June 22, 2009
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (emphasis added).


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June 20th


"For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." — Amos 9:9



Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask leave before he can lay a finger upon Job. Nay, more, in some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven, for the text says, "I will sift the house of Israel." Satan,...

It has been said that more have been killed by food than by poison. The second best can often be the worst enemy of the best.

That is what Jesus was talking about in the Parable of the Sower when He said, "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (Luke 8:14 NKJV).

This is someone who appears to have made a decision for Christ and seems...

BIBLE MEDITATION:
John 14:18 - "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
The late, great Christian psychiatrist from Switzerland, Dr. Paul Tournier, wrote that loneliness is the most devastating malady of this age. What is loneliness? Many confuse it with being alone. But you can be alone and not lonely. Your loneliness does not have to overwhelm you. After all is said and done, truly your only solace is found in Jesus. Why? Because...

June 18th

Evening Reading


"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse." — Song 5:1


The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with His precious blood, and He enters it and claims it as His own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger....