A Devotional Look at the Book #534

A Devotional Look at the Book #534

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

Remember the nickel on the nightstand? The pathway of sin for every child was laid by the first Adam who failed, as in Adam all die. The pathway for Righteousness is paved by the Blood; those of us who believe this truth know that Jesus saves! 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

A DAY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE

What do you think about the tribes of people who live in the jungles of the world; or better yet do you think about them at all? I know that for me, I sometimes feel that I have my own jungles to deal with… you do know what I mean don’t you? Those moments when you think that you’ve raised a family of barbarians; or that you find that you enjoy a bit of spear chucking, too! Of course; if you have had the opportunity to watch that television series of the past called, “Monk” you know that it is a “jungle out there” as he would often say. What is the point of all this useless jargon; Jesse? The natives of any and all jungles have souls… Here is an excerpt from NTM@work (08/11) about a man by the name of Bapeke of the tribe of Mibu in Paraguay. “Before I used to go to the clan house and practice our customs. But I have discarded it all, and now have joined myself to the Word of God. This message is the only way and you should believe it. Listen to the message and decide for yourself.” Now I ask you; does this message have a familiar ring to it? Please take the moment and read Philippians 3:1-11. Bapeke said that he has joined himself to the Word of God; this actually makes my heart sing praise to God and say… here is a man who lives thousands of miles from me, yet through his love for the Living Word and the power of God he is able to bless our souls with this solid testimony. Do you have a testimony as solid as that of Bapeke?

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:5-6 – I suppose that biblical suffering and consolation are two sides of one coin that none of us fully understand. All of us suffer and too all of us are consoled; yet suffering for many is a private matter. What I mean is that while I stand face to face with you and talk over various things; my heart can ache with suffering and you will not know it. Yet others will always let you know that they are suffering over something in order to be consoled.

So on the one hand, we listeners may be in the position to console but the person suffering does not reveal his or her need. Then on the other hand the person relates a need for consolation and we seem unprepared. What do we do in both cases? We often know if a person is suffering over a matter so this means that we should always be prepared. I believe that this is the area of failure for most of us, being prepared; but notice Colossians 4:2-6

The speech of grace is the language of the Living Word of God; we learn this language through the sufferings of Christ and the consolations of Christ as He lives and abounds in us. Our ability to understand suffering and consoling others is through the grace of God as the grace of Christ abounds through us. We are citizens of the kingdom of the grace of God and as citizens we should be fluent in our communication.