October 2012 - Page 3 of 9 - Daily Thoughts about God

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
Isaiah 12:3

I love the word picture that Isaiah 12:3 gives us. Can’t you just picture taking your bucket with a long rope attached and dropping it down into the deep well? You hear the splash below and feel the tension on the rope as the bucket fills. As you draw the bucket up you know the drink will be long and cold and refreshing. Ahhh, coming to the well is so worth the trip. Especially when the day is dry and hot and dusty.

The only thing that can prevent that long and refreshing drink is a hole in the bucket. Though you long for the life giving water, if there’s a hole you’ll draw up an empty bucket.

As we begin to explore the refreshing truths and sure principles of following Jesus let’s first make sure our bucket is intact. The biggest holes in our buckets of faith are generally caused by one thing: a lack of confidence. As we draw from the well of salvation the cool refreshment simply leaks out when we harbor a lack of confidence in who our God is and in who we are in Jesus Christ.

In order to draw deeply from the well of salvation we must first be confident that our God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do. Often we find our confidence in God has slipped away when things have not gone as we had hoped and planned. Yet God alone is the one who sees the road ahead. Only He knows just what our hearts need to keep going. Refresh your confidence in God today by reviewing His character as revealed through His names here:

http://www.thoughts-about-god.com/meditating/kk_attributes.htm

If your confidence in who you are in Jesus Christ has slipped and you feel the promises of God don’t include you then take some time to review just how God sees you. As His child you are every bit included in those who can draw deeply from His well. Review how He sees you here:

http://www.ficm.org/index.php?command=textwhoamiinchrist

Patch the hole in your bucket. Believe God with fresh faith. Walk in who He says you are with fresh confidence. Then you will be able to draw from His deep well with a joy that is overflowing.

Father God, Often my confidence in You can wane when I don’t understand what You are doing or not doing in my life. Help me to fully believe and completely trust that You have my best interests at heart. May I lean hard on You in complete assurance that Your love for me will carry me through. Help me to see myself as You see me – forgiven, dearly loved, accepted, chosen, and fruitful. Give me a deep understanding of being clothed in the strength and dignity that You provide for me. Restore my bucket of faith so that I may draw deeply and with great joy from the well of salvation. In Jesus’ name I pray, with thanksgiving. Amen.

Question: What holes are in your bucket right now? What truth will you apply to patch them up?

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2012/10/27/gr_drawing-a-long-cool-drink/
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For Mobile Devices – God-daily.com

By John Grant

When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!

My friend George was still a teenager when World War II broke out and like many others of his generation, he joined the armed forces. After some abbreviated training, he was assigned to the Army Air Corps radio operator on a B-24 and set sail for the front lines of battle.

While on a mission over Sweden, the plane George shared with his eight fellow crew members was hit by enemy fire. George and three others managed to bail out, while the remaining five went down with the plane. They were burned beyond identification and all five were buried in a common grave in Ohio. When George and the three others hit the ground, they were immediately taken captive and until the war was over, they remained prisoners of war.

After the war was over, George returned home and went to college. While taking an English class, he wrote an essay about his experiences as a POW. His family asked that I read it at his funeral a few years ago. He told of first being held captive deep in the bowels of a rusting cargo ship that had been turned into a prison. Fresh air was almost non-existent and the temperature in the hull over a hundred degrees. When the men needed to relieve themselves, a bucket was lowered from above. Several times a day drinking water would be lowered in a bucket! – the same bucket.

By the time the floating prison reached Germany, the weather had turned cold and with limited clothing, George and his buddies were forced to march across the country to their POW camp. George was a big guy, built like a defensive lineman, but when he was liberated, he weighed a mere ninety pounds.

Over the years, George and his surviving fellow crew members stay in contact with each other. They visited often, but never all four at once, and none of them had ever visited the common grave of those who went down with the plane. It was George’s idea that they have a reunion with all nine at the cemetery in Ohio.

When George returned, he told me all about it. He stood by the grave and gave the eulogy. It was to the day, the fiftieth anniversary of when they were shot down. It was the first time in fifty years all nine had been together and they all knew it would be the last. A few months later, George was the first of the surviving four to go to glory.

As I gave the eulogy at his memorial service, I couldn’t help but think of that popular song “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!” When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!”

For those of us who have given out hearts to Christ, someday there will be a great reunion with all of the family of believers – ‘what a day of rejoicing that will be’.
(a Thought on Life from John Grant)

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2012/10/23/jg_when-we-all-get-together/

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
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For Mobile Devices – God-daily.com

Joyfully Drawing a Long Cool Drink

When We All Get Together

Month: <span>October 2012</span>

Joyfully Drawing a Long Cool Drink

When We All Get Together