Category Archives: Devotionals

Christian Growth, Devotionals, The Church

PROTRACTED MEETING

Have ya’ ever  PAM CROPPED 2013 been a member of a church  congregation during a protracted meeting? 

It was ‘long’…            A CLOCK

How ‘long’ was it?

A CONGREGATION

The Old Testament Book of Nehemiah details a protracted meeting. (Nehemiah 8:1-12)

“So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law (Nehemiah 8:2-3 NKJ).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Crop Analogies

A BLOG CORNI don’t believe I have a gardening bone in my body.

PAM CROPPED 2013Somehow, the DNA inherited from my parents mutated; I lost innate interest or desire for digging in the dirt. I’m happily home-bound in the ARK-LA-MS Delta dreamland.

The LORD has crammed farming illustrations throughout Scripture. Jesus often used references to planting and harvesting of crops in His  many parables. The Apostle Paul sensed spiritual gold mines in crop analogies.

“So, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s field, God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:5-9 HCS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, The Church

Churches are Abuzz!

A BLOG CHURCH

 

Churches are abuzz with a factual phrase…                            PAM CROPPED 2013

“It’s not about us; it’s all about Him!”

The sooner we get that through our thick heads and hardened hearts the better off we’ll all be.

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36 NAS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, Uncategorized

Seeing the Potential!

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Most of us wear the same clothes very often, even PAM CROPPED 2013though we fill our closets with many more choices. Similarly, we seem to have favorite words and phrases.

Just off the top of my head,  I can come up with two of my husband Norm’s words used in repetition, ‘stuff’ and ‘potential.’  The first annoys me; the latter challenges me.

He sees the potential while I see the problem.

Abraham, when pressured with problems, saw potential in impossibilities!

“He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. Against hope, with hope he believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be (Romans 4:17b-18 HCS).”

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Painful Probing

A BLOG SPLINTER              It is not logical.

 

How could such a minute speck of PAM CROPPED 2013dust or an eyelash under my eyelid be so painful? A splinter in my hand, so small that I need a magnifying glass to see it, can cause throbbing pain.

 
The unwelcome guests cause irritation; the probing to find and remove them goes beyond irritation to pain.

My removal process is in itself painstaking. If my eye is the problem area, I have to stand extremely close before a lit up mirror. Old age is robbing me of close-up vision. Once I find the culprit, I use a cotton swab in the delicate removal process. If the intruder is a splinter in my right hand, I have a major dilemma.

Being right handed, the wielding of a sterilized needle in my left hand for probing and extraction is haphazard. My sin is not easy to detect with the naked eye; the Holy Spirit shines His light on it, using conviction and the sword of the Spirit as instruments, He brings the transgression to the surface.

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:12-13 HCS).”

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, Salvation

Blindsided on a Blind Date

A BRIGHT LIGHT

Ever been blindsided on a bind date?

In my teen PAM CROPPED 2013years, I had many dates that fell under the blind date category. Two or three of the boys I paired off with were what in my day were popularly labeled losers.

On the brighter side, I am in the blessed state of wedlock with my last blind date. We will celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary in three years.

Saul, in his blind date trauma trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, becoming the Apostle Paul. (Acts 9:1-18)

A bright heavenly light blinded his eyes. God sent a reluctant messenger to restore his sight. (Acts 9:10-18)

“Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized (Acts 9:18 NKJ).”

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Some Pop Vitamins

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The jury is still out on the health benefits of vitaminPAM CROPPED 2013 and mineral supplements.

Some tout their effectiveness while others say they do little to  improve our over-all health.

Personally, I can tell a big difference when I take certain vitamins.  Married to a ‘vegetarian,’ I have occasionally suffered with anemia. When I’ve ‘added’ iron supplements to my diet, I’ve had increased energy.

Spiritually, I benefit from specific character traits and virtues.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (2 Peter 1:5-7 NKJ).  Some ‘pop vitamins.’

I prefer the pursuit of virtues.

“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8 NKJ).”

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Bible Studies, Children, Christian Growth, Devotionals, Prayer

Duck, it’s Pouring!

6-25- BLOG RAIN

 

“It’s raining, it’s pouring”….

 

PAM CROPPED 2013

The children’s nursery rhyme has a catchy tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avurCRJiUj0

Residents of South Texas were singing songs of woe when experiencing a severe drought. It could mean devastation to crops and loss of life in livestock herds. We watched weather broadcasts, searched the horizon and prayed for rain.

Elijah prayed; the LORD God sent rain pouring down upon parched land.

“He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees. Then he said to his servant, ‘Go up and look toward the sea.’ So he went up, looked, and said, ‘There’s nothing.’ Seven times Elijah said, ‘Go back.’ On the seventh time, he reported, ‘There’s a cloud as small as a man’s hand coming from the sea.’ Then Elijah said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, Get [your chariot] ready and go down so the rain doesn’t stop you.’ In a little while, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a downpour (1 Kings 18:42b-45a HCS).”

God also heard the prayer requests of Texans. It rained and we rejoiced!

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

The Shortest Distance

A BLOG RAPTURE

PAM CROPPED 2013

 

Factual knowledge is not always exciting; yet, I  have remembered a few facts from my school days. ‘The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.’ It’s not very exciting but it is logical. Oops! Is that a Mr. Spock flash back? Back to the elementary school straight-line, rule…

Teachers always instructed us to line up in a straight line at the door, before going to lunch, the library, to the gym, or for recess. So, does that verify that the shortest distance between the classroom and any designated destination was a straight line? Apparently, they thought so.

In addition, the straight-line approach worked well in moving twenty-five squirming children in an orderly fashion. I’m looking forward to the day when I move from point a (earth) to point b (heaven). If it requires a straight line, I’m already trained!

“And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16b-18 NKJ).”

 

 

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Bible Studies, Devotionals

Real and Methodical Threat

A GIANT“Fee-fi-fo-fum!”

[Benjamin Tabart/Jack and thePAM CROPPED 2013 Beanstalk/1807]

The merciless giant from the children’s fairytale taunted Jack.

David faced no make believe menace. Goliath was real and methodical. Day after day, he taunted Israel’s army. (1 Samuel 17:8-10, 16, 23-24)

David, a simple shepherd boy served the sovereign God.

“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies—you have defied Him. Today, the LORD will hand you over to me (1 Samuel 17:45-46a HCS).”

Bold words for one outmatched, yet David had anchored his confidence in mighty God, not in himself being adequate.

“David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Even though David had no sword, he struck down the Philistine and killed him (1 Samuel 17:50 HCS).”

 

 

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