 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Messages · Archives ·  Archive/print editionFriday, June 12, 2009  Red geraniums on an Amish farm in eastern Lancaster County.  Listen to us share this message on your audio player."Training Our Spiritual Senses" "For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Hebrews 5:13,14).  Have you ever eaten dirt? Well most of us probably have or possibly something even more disgusting or dangerous during our younger years. Infants and toddlers tend to stick things in their mouths that we adults disapprove of.  Recently our friend Bill and 13 month Zachary were enjoying the outdoors. Bill got distracted for a moment and when he turned his attention back to Zachary he caught him with a worm in his mouth. Bill moved quickly and was able to rescue the baby, not necessarily the worm! To his mother's relief Zach did not swallow the worm!Children learn what is acceptable and unacceptable through their experiences in life. Essentially they are training their senses, most often with the help of their mom and dad, during the early years. They often do things that come natural to their immature way of thinking, though not always safe. I vaguely recall the time I stuck marbles up into my nose and then was unable to get them out. Mom took me to Dr. Tracy and, to the best of my knowledge, he retrieved them all. I learned from that uncomfortable experience not to stick objects up my nose! Through my foolish act, one among many I'm sure, I was training my senses. This is a great lesson we all need to be learning as we mature in our walk with Christ. God's will is that we "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable" (1 Thessalonians 4:3,4). Growing leads to maturity as we progress from the milk stage to the solid food stage, using the analogy of Hebrews 5. There are three aspects in the latter part of the daily Scripture portion that provides a solid foundation for the maturing Christian's pursuit of righteousness: 1) "Because of practice" – Practice describes the steady day by day, week by week type of maturing that takes place as we partake of God's Word both individually in our personal study and corporately in church and other group settings. The specific word for "practice" means, "the condition has been produced by past exercise and is then the habitual or normal condition." 2) "Have their senses trained" – This translates the Greek "gumnazo" from which we get the words gymnasium or gymnastics and refers to exercising our senses. The apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to "train yourself to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7). This indicates our personal responsibility. God continues to reward those who earnestly seek Him, His Kingdom and His righteousness (see Hebrews 11:6 and Matthew 6:33). 3) "To discern good from evil" – This is the sense of discernment which means to thoroughly separate and distinguish. We live in this world and must interface with all kinds of people. As a result we are confronted daily with good and evil. Increasingly there is much confusion as to what is good and what is evil since our generation reflects the Bible period described by Isaiah in Israelite history as he warned his hearers, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness..." (Isaiah 5:20). We must ever be sensitive to the Spirit so that He will lead us in this ongoing process of learning and practicing discernment. We must be solidly grounded in the Scriptures and adhere to sound theology to discern good from evil. Let us continue to pursue the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and offer up to Him our holy lives as our spiritual worship. (See Romans 12:1.) Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily prayer: Father, the Word declares that those who are mature in their walk with You are those who've repeatedly made hard choices. They've come up against the tempter time after time and because of their spiritual training have said "No" to ungodly behavior and ungodly attitudes, to temporary pleasures that leave unending regret. You continue to train our senses to instantly know that which is good and that which is evil as we adhere to Your standards of righteousness, as modeled and written in Scripture. Amen. 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.) "Lead Me, O Lord" Psalm 5:1-3, 8,12 from the Integrity Scripture Memory series. If you care to listen to this song open here and then click "play". "Show Me Your Ways O Lord" Psalm 25:4,5 & 86:11 from the Integrity Scripture Memory series. If you care to listen to this song open here and then click "play". Yesterday we shared a photo of a pink rose along with this line from a hymn "...while the dew is still on the roses." That hymn is, as every reader who responded correctly noted, "In The Garden". Brooksyne will be singing that beloved hymn along with many others at the hymn sing she leads today where many residents will join her at the Assisted Living Facility mentioned in yesterday's message. Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne |
 "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update Revised 05/08/09  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. (2009 YTD financial offerings through 6/11/09: $5,145.00)SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION  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 either signed up to receive it OR a friend forwarded it to you. You can also subscribe to the rss feed. or as an email subscription update through feedburner. Subscribe to Daily Encouragement Updates by EmailCancel: We respect and value your time and privacy. If these messages no longer meet your needs (providing encouragement) you can remove your address by merely use the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each email message. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Weekly Version: The weekly version is intended for those who may 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. 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! "A Little Foolishness" - Humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) Last updated with the story of Mildred Swanson, who joyfully discovers her "spiritual gift" is sending forwarded emails! (Note: This material is satire!) "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!) "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  Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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