Thought For Today - December 8 - Purposeful Living !

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Thought For Today - December 8
Purposeful Living!

As Christians, what is our purpose for living? Our prime purpose and goal in life should be to know God and to make him known to others. Whenever someone asks us what our goal in life is, our answer as Christians ought to be: to be a perfect child of God as Jesus is, and to be like him.
From the moment we are born into the family of God when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we begin as little babies, and we start to grow up to become the mature children of God, and our chief goal ought to be to become the perfect children of God as Jesus is, though it is impossible to reach a complete state of sinless perfection in ourselves on this earth because of our own sin nature and all the sin and corruption all around us.
We should be growing and maturing daily ,and becoming closer to God daily, and becoming more like him until finally we see him in his glory when our vile bodies are changed and made like unto his glorious body.
The opportunity to become the children of God is extended to everyone, for God has said that whosoever will, may come and as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the children of God. What a gift has been given to us! What an opportunity is ours to be made perfect even as Jesus is perfect.
Once we have been born into God's family, we begin to run a race, and the object of the race when we reach the finish line is to attain to the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The finish line is not on this side of the grave, but on the other side, but the starting line begins on this side. The moment we are born into the family of God we should no longer, as Jesus taught "lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is , there will your heart be also"
Starting out as new born babies, we ought to feed on the milk of the word. as new born babies, we ought to "desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." 1 Peter 2:2.
The purpose of feeding babies milk is to help them to grow. If babies did not grow and go on to more solid food, we would be worried about them and consider them to be retarded. So it is with us as the children of God. We are to start out on the simple plan of salvation, the milk of the word, as it were, and gradually advance to more solid food, the meat of the word.
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Hebrews 5:12-14.
We ought to be daily maturing, and growing, and getting closer to the perfection of Christ. Our strength and our growth ought to come from our feasting on the meat of the word, and by mature prayer and meditation with the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

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Thought For Today - December 7 - Take Care Of God's Business, and he will take care of ours!

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Thought For Today December 7
Take care of God's business and he will take care of ours.

If we will take care of God's business, he will take care of ours. Jesus said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6: 33.
We who are Christians ought to be so wrapped up in the things of God , and be so busy in our ministry for him that we have no time to be anxious for our food, or clothing, or any of our needs. As Christians we ought to be living in complete reverse to the way that most people in the world live. Most people spend about ninety nine percent of their time seeking for food, clothing, and shelter, and things that they think will make them happy and comfortable, and if they have about one percent of their time left, they offer it to God.
This is why there is so much unhappiness and discontent in the world. God's plan for our lives is for us to spend one hundred percent of our time in loving and serving him, and being so wrapped up in heavenly and godly things that we have very little time to think about our food, clothing and shelter, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that this is one of the most difficult passages of scripture to believe and obey, and yet it is the secret and key to successful living and power with God.
Someone related to me some time ago, whether or not it is true I do not know, that when Thomas Edison was working on some of his great inventions, he would work in a room without windows and without clocks, and he would be so engrossed in his work that he would lose all consciousness of time and forget to eat and sleep for days. It was said that when he got married, on his wedding day they were missing him during his wedding reception, and finally they found him locked in his work shop working on one of his great inventions. As I said earlier, I do not know if this story is true, but if it is, it is a good illustration as to how we Christians ought to be engrossed in the business of the Lord.
God wants us to seek him first and put him first to the point that we are so engrossed in him and the work he has given us to do that we actually forget about all our needs and lose consciousness of our selves.
When a person becomes a child of God he is baptized with the Holy Spirit and he becomes a member of the body of Christ, and God gives him a special gift to be used in his service to enhance his kingdom. It is our responsibility to find out what that special gift is and develop it and use it, and become engrossed in it for the furtherance of the kingdom of Christ.
"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching, or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12: 6-8.
Whatever we do we should do it with all our might and to the glory of God. When we are so busy doing God's work that we forget about the food we need, and the clothes we need, and the comforts that we think we need and would like , then we are really believing and trusting God's word and relying on him that our " heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of all these things". God honors our faith and all our needs will be automatically met without us having to spend too much time worrying about them, when we could be spending this time serving God. If we will diligently take care of God's business, then you can be sure he will take good care of ours.

