admin
10-18-2008, 08:14 PM
Today I will...seek to perform a good deed that will give off the fragrance of Jesus.
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27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best[d] gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31
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Sin Hurts
ROMANS 6:23 ICB
23 When someone sins, he earns what sin pays--death. But God gives us a free gift--life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin is a teacher whose lessons are hard and painful.
You can't keep your hand in fire without being burned. And you can't sin without hurting people.
Sin harms humans. That's why God classifies it as sin. All sin hurts someone. The reason God is against sin is because He is for people.
Because sin has consequences, it eventually will convince you of the error of sinning -- if you live long enough. But why ruin your life finding out what you can know now just by reading the Bible?
God is not a killjoy. His purpose is not to keep the human race from enjoying life.
All that God has written in the Bible is for our benefit. God already knows everything. He gave us the Bible so we could know the truth.
The truth is: sin is bad. Sin hurts.
SAY THIS: Sin is deadly and I want nothing to do with it. A Bible Devotion
-----
Imitate God's Goodness
October 18
For You make him to be blessed and a blessing forever.
—Psalm 21:6
God made a covenant with Abraham, that He would bless him, and cause him to be a blessing to others (See Genesis 12:2). You too are an heir to the true riches of God (See James 1:9). As you mature spiritually and are able to handle your inheritance, God wants you to have an abundance to bless others in His name.
Before you get involved with your daily routine today, seek God and feed your soul with His truth for your life. Experiencing God will cause you to imitate His goodness, and prosper in His abundance.
From the book Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year by Joyce Meyer.
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Daily Thoughts
A Time to Think I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. —Anonymous
To Act Awaken the laughter in your heart.
To Pray Lord, please keep me aware this day of Your shining presence in all things.
-----
Solve Your Problems.
"Faith, even as a grain of mustard seed," will solve your problems, if you believe it and practice it. Little faith gives you little results, medium faith gives you medium results, great faith gives you great results. But in the generosity of Almighty God, if you have only the faith symbolized by a grain of mustard seed, it will do amazing things in solving your problems.
No. 92 in a series of 100 Power Thoughts from The Power of Positive Thinking, the All-Time inspirational Best-Selling Book by Norman Vincent Peale.
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NACR Daily Meditation
Saturday 18th of October 2008
Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
Isaiah 54:4
Experiences of shame lead to fear. When shame causes us to be afraid
we make extra efforts to protect ourselves against future experiences of
shame. We try hard, for example, to look good. We focus on controlling
external appearances. We also try hard to anesthetize our feelings because
of our fear of shame. We focus on controlling our feelings so that other
people won’t get to know us. If they did they might discover the shame
we are trying to hide. In this way shame traps us in a cycle of fear and
emotional numbing and covering up.
But if we hide our shame, it can never be healed. Our shame heals when
we reveal our inner being to people who accept us rather than shame us.
This is not an easy process for us because we expect to be shamed. We
do not expect to be accepted.
What a remarkably grace-full experience it is when God says "you
don’t need to be afraid, you will not suffer shame." We can open our
hearts to God and find acceptance rather than shaming. God sees our fear.
God knows that we want to run and hide. But it is God’s desire to heal our
deep wound of shame. "You don’t have to be afraid," God says
to us, "you will not suffer shame or disgrace or humiliation with me."
I have experienced so much shame, Lord.
So much disgrace.
So much humiliation.
Sometimes I want to hide myself from life.
And sometimes I want to numb myself to life.
Sometimes I want to disappear completely.
Thank you for your promise.
It calms my fears and helps me to stop hiding.
It helps me to stop covering up.
Thank you that I can open my heart to you and not suffer shame.
Thank you for the people in my life who accept me and do not shame me.
Protect me, Lord, from shame.
Amen.
-----
Mistakes, Sin and Forgiveness
Romans 3:10: “As the scriptures say: ‘There is no one without sin. None!” (NCV).
“A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to…pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble.” writes C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity.
Some of us live in fear that someone will discover we are fallible. Perfectionism keeps us from acknowledging our humanness. However, as we change and grow we can be freed to admit: “If I make a mistake, I make a mistake. It is not the end of the world. If I am wrong about something, I realize it is part of being human. I can meet it head on, admit it and rectify it. If I sin, I can confess it to God, seeking forgiveness. If my action or attitude affects another person, I can go to her, ask for forgiveness, and leave the choice to forgive with her.”
