Daily Devotional; formerly Chaplains Corner

[reflex1]

Thank Terry - gotta share this one with a friend!

[BlackEagle]

PS... Psalm 27 is one example of what to pray

[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys, for the support here!

Today is another special day: Lag B-Omer, a day of observance in Judaism. It is a bit complicated, but I will attempt to give an explanation of what this day signifies. First off, “Lag” is not a word, but a number; 33. Hebrew letters are assigned values so they can be used for numbers as well as for words, similar to the way that I could use MIX as the number 1009, utilizing Roman Numerals. It might be even more confusing in that case, because MIX is a perfectly good English word!
So Lag B-Omer actually means the 33rd of Omer. What is Omer?

Leviticus 23:15 (KJV);
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

The Jewish people count these days, from Passover to Shavuot (the day of the giving of the Torah). This is a time of mourning among them, because this is the period during which the Jewish people waited at the base of Mt. Sinai for the return of Moses with the Talmud; a period when they failed to 'keep the faith'. On the second day of Passover, a measure of Barley was cut and brought to the temple as an offering. The name of this unit of measure was “Omer”, and this is the reason they named this period of numbering as Omer. Today is the 33rd day of this numbering.
OK, now WHY do they take note of this day?

Rabbi Akiba was one of the greatest Rabbi's recorded in the Talmud, and he had many students. A plague came to them during the counting of the Omer, and after thousands of them had died, the 33rd day of the Omer was free of further deaths.

Some say this day is when Manna was first found in the desert during the Exodus.

For whatever reason, today is the only day in the entire counting of the Omer which is free from mourning. Tomorrow, the solemnity returns until the 49 day, the completion of the count.

Let us, each one, pray for the Jewish people today. They are the ROOT from which Christianity has spring. They are the good olive tree, we are just grafted into it! Read Romans chapter 11 -
That is homework. And there just MIGHT be a pop-quiz on it later - -

May God bless each one of you, guys -

[ampaterry]

Today, I want to talk a little bit about our health. Many dietary experts today tell us to eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables. I have been known to disagree with the ‘experts’ on many things, and this is no exception.

Hebrews 5:12-14 (KJV);
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 of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful 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.

This is saying that many people who have had every opportunity to grow in the Lord have not done so; many should be out witnessing and teaching others, but instead they are still requiring witnessing and teaching themselves! They should have been weaned onto meat by now, but instead are still only able to handle milk. Delve into the Word of God! Read your bible! Listen to good bible based preaching! Meditate on Gods teachings! Begin the process of weaning yourself from a milk diet of only those nice warm fuzzy feeling teachings, and get into the strong meat of the Lord!

Now, stepping out of the spiritual, let me say a few words about our physical diet. I have lived long enough to see many foods get listed as bad for you, while at other times those same foods get listed as good for you. Remember the “no salt” push a few years ago, and the resultant disaster of manufacturing a baby food with zero salt in it? One group says raw vegetables, while another says some nutrients in them cannot be utilized by us unless they are cooked.
In the meat vs vegetable debate for weight control, I have to look at the animal kingdom. Rabbits are vegetarian. Lions are carnivors. How many skinny rabbits and fat lions do you see?
Seriously, we need a diet that utilizes all the foods given to us by God, and does so in a moderate manner.

And stepping back into the spiritual, we cannot overendulge on the things of God.

May God bless each one of you -

[pipeman525]

Terry I could not agree more. Give me a 1-1/2" thick ribeye any day over the Tofu equivalent.

[ampaterry]

Being meat hungry and eating tofu is like being thirsty and licking a dry creek bed.

[ampaterry]

Yesterday, we spoke a bit about our diet, and talked about the experts who say we need to eat less meat and more fruit and vegetables. I disagreed with the experts on the ‘meat’ part of that advice, because we need MORE meat in our spiritual diet. Today, I am going to agree with them on part of their advice. We need more fruit in our spiritual diet!

Galatians 5:22-24 (KJV);
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Who can possibly argue against that kind of a diet? Every one of us has a period of indigestion when the love becomes a little cold, and we need to warm it up a bit by closer exposure to the Lord! A time when the joy becomes a little bitter, and needs to be refreshed from the bottomless kettle that Jesus Christ offers to us. Sometimes the peace becomes a bit of heartburn, and we need a soothing drought from the fountain of peace that springs from the Gospel. Of course, we all feel that our longsuffering needs no tune-up, I mean; we sure don’t want to practice that! But often our gentleness and goodness could use a bit of enhancement from walking in the way of the greatest commandments Jesus gave to us; Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and Love thy neighbor as thyself. The last part of our Fruit diet is Faith. Sometimes it looses a bit of its flavor, and needs to be renewed.
I like to walk outside at night and look up at the stars spread across the sky. I think about the words of an SR71 pilot who turned off the interior lights on a moonless night at an altitude of 84,000 feet and observed the stars. He said just before he turned them back on to start his descent: “I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power.”
You can magnify the fruit of the spirit that dwells within you by observing the beauty of creation that is all around you -

May God bless each one of you, guys -

[BlackEagle]

Thanks again Terry, for two great notes devotionals. Spiritual food and physical food for thought...

