BBD 04.12.21 Choose Life (Classic)

#1 · April 12, 2021, 11:42 am

Quote from Forum Archives on April 12, 2021, 11:42 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2002

Burning Bush Devotional

12 April 2021

Choose Life

And to
the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the
seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a
name that you are alive, but you are dead.’ - Revelation 3:1.

How
would you feel if your pastor told you that your church was dead, or almost
dead? One pastor told his church, that they
were so dead, he was going to preach their funeral service the next Sunday. As
promised, the next Sunday as the people arrived, they found that a casket had
been placed at the front of the church, and solemn music was being played. The
pastor told the people who had dared to come to the service, that most likely
some of them would not agree with him, that the church was dead. So, he invited
them to come forward to view the remains. As the people walked forward and looked
into the casket, they found that instead of a body, a mirror had been placed
there providing them with a view of their own faces.

I wish
I had thought of that, because I did tell the church I pastor Sunday morning (in
2002) that we have much in common with the church at Sardis. We are busy with
many activities, and on the surface they appear meaningful. However, we are a
powerless church, and I believe that this was the message for Sardis as well.
The church at Sardis was told how to correct the situation, “Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to
die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how
you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not
watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will
come upon you (Revelation 3:2-3).”

To
strengthen that tiny spark of life still in you, remember what you have heard,
which you have received from God. Hold fast to it and repent, turn away from
that which is not of God. To strengthen the spark of life that is still within
you, to increase the empowerment, the anointing upon you - be obedient to the
Spirit when He speaks to you. Every time you resist the Spirit, every time you
do what you know the Spirit would not have you to do, you are choking the life
out of yourself. But not only are you choking the life out of yourself, but you
are choking the life out of the church you are a part of. Our actions do not
just affect ourselves, because we are all members of the body of Christ. What
one member does, affects all the other members.

The
good news for the church that I pastor is that as result of this message, many
did recommit their lives to the Lord (More than the total in the past year!). What
about you? Has God spoken to your heart? What would He have you to do? Will you
obey, and strengthen the spark of life within you? Every time you obey
you have more life, and every time you disobey, you have less life. I
pray you will choose life.

Copyright © 2002 - 2021. 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
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

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

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

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman’ Pat S.; Buck & Barbara
Wright; Gwen P.; James Perkins and his wife; Vonnie; Evi Porter; Addison; JoJo,
Bailey and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe
Marx Jones; Brandy and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa Butler who has had
a stroke; Scott J.; Karla W.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Lana Bass; Shonda H.
(fighting cancer); and please pray for my wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem
with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! 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. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

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.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

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@...>

Classic from 2002

Burning Bush Devotional

12 April 2021

Choose Life

And to
the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the
seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a
name that you are alive, but you are dead.’ - Revelation 3:1.

How
would you feel if your pastor told you that your church was dead, or almost
dead? One pastor told his church, that they
were so dead, he was going to preach their funeral service the next Sunday. As
promised, the next Sunday as the people arrived, they found that a casket had
been placed at the front of the church, and solemn music was being played. The
pastor told the people who had dared to come to the service, that most likely
some of them would not agree with him, that the church was dead. So, he invited
them to come forward to view the remains. As the people walked forward and looked
into the casket, they found that instead of a body, a mirror had been placed
there providing them with a view of their own faces.

I wish
I had thought of that, because I did tell the church I pastor Sunday morning (in
2002) that we have much in common with the church at Sardis. We are busy with
many activities, and on the surface they appear meaningful. However, we are a
powerless church, and I believe that this was the message for Sardis as well.
The church at Sardis was told how to correct the situation, “Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to
die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how
you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not
watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will
come upon you (Revelation 3:2-3).”

To
strengthen that tiny spark of life still in you, remember what you have heard,
which you have received from God. Hold fast to it and repent, turn away from
that which is not of God. To strengthen the spark of life that is still within
you, to increase the empowerment, the anointing upon you - be obedient to the
Spirit when He speaks to you. Every time you resist the Spirit, every time you
do what you know the Spirit would not have you to do, you are choking the life
out of yourself. But not only are you choking the life out of yourself, but you
are choking the life out of the church you are a part of. Our actions do not
just affect ourselves, because we are all members of the body of Christ. What
one member does, affects all the other members.

The
good news for the church that I pastor is that as result of this message, many
did recommit their lives to the Lord (More than the total in the past year!). What
about you? Has God spoken to your heart? What would He have you to do? Will you
obey, and strengthen the spark of life within you? Every time you obey
you have more life, and every time you disobey, you have less life. I
pray you will choose life.

Copyright © 2002 - 2021. 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
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

http://www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

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 right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman’ Pat S.; Buck & Barbara
Wright; Gwen P.; James Perkins and his wife; Vonnie; Evi Porter; Addison; JoJo,
Bailey and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe
Marx Jones; Brandy and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa Butler who has had
a stroke; Scott J.; Karla W.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Lana Bass; Shonda H.
(fighting cancer); and please pray for my wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem
with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! 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. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

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.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

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