2 John 9 (NASB) "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son."I should have listened to him, but I was a too head strong young boy! My dad had shared a lesson about how to do it, but tossing his advice aside, I thought I knew better! Today's verse shares about going too far without the teachings of Christ. If we have them, we have both the Father and the Son! After I had tried and fail numerous times, I finally did it the way my dad had shown me. Swallowing our pride and arrogance can be difficult but when those things lead us down a path that ends in failure, maybe we should abide in the teachings of our elders! When we try to move ahead of God, or try to do things our way, we usually end up in a mess, but if we hold firm to the teachings of Christ, we can walk with the Father and Son in triumph. I don't know about you but His Way seems so much better than mine, and my dad's way worked just fine!! Should have done it from the start, could have saved so much time and effort!!! peace, tom
0 Comments
John 10:9 (NASB) "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."It was the third time I had attempted to enter but was denied again! Today's verse shares about Jesus being the door and entering through Him, to be saved and to find pasture! We have always heard that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life but today, we learn He is also the door to enter through! In life, we may find doors that are closed or are closing as we prepared to enter, but let us not get discouraged for if we walk through the door of Christ, we will find it always open! The key of course is whether we are following where the Spirit is leading us or trying to open a closed door! A closed door doesn't necessarily mean that the journey is over, it means He has another way for us to go! Let's follow His Lead, so much better than ours! peace, tom
2 Corinthians 4:4(NASB) "in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."I was stuck and needed some help in getting out! As a young boy, I had found myself trapped in the room of mirrors and didn't know which way to go to get out of the room. My family had spent the day at an amusement park and one of the attractions was the "fun house" where as you went through you found yourself in a room of mirrors. Today's verse shares about being blinded, so blinded that you can not see the light of the gospel of Christ, the image of God! I kept turning this way and that but couldn't find my way out, I needed some help. In life, we may find that our way becomes unclear and we feel trapped, to the point where we need some help in getting out! Going to God to find the way out of the situation we are in is the best place to go. As my dad helped me out of the room, I remember commenting that there was nothing "fun" about this place, life can be like that too when we don't have Christ to show us the way! peace, tom
Acts 14:22 (NASB) "strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”"It was our fourth attempt at breaching the wall, when the chief came by and said "keep working at it, you'll get through!" While fighting a fire at a rather large warehouse, we needed to breach a wall separating us from the fire location. With each attempt, we began to question if we would ever get through! Today's verse shares about strengthening one another, encouraging each other in our faith and through many difficulties, we will succeed! Many times in life, we will hit walls, things that will question our strength, faith and determination in staying the course, but if we hold steady, and a good word from a friend can help us breach any wall that holds us back from being all that God has called us to be! Maybe you are the one to give a good word, or text to a friend to keep on keeping on! You could be the one needing a good word, and the best place to go is God's Word, let the Spirit speak to you and endure through the trials! Hold steady my friends, peace, tom
Colossians 3:8 (NASB) "But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth."I wish it was that easy but then again, maybe it is! With the simple click of a computer key, we can delete unwanted emails, texts, messages of any kind. And I got to thinking after reading today's verse, that maybe we need to do more clicking on the things listed! It always comes down to choice! I can choose to let my anger or abusive speech be a part of my life or I can delete it from my life choices. Going through old emails, and deleting them took no time at all and when it comes to removing the malice, slander and other ungodly things, we should be able to removed them as easy. The key that we need to push is staying in God's Word, walking by the Spirit, keeping our mind on things above rather than the things of this world. It can be as easy as hitting the delete key, that's if we choose to get rid of them! Choose wisely my friends! peace, tom
Hebrews 12:29 (NASB) "for our God is a consuming fire."They say that it is so large and so hot that it has created it's own thunderstorm! Knowing the effects of fire, my heart goes out to those suffering from the Australian Brush fires. They say over 12 million acres have burned and are still burning. Today's verse isn't one of those pleasant feel good kind of verses, it speaks the Truth relating to God. Having been in a consuming fire, I can tell you that's not a place where we want to be. The verse refers to honoring God with a reverence like we would a consuming fire. When you see houses, land, belongings and even people burned beyond recognition, you come away with a reverence for fire. I am sure that God's Fire is a thunderstorm all to itself! May we live and serve God and each other with the reverence God delights in! And say a prayer for all those effected by the Australian fire and the firefighters working hard to extinguish them! peace, tom
2 Peter 1:10 (NASB) "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;"It was my first full week as a newly hired camp counselor. I had found myself questioning whether I knew what I was doing and doing it to the best of my ability, as the week progressed, I would find out! Today's verse speaks of diligence and being certain of His Calling upon us so we may never stumble! I had to believe in the training I received and put my best foot forward to make sure that I was diligent in the role I was hired to do. Sometimes our own thoughts and questions can get in the way of being diligent but if we hold firm to the teachings of Christ, we can be certain to walk where He has called us to walk. As we head into the first full week of 2020, let us be diligent in reading His Word daily, and walking by His Spirit not our flesh! peace, tom
Revelation 21:5(NASB) "And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”"For those that see me, they will usually find that I keep a pad of paper and pen in my pocket! I had learned it from my dad who still carries his around. Written on the pad are things that need to be done, important information that I need to keep handy and other bits of info. Today's verse speaks to us about God making all things new and to write those words down for they are faithful and true! About this time of the year, many of us have already broken or forgot to keep our New Year's Resolutions, sad but true. I wonder how many of us would keep them if we had written them down? I wonder how many of us would keep God's Word if we were to write them on our hearts and carry them around with us. Maybe that's the best resolution we can make this year, and keep this year! Words that are faithful and true should be kept close to the heart, don't ya' think?! peace, tom
|
Tom SEmberAuthor of Daily Devotions Archives
April 2024
Categories |