Scripture

And "don't sin by letting anger control you.
" Don't let the sun go down while you are
still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
Ephesians 4:26-27, NLT

Reflection:    
The Bible doesn't tell us that we shouldn't
feel angry, but it points out that it is important
to handle our anger properly. If vented
thoughtlessly, anger can hurt others and
destroy relationships. If bottled up inside,
it can cause us to become bitter and destroy
us from within. Paul tells us to deal with our
anger immediately in a way that builds
relationships rather than destroys them.    

If we nurse our anger, we will give
Satan an opportunity to divide us. Are you
angry with someone right now? What can
you do to resolve your differences?
Don't let the day end before you begin
to work on mending your relationship.    
 

Scripture:

Don't just pretend to love others.
Really love them. Hate what is wrong.
Hold tightly to what is good. Love
each other with genuine affection,
and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:9-10, NLT     

Reflection:

Most of us have learned how to
pretend to love others--how to
speak kindly, avoid hurting their
feelings, and appear to take an
interest in them. We may even
be skilled in pretending to feel
moved with compassion when
we hear of others' needs, or to
become indignant when we learn
of injustice. But God calls us to
real and sincere love that goes
far beyond pretense and politeness.
Sincere love requires concentration
and effort. It means helping others
become better people. It demands
our time, money, and personal
involvement. No individual has the
capacity to express love to a whole
community, but the body of Christ
in your town does.     
Look for people who need your love,
and look for ways you and your
fellow believers can love your
community for Christ.     

From "Life Application Daily Devotion"  
September 20, 2009

A reformer's refuge

    "A mighty fortress is our God.
    A bulwark never failing.
    Our helper He amid the flood
    Of mortal ills prevailing.
    For still our ancient foe
    Doth seek to work us woe—
    His craft and pow'r are great,
    And, armed with cruel hate,
    On earth is not His equal."
    A Mighty Fortress is Our God
    Martin Luther (1483-1546)


God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of
trouble. So we will not fear, even
if earthquakes come and mountains
crumble into the sea. Let the oceans
roar and foam. Let the mountains
tremble as the waters surge!
Psalm 46:1-3 NLT

The great reformer

"After posting his ninety-five theses
on the door of Wittenberg's Castle
Church in October 1517, Martin Luther
faced many years of trials and persecution.
And during the years of the ensuing
Protestant Reformation, Luther came
to know better than most the gracious
power of God's sheltering hand. He
confidently stepped forward to defend
the truth he found in God's Word, despite
excommunication from the Roman church,
continual threats to his life and freedom,
and times of intense spiritual battle.

In the comforting words of Psalm 46,
Luther found the inspiration for this hymn
 that would become the battle cry of the
Protestant Reformation. Many who suffered
for their faith during that time found solid
comfort in Luther's words of faith and praise.
"A might fortress is our God!"

from The One Year® Book of Hymns by
Mark Norton and Robert Brown (Tyndale)
entry for October 31

Poem
 
 I was shocked, confused, bewildered
 As I entered Heaven's door,
 
 Not by the beauty of it all,
 Nor the lights or its decor.
 
 But it was the folks in Heaven
 Who made me sputter and gasp-
 
 The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
 The alcoholics and the trash.
 
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice..
 
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
 
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
 
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
 
I would love to hear Your take.
 
How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake.
 
And why's everyone so quiet,
 
So somber - give me a clue.'
 
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in
 shock..
 No one thought they'd be seeing you.'
 
 
JUDGE NOT.
 

'To get something you never had,
you have to do something you
never did.'  When God takes
something from your grasp,
He's not punishing you, but
merely opening your hands
to receive something better.  

Concentrate on this sentence... '

The will of God will never take
you where the Grace of God
will not protect you.'   Something
good will happen to you today;
something that you have been
waiting to hear.  

Scripture:

"But Jesus said, "You feed them."
"But we have only five loaves of bread and
two fish," they answered. "Or are you expecting
us to go and buy enough food for this whole
crowd?" For there were about 5,000 men there.
Luke 9:13-14, NLT"

Reflection:

It was the middle of the day, probably around lunch time.
People had been waiting a long while to see and hear
Jesus.  They were hungry and tired, and on top of that
there was over 5,000 them (not counting women and children).
This was no small crowd. When the disciples expressed
concern about how the crowd of thousands would eat,
Jesus offered this surprising solution.  "You give them
something to eat: The disciples were set
back by this proposal.  Notice their response to Jesus'
solution.  They protested, focusing their attention on
what they didn't have (food and money).

How many times, in our life, have we focused on the things
we didn't have.  Do you honestly think that our God
would ask us to do something that we and He together
couldn't handle?  WE NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT WE DO
HAVE, JESUS CHRIST!  
Don't let your lack of resources blind you to seeing God's power.

Prayer:

Thank You God that I have you. I pray that I focus
on my relationship with You and on Your power and
strength. Not on what I don't have. Because when I
have You God I have everything.  In Jesus name amen.

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today.

The people who are starting college this fall were born in 1991.

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

The CD was introduced two years before they were born.

They have always had an answering machine..

They have always had cable.

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been microwaved.                 