[sub-moa]

I apologize to Jack if I caused any confusion with my quote about vengeance. It was indeed a reply to the threads on the previous page ( 51 ) as there was much discussion on the topic. Sometimes, due to my schedule ,I cant log on and talk as often as I would like, so I suppose this put my insert somewhat out of order. As for this being the place for the quote ... well religious discussions , quote against vengeance, I don't see a problem. Also a Happy Mothers Day to all moms that follow TFF.

[ampaterry]

As sub-moa said, today is mothers day, and I am going to exercise the prerogative of the author of these devotionals, and make this one a tribute to my mother.

Mom was born in 1905. In those days, only the very wealthy could afford to continue their education, the rest needed to go to work to help support the family. My mom went through the 5th grade in school, then did exactly that.

In spite of this lack of formal education, Mom had one of the finest minds I have ever encountered. I was enrolled in college level science classes while I was in high school, and I hit a snag one night in my math homework in one of these courses. Mom asked me to explain the problem to her, and I did. She asked a couple more questions about it, read part of the textbook, and explained how I needed to work the problem. I worked it that way, and when the homework was graded I discovered she was right.

Years before that incident, the federal education system convinced me that God did not exist, and I became an atheist at a very young age. Mom had a deep faith in Jesus Christ, even though she seldom attended church. I would bring this evidence or that problem home to her, hoping to help her shed this 'crutch' of religion. None of it ever phased her in the least, other than the obvious hurt I caused her by being a non-believer.

As I continued to study, around the tenth grade I began to see problems with the idea that science had all the answers, and I started seeking. After more years, God revealed to me the truth of Mom's faith, and did it in such a way that I have never wavered since. I am very glad that this happened while my Mom was alive to see it, because her pleasure at this was obvious. Now, she is in the arms of Jesus, who she loved and worked to be like all those years.

Thank you, Mom, for all that you did for me.

And thank you, Lord, for giving me a mother that could put up with my years of idiocy, and for keeping her here long enough to see me recover from it.

What can you do to please your mother? Strive for righteousness!
Proverbs 23:24-25 (KJV);
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

May God bless all of you, guys, and give a SPECIAL blessing to all mothers here today -

[BlackEagle]

I agree, Terry;
My mother had this verse posted on her desk where she could see it every day, and I know she prayed it for us regularly:

3 John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

I too am grateful to God for a Godly mother.

[ampaterry]

I believe that here in the USA, in 2012, such mothers are a rare thing, BlackEagle.

For today:

In the Scotland, up in the highland grazing areas, a sheep will often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they can't get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can't jump back again. When the grass is gone, the sheep will start bleating in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint that they cannot stand, and then he will put a rope around himself, and he will go over the edge and down to the sheep, and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death.

Do you wonder why the shepherd does not go down and get the sheep when it is first stranded?

The answer is simple: Until the sheep have eaten all the grass, they would foolishly jump back down to reach it as soon as they were rescued. Until they have become weakened from hunger, they would fight the shepherd who was there to rescue them, and often cause themselves to fall off the cliff to their death.

Does that remind you of the story of the Prodigal son in Luke 15, starting at verse 11? The prodigal son was not pursued by the father that loved him; he had to run his course, he had to waste his substance, he had to be ready to return, and then the Father received him gratefully.

Isn’t this the way it is with you and me as well? We drift away from God, and we don’t want to come back until we are broke, hungry and miserable as the Prodigal! We will have no thought of him as long as there is good grass to eat in the place where we have wandered! If anyone attempts to bring us back, we will rebuff them, and insist on staying exactly where we are – until we are completely sick of our condition.

May God bless you, guys -

[BlackEagle]

Spot on, Terry;
I don't know many shepherds over here, but I do know sheep are pretty dumb...watched a small flock run right into a fence, bounce off and try it again. Meantime the sheepdog was trying to get them to go in the right direction all along. "All we like sheep have gone astray..."

I was on staff at a camp in Colorado. We would watch for "teachable moments"...the campers would have a problem to solve. When they ran out of ideas they were ready to learn something new from their counselors/instructors.

