http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:32:00 -0500 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:32:00 -0500 A friend sent this to me in e mail. Thanks. Cherie.. He is the First and Last, The Beginning and the End! He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all! He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times. He always was, He always is, and He always will be ... unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!   He was bruised and brought healing! He was pierced and eased pain! He was persecuted and brought freedom! He was dead and brought life! He is risen and brings power! He reigns and brings Peace! The world can't understand him, The armies can't defeat Him, The schools can't explain Him, and The leaders can't ignore Him. Herod couldn't kill Him, The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him,  and The people couldn't hold Him! Nero couldn't crush Him, Hitler couldn't silence Him, The New Age can't replace Him, and "Oprah" can't explain Him away!   He is light, love, longevity, and Lord. He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God. He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.   His ways are right, His word is eternal, His will is unchanging, and His mind is on me. He is my Savior, He is my guide, and He is my peace! He is my Joy, He is my comfort, He is my Lord, and He rules my life!   I serve Him because His bond is love, His burden is light, and His goal for me is abundant life. I follow Him because He is the wisdom of the wise, the power of the powerful, the ancient of days, the ruler of rulers, the leader of leaders, the overseer of the overcomers, and is to come. And if that seems impressive to you, try this for size.   His goal is a relationship with ME! He will never leave me, never forsake me, never mislead me, never forget me, never overlook me and never cancel my appointment in His appointment book!   When I fall, He lifts me up! When I fail, He forgives! When I am weak, He is strong! When I am lost, He is the way! When I am afraid, He is my courage! When I stumble, He steadies me! When I am hurt, He heals me! When I am broken, He mends me! When I am blind, He leads me! When I am hungry, He feeds me! When I face trials, He is with me! When I face persecution, He shields me!   When I face problems, He comforts me! When I face loss, He provides for me! When I face Death, He carries me Home!   He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way. He is God, He is faithful. I am His, and He is mine! My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world. So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this... He said it and that settles it. God is in control, I am on His side, and that means all is well with my soul.     Everyday is a blessing for GOD Is!       http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/682434/ Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/682434/ Brandon and I were discussing Noah's Ark and the rainbow. He was having a little trouble understanding God's promise regarding the rainbow. He thought the promise was only good if you could see the rainbow. We talked for a while, and I told him even though we can't always see the rainbow, God's promises are still there, and that is what faith is all about.  Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.   We can't always see the Rainbow Yet we know it's there. God promised to be with us through every woe and care.   His Word has many promises That we can hold through our tears. And like the Rainbow, that can't be seen we know that He is near. By Kristy Poems are not to be used in any manner w/o the permission of the blog author.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/680504/ Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/680504/ "The precious blood of Christ."-1 Peter 1:19   Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one with Him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our bei!   ng spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same. The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power! Spurgeon http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/679734/ Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/679734/ Why go to church?             If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!           If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.          If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!           Why Go To Church?           A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.   "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.  So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."         This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.  It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:         "I've been married for 30 years now.  In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.  But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.  But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"  When you are DOWN to nothing..... God is UP to something!  Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!  Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!                "When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could you get that for me?" http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/665083/ Wed, 4 Mar 2009 09:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/665083/ 1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.  2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.  3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.  5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.  6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.  7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;  10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.  13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.  14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.  17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.  19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.  20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.  21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?  22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.  23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/649313/ Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:15:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/649313/ "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." II Corinthians 4:8, 9. Whoever started the rumor that the Christian life should be free from trouble knows little about the Bible. God never promised us a problem-free journey. From the words of Paul the apostle, who endured great suffering for the cause of the Savior, we find encouragement to persevere. Paul knew what it was to be persecuted, abandoned, misunderstood, and misrepresented. However, there is one thing he did not know. He knew nothing about quitting. Jesus warned his closest followers that they would, as He did, have to face and endure hardships. It seems that many Christians in our present generation are not willing or prepared to suffer for our Lord. Unfortunately, false teachers are abundant. They preach a message contrary to the Bible, often implying that believers should be exempt from pressure and conflict. Such promises are not found in the Scripture. Paul understood that there would be afflictions, and that there was purpose in our problems. He took comfort and courage in the principle that through our persecutions and trials "the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." It is often in our most perplexing and demanding experiences that God's grace and power is seen. Knowing this helps us endure whatever difficulties life may bring. Wherever our path leads us, and whatever challenges we face, God has promised to be with us. He will be there to support us, offering us wisdom and strength, and using each valley to further His work in us and through us. When the road is difficult and our resources are exhausted, faith will find a way to persevere. Quitting was not an option for the great apostle. He may have been knocked down, but he was not knocked out. We should be thankful that quitting was never an option for our Savior. His commitment to Calvary was not dependent on either comfort or convenience. Let's settle it in our minds today. With God as our Helper, and those who have gone before as our examples and encouragement, by grace we will not quit until the race is done. Smith http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/648805/ Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:03:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/648805/ Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures."