Thursday, April 4, 2013

BE BLESSED

Suggested Reading: 2 Samuel 2

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Beit She'an from the top of the tel mound. The most ancient area of the city, where Saul's body was taken from the wall by the men of Jabesh Gilead, is under the mound. From antiquity to the present can be seen in this photograph.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 2:5

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him…”

To be “blessed” is to experience the favour of God and people. The men of Gilead blessed Israel by their act of respect to King Saul’s body. In return, David blessed Gilead by making the effort to thank them and to pray that in return the Lord would show kindness to them. There is no indication that David was looking for any favours from them. David was the kind of person who took the time to care for others. It’s no wonder that David was so popular in Judah at this time, and eventually throughout all of the tribes of Israel, even in Saul’s tribe, Benjamin.
We may want to show someone our gratitude today. A letter, an e-mail, a phone call, or even a personal visit can bless a teacher, a pastor, an employer, or employee, an elected representative in some level of government, or the clerk at the grocery store. So many could be blessed when each one reading this blog makes the effort to say thanks as David did.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, thank You for the people You’ve placed in my life. Help me to always express my appreciation for them, never taking them for granted. Most of all, I’m determined to show my appreciation to You, Jesus, by thanking You for the ultimate favour to me: Your death, resurrection, and constant care. THANK YOU JESUS! AMEN!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My heart is filled with gratitude to God and to all those who faithfully pray for me and who support ministry in Jesus’ Name all over the world. During 2010 and 2011 I had the privilege to travel to 180 cities, towns, and villages across Canada to say “Thank You” to as many people as I could find who had supported the Crossroads/100 Huntley Street ministry throughout the years. Norma-Jean and I, along with the ministry team, and particularly all those who’ve given their lives to Christ every day and night for many years now, say “Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!” Thank You for the past, present and future. I’ve just remembered that I promised yesterday to tell another story from Uganda.

It was just before Christmas, 26 years ago, President Museveni had just assumed office and was determined to reverse the curse of the Idi Amin years. God put it on my heart to ask our viewers to send in a small gift for the orphans of Uganda. Canada did not have diplomatic representation from Uganda, so I called the Ugandan ambassador in Washington D.C. and asked if I could use the address of his embassy to which people could send these gifts, telling him we would pick them up just before Christmas and send them to Uganda. He said, “Yes.” One week later, he called to say that so many gifts had arrived that he could hardly get into his embassy because of them. The American Air Force volunteered a C-130 cargo plane to take the gifts to Entebbe. President and Mrs. Museveni arranged for the gifts to be taken to the TV station where, on Christmas Day, for 5 hours live, they distributed the gifts to thousands of the children who had been orphaned by Idi Amin’s atrocities and by the scourge of AIDS. On live TV, the President blessed “those Canadians who brought Christmas back to Uganda.” He also thanked the Americans for their help in the transportation of the gifts.

Yours for blessing others!

David

 

Ugandan children. How can we not do our best to bless them? My daughter-in-law, Kathy, has just returned from Uganda where their ministry, "World Embrace," is sponsoring a unity movement among the church leaders. Please pray for the success of their mission.

23 thoughts on “Thursday, April 4, 2013

  1. Amen David!!!!

    I thank YOU for this daily blog and I thank Reynold for the beautiful pictures everyday!!!! I am so grateful for you and your team. You have been such a blessing to me personally!!! I am thinking of the song right now “Give Thanks”

    Give Thanks with a grateful heart
    Give Thanks to the Holy One
    Give Thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

    And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
    Let the poor say, “I am rich
    Because of what the Lord has done for us”

    Give Thanks!!!!

  2. Yes, thankyou Lord for everything, and Lord, please don’t let me miss an opportunity
    to be a blessing to someone. Sharpen my awareness of You in my life and give me wisdom, I pray.
    God bless each each and every one today! Thankyou Jesus!

  3. What a wonderful and heart warming story of Christmas in Uganda, sent by supporters and delivered by a C-130. I lift up my prayers for you and the whole team, who contribute unselfishly to this Blog and ministry. Your work has etched kindness and faithfulness to God’s calling, in the history books of time.

  4. Thanks for sharing that story, David–what an incredible difference it would have made in the lives of the orphans, to receive a Christmas gift that day, and know they were loved and valued. Praise God for President Museveni and Kathy and Reynold’s World Embrace ministry in Uganda. Praise God for all the people in Uganda, Lord, that they will be blessed by your love and healing powers.

    Blessings to all, today!

  5. What a beautiful story you shared with us about Christmas in Uganda a few years ago. Through Huntley Street these dear people were indeed blessed.
    Thank you for the encouragement to practise ‘blessing others’ in our every day life.
    May the Lord bless and keep the blogging family, so thankful for the opportunity to follow it daily

  6. Blessed Indeed and Gratitude for sure to you David For it was you that the Lord used through Life Changing Television to stop me from suicide .. David 18 years ago Today… April 4 th …iv had New Life in Him … i received favour with the Lord …and i just want to say ( Thank You David ) im a life changed..
    Thank you Lord for the Bible and breath by breath you lead us … if you want to know how im feeling today…read Psalm 150 and thank you again for being a link in my amazing journey of New Life..( Before Jesus & With Jesus ) there is such a difference..Head Knowledge to Heart ..you told me back then it was the Longest journey of my Life ( 18 inches ) Yahoo. i feel like dancing..
    Blessings to you David as we journey on ….heading Home…love you lots…A life changed….Diane

    • Amen, Diane! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! You are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you, sister! Praise the Lord!!!

