 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Message · Archives ·  Archive/print editionWednesday, January 14, 2009  My friend Mike Book took this photo leaving his home early last week.  Listen to us share this message on your audio player."The Rebound Principle" "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).  Last night we had Care Group and the youngest member of our group is just about ready to walk on her own since she'll soon be a year old. Adoreé is at the stage where she can pull herself up with the help of a chair or other piece of furniture and then she holds on for dear life. I observed her last night as she held tightly onto the back rung of a kitchen chair. Getting up isn't so much a challenge as falling back to the floor afterwards, but she eventually tired and, plop! She finally went down. Have you ever fallen? Of course you have! You did so a lot when you were learning to walk. Just ask your parents. We've all fallen a few times after being fully grown and how embarrassing that is! Some of us will remember the low budget, rather cheesy TV ad from the late eighties with the elderly person calling out the memorable line, "I've fallen and I can't get up." It became the catch phrase for many years and was used jokingly in various settings.  All of us have stumbled and fallen physically, but as believers we've also fallen spiritually at times. The Apostle James says, "We all stumble in many ways" (3:2). Sometimes we fall "big time", but more commonly in the "small ways". In the last few years Brooksyne experienced both kinds of physical falls: In our photo today we show her laughing at herself after she stumbled on the step between our sunken dining room and kitchen where she took quite a splattering on the kitchen floor. But when she fell last May and broke her ankle it was no laughing matter and it took several slow and trying months for her to recover.The seasoned believer will quickly distinguish the difference between a spiritual stumble and a plummeting fall. The persevering believer has an ongoing testimony of overcoming spiritual falls. In basketball a rebound refers to the ball being retained after a missed shot and the offensive team has another opportunity to score. Because even the best players miss shots, rebounding is an important component to having a good basketball team. Thank God for another kind of rebound. If you've been a Christian for a while I hope you've memorized the daily verse: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It's one of those remarkable truths in the Christian life that form a fundamental principle. One Bible teacher has called it "the rebound principle." It describes the wonderful means that our gracious God has provided for us to rebound or bounce back after we stumble or fall. The good news is that thought we may fall we are not cast down. By the grace of God we can get back up, for the Lord upholds us with His righteous right hand (see Psalm 37:24b)! The apostle John is writing late in the first century, perhaps sixty years after he had walked with Jesus. Peter, Paul and many of the other notable apostles died about thirty years prior to this writing. He's surely very physically and spiritually mature by now. If anyone was ever expected to have fully made it in this life and be entitled to point his finger and use a preachy "you" it would have been John. But I find encouraging significance in the personal pronoun he uses throughout the passage. It's known as the first person plural. John does not say, "if you confess your sins" but "if we confess our sins." Have you stumbled? Have you fallen? Perhaps you are even down right now as you read this. God has provided a means for spiritual rebound with no additional conditions or limits. Just a straightforward promise based upon His character of forgiveness. "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This really is good news and the best kind of rebound. Joyfully accept His cleansing and forgiveness today. Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily Prayer: Father, I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. Thank You for bearing them all and freeing me from the accuser's condemnation. I confess my sins to You, both big and small, so that my crimson stains are washed white in the blood of the sinless Lamb of God and not a stain remains. Thank You for being the Sinbearer that redeems me from the slimy pit of mud and mire. You are the Solid Rock on which I firmly stand. You are faithful and just and forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. You put a new song in my mouth and a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for Your wondrous love and forgiveness. Thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.  Yesterday Brooksyne and I joined some friends for lunch at a Smokey Bones Barbecue in Reading, PA. (pronounced Redding). Rick Steudler (with beard) is one of the company owners we work with in our chaplaincy ministry. He introduced us to Bob Weaver (right in photo), an auto dealership owner, who is interested in starting up the chaplain program in his company. Grover Devault (left in photo) is a retired military chaplain and presently serves as a chaplain with the PA state police. He had a very special ministry at the time of the Amish schoolhouse shooting here in Lancaster County as described in this article. It's a joy to gather with others who have a heart to serve the Lord. Yesterday we not only prayed the customary prayer before our meal but also before we departed. Grover led us as we joined hands and formed a circle of prayer right in the restaurant. 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.) "Faithful One" Video A song reminding us of God's unchanging nature. He is faithful in caring for us and in forgiving us our sins. "Mighty To Save" Video Nothing is too difficult for our Lord Jesus! He moves mountains, He changes lives and He will meet You in your difficult trial and see you through to the other side. |
 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 financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net: $21,791.00 2009 YTD financial offerings through 1/13/09: $120.00 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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