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Thought For Today - December 6 -Greatly To Be Praised !

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Thought For Today - December 6
Greatly to Be Praised!

Our God is a great God and greatly to be praised. Sometimes we do not give God enough praise for who he is, and what he is. We do not really worship God enough. We ought to spend more time in prayer and meditation, not necessarily asking God for things, (although he has told us to ask and we will receive), but because he has already given us salvation and eternal life, and given us an inheritance in his kingdom. He supplies our daily needs and give us sufficient grace to meet every emergency. We ought to spend much time in prayer, just loving God, telling him that we love him and thank him for his great love for us. We can see God's love for us all around us in the things which he has made and given to us for our comfort and enjoyment. Even among people who cannot read or write, or who have never heard the word of God, they can look around them and experience the love of God.
It is very presumptuous for us to enjoy all the benefits and joys and pleasures that God has given to us without praising him for them. Did you ever think of how presumptuous it is for us to sink our teeth into a beautiful apple that God has made and given to us for our welfare and use, and just take this for granted without any thought of God? Did you ever stop to think how many of God's creatures have been destroyed and have had to die to support our life here on earth?
Psalm 19 verse 12 says: " Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults." We begin to have secret faults when our minds wander away from God to things of ourselves and things of the world. We cannot sin while our minds are stayed on Jesus. It is when our minds are not focused on Jesus that we are drawn away into temptation and sin. No matter what we are doing , or where we are, Jesus can always be found standing in the shadow of our thoughts and mind if we chose to have him there. He has promised to keep us in perfect peace when our minds are stayed on him,
Psalm 19 verse 14 tells us: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." If our heart is constantly and continually meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ twenty four hours a day, every day, seven days a week, and if we are in a continual attitude of prayer and praise, and if our love is constantly and continually flowing out to him, and his love is flowing back to us, then the meditation of our heart will be right, and as a result the words of our mouth will be right and acceptable to him, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Jesus said: "That men ought always to pray and not to faint." Take note of the word "always". "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Ephesians 6:18. "Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5: 17. God is greatly to be praised!

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Thought For Today - December 5 - Where will You Stand ?

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Thought For Today - December 5
Where Will You Stand?

“And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. and the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.." John 18:15-18.
Some of us Christians are like Peter was. We claim to be Christians, and to be saved. Down deep in our heart we want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but when the chips are down, and the curtain is raised in front of us, we become cowardly and back off, and fail to raise our colors to let everyone know where we really stand. Peter loved the Lord and was interested in the things of the Lord, but he didn't really want to get involved , and be identified with the Lord at this time because it would have cost him something. It might have even cost him his life. Instead, he made himself comfortable around the enemy's fire warming himself.
Let us examine ourselves. Are we like Peter? When we are brought to task are we a little bit afraid to raise our flag and show our true colors and let everyone know exactly where we stand?
We may find ourselves in a group of two or three people, or perhaps even more. One person in the group may be taking his stand all alone for the Lord Jesus Christ and witnessing for him. The rest of the crowd may be scoffing and ridiculing that person, and calling him fanatic. Where will you choose to stand? Will you stand beside the one who is giving a positive testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, or will you choose to stay where it is comfortable beside the enemy's fire, and pretend to go along with the crowd, even though down deep in your heart you know it is driving you crazy?
Some of us want to be secret followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we don't want it to cost us anything. Where will you stand against the issues of known sin? Will you take a firm positive stand against those things which you absolutely know are immoral, and sinful, and displeasing and dishonoring to the Lord, or will you take the road of least resistance. Will you go a little way down the road of sin with the crowd just so that you do not lose their friendship and admiration , and you reason that while you are walking with them you can keep your fingers crossed, as it were, because you don't really want to go their way, but somehow if you can remain popular with them, you might win them to your side without it costing you anything?
Jesus said that no man starts to build a tower until he first sits down to count the cost to see if he has the wherewithal to finish it. And no man is fit for the kingdom of heaven who having accepted the Lord and started following him, looks back on the old crowd and the old ways. Fellow Christian, have we really counted the cost of being a real true Christian and follower of Jesus?

