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Our Prayer; God’s Will

November 30, 2012 — by Dave Branon

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I pleaded with the Lord three times that [a thorn in the flesh] might depart from me. —2 Corinthians 12:8

Bible in a Year:
2 Corinthians 10-13

The handwritten prayer request was heartbreaking in its seeming impossibility: “Please pray—I have multiple sclerosis, weak muscles, trouble swallowing, increased pain, diminishing sight.” The woman’s body was breaking down, and I could sense despair in her plea for intercession.

But then came the hope—the strength that trumps the physical damage and degradation: “I know our blessed Savior is in full control. His will is of utmost importance to me.”

This person may have needed my prayers, but I needed something she had: unabated confidence in God. She seemed to present a perfect portrait of the truth God taught Paul when he asked for relief from his difficulty—what he called his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). His quest for relief turned out to be not just a seeming impossibility; his request was turned down flat by his heavenly Father. Paul’s continual struggle, which was clearly God’s will, was a valuable lesson: Through his weakness, God’s grace could be displayed and God’s strength was “made perfect” (v.9).

As we pour out our hearts to God, let’s be even more concerned with seeking His will than we are with receiving the answer we want. That’s where the grace and the strength come from.

Dear heavenly Father, I bring to You my petitions,
but I give to You my heart. While I plead for You to
answer my prayers, I also submit to Your will so that
my heart may be strengthened and Your work be done.

We pray not to obtain our will in heaven,
but to effect God’s will on earth.

Classics: Streams in the Desert

	In God, Not Out of Trouble by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
	"And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest" (Jer. 45:5). A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life "for a prey." It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times. What is the meaning of "a life for a prey"? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure: Paul's healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul's Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious. --Days of Heaven upon Earth We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are, held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt. For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant's last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, "no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God." They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.

Classics: Joy and Strength

 

	God is on Our Side by Mary Wilder Tileston
	Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed; with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles.  2 CHRONICLES 32:7,8WE fling aside the weight and sin, Resolved the victory to win; No shrinking from the desperate fight, No thought of yielding or of flight; With the brave heart and steady eye, We onward march to victory. HORATIUS BONAR IF you, your heart, your will, are enlisted on the good side, if you are wishing and trying that the good in you should conquer the bad, then you are on the side of God Himself, and God is on your side; and "if God be for us, who shall be against us?" Take courage, then. If thou dislikest thy sins, so does God. If thou art fighting against thy worst feelings, so is God. On thy side is God who made all, and Christ who died for all, and the Holy Spirit who alone gives wisdom purity, nobleness. How canst thou fail when He is on thy side? On thy side are all spirits of just men made perfect, all wise and good souls in earth and heaven, all good and wholesome influences, whether of nature or of grace, of matter or of mind. How canst thou fail if they are on thy side? CHARLES KINGSLEY

Classics: Morning and Evening

 

	New Songs by Charles Haddon Spurgeon
	"O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."-- Psalm 107:8 If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies--common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise Him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank Him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise Him, in fact, for everything which we receive from His bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts towards His chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ--our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye heritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Let the new month begin with new songs.