-Luke 24:45   He whom we viewed last evening as opening Scripture, we here perceive opening the understanding. In the first work He has many fellow-labourers, but in the second He stands alone; many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus differs from all other teachers; they reach the ear, but He instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but He imparts an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its savour and spirit. The most unlearned of men become ripe scholars in the school of grace when the Lord Jesus by His Holy Spirit unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to them, and grants the divine anointing by which they are enabled to behold the invisible. Happy are we if we have had our understandings cleared and strengthened by the Master!  How many men of profound learning are ignorant of eternal things! They know the killing letter of revelation, but its killing spirit they cannot discern!   ; they have a veil upon their hearts which the eyes of carnal reason cannot penetrate. Such was our case a little time ago; we who now see were once utterly blind; truth was to us as beauty in the dark, a thing unnoticed and neglected. Had it not been for the love of Jesus we should have remained to this moment in utter ignorance, for without His gracious opening of our understanding, we could no more have attained to spiritual knowledge than an infant can climb the Pyramids, or an ostrich fly up to the stars. Jesus' College is the only one in which God's truth can be really learned; other schools may teach us what is to be believed, but Christ's alone can show us how to believe it. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus, and by earnest prayer call in His blessed aid that our dull wits may grow brighter, and our feeble understandings may receive heavenly things. I sought him, but I found him not."-Song of Solomon 3:1   Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures?  You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence. Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest-not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.   Spurgeon   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/647280/ Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/647280/ I will help thee, saith the Lord."-Isaiah 41:14   This morning let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: "I will help thee." "It is but a small thing for Me, thy God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more. Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside My glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give. 'Tis much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. 'Help thee?' Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would n!   ot ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. 'I will help thee.'"   O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring them here-thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs. Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!   "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed! I am thy God, and will still give thee aid." Spurgeon http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/646190/ Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:41:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/646190/ And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." I Kings 19:10, 14. The bravest and most faithful of God's servants have times of discouragement. Elijah was no exception. When he stood on Mt. Carmel, he was called upon to face the false prophets alone. God gave a great victory. Now the prophet is being opposed by wicked Queen Jezebel, and the fatigue of the past events has caught up with him. At perhaps his lowest moment, Elijah felt that he would be better off dead than alive. The man of God is struggling emotionally and spiritually. Have you ever felt that you have been asked to carry more than your share of the load? Have you thought that perhaps your burdens or trials were more difficult than others? It can happen to any of us, and it can be a spiritually dangerous place to be. Elijah illustrates how the "AM I THE ONLY ONE?" syndrome can manifest itself in anyone. In reality, there were thousands of others who were remaining faithful to God and had not bowed their knee to Baal. Few people in the Bible could be considered more faithful to God than Elijah was. No one would question his zeal and commitment to the Word of God. He was willing to stand for God and against evil, believing in his mind that no one else was standing. We should always be faithful to the Lord, even if we think at the time that we are the only ones. Because our family or friends are not standing true to God is not an excuse for us to let down in our loyalty. It may very well be that God wants to use our steadfastness to motivate and encourage others. There were times when Paul had to stand without any human support. Of course, our Savior is the greatest example of how someone can stand alone. However, as alone as we may sometimes feel, the reality is that usually there are others who are at their posts. Feeling that we are "the only one" can lead to spiritual pride and discouragement. The truth is that we are never alone. Though we may feel that way, God is always with us. Our standing faithful in times of difficulty is evidence of the grace that He is giving us. Don't be discouraged, but be thankful for the grace to stand and serve, and for the other unseen servants who are remaining faithful.   Smith http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/644887/ Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:19:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/644887/ Be Thankful   1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God.”  Even when we have a bad day in school God still gives us plenty of things to be thankful for.  We have family, friends, a house to live in, and a good church to go to.  In Psalms 100:4 it says, “Enter into His gates (enter prayer) with thanksgiving.”  During our prayer we need to thank God for all the things He has done.  He has given us a way to go to heaven, He gives us good health, and protects us.  In I Thessalonians 5:17 it tells us to pray without ceasing.  We should pray throughout the day thanking God for His wonderful blessings.  Mackenzie, 9 years old http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/635207/ Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mydevotions/635207/