I believe that the maid who kept the door of the palace where Jesus was taken lost all respect for Peter because he was seeking his own safety. I also believe that when the world sees us as lukewarm Christians who are afraid to name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and afraid to call sin by its' rightful name, and afraid to witness for the Lord, and afraid to take a good firm positive stand for the right against evil, - lose respect for us as well
No wonder artists have painted pictures of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings with lace dresses on him. No wonder the world has the impression that Christians are a bunch of effeminate sissies who can't make it in reality, and have to resort to wishful thinking. No wonder the world is losing respect for our great country which was founded on principles of Christianity.
Christian, where will you stand when you hear someone taking the name of the Lord in vain and being disrespectful to him? Where do you stand on the murder (abortion) of millions of innocent babies? Where do you stand on the break up of the traditional family, and same sex marriages? Where do you stand on the clear teaching of Romans chapter 1? Where do you stand on the clear teaching of all the Word of God, the Bible? Will you go along with the world and comfort yourself by the enemy's fire, or will you stand faithfully by the side of your Savior? The Lord Jesus Christ himself looses respect for the cowardly Christian.
"I know thy works, and thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15.
God is not a mealy mouth preacher. Can you imagine God vomiting out Christians? How would you like to be a food particle in God's mouth, so distasteful to him that he has to vomit . For this to be true, all you have to do is to be like Peter was, and seek the comfort and safety of the enemy's fire before he eventually came to his senses and repented with weeping, and because of his testimony that Jesus was the Christ sent from God, Jesus called his testimony the rock on which his church was built.
If any of us have been fearful of standing for the Lord, Let us repent with weeping, and turn again to our first love and for all that he stands for.

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Thought For Today - December 4 - Above Every Name !

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Thought For Today - December 4
Above Every Name!

Who is the person that is most talked about in the world today? Everywhere you go, you cannot escape it, where ever you go today you will hear everyone from all walks of life talking about this person, yet they speak of him in blasphemous, and dishonoring terms, and use his name in vain, and drag his name through the mud, and trample his love gift under foot. This person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, we Christians, who claim to be the born again, recreated children of God, shy away from talking directly about the Lord Jesus Christ. In our daily conversation with other Christians, and the outside world, how often are we actually talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and sharing with our friends how wonderful he is? We talk about our church, and our pastors. We talk about our Sunday school class. We talk about all kinds of activities, and programs and service, but it seems to me that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself is terribly neglected.
Jesus never intended for us to separate the sacred from the secular. He wants to be involved in everything we do. Sometimes we tend to put the Lord Jesus Christ in a glass case and put him on the shelf and talk about things that pertain to him, but this is not his proper place. He does not want to be an object of conversation, he wants to be involved in it.
When we are sitting in our living room the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be as common in our conversation as anyone else there. He wants to be part of our family group. He wants to be our guest for dinner every day. How we ought to really love the Lord Jesus Christ after all he has done for us! We ought to praise his name and exalt him in all our doings.
Even when we are eating an apple we can love Jesus because he made all things and sustains all things and freely gives us all things to enjoy.
So often the church, the activities, and the service programs in which we are involved take the place of our actual, personal relationship with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these programs are good and should not be neglected, but these should come about and be the result of our deep love and gratitude, and personal relationship with the Lord, not as a substitute for it.
What a wonderful person the Lord Jesus Christ is. How he loves us , and how we ought to love him in return! "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3: 16. God did not send the church to die for us. He did not send angels, he did not send pastors, he did not send activities, and he did not ordain services to be the propitiations for our sins. No, he sent the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us and to be raised again for our justification. He alone is worthy of our praise and worship. He alone is the object of our love. He ought to be the center of our life and conversation.
Don't just say: "I am happy", but rather say: "The Lord Jesus Christ makes me happy". Don't just say: "this is a good day", but rather say: "The Lord has given us another beautiful day". Don't say: "I have a new dress, or a new car, or a beautiful house, or things", but rather say: "The Lord has showered me with all these blessings to enjoy." Don't avoid calling him by name by just saying in a vague way, "Lord," "The Lord," or "God," or "the man upstairs," or "the creator" , or "the divinity". These are all proper names for him to be sure, but he wants to be known in a familiar way and known and proclaimed as the Lord Jesus Christ whom we know and love as our own personal savior.
We sing, O, how I love Jesus, but many times he is grossly neglected and ignored from our conversation and activities, and from actual involvement in our lives.
None can proclaim, with honesty, The Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal savior and Lord, and acquaintance, and object of love unless he has been born again. Jesus said: "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God". John 3:3. "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 7:21. And what is the will of our Father? It is to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, all our mind , and all our soul. No man calleth Jesus Lord except he be led and taught of the Holy Spirit.


