Daily Devotional
By Tom Smith

God knows when we need encouragement along our journey. When our flesh is weak and we need to be challenged to press on. I am no different than you or any other person. I have my times of weakness, those days when the battles are simply too fierce. Satan is only too happy to seize those moments, as he did when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. He comes to tempt us, acting as our friend who is concerned about our well being, giving us all the justification we need to take our eyes off the prize. That is some of the many ways satan will come to all of us.

I want to share some excerpt from the writings of Charles Spurgeon a preacher and theologian from the 1800's. I hope they will inspire and encourage you. There is perhaps no greater challenge we have as followers of Christ than to remain true to the faith. So many over the years have been like Demas who we read about in the Book of Acts. Demas was a man serving God, but decided to turn back to the world. In those moments of temptation I often think back to the words of Peter. When asked by Jesus if he would turn away from the Lord Peter boldly responded in John 6:68, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!" That is why the child of God presses on, remains true to the faith. To whom shall we go?

Spurgeon writes: "Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, "Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me." So, under God, dear brother in the Lord, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be, "Excelsior." He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continueth till war's trumpet is blown no more. Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory. "It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare." Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. He will endeavour to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, "Curse God, and die." Or he will attack your steadfastness: "What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do." Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: "Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal; they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times." Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armour, and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end."

That sums up the challenge of remaining true to the faith. The challenge to not turn away from serving the Lord to go back into the world. The temptation to indulge the flesh. The lies that the work you do for the Lord is all in vain and makes no difference. The physical battle of fighting weariness and fatigue. Taking the easy road of compromise. These are all very real issues those who serve the Lord must face along their journey through life as they strive to remain true to the faith.

I hope these words will challenge and encourage you in your personal journey. It is our steadfastness and perseverance that satan will assail. A Christian does not scare satan, however, a Christian who is steadfast and perseveres no matter what life throws his way is the enemy's worst nightmare!

Be encouraged by the fact no matter what challenges come our way we keep pressing forward, faithfully serving the Lord and trusting Him each step of the way, and then see the incredible fruit from that steadfastness and perseverance. Jesus has already won the victory, our responsibility is to remain true to the faith!

Daily Devotional for Sunday
By Tom Smith

The 90/10 Principle By Stephen Covey
Discover the 90/10 Principle. It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations). What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean?

We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%.

How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light., but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example. You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just what happened. What happens when the next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over.

She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work.

You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home, When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter.

Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is " D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. Here is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "It's ok honey, you just need, to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.   Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended differently. Why? Because of how you REACTED. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle. If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off)

Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive? Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job. The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse. Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it.

The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle.

By: J. Raymond Pecoraro

Some people suffer from deaf of hearing; others suffer from partial hearing; yet others suffer from selective hearing when it comes to hearing God and His Word. God speaks to us through His Word daily and we must take the time to listen. This is definitely in our best interest!

Jimmy, a precious three-year-old, watched his mother making chocolate chip cookies. He asked his mother if he could have one of her delicious cookies. His mother told him that he could not because it was near his suppertime and she didn't want his meal spoiled. Little Jimmy ran to his room in tears only to reappear a short time later to let his mother know that it was okay for her to give him a cookie. He proceeded by saying that Jesus told him it was okay. His mother replied telling him that he must not have been listening!

Jimmy's motivation was wrong, but he was absolutely right about two things: God longs to speak to us, and we need to listen.

In I Samuel 3:9, another little boy learned those same ageless principles. When Samuel followed Eli's counsel and prayed, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears," he was open to receiving God's powerful message. Like Samuel, we long to hear God speaking to us but often fail to discern His voice.

God spoke audibly to Samuel back in those days. Today, He speaks to us through the Bible given by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (II Timothy 3:16, 17). But as a result of neglect and nonstop activity, some people have become "hard of hearing." Some folks require "spiritual hearing aids" like the one in Samuel's prayer. Are you the servant of God who says, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears?" This humble attitude will cause you to receive blessings from above because you heard God!

Adjust your spiritual hearing aid and set a special time each day to read and meditate upon God's Word. Also make prayer your priority throughout the day!

Tonk Talk by Mark T. Tonkery 

                   The historian Thomas Carlyle talks about Louis XV the king of France in the 1700s.  He records that France was in terror, and chaos because of tyrants.  When Louis XV became king, he was young and inspired the people of France so much that they affectionately called him “Louis the Well-Beloved.”  This name was given to him, not because of anything he had done but what they had hoped he would do for France.   The nation was looking for peace and believed their new young king could bring the stability they desired.  Thirty years later, Louis XV lay sick, and France hated him.  Why?  Because for over thirty years he had done nothing.

