A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
Daily
Encouragement on
Monday, January
21, 2019
Today
we have the most frigid temps of the season with a
current 8°
and wind chill of -16°. It sounds like we have factory
fans blowing outside our doors and windows!
"Fearfully
And Wonderfully Made"
Message
summary: Let us pray
for a return to Biblical
obedience in regard to
God's gift of sexuality,
marriage and children.
Let us respectfully
recognize and celebrate
that motherhood begins
at the point of
conception when God
places a new life that
he forms within the
mother's womb.
Listen to our
message on your audio
player.
"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13,14). "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:41). "In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Luke 1:42-43).
"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13,14). "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:41). "In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Luke 1:42-43).
Yesterday
many churches here in
America acknowledged
"Sanctity Of Human Life"
Sunday including the
church we attend. As we
walked into the foyer a
couple of cribs were
loaded with baby
bottles. Those attending
were encouraged to pick
up one or more bottles
and fill them with
change over the next
several weeks to help
support Susquehanna
Valley Pregnancy
Services, a tremendous
local organization that
stands for the values of
life providing pregnancy
tests, prenatal &
parenting education,
sexual integrity
education and
post-abortion
counseling.Last Friday the annual "March For Life" was held in Washington, a march I have attended many times going back to the eighties. This event has people from many different faith backgrounds taking a visible stand for the individual's "Right to Life". This year's theme was "Unique from Day One: Pro-Life is Pro-Science". Brooksyne and I unapologetically take a strong stand for the Sanctity of Life; for the protection of the unborn, the infirmed, and the elderly; for those the world regards as being unworthy of life.
Today's first Scripture is straightforward. The Psalmist David acknowledges that he was formed by God while in his mother's womb and gives thanks. Even with his rudimentary knowledge of prenatal development at that time he knew he was "fearfully and wonderfully made".
The second text is from a familiar narrative section read often during the Christmas season though some may fail to see the doctrinal significance in it. Check out the context. The angel assured Mary of God's special plan for her (Luke 1:35) and she submitted to this plan (1:38). She was told that her relative Elizabeth was also with child in her sixth month of pregnancy (1:36).
After the message Mary "hurried" to see Elizabeth and her greeting prompted the baby to leap in Elizabeth's womb. The Greek uses the word "brephos" here. This word is used nine times in the New Testament for both pre-born and infant children. No distinction is made between the two in New Testament Greek. This joyful baby was John who had another three months of prenatal development and security inside his mother's womb at the time of Mary's visit. Today many babies are routinely slaughtered at this age and even older.
However, it's Elizabeth's response to Mary that is most interesting and instructive. "In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'" (Luke 1:42-43).
Notice Elizabeth's recognition of Mary as "mother of my Lord". How long had Mary been a mother? Of course we don't know exactly. This is not revealed to us; days, weeks, a month. Yet Elizabeth calls her "the mother of my Lord". Most all abortions are now performed after the point of Elizabeth's declaration!
Let us pray
for a return to Biblical
obedience in regard to
God's gift of sexuality,
marriage and children.
Let us respectfully
recognize and celebrate
that motherhood begins
at the point of
conception when God
places a new life that
He forms within the
mother's womb.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father,
when You took the dust
of the ground to form
Adam and breathed into
his nostrils the
breath of life You had
a purpose for his
existence on earth.
And You have a purpose
for all human life.
Forgive us for
assuming that we know
more than You, the
Creator of life, in
willfully choosing
whether one is allowed
to live and another is
destined to die before
one breathes his or
her first independent
breath. We thank You
for the millions who
take a visible stand
for life, based not on
a popular theme but on
truths established in
Your Holy Word. Help
us to be vigilant in
doing what is right
and good in Your
sight, even when it is
inconvenient and
costly to our personal
lives. In our
disposable society
help us never to
dispose of human life
that You created or to
dispose of truths that
You intended for us to
live by in favor of a
political,
intellectual, or
financial agenda.We pray for those in the abortion industry who are motivated by financial gain by the taking of innocent life much like Judas who took the 30 pieces of silver as He handed Jesus over to those who would crucify Him. Like Joseph's brothers who took the 20 pieces of silver in exchange for selling their innocent brother. Father, we look to You in faith asking that You speak to the indifferent and bigoted hearts that cause innocent lives to be slaughtered every minute of every day. We pray this impassioned prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Last week we
shared a photo of
Mollie eyeing a
squirrel nestled in a
tree and asked if
readers could see the
squirrel. Some could
and others not at all,
but today viewers can
easily see the
squirrel Mollie has
her eye on in this
photo Ester took from
our front window!
We enjoy our bird feeders and with the variety of birds that come in for feed, usually black oil sunflower seeds. But birds are also attracted to peanut butter. Our cat Dottie had been a good mouser for the past 17 years and kept our utility barn relatively mouse-free. Since she died last week I have had to set traps and already have caught three. However we also caught something we would rather not. (photo)
Larry, a
friend from White Oak
Display, shared this
photo with us that he
took from his cabin in
northern Pennsylvania.
Apparently squirrels
aren't the only
unauthorized critter
attempting to get the
bird seed!
Today's
Suggested
Music and Supplemental Resources
"Untold" Video
Matthew West
There are so many
thought-provoking, touching songs
on this topic! See here.
Note: Today's
photo of an icy dam on the Iowa
River was taken by Iowan Steve
Ephraim, who sent an encouraging
reply to Friday's message, "Nice
job on your engineering analogy
from the perspective of a lifelong
mechanical engineer!" When posting
the photo I teasingly asked
Brooksyne "is that spelled dam or
damn?" prompting a memory from
some 25 years ago when a lady was
proudly showing Brooksyne her
scrapbook with photos including
several dams. However in her
scrapbook she consistently
misspelled the photo captions and
used the expletive spelling. Not
wanting to embarrass her Brooksyne
just quietly smiled to herself as
she flipped through the scrapbook.
Finally today:
A common site in our
area are vans used to "haul" the
Amish and other plain groups who
use these vehicles for longer
trips when the horse and buggy
mode of transport is not feasible.
Most of the time they are black
vans with little identification.
We saw this van last week while
filling with gas at Costco. I
engaged in a brief conversation
with the driver, a New York City
first responder who was disabled
in the 9/11 attacks, and as you
would probably expect from anyone
driving a van like this, he is
quite a colorful man!
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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."
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