HAVE YOU FOUND GOD'S AMAZING GRACE?

Today's promise: God is merciful

Have You Found God's Amazing Grace?

"Only fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God'

They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; no one does good!

…Oh, that salvation would come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel!

For when the Lord restores His people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice."

Psalm 14:1-7 NLT

Rescued from rebellion

Young John Newton called himself an atheist, and his life demonstrated his lack of belief in God. Even the coarsest sailors aboard his slave-trading ship could not stand his filthy speech. He brutalized the male slaves and sexually abused the women, and he prodded other sailors to do the same. The ship's captain finally put him ashore on the coast of Africa, and there he became a servant of slavers.

Finally rescued by another merchant ship, Newton once again fouled the ship with his presence. In a drunken stupor he almost plunged overboard, and the captain wished that he had. Then, amazingly in the midst of a vicious ocean storm in 1748, God touched his heart. Years after his remarkable conversion, Newton commented, "I see no reason why the Lord singled me out for mercy…unless it was to show that with him nothing is impossible."

The fool who had said in his heart that there was no God was now transformed. He became famous throughout England, both as a preacher and a writer of hymns. Without a doubt, the best-known hymn of this former atheist is the following:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
JOHN NEWTON

From The One Year® Book of Psalms by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen,
Tyndale House Publishers (1999), entry for January 23

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

JUST KIDS

JUST KIDS

READ:
1 Timothy 4:9-16

Let no one despise your youth,
but be an example to the believers.
-1 Timothy 4:12

After high school, Darrell Blizzard left the orphanage where he grew up to join the US Army Air Corps.  World War II was in full swing, and soon he faced responsibilities usually given to older and more experienced men.  He told a reporter years later that a four-mule plow team was the biggest thing he'd driven before he became the pilot of a four-engine B-17.  Now in his late eighties, he said, "We were all just kids flying those things."

In the Bible, we find accounts of many people who followed God courageously when they were young.  In a situation of corrupt spiritual leadership, "Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child" (1 Samuel 2:18).  David faced the giant Goliath in spite of being told, "You are not able to go against this Philistine...for you are a youth" (17:33).  Mary, the mother of Jesus, was most likely very young when she was told she would bear the Son of God.  She responded to the angel's announcement by saying, "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).  Paul told the young pastor Timothy, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers" (1 Timothy 4:12).

God values each one in His family.  In His strength, the young can be bold in their faith, while those who are older can encourage those who are "just kids."   - David McCasland

O Lord of all the upward road,
Keep strong our youth, we pray;
May age and youth together seek
To follow in Thy way. -Niedermeyer
****************************************
Encouraging the young should never become old.

INSIGHT
Paul's ministry was multifaceted.  He was a church planter:  Paul would enter a community, proclaim the message of Christ, and form a church among those who believed.  He was a mentor:  He trained young men for service in the kingdom.  Timothy, Titus, Luke, Epaphroditus, and Onesimus are just a few of the first-century followers of Christ who received spiritual training from Paul.  Finally, he was a writer:  He provided us with at least 13 of the 27 New Testament books.  The words in today's text reflect both his writing and mentoring ministries.

Have a blessed day and weekend.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace

JUDGING BY APPEARANCES

Today's promise: God is always ready to help us and expects us to help others

Judging by appearances

"The trouble with you is that you make your decisions on the basis of appearance. You must recognize that we belong to Christ."

Job 14:5 NLT

Little Woman, Long Shadow

Two weeks before Christmas, on December 12, 1840, a baby girl was born into an aristocratic plantation family in Albemarle County, Virginia. Her name was Charlotte Diggs Moon, but everyone called her "Lottie." She grew to just four feet three inches, yet her intellect and force of personality were enormous. Lottie spoke six languages and earned a master's degree in education in 1861.

Lottie came from a family of dedicated Southern Baptists, but she became a staunch skeptic. Yet, it would be her intellect and skepticism that would bring her to faith one sleepless night in December 1858 as she pondered a message by Dr. John Broadus.

At age thirty-three, Lottie heard a call to missions "as clear as a bell." In July 1873 the foreign mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention appointed her its first unmarried missionary to China. She tirelessly advocated for the needs of the people of China. In 1888 she persuaded SBC women to take an annual missions offering on Christmas Eve. By 1912, despite such gifts, thousands of people were dying every day in famine-ravaged Shantung Province.

At seventy-two, Lottie Moon was coming home. But that same night, aboard a ship off Japan, she died — of complications from starvation. A few months before she had written, "If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the women of China." The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering continues to this day. The 2010 goal is $175 million.

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale) pp 694-95

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

SACRIFICIAL LOVE

Today's promise: God is always ready to help us and expects us to help others

Sacrificial Love

"Don't forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God."

Hebrews 13:16 NLT

In His steps

Have you seen kids wearing bracelets with the initials WWJD — "What Would Jesus Do?" The story behind those bracelets begins a century ago, when a minister named Charles Sheldon wrote a novel titled In His Steps. One Sunday morning at First Church, Pastor Henry Maxwell is preaching a sermon about how to follow Christ's example of sacrificial love.

