<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:12-20">James 1:12-20</span></span></p><p>Yesterday we saw that the first step the psalmist took, the step which helped to save him from spiritual disaster, was most surprising. In the midst of overwhelming temptation, he says to himself: "If I give expression to my doubts and speak out of my envious, discouraged heart, I will put a stumbling-block in someone else's path - hence I will not say anything at all" (paraphrase mine). Now as we said yesterday, many people may find it difficult to accept this as the first step on the road to recovery - but it worked, nevertheless. Listen to what one commentator says about this first step: "Our reaction to the discovery of what his first step was in his process of recovery will be a very good test of our spiritual understanding." What does he mean? He means that if we fail to see that the steps of faith are sometimes very ordinary, then we are not as spiritual as we imagine. It's all right to have your head in the clouds, but make sure your feet are firmly planted on the earth! Keep in mind, then, that the thing which stopped the spiritual slide of the psalmist was very simple and ordinary - he made a decision not to say what was on the tip of his tongue. He stopped to think. Rather than spread his unbelief, he determined to keep his mouth shut; rather than threaten someone else's spiritual understanding, he resolved not to act on impulse. It might not have been a particularly high spiritual motive, but it was the thing that prevented him from falling. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious and loving Father, help me grasp this point that sometimes t he first step towards spiritual recovery is one that is simple, practical and ordinary. Save me from becoming so super-spiritual that I neglect the commonplace. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:8-15">1 Peter 3:8-15</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+13:3">Proverbs 13:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+21:23">Proverbs 21:23</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to do with our tongue?</li><li>How are we to give an answer?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

" Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry " (v. 19) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="de+30:1-20">Deuteronomy 30:1-20</span></span></p><p>We spend one last day meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. Some feel that the verses which follow this Beatitude (verses 11,12) constitute a ninth Beatitude, but really they are an amplification of what our Lord has been saying in verse 10. It must be pointed out in passing that more is said about this eighth Beatitude than is said about the others - a fact that surely underlines its supreme importance. The question we ask ourselves today is this: How does this eighth Beatitude contribute to good mental and spiritual health? It does so by encouraging us to stand up and be counted. The famous missionary doctor and scientist Dr Albert Schweitzer, when addressing a group of medical men in Africa many years ago, is reported to have said: "You cannot be healthy unless you stand for something - even at a cost." The person who unashamedly identifies with Christ and stands up for Him, knowing that their stand will produce, in one form or another, inevitable persecution experiences an inner release from fear that affects every part of the personality in the most positive way. The positive may be persecuted, but they are also the most productive - they survive when others fall by the way. So stop wearing out your nervous system. Cease using up precious energy trying to find ways to make it through this world. Follow God's blueprint as laid out in the eight Beatitudes and yours will be a life which, through the psychology of Jesus, will bring you maximum effectiveness with minimum weariness. Choose any other way and you will experience minimum effectiveness with maximum weariness. I choose life. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, I, too, choose life. Help me to absorb and assimilate Your attitudes until they become my attitudes. Then life will always have to be spelt with a capital "L". With Your help, dear Lord, I'm on my way to real living. Hallelujah!</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="phm+1:1-25">Philemon 1:1-25</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+3:1">Ephesians 3:1</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:15-16">1 Peter 3:15-16</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How did Paul view his imprisonment?</li><li>When were you last persecuted?</li></ul></div></div>

"' I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life '" (v. 19)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:13-22">1 Peter 3:13-22</span></span></p><p>As Christians we ought never to forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the understanding; it enables us to understand life. Because of the Bible, we are able to give a reason for the hope that is within us. The psalmist found the truth of this. In the sanctuary he discovered an explanation for the way that he felt. He was not given a temporary lift that would stay with him for a few hours or a few days - he was given a solution that would stay with him for the rest of his life. It was this, in fact, that caused him to write the psalm we are focusing upon day by day. The words: "Then I understood their final destiny"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73:17">Psalm 73:17</span>) suggest that previously he had not been thinking correctly. He had been seeing things from a partial and incomplete perspective, but now "in the sanctuary" he began to see the whole picture: "Then I understood". When? Then - when he came into the sanctuary. There is a line in one of Matthew Arnold's writings that goes like this: "Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole." What a delightful phrase this is. Nothing can be more wonderful than to see life steadily and to see it whole. Much of the inner turmoil we go through in life comes about because we do not see life as a whole. Prejudice has been defined as "seeing only what you want to see". People who are prejudiced say: "I have always seen it that way." That's their problem - their eyes are fixed on just one facet of an issue and they will not allow themselves to look at the other sides. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, help me, for I don't want to be in bondage to prejudice or bigotry - I want to see life whole. We must work this issue out together over these next few days, for apart from You I can do nothing. Help me, Father. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+5:1-20">Ephesians 5:1-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2ti+1:8">2 Timothy 1:8</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How are we to speak to ourselves?</li><li>What did Paul admonish Timothy?</li></ul></div></div>

" Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have " (v. 15) 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" </strong>(<a id="verse_1632880491706245" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Peter/3/15">1 Pet. 3:15</a>).</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">Many sincere believers are apt to put up an insincere front in order to "protect the Gospel," so as not to "let the Lord down." But He will increase, if we but decrease. There is nothing like being nothing!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"It is true that there is the hunger to be devoted, and to be like the Lord Jesus, long before one's acts and manner corroborate the hunger, and make it a fact; but the more the hungers which grace has generated in your heart are given a place, the sooner will they become experiential facts; and the more the Lord Jesus has His throne within you, the more you will rejoice in Him, and have no confidence in the flesh'" (<a id="verse_1632880491997905" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/3/3">Phil. 3:3</a>).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"I know so little of the Lord Jesus,' one may say, and this may be true; but every grace that is in Him is in every saint, though not developed. If I am a babe in Christ, where there is true lowliness of heart, I display God, as a babe manifesting Him; but if, as a babe, I am attempting to manifest Him as a man, there will be frustration and failure.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"My wisdom will be, not to set myself up above that which I really am. If walking in true lowliness and manifesting that measure of the Lord Jesus in which we have grown, there will be certain progress." -W.K.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Perhaps there is nothing so hard as not to appear anything but what you are. If you do so to your advantage, you will be some day found out, but if to your disadvantage, there is no doubt that He who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins will one day vindicate you."</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632880491794261" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/12/6">2 Cor. 12:6</a>).</p>

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Nothing But A Nothing 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">15 </sup>But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer   to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope   that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, </span></p>

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer<cr>1</cr>  to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope<cr>2</cr>  that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer   to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope   that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

<p><span class="bible-text ">But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer   to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope   that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, </span></p>

 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer   to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope   that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Bible Verse of the Day

November 24, 2021

1 Peter 3:15 NIV

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