BBD 12.30.09 Begin Again - Part 3 (New)

#1 · December 30, 2009, 5:08 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on December 30, 2009, 5:08 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

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

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1367 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

12.30.09

Begin Again - Part 3

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable (.stand firm. Let
nothing move you. - NIV), always abounding (Always give yourselves fully -
NIV) in the work of the Lord, knowing (because you know - NIV) that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord. - 1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV.

The apostle Paul gives us some direction as to how to continue to move
forward with life, beginning again and again. Those directions are given in
1 Corinthians 15:58. The first instruction that Paul gives us is to ".stand
firm. Let nothing move you.." The second instruction is ".give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord.." Why should we do that? Why should we stand
firm? Why should we let nothing move us? Why should we always give ourselves
fully to the work of the Lord? ".because you know that your labor in the
Lord is not in vain."

I am reminded of a verse in Isaiah 55:11 about God's Word that says, "So
shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me
void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing for which I sent it." God says in Isaiah that His Word will not go
forth in vain, His Word will accomplish His purpose. The apostle Paul is
saying the same thing about our labor, our work for the Lord. Our labor for
the Lord will not be in vain, it will accomplish its purpose, it will
accomplish what God means for it to bring about, and it will prosper.

Beginning again can be so very difficult. I have often pondered some of the
challenges of the great missionaries like William Carey, who was a
missionary to India in the early 1800s. He was also an intellectual giant
and was busy translating the Bible into many of the various languages
present in India. For ten years Carey had labored in those translations, he
had established a print shop to print the translations, and it was in that
print shop that he kept all of his work. On March 11, 1812 disaster struck
in the form of a fire that destroyed the print shop and all of the work of
Carey and others. Ten years of work gone!

How do you begin again? How do you stand firm and not let something like
this move you? How do you continue on to give yourself fully to the work of
the Lord in the face of a disaster like this? How do you do it? Carey began
again and found that he could do the work of translation even better the
second time and because of the publicity about the disaster funds were more
than adequate. It is reported in one biography of Carey that he translated
and published the New Testament in more than 30 Indian languages and
dialects. What does Romans 8:28 say? "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."

William Carey not only began again giving himself fully to the work of the
Lord, but he went further than he had gone before. His translations were
better the second time, and he translated the Scripture into far more
languages than before. He stood firm, he did not let this move him, and God
brought about His purpose in spite of a disaster that would have stopped so
many of us in our tracks.

What challenge are you facing? Are you coming to an end of one phase of your
life, with a new one ahead? Have you experienced tragedy, disaster, pain,
illness - how do you go on? You go on; you begin again by standing firm in
your faith, by letting nothing move you away from your full devotion to the
Lord. You go on; you begin again by giving yourself fully, totally,
completely to the work of the Lord.

Don't settle for anything less, than the very best that God has for you.
Begin again, stand firm, let nothing move you from what God has for you.
Move forward, give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because it will
not be in vain, it will accomplish its purpose, it will not come back void.

Let us begin again in this coming New Year!

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. 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.

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.).

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 (now Tangle) 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.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://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

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

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1367 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

12.30.09

Begin Again - Part 3

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable (.stand firm. Let
nothing move you. - NIV), always abounding (Always give yourselves fully -
NIV) in the work of the Lord, knowing (because you know - NIV) that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord. - 1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV.

The apostle Paul gives us some direction as to how to continue to move
forward with life, beginning again and again. Those directions are given in
1 Corinthians 15:58. The first instruction that Paul gives us is to ".stand
firm. Let nothing move you.." The second instruction is ".give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord.." Why should we do that? Why should we stand
firm? Why should we let nothing move us? Why should we always give ourselves
fully to the work of the Lord? ".because you know that your labor in the
Lord is not in vain."

I am reminded of a verse in Isaiah 55:11 about God's Word that says, "So
shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me
void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing for which I sent it." God says in Isaiah that His Word will not go
forth in vain, His Word will accomplish His purpose. The apostle Paul is
saying the same thing about our labor, our work for the Lord. Our labor for
the Lord will not be in vain, it will accomplish its purpose, it will
accomplish what God means for it to bring about, and it will prosper.

Beginning again can be so very difficult. I have often pondered some of the
challenges of the great missionaries like William Carey, who was a
missionary to India in the early 1800s. He was also an intellectual giant
and was busy translating the Bible into many of the various languages
present in India. For ten years Carey had labored in those translations, he
had established a print shop to print the translations, and it was in that
print shop that he kept all of his work. On March 11, 1812 disaster struck
in the form of a fire that destroyed the print shop and all of the work of
Carey and others. Ten years of work gone!

How do you begin again? How do you stand firm and not let something like
this move you? How do you continue on to give yourself fully to the work of
the Lord in the face of a disaster like this? How do you do it? Carey began
again and found that he could do the work of translation even better the
second time and because of the publicity about the disaster funds were more
than adequate. It is reported in one biography of Carey that he translated
and published the New Testament in more than 30 Indian languages and
dialects. What does Romans 8:28 say? "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."

William Carey not only began again giving himself fully to the work of the
Lord, but he went further than he had gone before. His translations were
better the second time, and he translated the Scripture into far more
languages than before. He stood firm, he did not let this move him, and God
brought about His purpose in spite of a disaster that would have stopped so
many of us in our tracks.

What challenge are you facing? Are you coming to an end of one phase of your
life, with a new one ahead? Have you experienced tragedy, disaster, pain,
illness - how do you go on? You go on; you begin again by standing firm in
your faith, by letting nothing move you away from your full devotion to the
Lord. You go on; you begin again by giving yourself fully, totally,
completely to the work of the Lord.

Don't settle for anything less, than the very best that God has for you.
Begin again, stand firm, let nothing move you from what God has for you.
Move forward, give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because it will
not be in vain, it will accomplish its purpose, it will not come back void.

Let us begin again in this coming New Year!

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. 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.

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.).

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 (now Tangle) at:
http://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
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://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.