Living Today

Interesting articles from Christian teachers and leaders. Designed to help you as you follow Jesus!

Blessed to be a Blessing

Blessed to be a Blessing

Numbers 6:24-26 says

Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

If we could shrink the Earth’s population into a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.

There would be:

57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the western hemisphere, both north and south, 8 Africans

52 females; 48 males

80 living in substandard housing

70 non-white; 30 white

70 non-Christians; 30 Christians

70 will be unable to read

50 suffering from malnutrition

6 with 59% of the entire world’s wealth

1 near death

1 near birth

1 with a college education

Something to ponder…..

  • If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed that the one million who will not survive this week.
  • If you have ever experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation….you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
  • If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, or a roof overhead and a place to sleep….you are richer than 75% of this world.
  • If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace….you are among the top 8% of the world’s most wealthy people.

Take the time today to step back and see what the Lord has done in your life.

Mark & Cindy

Be of Good Courage

Be of Good Courage

Seeing in the midst of life's challenges From one day to the next, major events and occurrences change the way we see and live our lives. Daily we hear of: • Another major disaster; • Another hourly murder, rape or life ending behaviour; • Another greedy and injustice business deal; • An unsteady fragile stock market; • Another unexpected price rise; It seems harder to find the “Feel Good” stories in the midst of so much destruction, despair and hopelessness. Jesus said in the gospel of John...

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Love in Action

How do we respond to someone’s need? Love is experienced in what we say…. But love becomes extravagant in “what we DO”

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Rethinking How We Resolve Conflict

Have you ever been caught off guard and said something you regret? Have you ever been offended or offended someone else and been surprised by the reaction? Some conflicts are minor, but in the worst-case scenario, they can lead to assaults, lawsuits, and even murder. Wayne Forward, from PeaceWise Australia, thinks it’s time for a radical rethink on how we deal with conflict. He says when we find ourselves at the beginning of a dispute, whether it be at home, work or even at church, we often...

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Three Ways to Get Spiritually Refreshed

Three Ways to Get Spiritually Refreshed

By Pastor Greg Laurie I love the word refresh. It’s such a perfect word to describe starting again or returning to something. In fact, we even use it as a computer term. Sometimes when I’m working on my computer, leave it for a while, and then come back, things freeze up. Certain programs aren’t working properly anymore. So I have to refresh my computer screen. And there are times when that means I need to completely reboot. Sometimes we need a reboot in the Christian life as well. Sometimes...

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Living in Purpose

Living in Purpose

By Author: Sabrina Peters When you hear the term ‘purpose’, what words come to mind? Success? Happiness? Meaning? Wealth? Marriage? Influence? Affluence? Talent? Relationships? As a Christian, I find my answer in God’s Word. Romans 12:1-2 (TM) puts it like this, “So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best...

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Be A Restorer (2)

‘And that is what some of you were.’ 1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV

After listing some of the worst sins imaginable, Paul told the Corinthians, ‘And that is what some of you were. But you were… justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.’ (1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV) So, before you pass sentence on someone else, remember what God has lifted you out of! Many of us think a ‘good’ sermon is one that goes over our head and hits our neighbour squarely between the eyes!

In Scripture, the word restore has two shades of meaning. One is to remove a cancer. Cancer can kill you, and it needs to be removed. Paul writes, ‘If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently… in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’ (Galatians 6:1–2 NIV) Make no mistake, sharing someone’s shame and humiliation can be a burden. Nevertheless, ‘we should… give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.’ (Galatians 6:10 NCV) If you tend to be quick to condemn others—something we have all done from time to time—ask yourself this question: if people don’t find grace among the people who preach it, where can they find it?

The other means to reset a broken bone. Scripture tells us, ‘Christ makes us one body… connected to each other.’ (Romans 12:5 GWT) In fact, your spiritual family is more important than your earthly family because it will last forever. By lifting a fallen family member, you help heal their pain and enable them to become a vital, functioning part of Christ’s body again. So, the word for today is—be a restorer.

SoulFood: [bible passage=”Job 35–37, Luke 22:1–23, Ps 69:19–36, Pro 8:30–31″ version=”esv” heading=”H3″]

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©