Tuesday, April 3, 2018

DECISION TIME

Today’s Reading: Joel 3

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

In Israel at the southwest end of the Dead Sea this valley can be seen, which leads into the Jordan Valley wilderness.

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

Key Verses: Joel 3:14, 16b

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

…But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,

and the strength of the children of Israel.

The “decision” made concerning the multitudes gathered in the “valley of decision” is to judge the Gentile nations. In Joel 12:12, God says through Joel what will happen in the valley: “I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.” To Israel, Jerusalem and Judah, God, the righteous Judge, whose decisions are always just, decides to give “shelter,” “strength,” “security,” “holiness,” “prosperity,” “a future,” and the Judge will “acquit” His people of all “bloodguilt!”

The nation state known as Israel was restored by the action of all the security counsel member countries of the United Nations, and almost unanimously by the entire membership of nation states represented there. This happening, unprecedented in the history of the world, took place in 1948. Joel prophesies that “The Day of the Lord is near!” Joel tells us to watch for signs in the sky. What astronomers, and those who observe carefully see, will indicate God’s pending action. Jesus Christ, as the greatest Prophet, spoke of “signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.” He said that when these things “begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near!” (Read Luke 21:25-36).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord Jesus, in Your prophecy about the happenings just before Your “coming in a cloud with great power and glory,” I am to “take heed!” You warn us against carousing, drunkenness, and the “cares of this life!” (Luke 21:34). Help me, I pray, to hold lightly to the things of this earth, and to give my highest priority to the things of eternal value. In Your Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

A while back, I called an all night of prayer for the ministry of Crossroads. During the night we read together 50 different quotes about the power and importance of prayer. Here are just a few…

“Prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure, and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, “Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). – J. Hudson Taylor

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” – Samuel Chadwick

Those who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in last place the remainder of the day. – E.M. Bounds

Yours for strong consistent prayer,

David

12 thoughts on “Tuesday, April 3, 2018”

Ever so grateful to David for having always encouraged us to pray and being a shining example. Wishing all saints a blessed day in the Lord.

Early morning prayer and soaking in His Word—the most nourishing daily source of strength for our souls. Beverlee Kay 2018

How Great Thou Art, Elvis Presley, 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlfcvUtUoOM

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sah on April 3, 2018 at 7:42 pm said:

My favourite song………..TY Beverlee Kay……

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“If You Had Known!”
By Oswald Chambers

If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42

Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

“What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.

“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.”

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Eleanor M. on April 3, 2018 at 1:55 pm said:

Amen Beverlee.

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Amen Pastor David, Beverlee and Oswald Chambers. Message from all of you right on for me this morning. Dug out 3 books on prayer; “Prayer & Fasting; the Master Key to the Impossible.” by Gordon Lindsay; “Power Through Prayer” and “The Weapon of Prayer” by E,M. Bounds. Thanks for your song Beverlee. God bless you saints.

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