BBD 04.10.14 Target Practice (Classic)

#1 · April 10, 2014, 7:29 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 10, 2014, 7:29 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for some reason you do not receive your email version of the
devotional please check the Burning Bush website at www.theburningbush.net for the
“Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

14,000
Subscribers to the Email Devotional

(Classic
from 2004)

04.10.14

Target Practice

Still
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the
sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having
obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God
having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect
apart from us. - Hebrews 11:36-40.

A
school custodian in South New Jersey was going about his work one evening as he
usually did when the unexpected happened. The Little Egg Harbor Intermediate
School became the unintended target of a National Guard F-16 fighter jet, which
unleashed 25 rounds of 20mm cannon fire. Thankfully, damage was minimal with
only some damage to the school’s roof and the asphalt outside the school
building. Of course, the school custodian is still shaking! It is now thought
that the cannon fire was completely accidental and unintended but still it has
to make you pause in thought if you work or have children in that school
building. (And...ten years later you have to wonder about safety with the proliferation of drones being flown by remote control by someone in a hangar somewhere....)

Hebrews
chapter 11 is the roll call of the heroes of the faith.
Everyone is miraculously delivered until you reach the end of the chapter where
you learn that some were not delivered from unnatural death on this earth. In
fact, some suffered a horrible fate being "sawn
in two." That sounds bad to me and I would not want
to experience such a thing.

Even
if we do not experience the difficult things mentioned in the last of Hebrews 11 we may still not live easy lives. At times,
it may seem like a fighter jet has unloaded cannon fire at random upon us. We
may even feel like we have a bulls eye painted on us, which someone is using
for target practice.

What
am I talking about? I’m talking about life. We may wake up one morning and
everything seems fine and have a terrible traffic accident on the way to work.
Or, we may make it to work and find out that the company is not doing well and
it has been decided there must be some cutbacks in employees. We may have our
yearly physical and learn that everything is not okay. We come home from work
and our wife or husband has decided to leave us. I think you get the picture.
Sometimes it feels like we are being used for target practice.

How
should we respond when the cannon of life is roaring and the shells are
exploding around us? James gives us a hard word in James 1:2-3 where he says, "My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have
its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." God is going to use those shells exploding around you to
develop you, to change you, to make you better, to make you more like Him. Out
of the bad comes the good just as we are told in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Part of that good is for us to become more and more like
our Lord Jesus, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined
to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29a)."

Let
us rejoice! For our God loves us and is working in every tiny aspect of our
lives, and will bring good out of the bad. Just, "count it all joy."

Copyright © 2004 - 2014. Ed
Wrather. 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.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 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 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the people of Ukraine and Venezuela. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

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

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

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for some reason you do not receive your email version of the
devotional please check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the
“Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

14,000
Subscribers to the Email Devotional

(Classic
from 2004)

04.10.14

Target Practice

Still
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the
sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in
deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having
obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God
having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect
apart from us. - Hebrews 11:36-40.

A
school custodian in South New Jersey was going about his work one evening as he
usually did when the unexpected happened. The Little Egg Harbor Intermediate
School became the unintended target of a National Guard F-16 fighter jet, which
unleashed 25 rounds of 20mm cannon fire. Thankfully, damage was minimal with
only some damage to the school’s roof and the asphalt outside the school
building. Of course, the school custodian is still shaking! It is now thought
that the cannon fire was completely accidental and unintended but still it has
to make you pause in thought if you work or have children in that school
building. (And...ten years later you have to wonder about safety with the proliferation of drones being flown by remote control by someone in a hangar somewhere....)

Hebrews
chapter 11 is the roll call of the heroes of the faith.
Everyone is miraculously delivered until you reach the end of the chapter where
you learn that some were not delivered from unnatural death on this earth. In
fact, some suffered a horrible fate being "sawn
in two." That sounds bad to me and I would not want
to experience such a thing.

Even
if we do not experience the difficult things mentioned in the last of Hebrews 11 we may still not live easy lives. At times,
it may seem like a fighter jet has unloaded cannon fire at random upon us. We
may even feel like we have a bulls eye painted on us, which someone is using
for target practice.

What
am I talking about? I’m talking about life. We may wake up one morning and
everything seems fine and have a terrible traffic accident on the way to work.
Or, we may make it to work and find out that the company is not doing well and
it has been decided there must be some cutbacks in employees. We may have our
yearly physical and learn that everything is not okay. We come home from work
and our wife or husband has decided to leave us. I think you get the picture.
Sometimes it feels like we are being used for target practice.

How
should we respond when the cannon of life is roaring and the shells are
exploding around us? James gives us a hard word in James 1:2-3 where he says, "My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have
its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." God is going to use those shells exploding around you to
develop you, to change you, to make you better, to make you more like Him. Out
of the bad comes the good just as we are told in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Part of that good is for us to become more and more like
our Lord Jesus, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined
to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29a)."

Let
us rejoice! For our God loves us and is working in every tiny aspect of our
lives, and will bring good out of the bad. Just, "count it all joy."

Copyright © 2004 - 2014. Ed
Wrather. 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.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 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 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the people of Ukraine and Venezuela. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

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

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

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org