Dear Dewey’s Daily Cup Family,
Good morning and good day to you! Always, we should begin our day with prayer…and The Lord’s Prayer is meant to be said together. I pray this prayer out loud ‘to be honest, nearly’ every day. It makes a difference.
The prayer as it occurs in Matthew 6:9-13, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I like to conclude with “For God, You are the Kingdom, the glory and the power forevermore!” amen.
When it comes right down to it, choosing to pray when we don’t feel like it is the harder choice to make, but we pray anyway and we know that God always hears our prayers. We can’t afford to make the easier choice and skip a day of the Lord’s Prayer.
Make the Harder Choice is on my mind…
The Lord has on my mind today, Make the Harder Choice…and Choose the attitude that God wants you to have in regards to … well everything … each and every day. Jesus made the harder choice and He notices when others make the harder choice too!
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:44
After you read this, I wonder if you will feel like we can be quite petty? I sure did…humbling to me on this day….How much tolerance is too much to give? God has no limits, so neither should we.
1 Kings 17:8-16
New International Version (NIV)
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
This morning God woke me up with these words on my mind yet once again, “Get up and follow me and I will make you fishers of men …” and I had to make the harder choice and get up to follow Jesus this morning!
Think about your choices that you have! “What is your harder choice Today?” When someone directly grieves you, what is your easiest choice? Giving a piece of our soured mind would easily flow right out of our mouth, but the harder choice would be to show restraint and pray for God to give us the attitude that HE wants us to have with a person, situation or anything that we do.
Now, I ask how would following our own selfish pride really work out for us? And what does God have to offer us by following Jesus? The answer my friend, is peace and joy…with freedom from disorder and confusion!
Submit to God’s will comes first…no matter how many excuses we can think of…bottom line, God is Right Always! And the really cool thing, is that God is good! All the time…God is really good!
“What will you get by making the easier choice?” A moment of satisfaction (a feeling of self-satisfaction?) …Perhaps one last meal? Love is not self-seeking, so the easiest answer will assure us that we are avoiding God’s Wisdom! Surprise…yeah, I have felt that realistic moment of shock that God was right yet once again! Yet, I trust God with my all and all and HE never fails me!
The blessing is in (…and comes in…) the sacrifice of giving Always and in all things! Money, Time, Taking the Back Seat … willingly to give to another … humility in love…there is a difference in humility with strength under control and abuse.
“God I would have loved you anyway, but thank you for saving my son” are actual words I have spoken to God before…and God knew my humble, yet grateful heart that was pure in honesty with Him. …Abraham’s story come to my mind that night when God asked him to do the unthinkable. But God was only testing his heart!
Most times, we are so blessed that God has taught us these hard learns in the Bible…although we still go through extremely faith testing times, but most times it is the constant little daily things that nearly drive us crazy with worry & concern that we are being taught though to submit our will to God’s.
To me, this is one of the greatest shows of God’s pure love …in how He almost smiles with a grin at us in our misbehavior; as if we as a parent find ourself grinning at some of the things our children seem to justify until they learn to do better. Did you ever notice that God too accepts a bit of misbehavior and disobedience? Yet, He has not given up on us in teaching us to become all He has created us to be!
God loves us too much to let us stay the way we are…
What would I have gotten that is lasting out of making the easier choice and sleeping in this morning? Sure it would have ‘felt’ good, but then I would not have remembered these words to share with you.
My faith says that God knows what He is doing! And so I get up and say, “Yes Lord, I am listening …”
God is not punishing me with a lack of sleep … I will get what I am looking for in due time …Rest, but by serving God first in all that I do, my rest is beautiful and peaceful and God’s idea of rest far surpasses mine.
But there is always that bit of pressure that comes just before … Persevere comes to mind…Love always perseveres! And Love never fails…
God is not punishing you either with a lack of any kind, but He does ask us to make the simple sacrifices and do what is good. Submit to God’s will each day unconditionally…sheerly because we trust God that much! No motive, other than there is no other choice. God is God and God is Right. Trust and Obey.
The Word of God divides what is good and evil in our life. Please read God’s message to you Today! The easier choice may be to … than to think about sacrificing your time in the Bible, but in the end you realize that time in the Bible is graduate education and education is never a waste of time. The reward is immeasurable to be enabled to have “spinach” God’s super strength available to us at any time and at all times.
Pray, “Father God, what is it that you want to say to me Today?” He will tell you to read the Bible, because Scriptures are our Strength and Knowledge to not only know the right choice to make, but also our strength to do make the harder choice and do the right thing!