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: 'Where's the Beef?', 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel ', or 'de plane Boss, de plane'.

 

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list.

Notice the larger type?

That's for those of us who have trouble reading.

P.S. Save the earth.. It's the only planet with chocolate.
 

Scripture:

Luke 6:12 (New King James Version)

The Twelve Apostles
   
12 Now it came to pass in those days
that He went out to the mountain to pray,
and continued all night in prayer to God.
 

Reflection:

When you have a decision to make how do you approach
making that decision.  Do you seek other people's advice, do
you research a lot, do you spend days seeking advice
from experts, maybe you even look at self-help gurus.
Then as an after thought you spend five minutes with
God.
But before Jesus chose His twelve apostles, He spent
the night in conversation with His father.  I mean we are
talking about the Son of God and He didn't think it was a
waste of His time and spent the whole night in prayer.
What about you?  Do you pray when you have a
decision to make.  Do you pray when you are looking
for a job, when you hire or fire someone.  When you
change jobs, careers, or locations, do you seek your
father's counsel.  Do you have other important decisions
that would benefit from godly wisdom?  (are there any
other kind of decisions?)
ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND THE NIGHT IN
PRAYER!

Prayer:

Oh Lord I want to walk as one of your blessed children.
"Order my steps in thy word" 
What is Your Word concerning my life and the decisions
I must make?  Oh Lord give me a greater hunger to spend
time with You, to hear Your Word of life, Your Wisdom,
Your Counsel,
 

OUR LORD WORKS IN WONDEROUS
WAYS, HIS MIRACLES TO PERFORM!!!

A preacher concluded that his church
was getting into very serious financial
troubles.  While checking the church
storeroom, he discovered several cartons
of new Bibles that had never been opened
and distributed.  So at his Sunday sermon,
he asked for three volunteers from the
congregation who would be willing to sell
the Bibles door-to-door for $10 each to
raise the desperately needed money for
the church.  Jack, Paul and Louie all
raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew that Jack and Paul
earned their living as salesmen and were
likely capable of selling some Bibles. But
he had serious  doubts about Louie who
was a local farmer, who had always kept
to himself because he was embarrassed
by his speech impediment.  Poor Louis
stuttered badly. But, not wanting to
discourage Louis, the minister decided
to let him try anyway.

He sent the three of them away with the
back seat of their cars stacked with Bibles.
He asked them to meet with him and report
the results of their door-to-door selling
efforts the following Sunday.

 Anxious to find out how successful they
were, the minister immediately asked Jack,
'Well, Jack, how did you make out selling
our Bibles last week?'

Proudly handing the minister an envelope,
Jack replied, 'Using my sales prowess, I
was able to sell 20 Bibles, and here's the
$200 I collected on behalf of the church.'

'Fine job, Jack!' The minister said, vigorously
shaking his hand. 'You are indeed a fine
salesman and the Church is indebted to you.'

Turning to Paul, 'And Paul, how many
Bibles did you sell for the church last week?'  
Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest,
confidently replied, 'I am a professional
salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the
church, and here's $280 I collected.'

The minister responded, 'That's absolutely
splendid, Paul. You are truly a professional
salesman and the church is indebted to you.'

 Apprehensively, the minister turned to
Louie and said, 'And Louie, did you manage
to sell any Bibles last week?'

 Louie silently offered the minister a large
envelope.

The minister opened it and counted the contents.
'What is this?' the minister exclaimed. 'Louie,
there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that
you sold 320 Bibles for the church, door to door, i
n just one week?'

Louie just nodded.

'That's impossible!' both Jack and Paul said
in unison. 'We are professional salesmen, yet
you claim to have sold 10 times as many Bibles
as we could.'

'Yes, this does seem unlikely,' the minister agreed.  
'I think you'd better explain how you managed to
accomplish this, Louie.'

Louie shrugged. 'I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don't
kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,' he stammered.

Impatiently, Peter interrupted. 'For crying out
loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them
when they answered the door!'

'A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,' Louis replied,
'W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy
th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks
---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me
t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-t-to y-y-you??'

Scripture:

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your
lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And
continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy
Spirit. Live in such a way that God's love can bless
you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord
Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you.
Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.
Rescue others by snatching them from the
flames of judgment. There are still others to
whom you need to show mercy, but be careful
that you aren't contaminated by their sins.
Titus 1:20:23 NLT

<…the Lord has already told you what is good,
and this is what he requires: to do what is right,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NLT

Reflection:

During my years in the Christian Ministry,
I of course had contact with a wide variety of
Christians.  I delighted in my discovery of
the many positive things we shared as
followers of Jesus Christ.There were also negative
characteristics that we as Christians seemed
to share.  One of those characteristics was
we as Christians,"often times shoot our own
wounded".  We often times become impatient
and judgmental with our brothers, and sisters,
and reject them. Especially when they struggle
with sin and doubt.   Instead of rejecting them,
Jude says, we should have mercy on them—
just as Christ had mercy on us when he forgave
our many sins. While we must not tolerate or
accept sin, we are to love and accept others
with kindness and mercy.

Would you remember this one very important
thing.  Please remember this:
If you know someone who has fallen away from
God, your kindness may be just what is needed
to lead them back to God.