Day 33: Please Read The Instruction Manual!

Day 33: Please Read The Instruction Manual!

Read: 2 Timothy 3:14 - 16

It is just like me to buy something that needs to be put together, get it home, unpack it and then have at it and try to put it together. Part A goes here I am sure of it. Part B obviously fits in this spot. Part C looks like a sure fit over there. Part D just has to fit at the exact point where parts A B C all came together so nicely. Except now for the part or parts that always somehow seem to be left over. What did I skip now? It does not make much sense. It all went together so nicely. I did a wonderful bang up job putting it together.... didn't I? Then, like the fool I tend to be when I try to figure stuff out, I see them. Thrown under all the plastic wrappings are the One and Only Instructions revealed to my eyes.

Just like anybody else who foolishly figures they have things figured out before they get started, who get too impatient or too smart for their own good - there it is - the Instruction manual, the 'how - to - this - the - right - way - the - first - time book.' When we get a new gadget, we want to try it out immediately. Usually there will be no harm done in our precipitous rush to get on top of the matter and get er done. We can do this because we can learn all the basics through trial and error and no small amount of frustration. However, skipping the most basic of instructions to get us started is a bad idea at best and disaster at worst. We want full potential now!

The same thing goes for the World's greatest Instruction Manual, which happens to be God's own Living Word revealed - the Bible. God wrote this Book with us in mind. God's revealed and living Word gives us everything we are ever going to need to optimize our lives. I shutter to think if we tried to live our own lives without reading God's life fully revealed through the Words of Holy Scripture. God's message for us is simply this: Do not make the mistake of living our lives through trial and error. Please make the effort to immerse yourself in the lessons already learned by those who've gone before you. Study it's people, memorize favorite verses, live life to the fullest.

Let us Pray: Lord, please don't let me try to do this thing called my life by myself. I ask that You give me a heart for Your Living Word revealed through lives of those who have gone before, from their hard fought, hard learned, hard lived lessons. I ask that You please plant within me the desire to experience the life and love of Your Son Jesus the Christ as He walked the path to Calvary and willingly died that I may live to the best of my ability in Your will, within His righteousness and nothing of my own accord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BqyC-NjM5w
Remind Me Of Who I Am by Jason Gray -Lyrics
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Video © User ID bobf72450 Remind Me Who I Am sung by Jason Gray from the album, Remind Me Of Who I Am. Cover.

Remind Me Of Who I Am by Jason Gray -Lyrics

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Video © User ID bobf72450 Remind Me Who I Am sung by Jason Gray from the album, Remind Me Of

Day 32: When Who Is Around You Is Leaving...

Day 32: When Who Is Around You Is Leaving...

Read: John 14:15 - 27

Is there anyone else out there who like me, follows the activities of their High School Alumni Association? I mean those were the days of long ago when things seemed to be a whole lot simpler and far less complicated. There are some days when I check the Alumni page that absolutely make me smile when I see some familiar faces that I once knew. I will look for the names of my favorite teachers to remember lessons I learned and contrast their influence then to what my life has become over the years. Most of them are gone now. I will look at the changes that have taken place to the actual school grounds then remember those places with some measure of fondness.

To some degree as I take the time to remember their faces, their mannerisms, their lesson plans, I find that most of them have long since become a faded memory. In a very real sense we have all left those times and places behind to start new lives and new dreams and new families. There have been a few days when I have missed the crowded and noisy hallways some 400 miles away and 33 very long long years ago. The scene from today's passage of Scripture is another one of those places where, if I had been alive that many years ago I would just absolutely long to return to. Jesus is in the Upper Room with His disciples, He's said He must go away. They'll be alone.

In the passage we read today, Jesus was addressing disciples who were feeling very scared because they were about to be alone. However Jesus has promised that God is to send Someone, the Holy Spirit so they wouldn’t be alone (verses 25, 26). Jesus was everything to those disciples. Jesus walked the earth. It was an unforgettable life changing experience for everyone. It was a three year whirlwind and odyssey filled with great and miraculous signs and wonders, healing's, raising of the dead and authoritative teachings the likes of which they had never heard before. He loved all of them with an uncompromising unconditional merciful forgiving love. Now He's leaving.