[ampaterry]

I talk a great deal about our armed forces. I speak of their bravery and sacrifice, how they risk their lives for you and for me, and how they do it for so little pay. We also know that members of the armed forces subject themselves to a chain of command that can place them in peril at any moment, and from which they have virtually no respite. To make matters even worse, they are under constant control by rules and regulations which change at irregular intervals concerning when it is OK to use the weapon they carry. All of that is so very true, and God Bless every member of our fighting forces. They are the reason we live in safety here in our country.

But today is a different day entirely. Today, we recognize a completely different group of men and women who have lost their lives because they put themselves in an almost identical set of circumstances, yet did it here in our own country. Today is Peace Officers Memorial Day, a day set aside in by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 to recognize the sacrifice of the law enforcement people in our country that have lost their lives or become disabled in the line of duty. We owe these people every bit as much respect and gratitude as we do those that have served in the armed forces. In reality, these people ARE in the armed forces. They face evil every day in a completely different form! The evils these people face every day are from people in our country that are indistinguishable from the rest of us; they wear no uniform. So, not only do our peace officers have to risk their lives in combating our enemies, but they must first determine WHO the enemy is! God bless every member of our peace officer agencies at city, county, state and federal levels.

Lord, we ask that you would watch over all peace officers today.
We ask for your blessing and comfort to every person that has lost a loved one performing this service for the rest of us.
We ask that you would help each one of us to recognize that these men and women deserve our respect, our gratitude, and our love as they perform their duties.
And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

[jack404]

Amen

we have ours on Sept 29 each year

its timed for Sept 30 in the Uk and was originally called Sheriffs day

National Police Remembrance Day

Each year, across Australia and the Southwest Pacific National Police Remembrance Day is observed at services held on the 29th of September.

National Police Remembrance Day is a significant day of commemoration where people can reflect on each individual police force and remember those officers killed on duty. It provides an opportunity to honour all Police who have given their lives serving the Australian and Southwest Pacific communities.

The National Police Memorial was opened in 2006 with the names of 719 fallen officers inscribed on brass touch stones, including the respective officer’s rank, name, jurisdiction and place and date of death. Currently the names of 749 police officers are inscribed on the National Police Memorial, dating back to the 1803 death of Constable Joseph Luker in Sydney.

[BlackEagle]

Amen. I have a deep respect for them and the work they do.
Thanks Terry.

[ampaterry]

The saddest thing with Law Enforcement is that NO ONE HEARS about their daily sacrifices and risks. NO ONE HEARS about the child they find and return to his frantic mother in the store. NO ONE HEARS about the gal who has a flat on a lonely road at 3 AM and is helped by a local deputy. But let a cop slap some punk who DESPERATELY deserves it, and it makes headline news. Let a cop shoot someone who was shooting at them and there will be an investigation to see if they shot the perp too quickly or shot him too many times.
Very irritating for all of us, and TRAGIC for them - -


For today:

The Crystal Cathedral has gone broke. When construction was finished in 1981, Robert H. Schuller preached it for 25 years, then retired in 2006 and put his son in the pulpit. In 2008 he removed his son and put his daughter in the pulpit. In 2010, with fifty five million dollars of debt and plagued by lawsuits and attachments, they declared bankruptcy. In 2012, the building was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
From it's initial construction, I questioned the wisdom of putting so much money into a building. I thought about this when I read about an incident that happened to Clarence Jordan, author of the "Cotton Patch" New Testament Translation. He was getting a red-carpet tour of another minister's church. With pride the minister pointed to the rich, imported pews and luxurious decorations. As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple.
"That cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars," the minister said with a satisfied smile.
"You got cheated," said Jordan. "Times were when Christians could get them for free."
Even in our Christian things, we run the risk of descending into materialism! We run the risk of losing sight of what is IMPORTANT! Let’s read some of the words of Paul to the church at Philippi.

Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV);
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

If any of you is ever in this area and does NOT have a church home here, stop by for a Sunday service at 11 AM. You won’t find imported pews, nor $10,000 crosses, but you will find folks who gather to worship the Lord together as neighbors, friends, and brothers and sisters in the Family of God.

[sub-moa]

Originally Posted by ampaterry

-


A father and his young daughter got along extremely well, and they spent a lot of time together. Then the father noticed a change in his daughter. If he went for a walk, she excused herself from going. If he watched a movie on TV, she excused herself and spent the time in her room. He grieved about it, but did not want to intrude upon her newly desired solitude. When his birthday came, she presented him with a pair of exquisitely worked slippers, saying, "This is what I have been making for you for the last three months."
Then he understood what had been the matter lately, and he said, "My darling, I like these slippers very much, but next time buy the slippers and let me have you all the days. I would rather have my child than anything she can make for me."

