BBD 08.25.16 Better than Gold (New)

#1 · August 25, 2016, 1:18 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on August 25, 2016, 1:18 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Since June 8^th 1998, this
is the 1770^th

Burning Bush Devotional

25 August 2016

Better than Gold

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are
kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need
be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the GENUINENESS of your
faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus
Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet
believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the
end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:3-9 NKJV.

An anonymous prospector in Victoria, Australia has struck
gold! Using a metal detector he has found two large gold nuggets only a foot or
two below ground. He found a nine ounce gold nugget the first day, which at
current gold price would be worth about $11,907. The second day, he returned to
the same area, and found a huge nugget weighing 145 ounces worth $190,710. The
first night he hid his big nugget in their oven, but it is now in a bank’s
vault. The prospector said this about the
find, “I had
just unearthed a colossal gold nugget, a once in a lifetime find! I was in
total disbelief as I didn't think nuggets of this size were still around.” He plans use the money from the nuggets to buy a van and
travel Australia with his family. (Yahoo News 08.24.16)

When
gold was struck in California in the 1850s, men and women from across the world
poured into the area to prospect for gold. One of my ancestor’s relatives, we
know from census records went to California during that time, but I have found no
record of him after that time. It was a hazardous journey to California, and
even more hazardous actually trying to live and work as a prospector.

Gold is
even more valuable today than it was in the 1850s with today’s price being
$1393.90 per ounce. However, as valuable as gold may be, there is something far
more valuable, far better than gold that we can obtain. The apostle Peter tells
us that the “GENUINENESS of your faith, being much more
precious than gold that perishes.” What is “genuineness”? Dictionary dot com defines genuineness as: “possessing the claimed or attributed character,
quality, or origin; not counterfeit; authentic;
real.” We
can have faith that is genuine, which is better than gold.

How do we know whether
faith is genuine or not? In a way somewhat similar to gold being refined; when
gold is refined the impurities are removed by fire leaving pure gold. We are
told in 1 Peter 1:6, “though now
for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” I am continually amazed when I hear of friends who have
had all kinds of terrible things happen to them and their families, that they
continue to praise God, continue to serve God, continue to walk with their God
through each day. I have no doubt that their faith is genuine, which has been
proved by the fire of earthly trials which affect us here in this world. Peter
says those whose faith is going through these earthly trials “may be found to
praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not
seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with
joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

You don’t
have to go to Australia, or California, or Colorado to find gold. The psalmist
says, “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and
silver (Psalm 119:72).” Dig into the riches of God’s Word every day, and
you will find genuine faith for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).”

Copyright © 2016. 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 websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 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.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help for Overcoming Sexual Addictions

In Times of Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and
Strengthen You

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.

Prayer
Requests:
Please continue to pray for Michelle Abetz, Shane
Hall, Brent, Brad, Reta (my sister), Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Loretta Brewer
and Jeanie. Please add Gary Kirk to your prayer lists.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. 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. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

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@...>

Since June 8^th 1998, this
is the 1770^th

Burning Bush Devotional

25 August 2016

Better than Gold

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are
kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need
be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the GENUINENESS of your
faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus
Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet
believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the
end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:3-9 NKJV.

An anonymous prospector in Victoria, Australia has struck
gold! Using a metal detector he has found two large gold nuggets only a foot or
two below ground. He found a nine ounce gold nugget the first day, which at
current gold price would be worth about $11,907. The second day, he returned to
the same area, and found a huge nugget weighing 145 ounces worth $190,710. The
first night he hid his big nugget in their oven, but it is now in a bank’s
vault. The prospector said this about the
find, “I had
just unearthed a colossal gold nugget, a once in a lifetime find! I was in
total disbelief as I didn't think nuggets of this size were still around.” He plans use the money from the nuggets to buy a van and
travel Australia with his family. (Yahoo News 08.24.16)

When
gold was struck in California in the 1850s, men and women from across the world
poured into the area to prospect for gold. One of my ancestor’s relatives, we
know from census records went to California during that time, but I have found no
record of him after that time. It was a hazardous journey to California, and
even more hazardous actually trying to live and work as a prospector.

Gold is
even more valuable today than it was in the 1850s with today’s price being
$1393.90 per ounce. However, as valuable as gold may be, there is something far
more valuable, far better than gold that we can obtain. The apostle Peter tells
us that the “GENUINENESS of your faith, being much more
precious than gold that perishes.” What is “genuineness”? Dictionary dot com defines genuineness as: “possessing the claimed or attributed character,
quality, or origin; not counterfeit; authentic;
real.” We
can have faith that is genuine, which is better than gold.

How do we know whether
faith is genuine or not? In a way somewhat similar to gold being refined; when
gold is refined the impurities are removed by fire leaving pure gold. We are
told in 1 Peter 1:6, “though now
for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” I am continually amazed when I hear of friends who have
had all kinds of terrible things happen to them and their families, that they
continue to praise God, continue to serve God, continue to walk with their God
through each day. I have no doubt that their faith is genuine, which has been
proved by the fire of earthly trials which affect us here in this world. Peter
says those whose faith is going through these earthly trials “may be found to
praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not
seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with
joy inexpressible and full of glory.”

You don’t
have to go to Australia, or California, or Colorado to find gold. The psalmist
says, “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and
silver (Psalm 119:72).” Dig into the riches of God’s Word every day, and
you will find genuine faith for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).”

Copyright © 2016. 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 websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 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.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help for Overcoming Sexual Addictions

In Times of Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and
Strengthen You

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.

Prayer
Requests:
Please continue to pray for Michelle Abetz, Shane
Hall, Brent, Brad, Reta (my sister), Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Loretta Brewer
and Jeanie. Please add Gary Kirk to your prayer lists.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. 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. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

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