Today we call them reunions. Every five years or so we receive invitations from our Alumni Associations to gather together at our school cafeterias or any number of other local establishments and embellish each others with our life stories. We take a few digital pictures to remember the moment. So, for those disciples of long ago who had no 'Kodak Moments', what about bringing those wonderful Father God, Jesus the Son moments back to mind? Here the promise is that though He is going away, Jesus will send another of the same kind. Another helper, counselor, literally another one, The Holy Spirit to come alongside that we will always remember who God is.

Let Us Pray: Lord, it is inevitable that as time marches on for us we will sometimes forget the memories we have shared and the people we have shared them with. For it is the lot of man that his time on earth must one day come to an end. But You O' Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternal in the heavens and as you have ordained from the beginning of time, there will be many generations who will follow us who will need to be taught and reminded of what You have done for so many who have gone before. O Sacred Trinity, Holy, Complete and United as One God, And as One God, uniting all created things, I pray: bring us all together in all things 'In Remembrance of You'!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc12Gg28c8Y

"Communion Song' music video Stephen Bennett Part 1

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Communion is one of those songs that just arrived into Stephens spirit with very little editing needed.

Day 31: When What Is Around You Is Crumbling ...

Day 31: When What Is Around You Is Crumbling ...

Read: Isaiah 28:16

Back in 1966, my parents purchased 40 acres of land in a rural area of Western New York State. My Mother's father had passed away and this property was purchased with her inheritance. It was virtually all woods and several large and smaller ponds were in close proximity. With the help of some friendly locals, my parents were able to clear away an area and it was there that my Mom and Dad were able to set up their very first Korean War surplus tent. It was a very big deal for all of us. It was from their that my parents, I with my three sisters set about the task of making it our home away from home for many summers to come. That was a long time ago.

Today as I walk the land, the buildings that were there are now all pretty much in the hand of Mother Nature. They are crumbling and slowly being allowed to decay by the new owners. They are all returning from whence they came. It is all a barely recognizable memory. Today, I prefer to look at it this way: it is returning to the way God first gave it to us: for the use and pleasure of a new family like we were those many long years ago. As I ponder these most fondest of memories, It came into my mind that everywhere you look today, whether, in your own life, on the TV, or in the news, there are people whose lives are falling into decay and ruin, crumbling away.

For Isaiah's Israel, there was great moral and societal decay. Israel was crumbling. Only a remnant dared to do anything about it only to be shouted down by 'the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of those bloated with rich food, of those overcome with wine! (verse 1). Where was the one who would come forth and become for the nation - the moral compass pointing towards God's sure foundation? 'Therefore thus says the Lord God,See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: ‘One who trusts will not panic.’ (verse 16)

Fast forward some 800 years. When I duly consider the humble beginnings of Jesus, it amazes us that a poor, helpless baby is to be our deliverer. Before Christ, no other writer ever used the word “humble” as an expression of tribute. When Jesus came before His synagogue in Nazareth as a young man, declaring Himself the fulfillment of messianic prophecy, the town rejected him outright, because they only saw His humanity, and could not conceive that one of their own might emerge as the surest foundation for the restoration of their hope and the revelation of the glory of God. Decide for yourselves: when all is crumbling around you: is God your sure foundation to start again?

Let Us Pray: Lord it is an extraordinarily difficult thing for anyone person to look upon themselves and their communities around them and bare witness to all the manners of decay and ruin to which we have allowed ourselves to be subjected to. I pray for the remnant to come forth to clear away the rubble, that in the name of Jesus Christ, our sure foundation, they will boldly step forward to rebuild, restore Your Kingdom. Step by step, brick by brick, building by building to reveal the glory of Your creation.

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Day 30: The CEO Of Heaven: Should I Dare To Imagine?

Day 30: The CEO Of Heaven: Should I Dare To Imagine?

Read: Isaiah 55:8 - 11

This morning I find myself wondering: If I went to Trump towers and at the door, the doorman, who strangely enough looks like Donald Trump told me, here are all the keys to the building I am now the man in charge of this vast global enterprise. I am now the one who makes all the important decisions. I am the one who signs all the checks for the people working the front desk, the cooks, the bell hops the people cleaning the rooms. It is now my sole responsibility to hire and fire anyone and every one from the top down (except me of course). Can I really handle this responsibility? Do I really want to try to sit at the top of all this authority? It is surely quite tempting!

