Bible League: Living His Word In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened;he saved me from all my troubles. After the disasters pass, we tend to forget how the Lord saved the day. We also tend to forget how many times during the course of our lives the Lord came to our aid when things got desperate. There was that time, for example, when your health suddenly took a turn for the worse. The doctors had prescribed a course of action and everything seemed fine. Then the bottom fell out and you could see death's door in the distance. The doctors tried, but nothing seemed to work. In desperation, you prayed to the Lord. And there was that time when you lost your job and couldn't find a new one. You contacted all the right people, sent out a bunch of resumes, and fully expected to land on your feet in the near future. But nothing happened and you came to the end of your financial resources. Friends and family helped, but that couldn't go on forever. In desperation, you prayed to the Lord. And then there was that time when your marriage hit a rough patch and your spouse threatened to walk out. You talked to your pastor, even got some professional help, and you thought that things would eventually work out. Your spouse, however, saw things differently and started making plans to leave. The family intervened, but that only made matters worse. In desperation, you prayed to the Lord. There was also that time when one of your children got into trouble with the law. You got a good lawyer, paid for the research and investigations, and thought things were under control. The prosecutors, however, decided that your child should be made an example for others and pressed hard for a lengthy sentence. The lawyer brought in some experts at the last minute, but the case still headed south. In desperation, you prayed to the Lord. The list of examples could go on and on. In the troubled world we live in each of us has a list, each of us has a long list. Each of us, if we stop to remember, has had many times when desperation took hold and we turned to the Lord for help. And each of us has many testimonies of how the Lord listened to our prayers and saved us from all our troubles. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingZechariah 7, 8, 9 Zechariah 7 -- Execute true judgment, and show kindness, instead of mere fasting NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Zechariah 8 -- The Coming Restoration of Jerusalem; Encouragement to Build the Temple NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Zechariah 9 -- Prophecies against Neighboring Nations; Rejoice, daughter of Zion, your King comes to you! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 19 Revelation 19 -- The Four Hallelujah's; Christ the Rider on the White Horse NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.Insight We should not become lazy and complacent because Christ has not yet returned. Instead, we should live in eager expectation of his coming. Challenge What would you like to be doing when Christ returns? That is how you should be living each day. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Galatians 2:20 The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all said, "Live;" and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head. "Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord, Is not this office thine? and thy fit name, In the economy of gospel types, And symbols apposite--the Church's neck; Identifying her in will and work With him ascended?" Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace, that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship. Daily Light on the Daily Path Mark 2:5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."Jeremiah 31:34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Mark 2:7 "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. Psalm 32:1,2 A Psalm of David. A Maskil. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! • How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 1 John 1:7-9 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. • If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. • If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. • If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Romans 6:14,18 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. • and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. 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