<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="isa+51:1-16">Isaiah 51:1-16</span></span></p><p>We spend one last day meditating on Jesus' words: "Blessed [or happy] are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Facing negative feelings such as grief, sorrow, hurt and emotional pain is essential if we are to know our Lord's purpose for our lives. When we are willing to go down into the hurt and feel it, then something glorious and transformative happens - we experience the loving comfort and compassion of our Lord. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Comforted? By whom? By the Triune God. He comes alongside us in our pain, and through the comfort He pours into our beings, enables us to become more sensitive to Him, to ourselves, and to others. After a lifetime of dealing with people and their problems, I have no hesitation in saying that the happiest people on earth are those who have been hurt but have had those hurts healed through the power of Christ's transforming love. They are what someone has called "wounded healers". Having been healed themselves, they go out to heal others. Going down into the pain of hurt feelings is not a very pleasant journey, but coming back from it with the comfort of God in your soul is an experience that is positively exhilarating and enriching. You return, not only with a new sensitivity in your soul, but with a new potential for ministering to others. Remember this: great sorrow leads to great happiness - and without the sorrow, there can be no genuine happiness. This might sound to many like a contradiction in terms. It is not a contradiction, but a paradox - and a blessed one at that! </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, I take again this second prescription for happiness and ask that You will enable me to take the "medicine", not just today, but every day of my life. Then I will be whole - truly whole. In Jesus' Name I pray. 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="2co+1:1-7">2 Corinthians 1:1-7</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+86:17">Psalm 86:17</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="isa+12:1">Isaiah 12:1</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="isa+66:13">Isaiah 66:13</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 has God promised?</li><li>How are we to respond?</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

"I, even I, am he who comforts you '" (v. 12)

<p> In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month. </p>

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"On mine arm shall they trust." - Isaiah 51:5

Morning Devotional

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num poetry-line">5 </sup><poetry>My righteousness draws near speedily,<br/><indent>my salvation   is on the way,  </indent><br/><indent>and my arm   will bring justice to the nations.</indent><br/>The islands   will look to me<br/><indent>and wait in hope   for my arm.</indent><br/></poetry> </span></p>

My righteousness draws near speedily,<br/><indent>my salvation<cr>1</cr>  is on the way,<cr>2</cr> </indent><br/><indent>and my arm<cr>3</cr>  will bring justice to the nations.</indent><br/>The islands<cr>4</cr>  will look to me<br/><indent>and wait in hope<cr>5</cr>  for my arm.</indent><br/>

Isaiah 51:5

 5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation   is on the way,   and my arm   will bring justice to the nations. The islands   will look to me and wait in hope   for my arm. 

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

 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation  is on the way,  and my arm  will bring justice to the nations. The islands  will look to me and wait in hope  for my arm. 

<p><span class="bible-text "><poetry>My righteousness draws near speedily,<br/><indent>my salvation   is on the way,  </indent><br/><indent>and my arm   will bring justice to the nations.</indent><br/>The islands   will look to me<br/><indent>and wait in hope   for my arm.</indent><br/></poetry> </span></p>

 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation   is on the way,   and my arm   will bring justice to the nations. The islands   will look to me and wait in hope   for my arm. 

Bible Verse of the Day

July 17, 2024

Isaiah 51:5 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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