Weekend Words

 

From Be Still and Know...

"Is there any word from the Lord?" - Jeremiah 37:17

One day I took some copy material to our Publishing Department to be proofread.  In a short time one of our staff called me.  She was laughing as I answered the phone.  One section of my material was entitled "Bible Reading Meditation."  In error I had typed it "Bible Reading MEDICATION."  I replied, "Bible reading medication should develop into a good idea for a devotional."

As we administer medication to bring relief to the body, so God's Word applied to our lives can bring relief for our spiritual ailments.  

The Bible is relevant to the personal needs of our lives.  Within its pages are prescriptions that bring spiritual health.  It relieves the pain of the heart; it brings quietness to the disturbed mind; it supplies strength for the body.

As each day is a new day, filled with new needs, we should begin the day by asking, "Is there any Word from the Lord for ME today?"

We can be assured that He does have a Word for us for each day.  However, just reading it, or even memorizing it is not enough.  We must assimilate it and let it become a part of our lives.

Each day as I open His Word, I ask Him for something especially for me.  Sometimes I stop at a single word or phrase.  Other times I read an entire verse, several verses, or a chapter.  Then I meditate on what He speaks to me from it.  I consider how I need to apply it to my life.  I make notes in a notebook on the thoughts He has given me.  Then I pray over it for my life.  It is with excitement that I go to Him for His Word for me.

He has something for you from His Word daily.  Pray as you begin reading that the Holy Spirit will give you what you need.  

Andrew Murray said, "The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Word in your life and thoughts."

Has some verse or portion from His Word become yours today? 

From A Year's Journey with God...

Amazing Grace

"There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fears.

Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought;

But when I see Thee as thou art, I'll praise Thee as I ought.

It is almost unbelievable that those words were written by a man who had once been the captain of a slave ship, notorious for his violence and cruelty.  John Newton's mother taught him about Jesus and His 'Amazing Grace' and prayed earnestly for him, but as she lay dying, when John was only seven, she might well have wondered how he could possibly survive spiritually in the care of his godless, sea-captain father.  How she would have hated the diabolically evil trade that became his life; yet her prayers were eventually answered during a terrible storm, when John remembered her faith and cried out to her God.  Later, in his cabin, he committed the rest of his life to serving Him.  I love John Newton's most famous hymn, 'Amazing Grace'; it demonstrates that grace by showing us that God not only saved John for a life of service, but made him His intimate friend.

If you have been praying for one of your grown-up children for years and are feeling discouraged because they have turned their backs on God, let the story of John Newton and his mother's prayers restore your hope today.