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Psalm 34:4 NASB "I sought the Lord and He answered me, And rescued me from all my fears."We kept searching until we heard they were out! Today's Verse speaks to us about search and rescue! The report came in of two children still trapped in the fire building, so our crew entered and began to search. We were not going to leave that fire building until we found those children or heard reports that they were safe. Going room to room, in the darkness and the smoke until at last we heard that they were safe. Today's verse uses the word "sought" in searching the Lord in order to be rescued from our fears. I wonder, when was the last time we sought the Lord, I mean really looked for Him to rescue us. Too often, we try to do it on our own only to fail but when we get Him involved, we can be rescued from the sin and darkness of our lives. Let's search for Him today as if our children were trapped in a fire building! peace, tom
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2 Corinthians 11:13 NASB "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ."From a distance, we couldn't tell if it was real or fake. Today's Word is rather hard to admit but is true! As we walked along, we could see in the distance, what appeared to be a rather large deer. The closer we got, we found out that it just wasn't real but a very good replica of a large deer. In life, there will be those we see from a distance that appear as real but upon closer examination, we find them not to be as they disguise themselves to be. One sure way of finding out if they are real or not is their fruit. Are they living what they claim to be. As the fake deer appeared real until we got close enough to see no movement, those who are false in their walk with Christ will be able to be seen as fake based upon their movements. Let's not be one of those who are disguising ourselves as followers of Christ in word alone but by our actions, that prove we are real! just sayin! peace, tom
Colossians 3:5 EVS "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."Have we noticed that no matter what, the weeds grow faster and better than the grass! Today's Word is about putting to death those things of sin. Let's make sure we read the list so we know exactly what to remove from our life. Doing lawn care, I am always amazed at how fast the weeds will grow while the good grass doesn't seem to grow as fast. Trying to rid my lawn of the weeds, I have to stay diligent to remove them and keep them from coming back. Today's verse has a list of things (weeds) that need to be removed from our life. Once those things take hold, they can quickly take over our whole life, just like the weeds on our lawn. Diligence to remove them and keep them out will take all our strength. Let's not let the weeds of the world take over our life but remove them as quickly as they appear! peace, tom
Galatians 6:9 NASB "Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary."We kept moving forward! Today's verse is about not giving up, even when we may be discouraged! It was a rather large warehouse that was burning, The chief ordered my crew to the back of the building and begin to put water on the fire. It was hours and the fire continued to burn. We slowly began to make progress and eventually we put the fire out. At any point, we could have given up but we were firefighters and our job was to put the fires out. Sure some of us thought that it would never happen and may have been discouraged at how long it was taking but eventually, it went out. We can not give in or give up just because the job gets a little tough. It may be taking longer than expected but if we stay committed, it will happen! Let's keep our eye on the prize and keep moving forward! peace, tom
Ezra 10:4 NASB "Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act."It's a lot easier to say "it's someone else's responsibility" than to realize it's ours! Today's Word is about responsibility and being courageous enough to act. We've probably all heard someone say "let someone else do it!", when the reality is that we should be the ones doing it! We all can stand back and watch other's do it but the question is, when will we stand up and get involved?! The roads were slippery that morning as I drove to the fire house. As I came around a corner, there in the ditch was a car with it's lights on. I could have drove right by and said "let someone else take care of them" but I needed to step up and act. When I pulled over to help, the man in the car behind me did the same, and the next car. It amazed me that once someone begins to step up, others will too! Let's step up as godly men to where help is needed and not wait for another to do it! Keep our eyes open to where God is asking us to help another today! peace, tom
Romans 14:13 NASB "So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God." He simply said "I'll wait till the supervisor shows up!" Today we learn that each of us will be held accountable! We were doing a job when I noticed that things weren't right. I began to talk to the foreman about it, but he didn't want to hear it from a young apprentice. I knew by the time the supervisor came, it would have been too late, the damage would have been done and the work would all have to be done over. Sure enough, when the supervisor arrived, he too, saw what I saw and ordered the days work to be redone. What a waste of time and labor. When we die, which we all will, we will have to be accountable to God Himself. That just maybe too late to get it right, so finding other men to hold us accountable now, rather than God later, would be a great way to make sure we get it right. Make sure we have a godly man or two to hold us accountable today rather than God later! peace, tom
Jeremiah 17:7 NASB "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose trust is the Lord."It's easy to say but hard to put it into action! Today's Word is trust, and where to put it! Putting my trust in another, other than Christ, is setting myself up for failure! Never easy to say but I have put my trust in others and have been let down, but I can't let that keep me from trusting in the Lord. There are many who will never step into a church because they put their trust into man rather than God and have been hurt. It was an early morning when I had set up a few guys to help but as the morning went on, I found myself doing it all alone. They never showed up. When I put my trust in God, He always shows up, I have never been disappointed. I may not get what I want from God but I get what I need, every time! Let's not let man dictate our trust when it comes to the things of God! peace, tom
Ephesians 5:21 NASB "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."It's never easy but it must be done! Today's Word is about submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. As we sat around the table, we asked the hard questions of each other. Not the easy questions, but the hard one where a man has to be honest with our walk on this earth. Questions that ask if we had been unfaithful to our wives, done anything anywhere that would appear as evil, used our financial gain for those less fortunate than ourselves. Those and many others were asked of each other and we held each other accountable to not only answer Truthfully, but to be honest with the areas we need help in. Having a group of godly men in our lives, means more than just a saturday morning cup of coffee, it's submitting to each other with the Truth. We have all heard that the Truth shall set us free, the question is... are we free?! peace, tom
2 Corinthians 3:12 NASB "Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,"We all have the choice to either speak up or keep our mouths shut! Today's Word speaks about having such a hope as to speak with boldness. I couldn't stand back and be quiet any longer, I had to say something. I was watching as a group of boys began to pick on one of the guys in the group. It started out with just words but began to get physical. They had knocked him down a few times so I finally had had enough. I went over and helped him up and began to talk to the other boys. I took a chance to step out of my comfort zone and speak the Truth with love. I thank God it ended well and for having the hope to speak in boldness. It's not going to be easy but if we have the hope in Christ, then we must step out of our comfort zones and be the men God has called us to be. Where is God asking you to speak with boldness about the Truth? peace, tom
Hebrews 10:23 NASB "Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;"The wait seemed to last forever! Today's verse is about hope, and never giving up as we wait! Part of my crew stood at the door and waited for the hose to be charged. The fire was rapidly growing as we waited but we had all the faith in our driver that he would get us water! We never gave up for a second that the hose would be charged and we could enter the fire building, but the wait simply meant we needed to have faith in our driver. Having to wait for something can try our patience but if we hold on and have faith in the waiting, the promise will come. Christ will not disappoint us but we must put all our faith and hope in Him and not ourselves. Too often we give up before the blessing arrives. Let's not give up, or give in but continue in hope that the promise will be fulfilled. Putting our hope in Christ means letting go of ourselves and really trusting Him! peace, tom
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Tom SEmberAuthor of Daily Devotions Archives
December 2024
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