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Morning Devotional...



But now is Christ risen from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:20

The colleagues of a wise, old, unashamed Christian stonemason used to try and draw him into arguments about miracles in the Bible and other related issues.

In turn he would ask, "Are you prepared to accept the fact of Christ's resurrection?"

If they replied, "Yes," he would say, "Then there is no other problem you need trouble about."

If they said, "No," he would say, "Then there is no use discussing anything else." Perhaps his was not the complete answer, yet he put his finger on a fundamental issue.

The early Church faithfully preached the resurrection.

Do we?  
                                              --W. Ross Rainey

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I'm just rushing off to the Computer Class at the Senior Centre here in Guelph and then I have to go to a Grandparent's Party for my little grandson about an hour and a half north-west of here for 2 pm

So, I'll see you all later!

Have a wonderful day, folks, praising our Saviour!

Your post this morning Pat reminds of a Granny when asked by her Granddaughter if she believed the whole Bible to be God's Word and the Truth. 'Yes, lass I do,' she replied. The young lassie thought for a moment then asked her Granny if she truly believed that Jonah had been swallowed by a whale. Granny replied, 'I would have believed it supposing the Bible told me that the Jonah had swallowed the whale!'

Here are my thoughts for this morning:-
'Lord, it is good for us to be here.' Matthew 17:4

It's just after five in the morning and sleep has gone. The house is quiet apart from the odd snore now and again. I have no idea why I had to rise so early this morning, however I do not question things as much these days as once I did. Before I picked up my Bible this morning I found myself thinking back upon the dreams I had when first I met the Lord.

I always had a strong desire to serve my King, however I would not be thankful for any kind of service. It had to be the best and I had to be number one. I dreamed of becoming a great preacher – not a great Minister or Pastor as that was too much unseen hard work! I wanted the glory of being the Scottish answer to Mr Spurgeon! I wanted the Lord to use me in such a way that revival started in our land through my preaching!

I wasn't asking for much was I? Those desires were true and fervent in my soul as a young Christian. I waited and waited and waited for magical things to happen, but they never did! Enough for a young man to want to give up Christianity altogether and try something different!

For over a decade the Lord in His wisdom allowed me to spend the enormous energy that I had planning, preparing and taking part in Humanitarian Aid trips to Romania. There is no doubt that I loved doing this, more than anything. There was no greater pleasure than seeing clothes and food that had been collected on our Island being accepted so gratefully by those in need in various towns and villages in Romania.

I wanted more though! I wanted to serve the Lord out there! I wanted my wife and family to head East and change their lives completely to satisfy my longing for adventure. I put it down to serving the Lord but today I see it as a yearning to satisfy my 'spirit of adventure.' It actually took a heart attack to put an end to such dreams!

I suppose all along I wanted to be seen to be doing something for the Lord. I wanted my share of any glory that was going and I was not willing to deny myself and take a back seat. Pride would not let me!! Pride is horrendous. It grips us in its power and holds us there firmer than any vice would. Little do we know the damage that pride does in our lives.

When humbled by God, pride is seen in its true colours. It is a poison to our souls.

My friend, I was absolutely convinced that I was going to serve the Lord in Romania! I was fully persuaded! It was a dream. I lived it with each breath that I took, I slept with it, and each moment I carried it around in my heart.

But God said NO!

Great is His Name and I cannot praise Him enough for all that He has done for me. He broke my heart on countless occasions, yet I would not swap His binding up for anything! I argued with Him, I blamed Him, I murmured against Him and all He did was love me! I dreamed of glorious things happening in my life. I dreamed of glory – my glory! I wanted to be preaching in front of huge congregations, who would be listening to my every word. I wanted! I wanted!

God wants me to sit at my computer in the corner of my wife's kitchen and serve Him from there! Where is the glory in that? Who will see the work I do? Who will care?

I wanted the feel good factor of being popular. I dreamed of being the best preacher in Scotland. I wanted my reputation to spread so that I would soon receive invitations to preach from around the world. I wanted my Theology to be flawless and my oratory second to none. It meant being seen and applauded by hundreds if not thousands, but I could handle that!

God wanted me at my computer in my wife's kitchen where 'Dougie' waits patiently by my side, hopeful of a walk down to the beach!

My friend, I cannot tell you how happy I am this morning that God has done all that He has. He closed doors that I desperately wanted open, and He opened a way that I refused for long enough to go through. His love for me is beyond words. He has done and does do all things well.

