Conscience, June 23, 2008
Conscience, June 23, 2008 ...Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still...
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands ...and purify your hearts... Psalms 4:4-5, James 4:8, www.solascriptura.com Father, as wonderful as a good night's sleep is, it is equally wonderful to know that when we awaken, too early, You are there, waiting for us to acknowledge Your presence in the affairs of our lives. We do have "agendas". Sometimes they press in on us and seem to force You out. What a grave error it is Father when we proceed as if You were not present and as if You did not care. Drawing near to You in all circumstances and at all times is Your desire for us. You have told us that Your thoughts toward us exceed number. What a wonderful reality. Help us, this day, to respond to that truth by acknowledging Your presence and asking for Your guidance In Jesus Holy name, we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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Joy, June 22, 2008
Joy, June 22, 2008 ... sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. ...we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ... we... worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Romans 5:2, Phil 3:3, www.solascriptura.com Father, we learn from these verses that spiritual poverty makes us ineffective in fulfilling Your will. Yet, when we are full of the Holy Spirit, no matter what our economic situation by worldly standards, we possess all which You intended and by giving it away, we see others inherit the wealth, the Spiritual wealth that You desire for each of us. The grace You extend to us is undeserved. Help us to be as You Jesus in extending that kind of love to others, forgiving them, and praying for them as we rejoice in Your presence in our lives. We pray for more love for others. There is no way for us to ask for more love from You. Our cup overflows. In Jesus Holy name, we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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Prayer, Part I, June 21, 2008
Prayer, Part I, June 21, 2008 O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind You; your right hand upholds me. Psalms 63:1-8, www.solascriptura.com Father, from dawn to the moment we go to sleep, and even as we awaken in the middle of the night, we want to be as King David was, the one of whom You said, "He is a man after my own heart", seeking You. Help us not to exclude You from the activities of the day nor to do, say or think things that embarrass us before You as we look back. Help us O'God to have a continual thirst for Your word in our hearts and minds, knowing that Your supply, though infinite, needs to be refreshed continually. Odd, but true, that we can be spiritually aware one moment and embroiled in sin the next. We know that Satan seeks to bring us down. Keep us in Your Holy hands that we might continually lift our hands in praise to You. In Jesus Holy name, we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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Revenge, June 20, 2008
Revenge, June 20, 2008 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.
Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked;
For there will be no prospect for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out. Proverbs 24:17-20, www.solascriptura.com Father, the Wisdom of Solomon tells us that we should take no pleasure in the failure of people who do not like us and that if we do, it displeases You. Help us this day not to act as though we are responsible for judging the affairs of evil people. We pray for their salvation. Seeing the lamp of an evil person put out is to see them suffering in darkness forever. We too once were disobedient (and we still are, at times). Thank You for preserving our opportunity to be saved even while we were yet sinners. We pray that Your enemies and our enemies will yet become Your forgiven children. In Jesus Holy name, we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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Love before witnessing? June 19, 2008
Love before witnessing? June 19, 2008 Family Bible Study, www.solascriptura.com Should genuine "caring" for someone precede witnessing to them? Perhaps the best way to approach this question is by posing the opposite view. If you do not like someone and they know that you have no concern for their personal needs, do you feel you can still be an effective witness to them? Probably not; it seems we must first, where the opportunity exists, connect with the person on the human level before they are interested in our spiritual message. Compassionate, caring behavior opens doors where inconsiderate and unloving behavior slams them shut. But one could ask "what good does it do to be a friend if the friend we are trying to introduce to Jesus, never wants to move our relationship beyond being pals." The Bible provides a response. "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy… though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2, 14:1 NKJV To prophesy, as used here, means to teach, to share Christ's love with others. If the person you are trying to witness to does not sense that you love Jesus and them, then your love is incomplete and your witness will be weak. They will know us by our love; no love, no witness. Listen to Paul: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 NKJV The Father wants you, His child, to love Him and to tell others of His love for them. When Jesus was asked, what the two most important commandments are, He answered: "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV There you have it. The two greatest commandments are to love God and your neighbor. Love is the light you bring to a relationship. Your love for God shines through and God Himself has enabled you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love people that you could never have loved before you knew God. Since Jesus presents you to the Father wrapped in His righteousness, completely cleansed and forgiven, you will find it very logical to extend friendship and support to His children as well. Then they will "hear" you, whether they respond or not. It is our pleasure to witness, not to convert. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a new believer. Discuss persons that you have wanted to witness to but felt that they were not "ready". Then reflect on whether they know you really care for them. Does caring for them mean they have to become perfect in Christ before you will relate to them? Were we perfect in Christ before He came to us? Does it always have to be, "love first, then witness?" Sometimes your love is revealed in your countenance. If you are at peace with the Lord, people will notice. If you have Godly habits, people will notice. Core Christian Value: Our witness is most effective if the person we are witnessing to knows that we love them and if they can see "Christ in us", a person reborn seeking to be like Jesus. Bruce Caldwell
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Mind of Christ, June 18, 2008
Mind of Christ, June 18, 2008 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12-16, www.solascriptura.com
Father, We have received Your Spirit and it is a witness, a guide, a light unto our spirit. We have known those who feel that the worship of You is foolish and they ridicule those who choose to follow You.
Your gift to us, a Spirit-filled life, is clearly something that we do not deserve nor are we able to earn it. It is a gift of grace, one that gives us access to the mind of Christ, in us, a promise and a reality that exceeds reason. Help us this day to accept the breadth and depth of that gift. In the Holy name of Jesus we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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Law of God, June 17, 2008
Law of God, June 17, 2008 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Romans 7:14-19, www.solascriptura.com Father, we are reminded that You appointed Paul to be a minister to the Gentiles. He was a Jew and a friend of Jews but found that the Jews largely rejected Jesus as Savior. Paul knew the law having been a student of Gamaliel, the great Jewish scholar. Father, You have taught us that it was Paul's strong belief, before his encounter with Jesus, that it was possible and proper to adhere to the law. Father, here Paul is teaching us that there is a great struggle going on in the heart of man. Man knows that what is right and true yet he does things that are clearly wrong, as judged by the law. We know that Jesus is the answer to the struggle. It is His Spirit in us that enable us to bring our hopes to action. Father, we know that adherence to the law is good and we know that we can not do so without Your power in us. Thank You for cleansing us of our past sins, by the redeeming love of Jesus, for us, and help us, this day, to know that You would have us sin no more. In Jesus Holy name, we pray, amen. Bruce Caldwell
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