Judy NEEDS your prayers right now. She is out sick due to her Chemo medication has a nationwide shortage. The doctors are using them to girls who need abortions due to Roe-vs-Wade being overturned.
 Jesus said unto him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." LUKE 23:43 TOO OLD FOR HELP? A 110-year old Israeli shepherd was admitted to a Beersheba hospital while experiencing a heart attack. Despite his age, doctors worked hard to save him. The man was thought to be the oldest heart patient to be treated successfully with anti-clotting drugs. A hospital spokesperson reported that the shepherd returned to his tent in the Negev Desert to tend to his goats. CONDEMNED TO DIE The care given to this 110-year-old man faintly echoes how Jesus responded to those people we consider "beyond help." His ability and willingness to go beyond social barriers to help lepers and social outcasts went far beyond the normal expectations of what a reasonable person would do. Even in the agony of His suffering, Jesus reached out to a dying man everyone else regarded as "beyond help." The man was a criminal, condemned to die only hours from entering a lost eternity. JESUS' LOVE REACHES OUT At that moment, Jesus responded to the man's cry for help and said, "Today, you will be with me in Paradise." Do you know someone who seems beyond help today? WHAT ABOUT YOU? Perhaps you think you are without hope. The God of the Bible specializes in giving help to those regarded as so old, so guilty, or so weak as to be beyond help. PONDER THESE SIMPLE WORDS Jesus seeks the lowly ones When others do not care; His loving kindness and His help He longs with them to share. TODAY: No one is beyond help from Jesus. His strength is best seen in our weakness. BELOW: Song: FOR THOSE TEARS I DIED Sung By: Judy  Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. PROVERBS 30:2 A RUN FOR OFFICE He wanted to be a nobody. In 1992, a Seattle man running for the office of Washington State's lieutenant governor legally changed his name to "Absolutely Nobody." As he entered the race, he wanted to greet the voters, saying, "Hi, I'm Absolutely Nobody. Vote for me." He later admitted that the purpose of his campaign was to abolish the office of lieutenant governor. The man used the name as a gimmick. WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT US The Bible has a lot to say to those of us who present ourselves to others as a nobody. The right kind of humility is healthy. The songwriters of Israel knew how important it is to see our foolishness apart from God (See: Psalm 73:22, Proverbs 30:2). Jesus Himself showed us that without God, we wouldn't accomplish anything of lasting value (See: John 5:30; 15:5). We read a warning in the story of Moses. There's a downside to insisting that we are "nobody" to avoid doing what God commands. Our motives make us into somebody who resists the loving purposes of God. WE WERE MADE IN HIS IMAGE We may treat ourselves and others as having no worth. But remember, God, doesn't make nobodies. Like Moses, if we surrender to God, we can do anything God wants or asks us to do--in His strength. PONDER Lord, take my life and make it wholly Thine; Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride; I now surrender, Lord--in me abide. --Orr TODAY: Knowing that without Christ, we can do nothing. But, with Him, we can do everything He asks us to do. BELOW Song: WITHOUT HIM I COULD DO NOTHING  Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:9 PASSION Mark Twain said, "Twenty years from now, you will bbe more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream, Discover." This quote appears on a Website intended to help people discover what they are passionate about so they can live with greater significance. DIVINE DECREE The apostle Paul's passion in life was primarily driven by concern for the eternal destiny of others. In 2 CORINTHIANS 5, he names three things that fueled his passion. First, he recognized that he was accountable to Christ for his service and wanted to give a good accounting at the judgment seat of Christ (See: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:9-10). Second, Paul was driven by Christ's love and a desire that others would know the love that he had experienced. In verse 14, he wrote, "For the love of Christ compels us." Finally, he understood that a lost and dying world needs a Savior (See: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:20). A PASSIONATE LIFE What are you passionate about? The love of Christ fueled Paul's passion for people--and ours should be as well. Let's apply Twain's words of challenge to our efforts in outreach: "Sail away from the safe harbor. Share