephesians 2:4-10 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/6/2017)...

"I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is faith in Jesus Christ. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if I had not given them that, and had given them all the world, they would be poor indeed." 

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

Ephesians 2:4-10 (NLT) But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. 

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

 

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Jeremiah 17:5-6 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/2/2017)...

"God often uses other people as His method of providing for you. Be careful lest you inadvertently misdirect your faith toward his provision instead of toward the Provider. God may meet your need through your friends, but ultimately your trust must be in the Lord."

Henry T. Blackaby

Jeremiah 17:5-6 NLT This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.

 

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Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT)...

FROM TODAY'S READING (6/1/2017)...

"For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for want of care about a horseshoe nail."

Benjamin Franklin

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT) Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

 

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