by Wendy Blight
"Listen carefully to my words. Don't lose
sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart; for they bring life to
those who find them, and health to their whole body." Proverbs 4:20b-22
(NLT)
Sometimes I feel like I disappoint God. My days
get so busy that I forget to open my Bible. I know I should, but I can't seem to
find the time.
Eventually, when guilt overtakes me, I open it
and read some Scripture.
What do I find? Not what I
expect.
First, let me tell you what I don't find. I don't
find condemnation and rebuke. Instead, I find grace and encouragement. In fact,
recently, God greeted me tenderly and lovingly with these words, "My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my
words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for
they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body."
(Proverbs 4:20-22, NLT, emphasis added)
God lovingly reminded me of what I miss when I
fail to open His Word each day.
Each time we neglect Him, He graciously gives us
a fresh start, a new opportunity to come to Him and meet Him in His Word
guilt-free.
When I ignore time in my Bible, I forget how much
God desires for me to meet Him there. Not for lessons and lectures, but because
He wants to speak to me.
Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. He says that the secret things of God were once hidden from us, but now God has made them available in His Word through His Holy Spirit.
Years and years ago, only God's chosen heard
directly from God. But not anymore! God makes His Word known to you and to
me.
If you have been neglecting the Word, will you
join me today and open God's Word? Open it from a place of great confidence!
Believe with all your heart and trust God at His Word that you will understand
the words you read through the help of His Holy Spirit.
Ask God to reveal His secrets and unearth those
treasures. When you get a taste of God's Holy Spirit speaking to you and
teaching you while you read His Word ... you will never want to
stop!
Go for it! Remember, He is waiting for
you.
Dear Lord, help me not to neglect time Your
Word. Create in me a hunger to carve out time to be with You. When I meet with
You, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, open the eyes of my heart to
understand the wonderful treasures tucked away in Your Word. Thank You that You
are waiting for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Daily Smile:
An elderly couple is beginning to notice that neither of them seem to be able to remember things as well as they used to. So, they go to see their doctor, who explains that there is nothing really wrong with, just typical memory loss associated with old age. He suggests that they each get notebooks and write notes to themselves to help remember things. The couple goes home and that evening while watching T.V. the man gets up and heads for the kitchen. His wife asks if he can bring her some ice cream when he returns. He says he will, and she says he should write it down.
"I’m just going to the kitchen, I'll remember."
"Well, I want that with nuts, too."
"O.K. he says ice cream with nuts."
She asks again if he's going to write it down. "No, I'm just going to the kitchen."
"And a Cherry on the top?"
He agrees and turns toward the kitchen again and she asks again about writing it down. Now the old man is angry, "Look, old lady I'm not senile, I can remember ice cream with nuts and a cherry on top."
He goes in the kitchen for 10 minutes and when he returns he sets a plate of bacon and eggs in front of his wife. She looks up and says, "Honey, you forgot my toast."
In The News:
Franklin Graham: IRS Targeted Us,
Too
The IRS also came after Billy Graham, his
son charged Tuesday in a letter to President Barack Obama, POLITICO reports. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, said the IRS notified the
organizations in September that it was conducting a "review" of their activities
for tax year 2010. With the IRS admitting it gave extra scrutiny to conservative political
organizations, Graham says he now believes that the review was part of an Obama
administration effort of "targeting and attempting to intimidate us." The Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association's urging of voters to back "candidates who base
their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel" during
last year's presidential race was the reason why IRS agents visited the North
Carolina offices of both Graham groups, the letter accuses. "While these audits
not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for
ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents
in our offices," Graham wrote in the letter. "I believe that someone in the
administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally
wrong and unethical -- indeed some would call it 'un-American.'" Graham said
that "in light" of the IRS admission that it targeted tea party groups for added
scrutiny, "I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last
year is a coincidence -- or justifiable."
Gosnell Avoids Death Penalty
Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell,
who was convicted of killing three babies born alive, agreed to give up his
right to an appeal in order to avoid a possible death
sentence, WORLD reports. Gosnell was convicted Monday of
first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and
then killed with scissors. The 72-year-old abortionist gave up his appeal rights
Tuesday, with prosecutors agreeing to two life sentences without parole. Gosnell
was sentenced to another life sentence Wednesday in
the death of the third baby, and was also sentenced to between two and a half to
five years for the overdose death of a patient. Although prosecutors charged
Gosnell with third-degree murder in the patient's death, the jury found him
guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Before he was led away to start his prison
sentence, the judge asked Gosnell if he wanted to say anything, and he replied,
"Not at this time." Prosecutors had sought the death penalty because Gosnell was
convicted of killing more than one person and his victims were especially
vulnerable given their age, but Gosnell's advanced age made it unlikely he would
ever be executed before his appeals ran out.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday
upheld the Obama administration's refusal to grant asylum to a German
homeschooling family, CBN News reports. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder filed
against the Romeike family, arguing that asylum should not be granted because
homeschooling is not a fundamental right protected under religious freedom. The
Romeikes fled Germany in 2008, facing criminal prosecution for homeschooling. In
2010, they were granted political asylum by immigration judge Lawrence Burman,
but his decision was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals last year.
On Tuesday, the three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit issued a unanimous decision
against the family. While the 6th Circuit did acknowledge that the U.S.
Constitution recognizes the right of parents to homeschool, it refused to grant
that what the Romeikes face amounts to persecution deserving of asylum. The
Romeikes said they were disappointed but said, "God is in control." They know
what they face in Germany if they are deported: "First, they would fine us with
increasingly high fines and they would threaten to take away custody. There
might be jail time too, but the main threat is the aspect of custody because
then of course the children are taken away from you completely and that's what
no family wants." The Home School Legal Defense Association plans to appeal the
decision.
Nigeria's president declared a state of
emergency Tuesday across the country's troubled northeast, promising to send
more troops to fight an increasingly violent Islamic insurgency, Fox News reports. The Islamist group Boko Haram has
intensified its attacks on security forces and government targets this month,
prompting President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in certain
states. Last week, dozens of Boko Haram fighters laid siege to the town of Bama,
in Borno state, killing 55 and freeing more than 100 prison inmates. Days
earlier, scores were killed in the fishing village of Baga, also in Borno, when
troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad raided it looking for Islamists. Local
residents said soldiers were responsible for many civilian deaths. Jonathan also
warned that any building suspected to house Islamic extremists would be taken
over in what he described as the "war" now facing Africa's most populous nation.
However, it's unclear what the emergency powers will do to halt the violence, as
a similar past effort failed to stop the bloodshed.
No comments:
Post a Comment