We are each responsible for our own mistakes, wrong or sin. No one else is responsible for us. This healthy approach to imperfection builds bridges with ourselves, others, and God.
Lord, I know I’m not perfect.
Help me have the courage
to rectify my mistakes and seek forgiveness.
2008 Joan C. Webb
-----
JESUS IS LORD
MEMORY VERSE: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:5,6).
A chapter in my book, Great Salvation Themes, asks these thought-provoking questions: "Did Christ exist before His descension to earth? Was He conceived through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit? Was He truly God from all eternity?
These questions might be summarized in this one. Is Jesus God?
If you accept the Bible as your authority, you will conclude that Jesus is Lord. Here's proof: John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. Isaiah said of John: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3). Christ was the Creator: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1-3). The Lord of glory was crucified: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). When Christ returns to reign, all will admit that He is Lord: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11).
If you are born again, it is because you have received the LORD Jesus Christ. Be sure that He is the LORD of your life. JVI
-----
Answers for Each Day - Oct. 18, 2008
Selfish?
Over the last several devotionals, we have been looking at the cause of spiritual drought. In today’s devotional, I want to look at selfishness as a cause of spiritual drought.
Selfishness is where I am focused on my own interests rather than the needs of others or of furthering God’s Kingdom.
In Haggai 1:4-6, 9-11, God says,
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes… You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
They were investing everything in themselves and their homes, but not a thought was given to God’s house or God’s Kingdom.
Friend, if you want the rain to fall, you need to think about God and His house first, others second, and yourself third. It is like the old saying, “If you want joy, j-o-y, it’s Jesus, others, and then you.”
-----
Undying Love
“Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.” Ephesians 6:24
What is it that binds us together as Christians? It is our undying love for the Savior who died for us. Paul ends his epistle to the Ephesians with this benediction, telling them that grace will be theirs because they love their savior with an undying love. Yes, it is that grace that was so freely bestowed upon each of us that made love for Christ well up in our hearts. It is an appreciation of how little we deserve that grace that causes us to look at Jesus with adoration. “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 Our love for Christ grows with our appreciation of who we really are and what grace He has freely given us. When we truly understand all that Jesus Christ sacrificed for us there can be no other response but our undying love given freely in return. Indeed, grace is ours and so much more because we love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Father, our love for you is great because you first loved us and sent your son Jesus; thank you for that gift so freely given. It was at great cost you gave Him to us, and we deserved nothing from you. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior: thank you for your obedience to the Father you loved. Thank you for seeing His vision of salvation and laying down your life for us. You loved us before we were even born and you died so that we might live forever. You have our love; a love that can only grow as we come to know you better, a love that can never die. Amen Quiet Waters
-----
The Holy Ghost is God's conduit of mercy
Remember the Lord at all times and let Him be in your thoughts night and day.
The Spirit of Remembrance is the Holy Ghost.
He brings not only thoughts of God to our remembrance, but the power of God, the Love of God, the Joy of God, the Peace of God, the Praise of God and much more.
Brethren, when we center our thoughts on our earthly cares and pleasures we are essentially evicting the Holy Ghost from our lives.
Paul said, " Quench not the Holy Ghost."
The Holy Ghost is God's conduit of mercy through which He pours out His many Blessings into our lives.
When we evict the Holy Ghost from our lives, the devil will fill our lives with hate, bitterness, worry, fear, false ideas, discouragement and much more dark things.
Remember God.
©10/18/2001 Jim Welch
----
Devotional For Dieters
October 18
Psalm 68:35
O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.
Theo knew the power of God. He had seen it in the birth of his daughter. He had felt it when his father had died. He had witnessed it many times in the glorious creation of nature. Theo had no doubt about the power of God. He had worked in forestry for his entire life. He had flown through thunderstorms where lightning splintered huge trees and set forests blazing. The power of God was both a wonderful and a terrifying thing. Theo had no doubt that there was nothing beyond the power of God. The God of all creation could handle his diet. He had no question in his mind. Strength such as God's was a good thing to have on his side!
