 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Message · Archives ·  Archive/print editionThursday, January 8, 2009  How's this for a big boot? "Walking Worthily" "Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10). We often feature photos from Doris High's blog on our posts and some will be able to guess where she and Cerwin are traveling, based on her featured photo today. Brooksyne observed that the giant boot must have been created in recent years since it was not there at the flagship LL Bean retail store in Freeport Maine when we last visited over 10 years ago. It reminds me of the giant rocking chair our family sat in at Branson several years ago! As followers of Christ we have some mighty big boots to fill based on today's call in Scripture, "Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." I suppose if I was writing this at the time of Christ's walk on earth I would write, "We have some mighty big sandals to fill…" The apostle Paul uses this theme of walking worthily several times in his writings: "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). "Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory" (1 Thessalonians 2:12b). Let's spend a few moments examining today's main text and the nature of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. This involves: 1) Seeking to "please Him in all respects." This is certainly an all inclusive statement! We are also told to "find out what pleases the Lord" (Ephesians 5:10). As followers of Christ this is an ongoing pursuit and the main source of finding out what pleases Him is the Holy Scriptures. Increasing the effort to walk with and please the Lord will run contrary to the world's way of thinking. It would be an extremely rare media interview where the "expert" directs us to dig into the Scriptures to find the Lord's answer for the problem at hand. Additionally, we are moving into an era where "good is called evil and evil is called good" (Isaiah 5:20). 2) "Bearing fruit in every good work." Jesus Christ called His disciples to fruitfulness and good works. "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (John 15:8). "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). All over the world today my brothers and sisters are doing this, often unseen and normally unheralded. Their personal reward on earth is seeing changed lives but their greater eternal reward is yet to come. Whether it's in the tough prison setting or the lonely nursing homes; whether you're the hospice volunteer or pregnancy crisis counselor. Actually it's any door you walk through where you can brighten the darkened circumstance by shining the light of Christ through your words or deeds. 3) "Increasing in the knowledge of God." To do so we must read, meditate and even pray the Scriptures. Always read the Scripture text itself but then carefully supplement your Bible readings with studies that might help you better grasp and understand the Bible. Avail yourself to Study Bibles so that you become familiar with the historical settings or benefit from viewing timelines and outlines of a Bible book. Character studies of familiar and not so familiar Bible personalities are commonly featured. Of course, solid Bible believing churches should be eqipping the saints with good studies and supplementary learning materials as well. Peter concluded his final letter with this: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). To summarize our text: We must submit our ways to God in our walk, in our behavior, in our productivity and in our godly knowledge. Let us be faithful so that we nurture our walk and bring honor to our Father in heaven! Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily Prayer: Father, we want to continue to live in You; our faith being rooted and built up in You and strengthened through teaching from the Holy Scriptures and from following the example of godly believers. Help us to be faithful in our walk, in our talk, in our actions, and in expanding our spiritual knowledge so that we will walk in amanner that pleases You and honors Your holy name. Amen . Brooksyne's Note: As I was writing today I couldn't help but think back to the early 70's when I got my first cassette tape recorder for Christmas. It came with the tape by Nancy Sinatra singing a very popular song at the time, "These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you." Talk about a musical message that is so contrary to the walk God wants us to have in lifting others up along life's pathway! Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources (Click on the link to open and play. In some cases you may also need to click again to start the song.) "Today I Choose" Video A great song of whole-hearted commitment. "He Who Began A Good Work In You" Video A time-honored song based on Philippians 1:6 assuring us that God will be faithful to complete the work He began in us when we surrender our hearts to Him. "Trust And Obey" Video "When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way. When we do His good will He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey." What a great message from an old hymn but sung with a newer upbeat contemporary arrangement. We believe you'll enjoy it. |
 Stephen and Brooksyne Weber "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update Revised 10/21/08  Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. Would you please consider a financial offering to support us in this daily encouragement ministry? Donations are tax deductible and will be receipted directly by my chaplaincy endorsing ministry. Thanks! See here for details. (2008 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net through 12/31/08: $21,791.00) Note:Due to a posting delay in the report from my chaplaincy agency and several checks we received when we returned home from our trip last week this has continued to increase a bit. I expect to soon have the final accounting for 2008 contributions. Thank you! SUBSCRIPTION INFO  Were you forwarded this edition of Daily Encouragement Net? If you desire you can receive your own free! To receive these "Daily Encouragement" devotionals each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe. This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. It was sent to you because you signed up to receive it OR a friend forwarded it to you. You can also subscribe to the rss feed.Cancel: We respect and value your time and privacy. If this newsletter no longer meets your needs we will be happy to remove your address from the list immediately. To remove your address merely use the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each message. Weekly Version: The weekly version is designed for those who do not check their email regularly. It is merely the Friday message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Please feel free to pass these messages on! "A Daily Prayer" - A blog simply posting the daily prayer. We keep this up each day since it's merely the prayer from the Daily Encouragement Net message! "Clear Minded" - Longer, periodic articles on specific issues impacting the faithful believer and church. (Actually this is my intent but I haven't done much with it!) "A Little Foolishness" - A humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) I haven't had time or "inspiration" for this for awhile but it has several stories that get regular page views. "Hymns of Hope" - Brooksyne along with two friends made a CD using classic hymns. Brooksyne tells the background story of the 11 hymns. We are distributing this CD without charge in our ministry. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. If any reader in this series would like a CD merely write us and request one.  Daily Encouragement Net is an affiliate of Christianbook.com. Any orders placed to Christian Book Distributers using this link or any specific product link to a recommended resource in a daily encouragement message will help our Daily Encouragement ministry through a small commission on the sale. Thank you for using these links when purchasing online through CBD!Personal Mission Statement "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."  How to become a child of God Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. © Copyright 2009 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net Stephen & Brooksyne Weber 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 Contact us |
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