Here is another brand new devotion for you. This time it was inspired by Janet.
These women we have with us are a great inspiration, ain't they?
Sacrifice.
By Adrian Bonham.
Janet has said that she will make a sacrifice of eating vegemite if I will eat grits. Both of us are prepared to make that sacrifice. I want to talk about another sacrifice that was made in 1836.Back in the late 1700�s, two brothers, Eli and Elija Bonham left their home on the English border with Wales. Eli11 I am a descendant of Eli Bonham. came out to Australia and went to live in Bathurst (NSW). Elija went to live in the USA and set up home in the Carolinias. One of his descendants was James Bulter Bonham. In 1834 James joined up with William Travis and in 1836 went to destroy the Alamo Mission. Travis decided to defend it instead to �buy some time� for Houston to build his army. Santa Anna besieged the Alamo mission. On March 6 all 189 defenders of the Mission were slaughtered including just famous men as Jim Bowie, Davy Crocket and William Travis. Each man laid down his life so that Texas should be free. Jesus said in John 15:12-17 �My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.�
Jesu commands us to love one another as He loved us. How did he love us? He laid down His life for us. He not only commanded us, He did it. So what is this love? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 we read �Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.� Now that is love. Imagine if we all lived that way, we would change the world in an instant. All others will pass away, but love will remain. Love means we do not take offence at someone who has a different point of view from ours. Love means accepting people for who they are, warts and all. Love will conquer all. Jesus proved it by dieing on the cross for us. He laid down His life for His friends.
He does not call us �servants�, but friends. Paul says we are adopted by the Father as His sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:4-5). A servant does what they are told and if they disobey they are fired. We, however, are sons and daughters and if disobey we can seek forgiveness. We also share in the inheritance of the Son. Which eternal life with the father. Just as a father will teach his children the Lord teaches us, through His word and through the Holy Spirit. He corrects us when we do wrong as the writer of Hebrews puts it in chapter 12:5-8 �And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.� We are sons and daughters of the Most High God.
Jesus laid down his life for us that we might live and life to the fullest. Through His sacrifice we become sons and daughters of the Lord. Jesus showed us how to love and then He proved it by giving up His life and was raised in a newness of life. We share in the inheritance for Jesus. Faced with all of this, what sacrifices are we prepared to make for Him?
There's a storm coming, our Storm. PROCLAIMING GOD'S LOVE TO A DYING WORLD Say to the captives, 'come out,' and those in darkness, 'Be free!' Isaiah 49:9 Love in Jesus Adrian Bonham aka Morning Light, The Larrikin
I looked to the heavens to where God dwells I looked into my life to see he lives there as well.
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