Today's thought: With God on my side, my fat doesn't stand a chance!
-----
-/\/\-----------------------------------------------------------------
\ / WHAT JESUS DID! -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--\/------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 18, 2008
One of You!
Jesus answered, "The man who is against me is one of you
twelve. He is the one who dips his bread into the same bowl
with me.
-- Mark 14:20 (ERV)
KEY THOUGHT:
How sad Jesus' words must have been to the apostles when they first
heard them. How sad these words must have been as they remembered them.
What a powerful reminder to us of our ability to falter and to let our
Lord down. Our church, our fellowship of believing friends, will always
have a "Judas" in our midst. In fact, most of us have let the Lord down
and betrayed him at some point in our lives. Thank God that he is
forgiving. Thank the Lord Jesus that he paid the price to ransom us
back from our weakness, hypocrisy, betrayal, and failure. Let's use our
time at the Lord's Table each week to remind us of the price of our
forgiveness, of our vulnerability to letting the Lord down, and of the
opportunity we have to live passionately for him. Most of all, let's
remember that we can begin again, fresh and forgiven, and must not let
Satan win the battle when we falter. Let's get back up, ask for the
Lord's forgiveness, receive his cleansing, and faithfully live for his
glory in the future.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
LORD of all heaven and earth, my Abba Father, please help me to trust
in your forgiveness and the Holy Spirit's power so that I will not be
crushed by my failures and sins. Instead, as you cleanse me, please
empower me to live vibrantly and faithfully for you. This is my heart's
desire. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
-----
SHARING SECRETS
“Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives.” Alcoholics Anonymous, page 72
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
For what it’s worth: My life was full of secrets that I certainly never intended to reveal to anyone for any reason. In Alcoholics Anonymous I learned that, to get out and stay out of the hell my alcoholism had created for me, it was absolutely necessity that I share my secrets. My experience proves that secrets gain power when I keep them secret. If I reveal them, they lose their ability to eat at me from inside and trigger relapse. Beyond that, I have found that sharing secrets with the right person produces freedom and peace.
God bless you!
Joe W.
-----
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best[d] gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31
-----
Sin Hurts
ROMANS 6:23 ICB
23 When someone sins, he earns what sin pays--death. But God gives us a free gift--life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin is a teacher whose lessons are hard and painful.
You can't keep your hand in fire without being burned. And you can't sin without hurting people.
Sin harms humans. That's why God classifies it as sin. All sin hurts someone. The reason God is against sin is because He is for people.
Because sin has consequences, it eventually will convince you of the error of sinning -- if you live long enough. But why ruin your life finding out what you can know now just by reading the Bible?
God is not a killjoy. His purpose is not to keep the human race from enjoying life.
All that God has written in the Bible is for our benefit. God already knows everything. He gave us the Bible so we could know the truth.
The truth is: sin is bad. Sin hurts.
SAY THIS: Sin is deadly and I want nothing to do with it. A Bible Devotion
-----
Imitate God's Goodness
October 18
For You make him to be blessed and a blessing forever.
—Psalm 21:6
God made a covenant with Abraham, that He would bless him, and cause him to be a blessing to others (See Genesis 12:2). You too are an heir to the true riches of God (See James 1:9). As you mature spiritually and are able to handle your inheritance, God wants you to have an abundance to bless others in His name.
Before you get involved with your daily routine today, seek God and feed your soul with His truth for your life. Experiencing God will cause you to imitate His goodness, and prosper in His abundance.
From the book Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year by Joyce Meyer.
-----
Daily Thoughts
A Time to Think I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. —Anonymous
To Act Awaken the laughter in your heart.
To Pray Lord, please keep me aware this day of Your shining presence in all things.
-----
Solve Your Problems.
"Faith, even as a grain of mustard seed," will solve your problems, if you believe it and practice it. Little faith gives you little results, medium faith gives you medium results, great faith gives you great results. But in the generosity of Almighty God, if you have only the faith symbolized by a grain of mustard seed, it will do amazing things in solving your problems.
No. 92 in a series of 100 Power Thoughts from The Power of Positive Thinking, the All-Time inspirational Best-Selling Book by Norman Vincent Peale.
-----
NACR Daily Meditation
Saturday 18th of October 2008
Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
Isaiah 54:4
Experiences of shame lead to fear. When shame causes us to be afraid
we make extra efforts to protect ourselves against future experiences of
shame. We try hard, for example, to look good. We focus on controlling
external appearances. We also try hard to anesthetize our feelings because
of our fear of shame. We focus on controlling our feelings so that other
people won’t get to know us. If they did they might discover the shame
we are trying to hide. In this way shame traps us in a cycle of fear and
emotional numbing and covering up.
But if we hide our shame, it can never be healed. Our shame heals when
we reveal our inner being to people who accept us rather than shame us.
This is not an easy process for us because we expect to be shamed. We
do not expect to be accepted.
What a remarkably grace-full experience it is when God says "you
don’t need to be afraid, you will not suffer shame." We can open our
hearts to God and find acceptance rather than shaming. God sees our fear.
God knows that we want to run and hide. But it is God’s desire to heal our
deep wound of shame. "You don’t have to be afraid," God says
to us, "you will not suffer shame or disgrace or humiliation with me."
I have experienced so much shame, Lord.
So much disgrace.
So much humiliation.
Sometimes I want to hide myself from life.
And sometimes I want to numb myself to life.
Sometimes I want to disappear completely.
Thank you for your promise.
It calms my fears and helps me to stop hiding.
It helps me to stop covering up.
Thank you that I can open my heart to you and not suffer shame.
Thank you for the people in my life who accept me and do not shame me.
Protect me, Lord, from shame.
Amen.
-----
Mistakes, Sin and Forgiveness
Romans 3:10: “As the scriptures say: ‘There is no one without sin. None!” (NCV).
“A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to…pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble.” writes C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity.
Some of us live in fear that someone will discover we are fallible. Perfectionism keeps us from acknowledging our humanness. However, as we change and grow we can be freed to admit: “If I make a mistake, I make a mistake. It is not the end of the world. If I am wrong about something, I realize it is part of being human. I can meet it head on, admit it and rectify it. If I sin, I can confess it to God, seeking forgiveness. If my action or attitude affects another person, I can go to her, ask for forgiveness, and leave the choice to forgive with her.”
We are each responsible for our own mistakes, wrong or sin. No one else is responsible for us. This healthy approach to imperfection builds bridges with ourselves, others, and God.
Lord, I know I’m not perfect.
Help me have the courage
to rectify my mistakes and seek forgiveness.
2008 Joan C. Webb
-----
JESUS IS LORD
MEMORY VERSE: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:5,6).
A chapter in my book, Great Salvation Themes, asks these thought-provoking questions: "Did Christ exist before His descension to earth? Was He conceived through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit? Was He truly God from all eternity?
These questions might be summarized in this one. Is Jesus God?
If you accept the Bible as your authority, you will conclude that Jesus is Lord. Here's proof: John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus. Isaiah said of John: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3). Christ was the Creator: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1-3). The Lord of glory was crucified: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). When Christ returns to reign, all will admit that He is Lord: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11).
If you are born again, it is because you have received the LORD Jesus Christ. Be sure that He is the LORD of your life. JVI
-----
Answers for Each Day - Oct. 18, 2008
Selfish?
Over the last several devotionals, we have been looking at the cause of spiritual drought. In today’s devotional, I want to look at selfishness as a cause of spiritual drought.
Selfishness is where I am focused on my own interests rather than the needs of others or of furthering God’s Kingdom.
In Haggai 1:4-6, 9-11, God says,
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes… You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
They were investing everything in themselves and their homes, but not a thought was given to God’s house or God’s Kingdom.
Friend, if you want the rain to fall, you need to think about God and His house first, others second, and yourself third. It is like the old saying, “If you want joy, j-o-y, it’s Jesus, others, and then you.”
