Hebrews 5:13-14 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
For those of you who don't know, Merv Griffin died on Sunday. Interestingly enough, today's devotion has to do with a show of his from way back when.
The guest was a body builder. During the interview, Merv asked "Why do you develop those particular muscles"? The body builder simply stepped forward and flexed a series of well-defined muscles from chest to calf. The audience went wild. "What do you use all those muscles for"? Merv asked. Again, the muscular specimen flexed, and biceps and triceps sprouted to impressive proportions. "But what do you USE those muscles for"? Merv persisted. The body builder was bewildered. He didn't have an answer other than to display his well-developed frame.
Hmm. Made me think about our spiritual muscles. Are they only for show? Have we even developed any? I ask that because it has occurred to me that many of us are no more Christ-like today, than we were ten or twenty years ago. We're content with our new church buildings, our outstanding worship bands, our well-organized church programs and all the good friends we've made. But what about our spiritual development? What about our growth in the Lord? What about just us and Him?
With each year that passes, we should be able to say that we've grown in our faith. We should be able to say that we love God and others more today than we ever have before. If we can't say that, we're not growing in the Lord. It's hard to hear but it's so true.
I know my heart is convicted. How about yours? Let's start devoting ourselves to some spiritual body building today! There's so much work to be done!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]As Joshua is about to enter the promised land, God reassures him and affirms the promise that was given to Moses, saying, “Wherever you place your feet – it shall be given to you!” God reveals His will, makes an amazing promise, then gives His servant a practical principle for working the promise out and claiming it, telling Joshua to literally step into His will. This is true for every believer. Our mandate is to know, understand and step out into the will of God. How can we know God’s will?”
The world loves the extraordinary, the spectacular. It relishes on the big, bright, grand and expensive. I remember when we traveled through Las Vegas years ago, to speak at a church in Carson City. Uyy! The lights, the size of everything -- crazy! But all I could think as we rolled down Sunset Strip was how sad it is that this is what the world finds extraordinary. The bigger, the brighter, the more expensive -- the more the world worships it.
Since my wife and I just celebrated our 7,000-day wedding anniversary, it reminded me of when my wife and I were initially married in Jerusalem -- before our major wedding in the States.
When Yeshua (Jesus) was attacked by Satan during His temptation in the wilderness, He countered every attack with the Word of God. But notice in Satan’s second attack – the enemy himself quoted the Scriptures, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6 was a quote from Psalm 91:11, but the phrase, “to keep thee in all thy ways” was absent from Satan’s quote).
Over the past week, the world has experienced some severe birth pangs. If you’ve been reading Worthy News, you’ve read the situation in Ukraine has intensifed with the Russians massing their troops along the border with the West condemning the referendum taking this weekend in Crimea. In Israel, scores of rockets were fired out of the Gaza Strip and rockets continue to be fired despite a "ceasefire". The Iranians continue to threaten the destruction of Israel as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander stated, "Islam has given us this wish, capacity and power to destroy the Zionist regime so that our hands will remain on the trigger from 1,400km away for the day when such an incident (confrontation with Israel) takes place." Wars and rumors of wars embrace the headlines! The world is on the brink of going over the edge!
In Israel, it’s amazing how many trees are being planted all the time. In fact, the green line that you hear about so much in the news isn’t an actual drawn borderline, but it is a visible line you can only see from the air. It’s where Israelis stopped planting trees.
Laodicea was known for its Temple dedicated to Asklepios, worshiped as the god of medicine, and associated with a renowned medical school. Most historians believe that the school developed a medicine known as Phrygian power which was used to produce eye salve.