By Still Waters

David Purchase

Description

Poets write about unrequited love when love is not reciprocated to the lover. This book will inspire you to love the Lord more deeply.

He leadeth me beside still waters; He restoreth my soul.

That is a portion of Psalm 23, which shares a critical message—one that is meant to encourage, inspire, and restore Christians and others of all ages to develop a love and appetite for the Scriptures and for the Lord.

The fifty-two chapters in this book—one for each week of the year—are meditations on the grace of God. The author considers questions such as:

How is the Word of God a living Word?

With what attitude should we worship the Lord?

How can we expect the Lord to answer our prayers if we are not obedient to His Word as we should be?

How can we be fervent and effective in prayer?

History shows how we’ve progressed from manpower to horsepower, then to TNT and dynamite, to atomic power, and now to nuclear power. But greater than all of these forces combined is the power of prayer.

To any reader who does not know the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, may you be drawn to Him in faith as you read of His wonderful love.

Sujets

• Biblical Meditations
• Philosophie et théologie
• Devotion
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 21 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664270275
• Langue: English

Extrait

By Still Waters
 
Meditations from the Bible to Encourage and Inspire
 
 
 
David Purchase
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2022 David Purchase.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7026-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7023-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7027-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911558
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 07/15/2022
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture marked (ASV) taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www. zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
 
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NASB) taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
 
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Contents
Chapter 1 The Caring Savior
Chapter 2 Words
Chapter 3 The Potter
Chapter 4 A Song of Love
Chapter 5 Availing Prayer
Chapter 6 Honor Him
Chapter 7 My Portion
Chapter 8 Approval
Chapter 9 God Can Meet All Our Needs
Chapter 10 Despair and Hope
Chapter 11 Attitudes to the Cross
Chapter 12 Girdles
Chapter 13 Debt
Chapter 14 Metamorphosis
Chapter 15 Seeds
Chapter 16 Choices
Chapter 17 Godliness
Chapter 18 The Threshing Floor
Chapter 19 King George VI
Chapter 20 The Lame Man
Chapter 21 The Beloved Disciple
Chapter 22 A Balm in Gilead
Chapter 23 So Great Salvation
Chapter 24 Stars
Chapter 25 Cheer Up!
Chapter 26 Dwelling on High
Chapter 27 Suffering and Glory
Chapter 28 Come and See
Chapter 29 The Three Bears
Chapter 30 Birds in the Bible
Chapter 31 Beautiful Feet
Chapter 32 Faces
Chapter 33 This Man
Chapter 34 Do Not Fret!
Chapter 35 Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians
Chapter 36 Certainty
Chapter 37 Bundle of Life
Chapter 38 Were You There?
Chapter 39 Gathered to the Lord
Chapter 40 Wonderful Grace
Chapter 41 Come, Let Us Reason
Chapter 42 Blindness
Chapter 43 Remember
Chapter 44 Living Water
Chapter 45 The Ascension
Chapter 46 The Race Set before Us
Chapter 47 God’s Requirement
Chapter 48 Paul’s Motivation
Chapter 49 What Think Ye of Christ?
Chapter 50 The Good Shepherd
Chapter 51 To Whom Am I Accountable?
Chapter 52 Blind Bartimaeus
About the Author
 
1
The Caring Savior
Reading: Mark 4:35–41
And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
We are living in the last days especially when we think of all going on around us with the coronavirus and when people’s hearts fail them from fear (Luke 21:26). Displaced people are fleeing their homes with virtually no possessions to escape war, fires, floods, and famine.
Even in England, people have had to abandon their homes not because of fighting and persecution but because of severe weather that has caused major flooding in the north of England and in parts of Wales and in Scotland. The storms have been wild, demolishing flood defenses.
Each hurricane has a name given by the Met Office. There were hurricanes named Eva, Frank, and Gertrude, and they were accompanied by record levels of rain. December 2020 was the wettest December on record in the UK, and some sixteen thousand dwellings were flooded in the northern counties causing much heartache and devastation.
Imagine if you were a fisherman and your trawler was tossed about in waves as high as a ten-story building. You would be terrified of drowning.
The incident from Mark’s gospel was about a terrific storm the disciples faced on the Sea of Galilee. Some were experienced fishermen, but they had not experienced such a violent storm. The Bible indicates that it was no ordinary storm but a fierce one.
Let me tell you the story briefly. We can consider some of the lessons the disciples had to learn and relate them to ourselves.
Jesus had spent many hours preaching to the multitudes in parables. When evening was approaching, He got into a boat with His disciples and told them to row to the other side of the lake. Jesus was tired and fell asleep in the stern. Then without warning, a violent storm arose, and the boat began filling with water. His disciples were terrified, believing they would drown. All this time, Jesus was asleep. The disciples woke Him with the cry “Master, don’t You care for us? We are going to perish in the sea.”
The Bible states that Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still.” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He asked His disciples, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40 TLB). The disciples feared exceedingly and asked one another, “Who is this man, that even the winds and seas obey him?” (Mark 4:41 TLB).
We know He is the Lord of nature with power over disease, demons, death, sin, and the elements. There are lessons the disciples had to learn, and they are the same lessons for us today. They are based on the three questions in the reading: Who is this man? Master, don’t you care? and Where is your faith?
Who Is This Man?
The evidence of the New Testament shows that Jesus was truly human; He experienced hunger and thirst, He wept, and perhaps more poignantly, He felt pain. In this case, He was tired after a long day of preaching and needed to recover His strength. He was, however, different from all other human beings in that He never sinned: “For He [God] hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). His followers knew what it was to be human and sinful, and their problem was that they did not understand that Jesus could be a sinless human being and be divine at the same time.
In the midst of the storm, they were frantic. Had they forgotten that Jesus had told them to go to the other side of the lake? That was a promise by Jesus that they would get there, and nothing, not even the storm, would defeat His purpose. They had seen other miracles performed by their Master, but in their present situation, they failed to grasp that Jesus was able to control the wind and the waves.
Do you fully appreciate that Jesus is truly man and truly God and that there is no storm