      • Amen Beverlee, I wish you knew my friend Diane! She is being used by The Lord with so many people as she battles her own health issues! Thank you David for reaching out to Diane and saving her for such a time as this!
        Praise the name of Jesus! He’s our strength!

  7. Thank you Diane for sharing your testimony. What an inspiration you are to me and others. We are all one big family in Christ. May God continue to bless you on your journey with Him.

  8. HIS banner over me is LOVE! Thnk you David for today’s blog and the comments from everyone else. We are so blessed to receive it every day and to share with each other. The picture of those precious children is heart warming and the story of the Christmas gifts shows you heart David. hank ou Jesus for continuing to give DAvid the strength he needs each day to prepare the blog for us.
    Blessings to all today.

  9. Kindness and love … kindness and love , can’t say it enough can’t give it or show
    enough can we. This year God told me to take action when my head and heart
    Come together with thoughts of doing kind deeds.He said actions speak louder
    than thoughts or words. How many times have we heard our inner God head
    telling us to do wonderful things.Like send a card of greeting or thank you to some one and not acted. Then when we see that person we say … something like
    You know I was going to send you a birth day card BUT ……… !
    Thank God for people like David M. Who have been faithful to act on his inner
    kind and loving thoughts, that lead him to action, which evolved into a life long
    journey of Cross Roads ministry. This year I have taken action and fulfilled the
    kind thoughts . Wow! The feelings you get are so amaseingly fuzzy and warm so
    good, and it’s fun. The results speak for them selves .It truely is better to give than to receive. I’m not talking about just giving on special ocassions ,I’m talking
    when your heart speaks to your head.The mirical of giving is, like it or not, you will receive. God will pour out his blessings upon you. It’s the same principal as
    for tithing. If you haven’t tried it …….. try it ……you’ll like it. 🙂
    In closing I just want to say …I to fallow almost every day,I catch up if I miss a day. I know one day this blog will have to end, but ,if it were up to me it would never end. Is it selfish of me to sujest that maybe, this blog could continue in some other form ….perhaps, like Oh, maybe, an end times prophesy study. I
    don’t mean to burdon you David, but if you have a continued (job to do) maybe God will grant you more years with us than is exspected dispite your illness. God is so good, and with all of your years of ministry and deep rooted faith, I believe your in put on end times would be like a guiding light for some who may not have given much thought to the Rapture . We need to be awakend, to be ready ,to be waiting for the meeting in the air .I believe Jesus is soon to appear . I believe we are in that season. By the time this blog is in it’s final stages as we enter in to the book of Revalation an end times study could work its self in and extend this blog. (Unless we are already rapured) 🙂 Amen
    Peace, love , and joy to you all.
    M.

    • M & J, I recently completed a bible study with friends on ‘Prophecy’ and we used a book written by Max Anders, ‘Everything you need to know about Bible Prophecy’ as the study guide. It was excellent and based on scripture. I highly recommend it. It is interesting that we think this blog will come to an end once we have gone through the Bible by June, 2014. But that is the wonderful thing about studying it because it never has to end. We could start from the beginning again with the same scripture reading for that day and each gain a completely new perspective. That is something the Mainse family could think about, too. I really think this blog has the purpose of moving mountains for so many people who want to learn from sound teaching, which their family has. Hope you are able to get a copy of the book I mentioned. I am sure it will provide you with the answers you are looking for. God bless you!

  10. Thank you David and fellow bloggers for your testimonies and words of encouragement. The Lord bless you and keep you,the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you ; The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace. So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, I and I then will bless them. Numbers 6:24-27.

  11. Dear Davd and all you bloggers I have been so blessed by this blog I can’t
    see it ending may God stengthen you David so that this blog may continue
    maybe in another format God willing….good suggestion love R…

  12. Dear David Mainse
    Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself. I pray that more people would do this and this world would be a much better place. Thank you David for this blog and I will continue to pray for your healing. I, too, am adding my prayer that this blog continue for a long, long time should Jesus tarry. Praise the Lord. Blessings to my fellow bloggers.

  13. Yahoo…i had a great day today and was able to breathe with out pain…God is good to let me Celebrate my spiritual birthday…thank you to all of you who write and follow this blog…special thanks to Barb C. and yes maybe some day i will meet Beverlee Kay…
    Thank you Lynne for your kind words….
    Thank you David …. there are no words to express how we all feel about you and yours….. We are healed in Jesus name…. as we all head towards Home..some sooner …. some later….. but homeward bound …The Best is yet to Come…. Thank you Jesus for a Beautiful Day…..Di

  14. Look forward to your blog every day. Always good food for thought. I really enjoy all the links and pictures. May the Lord keep you strong. Your sister in Christ

Leave a Reply to Beverlee Kay Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.