I am sitting at my computer, in the corner of my wife's kitchen, in the place where the Lord put me and I am happy to serve Him here. I am more than happy. I rejoice in His service as it is the greatest honour any man can have on this earth. 'I,' just as the Mackenzie Clan Motto declares, 'am serving the King!'

It is little wonder that Peter wanted to stay where he was. He was on the mountaintop with His Lord, enjoying His favour while the blessings of heaven were being showered upon them. Why would anyone want to leave? Peter's request is the request that we would all have made in such circumstances.

It was good for us that the Lord did not heed His request. Had they remained on the mountaintop there would have been no cross and no salvation!

Most, if not all of the heartache that I have suffered since I first started to follow the Lord has been my own doing. I made mistakes and I blamed God for things turning out the way they did. I wanted things to be so different from the way they are now, but God had other plans. Just like Peter, I wanted things done my way, not God's.

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad. My friend, do not be like me. I only managed to get in the way of God's plan. Life would have been so much easier had I wanted His Will done in my life from day one and not mine! There is a world of a difference between saying it and doing it! I served the Lord with my lips, but my heart was far from Him.

My friend, 'whose will do you really want to do today?'

Today, and today is all I have, is His and I am His. Let His Will be done in my life, now and always. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

Not unto us Lord, not unto us, but do Thou glory take.

Thanks so much, Iain, for those wonderful thoughts this morning.

the whale comment made me giggle!  

Oh, that we'll all be volunteers for our Saviour is whatever corner He puts us.  God bless you Iain in that great corner of your wife's kitchen.  I love what you are doing and I'm being blessed by your work.

Thanks so much for those words this morning.

I wish I had time to say more but I must rush off.  I'll be back though--just a little later.

Iain:  I have been reading your post with interest as we were planning on building a home in the mountains on some beautiful acreage and I was planning on having the local bible study on an open meadowland.  The property is still ours and we have a set of house plans but everything came to a screeching halt over a variety of reasons - so we are still home and trying to listen to the rest of God's plan.  Meanwhile, this feels "right" too.  Thank you for your testimony.  Carol

We will be away for several days and I will be in touch with all of you next week.  Stay safe.  Carol

Hi everyone from a beautiful sunny Georgia.  It looks like God is giving us a truly magnificent day.

Pat, I think the stonemason in your devotional was right on.  

Iain, thanks for sharing your story with us.  With the work you do with your website God is using you to reach the whole world in ways you would never have been able.  You will probably never know how many people will have been heightened in their Christian life or brought to the acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior thru God's use of your efforts.

Hope everyone has a nice day.  

Carol I don't know if this will help in any way, but it may be worth a read :-
http://www.applesofgold.co.uk/the_secret_of_guidance.htm

Pat & Larry - Thanks for your encouragement.

Gosh, Pat is in a rush.  Carol is going to be away for a few days.  Larry has a beautiful sunny morning.  Iain is letting His will live in him today.  I can relate to all of you....

I am in a rush.

I am going to be away for a few days.

It is bright and sunny this morning.

I pray that each and every day, I do God's will.  

?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`"The Lord gave us two ends--one to sit on and the other to think with.  Success depends onwhich one we use the most."

I can relate to that too!!!!!  

Good morning.  Good to see you Pat, Larry,  Iain and Etta Sue.

Pat, the devotion this morning reminded me that the resurrection of Christ is so fundamental to our faith that if we don't believe in it we can't believe in anything the gospel says to us.

1 Cor 15:12-14  But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  (NIV)

Iain, as I read your statement this morning I thought of how God guided Paul and his companions on his second missionary journey.

Acts 16:6-7  Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  (NIV)

Many years ago I remember writing,  "If you don't want to do it, don't ask God to send you wherever he wants to send you."  I was in a plane flying from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to Baimuru in Gulf Province.  From there we were going by canoe to Mariki Village to preach the gospel.  I had never been in this area before and didn't know what kind of reception we would receive.  I kept thinking of Isaiah 6:8   "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"  (NIV)

I hope you all have a good day today.

--- Papa John              <)))><<

 

Good Morning;
Iain: you are such a blessing to me, I thank you so much for joining us here at CP. Your posts are wonderful and full of so many insights for me. You are serving the Lord in the way that He wants you to serve and touching lives all over the whole world. as Larry said, you will never know how many lives you have touched for the Lord. You also never know how many have come to know our Lord through your website. You will have many crowns to lay at His feet in Glory.

