1 Corinthian 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Robert McCheyne is a Scottish pastor who only had eight years of full service to the Lord. But with eight years, McChenney made them count for the Lord. McCheyne emphasized the importance of a holy life. Writing to a new missionary Dan Edwards, he said: In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. 

1 Thessalonian 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 

Luke 5:5  And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

Today's Thought: Even if you don't understand the plan of the Lord,  just follow Him. 

Peter and company were already tired for all night of labor and toil. The most sensible thing to do was to go home and have a good rest. Maybe it was just not a good night for fishing after all they have tried all areas of the sea. 

But when the Lord Jesus Christ told Peter to let down the net,  he did.  Even if they didn't understand the wisdom of the command against their experience, Peter followed the Lord Jesus because of He is.  

There are things we may not understand.  It seems that the Lord does not know what's happening to your life.  He seems out of touch. Let us remember that the Lord is always in control. Let us trust Him for who He is. 

Luke 5:5  And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

Today's Thought: We fail when we do it alone. 

Simon was an experienced fisherman.  He knew all the tricks and ways to catch schools of fishes. But he was instructed by someone younger than him, and worst,  the fisherman was taught by a carpenter on how to fish. 

There are things we couldn't control.  We cannot control the weather.  We cannot stop time.  There are many things we failed at because there are circumstances beyond our hand.  Even how experienced we think or how masterful our ways are,  we fail. 

But there is victory in Jesus.  If we want to see great things in our lives,  let us allow God to have dominion over us. 

Luke 5:3  And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

Today's Thought: Unless we allow God to take possession of everything we are and we have,  He can never real King of our lives. 

Whatever we give to the Lord He will use for His honor and glory.  When the Lord entered the boat of Simon He took control of the same and Simon obeyed the Lord.  When the Lord comes into our life He also took control of our lives.

However,  God wants us to be willing to yield our lives,  our talent,  our wealth,  our all.  The Lord Jesus wants to be the Lord of our lives but we must obey Him. 

Let us pray for grace that we may be able to yield unto the Lord everything we have and all we are everyday of our lives.  Let us allow God to work in our lives. 

Luke 8:1-3
And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Galatians 5:13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that they may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 

1 Kings Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 

1 Timothy 1:19

Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

Matthew 9:36  But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Today's Thought: Let us pray for Christ's compassion to reign in our hearts. 

I have seen social experiments done to show how hard hearted people are.  In these experiments we have witnessed how inconsiderate and uncompassionate people could possibly be.  We could take to ignore a person needing immediate help. 

Jesus was moved with compassion as He saw the people in their dire conditions.  The King of kings showed us the meaning of loving others. In our conversation and actions we must not forget to calibrate as aligned with the compassionate of Christ.  

The compassion we show to people reflects the message of Christ.  Let us endeavor to have the eyes of our Master. 

Nehemiah 1:5And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

Ephesians 3:21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Today's Thought: God gets glory through His church. 

There are people who won't go to church as they would reasoned of people's imperfections.  These people only see the mistakes and failures of people in the church without knowing the purpose of the body of Christ. 

We can give money to people in the streets.  It is good,  but it is through church giving that God gets His glort.  We can appreciate concerts and performances but it is through the church that God gets His glory. 

Let us continue to serve God in the church. Through this we are giving God the glory He deserves.  

2 Peter 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Today's Thought: When you commit your life to Christ,  you allow God to shape your life. 

There is one thing in which I am dead earnest and that is the Communist 
cause. It is my life, my business, my religion, my hobby, my sweetheart, my 
wife and mistress, my bread and meat. I work at it in the daytime and dream 
of it at night. Its hold on me grows, not lessens as time goes on. Therefore 
I cannot carry on a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without 
relating to this force which both drives and guides my life. I evaluate people, 
books, ideas and actions according to how they effect the Communist cause 
and by their attitude toward it.

This is what a communist man wrote to her girlfriend.  This is the kind of commitment demanded of us Christians.  We must be dead earnest in giving our all to Christ.  The commitment that we have define the life we will have. 

When we remain in Christ we wi be able to know His will in our life.  It is not about the consequences of our commitment, it is about how Christ is molding the way He intends to do in our life. 

Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

AN EARNEST CHRISTIAN AND DEVOTED MISSIONARY,
A FAITHFUL AND AFFECTIONATE WIFE AND TENDER MOTHER,
A SINCERE AND WARM HEARTED FRIEND,
TO HER TO LIVE WAS CHRIST, AND TO DIE WAS GAIN

For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry

Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.

He must increase, but I must decrease.

    Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 

Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 

    And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

    No doubt you have had many a battle, and made many a false step. You have sometimes felt ready to faint, and been half disposed to go

 back to Egypt. But your Master has never entirely left you, and He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear. Then

    persevere steadily in your separation from the world, and never be ashamed of standing alone. Settle it firmly in your mind that the most

    decided Christians are always the happiest, and remember that no one ever said at the end of his course that he had been too holy, and

    lived too near to God.

    If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

    Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

    O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do no present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

    For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

    But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

2 Peter 1:3-4
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

On the last Lord’s day, as he strutted about the meetinghouse, he did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comfort, his head kept steady by being in the corner, and his hand grasping the rail. And so spying, Allen did quickly thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard and give him a grievous prick upon the hand.
“Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring up much above the floor and with terrible force strike his hand against the wall; and also to the great wonder of all, profanely exclaim in a loud voice, ‘Curse ye, woodchuck!’ He was dreaming so it seemed that a woodchuck had seized and bit his hand. But on coming to know where he was, and the great scandal he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speak. And I think he will not soon again go to sleep in worship.

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not

What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.

And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.