Daily Bible Reading - Thursday August 20th

Well we finally got through Esther, quite the book isn’t it?  As you read, Mordecai did good and kept his word to the Jews, he helped them and kept his religion instead of letting the power he had acquired go to his head and use it for his own good.  Mordecai was truly great, and his greatness gave him opportunities of doing the more good for his people.  He did not seek his own wealth, but the welfare of his people. Few have it in their power to do so much good as Mordecai; but all have it in their power to do hurt, and who has it not in his power to do some good?  If we live by the faith of Christ, we shall be active according to the ability and opportunities he gives us, in promoting his glory and the best interests of men. If our faith be genuine, it will work by love. That takes us to my favorite part in Corinthians which is all about love.  These couple of verses describe love and what love should be in our lives, ⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every cir****tance. If we have this kind of love we will make it through any situation we face, big or small.  Like it says, Love NEVER gives up, Love NEVER loses faith, Love is ALWAYS hopeful and endures through EVERY cir****tance.  As you can read, love is everything, if the whole world had that type of love just imagine what things would be like today, wow!   I just love the scripture that is in the devotional this morning, we sing a song at church with that scripture, its so uplifting and encouraging.  Isn’t that something how Joseph’s strength went into the iron chains? In other words Joseph’s strength became as the iron, no wonder he was able to make it through anything and everything he had to go through, that’s truly some strength.  That’s the type of strength God wants us to have so we can face any cir****tance and plow through it without hesitation, good word today, good word.

Today’s Reading

Esther 8:1-10:3
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
Psalm 37:1-11
Proverbs 21:23-24

Daily Devotional

Isaiah 40:29

"He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]"

In the Bible, Joseph went through seasons of difficulty. He was rejected by his family, sold into slavery, lied about, mistreated, abandoned, falsely accused, and thrown in jail. But through it all, Joseph never gave up. He kept pressing through and doing the right thing even though the wrong thing kept happening. The Bible says in Psalm 105 verse 18, as Joseph laid in prison in those chains of iron, his soul entered into that iron. In other words, as Joseph just kept on fighting life through, his soul became as strong as that steel. God developed a supernatural strength in him that no one could take away.

If you are going through difficulty today, God wants to increase your strength. He wants to increase your power to overcome. He wants to make your inner man as strong as steel. When you keep standing, keep believing, keep doing the right thing, you are opening yourself to God's supernatural strength. That's when you know you are growing in Him. Be strong today. Keep pressing forward because God is at work increasing strength in you so that you can live in victory in every area of your life!

A Prayer For Today:

"Father in heaven, today I surrender every difficulty to You. I release the questions, hurts, and frustrations. I choose to trust You and do the right thing. Increase Your strength in me so that I can live in the victory You have in store for me. In Jesus' Name. Amen."

Hi Andy...

I so appreciated what you had to say this morning.  Such wise words.

Every time I read what love is:  I see that I don't always "love" the way the Word says.  And that I need to strive to do better!

Today in Psalm there's that much quoted verse:  "Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

I did an in depth word study one time on this verse and it was amazing what I learned.  Did you ever think about what the results of "delighting" in the Lord produces?  I can tell  you this the "desires" of your heart change!

And I had to get a smile out of the Proverbs: "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity"  Boy oh Boy is that TRUE!  Wisdom at it's best!!! ~tee hee

And then there is the devotional... wow you can't believe the morning I've had and how very much this devotional was timely! 

Once again I have to say how I love the Lord for always providing my needs, even when I'm being a booger and don't deserve it!

Have a good day all, and be blessed!

Bec