A Worrier’s Mantra

Posted on 2012/12/14 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 94:19 is a word for the worriers among us: “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.”
Many of us can identify with the Psalmist, who said that his anxious thoughts “multiplied” within him. Isn’t that how worries are? Our minds move from one bad possibility to the next, often building on one another — they “multiply within (us)!” What is the cure? He shares his testimony:

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No Minor Flaw

Posted on 2012/12/13 by Shawn Thomas

I Timothy 3:6 gives an important warning to all us when it speaks to one of the qualifications for pastor. Verse 6 says he is to be “not a new convert.” Many people would nod their heads in agreement with that: a new convert wouldn’t know enough to be a pastor. But enlightening to us is what :6 says is the REASON he is not to be a new convert: NOT because he doesn’t “know enough”, but “lest he become conceited, and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.”

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Start At Home

Posted on 2012/12/12 by Shawn Thomas

There is what many people consider to be a strange episode in Exodus 4:24-26. Why was the Lord so upset with Moses because his son was not circumcised? Yet there is a lesson here which should cause many of us to examine the consistency of our commitment to the Lord. Circumcision was the basic sign of the covenant between God and His people in the Old Testament. And yet here was Moses, newly commissioned to deliver God’s people, who himself had a son who was not circumcised. Continue reading →

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Morning and Night

Posted on 2012/12/11 by Shawn Thomas

In Psalm 92:2 the Psalmist says he will “declare Your steadfast love in the morning and Your faithfulness by night”. This is typical of Hebrew poetry, which is characterized by parallelism, but it is not over-reaching to think that there is something to the contrast in the terms here: declaring God’s love in the morning, and His faithfulness at night.

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Your Secret Sins

Posted on 2012/12/10 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 90:8 says that God has “placed” “our secret sins in the light of (His) presence.” One of the things this means is that He purposefully arranges circumstances so that the hidden sins of our hearts have occasion to manifest themselves and be seen, by us and perhaps others, so that we may be confronted with the reality of our sin. If we respond with repentance to His grace, we may then be forgiven of our sins, and enabled to turn from them and change. If not, we will suffer consequences. But whatever our response, God is not content to let our sinful attitudes fester in our hearts. He will arrange for them to come to the surface. Continue reading →

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The Highways To Zion

Posted on 2012/12/08 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 84:5 says, “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!” This verse is significant because it tells us that “the highways to Zion” are in your “heart.” You don’t have to take a certain earthly “highway” to find a place where you can meet with God. You do not have to fly to Israel to a temple on Mt. Zion to encounter Him. Wherever you are, you can experience the joys of His presence at any moment, by taking “the highways to Zion” in your heart. Continue reading →

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It Will End Better

Posted on 2012/12/07 by Shawn Thomas

Headlines in Oklahoma today shared the bad news: Whitney Hand, starting guard for the University of Oklahoma women’s basketball team, had torn her left ACL during the game against North Texas the night before. Whitney had previously worked hard to come back from an ACL tear on her other knee. Now her senior season — and her basketball career at OU — was over.
Whitney is known not only for her prowess on the basketball court, but also as the newlywed spouse of OU quarterback Landry Jones. Both she and her husband have strong Christian testimonies.
Following the North Texas game, Sooner women’s coach Sherri Coale spoke to the press about Hand’s injury. Like many Oklahomans, she was devastated. “It should end better for this kid. It should just end better,” Coale said of Hand. “We don’t know why; it’s not our place to guess or even speculate. In the deepest part of your heart you just want it to end better for her.”
It is understandable that Coach Coale and many fans are grieving for Whitney. No one likes to see good people suffer. But the good news is, we can know that it is indeed going to “end better” for Whitney.

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The Last Word

Posted on 2012/12/07 by Shawn Thomas

In Psalm 89 the author feels cast off and rejected by God (:38) as well as reproached by men (:41). He asks God in :49, “Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord?” He feels totally deserted. And yet with all the hurt and the questioning he expresses in this chapter, he ends the Psalm in :52 with these words: “Blessed be the Lord forever!” Continue reading →

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Working With Delight

Posted on 2012/12/06 by Shawn Thomas

Proverbs 31:13 says that the excellent wife “works with her hands IN DELIGHT”. This is one of the many qualities in that chapter which apply to more than just a virtuous woman. Each of us — male or female — should seek to emulate her in this. What this verse tells us is that she does not “just do” her work — but that she does it with “DELIGHT”. Her daily chores are not regarded by her as drudgery, but as her first and most important ministry – so she delights in it! Continue reading →

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Family Christmas Newsletter 2012

Posted on 2012/12/05 by Shawn Thomas

— One weekend in September while Libby and Josh came home for her birthday, she gave US perhaps the biggest present of the year: they are expecting our first grandchild in May! Josh is finishing his ministry degree at Louisiana College this month and hopes to serve in a local church while he continues postgraduate ministry studies at LC. Continue reading →

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