God operates a bigger business, the universe we know and do not know, the world we know and the Heaven we don't. One day God walks up to me and tells me that I am being prepared to take charge of all things. He hands me the keys to heaven and He tells me that He'll let me make all the decisions for a while, chart the course of the stars, and have a say in all things, but that He is still in charge. It is a wonderful thing to know God desires to mentor me and one day hand over this one of a kind authority. Rest assured, He comforts, that He always remains in control, with Him in our lives, everything is going to work out fine. I wonder: Should I really dare to imagine this?

In these few verses, God reveals Himself in a very special way, that He operates at such a higher level than we do. There is no comparison between how we think, our small plans and ideas, our fears and worries, and the way God operates in power, Word, and Spirit. He is always positive and self assured and confident. God is so very different than us, because He knows that it is all going to work out fine. God never says never—nothing is impossible with God. Once God says it, nothing can ever change it, it will always accomplish what it sets out to do. God’s Word in our lives works every time. No matter what you do, You Can’t Get Him To Get Upset With You.

He isn’t going to do things your way, He is going to do them His way—v.8b So many times we try to tell God what is best for us. But God knows better than we do what is best for us, and faith is trusting in the Lord with all our heart. His ways are higher than our ways—that simply means sometimes we won’t understand what God is doing, but it will all work out for good. His ways are better than our ways—God’s plans are better, because He doesn’t wait for the end to see the results, He is the Author of results. He knows every detail of your life, from start to end from the very foundation of the world. Future CEO of Heaven - Would you even dare to imagine it?

Let Us Pray: Lord, now that I have had an opportunity to consider just what it is You do up yonder, I really have only one prayer for You today, please, please don't put me in charge!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O_M1_DVlI4
You Are My God (Jesus Culture Emerging Voices) with Lyrics
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Derek Johnson sings 'You Are My God' off the new album 'Emerging Voices' on the Jesus Culture Label. Really love this song and just wanted to share it with y...

You Are My God (Jesus Culture Emerging Voices) with Lyrics

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Derek Johnson sings 'You Are My God' off the new album 'Emerging Voices' on the Jesus Culture Label.

Day 29: All God's Children Are Useful.

Day 29: All God's Children Are Useful.

Read: 1 Samuel 1

What kind of dishes do you keep in your cupboards? For me and my house we have the standard stuff we got from places like Walmart. Now, what kind of dishes do you keep hidden away, perhaps even have locked away? Most of us have some special dishes and silverware that we use only for special occasions. These are those china plates, sterling silver, and crystal glasses we use only when we have company. We use our everyday plates, and jelly glasses at other times. Some of us will even find some great uses for paper plates, paper bowls and lots and lots of plastic silverware. Does that necessarily mean that any or either of these or all of these are not usable?

The vastness of the wisdom of God is reflected in the vessels He chooses to use and when He chooses to use them. Hannah had been barren all her life, a condition that was heart wrenching to say the least and also an issue of great social shame. So, with a greatly burdened heart and troubled life she went to God. Her plea was one of desperation but it was also one of faith. She wanted a child, needed the fulfillment that only a fertile womb can provide. So as she prayed she pledged to surrender her child to God if He would grant her petition. Would God ever grant such a petition?

We might think: How much use could this barren woman possibly be? She is mocked, she is outcast. In the eyes of the village she is cursed. However, I ask you to carefully consider what Hannah held in her heart? Did she believe she was useless? Consider how much faith, how much conviction, just how much belief she had in herself to rise above all the adversity she experienced. I believe that God took full notice of her usefulness because after He took full measure of her devotion He touched her womb and she conceived a child. For us the greatest image of all our usefulness to God is Hannah walking into the Temple with her baby boy and dedicating him to God's use.

As I examined the story of Hannah one verse jumped out and grabbed my attention. It is verse 11. "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." In verse 22 Hannah says that this child would "appear before the Lord" – as in the form of a servant, and "remain there forever." Her gift to God would be a gift that God would fully use to serve His purpose and His will to lead God's people Israel. She gave her only son to bring great service and success to God, and to glorify His name.