                   In the book of Revelation, we learn about a church that did nothing.  The church at Laodicea was lukewarm.  Jesus declares in, Rev 3:15-16, “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” 

                   Doing nothing is unhealthy for a king or for the church.  Paul teaches in 2 Thess. 3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” James 4:17, Tells us, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  James reminds us, doing nothing is a sin.

Read the book of Acts and notice that much of the Lord's work was done by Christians who volunteered their time and effort.  One would also notice that very few were paid for their labors.  Such is the case today; for the church to function as it should it needs members to work, labor, and to volunteer.  Yes, some people will be paid so they can devote much more of their time to spreading the Gospel and building up the Kingdom, but the church still needs Christians to be great volunteers.             

The Bible calls us to work and labor in the Kingdom.  We each must put forth an effort to spread the gospel, to do works of service, and even to be in worship on the Lord’s Day as well as throughout the week for other times of Bible study (Heb. 10:25).   

Paul warns his readers in Rom. 12:6-8 to be diligent in their work for the Lord.  Col. 3:23, states, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”   

Question:  Are we diligent in the work of the Lord?  The Lord needs every member to be involved with the work of the church, we cannot just do nothing in the Kingdom of Christ.

Church, there is much work to do even Jesus acknowledge this in Mat. 9:37-38, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  

Will you pray for laborers to work in the Kingdom of Christ, better yet will you be a laborer and worker in the Kingdom? Think about it!

Daily Devotional
By Tom Smith, Wooddale Church of Christ 

Be aware of what you see and hear. There is a familiar saying in the computer world, "garbage in, garbage out". How perfectly that saying can be used in regard to the things we see and hear each day. Let me ask you a question. Would you take a steak, rub it all over the floor, and then eat it? Or how about taking a glass that has been in the garage or basement for a year, and filling it up with water, and drinking it? Or what about picking a tomato out of a garden and eating it right there? I am sure by now you have to be thinking I must be losing it, that I really can't be serious. The fact is, we would never think about doing these things, eating and drinking things that are dirty and not clean. Yet, consciously or subconsciously we do that every single day by what we allow ourselves to see and hear.

We live in a very real and sinful world. We will never be able to live apart from the sinfulness that infests every part of life. Over the years, sin has crept into every element of life and that is a reality we must not only deal with but never lose sight of. While we can never be totally immune from the sin that infects our world, we can take measures to minimize our exposure to it. We can be diligent to guard ourselves from it. We must always be careful about letting sin into our life.

How we think, how we act, are manifestations of what we are exposed to in this life. What we see and what we hear go into our "computers" and become elements in our thought process, and ultimately in our actions. If you think for a second that what you listen to, and what you watch does not have a bearing on how you think and act, you are sadly mistaken. The Bible talks about the renewing of our mind Romans 12:2. This is literally talking about reprogramming our "computer". Deleting all of the garbage and useless information we have stored up, and replacing it with Godly, inspirational content.

Be aware of what things you allow yourself to hear and see. Understand the harmful affect so much of the world can have on your life if you allow it in. I am not saying don't go to the movies again, or ever watch TV, or never read a non-Christian book or magazine, or only listen to Christian music. What I am saying is think before you listen to a CD, think before you start reading a book, think before you watch a TV program, think before you go to a movie. Simply ask yourself if this is content you want to input into your "computer", and what purpose it will serve. Be careful, because the enemy is the great justifier. John 8:44 says he is a liar, the father of lies. He will tell you that it is OK, that it is just entertainment, it is just harmless fun. Remember, what you allow yourself to hear and see will be part of you. Just like you are careful about what you eat and drink, be equally as concerned about what you hear and see.

Are you a Christian? I hope so. If not, you can become one today. Perhaps it's you, my friend, that today should make a commitment to the Lord and His way. Will you obey His voice today? It's really very simple; Believe That Jesus is the Son of God. Repent of past sins. Confess that faith in Christ before man, and be baptized for the remission of sins. If we can help you in any way let us know. Visit a church of Christ nearby in your city. We will be glad to help you in any way we can. Or you can write to us and we will answer any question you may have. Do it today. Will you? We love you.