Daily Bible Reading - Sunday August 16th

Boy was the Word this morning good, some kind of harsh but really good.  Sometimes God has to be straight and to the point with us in order to get His message across to us that can be hard headed and stubborn.  Corinthians this morning really spoke out loud to me.  Nothing in Scripture is written in vain; and it is our wisdom and duty to learn from it. Others have fallen, and so may we. The Christian's security against sin is not to trust himself, if that makes any sense. God has not promised to keep us from falling, if we do not look to ourselves. To this word of caution, a word of comfort is added. Others have the like burdens, and the like temptations: what they bear up under, and break through, we may also. God is wise as well as faithful, and will make our burdens according to our strength. He knows what we can bear. He will make a way to escape; he will deliver us from it.  God encourages us to flee from sin, and to be faithful to Him. We cannot fall by temptation, if we hold on tight to him. Whether the world smiles or frowns, it is an enemy; but believers shall be strengthened to overcome it, with all its terrors and enticements. The fear of the Lord, put into our hearts, will be the great means of safety.  Again in Psalms it says in Vs 19, “The righteous face many trials but the Lord is always there to rescue them".  That just backs up what was said in Corinthians, even though we might face trials and troubles, the Lord wont put on us what we can’t handle and He will always be there to rescue us, always.  What did you think of Vs. 16 of Proverbs this morning?  Common sense huh?  Boy did that hit me square between the eyes.  If we stray from common sense we will end up in the company of the dead, that’s one place I don’t care to be, common sense is so easy to follow if we think about it, that’s always my problem sometimes, acting on things before I think, if I will only think things through I’ll see that common sense is starring me right in the face.

Today’s Reading

Nehemiah 11:1-12:26
1 Corinthians 10:14-33
Psalm 34:11-22
Proverbs 21:14-16

Daily Devotional

You're Connected to the Vine, Not the Report

Growing up, I knew this very successful business man. He owned hundreds and hundreds of orange crops. During this one particular winter, it was predicted to be a hard freeze which was very unusual because it never froze in that part of the country. He knew if that happened, it would destroy all of his crops and cost him thousands and thousands of dollars.

This man was kind of far out, but he believed that God could do anything. So he went out and marched around his orange trees and said, "God, I'm asking You to protect my crops and keep them from freezing." When his friends heard about it, they thought he was so strange and that was so odd.

When the big freeze came in the next morning, it lasted a little over twenty-four hours. His friends, who were also farmers, were so discouraged trying to figure out how they were going to survive knowing that the crops where going to be destroyed. This other man, he just kept thanking God that He was protecting his crops. Several days later, it was the most unusual sight. His property with hundreds and hundreds of acres had the most beautiful, healthy orange trees. But the trees on the properties around him, on all four sides, were just as dead as could be. It looked like somebody had put a big blanket over his property. Those other farmers were amazed. Instead of making fun of him, they said, "Next time do us a favor. Pray over our crops as well."

What happened? He was connected to the vine and not the report. He understood that God is well able to take care of us. He understood that God can prosper us even in the desert if we'll just be bold enough to believe despite of what the report says.

When we abide in Christ, agreeing with what He says we are, it doesn't matter what things look like in the natural. When we believe and agree and put God first, we will bear much fruit.

Scripture says if we will keep God first, we'll be like a tree planted by streams of water, whose leaf will not wither (Psalm 1:3). That means, financial difficulties may come, but we don't have to get all down and go into that survival mode hoping to just make it. When times get tough, don't hunker down and think, "Oh, it's so bad. If I can just hold on and make it through another year." No, dig your heels in and say, "I'm not going to just survive. I'm going to thrive. I'm going to prosper in spite of this difficulty."

We can stay in faith knowing that we are connected to the vine, and believe that God will supernaturally protect us, and that we'll see His unprecedented favor.