FROM TODAY’S READING (1/16/2019)...
“When you say yes to one thing, that means you say no to something else. You can’t do everything.”
Pam Tillis
Romans 12:1-2 (The Message) So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/15/2019)...
“If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.”
Ross Perot
“When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (NLT) But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
Proverbs 4:12, 14-17 (NLT) Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving. For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble. They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/14/2019)...
“Birthdays are nice to have, but too many of them will kill you.”
Unknown Origin
Psalms 90:12 (NLT) Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/11)2019)...
“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died. It was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”
Billy Graham
John 3:16-17 (NLT) For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Romans 5:8-11 (NLT) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/10/2019)...
O, Jesus if I die upon
A foreign field someday,
'Twould be no more than love demands,
No less could I repay,
"No greater love hath mortal man
Than for a friend to die"
These are the words He gently spoke to me,
"If just a cup of water
I place within your hand
Then just a cup of water
Is all that I demand."
But if by death to living
They can Thy glory see,
I'll take my cross and follow close to Thee.
by Ira F. Stamphill (1953) “Follow Me”
Galatians 2:20 (NLT) My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/9/2019)...
"I work so hard for Jesus,"
I often boast and say,
"I've sacrificed a lot of things
To walk the narrow way,
I gave up fame and fortune;
I'm worth a lot to Thee,"
And then I hear Him gently say to me,
"I left the throne of glory
And counted it but loss,
My hands were nailed in anger
Upon a cruel cross,
But now we'll make the journey
With your hand safe in Mine,
So lift your cross and follow close to Me."
by Ira F. Stamphill (1953) “Follow Me”
Matthew 16:24-26 (NLT) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/8/2019)...
I traveled down a lonely road
And no one seemed to care,
The burden on my weary back
Had bowed me to despair,
I oft complained to Jesus
How folks were treating me,
And then I heard Him say so tenderly.
"My feet were also weary,
Upon the Calvary road;
The cross became so heavy,
I fell beneath the load,
Be faithful, weary pilgrim,
The morning I can see,
Just lift your cross and follow close to me.”
by Ira F. Stamphill (1953) “Follow Me”
John 19:16-17 (NLT) Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha ).
Matthew 27:32-33 (NLT) Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/7/2019)...
“Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.”
Oh Mandino
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/3/2019)...
NEW YEAR THOT...
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next … Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither.”
—C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) “Mere Christianity”
Hebrews 12:1-4 (NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
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FROM TODAY’S READING (1/2/2019)...
NEW YEAR THOT...
“If you knew success was a certainty, what would you attempt to do?”
Unknown Origin
Psalms 16:1-2, 7-8, 11 (NLT) “Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.” I said to the Lord, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.”
I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
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