Papa John it is always a blessing to read your extensions of the devotions each day. How is your Back doing?

Pat and EttaSue drive carefully , I pray the Lord to set His angels all around you as you travel down the road. You too Carol;

BTW, I wasn't aware that the Bible specifically said it was a whale that swallowed Jonah. My KJV says it was a "Great Fish", the same in all the translations that I have. What translation are you using Iain?

TTYL

Iain - we often have our dreams.  On the other hand, God always has His plan.  Which will it be - our dreams or God's plans.  Our dreams are often for self glory, but God's plans are for His glory - and our good!
I don't know the preacher who hasn't dreamed of preaching to thousands, starting a new reformation, etc., etc.  But God's plan has the perspective of eternity.  It perfectly accomplishes His perfect will.

Good afternoon:  A cloudy day here after yesterdays rain and now the grass needs cutting.

Pat:  Thanks for to-days devotional.
Iain:  Your message sure has given me something to reflect upon for the duration of the day. Again thanks.

Blessings       Ruth

Hello everybody, from Ottawa!

It's a cool, rainy day here today.  I love the rain, always have.  Probably because everything looks so beautiful when the sun comes out again afterwards.

~Ursula

A kind of dark day here today - it's been looking like it would rain any minute all afternoon.  Gene tells me that last night had quite a thunderstorm - but I slept through it.  

Thank you Marilyn.  My back seems to be some better yesterday and today.  I'm trying to be careful with it.  Actually the Bible says that God provided a great fish which swallowed Jonah.  The Revised Standard Version does use the word "whale" in Matthew 12:40 but this is not a good translation and all the others I have do not agree with the Revised Standard Version's translation.

Matt 12:40  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  (RSV)

Matt 12:40  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  (NIV)

Of course, if God wanted to use a whale to do it he could have fixed up the whale so he would be able to swallow a man.  If one doesn't want to believe in miracles he wouldn't believe it regardless of whether a special fish or a special whale.

I Jn 5:3-5  This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,  for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (NIV)

Jeanne Lee, We are really having a beautiful day today.  The sun is shining and the humidity is a low 31%.  Sitting here by an open window is very pleasant.

--- Papa John              <)))><<

 

Marilyn & Papa John -  I agree with you both. A greater fish was provided by God. Just thought you might like to hear the story as it was told to me.

Marilyn - I'm old fashioned, I use the Kings James Vesrion and I would not swap it for the world.

Ursula - We do rain good style over here! It's as near 24/7 as you will find! Fancy a house swap?

LOL

Hello everyone.  Looks like I missed a lot yesterday.  Karmat, I liked reading your embarrassing moments!  I can't recall any at the moment, my head is a bit fuzzy.  But I will share when some come to mind.

Iaian-I wanted to share what an encouragement your posts are.  Very insightful.  I particularly enjoy that they are borne of your own experiences.  It makes it that much more real.

Pat-you sound like you've been running off your feet lately.  Don't do too much, or overtire yourself.

Well, I know this is another short post, but once things start to settle down a little around here, I'll hopefully be back into my running comments.  Now I don't know if you all want that again or not!  :-).  I'm off for the evening.  God bless.  Jen

Papa John is correct - the words used do not require the translation of "whale" at all.  However, I read an explanation of this swallowing, and as it turns out a man could indeed live in such a place for longer than a few hours.

Hello Everyone...

Whewww...  what a day!  It's been hectic from first thing this morning.  But what a lovely time up at Jonathan's school.  Every grandparent came that promised to come and those who drove a long distance got flowers (I was one of those)!  

Anyway, I'm home now and about ready for bed!

Tomorrow, I go to London to the Dental College!

Great conversations in here today!

I am home from work now. Today at work I updated my resume and while reading the Times-Standard newspaper for Eureka I saw a couple of ads for part-time employment, so I faxed off my resume and a cover letter telling them the date I would be available. If I don't hear from them that's OK, I know that God will provide a job for me. One that He wants me to have. No harm in sending out my resume though. Who knows what will turn up.

Glad you are safely home Pat.

Papajohn It is good to hear that your back is improving daily.

Iain, the KJV is my preferred version of the Bible, however I do have several others. This year I happen to be reading through the Message but all my Bible Study is done in the KJV. If something is unclear I go look at the others for a better understanding.

Be Back Later

In my journey in the car today, I had time to sing a lot and here's one that seemed to be on the tip of my tongue most...