The service is suddenly interrupted when a tramp stands up. He's been out of work for a year, he says, yet not one person in town has helped him find another job. Twisting his shabby hat in his hands, the tramps says, "I was wondering if what you call following Jesus is the same thing as what He taught.…I get puzzled when I see so many Christians living in luxury and remember how my wife died in a tenement.…what would Jesus do?" At that point, to the congregation's horror, the tramp collapses and dies.

The following Sunday, the minister makes a stunning proposal: He's looking for volunteers willing to pledge themselves for an entire year to do nothing without first asking, "What would Jesus do?" Some fifty people make the pledge, and a remarkable series of events begins.

Some of these people pay a high price for their obedience. But they also learn the joy of following faithfully in His footsteps.

A few years ago, a Holland, Michigan, youth leader was so inspired by this classic story that she had bracelets made bearing the letters WWJD and gave them to the kids in her church. The idea caught fire, and today millions wear them.

Adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 585-86

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HAVE YOU BEEN USED TO COMFORT OTHERS?

Today's promise: God is always ready to help us and expects us to help others

Have you been used to comfort others?

"All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ."

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NLT

May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in His special favor gave us everlasting comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT

God's comfort

How often have you noticed that soon after you receive comfort for some troubling situation, you encounter someone else facing a similar situation? It is God who leads us to these people, for the comfort we provide for them seems more credible because they know we have "been there." Paul praises the Lord in his letter to the Corinthian church that God "comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others" with "the same comfort God has given us."

In what ways has God comforted you in the trials you have had to go through? Pray that God may use you to comfort others.

A prayer for today…

Dear Lord, thank you for comforting me. Use me to comfort others…

From The One Year® Book of Bible Prayers edited by Bruce Barton (Tyndale) entry for July 10

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

IS YOUR HOME MARKED BY THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT?

Today's promise: God is always ready to help us and expects us to help others

Is Your Home Marked By the Fruits of the Spirit?

"When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit is us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or by jealous of one another."

Galatians 5:22-26 NLT

The Spirit-filled home

"How do you remember your childhood home? Was it a loving and welcoming place? Maybe there were evidences of kindness and generosity — fresh homemade cookies, a dollhouse or model planes you and your dad built together, a warm welcome always waiting for you, an old couch to be shared with brothers and sisters.

Perhaps you don't have such wonderful childhood memories. Not everyone does. Homes can be places of cruelty as well — places full of criticism and humiliation, places characterized by conflict, jealousy, and pain. Loving homes don't just magically appear. They are the result of a husband and wife's commitment to letting God's Spirit control their lives. When you follow the Spirit's leading, God produces kindness, goodness, patience, and love in your lives. Then the home, a marriage created, can become a light to the neighborhood, a place where friends and neighbors can experience genuine love and acceptance. If you are married, what type of home do you want your marriage to create? Ask God today to plant the seeds of loving kindness in your life, your marriage, and your home."

From Praying God's Promises for My Marriage by Jon Farrar (Tyndale) pp 132-33

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

OPEN-HANDED HELP

OPEN-HANDED HELP

READ:
Deuteronomy 15:7-11

You shall open your hand wide to
[the poor].  -Deuteronomy 15:8

A homeless man spends time in our local library.  One afternoon, while I was writing there, I took a lunch break.  After I finished the first half of a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich, an image of the man's face came to mind.  A few minutes later, I offered him the untouched part of my lunch.  He accepted.

This brief encounter made me realize that with all that God has given me, I needed to do more to help those who are less fortunate.  Later, as I thought about this, I read Moses' instructions on providing for the poor.  He told the Israelites:  Do not "shut your hand from your poor brother, but...open your hand wide to him" (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).    An open hand symbolizes the way God wanted His nation to provide for impoverished people-willingly and freely.  No excuses, no holding back (v.9).  God had given to them, and He wanted them to give generously enough to supply whatever was "sufficient" for the need (v.8).

When we offer open-handed help to the poor, God blesses us for our kindness (Psalm 41:1-3; Proverbs 19:17).  With His leading, consider how you might "extend your soul to the hungry" (Isaiah 58:10) and freely give to help others in Jesus' name. - Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Grant us, then, the grace for giving
With a spirit large and free,
That our life and all our living
We may consecrate to Thee. -Murray
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You may give without loving,
but you can't love without giving.

INSIGHT
The word Deuteronomy means "second law."  This book repeats, in large measure, the laws of Leviticus and was given to the Israelites as they were about to enter the Promised Land.  The Hebrew title is Devarim, literally translated "words," and is taken from the first verse of the book:  "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel."  However, Deuteronomy is more than just a restating of the law.  It contains Moses' final words to the people of Israel as they begin the challenge of settling the land.

Have a blessed day and week ahead.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace