Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

June 11
Wednesday


A CURE
FOR FUTILITY

READ:
Micah 6:6-8
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What does the LORD
require of you but
to do justly, to love
mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God?
__Micah 6:8
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I once heard interviews with survivors from World War 2. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other. Later they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It didn't feel decisive at the time because none had the big picture.

Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks.

When followers of Ignatious (1491__1556) endured periods of futility, he always prescribed the same cure: "In times of desolation we must never make a change, but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolations." Spiritual battles must be fought with the very weapons hardest to wield at the time: prayer, meditation, self-examination, and repentance.

Perhaps you sense you're in a spiritual rut. Stay at your assigned task! Obedience to God__and only obedience__offers the way out of our futility. __Philip Yancey
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````````````````````When comforts are declining,`````````````````
``````````````````````He grants the soul again```````````````````
``````````````````````A season of clear shining,``````````````````
````````````````````To cheer it after rain. __Cowper``````````````
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If you sense your faith is unraveling, go back
to where you dropped the thread of obedience.

******************Today's Bible Reading __ Micah 6:6-8************

6 With what shall I come
before the LORD, and bow
myself before the High
God? Shall I come before
Him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?

7 Will the LORD be pleased
with thousands of rams, ten
thousand rivers of oil? Shall
I give my firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of
my body for the sin of my
soul? 8 He has shown you,
O man, what is good; and
what does the LORD require
of you but to do justly, to
love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As we walk with our God, we demonstrate our love for Him by
obeying His commands. "He who has My commmandments and
keeps them, it is he who loves Me," wrote John the disciple. "And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him
and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). Reciprocally, the Father
and the Son respond to us in llove. The Greek word translated
"manifest" in John 14:21 is emphanizo and means "to shine in." It
metaphorically describes the Holy Spirit in the yielded believer's
heart, who produces insight, guidance, and Christlike character.
__Dennis Fisher