As many of you know, I have been writing The Train Whistle for a long time, It was this kind of harder choice that I had to make, but I am so glad that I was obedient to God!
I believe that God created the Universe and everything in it, but I had doubts that God could write a book through me! I doubted who I was from a lack of understanding! I put my own limitations in my way for two years and thought it was impossible for me to write a book …
I heard God speak to me, “I’ll give you the beginning, the end and I will be with you through it all.”
Be still and quiet your temptation and listen for God’s quiet whisper in your Spirit to tell you the right thing to do!
I said, “okay God, if you really want me to write a book then I will get a pencil and a piece of paper and I will write down the words you want me to say…”
What tools are available to you to make the harder choice for yourself and do what it is that God is asking of you to do? In the above Scripture shared, all the woman had was only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. AND she went to work gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal…all I had was a pencil and piece of paper… All the woman Jesus noticed had was two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents BUT the point is that all God expects from us is that we give Him our all.
I wrote two pages that day and The Train Whistle happened just like that! Two pages at a time until I had book! God only asks you to make one step at a time, but HE will be with you through it all!
God never said it would be easy, but HE did promise it was worth your while! The rewards are great from God…Making the harder choice is harder for a reason!
Ten years later, God has been with me through it all! When I thought there was no hope, I remembered I had a hope worth sharing! When I felt defeated, I remembered that there was still hope! Hope carried me along for 10 years to complete what God called me to do!
You have hope in your Today! Never give up on your hope! Once you choose hope, anything is possible. Once you believe you can do all things through Christ, He will give you strength to make the harder choices in your life!
Now that the book is completed, I am amazed at what God has done with only a little faith the size of a mustard seed and one step at a time and one day at a time, because God was with me through it all! The beginning is not placed in the spot I would have logically thought and the ending is not placed in a place that I would have logically thought, but God gave me the beginning and God gave me the end! And God finally, after 10 years said, “It was finished.”
Ten years later, I will confidently say to you that when God said to me that He would be with me through it all, God really meant that He would be teaching me for 10 years!
I am blessed beyond comprehension Today as I know the book is finished, because God prepared me to be blessed (content in trusting God) and I learned how to experience God in my life!
This was not the Cup that I could have shared with you Today, instead these are the words that God wanted me to say to you. What is God saying to you Today? What is the harder choice that God is calling you to make?
Trust God, trust also in Jesus and follow Him. Get up, pick up your mat or your pen and walk with Jesus Today. Make the harder choice and walk away from the easy habits.
I don’t have it all figured out, BUT God does … Follow Jesus! Read God’s Word that is written to you and for you so that you can have the knowledge you need to “write your story”
God has Created life for you. God has made you to live in life with Him. Make the harder choice and create the life that God has made from you … He has already given you the beginning and He knows the end…
God has plans for you ….not to harm you, but to prosper you and give you hope and a future! Jeremiah 29:11
These are the words that God had on my mind. I just made the harder choice to get up and follow Jesus hoping to be a fisherman of men…because in the hands of God and the lap of Jesus is a good place to be.
Love in Christ,
Karen Rowe
Now Ray Sturdivant
Do you have a hand-me-down Jesus?
The woman at the well of Sychar, after discovering that Jesus was the Messiah she had been waiting on, left the well and her water pot to tell her whole city about the personal encounter that she just had with the Messiah. As a result, many of that city came to faith in Jesus. But the story doesn’t end there. The hunger burned in the hearts of the new believers for more of Jesus and they persuaded Him to stay two extra days with them. This caused in even more of that city to come to faith in Jesus as a result of the extra two days He spent there. But there is even more to the story. Lets look at the verse that wraps up this whole encounter described in John chapter 4.
John 4:42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
The people of Sychar were not satisfied with a hand-me-down Jesus. They are quoted in verse 42 as saying, “It is no longer because of what you said, but we have heard for ourselves.” They now knew Jesus on a personal level that went beyond believing because of someone else’s personal encounter with the Messiah.
We can only go so far with Jesus based on what someone else believes or says. If we want intimacy with the Savior, we will have to hear from Him for ourselves. God gives out the spiritual gift of teaching to individuals for us to learn and grow from but they can never take the place of our own time of intimacy with Jesus. Only a personal intimacy with Jesus will cause His life to grow and expand inside of us, which will truly satisfy our deepest longings and transform our hearts and insure our victory on the field of battle in the midst of this spiritual war.
