Bible League: Living His Word I will live and not die,and I will tell what the LORD has done. It could have been that your sickness took a turn for the worse and by all accounts the end was near. It could have been that the natural disaster broke out of control and your life was in danger. It could have been that the accident was more serious than at first thought and the injuries became life-threatening. Or, as was the case for the psalmist in our verse for today, it could have been that some enemies had risen up and jeopardized your life. Whatever it was, you were quickly ushered to the very brink between life and death. The situation was out of control and what had always been nothing more than an abstraction that seemed to apply to everyone else except for you suddenly turned into a specter of death ready to swallow you whole. In point of fact, you came to the point of resignation and fully expected to pass on to the life hereafter. But then something wonderful happened. An assurance rose up in your soul. A bit of hope began to lift up your spirit. The LORD was at work within you stirring something. He reminded you of Psalm 118:17 and, like the psalmist, you proclaimed in faith, "I will live and not die." There was no reason for your hope, there was nothing that supported your faith, but your grasped hold of it anyway and would not let go. The verse became a mantra of confession that you repeated over and over. And then you began to back away from the brink. The doctors finally found the key procedure that saved your life. At the last minute the rescue team fought through the disaster and lifted you to safety. The paramedics came on the scene and treated your injuries. Or, the reinforcements stormed over the hill and your enemies beat a hasty retreat. It was true. You will live and not die. What you had confessed in faith became a fact of reality. What some thought was mere hopeless optimism became the key to your victory. It was the LORD. It wasn't you. It was the LORD all along who inspired your faith and saw you through to the end. He is the one that deserves all of the praise and glory. And gladly, happily, you will tell everyone what the LORD has done. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 7, 8 Proverbs 7 -- Warning Against the Adulteress NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 8 -- Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice? NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 14:21-40 1 Corinthians 14 -- Prophecy and Tongues; Orderly Worship NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all.Insight None of these Christians felt that what they had was their own, and so they were able to give and share, eliminating poverty among them. They would not let a brother or sister suffer when others had plenty. Challenge How do you feel about your possessions? We should adopt the attitude that everything we have comes from God, and we are only sharing what is already his. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 120:5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry "Woe is me." Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire. Better far in the Lord's strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify him in it. The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, "If I were in a more favorable position I might serve the Lord's cause, but I cannot do any good where I am;" but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many sick? Where is honor to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Ephesians 1:22,23 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, • which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 5:30 because we are members of His body. Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; Psalm 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. John 17:6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; Ephesians 4:15,16 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, • from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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