<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="jas+1:1-18">James 1:1-18</span></span></p><p>The Bible is replete with instances of God's wisdom moving men and women through the most difficult times to the most wonderful ends. Take Abraham for example. Although he is known in Scripture as the "the friend of God," he was capable of some shabby behavior. On one occasion he actually compromised his wife's chastity  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+12:10-20">Genesis 12:10-20</span>), and later, submitting to her pressure, fathered a child by Hagar, their maid  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+16:1-16">Genesis 16:1-16</span>). Then, seeking to avoid Sarah's hysterical recriminations, he allowed her to drive Hagar away from their household  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ge+21:8-21">Genesis 21:8-21</span>). Clearly, Abraham was not a man of strong principle and there were great flaws in his character. But God in wisdom dealt with this man and brought him through some great trials until he was changed from a man of the world to a true man of God. The same wisdom which ordered the path Abraham trod orders our lives. We should never be taken aback when unexpected and upsetting things happen to us. We should recognize that no matter how hard the trial, God's power will be there to get us through, and God's wisdom will ensure that the trial will be worth more than it costs. I like the almost tongue-in-cheek way Jim Packer describes what may be God's design when He permits us to go through trials: "Perhaps he means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility, or meekness by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under specially difficult situations." "Some extra practice." Some of us, myself included, sorely need it.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, help me grasp this truth once and for all, that Your wisdom ensures the trials I go through are worth far more than they cost. You are more committed to making me like Jesus than I am myself. It hurts sometimes, but deep down I am grateful. 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="isa+48:1-10">Isaiah 48:1-10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+66:10">Psalm 66:10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="mal+3:3">Malachi 3:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+1:7">1 Peter 1:7</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 process is God's testing likened to?</li><li>What is the end result?</li></ul></div></div>

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds " (v. 2)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation: </span><span class="italic"><span class="scriptRef">1 Corinthians 9:15-27</span></span></p>
<p>We continue meditating on the idea that everything we do represents a goal. In fact, most of the frustration we experience in life comes from wrong goals and blocks to those goals. Let me illustrate. Cast your mind back to the last time you were angry. If you can identify your goal and what blocked your goal, then you have the clue to what produced your anger and frustration.</p>
<p>A man once asked me if I could explain what caused his deep-seated anger. It soon became apparent that his anger was due to a blocked goal. His goal in life was to make money. He reasoned: "If I can make plenty of money, then everyone will see that I am a successful and important person." When he encountered blocks to this goal, such as his wife's insistence that he cut down on the amount of time he was spending in his business, he would erupt in anger.</p>
<p>I pointed out that the way to deal with the anger was to establish a goal that no-one could block. And what was that? To please the Lord. He resisted that idea at first, but when he came to realize that his goal in life was unbiblical and that his anger resulted from others blocking his unbiblical goal, he made a new commitment to God and found happiness and release. From then on his goal was not to make money, but to please the Lord.</p>
<p>I has to point out that there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money - it is a legitimate human desire - but it must remain a desire and never become a goal.</p>
<p class="mlr40 mtb20"><strong>Prayer:</strong> O God my gracious Father, help me never to turn what can be a legitimate human desire into a life goal. Save me from pursuing unbiblical objectives, and guide me toward the truth which alone can make me free. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p>
<p class="mlr40 mtb20">&nbsp;</p>
<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around">
<div>
<div class="fs-17 fg-mustard"><strong>Additional Verses</strong></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0px;">
<li><span class="scriptRef">James 1:9-20</span></li>
<li><span class="scriptRef">Psalm 37:8</span></li>
<li><span class="scriptRef">Proverbs 14:17</span></li>
<li><span class="scriptRef">Proverbs 16:32</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div class="fs-17 fg-mustard"><strong>Questions to Consider</strong></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0px;">
<li>What does an impatient man do?</li>
<li>Who will 'take the city'?</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>

Run in Such A Way As To Get The Price -  1 Corinthians 9:15-27

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+149:1-9">Psalm 149:1-9</span></span></p><p>We come now to Christ's third prescription for happiness: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+5:5">Matthew 5:5</span>). How we have shied away from that word "meek". We have thought of meekness as weakness and thus have a totally wrong concept of what Jesus meant. The Amplified Bible translates it thus: "Blessed are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth." The dictionary defines "meek" as "humble, compliant and submissive". Does this mean that Jesus expects the children of the kingdom to be like subdued puppies who crawl into their master's presence and cower at his feet? Or to become the type of people who lack inner fortitude and gumption, who can be easily pushed around and manipulated? The truly meek person - in the Biblical sense of the word - is not timid, shy, hesitant and unassuming, but trusting, confident and secure. The root meaning of the word "meekness" is that of yieldedness or surrender - a characteristic without which no real progress can be made in the Christian life. What happens, for example, to the scientist who approaches the mysteries of the universe in a manner that is aggressive and belligerent? He discovers nothing. But what happens to the scientist who approaches the mysteries of the universe in a spirit of meekness? He finds its richest secrets unfolding themselves to him and he is able to harness the mighty forces around him to advantage. The Christian who approaches life in the same spirit - the spirit of meekness and submission - discovers the true meaning of his existence and the purpose of God in all his affairs. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious Father, help me to understand clearly the difference between meekness and weakness. And show me how to apply this principle in all I say and in all I do. This I ask in Christ's powerful and precious 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="jas+1:12-21">James 1:12-21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="zep+2:3">Zephaniah 2:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+5:22-23">Galatians 5:22-23</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:4">1 Peter 3:4</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 receive with meekness?</li><li>Does the Biblical definition of meekness fit you?</li></ul></div></div>

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation." (v. 4, AV)

<p>Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. § A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. § No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. § I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever.<br><br>Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.<br><br>For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.<br><br>Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 It is God who works in you. 

<p>Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth. § The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.<br><br>Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.<br><br>How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word … Your word has given me life … Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You … I will not forget Your word … I trust in Your word … The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver …  I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life … How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.</p>

Evening Daily Light

 The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 

<p>By the grace of God I am what I am. § Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth. § It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. § Where is boasting then? It is excluded. § Christ Jesus … became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption … “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”<br><br>You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. § You were washed … you were sanctified … you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.</p>

 Who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? 

<p>Understand what the will of the Lord is.<br><br>It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. This is the will of God, your sanctification. § That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. § Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth … Therefore lay aside all filthiness.<br><br>Be holy, for I am holy. § [ Jesus] said … , “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” § Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. § The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.</p>

 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">18 </sup>He chose to give us birth   through the word of truth,   that we might be a kind of firstfruits   of all he created. </span></p>

He chose to give us birth<cr>1</cr>  through the word of truth,<cr>2</cr>  that we might be a kind of firstfruits<cr>3</cr>  of all he created.

James 1:18

 18 He chose to give us birth   through the word of truth,   that we might be a kind of firstfruits   of all he created.

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

 He chose to give us birth  through the word of truth,  that we might be a kind of firstfruits  of all he created.

<p><span class="bible-text ">He chose to give us birth   through the word of truth,   that we might be a kind of firstfruits   of all he created. </span></p>

 He chose to give us birth   through the word of truth,   that we might be a kind of firstfruits   of all he created.

Bible Verse of the Day

January 28, 2019

James 1:18 NIV

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