Grow in God's Love Each Morning!

Word Of God:

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”- James 5:16

Daily Devotion:

Kids' Bible

"I have more understanding than all my teachers,for Your testimonies are my meditation" (Psa 119:99)

The discipline of spending enough time with the Bible must start from childhood. The responsibility lies primarily with parents. Paul was a spiritual giant. He had been bestowed with unsurpassed skills and potentials. His intellectual brilliance was unusual. His accomplishments were unparalleled. Can we find a secondline leader to walk into his shoes? Paul had an eye on young Timothy, but was he not too timid and too apprehensive to take up the mantle? (1 Cor 16:10,11; 1 Tim 5:23). Nevertheless there was an outstanding attraction in Timothy. His love for the Scriptures which was born in his childhood itself, perhaps even before he attained the age of accountability to repent of his sins and receive Christ as his Saviour (2 Tim 3:14,15). The credit goes to his granny and mummy (2 Tim 1:5).

Parents spend so much time each day with their children, outside the classroom hours, in coaching and coaxing them to study their textbooks. This is fine and necessary in a world of competition. But how much time are the children made to spend with the Bible? We little realize that such a partiality angers God. He lamented through Prophet Hosea, "I have written for My people the great things of My law, but they were considered a strange thing" (Hos 8:12). In His anger He said, "Because you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hos 4:6b).

I don't worship Mary but I do hail her! How much she cooperated with God in preparing her Son for His redemptive ministry! Think of her efforts in filling the mind and heart of Boy Jesus with so much of Scriptures that even the teachers in the Temple were amazed! (Lk 2:46-48a). She continued to be a Bible tutor for Him from His twelfth to thirtieth year. For a young rural woman, in a carpenter's home, with very little academic exposure, and amidst so many domestic responsibilities, spending time with her Son alongwith the other children for the study of the Scriptures would not have been easy. The name "Mary" is common in Christian circles, but mothers like her are a rare breed.

The B-i-b-l-e,
Yes that's the Book for me;
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-i-b-l-e!

Prayer:

Teach Me to Pray

Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee; Thou only knowest what I need; Thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself. O Father! Give to Thy child that which he himself knows not how to ask. I dare not ask either for crosses or consolations; I simply present myself before Thee, I open my heart to Thee. Behold my needs which I know not myself; see and do according to Thy tender mercy. Smite, or heal; depress me, or raise me up; I adore all Thy purposes without knowing them; I am silent; I offer myself in sacrifice; I yield myself to Thee; I would have no other desire than to accomplish Thy will. Teach me to pray. Pray Thyself in me.
Amen.