Hello, everyone!  I am back home, now will have to go back and read four days' worth of posts!  I hope all of you are well and happy.  It has been raining and raining around here, and unusually cool for June!  Talk to you later!

What Etta Sue was saying about needing her mini-vacation is, she is glad to get away from me for a couple days!   She said she wouldn't be on line from her nieces because her niece changed her ISP and Etta Sue wasn't sure how it worked.

Pat ~ Great Devotional!

Iain ~ I enjoyed your story also!

Well, With Etta Sue out of town, I had the opportunity to work around my own home today. The weather has kept me from mowing here for a few days longer than I like to let it grow , but I have been able to help Etta Sue keep hers mowed  ;)and I mowed mine today and trimmed around the shop and my mobile home. I had some 2x4's that I had salvaged from glass pallets and they had to be cleaned(Nails pulled and added pieces of 2x4's removed) . I need them for my wall I am building between the shop and my storage area. I had a lot of boxed stuff in my way and had some of my materials stacked against the back of the storage area so I had to rearrange all that before I started cleaning the 2x4's. As anyone that has read my posts in srnet, they know that I am one who believes in saving all I can instead of throwing away and buying new. All is well that ends well.....

I am praying for each of you to have a blissful sleep and pleasant dreams tonight! God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome Home, Janet!
Hi Jerry!  

Welcome, Caroleen!

You did just great in posting this message.  It's so nice to get to know our members!

When you post a message, if you click on "Notify", you'll get a little email reminder that someone has posted after you and that way, you'll find your way around our little forums easier.

Are you anywhere near to Danville, VA?  We stayed there for 10 days when Jack went down to receive a diploma from Liberty University and its so nice down there.

Grandchildren will come!  

I attended a "Grandparents' Day Party" at one of my grandson's schools today.  It was tremendous!

Welcome back home Janet

                         

We are so glat to see you Caroleen.

So you want to hear about embarassing moments?  See if you can top this!  

Gene had asked a friend and fellow legionnaire, Don Odel, to be best man at our wedding.  Don's wife and mother were both active memers of my Legion Auxiliary unit and good friends, also.  Gene knew Don and his wife, Tec, very well, but so far as I knew had never met Don's mother, Margaret.

About a week before our wedding we were at the Legion hall, as were a good number of our friends, many of whom happened to be sitting together at a long table.  I spotted Margaret in the group and asked Gene if he'd like to meet her - of course he agreed.  So as we started across the room I kept reviewing in my mind the proper way to make the introductions - present younger person to older person, present man to woman...  I motioned to Margaret to come around the table and when she did, just as all conversation happened to come to a screeching halt, I very firmly and clearly announced, "Margaret, this is Don Odell."  She simply, very quietly, replied, "No he's not." and the entire room erupted into gales of laughter.

Oh, Jeanne!  That IS a very embarrassing moment!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

This just came in my email. It is so funny.

On the first day God created the cow.  God said,
"You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer.  I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years.  Let me have twenty years and I'll give back the other forty."

And God agreed.

On the second day, God created the dog.  God said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past.
I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's too long to be barking.
Give me ten years and I'll give back the other ten."

So God agreed (sigh).

On the third day God created the monkey.  God said, "Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh.  I'll give you a twenty year life span."

Monkey said, "How boring, monkey tricks for twenty years?  I don't think so.  Dog gave you back ten, so that's what I'll do too, okay?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day God created man.  God said, "Eat, sleep, play, enjoy.  Do nothing, just enjoy, enjoy.  I'll give you twenty years."

Man said, "What?  Only twenty years?  No way man.
Tell you what, I'll take my twenty, and the forty cow gave back, and the ten dog gave back and the ten monkey gave back.  That makes eighty, okay?"

Said God, "You've got a deal."

So that is why for the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, enjoy, and do nothing.  For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.  For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain our grandchildren.  And for the last ten years we sit in front of the house and bark at everybody.

Life has now been explained.

Thanks for the nice welcome home, Pat and Marilyn!  Maybe I should go away more often!  

Sonja, I wish I could see Chandraya and you both dance, I know I would just love it!  You're such a joy and a blessing here on CP.  Hugs to you, dear one, and thanks for noticing I have been away!

I have finally managed to catch up on NEM, but still have some photos to check out.  I'm really tired, though, so I'm going to bed and tomorrow is a new day (or will be!)

Goodnight, all!