The Apple of His Eye

The Apple of His Eye

WRITTEN BY: ADMIN - AUG• 30•13

Psalm 17:8 (ESV): “Keep me as the apple of your eye….”

Did you know that God smiles when He thinks of you? It’s true. You are His most prized possession. God thinks about you continuously. The Bible says that His thoughts about you are as numerous as the sands on the seashore (Psalm 139:17-18). Not only that, He keeps careful watch over you. He knows how many hairs on your head today, and He will know how many you are left with tomorrow (Luke 12:7)! There is no one like you that can fill His heart with joy, and there is no one like you that can cause His heart to ache. When you are sad, so is God. He sees every tear you cry and lovingly collects them (Psalm 56:8). God does not withhold anything good from you. There may be days when you think that God is not fair or that He is not good. This is not true. Remind yourself that the God that you serve is always looking out for your best interest. He sees the bigger picture, and He knows the end from the beginning. EVERYTHING He does, He does because of love. Trust the Lord. Take comfort in knowing that you are His child, the very apple of His eye!

Smile! You are loved today!

Perfect Point of View

Perfect Point of View – Dr. David Jeremiah

The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men....He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.
Psalm 33:13, 15

Recommended Reading Acts 17:22-31

A man in a plane flying above a town has a better perspective on the town than a man walking on the street. If you had to choose one of them to guide you, who would you choose?

We are like the man on the street, only seeing and understanding our immediate surroundings. God, like the man in the plane, sees more. He knows each detail of our lives. As the Creator of all, He understands each intricate person and piece of the world.

He has determined our times and dwelling places. Unlike an author or painter who steps back from their created work once it is finished, God desires a daily relationship with us. We have a choice. We can rely on our own instincts and wisdom or we can rely on God for direction. When we rely on our own point of view, we are certain to take wrong turns. When we rely on God, our footsteps are sure. Who will you trust today?

It is a glorious thing to know that your Father God makes no mistakes in directing or permitting that which crosses the path of your life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is our glory to trust Him, no matter what. 
Joni Eareckson Tada

P.S. We have been having email issues so I know theses devotions have been sporadic. I apologize but we are working on it.

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE:

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE: “...let your light shine before others....” Mt5:14-16 wp.me/p29yfQ-v1 #light #Christ #testify #devotion

..the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

..the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

James 1:17

Recommended Reading Psalm 46

If you're worried about anything at all today, let me introduce you to the subject of the immutability of God. What do we mean when we say something is "immutable"? It means it's not capable of mutating. In other words, it is not possible for it to change. If something is immutable, it is unchanging and unchangeable. What could that be? Nothing that is part of this world. Everything in the universe is subject to change. Certainly you and I are changing. Our children are changing. Our society is changing. And even the most durable elements of our natural world and in our universe are changing.

But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega. The Lord says, "I am who I am"(Exodus 3:19). Malachi 3:6 says, "I am the LORD, I do not change." In Christ we have a rock of stability. We have a Friend whose word will never go out of style. We have a Savior who is as dependable now as He was two thousand years ago.

In times of instability, focus on God's immutability.

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. 

Thomas O. Chisholm

Our Guardian

Our Guardian

Written By: admin - Aug• 28•13

Psalm 23:4 (ESV): “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
There is nowhere that you or I can go and be away from the Presence of God. Think about that for a moment. God is with us when we are in the green pastures and beside the still waters. He is with us when we are on the mountain tops and when we are in the valleys. And, God is with us during the darkest hours of our lives. Circumstances may seem bleak and fearful. The enemy may whisper haunting words to chill our spirits, but God is always with us. He is like a Guardian that goes before us and brings up the rear behind us. He encamps around His children (Psalm 34:7). We are protected by the covering of the Almighty. God tells us not be fearful and not to be dismayed, because He is our strength and our help, and He upholds us in His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
Rest easy…Christ is walking before you today!

Finish the Race

Finish the Race
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7

The other day I was flipping through videos of old Olympic events when I came across one you might be familiar with. It followed the 1992 men’s 400 meter track semi-final in Barcelona. The race started out like any other Olympic event. The runners took their mark, and at the sound of the starters pistol took off at lightning speed.

Halfway around the track though, a runner named Derek Redmond suddenly stumbled and fell. For several seconds he didn’t move. Then to the audience horror, Redmond got up and began to limp his way around the track. Instantly coaches and medics ran onto the field and tried to get Redmond off his feet, but the runner only pushed them off and kept going. Suddenly a man broke through security and came running to Redmond’s side, it was his father.

Taking his son by the hand, the older man held Redmond up as the two of them half walked; half stumbled their way across the finish line. Sometimes, there are things in this world that point more strongly to God than any Bible verse we can memorize, and I believe the story of Redmond and his father is one of them. Life is not a race we are going to win. At some point, whether because of this fallen world or our own sin nature, all of us will stumble and fall. Many people believe that these times of tragedy prove God either does not exist, or simply does not care what happens to us, but they are wrong.

True Christian grace is that in those moments of pain and defeat, God takes us by the hand, holds us up, and says, “Let’s finish together.”

Intersecting Faith and Life: Take ten minutes to pray, read scripture, or simply spend some time alone with our Heavenly Father.

Further Reading

Isaiah 40:31

Finding Confident Hope

Finding Confident Hope – James MacDonald

¹³Therefore, 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.¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” —1 Peter 1:13-16

It doesn’t take much to see that the whole world has gone crazy.

With all this insanity going on, what keeps our faith engaged? Exhorting us to endurance, the apostle Peter urged us to prepare our “minds for action, and being sober-minded, set (our) hope fully on the grace that will be brought to (us) at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

The energy to live the Christian life is found in one place—in our focused, conscious choice to put our hope in Jesus. Hope is the confident expectation that something better is coming tomorrow. As you look to the future:

Don’t set your hope on your physical health—set your hope on Jesus. “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Don’t set your hope on stuff—set your hope on Jesus“For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15).

Don’t set your hope on people—set your hope on Jesus.“Put not your trust in . . . man, in whom there is no salvation . . . Blessed is he whose . . . hope is in the LORD” (Psalms 146:3-5).

No leader, pastor, family, or spouse can be everything that we hope and dream they will be. People, places, positions always let us down. Only Jesus is worthy of all our hopes and all our confidence. Maybe you find yourself a little down today. Like Peter standing on the water, the moment you take your eyes off the Lord you start to sink (Matthew 14:22-23). Lift up your eyes, set your hope fully on Jesus.

Our confident expectation is in God, who sees, knows, and will ultimately turn an upside-down world right-side up at the appearing of our Lord. Every righteous decision will be rewarded. Every wrong choice will be judged. Every motive will be revealed.

Do you need energy to keep your faith engaged? Do you need to get refocused on the real solution? Do you need hope that will endure?

Set your hope fully on Jesus. —James MacDonald

Journal:

· How has my relationship with Jesus satisfied me in the past?

· How can I tell if my hope is in anything other than Jesus?

Prayer – Father, thank You for sending Your Son to be my hope. You knew that this world would never satisfy my longings, and so You sent Your precious Son to do that. Forgive me when I look to anything else for my hope, and thank You for the pain that reminds me when I have moved my hope into anything other than Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

 

Sid Stewart

Executive Director

864 226-6193

www.havenofrest.cc