Special Selection - "Praise Is What I Do"

Daily Reading - "Lift Up Your Eyes On High, And See Who Has Created These Things." Isa 40:26 NKJV

This is how it read today...

Mon. April 26

"LIST UP YOUR EYES ON HIGH, AND SEE WHO HAS CREATED THESE THINGS." (ISA 40:26 NKJV)

A Sense Of Awe

G.K. Chesterton wrote: "The world is not lacking in wonders, but in a sense of wonder." It's said that if the earth were as small as the moon its gravitation wouldn't sustain our needs. On the other hand, if it were as large as Jupiter its extreme gravitation would make human movement almost impossible. If we were as close to the sun as Venus the heat would be enbearable; if we were as far away as Mars every region would experience snow and ice nightly. If the oceans were half their size we'd get only 25 percent of our present rainfall; if they were one-eighth larger, annual precipitation would increase 400 percent, turning the earth into a vast uninhabitable swamp. Water solidifies at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But if the oceans were subjected to that law, the amount of thawing in the polar regions wouldn't balance out and we'd all end up encased in ice. To prevent this, God put salt in the sea to alter its freezing point. How's that for a day's work? The Psalmist wrote: "How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all...I will sing praise to my God as long as I live" (Ps 104:24-33 NIV). If God's workmanship wouldn't make you praise Him and want to know Him better, what would? John Stott said, "Our greatest claim to nobility is our created capacity to know God, to be in personal relationship with Him, to love Him and to worship Him. Indeed, we are most truly human when we are on our knees before our creator."

Special Selection - "Sovereign God"

Daily Reading - "I Consider Everything A Loss Compared To The Surpassing Greatness Of Knowing Christ." Php 3:8 NIV

Here is how it read today.

Tues. April 6

"I CONSIDER EVERYTHING A LOSS COMPARED TO THE SURPASSING GREATNESS OF KNOWING CHRIST." (PHP 3:8 NIV)

GOD'S APPROVAL

Many of us race from one thing to another, driven by our need to accomplish, yet never feeling fulfilled or stopping long enough to appreciate our worth in God's eyes. Lasting fulfillment doesn't come from reaching another goal or deadline. Paul wrote much of the New Testament, preached to world leaders and built the church, yet his heart's cry was "that I might know [be intimately acquainted with] Him" (v. 10 NKJV)> Until God affirms you, the praises of men will keep falling into a heart that leaks. Once the thrill of the chase is over, there has to be more to your life than just accomplishing another goal. Our challenge is to address our nagging approval addiction (yes, addiction!) by turning to God to find the only approval that can truly satisfy - His approval. Paul worked hard, but he did it for one sole reason: "We labor...that we might be accepted of Him." Ask yourself, "Why am I doing what I do? Who am I doing it for?" Your answers will be revealing. What makes you think you can fulfill God's purpose for your life without taking the time and effort required to build a relationship with Him? Without fresh fire in your soul you will burn out. Another credential and another trophy won't cut it. Only God can restore what all your striving has depleted. God will never ask you to do anything that replaces what His presence alone can do. In His presence crowns lose their luster and human accolades become meaningless (See Rev 4:10-11). There you can let it all go, without losing anything.

Daily Reading - "O Death, Where Is Your Sting?" 1Co 15:55 NKJV

Here is how it read today.

Mon. April 5

"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" (1 CO 15:55 NKJV)

The Sting Has Been Removed

The story's told of a boy and his father driving down a country road when a bee flew in the car window. The boy, who was allergic to bee stings, was terrified. The father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it into his hand and then released it. The boy grew frantic as it buzzed by him. Again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his palm. There, stuck in his flesh, was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this?" he asked. "You don't need to be afraid any more. I've taken the string for you." The message of Easter is, as a believer you don't need to fear death because Christ has died and risen again. The sting has been removed. Death is not the end, it's just the beginning!

Job, who'd experienced the tragic loss of seven sons and three daughters in a single day, asked, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14 NKJV). He needed an answer! We all do. Five chapters later he got one: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25027 NKJV). The Psalmist rejoiced in the same hope: "As for me, I will see your face in the righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness" (Ps 17:15 NKJV).

Daily Reading - "And They Crucified Him" Mk 15:24 NIV

This is how it read today...

Fri. April 2

"AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM." (MK 15:24 NIV)

CRUCIFIXION

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In The Expositor's Bible Commentary C. Truman Davis, M.D. writes, "What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: 'As he slowly sags down...on the nails in the wrists, excrutiating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain-the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid stretching torment, he places teh full weight on the nail through his feet. Again in agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of the feet. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath...hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rendering cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over - the loss of tissue fluids reaches critical level - the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues - the tortued lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues...finally he can allow his body to die." The Bible records it in these words: "And they crucified him."