Choose Whom You Will Serve

Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

We have a choice every day, every hour, and every minute how we will react to life. Lori Snyder Sloan gave me her family devotion book. Such a wise lady she is. In this book I came upon these actions. Choose today the ones which will allow God to use you to minister to others:

Choose to love—rather than hate             

Choose to smile—rather than frown

Choose to build—rather than destroy         

Choose to persevere—rather than quit

Choose to praise—rather than gossip         

Choose to heal—rather than wound

Choose to give—rather than grasp.            

Choose to act—rather than delay

Choose to pray—rather than despair          

Choose to forgive—rather than curse

(author unknown)

Prayer: Help me Lord to choose the first option in each choice above when I react to how life presents itself to me. Help me to keep a loving smile available for others. Forgive me when I wound someone and don’t even realize it. Help me to make it right with that person. Open my eyes to see that each person is a child of our Almighty God. Lead me to follow the actions of Jesus who came here and died for me after showing the world how to love. Thank you for sending your son to save me. May I have the strength to serve you and teach about you. Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck

 

For I am the Lord who heals you

 

“I will sing to the Lord,

    for he is highly exalted.

The Lord is my strength and my defense:

    he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Your right hand, Lord,

    was majestic in power.

Your right hand, Lord,

    shattered the enemy.

Who among the gods

    is like you, Lord?

Who is like you—

    majestic in holiness,

awesome in glory,

    working wonders?

You stretch out your right hand,

    and the earth swallows your enemies.

In your unfailing love you will lead

    the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them

    to your holy dwelling.

The Lord reigns for ever and ever.” portions of Exodus 15

Unperfect Substance

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:16

Henry M. Morris, Ph. D states this about the Psalm noted here. “This is an amazing verse, testifying as it does to the omniscient fore-planning of our Creator for each human being. Each person has been separately planned by God before he or she was ever conceived; His eyes oversaw our ‘unperfect [not imperfect, but unfinished] substance’—that is, literally, our embryo—throughout its entire development. Not only all its ‘members’ but also all its ‘days’ (the literal implication of ‘in continuance’) had been ‘written’ in God’s book long ago.”

Prayer: O Dear Lord, how wonderful to know that you knew me from my very-small beginning. You knew what my life would be. Help me to understand that every embryo is precious to you. Amen. 

Sandra Hilsabeck

Hope in the Lord

 

 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

    for his compassions never fail.

  They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

  I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

    therefore I will wait for him.”

 

  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

    to the one who seeks him;

  it is good to wait quietly

    for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26

Psalm 42

 

As the deer pants for streams of water,

    so my soul pants for you, my God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

    When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food

    day and night,

while people say to me all day long,

    “Where is your God?”

These things I remember

    as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go to the house of God

    under the protection of the Mighty One

with shouts of joy and praise

    among the festive throng.

 

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

    Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

    for I will yet praise him,

    my Savior and my God.

 

My soul is downcast within me;

    therefore I will remember you

from the land of the Jordan,

    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep

    in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and breakers

    have swept over me.

 

By day the Lord directs his love,

    at night his song is with me—

    a prayer to the God of my life.

 

I say to God my Rock,

    “Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about mourning,

    oppressed by the enemy?”

My bones suffer mortal agony

    as my foes taunt me,

saying to me all day long,

    “Where is your God?”

 

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

    Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

    for I will yet praise him,

    my Savior and my God. Psalm 42

Running Flat

 

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

After working the closing shift, I was headed home on the highway. This highway is always busy, extremely, with only two lanes and lots of semi traffic. The highway is need of repair, and I felt it this night when I hit a huge pothole. I have running flat tires, so my goal was to get to the next town and not to have to stop on this highway in the dark. As you can see I ran it too far and beyond the expectations of the tire.  

Have you ever felt like your life was running on a flat? I have and I find it when I don’t take enough time to stop, pull over and pray. We sometimes just keep rolling along knowing we are running flat but if we can just make it to the next day we will be okay. There are always those potholes that are going to slow us down in life but we need to stop, pull over and pray. Life can be so much better if we just let God take charge; and He can handle anything we turn over to him.  We can run ourselves to just remnants if we are always trying to handle it by ourselves.

Prayer: Dear Father, please help us to STOP, PULL OVER and PRAY! We know you love us and want us to live life in your time, to live life in your vision. But we try to control and sustain ourselves without your assistance. Forgive us for our stubbornness. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Lori Hood

Words from Acts

 

“‘In the last days, God says,

    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

    your young men will see visions,

    your old men will dream dreams.

  Even on my servants, both men and women,

    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

    and they will prophesy.

  I will show wonders in the heavens above

    and signs on the earth below,

    blood and fire and billows of smoke.

  The sun will be turned to darkness

    and the moon to blood

    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

  And everyone who calls

    on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:17-21