Let Us Pray: In a land that sees no use for me or mine, I know you have a purpose for me that is uniquely useful to the building up of your kingdom. Thank You My Lord for raising me and my life up to Your throne of grace. In Your Son's holy name I now take this moment to dedicate my all that my life was and now is and will become to Your service. I give my heart to honor You who saw all that was useful about me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZGzu6oI9b4

I Give You My Heart | Hillsong (Featuring Holly Dawson)

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VERSE: This is my desire, to honor You Lord, with all my heart, I worship You All I have within me, I give You praise All that I adore, Is in You CHORUS: Lor...

Day 28: A Dear God Letter: About Our Getting Along.

Day 28: A Dear God Letter: About Our Getting Along.

Read: Romans 12

Dear God: "Why can't we all get along?" "What is the difference between a person with an open hand extended in friendship and a person with a closed fist rearing back as far as they can reach ready to strike the first target of opportunity?" "Why are some people so completely bent on pushing people away?" In our lives today, I think about people who use sweet talk to make someone think they are loved, but the real motive is to manipulate them into giving the other person something that they want. Or love that is given only so long as you play along with the other person, but as soon as you make your own decisions you are rejected, cut off from friendship!

One day as I was standing in line at a hardware store I heard someone make this off handed comment: "The more I get to know the human race, the more I love my dog." Treat them right and guess what; those dogs are always loyal, dependable, eager to please, and quick to forgive and forget. Don’t you wish people were more like that?" To which the clerk responded rather tersely "Not in my lifetime friend!" It really stunned me that I heard that in the open. It was really painful for me to realize in such a stark manner as that exchange that sometimes no matter how hard we try to have a relationship with someone, it doesn’t work. People have trouble believing it.

Paul writes to the people and the churches at Rome: 2 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 9 - 10: 'Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.' Paul uses a very interesting word to describe the love that we are to have for one another – “sincere”. Another way of putting it is to say that we are not to be hypocrites with our love, being real and genuine, not play-acting. What are we to do but strive to Outdo one another in love.

The word Paul uses for love is also an interesting one – it is the Greek word 'agape'. This is a word that talks about the very highest quality of love there is, that of God towards His Son Jesus, and towards all of His people who are both in Jesus and without Jesus. It is not the sort of fickle, sentimental, unreliable love that we know in this world, but it is love that is supremely shown in the self-sacrifice of God for our benefit; it is absolutely unconditional, reliable and unfailing. What we are to do is to strive to outdo each other, in fact, taking great pains to stumble over each other in seeking out God moments, Holy Spirit opportunities giving to all, sharing with all, God's 'agape' love.

Dear God: "What sort of mindset are we dealing with here that so many people are so skeptical about relating to the person standing next to them?" Why must there be all this suspiciousness we struggle to live with in our hearts between ourselves and those who You command that we count as our neighbors? Lord, this is something that I deeply struggle with in the deepest recesses of my heart to overcome? But HOW? It feels like such a natural part of me. I am very much afraid of separating from myself what is too much a part of who I am, who I have become in response to this world." Reveal to my doubtful heart, O God, where I can freely give, freely share thy 'agape'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIs0SrJYJUk

O Perfect Love - Best Wedding Hymn with Lyrics - Visual Worship !

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Very Blessed soothing Wedding Hymn... with beautiful lyrics explaining His Agape Love.. also

Day 27: "If You Want To Follow Jesus, Deny Yourself"

Day 27: "If You Want To Follow Jesus, Deny Yourself.

Read: Matthew 16:24

More than anything else, GOD wants you to follow Jesus. But GOD does not want you to follow Him if you are planning on "adding" Him to your life, as if He is another one of your self improvement programs.

GOD's Son is not a program; GOD's Son is a person.

Following Jesus means you are devoted to Him. Following Jesus means you make Him the number - one priority in your life. Following Jesus means you are willing to give up everything for him.

When Jesus called His first disciples, He asked them to do two things: First they had to deny themselves. When you deny something, you are saying it is not true. So to deny yourself is to admit you do not have the truth in you. But GOD's Son Jesus does: He IS the truth. Second, Jesus asked His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him.

Child of GOD, this is a hard saying because Jesus meant this in a literal sense. He went to the cross for you, and He expects you to be willing to die for Him. Not that you will have to -- but you must be willing. That is how serious you must be if you want to follow Jesus fully.