I Read this story and it occured to me that this can work both ways; Today is my Dad's birthday, and when I was growing up my dad worked two jobs to make sure I had all he thought I needed to be happy. He was a good man and a good father. He passed away last year at 87 and I miss him a lot. If there are any young dads following TFF- know this, If I could change one thing growing up I would have my dad quit one of the jobs and take me fishing or shooting more often. The things he bought that he thought I needed to be happy were'nt worth missing the time with him.

[ampaterry]

Wise words, sub-moa.
I guy has a very natural DRIVE to support his family as well as he can; it is built right into him, and can make one a work-a-holic VERY easily.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have parents that will do nothing at all for their families.
The proper course, as in so many things, lies in the middle ground -

[tcox4freedom]

Originally Posted by sub-moa

I Read this story and it occured to me that this can work both ways; Today is my Dad's birthday, and when I was growing up my dad worked two jobs to make sure I had all he thought I needed to be happy. He was a good man and a good father. He passed away last year at 87 and I miss him a lot. If there are any young dads following TFF- know this, If I could change one thing growing up I would have my dad quit one of the jobs and take me fishing or shooting more often. The things he bought that he thought I needed to be happy were'nt worth missing the time with him.

Originally Posted by ampaterry

Wise words, sub-moa.
I guy has a very natural DRIVE to support his family as well as he can; it is built right into him, and can make one a work-a-holic VERY easily.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have parents that will do nothing at all for their families.
The proper course, as in so many things, lies in the middle ground -

One of my biggest regrets I'm currently living with is my inability to spend time actually doing stuff with my kids.

My wife & I worked trying become more financially secure & stable in our relationship. When we thought we were there, we started a family. Then two years after our first child was born I lost almost everything. I even "almost" lost my life to illness.

Today, I'm unable to do all the quality things other husbands & dads do with their families. I can't play ball, go to daddy/daughter dances or soccer games. I can hardly even get up & attend church on some days.

In our 12+ years as parents, we have only been able to go on "ONE" family vacation. We've made reservations on several. But, my health seems to cause us to cancel them because it's just to painful for me to travel much.

If I had it to do over again, I would start a family sooner. The one lesson I've learned is there is NEVER the "right" time for anything. 24hrs a day is all we get and we never know when we may not get that.

-

[BlackEagle]

Re: the Crystal Cathedral. I can remember at our church Annual General meetings how the treasurer would summarise the church financial expenditures for the previous year in two categories: Ministry, and Bricks and Mortar. The congregtion was always careful to see to it that the Ministry part of the budget was greater than the Bricks and Mortar. Our priority was on doing God's work, carrying out the Great Commission, not building monuments.

It makes me think of 1 Peter 2, especially vv4-5, "As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

[pipeman525]

OK guys I did not want to lay this one on you but these last couple of posts have convinced me to listen to that little voice in my head. I have been a single dad for 6 years now and have a beautiful 17yo daughter. When I first got custody of her she was a little rough around the edges but she saw the changes God made in my life and decided to go to church. Things got better from there and we had a great relationhip based on trust and honesty. I found out recently that honesty and trust was only one way and she had been seeing someone who was 22 behind my back. I found out last Friday that she was 5 months pregnant from this predator and Saturday she ran away. My first instinct was to give this kid a 300yd running head start and loading one bullet in my SKS as that would be sporting. Neither her mother or I knew where she was for about a day but she called my ex and said she was on a bus to her house. Needless to say I was and still am devastated and can't remember hurting like this ever. I begged God to get rid of my anger not realizing the pain would follow. All I can say is at least she is safe and away from this kid. Please pray for both of us and I can only hope this will work itself out for God's glory.

[pipeman525]

By the way on a lighter note my neighbor and shooting buddy reminded me that a 300yd running head start would not be fair or sporting. He suggested at least 500 yards using only iron sights.

[ampaterry]

Lord, we uplift Pipeman to you -

He is hurting, Father, and we ask that you would put your loving arms around him and bring him comfort and rest in your strength.

We ask that you would be with his daughter, also, Lord.
We ask that you would strengthen her for the days ahead and for everything she will face.
We ask that you would be with this girls mother as well, and bring her some measure of peace in this situation.

And for this 22 year old man, Lord -
We ask for justice, but NOT by the hand of man.

And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd -

Amen -

[BlackEagle]

Amen