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Today's Devotions Morning November 30 Isaiah 40:25-27 (NIV) 25"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. 26Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. 27Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? What will you compare God to? What or who has always been? Who is unchanging throughout eternity? How ridiculous to think we could make some image of our infinite Creator! How arrogant to think that we could give Him advice or suggest a better way than that which He has chosen! Look at the stars on a clear night sky. You know you can only see a small fraction of them, and yet, God has each one set just where he would place it. It is there at His command and exists for His purposes. Each one has a name given it by its Creator, just as He intimately knows each of the billions of people on earth. None can hide or go unnoticed. We have a hard time remembering all the names of our few friends. When you contemplate God, do not compare Him with finite and error prone men. Considering His greatness, considering His omniscience, dare we complain that God is not acting on our behalf? Do we think that somehow our case slipped by Him? Do we really believe He isn't concerned? He knows every detail. He knows a million details about your situation that you are not aware of. Trust Him. He will one day help you see why things happened as they did. The one who places their trust in God will never be disappointed. He is the Holy One. He makes no mistakes. Meditation: The Eternal One knows what I need and can bring into my life anything He deems necessary. Evening November 30 James 4:13-15 (NIV) 13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." In the first century, there were more Jews living outside of Israel than inside its boundaries. God gifted them with a good sense of business. Cities that were being founded in remote areas would offer incentives to begin a business there. It gave Jews an opportunity to make large sums of money. The expression in the passage was quite common. In our world, it is just as common. A business idea captures our imagination. Things start to fall into place, and before you know it, we are boasting about the great success we are about to experience. Our heart becomes enthralled with what we expect to take place. James is warning us that life is transitory. Our vision needs to be fixed on the eternal. If God wills, we may have financial success, but we must always keep it in balance with the fact that it is temporary. When we keep our eyes on heaven, the business of this world cannot steal our hearts from what is truly important. Consider: Watch a bit of steam from your kettle as it dissipates. That is a picture of the passing of our life. What affect should that have on my attitude toward worldly things like business? If the Lord wills, I will still be living in this realm tomorrow. If He wills, I will leave it all behind and be at home with Him. Spurgeon's Morning by Morning November 30 Click Here to Read the Evening Devotional "And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." --2 Chronicles 25:9 A very important question this seemed to be to the king of Judah, and possibly it is of even more weight with the tried and tempted O Christian. To lose money is at no times pleasant, and when principle involves it, the flesh is not always ready to make the sacrifice. "Why lose that which may be so usefully employed? May not the truth itself be bought too dear? What shall we do without it? Remember the children, and our small income!" All these things and a thousand more would tempt the Christian to put forth his hand to unrighteous gain, or stay himself from carrying out his conscientious convictions, when they involve serious loss. All men cannot view these matters in the light of faith; and even with the followers of Jesus, the doctrine of "we must live" has quite sufficient weight. The Lord is able to give thee much more than this is a very satisfactory answer to the anxious question. Our Father holds the purse-strings, and what we lose for His sake He can repay a thousand-fold. It is ours to obey His will, and we may rest assured that He will provide for us. The Lord will be no man's debtor at the last. Saints know that a grain of heart's-ease is of more value than a ton of gold. He who wraps a threadbare coat about a good conscience has gained a spiritual wealth far more desirable than any he has lost. God's smile and a dungeon are enough for a true heart; His frown and a palace would be hell to a gracious spirit. Let the worst come to the worst, let all the talents go, we have not lost our treasure, for that is above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Meanwhile, even now, the Lord maketh the meek to inherit the earth, and no good thing doth He withhold from them that walk uprightly. Spurgeon's Evening by Evening November 30 Click Here to Read the Morning Devotional "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels." --Revelation 12:7 War always will rage between the two great sovereignties until one or other be crushed. Peace between good and evil is an impossibility; the very pretence of it would, in fact, be the triumph of the powers of darkness. Michael will always fight; his holy soul is vexed with sin, and will not endure it. Jesus will always be the dragon's foe, and that not in a quiet sense, but actively, vigorously, with full determination to exterminate evil. All His servants, whether angels in heaven or messengers on earth, will and must fight; they are born to be warriors--at the cross they enter into covenant never to make truce with evil; they are a warlike company, firm in defence and fierce in attack. The duty of every soldier in the army of the Lord is daily, with all his heart, and soul, and strength, to fight against the dragon. The dragon and his angels will not decline the affray; they are incessant in their onslaughts, sparing no weapon, fair or foul. We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition: the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by the myrmidons of hell. The church may become slothful, but not so her great antagonist; his restless spirit never suffers the war to pause; he hates the woman's seed, and would fain devour the church if he could. The servants of Satan partake much of the old dragon's energy, and are usually an active race. War rages all around, and to dream of peace is dangerous and futile. Glory be to God, we know the end of the war. The great dragon shall be cast out and for ever destroyed, while Jesus and they who are with Him shall receive the crown. Let us sharpen our swords to-night, and pray the Holy Spirit to nerve our arms for the conflict. Never battle so important, never crown so glorious. Every man to his post, ye warriors of the cross, and may the Lord tread Satan under your feet shortly!

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Updates to Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (excerpted)

We are also proposing changes to our site governance process for future updates to our Data Use Policy and SRR. We deeply value the feedback we receive from you during our comment period but have found that the voting mechanism created a system that incentivized quantity of comments over the quality of them. So, we are proposing to end the voting component in order to promote a more meaningful environment for feedback.

