Quote from Forum Archives on April 2, 2009, 12:03 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 357 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!

04.02.09

You Who Fear God, Listen

Paul advised them, saying, "Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with
disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives."
Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner
of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. - Acts 27:9c-11.

But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them
and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from
Crete and incurred this disaster and loss." - Acts 27:21.

And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the
synagogue sent to them, saying, "Men and brethren, if you have any word of
exhortation for the people, say on." Then Paul stood up, and motioning with
his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen." - Acts
13:15-16.

A woman in Wisconsin following the directions provided by her GPS unit
traveled down a road which eventually became a snowmachine trail and became
stuck in the snow. By the time the woman was convinced she was on the wrong
road it was too late and because of the 18 inches of snow she could not turn
around. She did have a cell phone and was able to call for help. Sheriff's
deputy Keith Svoboda said these very profound words about the GPS unit,
"People shouldn't believe everything those things tell you." This is the
second story that I have read about someone being misled by their GPS
navigational unit. Probably there have been many others that did not result
in the vehicle becoming disabled. The first story was about the van in
England turning onto a highway which was actually a small river.

In Acts 27, the apostle Paul has appealed to Caesar and is being taken in
chains to Rome. Paul is fasting and praying and God has revealed to him a
disaster that is ahead for the ship and for all those aboard the ship. He
tries to warn the Centurion who is the Roman officer in charge. However, the
Centurion did not listen to this word from God; instead he listened to the
captain of the ship and to the owner of the ship. The captain and the owner
did not want to waste time waiting for a storm to blow by because it would
cost them money to delay. However, after the storm had blown the ship around
for several days and they all feared for their lives they finally did listen
to Paul. Because the centurion, the captain, and the owner finally listened
to Paul, God saved the lives of all those onboard. This was quite a storm
lasting for 14 days before the ship finally broke apart and sank when it ran
aground.

The apostle Paul when he spoke before the synagogue stood and said, "Men of
Israel, and you who fear God, listen." "You who fear God." Do you fear God,
do you reverence God, do you respect God? Do you really? If your life were
to be examined by a jury of your peers would they determine that by the way
you have lived your life you really do fear, reverence, and respect God? In
other words, if you were on trial for being a Christian would there be
enough evidence to convict you?

We are free to choose the direction we want to travel in this life. God has
given us the spiritual freedom of choice. Because of this we often listen to
and follow the wrong directions. It was vital for all those onboard the ship
with Paul to heed his warning and directions. It is no less vital, it is of
no less importance to us today to follow God's directions for our lives. If
you are traveling down a snowmachine path and the snow keeps getting higher
and higher maybe it is time to get some new directions.

Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me. Pray for my voice since I continue
to have problems with it.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.