Morning

“Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away.”

“For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.”

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.—It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. . . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.

John 15:2; Mal. 3:2, 3; Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 12:7, 8, 11, 12 (Read full verses…)

Evening

“And now we call the arrogant blessed.”

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.—“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes . . . —Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.—“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Mal. 3:15; Isa. 57:15; Prov. 16:19; Matt. 5:3; Prov. 6:16, 17; Prov. 16:5; Ps. 139:23, 24; Phil. 1:2, 3; Matt. 5:5 (Read full verses…)

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Excerpted from Daily
Light on the Daily Path ©2002 Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers.

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve–designating them apostles–that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Mark 3:13-19 NIV Listen (MP3)

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, Psalm 95:1-7 NIV Listen (MP3)

NIV

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. Ecclesiastes 5:10-14 NIV