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Thought For Today - December 3 - Teaching Children The meaning Of Salvation And Holiness !

Thought for Today - June 18, 2025
Teaching Children The meaning of salvation and Holiness!

By: Robert A. Searles
I thought it might be profitable to some if I shared with anyone who might be interested, the following Sunday school lesson which I taught to my sixth grade class some time ago. This is a simple lesson meant to be taught or read to children at the fifth or sixth grade level.
Boys and girls if you are here in church or Sunday School this morning, you are not here by accident. You are here listening to the Sunday School lesson or the preacher because God is calling to you, and inviting you to make plans to come and live with him in his beautiful home in heaven forever, and enjoy all the good things he has to offer.
God is calling you to himself, and the bible says: "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ( or behavior); because it is written, be ye holy as I am holy" 1 Peter 1: 15, 16.
What does it mean to be holy? To be holy means to be spiritually clean - not soiled or dirtied by sin, or bad thoughts, or bad behavior, disobedience, or unbelief. God is holy. God is perfectly clean spiritually, no sin in God's heart or mind. God has never done anything wrong. Jesus , who is God in human flesh, never sinned. He is perfectly spiritually clean. God's home in heaven is spotlessly clean and beautiful. Nothing there is dirty or unclean, and nothing can enter God's home in heaven that is dirty or unclean.
If we want to someday go and live with God forever in his beautifully clean and spotless home in heaven, we first must be made holy or clean. This does not just mean to be clean on the outside of our bodies where everyone can see, but God sees into our hearts and minds, and when God looks into our hearts and minds and sees how we might be angry or mean to our brothers and sisters, and playmates, or if we lie, or steal, or cheat in school, or do those things that we know we should not do, then he knows that we are not yet clean or holy enough to live with him in heaven because these things would never be allowed in heaven.

Lets play a pretend game this morning. Lets pretend that Linda lives in a big beautiful house, and has her own beautiful room with thick wall to wall carpeting, and beautiful furniture and fancy curtians, and bedspreads. Lets pretend that Linda has invited her cousin Jane to come spend the weekend with her in this beautiful clean house. She is to sleep in Linda’s bed, and walk on the expensive carpet and enjoy every thing that Linda has because Linda called and invited her.
Now lets pretend that it is also Easter Sunday Morning and both girls are planning to go to Sunday School and church together, and Jane’s parents had bought Jane an expensive brand new spotless white dress for the occasion. Jane is all nice and clean and dressed in her pretty white dress when she arrives at her cousin Linda’s farm home.
Now, we know that no farm would be complete without some pigs and a pig pen. Pigs are by nature, very dirty animals, and they like to bury themselves in the same muck and mire that they go to the bathroom in, if you know what I mean. What a mess a pig pen is, and how it smells! If you have ever seen one or been near one you will know what I mean.
Lets pretend that before Jane goes inside her cousin Linda’s home that she meets Joe S Tempter. The middle initial "S", by the way, stands for Satan. So Mr. Tempter meets Jane before she goes into the house and he says to her, "come on down by the barn and see the new piglets that have just been born." Of course, Jane , being a city girl, and not able to see piglets every day, forgets about her beautiful clean white dress, and that she is going to stay in her cousin's beautiful home, and runs with Joe Satan Tempter down to the pig pen.
Well, can you guess what happened? Sure enough, while Jane is climbing on the fence that surrounds the pig pen to get a better look at the pigs, her feet slip and - ku-plunk - splash, right down into that stinking muck and mire with the pigs, - beautiful Jane , pretty white dress, and all. Oh, what a mess! Oh, what a stink! Now how could she ever go into her cousin's house, and walk on her carpets, and sleep in her bed as dirty and smelling as badly as she did, she thought?
Happily, Linda’s mother saw what had happened, and she ran downs to where Jane had fallen into the mess she was in, and she said to Jane , Oh! What a mess! If you will come with me I will clean you up and give you my own daughter's best dresses to wear, even better and prettier and more expensive than you had on, and then you will be clean again, and you will again be fit to walk on these beautiful carpets and sleep in this nice clean bed, and you will no longer smell bad.
What did Jane have to do to be able to stay in her cousin's house, and sleep in her cousin's bed? She had to agree with Linda’s mother that she was filthy dirty and smelled bad and needed to be cleaned up and put on different clothes. Jane accepted what was offered to her and became cleaner and smelled better even than before,
This is just a pretend story to illustrate in a similar way how God has provided a way for us to be made clean or holy in his sight, and fit to live in his home in heaven.