the love of Christ Jesus with someone today." PREPARED BY PRAYER Set us afire, Lord; stir us as we pray! While the world perishes, we go our way Purposeless, passionless, day after day; Set us afire, Lord; stir us as we pray! --Cushman And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:15 TODAY: Talk to Christ about others helps us to talk to others about Christ. BELOW: Song: JESUS PAID IT ALL Sung By: Reawaken Hymns To All My Readers and Friends: I want to apologize for not posting my blog yesterday. I am on chemotherapy drugs for my auto-immune diseases and suddenly there was a shortage of my chemo medications which caused some severe withdrawal symptoms. A pharmacy friend found 2 vials for me to take, but that's only two weeks worth. I'm trusting the Lord to make a way until the medications are available again. If that wasn't bad enough, I found out the reason for the shortage, since Roe-vs-Wade was overturned, the doctors are prescribing Chemotherapy drugs to accommodate women and girls who want an abortion. These drugs are dangerous and cannot only kill the baby, they can kill the mother. And, if the abortion isn't successful, the baby can be born with a number of birth defects. I don't advocate sexual activities before marriage, but wouldn't CONTRACEPTIVES be a better idea than ABORTIONS?  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ROMANS 8:18 ENTHUSIASM A large part of life centers around anticipation and enthusiasm. How much we would lose if we were to wake up one day to the unexpected announcement: "Christmas in 10 minutes!" Enjoying many of life's events is built on the fact that we have time to anticipate them. Christmas, vacations, sporting events, birthdays, and any other event that you enjoy, you eagerly await. We eagerly await Christmas, vacations, sporting events, birthdays, and any other event we enjoy. They all grow in value because of the hours we spend looking forward to them--eagerly running through our minds the fun, challenges, and excitements they'll bring. MY VERY OWN ANTICIPATIONS I think about the value of anticipation and the thrill it can bring to the human heart when I read PSALM 30:5b, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." The psalmist is declaring the comforting idea that our earthly sorrow lasts a short time compared to the anticipated joy that will begin in heaven and last forever. Paul pens a similar idea in 2 CORINTHIANS 4:17, where we discover that our "light affliction" leads to a glory of eternal value. For now, those who weep can dwell on hope instead of hopelessness and anticipation instead of sorrow. It may be nighttime in our hearts, but the dawn of eternity lies ahead. And with it, God promises the endless joy of heavenly mornings. SOMETHING TO PONDER Tribulation, grief, and sorrow Are but heaven's steppingstones... To a bright and glad tomorrow Where no heartaches will be known. --Glass TODAY: We can endure this life's trials because of the next life's joys. BELOW: Song: JOY UNSPEAKABLE Sung By: NYCYPCD  But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. PHILIPPIANS 1:12-14 EXPECTATIONS We all have them. We expect that people will be friendly to us, that we'll have good health, great marriages, faithful friends, and successful careers. But what do we do when life doesn't meet our expectations?? In PHILIPPIANS 1, Paul shows us the way. He faced broken expectations of place, people, and the future, yet he remained surprisingly upbeat. STUCK SOMEWHERE? Paul was stuck in prison--not a great place to be! When we get stuck in a brutal marriage, an unrewarding job, or a challenging neighborhood, it's easy to get discouraged. But Paul was wonderfully positive. He said his suffering helped advance the gospel ( See: PHILIPPIANS 1:12). Maybe people haven't lived up to our expectations. Paul likely expected other believers to encourage him. Instead, some were actually glad he was in jail and were preaching out of "envy and strife" (See: PHILIPPIANS 1:15). Paul's response: "Christ is preached, and in this, I rejoice (See: PHILIPPIANS 1:18). WHEN LIFE IS UNEXPECTED Perhaps it's an uncertain future--the loss of a spouse, a job transfer, or a health crisis. Paul knew that at any moment, Nero might give the order for his execution, yet he declared, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (See: PHILIPPIANS 1:21). TODAY: Adopt Paul's only expectation--for Christ to be honored no matter what life may bring. In all, I think and say and do, I long, O God, to honor You; But may my highest motive be To love the Christ who Died for me. --D.De Haan BELOW: Song: THANK YOU LORD Sung By: Don Moen |
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