A Devotional Look at the Book #535

A Devotional Look at the Book #535

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

The nickel and the nightstand: For a child of five it is not the nickel that makes the thief, but what dwells in the heart, as in; “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it! Proverbs 22:6, removing the nickel is useless; we must guard the soul of our young; see verse 5.

A DAY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE

So let me ask you a question. Do you believe God’s talk? You say; “well just what is God’s talk that I might believe it? God’s talk is His Holy Bible and nothing more; I grew up a Catholic and I was taught that only church leaders were allowed to read the Holy Bible and that everyone else should not because of demons and other religious rhetoric. This religious rhetoric is common to all religious beliefs; from major church denominations to small villages in the jungles throughout the world. This should explain something too us; “Religion does not reveal true; “God Talk” for example; a little boy of four years of age was found wandering through a village in the Sepik Region of Papua, New Guinea. The adults asked him; “Aren’t you afraid that the spirits will eat you?” His reply! “No, my dad and mom told me that God’s talk tells us that this is not true. So our family does not believe that anymore.” And the boy walked confidently on his way. So while there are those who say that God’s Talk is mysterious, difficult and hard to believe. This little boy named Kinsli speaks volumes about our traditional beliefs being nothing more than religious rhetoric. Matthew 19:13-15 The kingdom of heaven rests in our hearts by FAITH, not FEAR. Reflections from page 6; NTM@work; volume 70 – No.1 August 2011.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:7 – The more I look into this section of suffering and consolation the more excited I become since this helps me see the bigger picture. Yesterday I connected suffering and consolation by saying these circumstances were like a coin; suffering on one side and consolation on the other. However a revision is necessary and here is why. If these circumstances were like a coin, one could only view one side at a time and while this sounds logical I do not feel it explains the suffering of Christ.

We are partakers of the suffering of Christ in that we have the “whole of Him” there is not one part of Christ’s suffering and another part of Christ’s consolation, we are partakers of the death (suffering) and His resurrection (consolation), so we are complete in Christ. When our brothers and sisters are partakers of suffering they are also partakers of consolation and their hope and ours in God is revealed in our mutual steadfastness of this truth.

Just to recap a bit over 2 Corinthians 1:3-7; suffering and consolation is only possible because of the mercies of God. God who suffered the loss of His Son for you and me is the Father of suffering. Raising Jesus His Son from the dead makes God; the Father of all consolation too. He allows us to be partakers of this wonderful truth in order that we can share among the fellowship of believers and know within our church family the JOY of the LORD which is our ongoing hope in suffering and consolation… 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 coming up!