God looked down from heaven and saw all the men and women and boys and girls that he created and loved being tempted by Satin and Falling into Sin, and by his amazing grace, provided a way by which they could be rescued from their sins and made clean and fit to live with him in Heaven forever.
The bible says that while we were yet sinners or stinking and smelling bad before God because of our sins, Christ died for us on the cross and offered his own blood to wash us and cleanse us from our filthiness and tear off our old filthy rags and to be clothed with his righteousness and make us fit to live with him.

In order for God to make us clean, we must agree with God that we are sinners, and are unclean before him, and ask him to forgive our sins and come into our heart and make us clean through his son the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we have believed in Jesus and asked him to forgive our sins and come into our hearts and make us clean, then we have become the children of God, and we need to be very careful to keep ourselves clean and not become dirty again.

The world in which we live is full of sins and evil, and is like a filthy pig pen as compared to the holiness of God. We need to ask God to help us to stay away from all those things that smell bad to him. Satan, the tempter, goes around seeing who he can trap and cause to fall into the pig pen again, but God is there to help us if we will obey him.

Some of the things that can make us dirty and smell bad before God are: lying, cheating, being mean to others; disobeying parents; smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages,; taking drugs; watching bad television shows; going to wrong places; following bad friends. If we are to be holy as God is holy, we must stay away from all of these things. We must think of God often, pray often, read his word often, and ask him to save us. This is what it means for us to be saved and be holy and clean as he wants us to be.
Is there any one this morning who would like to ask Jesus to save them and make them clean in his sight so that some day they can be sure to go and live with him forever in heaven?

Dear Reader, This invitation was given at the end of the lesson to boys and girls in our Sunday School class. Whatever your age may be, this invitation is extended to you as well.
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Thought For Today - December 2 - King Of Kings !

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Thought For Today December 2
King of Kings!

What would our lives be like today if the Lord Jesus Christ was returned from exile, and was ruling the earth from his throne in Jerusalem, as he has promised that someday he will? Oh Lord, hasten the day of your return. I pray that it might even be during the time of our sojourn on earth. Even so, while you are yet in heaven, we want you to be the real King of our lives, and we want your will to be accomplished in our lives, as it would be if we were already in heaven, of if you were already on earth.
You have told us to pray for thy kingdom to come and for thy will to be done on earth even as it is in heaven. We who have been redeemed by your blood are your children, the sheep of your pasture, the subjects of your kingdom, and part of your inheritance.
I pray that you will help me to allow your minister, the Holy Spirit to sit in the executive seat of my life and direct my affairs as you see fit. Help me to be disciplined to allow the Holy Spirit to lead, direct, and command. Help me to submit every thought for his approval before I allow that thought to become a part of me; to submit every word for approval before I let it fly from my lips; and to submit every plan of action before I move in any direction.
If Jesus were ruling on earth today, the law as given by Moses would be strictly obeyed. There would be an unfeigned love for God the Father; the love of our neighbor as ourselves; and all that God has created would be loved as well. If Jesus was now ruling on earth there would be no murder, no stealing, no adultery, no false witness, no covetousness; parents would be honored, children would be obedient, there would be no sin, no death, no sickness, no worry nor anxiety.
"Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done , as in heaven, so on earth." Luke 11: Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

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