July 31
“The temptations in your life are no different from what other's experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand, When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure” - 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT
I am sure you, like me, have found over the years that the Christian race has not always been flat and smooth – there have been hurdles to jump, obstacles we bumped into, walls and mountains to climb, and barriers that barred our way. Placed by the devil they have been designed to make us trip, stumble and fall, with the intention to so dishearten us that we throw in the towel and quit. Hurdles can both test and strengthen our trust in God. With the right attitude – proper perspective, they can be overcome – expect to fail and your chances of success are dramatically decreased.
Richard Daly, a Christian journalist, reminiscing about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, tells the story of Great Britain's 400 meter runner, Christine Ohuruogu, also a Christian. During their interview, Christine spoke of her faith and the difference it had made in her life. On the morning of the race Daly felt moved to text Christine the following Biblical message: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” - Phillipians 4:13 KJV. Later that day Christine won gold, beating her closest rival, USA's Sonya Richards. As Christine said after the race, when the text message arrived she was at rock-bottom – she had hit a barrier, her confidence was shaken, and she felt inadequate to the task ahead. It had taken the reassurance of God's Word to re-focus her mind and thinking and get her back to her well-tested strategy. And the strategy? Don't put it off, deal with the obstacle immediately. See the situation for what it is – look it in the eye - face it head-on – break it down into smaller, manageable steps, and accept that in Christ's strength it would be overcome. Christine said a prayer and re-focused on her goal
(Richard A Daly (2012), “The Christian Race.”
As long as we are on earth there will be sickness, disappointments, troubles and trials, ours, or those of our loved ones, that will come our way, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” - Romans 8:37-39.
Click on the picture to the right to hear today's music - “When I Get To The End of The Way”.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
