Good Reason for Study

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

“The Bible will keep you from sin,
  or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
Dwight L. Moody, 1837-1899

(this guy was so good at Bible study, the school he stated has been teaching the Bible for 130 years)

 

 

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Fix ‘Em

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Can you tell the plot of every episode of your favorite TV show, but not the story behind Exodus? Do you know the words to dozens of songs, but no Psalms? Do you know the government regulations for your job, but nothing from Proverbs? Do you study your investment portfolio, yet not one thing about the mysteries in Revelation?

 

Deuteronomy 11:18 (NIV)
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds.

 

 

It’s fixer-upper time.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Your Best Labor

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

 

 

How do you feel about Bible study?

 

  • Love it!
  • I’m good in a group; solo, not so much
  • I hate anything that involves study

God calls us to work hard at Bible study:

2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Your pastor’s sermon probably comes out of serious study. But if your week’s labor with God’s Word is limited to listening on Sunday, you aren’t “doing your best.”

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Your Best Labor

From Houston to Bidibidi

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

In the classrooms of my childhood, the United States was in the center of the world map. Let us remember that the center of God’s map is anywhere and everywhere there is need.

Our American hearts, prayers and deeds are with our own Texas-size clean-up job. But that’s not the only crisis in the world. Consider, for a moment, the one million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda. They are running, not from a natural disaster, but from man-made disaster. Per Samaritan’s Purse: “nearly daily acts of child abduction, rape, looting, forced marriage, and murder.”

Samaritan’s Purse is working in Bidibidi, in a desolated part of Uganda.  It is now home  272,000 South Sudanese refugees.

A million people whose homes are no longer safe shelters! Lord God, I cannot imagine. Guide Samaritan’s Purse and other groups who minister there. Give them the wisdom, workers and resources they need. May your Spirit hover over Bidibidi and other refugee camps, just as you sheltered the Israelite camps in Exodus.

 

Read about Samaritan’s Purse ministry here.
See USA Today’s photos from Bidibidi here.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on From Houston to Bidibidi

Ready to Go

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

As my dog is to me, so I should be to God: that is, alert to his coming, content at his side and excited to go wherever he’s going.

 

Matthew 25:13 (ERV)
So always be ready.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , | Comments Off on Ready to Go

Sign Me Up!

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Lord, I admit it.
I need obedience training.

 

 

Luke 16:10 (NLT)
If you are faithful in little things,
you will be faithful in large ones.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Simple Obedience

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Come.
Stay.
Fetch.

The dogs obey their master’s voice.

 

So why is it so hard for me?

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Like a Dog

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

 

 

Do you have a dog?

 

  • Always
  • In my dreams
  • A dog? As in only one?

Man’s best friend knows man better than man knows himself.

Take our Benny. My husband heads to the recliner, and Benny’s leap starts before there’s a lap to land on. Just think about dinner, he’s already in the kitchen.

Dog knows man almost like God knows man:

Psalm 139:2,4
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar . . .
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.

Too bad man doesn’t know God like dog knows man.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Sunday’s Gift

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

 

God gave me an unexpected gift. I lay on the garden swing, half napping, half praying. A sound I couldn’t quite place caught my attention. It was a little like the chainsaw at work a few houses away, only softer and nearer. I opened my eyes and discovered, not 18 inches from my nose, a hummingbird investigating my seltzer bottle.

Seconds later, it was gone.

Thank you, Lord, for this amazing moment.

(Not my usual Monday morning post, but I had to share my Sunday moment with you all)

Share
Posted in other | Tagged | 2 Comments

Safe Shelter – Texas Style

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Matthew 7:27 (ERV)
 It rained hard, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell with a loud crash.

 

Hurricane Harvey blew in, wet and wild. Houses are flooded, houses are damaged, some houses have fallen with a loud crash.

Our prayers blow in too, on the breath of the Spirit.

 

Lord, grant these folks safe shelter . . . whether in their own homes, housed with friends or family, or in temporary disaster shelters. And Lord, be their eternal safe shelter–may those who know you rest assured, and may those who didn’t know you before seek you now. May every “O my God” spoken over this disaster be a prayer, a connection to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Don’t forget to pray for the many organizations, including Samaritan’s Purse,  already stepping into to offer help.

Share
Posted in other | Tagged , , | 2 Comments