Step Aside, We Have A Gift

JULY 27, 2020

DAILY PROVERBS:

Proverbs 18:13-16 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

    “Coming through, make way, step aside, let them through… they have a gift.” This was probably not your greeting at the last Christmas, or Birthday party to which you brought a gift. There are only a few reasons where this might be the greeting.  

• If the gift was so large it took more than one person to carry it you may hear this greeting.

• If the gift you were carrying was of such great value this might be the words people would hear.

• If the gift is fragile and the least little touch, or dropping it would cause horrible damage this might be introduction.

    However, for the child of God the gift spoken of in today’s verse is not often looked upon as this type of gift. This is a gift given to you personally by God. You are specially prepared by God for a specific purpose in this life. God has gifted you to carry out a ministry He desires of you and designed for you.

    If you really think about though, this special gift from God also has all the above qualities. This gift is too large for you to handle. Therefore, God said He would never leave you nor forsake you. It is of such great value that He has placed the Holy Spirit in you as a guard, or as the book of Ephesians calls Him, a seal. In addition, you and your gift are of such value that Jesus, the Son of God Himself came down from Heaven, to a sinful world, to pay the price of it.

    “Coming through, make way, step aside, let them through… they have a gift.” This gift brings great joy and satisfaction. When used to glorify God, it brings joy to the recipient of the gift, to you as the giver, and to God who created the gift as well.

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    Ask God today to help you recognize the area of life in which He has gifted you. If you know your gift, ask Him to help you discover where and how to use it best for Him in the body of Christ. You will find such joy in doing what you were created to do. There is joy in serving Jesus.

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JULY 27, 2020

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH DAILY PROVERBS
  Isaiah 27 – 31     /   Proverbs 18:13-16

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  Job 32-34    /   Acts 24

Living In His Word Ministries

Weekend Review

July 25 & 26, 2020

Proverbs 18:10

The name of the LORD
is a strong tower:
the righteous runneth into it,
and is safe. 

Work Week Devotions
Through the Book of Proverbs

      As you know by now, with WORK WEEK DEVOTIONS, we only publish our Devotional Thoughts on Monday – Friday. On Saturday we suggest you re-read the entire chapter we have been studying this past week, and if we will be going into the following chapter the next week, we encourage you to read that chapter as well.       

There are never Devotions on Sunday. 

Thank you for joining us as we
journey together
Through Proverbs in 2020.

WEEK 29 – Day 6

     On Saturday, we suggest you re-read the Proverb we have written from this past week and the week to come.

Proverbs 17-18

WEEK 29 – Day 7

     Today we suggest you read and study whatever the Lord has laid on your Pastor’s heart. Whatever Scripture he uses for today’s messages were given to him by God for your specific needs.

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH DAILY PROVERBS

July 27, 2020    Isaiah 27 – 31           Proverbs 18:13 – 16
July 28, 2020    Isaiah 32 – 37           Proverbs 18:17 – 19
July 29, 2020    Isaiah 38 – 42           Proverbs 18:20 – 24
July 30, 2020    Isaiah 43 – 48           Proverbs 19:1 – 4
July 31, 2020    Isaiah 49 – 54           Proverbs 19:5 – 8
August 1, 2020 Proverbs 18 – 19                    
August 2, 2020 No Passages Assigned    

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY

July 27, 2020    Job 32-34                  Acts 24
July 28, 2020    Job 35-38                  Acts 25
July 29, 2020    Job 39-42                  Acts 26
July 30, 2020    Psa. 1-5                     Acts 27:1-20
July 31, 2020    Psa. 6-10                   Acts 27:21-44
August 1, 2020 Psa. 11-17                 Acts 28:1-16
August 2, 2020 No Passages Assigned


THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY

JULY 25, 2020     Job 30-31   /   Acts 23
JULY 26, 2020     No Passages Assigned

Strong Enough

JULY 24, 2020

DAILY PROVERBS:

Proverbs 18:9-12 He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

    Some time ago, I had the privilege of going to Pigeon Forge in Tennessee with our teen youth group for a Christian Youth Retreat. While there, we saw hundreds of attractions, rides, and activities that were available.  

    One of them was a ride, where you sat on a bench type chair made for two people, the operator would harness you in, and then release a switch. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this chair was hooked to two huge rubber band-like straps. The straps were hooked to two tall towering poles on either side and they were stretched to their fullest. When they would flip the switch to release the chair, these two rubber band-like straps shot you like a slingshot, straight up into the air. It seemed as though you might go all the way to the moon. Then, when the bands had reached their stretched limit in height up into the sky, they would shoot you back toward the ground at almost lightning speed. On the way down, GRAVITY WAS HELPING!

