Daily Encouragement Net
A daily, Bible-based message of hope and encouragement. A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Click here to support our ministry.The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber. <Previous Message · Archive edition Tuesday, September 24, 2013  These horses are enjoying the green pasture on a farm around the corner from our house at the junction of Colebrook and Kraybill Church Road. Click on photo for a larger view, along with today's Scripture text. "Enjoying Safe Pasture"  Listen to this message on your audio player."Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:3,4). "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 100:3). "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture" (John 10:9). The Lord my pasture shall prepare And feed me with a shepherd's care; His presence shall my wants supply And guard me with a watchful eye; My noonday walks He shall attend And all my midnight hours defend. I took today's photo of the horses about a mile from our house. It's a peaceful pasture with beautiful fencing and lush green grass for the horses to graze. They appear quite content and well cared for. Pasture is land with vegetation cover used for grazing of livestock as part of a farm or ranch. We don't have as much land used for pasture here in Lancaster County as I was accustomed to in southern Missouri or Brooksyne was while living in Oklahoma, since most of the ground in this area is tilled and planted in crops.   While driving along we always enjoy the wholesome sight of livestock grazing in pasture land and today's photo is the quintessential view. In today's verses the Psalmist David, as in Psalm 23, uses agricultural illustrations to connect to his readers. "Trust in the Lord and do good." He begins with this familiar exhortation which is such a common theme through the Scriptures and is reflected in the lyrics of the classic hymn, "Trust and obey". This is at the very heart of what God calls each of us to do in our earthly journey. "Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." Surely David is foundationally speaking from a spiritual perspective. Safe pasture connotes security, abundance, and faithfulness. A footnote in the NASV indicates that David is giving counsel to his readers to, "feed securely or feed on His faithfulness." The Amplified Bible directs the reader to, "feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed." "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." We can admire a person from a distance for his or her beauty, talent, skills or accomplishments. But to delight in a person holds deeper meaning since it suggests strong emotional involvement, not a distant admiration.  To delight ourselves in the Lord is to desire and enjoy His nearness and the truth and righteousness of His Word. As we develop and nurture this kind of relationship with God we surrender our desires to Him so that they are in accordance to His will. The desires that flow from our heart will be greatly influenced or originate from His abiding presence in our hearts.The same deep satisfaction that David referred to 3,000 years ago may also be ours today as we regularly delight ourselves in the Lord. It is in this place of safe pasture that the desires of our heart will be shaped by our loving Lord as we feed on His abundance and live by His principles. In God’s green pastures feeding by His cool waters lie; Soft in the evening walk my Lord and I, All the sheep of His pasture Fare so wondrously fine; His sheep am I. Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber  Daily prayer: Father, we place our complete trust in You, for You are a faithful, trustworthy, and loving God. As we feed on Your faithfulness and live by Your righteousness revealed to us through the Scriptures we find ourselves delighting in Your presence. We also delight in You when we sing praises, when we give ourselves in service to others, and most especially when we commune with You in prayer. May the desires of our heart bring delight to Yours as we conform ourselves to Your will and rid ourselves of that which lures us from the safe pasture You have abundantly supplied for those who believe. Amen.This morning we heard from a reader in Kenya: "Thank you for remembering my dear country Kenya in prayer following an attack by terrorists at a shopping mall in our capital city. This caused loss of lives to innocent people. God Almighty is our refuge in this trying moment." Indeed let us remember our brothers and sisters all over the world who face increasing persecution for their faith. (Hebrews 13:3)  Family Note: Today Ester will have her heart pacemaker replaced at Hershey Medical Center. The procedure is scheduled to be completed today as outpatient surgery assuming that the leads that are attached to her heart are still good which the monitoring indicates is the case. She will have the same pediatric cardiologist that she saw as a baby perform the procedure. We would appreciate your prayers on this matter and will share an update tomorrow. Her present pacemaker has lasted just over seven years (since August of 2006) and has given excellent performance.The photo shows Ester with one of her favorite characters as a child, the Donut Man whom we saw on Sept. 14th at Crestview Farm! She was thrilled to finally meet him in person.  We passed these baby lambs out in pasture this last Spring on an Amish farm in eastern Lancaster County.  These young lambs are in a pasture on Musser Road, near our home.  This summer we saw these cattle grazing in a Missouri pasture near the farm mentioned above. They were sure enjoying the freshly baled hay. Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "Green Pastures" Video Fernando Ortega "I Will Delight" Video Fernando Ortega "In Shady Green Pastures" Video Bill Gaither Trio "God Leads Us Along" Video Mennonite Singers "Shady Green Pastures" Video Grace Thrillers "From the East Unto the West" Video Odes Project The Donut Man |
 Stephen and Brooksyne Weber (Click on photo to enlarge) "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update (Revised 12/31/12)  Are our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider an offering to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible. Click here to donate online. 2013 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 9/23/13: $14,093.00 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION  If a friend forwarded this to you, you can subscribe here.These messages are never sent by us unsolicited. It was sent to you because you either signed up to receive it OR it was forwarded to you. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or as an email subscription through Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.) Cancel: These messages are only sent from us to people who request it; please accept our apologies if it reached you in error. You can unsubscribe from this list at any time. If you no longer desire to receive these messages you can remove your address from the list by merely using 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 or who may desire less frequent mailings. It is Friday's message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. Daily Encouragement on Facebook and Twitter:  The daily message and prayer on Facebook. The daily message and prayer on Twitter.Reader Survey: Please take a few minutes to assist us in improving our ministry effectiveness by filling out this online reader survey. To take the survey click here. Please feel free to pass these messages on! Our other blogs: "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!) (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. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. 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. Other versions are also occasionally used. © Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net Stephen & Brooksyne Weber 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552   Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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