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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Devotional - A Look at the Book #649


by Jesse Abel


Meditate on this!
Imagine having something you’ve enjoyed all of your life, only to find that a major portion of it has been stolen from birth! Jesus is the only one who can restore or rebirth that which was taken by the thief. Why? Jesus is the only One who laid down His life and picked it up again for you… this is the Abundant Life to us who believe. John 10:7-18
Now what about yesterday… why was the email late. My answer is: I don’t know! I did hit the send button at 7:30AM and even watched the necessary functions and felt assured that all was normal. But as you well know I resent about 5:30PM. I wanted to say something about the many ways of manipulating people these days. For example; if you are out to purchase a vehicle you will be taken advantage of by “honest John’s” dishonest training. Or, if you plan on making a change from cable to satellite television, phone or internet services you need to be very careful. Those who you deal with to acquire changes which you desire for the better are shrewd; they are trained to exact from you every penny of what they learn from your mouth. Key phrases used; do you still have a loan on your trade-in?” Your answer, “no”, the next question, “Great, how much was your monthly payment when you had the loan?” The ticket price is not the bottom line, but what you can afford to pay out on a monthly basis. If you answer the question the salesperson knows how much you can afford, monthly. On the other side of the coin; “how much are you currently paying for your internet, telephone and cable? Again, it is not what the monthly cost should be, but what you can afford each month to pay. If you tell them they will offer you a packaged “bundle” that is just a bit cheaper and good only for twelve months. Proverbs 22:1-7. Good stewardship in all areas of life means that you will not be a slave to worldly greed.

James
James 1:17 – I do not know of anyone who does not wish to receive a gift, even though someone may play down getting a gift, when one is received you will see them light up. Now there are different reasons why people shun the idea of having a gift. We have no time to get into these, but what we do have time for is that when a gift is received by anyone… it is most always conceived of as good. Yet in the good; the world around us produces material gifts that are not perfect since there is with the gift in many cases a shifting shadow or a variation of mystery.

Does this carry over into our faith in God? Most certainly it does so faith is the foundation of things (gifts) hoped for and faith is the confidence needed (Hebrews 11:1) when the object is not seen. Worldly gifts are seen with the eye, touched with the hand and realized by our other avenues of perception. In other words we see the limits of material gifts. So to take the next step in the gifts that God provides to each of His children is to understand that God is not limited.

James 1:18 – For example; by His own will He brought us out of the domain of darkness and placed us into the Kingdom of Light; the Father of lights (my little light will shine). By His Word of truth, of which we responded too when we heard of the good news, (Acts 4:10-12). There is no variation in the gospel of Jesus Christ; there is only one message. Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves! Thus we are; along with everyone who believe… the first fruits! In the Spirit we produce the aroma of fresh fruit. Ephesians 5:1-2.

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