Ray
And now Pastor Bill Ruhl with Global Destiny Ministry
Financial Advice You Need to Know:
Money as a noun collects dust and rust and moths devour it…or it makes for a lumpy mattress. Money must become a verb to accomplish its intended purpose. If money is handled as a noun its potential to produce is as limited as seed placed in a jar or an envelope and stored away on some forgotten shelf and never planted. The harvest is there, hidden within, but remains dormant and unprofitable. As we have discussed before, money as a noun has no real intrinsic value, but money put to work (as a verb), through purchases or investments, releases the full potential of the value it represents.
Before we go any further with this concept of money as a verb, let me stress this bit of sound financial advice: “Never invest in what you don’t understand!” Study, seek wise counsel, and know before you go!
Let’s look at a farmer and his seed. The seed stored away (noun) has the potential to produce (verb) and bring forth (verb) a harvest in due season, but the farmer has to allow the seed (noun) to function (verb) as it was intended to. How? The farmer prepares the soil, plants the proper type and amount of seed, monitors the field as the seed grows, recognizes the signs and the season, and gathers in the harvest. So it is with you, the investor (farmer), and money (seed). You must prepare the soil (study, counsel, and fully understand your field of investment), plant the proper amount and type of seed (be aware of the importance of diversified accounts and how much you can afford to “budget”, also a verb), monitor the field through stages of growth (due diligence over market trends in your “field”), recognize the signs and seasons (highs and lows – Issachar anointing), and take advantage to gather in the harvest (know when to take advantage of the increase and where to move or utilize it next).
Now, if we take our previous understanding of “Budget” as a verb and combine it with this new understanding of making “Money” a verb, we can arrive at a new “present truth” understanding of how to prosper in all things, just as God has promised our soul to prosper in relationship with Him. When your budget and your money become active (verbs), the economy of your lives will become a blessing to others.
I’m Pastor Bill Ruhl with Global Destiny Ministry, Albuquerque, NM www.globaldestinyministry. Com “Be Blessed By Being a Blessing!”
Dr. Joe Fawcett with Thursday’s Medical Bag
Are you constantly sick? Are you healthy and want to stay that way?
The key to health is in WHAT you eat.
Here’s a powerful tip you can use right now to stop getting sick and stay healthy:
– If a food has a label on the package or the box, do not eat it. Rather, eat food…meaning real, whole food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
We have to be very discerning as Christian consumers to recognize label claims for health benefits on processed foods, which sprinkle tiny, non-therapeutic amounts of so called “healthful ingredients” into otherwise poor-quality, high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods, giving us the illusion that we are doing something good for ourselves.
To get healthy and maintain it, I encourage you to eat food that comes from an organic farmer’s field and not from a food chemist’s laboratory.
It’s really very simple. Here’s what to eat on a daily basis at least five to six times a day:
– Whole, real food such as vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean animal protein like small wild fish and poultry, and whole omega-3 eggs.
– Small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free beef or lamb.
That’s it.
But, food scientists, food manufacturers, and food marketers want us to think that we need a lot of special chemical ingredients in our foods to stay healthy. They modify packaging and ingredients in food just slightly to give the impression of health, while continuing to provide poor-quality, nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods.
Their job is to invent and create new foods in the laboratory by mixing food and chemicals to create certain tastes and flavors that mimic real food or that stimulate appetite and satisfy our need for various tastes so we will eagerly buy the “foods”, prosper them, and we get fat and sick. Think of these as “Frankenfoods” and they’re in our village, where you and I live, to kill, steal and destroy us…one bite at a time.
We must be very careful to avoid the marketing ploys of the food industry, which wants to trick us into eating more junk food by putting it in friendlier, fancy packaging. Again, I encourage you to eat food that comes from an organic farmer’s field and not a food chemist’s laboratory.
Thank you for joining all of us at Dewey’s Daily Cup!
Blessings,
Karen
I prayed to God, “How can I tell a million people what I know about Jesus?” …and this is what God has done!
The Train Whistle, Sounding the Call of God’s Love
www.thetrainwhistle.com www.hopeintoday.com www.mykkim.com
Also, now available through Tate:
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61777-911-4
Sounding the Call of God’s Love, The Train Whistle is a Ministry for God, serving Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to help people believe and to strengthen their faith…
Let us remember so very many prayer needs and be a friend in Christ to our fellow family members as a child of God! May Dewey’s efforts be blessed at the National Religious Broadcasters Conference and we also lift up Pastor Leonard Navarre, his ministry and everyone on his mission trip to India and keep them close in our prayers love and support.
Please know you have a friend in Christ…may we reflect Jesus in us for others to see His light of Hope!
If you have friends or family you think would like to share a daily cup of inspirational coffee with Dewey please forward this email and encourage them to join Dewey’s Daily Cup. All they have to do is send an email saying “Sign me up!” to radiodewey.
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