Acts 15:26

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

Today's Thought: Let us be willing to sacrifice for Christ - this is real discipleship.

Bob Simmons had just led the Oklahoma State football team to their first victory in ten years. However, a serious kidney problem put his career at stake. To save his life, his wife, Linda, gave her kidney to him. The surgery was successful thanks to the risk Linda Simmons took for her husband.

We love the Lord as a response to the love he has extended to us. The result of the Lord's love to us should be a life being lived for the glory of the Lord. It should not be a life for self alone.

Commitment to Christ is not a guarantee that one will not face hardships and suffering. There were always be people who will oppose God's work. We should pay the price sacrificially and joyfully.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

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.

Today's Thought: Just live the Bible, the very Word of God.

Sir Walter Scott understood the importance of the Word of God. On this deathbed, he asked a friend to read him the Bible. With his vast library of histories and novels to choose from, Scott simply said: There is but on book - bring the Bible.

There are several resources to be found right now. A single click can bring us several information on anything we want to know. But the most precious resource we can have is the Word of God. While there is a wide access to the Word of God, only few people take time to read the Book.

Many Christians failed miserably to take notice the importance of the Bible in their lives as if they are not yet born again. The Bible is perfect and we must allow the Word of God to mold our lives the way God wants it. We should read it and treasure it.

Exodus 35:21

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.

Today's Thought: You should give and not lose it.

A chaplain visited soldiers seriously wounded in battle. When he came to a young soldier who lost his arm, he offered some comforting words: You have lost an arm in a great cause. The young man answered: No, Sir, I didn't lose it, I gave it.

The Christian life is best lived when we don't cling to everything and anything for ourselves. It is the recognition of the grace of God being extended to us that allows us to be grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Christ didn't lose His life on the cross, but He gave it. This should inspire to be a willing sacrifice to anything God wants to do with our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:5-8

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.

Today's Thought: Following the Word of God will never go wrong.

Corrie ten Boom once said: Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Rather than trying to understand our future, let us learn to trust God and just live according to His Word. It is not about seeing the obstructions ahead, but it is knowing whom you are listening to.

We cannot clearly see the path in front of us. But the Lord does. He knows full well what will happen tomorrow, next week or next year. He knows every part and event of our lives. God knows the exact place and moment of our death, even. We don't need more information, we need more faith.

If we will walk by faith and not by sight we will have confidence on our Lord. Let us try to understand what is happening around us, but let us learn to trust Him who understands it all.

James 1:2-4

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.

Today's Thought: If are grounded on the promise of Heaven, we can rejoice when trials come.

The Decian Persecution tested the faith of Christians in 249 AD. Emperor Decius ordered every Roman citizen to perform an offering to the Roman gods before a magistrate. The penalty of disobeying the decree was death. While there were Christians who succumbed to the pressure of the Roman power, there were those who chose death than deny Christ.

While most of us don't face life and death, most of us have to endure trials and struggles. Rather than seeing these trials are unfair and surprising, we should see them as the faithfulness of God. We should remember that God remains in control.

Jesus says: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." While we are not asking for trials and sufferings, we must focus our eyes on God when they come.