BBD 05.22.14 The Treasure Inside (New)

#1 · May 22, 2014, 12:35 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on May 22, 2014, 12:35 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

05.22.14

The
Treasure Inside

.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy
him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. - 1 Corinthians
3:16-17 NKJV.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to
us by God. - 1 Corinthians 2:12 NKJV.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- Galatians 5:22-25 NKJV.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet
not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our body. - 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.

Heather
Andrews and a childhood friend, Jillian Pozzi, have been giving to each other
for a few years, statues of garden gnomes. The gifting of the gnomes is an
ongoing joke between the two of them. Heather accidentally dropped one of the
gnomes when she was unloading the three from her car. As she was picking up the
pieces of the one that had fallen she noticed that there was something inside
of the broken gnome. Inside the gnome, was another statue of what appears to be
an armless angel with intricate detail inscribed or carved onto the statue. The
gnome was made in China and one of the commenters on the article said it was
common to find other statues inside of statues made there. Heather says about the beautiful figure of white
she found, “People have told me that gnomes
represent guardians of treasure, and that may be his treasure just inside him.”
(yahoo news; The Tennessean; AL.com 05.21.14)

It is always a sickening feeling that we have when we break
something that is valuable to us. Heather had the pleasant surprise of having
her sadness replaced by joy with the finding of a treasure inside of her broken
gnome. We live in bodies that are in a state of continuing degradation. Yes,
the body repairs itself, but there is always more repairs to be done than it
can do. The result is an aging, and the breakdown of our bodies. However,
inside of the fragile human bodies of believers in Jesus Christ there is a
great treasure. That treasure is God Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. W. A Criswell, a great Bible scholar, writing about 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “Reflecting on the strange,
incongruous phenomenon of the indwelling Holy spirit of God, Paul surmises that
God indwells ‘earthen vessels,’ giving His power to men, so that the excellency
of His power might be magnified in otherwise weak, human vessels.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:12, we are told we have been given the Holy Spirit, “that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” Some of those things given to us by
God are the fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians
5, “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:25
says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit.” If we want truly to discover the awesome value of the
treasure inside of us, we must not only exist as believers with the Holy Spirit
dwelling inside of us, but we must “walk in the
Spirit.” The apostle Paul says that we do that by, “crucifying (crucified) the flesh with its passions and
desires.” You
are the guardian of the treasure inside of you, will you allow the “excellency
of His power” to be magnified in your life?

Copyright © 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 return of the Nigerian school girls. 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

05.22.14

The
Treasure Inside

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy
him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. - 1 Corinthians
3:16-17 NKJV.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to
us by God. - 1 Corinthians 2:12 NKJV.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- Galatians 5:22-25 NKJV.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet
not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our body. - 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.

Heather
Andrews and a childhood friend, Jillian Pozzi, have been giving to each other
for a few years, statues of garden gnomes. The gifting of the gnomes is an
ongoing joke between the two of them. Heather accidentally dropped one of the
gnomes when she was unloading the three from her car. As she was picking up the
pieces of the one that had fallen she noticed that there was something inside
of the broken gnome. Inside the gnome, was another statue of what appears to be
an armless angel with intricate detail inscribed or carved onto the statue. The
gnome was made in China and one of the commenters on the article said it was
common to find other statues inside of statues made there. Heather says about the beautiful figure of white
she found, “People have told me that gnomes
represent guardians of treasure, and that may be his treasure just inside him.”
(yahoo news; The Tennessean; AL.com 05.21.14)

It is always a sickening feeling that we have when we break
something that is valuable to us. Heather had the pleasant surprise of having
her sadness replaced by joy with the finding of a treasure inside of her broken
gnome. We live in bodies that are in a state of continuing degradation. Yes,
the body repairs itself, but there is always more repairs to be done than it
can do. The result is an aging, and the breakdown of our bodies. However,
inside of the fragile human bodies of believers in Jesus Christ there is a
great treasure. That treasure is God Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. W. A Criswell, a great Bible scholar, writing about 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “Reflecting on the strange,
incongruous phenomenon of the indwelling Holy spirit of God, Paul surmises that
God indwells ‘earthen vessels,’ giving His power to men, so that the excellency
of His power might be magnified in otherwise weak, human vessels.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:12, we are told we have been given the Holy Spirit, “that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” Some of those things given to us by
God are the fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians
5, “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:25
says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit.” If we want truly to discover the awesome value of the
treasure inside of us, we must not only exist as believers with the Holy Spirit
dwelling inside of us, but we must “walk in the
Spirit.” The apostle Paul says that we do that by, “crucifying (crucified) the flesh with its passions and
desires.” You
are the guardian of the treasure inside of you, will you allow the “excellency
of His power” to be magnified in your life?

Copyright © 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 return of the Nigerian school girls. 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