Operation "Broken Arrow" (excerpted)

Let there be "no representation without taxation". Adopting that voting policy, along with the abolition of the NWO economic warfare of graduated "income tax" in favor of the equitable distribution of the tax burden by the frugality- and conservation-incentivizing policy of taxing individuals and corporations at a single, across-the-board-of-economic-classes, rate on their consumption of goods and services. That way, everybody who votes, from the corporate CEO to the derelict buying alcohol and cigarettes, will have an incentive to keep taxes as low, and the government as fiscally efficient, as possible.There are only bad reasons for opposing such a unifying tax policy, and they invariably originate with those who benefit from the current financial policy at the unjust expense and disenfranchisement of those who are oppressed under it.




"Conservative" talk-radio personality Dennis Miller, whether knowingly or not, is promoting the Cloward and Piven scheme for collapsing the American socio-economic system under "the weight of the poor". A caller to his radio show said that after the last Presidential Election, he and his wife were moving to interior Maine to sustain themselves outside the financial system as much as possible in order to contribute as little as possible to the tyrannically collectivized state economy. Dennis Miller advised him to apply for state entitlement benefits in order to "get back what has been taken from you" when you fall below a certain level of income.

Here is the underriding fallacy of the popular misconception of macro-economics:

The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward (1926–2001) and Frances Fox Piven (b. 1932) that called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a national system of "a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty".

The public is brainwashed to believe that poverty is a lack of money and jobs. Money is a means of exchange of goods and services between economic entities such as people, corporations, institutions or government. Jobs are 
economic arrangements whereby individuals are compensated with money or other benefits by people, corporations, institutions or government for the performance of certain behaviors which are delineated as a job description. Poverty is a lack of access to goods and services. One can have money and a job and have still have poverty or a lack of access to goods and services. A part time minimum wage working person can fall under this category. One can have neither money nor a job and have access to more goods and services than they can possibly use. The child of a wealthy family can fall under this category.

Money and jobs are not what made the United States of America wealthy. It was innovations and inventions that increased the capacity for the production and distribution of goods and services that made America wealthy up to about the early 1970's. The supply of money and jobs was a consequence of this increased capacity and not the cause of it. It was a glut of massive national public and private indebtedness facilitated by a fraudulent national currency that maintained the illusion of American wealth and power over the last four decades or so, while the actual wealth, the capacity for production of goods, has been transferred elsewhere. The true poverty of America is becoming and will become more apparent when those who have the capacity to produce goods no longer accept our fraudulent debt instruments, especially our currency, in exchange for those goods.The Nixon/ Kissinger opening of trade with the collectivist/slave economy of the "People's Republic" of China was a cynical ploy to ensure this catastrophic outcome for the American People. Nixon. The "conservative" president. 

The reason "Operation Broken Arrow" is a First Amendment Petition and not a political movement is because the American Public, whether red or blue, are brainwashed by the government/ media hyperstate to believe that anything short of a total overhaul of the entire system, STARTING WITH THE CURRENCY, will permit even the POSSIBILITY of the liberties that the Constitutional Bill of Rights was ratified to protect. This is also the reason I describe the "Tea Party" as the "Taking Evasive Action Party". The 2010 midterm elections were simply a dose of Lunesta and a lullaby to put the public back into its zombie-like stupor.

Poverty Comes by Charles Haddon Spurgeon
	"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."--Proverbs 24:33, 34 The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very proper one. Yet by these littles the day ebbs out, and the time for labour is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns. It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no intention to delay for years--a few months will bring he more convenient season--to-morrow if you will, they will attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like ands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall want even a drop of water, and beg for it in vain. Like a traveller steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is on his master's business and must not tarry. As an armed man enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men were wise be-times, and would seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected. As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them this night.

MORE GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED MEANS LESS POVERTY. LESS GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED MEANS MORE POVERTY. MORE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE OF GOODS AND SERVICES MEANS MORE POVERTY. LESS CONSUMPTION AND WASTE OF GOODS AND SERVICES MEANS LESS POVERTY.

Here are some things that contribute to real world poverty:

#1 Fiat currency. Empowers economic entities such as the federal government and central banks to access goods and services without requiring them to contribute to the production and distribution of them. While money serves an indispensable function in facilitating exchange, fiat money corrupts the process by the power it affords those that issue it.MORE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE OF GOODS AND SERVICES MEANS MORE POVERTY.
#2 Public Entitlements: Empowers beneficiaries of state programs (Social Security, Medicaid/ Medicare, Food Stamps, what have you...)  to access goods and services without requiring them to contribute to the production and distribution of them. When the government represents the electorate, unearned government payments to the electorate are morally indistinguishable from bribes.The truly insidious part of this is that it is bribing the electorate with its own indebtedness. NOBODY BUT NOBODY is proposing ending government bribery of the electorate. Except "Operation Broken Arrow", that is. MORE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE OF GOODS AND SERVICES MEANS MORE POVERTY.
#3 Excessive restriction of agriculture and manufacturing for indirect causes such as "climate change" or "endangered species". The key word here is "excessive". Designating existing agricultural property as "wetlands" or designating carbon dioxide as a "pollutant" are examples of EXCESSIVE restrictions.LESS GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED MEANS MORE POVERTY. MORE GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED MEANS LESS POVERTY.
#4 Excessive collectivized retirement benefits,specifically public sector and labor union retirees. Empowers non-productive individuals to access a disproportionate share in the output of the nation or corporation obligated to distribute retirement benefits. Due to the perpetual nature of such benefits, beneficiaries have no incentive to limit consumption of benefits such as healthcare or financial expenditures. MORE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE OF GOODS AND SERVICES MEANS MORE POVERTY.
#5 Restriction of innovations in the ways and means of production and distribution of goods and services in order to perpetuate obsolete "jobs". LESS GOODS AND SERVICES PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED MEANS MORE POVERTY.

You get the idea.

The most effective way to motivate the population to participate in the production and distribution of goods and services and to avoid consumption and waste of goods and services is to make the benefits and consequences of their behavior affect them as directly as possible. Free private enterprise with the state acting as an impartial referee instead of as a self-interested and impossibly overbearing participant in the economy is the most effective way to create such an environment. "Operation Broken Arrow" is the most direct path that I can think of to achieve that outcome. 

"Conservative" talk-radio personality Glenn Beck  has appeared (as has Rabbi Daniel Lapin) on Life Today with James and Betty Robison to high praise from James as a "leader" raised up by God because evangelical Christian "leaders" have failed to raise the alarm about the course that America is on. Glenn Beck has interpreted the following quote by George Washington as meaning we can repair the system as one might repair a vacuum cleaner or automobile:
George Washington Quotes

14 May, 1787, Speech at Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia.

It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.

The actual meaning of Washington's quote is more clearly explained here:
http://pathwayinthesea.blogspot.com/2011/10/as-human-beings-can-dictate-means-but_01.html

It is a solemn warning against the perils associated with empowering the state towards the end of creating socio-economic security for the public. He subscribed to the Biblical prescription of fearing God, departing from evil and relying on God for socio-economic security.(The event is in the hand of God.)

 "Operation Broken Arrow" is a true call for the wise and HONEST to repair to the standard raised at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1789.

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Not Abandoned

November 20, 2012 — by Marvin Williams

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? —Psalm 13:1

Bible in a Year:
Romans 5-8

As Karissa Smith was browsing in a local library with her babbling 4-month-old daughter, an older man rudely told her to quiet her baby or he would. Smith responded, “I am very sorry for whatever in your life caused you to be so disturbed by a happy baby, but I willnot tell my baby to shut up, and I will not let you do so either.” The man put his head down and apologized, and told her the story of how his son died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome over 50 years ago. He had repressed his grief and anger all those years.

In Psalm 13, David expressed his grief. He addressed God with raw and honest language: “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” (v.1). These questions reflected fears of abandonment. David’s language of distress gave way to a plea for help and reaffirmation of his faith in God’s love for him (vv.3-6). Confidence and firm resolve came alongside the cry of distress.

We all go through dark nights of the soul when we wonder if God has abandoned us. As with David, our aching can give way to joy when we approach God honestly, plead for help, and reaffirm our trust in a God whose love for us will never waver or change.

Christ is the answer to heartache,
Christ is the answer to pain;
Though by all others forsaken,
He at your side will remain. —Elwell

God will never leave us nor forsake us.

