April 19, 2019 Verse of the Day When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 NIV
You either control your mind or it controls you. Doing a thing right is always easier and more fun than doing it over. Why should we waste the best years of our lives earning money in order to enjoy a questionable freedom in the least valuable part. Thoreau. The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. They make themselves sick, that they might lay up something against a sick day. Their incessant anxiety and strain is a well-nigh incurable form of disease. It’s a fool’s life. Yet, it appears they honestly believe no choice is left. Thoreau No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What old people say you cannot do, you try and find you can. Thoreau. To maintain oneself on this earth is not a hardship, but a pastime, if one will live simply and wisely. Thoreau.
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” -Isaiah 53:5
“Guilty, helpless, lost were we; blameless Lamb of God was he, sacrificed to set us free: Hallelujah, what a Savior!” ~Philip Paul Bliss -Man of Sorrows http://www.if714.org/?p=24761
April 20, 2019 Verse of the Day for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
God’s Guidance Won’t Leave You Confused BY RICK WARREN — APRIL 13, 2019 1.7K “Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!” (Psalm 77:19 NLT). God can use impressions to speak to you. He can use circumstances. He can even use pain. He can use whatever he wants to use. Oswald Chambers said, “God is the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments.” The Bible says God actively works through our circumstances. And so we cannot judge our situation apart from God’s wisdom. In other words, we must leave it up to God to interpret our circumstances. Only he is capable of understanding all the facts, and only he sees the significance of every detail. That’s why it is so important that we test it all by his Word. If you feel overwhelmed or confused about a decision, you might be caught up in yourself and not God’s voice. The Bible says, “God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33 NIV). He is not the author of confusion. So if you’re feeling confused, guess what? It’s not God’s voice speaking in your life. So many times we come up against enormous financial, spiritual, or physical barriers. That’s when we need to confess, “God, there are mountains on either side and an impassable barrier in front of me.” And then we wait for God to respond: “I’ve got you exactly where I want you to be. Watch this.” God will make a pathway where there seems to be no way. Psalm 77:19 says, “Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!” (NLT). When you don’t know what to do, God will guide you. He didn’t design you to go through life on your own ingenuity and power. You don’t have to just hope you can figure things out. God wants to lead you on the right path, and he will when you surrender to him and his guidance.
The cost of a thing is the amount of life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately, or in the long run. Thoreau. When one has obtained those essentials necessary to well being; food, shelter, warmth and clothing, there is an alternative to struggling for the luxuries. That is to adventure on life itself, one’s vacation from humbler toil having commenced. Thoreau. Most men are needlessly poor all their lives, because they think they must inhabit a home (and car) like their neighbors. Thoreau. If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to lead the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they belong. Now, put the foundations under them. Thoreau. Every trip is divided into three delightful segments; the joy of getting ready, the adventure itself and finally, the pleasure of reminiscing. At a certain season of our lives, we’re accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house. The oftener you go there, the more it will please you if it is good. Thoreau
April 21, 2019 Verse of the Day Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 NIV
The world still has room for those who prefer the unimproved works of God to the “civilized” savagery of man made cities. The wilderness is not hostile. It is one of the friendliest places in the world if, instead of fighting it, you take advantage of what it freely offers. People are really strange. When hearing of someone in trouble, or ill, will usually say, “That’s too bad,” or, “Is someone helping?” They might better say, “Where is he? I’ll go help him.” We are more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our room. No exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another. Thoreau. There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of nature and still has his senses. Thoreau. We live thick and in each other’s way and stumble over one another. I think we thus lose some respect for one another. Thoreau.
April 22, 2019 Verse of the Day They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! Psalm 22:31 NIV
“Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory.” -Revelation 5:5 http://www.if714.org/?p=24681
Men frequently starve, not for want of necessaries, but for want of luxuries. Thoreau. It’s always best to avoid the beginnings of evil. People always prefer some things, but as for me I prefer freedom; and that includes freedom from debt. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Thoreau We need the tonic of wilderness; to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and meadow hen lurk, and hear the booming of snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with it’s belly close to the ground. We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the wilderness with it’s living and decaying trees, the thundercloud and the rain. Thoreau An inventor has to remember things that seemingly have nothing to do with each other and then put them together in a way that is totally surprising. All creative work is done that way. This is the essence of invention. Jacob Rabinow, holder of 230 patents.
April 23, 2019 Verse of the Day Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. Psalm 47:1
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again! Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! -Our hope of Glory! Our hope of Glory! - if714
There Is Only One Way to Be Free BY RICK WARREN — APRIL 15, 2019 1.6K “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9 NASB). You’ll encounter lots of doors in your life. You’ll find doors to happiness, doors to sadness, doors to success, and doors to failure. Some doors are traps, and others are opportunities. Your success in life largely depends on which doors you decide to walk through. The Bible has a lot to say about these doors. In fact, you’ll find the word door throughout the Bible, often used as a metaphor for opportunities. We often go through the wrong doors, or maybe we miss the right ones. But there’s one door you just can’t afford to miss: the door to freedom. Freedom is a big deal to God. He doesn’t want you enslaved to guilt, resentment, grief, or anything else. He wants you to live free. The biggest prisons in life aren’t physical. They’re the mental prisons in your mind. Maybe it’s a relationship you feel trapped in. Maybe it’s debt that you can’t escape. Maybe it’s a habit you can’t seem to shake. Maybe it’s a tradition that holds you back. Maybe it’s a painful memory you can’t forget. No matter what kind of prison you’re in, you need a way out. You can’t enter the doors of opportunity God has planned for you until you walk out of the prisons that hold you back and through the door to freedom. In John 10:9, Jesus says something really important about the door of freedom: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved” (NASB). Jesus doesn’t just want to show you the door to freedom. He is the door to that freedom. He is the only way to live free!
Many people are impervious to simple logic. It is useless to argue with them. If for some explicable or inexplicable reason they dislike a fact, they will not accept it. But regardless of how or what they think, the fact remains a fact. A bomb explodes just as hard if dropped from a balloon as from an airplane, but the mobile plane is infinitely more value as a fighting unit. We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way. General George S. Patton The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. General Norman Schwarzkopf Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you want. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all. General Dwight D. Eisenhower There is no substitute for victory. General Douglas MacArthur
April 24, 2019 Verse of the Day And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 NIV
