Bible League: Living His Word He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.— Psalm 126:6 ESV Seasons of life can be like the four seasons of the year. For example, winter can represent a cold and dreary period of your life. It's just not the right time to start anything. There's no life anywhere and there's nothing you can do about it yet. Indeed, if you jumped the gun and tried to plant something, it would surely die. Instead, you just have to patiently go through it. The best you can do is get yourself ready for spring when things begin to warm up. Then it happens. Spring comes and the time is right. It's time to get moving and get things started. It's a good time, a time of promise; however, it is also the time when you have to risk everything. It's not the time of reaping; it's the time of sowing. You have to take from what you have, no matter how little it is, and sow it into the ground. You have to rob the present in order to fund the future. That's why the sower in our verse for today goes out weeping. He's investing a lot in a venture with no guarantee. It takes faith to be a sower. If that were not enough, you have to wait. There's no immediate reward. There's no return on investment right away. Instead, you must wait for the seeds to sprout and grow. You must go through the summer period of life when all you do is tend to your investment. It's hard work. It's hot outside and the work can be backbreaking, and it drags on for what seems like a lifetime. Would that the summer period of life lasted only a literal summer! Why can't the Lord speed things up? After all, He's God, and He can do anything. The Lord, of course, has His own timetable as your summer drags on. Nevertheless, seasons don't last forever. They may take longer than we would like, but they always give way to the next one in line. Autumn comes. Your winter, spring, and summer periods of life are finally paying off. You trusted God and took the leap of faith. You invested your very life, and the time has come. The time has come to reap. The time has come to bring home the sheaves with shouts of joy. Give thanks to the Lord of harvest. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingIsaiah 39, 40 Isaiah 39 -- Hezekiah Reveals Treasures to Babylonians NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 40 -- Comfort, comfort my people NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Philippians 4 Philippians 4 -- Whatever is true and right, think on these things; I can do all things through Christ NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” When people commend themselves, it doesn't count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.Insight When we do something well, we want to tell others and be recognized. But recognition is dangerous—it can lead to inflated pride. How much better it is to seek the praise of God rather than the praise of people. Then, when we receive praise, we will be free to give God the credit. Challenge What should you change about the way you live in order to receive God's commendation? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Jude 1:20 Praying in the Holy Ghost.Mark the grand characteristic of true prayer--"In the Holy Ghost." The seed of acceptable devotion must come from heaven's storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to God. We must shoot the Lord's arrows back to him. That desire which he writes upon our heart will move his heart and bring down a blessing, but the desires of the flesh have no power with him. Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire as of lukewarm prayer--it is essential that it be red hot. It is praying perseveringly. The true suppliant gathers force as he proceeds, and grows more fervent when God delays to answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he use the knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved is he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful in God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is his office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love--love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ. Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith, and strengthens it, so that we pray believing God's promise. O that this blessed combination of excellent graces, priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might be fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most blessed Comforter, exert thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in prayer. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 40:2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.1 Corinthians 10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Matthew 16:16,18 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." • "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Hebrews 10:22,23 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. • Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; James 1:6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Romans 8:35,37,39 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? • But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. • nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 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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