MorningEvening.com Spurgeon's Morning by Morning November 20 Click Here to Read the Evening Devotional "0 Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul." --Lamentations 3:58 Observe how positively the prophet speaks. He doth not say, "I hope, I trust, I sometimes think, that God hath pleaded the causes of my soul"; but he speaks of it as a matter of fact not to be disputed. "Thou hastpleaded the causes of my soul." Let us, by the aid of the gracious Comforter, shake off those doubts and fears which so much mar our peace and comfort. Be this our prayer, that we may have done with the harsh croaking voice of surmise and suspicion, and may be able to speak with the clear, melodious voice of full assurance. Notice howgratefully the prophet speaks, ascribing all the glory to God alone! You perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own pleadings. He doth not ascribe his deliverance in any measure to any man, much less to his own merit; but it is "thou"--"O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life." A grateful spirit should ever be cultivated by the Christian; and especially after deliverances we should prepare a song for our God. Earth should be a temple filled with the songs of grateful saints, and every day should be a censor smoking with the sweet incense of thanksgiving. How joyfulJeremiah seems to be while he records the Lord's mercy. How triumphantly he lifts up the strain! He has been in the low dungeon, and is even now no other than the weeping prophet; and yet in the very book which is called "Lamentations," clear as the song of Miriam when she dashed her fingers against the tabor, shrill as the note of Deborah when she met Barak with shouts of victory, we hear the voice of Jeremy going up to heaven--"Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life." O children of God, seek after a vital experience of the Lord's lovingkindness, and when you have it, speak positively of it; sing gratefully; shout triumphantly.

Classics: Joy and Strength

	Accept Our Daily Bread by Mary Wilder Tileston
	I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. --PHILIPPIANS 4:11 (R. V.) FORGIVE us, Lord, our little faith;  And help us all, from morn till e'en, Still to believe that lot the best Which is,--not that which might have been. --GEORGE ZABRISKIE GRAY THOU givest within and without precisely what the soul needs for its advancement in a life of faith and self-renunciation. I have then only to receive this bread, and to accept, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, whatever Thou shalt ordain, of bitterness in my external circumstances, or within my heart. For whatever happens to me each day is my daily bread, provided I do not refuse to take it from Thy hand, and to feed upon it. --FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FENELON Judge that only necessary which God, in His eternal wisdom and love, proportions out unto us. And when thou comest hither, thou wilt come to thy rest; and as thou abidest here, thou wilt abide in thy soul's true rest, and know the preciousness of that lesson, and of whom thou art to learn it, even, in every state to be content. --ISAAC PENINGTON

Our Daily Bread

In The Face Of Fear

November 10, 2012 — by Joe Stowell

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Matthew 14:22-33

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” —Matthew 14:27

Bible in a Year:
Acts 6-9

I’ll never forget my childhood fear that the clothes thrown on my chair would turn into a shadowy dragon-like figure after my bedroom lights were turned off. My early experience of fear-driven insomnia reminds me that when trouble arrives on the doorstep of life, fear is not our friend. It disables us from moving forward and causes us to shrink from doing what is right—unless we have our eyes fixed on Jesus.

When the disciples faced the raging seas that were threatening to sweep them overboard, Jesus, walking on the water, assured them, “It is I; do not be afraid” (Matt. 14:27). And to His followers who were fearfully locked away in a room after His crucifixion, Jesus appeared and asked, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38). Recognizing the inevitability of trials, He said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The point is clear. Trusting in His presence and power is the antidote to fear.

As the familiar hymn says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” We can rest peacefully in the knowledge that God is with us.

Lord, in our weak and fearful moments, remind
us that Your love for us guarantees Your
presence with us and Your power against
our fears. Teach us to trust in You.

Trust the presence and power of Jesus
in the midst of life’s storms.

Classics: Morning and Evening

	He Ordains the Best by Charles Haddon Spurgeon
	"He shall choose our inheritance for us." --Psalm 47:4Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer would be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep to the deep channel." So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love! "Trials must and will befall-- But with humble faith to see Love inscribed upon them all; This is happiness to me."

 

	Faith Triumphs by Mrs. Charles Cowman
	"Under hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed" (Rom. 4:18). (Weymouth)Abraham's faith seemed to be in a thorough correspondence with the power and constant faithfulness of Jehovah. In the outward circumstances in which he was placed, he had not the greatest cause to expect the fulfillment of the promise. Yet he believed the Word of the Lord, and looked forward to the time when his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude. O my soul, thou hast not one single promise only, like Abraham, but a thousand promises, and many patterns of faithful believers before thee: it behooves thee, therefore, to rely with confidence upon the Word of God. And though He delayeth His help, and the evil seemeth to grow worse and worse, be not weak, but rather strong, and rejoice, since the most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it. He commonly brings His help in our greatest extremity, that His finger may plainly appear in our deliverance. And this method He chooses that we may not trust upon anything that we see or feel, as we are always apt to do, but only upon His bare Word, which we may depend upon in every state. --C. H. Von Bogatzky Remember it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith; as long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily as where natural prospects fail. --George Mueller