Amy Boucher Pye- Brock and Dennis were childhood friends, but as they grew up, Brock showed little interest in Dennis' faith in Jesus. Dennis loved his friend and prayed for him because he knew the path he was going down was dark and depressing.
In praying for Brock, Dennis adapted the words of the prophet Ezekiel: "Please God, remove from Brock a heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh" (see Ezekiel 11:19) He longed that Brock would walk in God's way so he would flourish.
Ten years later, Dennis was still praying faithfully. Then he received a call from Brock: "I just gave my life to Jesus!" Dennis rejoiced, tears brimming, to hear his friend exclaim that he'd finally come to the end of himself and trusted God with his life.
In his prayers, Dennis focused on God's promises to His people through Ezekiel. Although they'd turned from God with detestable practices, He said He would change their hearts: "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (v. 20).
No matter how far we've turned from God, He delights to give us warm and loving hearts. We need only to turn to Him with faith and repentance as we trust in Jesus to save us from our sins.
Our prayer: "Loving God, thank You for releasing me from my sin and shame."
In Jesus' name we pray! Amen.
My weekly advice from the book, "We All Married IDIOTS, by Elaine W. Miller:
(p.75) "God is aware of what we need, what His Kingdom needs, and how He will orchestrate it all out for our good and His glory. We must learn to settle down, trust Him, be content, and let God work."
#115 Quote by- William Culbertson
"Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps. 119:11)
"The Word of God has great power in itself. Used effectively, it brings victory to the child of God. As a matter of fact, lodged in the heart of the believer, in it Our Lord said to His disciples, 'Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you' (John 15:3). The apostle Paul, led of the Holy Spirit, spoke of the church as having been 'cleansed . . . by the washing of water with the word' (Eph. 5:26).
If there is in our hearts any aspiration for holiness — If, implanted by the Holy Spirit, there is a deep desire for Christlikeness — then we can be absolutely sure that the Holy Spirit will lead us to make much of the Word of God. No one who has at his disposal the blessed Book of God and who neglects that Book can be a strong, holy Christian.
Surely it must have been this conviction which caused D. L. Moody to inscribe in the front of his Bible, "This Book will keep me from sin, or sin will keep me from this Book."
1626-1630 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted-
1626- Jer. 43:8a "Then came the word of the LORD."
1627- Is. 41:1b "Let the people renew their strength."
1628- Is. 17:13b "God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee."
1629- Song of Solomon 1:4c "The upright love thee."
1630- Ps. 144:15b "Happy are those people, whose God is the LORD."
#115 Hymn- He Leadeth Me
The information about this song, is taken from the book by Robert J. Morgan, THEN SINGS MY SOUL (p. 145)
Dr. Joseph H. Gilmore, son of a Governor of New Hampshire, gave this account of writing his famous hymn, "He Leadeth Me." "I was supplying for a couple of Sundays the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. At the midweek service, on the 26th of March, 1862 I set out to give the people an exposition of the Twenty-third Psalm, which I had given before on three or four occasions, but this time I did not get further than the words "He Leadeth Me.' those words took hold of me as they had never done before, and I saw in them a significance . . . of which I had never dreamed.
It was the darkest hour of the Civil War. . . I relized that God's leadership is the one significant fact in human experience, that it makes no difference how we are led, or whither we are led, so long as we are sure God is leading us.
At the close of the meeting, Deacon Watson, kept on talking about the thought I had emphasized; and then and there, on a blank page of the brief from which I had intended to speak I penciled the hymn, talking and writing at the same time, then handed it to my wife and thought no more about it.
She sent it to the Watchman and Reflector, a paper published in Boston, where it was first printed. I did not know until 1865 that my hymn had been set to music by William B Bradbure. I went to Rochester to preach as a candidate before the Second Baptist Church. Going into their chapel . . . I picked up a hymnal to see what they were singing, and opened it at my own hymn, "He Leadeth Me."
Encouraging words- by John Wesley
"The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness. 'We have not because we ask not.' Oh, how meek and gentle, how lowly in heart, how full of love both to God and to man, might you have been at this day, if you had only asked! If you had continued instant in prayer! Ask, that you may thoroughly experience and perfectly practice the whole of that religion which our Lord has so beautifully described in the Sermon on the Mount."
Church Notes:
Stand and be Counted!
The 30 men of David, came broken to him in the cave.
The Lord says to us, "Come as you are!"
We need to admit our brokenness to the Lord, for He is near!
In Jesus, we'll find rest and our purpose in life.
God sees the way we take. The trials are to test and strengthen us.
We sharpen one another, too!
We're refined and become like Jesus - we can reflect Him!
As people are added to our churches, the Kingdom is built.
What are we living for? What is our vision?
Are we ready to stand up and be counted?
Are we praying for the lost souls around us?
Let's listen to the Lord's directiions!
Upcoming posts:
12/13- THE GOSPEL ALPHABET- Ruth Graham
20th- GOD REALLY LOVES YOU- Kelly Balarie
27th- GUARDING OUR THOUGHTS- Nancy Gavilanes
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