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Monday, January 26, 2015
Powdery snow on a rural landscape in upstate Michigan uncluttered by foot or paw prints
Photo by Howard Blichfeldt
"Jesus Breaks Every Fetter"
Listen to this
message on
your
audio player.
"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control" (Proverbs 25:28). "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled" (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
There's an old chorus from our Bible School days that speaks of the fetters (chains) that keep us bound in our life of sin. The word, "fetter" is not a word used often these days but it is used in various hymns describing the wonderful freedom that Christ brings.
Some 250 years ago British statesman Edmund Burke wrote, "Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."
You might need to read the above quote several times to more fully grasp the message that Burke conveys. Clearly, one of the great virtues lacking in our day is that of self-control. As Burke observed we can see the awful results of those whose "passions forge their fetters". The binding chain of sin is disregarded or concealed in the heat of passion. Actions are justified and consequences forgotten until they're unavoidable.
But today we want to challenge those who have been set free from sin through salvation in Christ.
Today's second verse is a powerful reminder of how exercising self-control is a major responsibility of the believer, since "we belong to the day." Earlier in the chapter Paul contrasted the day with the night and darkness (v. 5). As God's children we now live in the light of God's truth and His revelation. We no longer reside in the domain of darkness where evil presides.
We are called to live self-controlled lives. Self-control is the ninth Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22,23 and is one of the most deficient virtues found in the lives of believers in this present generation. We can fall into a lax state of practicing self-control and thus the call to self-control is repeated all through the New Testament.
I am aware in my own life of the need to keep this discipline ever before me. In our hearts we likely can identify areas where we lack self-control. It may be in our eating, use of our time, finances, spiritual disciplines, our temperament or in a host of other areas. Some struggle to overcome destructive habits while others may need to apply self-control in their attitudes toward anger, worry, jealousy, or any other form of ungodliness.
Take some time to reflect on those things in your life that have become fetters. Where do you need to exercise self-control?
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father,
as children of the light, we no longer desire the attitudes or behavior
we practiced when living in ignorance where darkness reigns.
After dying to self
You took up residence and equipped us with the necessary tools to
battle
our struggle against sin. Help us to throw off everything that
hinders, entangles, or identifies us with the enemy. Your
discipline is
always right and good for us because it means we will share in Your
holiness. Self-control is a difficult exercise since it requires
self-denial, restraint and full surrender to You. The reward
follows as we enjoy a wonderful harvest of
right living. Not only will it benefit us
personally, but it will result in a testimony of thanksgiving to You,
make us more like Christ
and be an example to those we seek to influence. We ask Your help in
the name of Jesus. Amen.
This Saturday I visited with our friend Howard Blichfeldt at an outdoorsman show at the Lancaster Convention Center. Howard and his wife Sharon have been our friends for several years since my chaplain supervisor Al Worthley introduced us. Howard is an outstanding photographer and displays his art work in shows all over the country. He and Sharon reside in Pittsburgh, about 250 miles from Lancaster.
The Outdoor Show had some outstanding animal mounts.
Brown bear
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
“Glorious Freedom" Video GVB
Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters,
Chained like a slave, I struggled in vain;
But I received a glorious freedom,
When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.
"Jesus Breaks Every Fetter" Video Musicians not identified
"Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" Video Fernando Ortega In this song "fetters" is used in a positive sense.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wan-d'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the "Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)
Are
our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to
consider making a donation to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can
continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is
accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily
Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support
of its readers and podcast listeners. See here
for more information on supporting this
ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.
Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2015 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
<Previous Message Next Message>
Monday, January 26, 2015
Powdery snow on a rural landscape in upstate Michigan uncluttered by foot or paw prints
Photo by Howard Blichfeldt
"Jesus Breaks Every Fetter"
Listen to this
message on
your
audio player."Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control" (Proverbs 25:28). "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled" (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
There's an old chorus from our Bible School days that speaks of the fetters (chains) that keep us bound in our life of sin. The word, "fetter" is not a word used often these days but it is used in various hymns describing the wonderful freedom that Christ brings.
Jesus breaks every fetter,
Jesus breaks every fetter,
Jesus breaks every fetter,
And He sets me free!
Jesus breaks every fetter,
Jesus breaks every fetter,
And He sets me free!
Some 250 years ago British statesman Edmund Burke wrote, "Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."
You might need to read the above quote several times to more fully grasp the message that Burke conveys. Clearly, one of the great virtues lacking in our day is that of self-control. As Burke observed we can see the awful results of those whose "passions forge their fetters". The binding chain of sin is disregarded or concealed in the heat of passion. Actions are justified and consequences forgotten until they're unavoidable.
But today we want to challenge those who have been set free from sin through salvation in Christ.
Today's second verse is a powerful reminder of how exercising self-control is a major responsibility of the believer, since "we belong to the day." Earlier in the chapter Paul contrasted the day with the night and darkness (v. 5). As God's children we now live in the light of God's truth and His revelation. We no longer reside in the domain of darkness where evil presides.
We are called to live self-controlled lives. Self-control is the ninth Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22,23 and is one of the most deficient virtues found in the lives of believers in this present generation. We can fall into a lax state of practicing self-control and thus the call to self-control is repeated all through the New Testament.
I am aware in my own life of the need to keep this discipline ever before me. In our hearts we likely can identify areas where we lack self-control. It may be in our eating, use of our time, finances, spiritual disciplines, our temperament or in a host of other areas. Some struggle to overcome destructive habits while others may need to apply self-control in their attitudes toward anger, worry, jealousy, or any other form of ungodliness.
Take some time to reflect on those things in your life that have become fetters. Where do you need to exercise self-control?
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father,
as children of the light, we no longer desire the attitudes or behavior
we practiced when living in ignorance where darkness reigns.
After dying to self
You took up residence and equipped us with the necessary tools to
battle
our struggle against sin. Help us to throw off everything that
hinders, entangles, or identifies us with the enemy. Your
discipline is
always right and good for us because it means we will share in Your
holiness. Self-control is a difficult exercise since it requires
self-denial, restraint and full surrender to You. The reward
follows as we enjoy a wonderful harvest of
right living. Not only will it benefit us
personally, but it will result in a testimony of thanksgiving to You,
make us more like Christ
and be an example to those we seek to influence. We ask Your help in
the name of Jesus. Amen.This Saturday I visited with our friend Howard Blichfeldt at an outdoorsman show at the Lancaster Convention Center. Howard and his wife Sharon have been our friends for several years since my chaplain supervisor Al Worthley introduced us. Howard is an outstanding photographer and displays his art work in shows all over the country. He and Sharon reside in Pittsburgh, about 250 miles from Lancaster.
The Outdoor Show had some outstanding animal mounts.
Brown bear
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
“Glorious Freedom" Video GVB
Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters,
Chained like a slave, I struggled in vain;
But I received a glorious freedom,
When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.
"Jesus Breaks Every Fetter" Video Musicians not identified
"Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" Video Fernando Ortega In this song "fetters" is used in a positive sense.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wan-d'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the "Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)
Are
our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to
consider making a donation to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can
continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is
accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily
Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support
of its readers and podcast listeners. See here
for more information on supporting this
ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2015 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA