Daily Dose For February 8

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 15:1-15:21 Psalms 39

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. Epictetus

Lord, remind us that it is not always agitated uprisings and nonstop activity which lead to justice, but that change often comes through the quiet commitment of a small group of -people. Help us raise our small body of -people to set about quietly becoming the change we want to see in the world. Amen.

Daily Dose For February 7

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 12:31-14:31 Psalms 38

“The great and firm foundation of the spiritual life is the offering of ourselves to God and being subject to his will in all things. We must completely forget ourselves, so that we regard ourselves as an object which has been sold and over which we no longer have any rights. We find all our joy in fulfilling God’s pleasure —  his happiness, his glory and the fact that he is our great and only delight. Once we have this foundation, all we need to do is spend our lives rejoicing that God is God and being so wholly abandoned to his will that we are quite indifferent as to what we do and equally indifferent as to what use he makes of our activities.” Eighteenth-century Jesuit Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Father, when you made us in the garden, your words still echo true, it is not good for man to be alone. Jesus, praise to the Lamb that was slain. You died birthing the church and raised to sustain it. May we bring new life and sustain the church today through our prayers, words, and action as we do life together in Christ! Amen

Daily Dose For February 6

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 12:1-30 Psalms 37

"Well, this [Growing Young] is probably my favorite song that we've written lately and it's just a song about a, sort of about the prodigal son. And it's sort of one of those things where, you know, you read the Bible and you read the stories in there, and all of a sudden you feel like you're not reading about somebody else. You feel like you're reading a little bit about yourself, and you kind of identify suddenly with what those people went through. And I think one of the hardest things in the Christian life is - and especially for people who have grown up in America - is, I think we're very arrogant people. And I think it's very hard to allow God to break us." -- R. Mullins [True Tunes, September 15, 1990]

Lord, we have only to look at your life to know that reconciliation always costs something. Whether we are old or young, strong or weary, rich or poor, supply us with the conviction that reconciliation is always worth the price. Amen.

Daily Dose For February 5

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 10-11 Psalms 36

So lead me, Lord, to the way everlasting.  Along the journey, reveal to me the secrets of my heart that even I do not know. Unveil the sins that keep me from better days.  Amen

(One Minute Prayers for men Gift Edition 2010 Harvest House Pub Eugene Oregon p.g. 111)

Let Him therefore send and do what He will. By His grace, if we are His, we will face it, bow to it, accept it, and give thanks for it. God's Providence is always executed in the 'wisest manner' possible. We are often unable to see and understand the reasons and causes for specific events in our lives, in the lives of others, or in the history of the world. But our lack of understanding does not prevent us from believing God." Don Fortune

Daily Dose For February 4

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 6:28-9:35 Psalms 35

O God, great and wonderful,

who has created the heavens,

dwelling in their light and beauty;

Who has made the earth,

revealing yourself in every flower that opens.

Let not my eyes be blind to you,

neither let my heart be dead,

but teach me to praise you,

even as the lark which offers her song at daybreak. Amen

Hamilton-Poore, Sam, ed. Earth's Gospel A Guide to Prayer for God's Creation. First ed. Nashville, Tennessee: Upper Room Books, 2008. 78.

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exists.  A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food.  A duckling want to swim; well, there is such a thing as water.  Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex.  If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. (Mere Christianity, bk. 3, chap. 10) 2

Daily Dose For February 3

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 5:1-6:27 Psalms 34

Lord, help us to welcome every guest as if we were welcoming you, delighting in their presence and ready to learn what good news they bring to us. Amen.  (commonprayer.net)

By forgiving, we do become Christ to others. By bearing in our bodies the weight of unjust accusation, undeserved pain, and unretaliated harm, we are the Holy Spirit's message of Jesus to others. By the practice of forgiveness we have the privilege of being a living witness to the One we most love, and who has loved us eternally and sacrificially." Bryan Chappell Ephesians, p. 232. 

Daily Dose For February 2

Memory Verse Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Exodus 3-4 Psalms 33

Most high and holy God, enthroned in fire and light,

burn away the dross of our lives and kindle in us the fire of your 

love, that our lives may reveal the light and life we find in your 

Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen

Jesus is not offering a makeover. He's calling for a takeover, very 

different from the easy kind of Christianity-light that we're so 

familiar with.  John MacArthur Sermon, The Extreme Nature of True Discipleship.