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Jeremiah 33:3 NASB "‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’"It had been too long! Today's verse shares about calling out to God and He will answer us, and tell us some amazing things we didn't know! With the Covid pandemic, many have lost touch with each other. We stopped seeing each other daily or meeting up at church or even going out to dinner to enjoy each others company. When the call came, I eagerly answered the phone. We took the time to catch up, to share how life has been going, it was a wonderful time to reconnect. I wonder if our walk with God needs to be reconnected?! When was the last time we called Him, talked with Him, spent time with Him?! Maybe it's time we go to His House again and get caught up. He's waiting for us to call, what are we waiting for?! peace, tom
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Colossians 3:3 NASB "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."He could play it for hours! Today's verse, rather simple but speaks volumes! The smile on his face, when I find him, is precious. Our eldest grandson loves to play hide and seek. We take turns counting and hiding but he gets more joy out of being found. The giggles and laughter when I walk around the house calling his name is priceless. When I finally find him, hidden under a blanket or in between the curtains, brings him a joy that he can't contain. That's how it should be with our life with Christ. Once we hide ourselves in Christ, we are dead to the world around us. The things that we used to strive for, no longer seem important. The fame, the money, the approval of men are things left behind when we cover ourselves in the blanket of the Lord. So, who wants to play hide and seek, God will find us no matter where we are and we should rejoice, just like a little boy! peace, tom
James 1:27 NASB "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."I looked down at the shirt I had on and realized I should have put on an apron! Today's Word speaks Truth about what living for Christ is really all about, it's others, not ourselves! I was staining a wood project when I realized that I had more stain on my shirt than on the project. I couldn't help but think of today's verse where it shares that we are to keep ourselves unstained by the world. I needed to change my shirt and it went into the "rag" pile for it was no longer useful - letting the stain of the world fall upon us, can and will make us useless. In order to keep our walk with Christ pure and undefiled, we will have to do things, like visiting the orphans and widows, and stay clean from the filth of the world. The question for today is, do we need to change our shirt?! peace, tom
James 4:14 NASB "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away."As I grabbed for the tool, I thought about my father in law! Today's verse should encourage us to make the best of each day for we know not what tomorrow brings or how long we will be on this earth! I have been blessed to get some tools from my father in law, a wonderful and gifted carpenter, who went to be with Jesus many years ago. Holding the tool that he used brought back memories of watching him work, his skill and craftsmanship and the knowledge that he shared with me. Now he is only a memory that I hold in my heart. Today's verse says that we are just a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes away. Let's make the most of our time here on earth, that even in our "vapor" stage, we will be remembered for the way we lived to honor God! peace, tom
Ephesians 4:13 NASB "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."I couldn't help but think how without unity, the screws just kept stripping! Todays verse speaks to us about unity, unity of faith, unity of the knowledge of Christ and how that unity leads us to maturity and fullness of Christ! Trying to repair a ceiling track, where doors would run along it, we found that the screws were stripped. They could no longer hold the track up and so the doors couldn't work properly. The wood had split to where there was no strength, no unity of the wood to hold the weight of the track and the door. It needed to be repaired to work properly. Too often in families, churches, marriages, the unity is missing. With the unity missing, we are no longer useful. We need to do some repair work and allow Christ and the Holy Spirit to be the glue to bring us together again so that we may be useful and carry the weight of those who are in need! peace, tom
Jude 1:24 NASB "Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,"It kept falling off the track, so I had to make changes! Today's verse speaks about Jesus, the One who can protect us and keep us from stumbling and bring us great joy! I didn't really want to start ripping up the track but the way my train layout was, it just wasn't working. I drove the train over the track to see exactly what and where it needed to be changed. With each screw I pulled, each section of track I replaced, I looked forward to having it run without falling off, so that it could bring joy to those who watched it run. In life, we need to make changes when we find ourselves falling off track. We may have to remove things that are causing us to stumble. Jesus is our great conductor, He will lead us on the right track so we can bring great joy to others. Don't keep falling off track, make the changes and let Jesus bring us joy! All aboard! peace, tom
Proverbs 27:19 NASB "As in water a face reflects the face, So the heart of a person reflects the person."It was easy to see but hard for him to admit! Today's verse speaks about our heart and how the status of our heart will reflect in our outward man! Just looking at him, I could tell, things were not well. He wasn't sick, he wasn't hurting or maybe he was! i asked a simple question, are you ok? and his response was "yeah, I'm fine" - the truth was that he was hurting, his heart was being reflected in his outward appearance. I could have just walked away but the Spirit had me there to see if I could help. After a long conversation, where he finally came clean with what was troubling him, we prayed together and before we finished his smile came back. We didn't fix his struggles but he felt and knew he wasn't alone. Let's keep our eyes open for where the Spirit leads us cause we may just be the "heart medicine" someone needs! peace, tom
Genesis 1:31 "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.""That's good enough!" Today's verse is from the first chapter of the Bible, and it shares that everything God made was "very good", I wonder, can we say that?! After we put it all together, we said that it wasn't the best but it was good enough, boy were we wrong! We had to return to the customers home to fix it right this time, for in our rush to get it done, we skipped a few steps and made it work but it wasn't right. We must look at what we do, at work, at home, at our church, in our marriages, basically in all we do and ask "is it very good". To do a job that doesn't cut the mustard is just plain laziness on our part. My dad taught me, if your going to do the job, do it right or don't bother doing it at all! We didn't charge the customer for our return visit, we should have done it right the first time! The question for today is, did we do it very good?! peace, tom
Colossians 3:2 NASB "Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth." Ugh, here he comes again! Today's verse speaks to us about where our perspective is, it comes down to choice! I just finished shoveling the end of the driveway, when around the corner came the town snowplow! As he drove by and the snow piled high again, I wanted to be a kid again and hit him with a snowball! I wondered if he was waiting around the corner for me to finish before he filled the driveway back up with snow! LOL - I needed an attitude change, here I was getting angry and frustrated at the snowplow driver for doing his job. He was getting the street cleared so people could go to work, others could get to the store for medicine and other needs, fire fighters and EMS people could get down the streets to assist those in need! I needed a perspective change and thinking about things other than my own world, brought me a sense of understanding! Let's keep our perspective on Christ as we go about our daily life, we may just find a different perspective about things! peace, tom
Matthew 5:16 NASB "Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."It was pitch black and we couldn't see anything but a foot in front of us! Today's verse speaks to us about letting our light shine in such a way that they can see! We knew that he was in there somewhere but with the darkness, smoke and fire, we just had to keep going! As we searched for the victim in the building, the flashlights we carried became our most important tool. Shining the lights in each room as we searched helped us to keep moving forward until we finally found him. Life can be dark, filled with things that blind us, but when the Light of Christ begins to shine in our life, we can find things we never knew we were looking for. Things like peace, joy, strength, and many others. Those who know Christ are now the Light of Christ to be shone in the darkness of the world, so let's make sure our batteries are fresh and shine brightly for the world to see Jesus! peace, tom
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Tom SEmberAuthor of Daily Devotions Archives
February 2023
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Scouse Smurf
