Today´s reading:
OT: Numbers 36, Deuteronomy 1
NT: Luke 5:29-39, Luke 6:1-11
Ps: Psalm 66
Pr: Proverbs 11:24-26
Today´s notable verses:
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.Psalm 66:16-19 (NIV)
Now here's a reality check for effective prayer: am I harboring or cherishing any sin in my heart when I pray? If so, God certainly will not listen! Contrition and confession of sin are so vital to a right relationship with God, and are absolutely necessary if we are to have any kind of power in our prayer life. Note also that David is not simply praying to God; he is crying out to Him, and praising Him! Most of my prayer is silent, but I think I need to practice more spoken prayer.
24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.Proverbs 11:24-25 (NIV)
More on these verses when I get caught up on my Crown homework postings, since this week we discussed giving. I'll just point out here that God is revealing another of His principles. Just as we reap what we sow, when we sow generosity we reap blessing.
The One Year Bible Blog asks:
Comments from You & Question of the Day - (random tangential questions here based on this awesome image above... 🙂 How often do you give hugs? Who was the last person you gave a hug to? Can you give someone a hug today? Do you think giving hugs (or receiving hugs) is important? Are hugs Biblical? 🙂 (okay, now I've gotten silly, but what do you think - can you think of some hugs in the Bible??)
Hugging is important - nothing can quite replace a genuine, heartfelt hug. There are days when what I most need is a hug. Obviously, I tend to be a hugger. I hug all my friends - even the males, and I don't cop out with a "guy hug". Real men are comfortable enough with themselves to be able to show affection to one another. I probably tend to hug my male friends more than my female friends, if for no other reason so as not to give even an appearance of impropriety. I wonder how, when Paul exhorts in several of his letters to "greet one another with a holy kiss" that we could even think that a hug is somehow inherently un-biblical? Of course, then intention behind the hug could be impure - but that is true about the intention behind just about anything. But to the pure, all things are pure (Titus 1:15).