    I had watched several people do this with no problems. It was not the height I feared, nor the speed, or even getting sick. My question was, is it strong enough to hold ME! The difference between many of the others and me was this, I weighed around 280 lbs. at that time, and I had not seen anyone else my size on there. Nevertheless, I did it anyway, and it was a blast.

    I said that to say this. The love of the Lord is a strong tower. When I turned my life over to the LORD, it was because of His saving grace. I knew from seeing others, who had given their life to Him, He was strong enough to hold ME too. So, I put my faith in Him and sat completely in His loving care.
     

THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    I was right. After years of walking with Christ, through good and bad times in my life, He is strong enough to hold me. And friend, He is strong enough to hold you too. The Lord is a strong tower and in Him, you are safe.

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JULY 24, 2020

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH DAILY PROVERBS
Isaiah 20 – 26      /   Proverbs 18:9-12

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
Job 26-29     /   Acts 22

Living In His Word Ministries

A Story Is Told

JULY 23, 2020

DAILY PROVERBS:

Proverbs 18:5-8 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

  Some people are good storytellers. They can captivate your attention with tales of adventure or mystery. It almost seems as if you are right there, living in the story. I love to hear a great storyteller spin their tale. If the story is told well, it is every bit as good as reading a great book or watching a suspenseful movie.

    Now let’s imagine for a moment the storyteller suddenly put your name and life into the tale. They made it clear enough that everyone around knew they were speaking of you. However, they have twisted the truth, and several of the details are outright lies. The saga is exciting, but not true. This story being told makes you sound like some terrible heartless person.

    You stand up and say, “Hey, that’s not true!” Only to be told to sit down and be quiet. Others who are listening yell, “You’re ruining the story.” The person telling the yarn of lies seems energized by the crowd and begins really altering the facts knowing now that no one will listen to you and the truth. To the storyteller, the truth seems irrelevant at this point. What matters is that people will listen, and that the story is alluring.

    This next statement should not surprise you, but liars love to lie. They love to spin their tales of trash. The more people listen, the more outlandish the stories will become. However, at some point, once they drag another life, and then another life into their tales of deceit, people begin to realize, this person is a liar. Over time, fewer and fewer people will listen to them. Even if they tell the truth, they are now suspected of spewing fiction. The love of attention at any cost has brought them shame and embarrassment. “A fool’s mouth is his destruction.”

     
THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    You may not be able to avoid the liars in life. You can however live in a way so as to make their outlandish tales unbelievable. A good testimony will always outwit the liar. Live for Christ and let Him deal with liars.

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JULY 23, 2020

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH DAILY PROVERBS
  Isaiah 14 – 19     /   Proverbs 18:5-8

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  Job 21-25    /   Acts 21:18-40

Living In His Word Ministries

Who’s The Director?

JULY 22, 2020

DAILY PROVERBS:

Proverbs 18:1-4 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

OUTLOOK ON THE IN BOOK:

  Many new books have been published over the years trying to help people find themselves. Self Esteem is a buzzword. The idea behind it all is that if you do not feel good about yourself, how can you even hope to survive?

    The sad thing is, when most people get to the end of the long road to find out the truth, they are often disappointed. If you do a real honest self-examination, you will find you are just like everyone else. A different talent and a different way of life maybe, but other than material differences, we are all pretty much the same. We are no better and no worse than anyone else is trudging around this big mudball we call earth.

    Searching of one’s self is often driven by self-pride. Can you imagine spending a lifetime searching, only to find that we are all just sinful creatures searching for the truth? Real truth will lead you to God. God’s Word tells us that man really does not want to know the truth, what they want is to believe a lie. They want to hear that somehow; they are better or in some way different from the rest of the world. When the truth is, to find our real value in life, we must first have God in our life. Once we make God the director of our life, He will show us just what He created us to be. Isn’t that what we really want? Not to know whom we are, but to know what we may become?

    I heard it once said, “Life is a stage, and we are all actors there in.” The question then is, who is directing the continuing saga of your life?

     
THE WORD WALKING IN ME:

    Giving our heart to the Lord is a one-time thing. You only need to accept Christ as Saviour once to be eternally secure in that salvation. However, giving our life over to God can be a daily struggle. Let’s just bow our hearts to the Lord today and tell Him, “I’m here today to serve you Lord. Make of me what you need me to be. Be the director of my life today. Amen.”

GOD TALKING TO ME:  JULY 22, 2020

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH DAILY PROVERBS
  Isaiah 10 – 13     /   Proverbs 18:1-4

THROUGH THE BIBLE OLD & NEW TESTAMENT DAILY
  Job 17-20    /   Acts 21:1-17

Living In His Word Ministries