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18 Jul Devotional Thought – Temptation’s Location
"And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him." Mark 1:13
"He was there in the wilderness...tempted by Satan." Many times we are tempted to believe that Satan is the strongest in the busiest and most crowded areas of our lives. Those areas where we find the greatest number of people and opportunities to sin. That is a fatal mistake. I believe that the greatest location of temptation is not in the hustle and bustle of a crowd, but in the stillness and quietness of the wilderness.
13 Jul Devotional Thought – The Gift Of A Thorn
"And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." 2 Corinthians 12:7
"A thorn...was given to me." So, was this thorn then a gift from God? I normally view as gifts from God those things in which the abundance of life is found. If something happens to diminish or dilute that abundance, I definitely don't consider it a gift. At best I consider it to be a distraction - at worst, a danger. But here in Paul's personal letter to the Christians at Corinth, he completely reverses that which was my understanding. He says that the danger is the gift - the thorn is the abundance.
24 Jun Fridays Are For Family – Long Distance Grandparenting
Being raised in a pastor's home, I didn't have the opportunity or blessing of being raised near my grandparents like some people I know. For example, my wife spent the first part of her life living in a house that shared the same driveway with her grandparents and from birth until the time she moved to college living in the same town with both sets of grandparents. She tells stories of eating at her grandparents' house after church on Sunday mornings, summers at her Grandmother Robinson's house, planting strawberries with her Granddaddy Dowdy and huge family get-togethers in Gleason, TN.
22 Jun Devotional Thought – Environment’s Inadequacy
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought.” Revelation 12:7
So, in spite of what we’re told and taught today, environment is not enough to make one happy or good. Many believe all that is needed for society to be peaceful and prosperous is for there to be a perfect place for man to reside – an adequate, abundant environment.
20 Jun Devotional Thought – Sacrifice At Sunset
"Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Genesis 22:1
"After these things..." After what things? After all the things of Abraham's life. Isn't that a strange place to assign such a sacrificial test? Normally we would expect that a man would be tested in the beginning of his life - in the years when the sun is rising. Why then is Abraham subjected to such a sacrificial test at sunset? Why has the sacrificial hour been placed at the close of his life? Isn't it normally expected that such test would come in the time when a man's power of sacrifice would be the most accurate measure of him? The simple answer is "No. No it's not."