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ALWAYS FOR THE TROOPS
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We hope you enjoy our devotions. Our goal is not to make anyone uncomfortable, especially those of different faiths. God bless all of you who visit this site and these devotions. Our hope and prayer is that in a small measure, it helps improve your lives as it does ours in preparing them. God bless you. |
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May 14
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon."
Luke 24:33-34
Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique...Every man's foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented, and never recurring possibilities and not the repetition of something that another, be even the greatest, has already achieved.
Martin Buber, The Way of Man
Prayer For Today: Grant us Thy peace, O Lord. May we have that spirit of unity that can bind the hearts of men together so that we may live peaceably among our brethren. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Suggestion: If you are into sunrises and sunsets, watching them in the desert is an overwhelming experience.
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May 15
Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.
Zechariah 10:1
Grief is a title wave that overtakes you, smashes down upon you with unimaginable force, sweeps you up into its darkness, where you tumble and crash against unidentifiable surfaces only to be thrown out on an unknown beach, bruised, reshaped. Grief makes what others think of you moot. It shears away the masks of normal life and forces brutal honesty out of your mouth before propriety can stop you. It shoves away friends and scares away so called friends, and rewrites your address book for you.
Stephanie Ericsson-Compassion through the Darkness.
Prayer For Today: Father in heaven, guide us by the power of the Holy Spirit to love you, our precious Lord, supremely, to keep your commandments and to abide in your love. Amen.
Suggestion: Be friendly. Never walk down the hallway without looking at people you're meeting. Try smiling or saying hi. Trust me on this, it'll make you feel better.
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May 16
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Hebrews 12:9
Every mistake has a half second in which it can be taken back.
Willa Cather
Prayer For Today: O Father, help us to trust you more, to put aside all fear. Save us from fainting before those who trouble us. Make us sure of our surety. Give us the confidence and courage to present a brave front and to confess our dependence upon you. Amen.
Suggestion: Do not tell the initimate details of your life to everyone. Choose your confidantes carefully.
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May 17
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Impress this on your children. Talk about the Commandments when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:7
With all the kids I know who make it, there's one thing in common: individual contact with an adult who cared and who kept hanging in there.
Dr. Barbara Staggers, MD, who works
with inner-city kids at risk in Oakland, CA.
Prayer For Today: You know, O Lord, the struggles of our soul, how we would curse when we are slandered, hate when we are wronged, boast when we are praised. Let your Spirit lead us to victory. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Suggestion: Respect all living creatures. Ever thought about bird watching?
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May 18
Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
IIPeter 1:10
I feel very blessed and fortunate to be dying this way, although the timing is certainly a lot sooner than I would have chosen. Given that everyone has to die and that death is a perfectly natural process, I think this way is a fine way to go. I have time to say good-bye to family and friends and opportunity to enjoy to the fullest the time that I do have.
Helen, in the process of dying
Cazadero, CA
Prayer For Today: Dear Lord, we are living in a day when forces seem bent on filling our hearts with unbelief. Help us to become more watchful over body, mind and soul of self and others while it is day, so that we, your children, may never depart from you. Amen.
Suggestion: Never be caught just merely waiting, always keep a book handy. Try one of the classics.
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May 19
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Revelation 7:17
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
Shakespeare, Hamlet.
Prayer For Today: Grant, O Lord, that we may be victors in the battle against temptation and sin, ever looking unto Jesus, the author and captain of our salvation.
Amen.
Suggestion: Tell people when you borrow from them, how important is this to you? If it will make significant difference in your life to see it again, do not lend it to me.
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May 20
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12
The man or woman on top of the mountain didn't fall there.
author unknown
Prayer For Today: Dear Lord, your word is Truth. Help us to understand it so that we can the better obey it. May your Word be translated in our lives through deeds of love, through wholesome thoughts and purified motives. Grant that others, seeing how we live, will be influenced to follow you. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Suggestion: Sincerity in the midst of misunderstanding can have inexhaustible power to heal and reconcile relationships. I'm sure this is not original with me but true.
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May 21
In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.
Isaiah 10:27
Prayer For Today: O Master, convince us of the beauty of love. Keep us near you, that the power of your love and the appeal of your sacrifice sustain us in the struggle of life. Amen.
Suggestion: Quality in more than a slogan. It also applies to relationships. We have to invest quality in them.
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May 22
Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
ICorinthians 11:3
If a man cannot be a Christian in the place where he is, he cannot be a Christian anywhere.
Henry Ward Beecher
Prayer For Today: Lord Jesus, we could not possibly enter into the great experience of the cross without also sharing it by making the way of love, the way of sacrificial living, our way. Hard as it appears to be, may we know that
you are with us and living your life within us. Amen.
Suggestion: Contact one of your former teachers and say thanks for their efforts. While you're at it, send some flowers.
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May 23
But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 7:7
I was thinking. In all these years we've been married, you've never once said you were sorry.
Edith Bunker
I'll gladly say I'm sorry if I ever say anything wrong.
Archie Bunker
Prayer For Today: Gracious God, give us a conscience void of offense toward you and man. Be patient with us even though we fail you often. Perfect Thy work in us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Suggestion: Problems often disguise opportunities. It isn't what happens to you thats the problem but how you look at it.
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May 24
He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights.
Job 36:6
Teamwork is coming together and a beginning is keeping together and progress is working together is success.
author unknown
Prayer For Today: O God, who works in men's hearts by the operation of The Spirit, save us from all unwillingness to learn your will and from shirking responsibilities. Grant us your power to fulfill completely your purposes
in our lives. Amen.
Suggestion: Words are powerful, don't say, "if only" but say "next time" and take "what if" out of your vocabulary.
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May 25
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalms 13:5
Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards. Lois McMaster Bujold, "A Civil Campaign", 1999
The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught. H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956), 'Prejudices: Fourth Series,' 1924
Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself. Lois McMaster Bujold, "A Civil Campaign", 1999
Prayer For Today: O God, teach us to labor joyfully and to discharge faithfully all the duties that are before us this day. We would have the fine example of our dear ones who now rest from their labors to spur us on. Whatsoever our hand finds to do, may it be done with all our might, and in your name.
 Suggestion:Have a great Memorial day weekend. Visit a veteran. Find some way to honor the troops.
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May 26
Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do [that which is] good in his sight.
1 Chronicles 19:13
The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.
Robert Lynd (1879-1949) Anglo-Irish essayist, journalist
Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Prayer For Today: Lord Jesus, our elder Brother, we thank you that you are not ashamed to all us your bretheren. As you did glorify your Father's Name, so help us to worship Him in the great brotherhood of all men with prayer and praise, with services an d sacrifices. Amen.
Suggestion: Nothing makes you more proud to be an American than the chance to see our soldiers performing their duties under trying conditions.
Ron Kind
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May 27
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make [you] afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
Leviticus 26:6
You may have great plans and may be impatient to carry them out now. Possibly you can. We usually can do far more than we have believed. But possibly the best time has not arrived and the best place selected. Then be patient while you persevere. Great things require time, and the important projects must pass through many stages. However, if you are determined to accomplish what you have in mind, and do your utmost as well as give yourself the required time, you will certainly do it. All things come to him who waits patiently while he works efficiently.
unknown
Prayer For Today: Our Heavenly Father, although we are unworthy, you have assured us that you will hear all those who come to you in a sincere attitude of prayer. Help us never to include those things in our petitions that do not further the progress of your great Kingdom. Amen.
Suggestion: Work on your impatience. As we get older, it gets harder.
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May 28
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world.
1 Samuel 2:8
Lying so silent by night and by day
Sleeping the years of their manhood away.
Give them the meed they have won in the past;
Give them the honors their future forcast;
Give them the chaplets they won in the strife;
Give them the laurels they lost with their life.
~Will Carleton
Prayer For Today: O God, our help in ages past. You are still our refuge and our strength. To you, we come in every hour of need to ask for guidance and protection. Let your strong arm be our defense and the knowledge of your presence our strength.
Suggestion: Think about those who have lost a loved one today.
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May 29
But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 7:7
"Without a struggle, there can be no progress."
~Fredrick Douglass
"Don't let life discourage you, everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was."
~ Richard Evans
"The journey in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming is when the dance of life really takes place."
~ Barbara DeAngelis
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."
~Dolly Parton
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I intended to be."
~ Douglas Adams
Prayer For Today: Lord Jesus, we could not possibly enter into the great experience of the cross without also sharing it by making the way of love, the way of sacrificial living, our way. Hard as it appears to be, may we know that you are with us and living your life within us. Amen.
Suggestion: Keep going.... don't quit... you will eventually reach your goal.
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May 30
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Psalms 103:1-2
And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb, and beauty weeps the brave. ~Joseph Drake
I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did. ~Benjamin Harrison
Prayer For Today: Dear Lord, who are so loving and strong, grant us out of yourself and your Word nourishment for our souls, strength for our spiritual sinews, power against temptation, and inspiration for life's tasks. May the Bible "find us so that we may find you. In Jesus' name. Amen
Suggestion: Think about someone you know who has been diagnosed with a serious or terminal illness. Visit them or send a "funny or humorous" card that has nothing to do with their illness.
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May 31
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Ephesians 4:7
God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now”
African-American Proverb quotes
Prayer For Today: Grant, O Lord, that we may be victors in the battle against temptation and sin, ever looking unto Jesus, the author and captain of our salvation. Amen.
Suggestion: I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
Leonardo da Vinci quotes (Italian draftsman, Painter, Sculptor, Architect and Engineer whose genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. 1452-1519)
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