Prov 11:17 A man who is kind benefits himself…. Luke 6:35 (ESV)Love your enemies, & do good, & lend, expecting nothing in return, & your reward will be great, & you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful & the evil. — Oh what a scripture challenge! What does it mean to actually love your enemies, that is those who hate us. We are to do good for them, willing to lend to them, & expecting nothing in return! If we can learn to be kind even when kindness doesn’t come back in return, we are set for great rewards! Some word from Matthew Henry’s Commentary, “These are hard lessons to flesh and blood. But if we are thoroughly grounded in the faith of Christ’s love, this will make His commands easy to us. Every one that comes to Him for washing in his blood, and knows the greatness of the mercy and the love there is in Him, can say, in truth and sincerity, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Let us then aim to be merciful, even according to the mercy of our heavenly Father to us.” All I can say is “practice makes perfect”! Love Mel
Scripture is God Breathed – INSPIREd
2 Tim 3:16 (BSB)All Scripture is God-breathed…Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written for our INSTRUCTION so that through endurance & the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have HOPE. Psalm 102:18 Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may PRAISE the LORD. —The fact that the Word is God Breathed is something that we really need to remember! Some would like to say that it is merely some ancient stories written by mere men! However, Paul clearly states that it is God Breathed, & we should stand on the word! After all, It was written for our INSTRUCTION! So we will have HOPE & PRAISE Him! Love Mel
Watchman Née
YouTube is such a great tool. Today sermons from Watchman Née popped up on my feed. He was a Chinese evangelist of the 1920s. So much wisdom. Watching “Forgotten Episode 05 Watchman Née” tells the following story. Née (ignore the apostrophe lol) and his evangelist friend travelled to a small CHinese island and preached their hearts out. No result. This island was under the control of a principality idol that they worshipped every year on Jan 11th. They explained to Née that each year on the 11th they held a huge celebration and that the weather for 300 years was always perfect on that day for the parade – a gift to them from the deity. Née told them that on the 11th this year Jesus would bring rain. They laughed of course. The day started out beautifully. Then at the time of the ceremony the sky opened up – for the first time in 300 years causing them to drop the statue and it broke. WELL – they said – it really must be the 14th this year due to a calendar change!! They glued their idol back and tried it again on the 14th at 6 PM. This time there were flash floods and torrential downpours starting right at 6. Well as you might imagine the whole town got saved. I recommend some of the Watchman Née short messages. I heard one today for 9 minutes that said “the greatest gift of grace is not prayer, not Bible reading nor even worship – it is the working of the Holy Spirit.” It’s true!! That is how we all learn the most – from how He guides us, teaches us, orders our steps and chastises or comforts us – His greatest personalized gift to us.
JOB
I have been reading through the Bible. I leave it open on the dining room table so it’s easy to get to and i dont have to find a way to get comfortable in my recliner. Kind of like sitting up straight while doing homework. Anyway – it helps me. Today I am reading Job. What a story. Job is a righteous and honorable man. But Terrible things happen to Job. He loses his kids, his possessions, and his health. His wife tells him to curse God and die (thanks honey!). And his three friends visit to give long and drawn out “comforts” to him telling him basically “you must have done something wrong”. They tell him that God will only bless the good person and that his great misfortune must be because he has been a sinner. Sound familiar? This of course was not true. He was a righteous and good man. But Satan had challenged God to let him test Job to see if he would remain faithful. Job complains bitterly but does not sin against God. When God finally answers Job – here is some of what he says. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” God goes on in chapters 38-41 and assures Job that he is a good man and that there are many things he does not know. God rebukes Job’s friends who wrongfully accused him of his guilt and that it was all his fault and He blesses Job in the end twice as much as he lost. The story tells us it acceptable to complain to our great God about our pain and suffering, that it is most likely not your fault, and that God really cares and knows all about it. As someone once said “I will not curse my God over a mystery”. Be encouraged. God is good even when life isn’t.
HOPE
Hebr 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things HOPEd for, the conviction of things not seen Rom 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Rom 8:24-25 For in this HOPE we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we HOPE for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Psalm 39:7 Now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. Psalm 119:114 You are my hiding place & my shield; I hope in your word. Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy & peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in HOPE.— Our HOPE must be in the Lord & His word! Hope in Him opens the door to joy, peace & love, for we have been saved! Our HOPE comes from the Lord, for He first loved us, He died for us, & now His spirit lives on the inside of us! That is worth rejoicing over! May our HOPE abound! Love Mel