-----
Undying Love
“Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.” Ephesians 6:24
What is it that binds us together as Christians? It is our undying love for the Savior who died for us. Paul ends his epistle to the Ephesians with this benediction, telling them that grace will be theirs because they love their savior with an undying love. Yes, it is that grace that was so freely bestowed upon each of us that made love for Christ well up in our hearts. It is an appreciation of how little we deserve that grace that causes us to look at Jesus with adoration. “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 Our love for Christ grows with our appreciation of who we really are and what grace He has freely given us. When we truly understand all that Jesus Christ sacrificed for us there can be no other response but our undying love given freely in return. Indeed, grace is ours and so much more because we love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Father, our love for you is great because you first loved us and sent your son Jesus; thank you for that gift so freely given. It was at great cost you gave Him to us, and we deserved nothing from you. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior: thank you for your obedience to the Father you loved. Thank you for seeing His vision of salvation and laying down your life for us. You loved us before we were even born and you died so that we might live forever. You have our love; a love that can only grow as we come to know you better, a love that can never die. Amen Quiet Waters
-----
The Holy Ghost is God's conduit of mercy
Remember the Lord at all times and let Him be in your thoughts night and day.
The Spirit of Remembrance is the Holy Ghost.
He brings not only thoughts of God to our remembrance, but the power of God, the Love of God, the Joy of God, the Peace of God, the Praise of God and much more.
Brethren, when we center our thoughts on our earthly cares and pleasures we are essentially evicting the Holy Ghost from our lives.
Paul said, " Quench not the Holy Ghost."
The Holy Ghost is God's conduit of mercy through which He pours out His many Blessings into our lives.
When we evict the Holy Ghost from our lives, the devil will fill our lives with hate, bitterness, worry, fear, false ideas, discouragement and much more dark things.
Remember God.
©10/18/2001 Jim Welch
----
Devotional For Dieters
October 18
Psalm 68:35
O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.
Theo knew the power of God. He had seen it in the birth of his daughter. He had felt it when his father had died. He had witnessed it many times in the glorious creation of nature. Theo had no doubt about the power of God. He had worked in forestry for his entire life. He had flown through thunderstorms where lightning splintered huge trees and set forests blazing. The power of God was both a wonderful and a terrifying thing. Theo had no doubt that there was nothing beyond the power of God. The God of all creation could handle his diet. He had no question in his mind. Strength such as God's was a good thing to have on his side!
Today's thought: With God on my side, my fat doesn't stand a chance!
-----
-/\/\-----------------------------------------------------------------
\ / WHAT JESUS DID! -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--\/------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 18, 2008
One of You!
Jesus answered, "The man who is against me is one of you
twelve. He is the one who dips his bread into the same bowl
with me.
-- Mark 14:20 (ERV)
KEY THOUGHT:
How sad Jesus' words must have been to the apostles when they first
heard them. How sad these words must have been as they remembered them.
What a powerful reminder to us of our ability to falter and to let our
Lord down. Our church, our fellowship of believing friends, will always
have a "Judas" in our midst. In fact, most of us have let the Lord down
and betrayed him at some point in our lives. Thank God that he is
forgiving. Thank the Lord Jesus that he paid the price to ransom us
back from our weakness, hypocrisy, betrayal, and failure. Let's use our
time at the Lord's Table each week to remind us of the price of our
forgiveness, of our vulnerability to letting the Lord down, and of the
opportunity we have to live passionately for him. Most of all, let's
remember that we can begin again, fresh and forgiven, and must not let
Satan win the battle when we falter. Let's get back up, ask for the
Lord's forgiveness, receive his cleansing, and faithfully live for his
glory in the future.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
LORD of all heaven and earth, my Abba Father, please help me to trust
in your forgiveness and the Holy Spirit's power so that I will not be
crushed by my failures and sins. Instead, as you cleanse me, please
empower me to live vibrantly and faithfully for you. This is my heart's
desire. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
-----
SHARING SECRETS
“Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives.” Alcoholics Anonymous, page 72
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
For what it’s worth: My life was full of secrets that I certainly never intended to reveal to anyone for any reason. In Alcoholics Anonymous I learned that, to get out and stay out of the hell my alcoholism had created for me, it was absolutely necessity that I share my secrets. My experience proves that secrets gain power when I keep them secret. If I reveal them, they lose their ability to eat at me from inside and trigger relapse. Beyond that, I have found that sharing secrets with the right person produces freedom and peace.
God bless you!
Joe W.