Revelation 2:10

"Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

'A 17-year-old girl in Somalia who converted to Christianity from Islam has been shot to death in an apparent 'honor killing.' Nurta Mohamed Farah, who fled her village to live with relatives after her parents tortured her for leaving Islam, died 25 November 2010 after two men believed to be relatives shot her in the chest and head with a pistol.

Sources said her parents beat her severely for leaving Islam. They shackled her to a tree by day and kept her in a small, dark room at night since May, 2010, when they learned she had embraced Christ. They also forced her to take medication for mental illness, thinking she had gone crazy. But the drugs could not sway her from her faith. Nor could the twice-weekly recitations of the Qur'an, which many Somalis believe cure the sick, especially the mentally ill.'

---Compiled from reports filed by Compass Direct News.

The Mighty One

Father,
Choice and sacred moments, these, to muse upon Your majesty and grandeur! High and lifted up, and greatly exalted are You, with the angelic host praising You in antiphonal awe: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!" O Father, bring home to my harried heart the truth of Your might, nourishing it afresh with Your Word:

" 'Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?' 'Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You' " (Jeremiah 32:27,17).

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand," (Isaiah 41:10).


How easily distracted this deceitful heart, staring at circumstances instead of gazing at You, my God. Such unspeakable peace when Your Spirit of might and power permeates my perspective, focusing on Your sufficiency, pondering Your promises, and rejoicing in Your perfect faithfulness and love!
Thank You for such a transforming, warming work on this otherwise cold and hardened heart, for showing Yourself so very strong O mighty Lord.
In Your risen Son's Name, I pray,
Amen.

"For this I have been born, and for this I have come into this world, to testify to the truth." (John 18:37)

He who was the truth, told the truth. Unsparingly. Unblinkingly. Every word, without equivocation, exaggeration, or embellishment. He never had to retract a single statement He ever made. He never "misspoke." With absolute awareness and understanding of every possible implication and contingency, He flawlessly poured out truth concerning eternity past, the present unseen realm, as well as future certainties.

He never said "too much," or "too little." He never lapsed into verbal miscues. Every word He uttered was like an apple of gold in a setting of silver, timed perfectly. True, what He said often astounded His hearers, and His wisdom amazed, for the Father's perspective runs counter to ours (Isaiah 55:8,9). Consequently, He was misunderstood, misinterpreted, and eventually maligned. Still, regardless of response, He spoke the truth, in love, even as we as His disciples are to do (Ephesians 4:15).

May God grant grace and boldness to speak His truth in season and out of season, sensitive to His blessed Spirit's urging, leaving the results to Him.

Genesis 3:1

"...has God said...?"


Astounding the audacity of a seemingly-innocent question, including: the Sovereign's authority was challenged; the veracity of the Almighty was doubted; the character of the Creator was impugned; the promises of the Faithful One were suddenly suspect. In the very act of questioning, the most crucial ingredient of man's relationship to his Maker was destroyed: trust. It is here that the dichotomy between the world system and the Christian world view is vividly apparent: the world trusts only the seen, the tangible, the measurable, whereas the one who walks by faith trusts the unseen One Who has never failed to keep all His good Word. The world considers it clever and sophisticated to question everything, mock taking God seriously, and to live only for this life, whereas the one whose life has been changed by the Lord Jesus knows in his spirit that His Word is true, His promises sure, and this world but a prelude to eternity in glory. Has God said? Yes!

Genesis 3:1

"...has God said...?"


This spirit of questioning was uttered from a heart of rejection and led to acts of rebellion. Long before he possessed the form of the serpent there in the garden, Satan had led a third of the angelic host in revolt against the Lord God in His heavenly rule. His inveterate hatred has never wavered, never lost intensity of purpose: steal God's worship, and hinder His worshippers' knowledge of Him.
How? Often through casting doubt on God's character and Word by a spirit of questioning, rather than acceptance by faith. Saturating the world's system is this spirit of discontent, fueled by refusal to submit to God's sovereign rule over all. Indeed, such submission is viewed as intellectual suicide, and disdained.
Yet for those who take God seriously, James 4:7,8a, are precious: "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

Your Treasured Word

"Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11)

When first His love ravished my heart, I poured over the pages of His love letters hours at a time... couldn't get enough of the precious promises, newly-made just to me. The assurance of His love, the certainty of His salvation, the amazement at His grace, all enthralled my soul with ever-deepening desire to please and serve Him throughout my days.


O how I treasured His Word! How deeply the roots of His truth sank their nourishment deeply into the eager soil of my soul. Watered by the blessed Spirit's ministry of remembrance, matured by the blustry winds of life's testings, Your faithful Word has born the fruit of righteousness. When sickened by sin's deceitfulness, when overcome by the Accuser's skillful use of guilt, wondrous would be the way the blessed Holy Spirit would use the treasured Word to remind me of my Lord's loving acceptance, unfailing forgiveness, and unchanging nature.


Thank You for Your blessed Book, O gracious Father... for the times without number that You have led me to just the right promise, or to the exact precept I most deeply needed from Your treasury of truth. Such past faithfulness gives resolve to seek Your will and ways all the more diligently. Praise to Your Name for Your strengthening grace, using Your Word to encourage my heart, that I may not sin against You!

Psalm 5:3

"In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice... in the morning, I will order my prayer to You, and eagerly watch."

Thank You for the morning, Father.. for the refreshing effect of sleep.. for the protection You provide through the night, when we are most vulnerable...
Praise to Your Name that You never sleep, nor slumber... that we are always before You...
Amazing that You would commit Yourself to such as us.... providing Your Book filled with promises, as trustworthy as Your Name and character..
providing Your very presence in the Person of the Holy Spirit... expressing Himself through producing fruit by grace...
through bringing to our remembrance the things the Lord Jesus said...
through bearing witness with our spirit that we are Yours..
through faithful, needed conviction of sin...
through promptings in our inner man that speak to our spirit for direction and leading...
through speaking peace to our hearts...
through confirming by conversation with others Your will from Your Word...
and all because of the Lord Jesus, and His sinless death and blood atonement for satisfying Your just and righteous anger against sinners!

Father, grant that this would be a day in which our eyes are fixed upon You... for when we focus on ourselves and our walk, it leads to either despair or pride.
Forgive for ways we compare ourselves with others... for there, again, we are given to either introspection or self-satisfaction.. neither of which is pleasing to You. Only as our thoughts are filled with contemplations of You, Your blessed Word, Your faithful character, ways, and will, will our perspective be pleasing and our lives usable.
Forgive, too, for the love of ease that fills our days... we see so little sacrifice, know so little of the heaviness of heart You have for this lost world...
No one better than You knows the prayerlessness of our hearts... our thoughts so easily taken from You, and placed on the seen, the incidental, the transitory, the temporal, the inconsequential, the worldly.
Do a work of restoration, Father, that can be explained in no other way than that You did it.
Be pleased to call us back to Yourself... to the days when our love for You was fresh, clean, joyous, enamoured with You, yearning to know You, to tell others how wonderful You truly are.
You know perfectly how desperately we need a personal awakening... and how deeply our decadent nation needs awakening... instill in our hearts afresh... grant the desire anew... to pay the price of godliness, to become usable again, and used for Your glory....
and please move us from fine-sounding words and phrases, to actual obedience.
In the Lord Jesus' Name,
Amen.