Stuck in the Muck

There are seasons in which we become stuck.  It is horrible.  We may be stuck in anger, or unforgivenss, or grief, or.....
If we are unable to climb out, we can cry out and ask God to rescue us.

TV~  (Today's Verse)
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

The Downward Spiral of Temptation

Here are the five steps downward: 

1.  We are drawn away by our own evil desires.
2.  Our desire conceives.
3.  Our desire gives birth to sin.
4.  Sin becomes full-grown.
5.  Sin brings forth death.  (Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.)

TV~  (Today's Verse)
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 

The Truth Within

In our relativistic society, truth can be a shifting term.  However, we are assured that if the Holy Spirit is within us, we have the spirit of truth.

TV~  (Today's Verse)

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [John 8:32]

Remembering Evelyn

My pastor recently spoke of a saintly woman he once knew who had worked as a nurse to the impoverished in rural Canada.  He had the privilege of being by her bedside at the time of her passing on into glory.  She kept repeating the same scripture, over and over.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  (Psalm 103:1)

Oh that we all would be able to praise God even unto our dying breath.

TV~  (Today's Verse)
While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
 [Psalm 146:2]

Little Bits of Encouragement

There's a church in my town that has a sign offering a short, encouraging word each time I drive by... 

There's an egg company that prints the gospel on all of its egg cartons...

Today I opened up a math lesson CD, and a Bible verse was the first window that popped up.  It encouraged me and is the verse for today.

TV~ (Today's Verse)
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. [Isaiah 41:10]

A Daily Purpose

Those of us, who've reached middle age and beyond, would agree that life is full of hardship. In fact, some days are so hard that the goal becomes merely getting through to the end of the day.  Day in day out, week in week out, year in year out.  The shallow goals that may satisfy us when we are young grow dim with the years.  We realize that it is living for God and creating loving relationships which matter most.

Ask God each day to show you how to bless another person who also is part of  the daily struggle that is part of the  human condition.

TV~ (Today's Verse)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.  [Mark 12:30,31]

Saints Ignored

Someone recently gave me a book entitled, "50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith," by Baptist theologian Warren W. Wiersbe.   Many of those 50 names are people I recognize and know to be worthy of respect.  Yet nobody mentioned in the book lived prior to the 19th century.  What about all those spiritual giants who lived before 1800? 

I wonder if the earlier spiritual giants are ignored because they were Catholic. (All Christians were Catholic prior to 1517.)   Protestant authors focus only on the Protestants, thus missing out on much of the rich heritage of faith that brought us from the time of Christ into the present.

TV~ (Today's Verse)
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.… [Hebrews 11:37]