Articles by Deborah Davis Copyright reserved     Other sources are noted within the particular
 article.

Baptist Church News Canton, GA
Devotional 

Monday September 11, 2000


The Scripture: He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
 Psalm 107:20 

The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my 
roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Matthew 8:8



The Thought: Once when our daughter, Jenny, was sick when she was little, she did not want 
to take her medicine. She fought and fought. It was supposed to be for children and flavored to
 encourage taking it. Still she fought. She fought so hard and scrounged her face so tightly to
 keep from taking it that she actually bruised her face from it. She was sick and she didn't like
 being sick, but still she fought the medicine-- the very thing that would make her well. 

When I saw the above "photo-op" I couldn't resist taking the picture. The one lens sunglasses
 depict the way we often see the very thing that will heal us -- coloring it to suit our destructions
 so that we can't or won't clearly see our own healing. Usually we apply the dark lense to the
 parts that we need and use the clear lens on the part we think everybody else needs.
 The umbrella reminds me of how we often reach for an umbrella when our life is in a hurricane
 while we could be safe inside the ark. There it is right in the middle of what we try to do to it.
 God's word, OUR MEDICINE. 

Lord help me to see my destructions through your word to receive healing. laying aside the
 umbrellas of the world to come safely into your ark.

Deborah

Devotional September 5, 2000
The Scripture: 
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isaiah 1:18 

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. Job 13:3

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
 Galations 6:7

The Thought: I like to take the back roads to work. The high speed of the interstate is gobbled
 up by waiting at intersections and red lights so I have found it just faster and more dependable
 to go the back roads. For the longest time I had noticed this chair sitting beside a pine tree.
 Construction filled the area and yet for the longest time still remaining was the chair under the
 tree. Each day as I would pass it was as if God was waiting for someone to come visit with Him
 in that chair. Still the chair remained alone and empty under the tree amidst the old and the new
 of the area. I kept telling myself I would like to stop one day when I had time and make a
 picture of that chair sitting there like that. I kept passing and telling myself that every day I went 
by. Then one day I went by and the chair was gone as if God had rescinded the invitation to visit.

We makeup alot of excuses not to visit with God even though we seek reasons for things in our
 lives. We are too busy, think God is prohibitive, that times have changed and God just doesn't 
understand our world. And yet He invites us to come to Him for the answers we seek for which
 the world offers no sensible answer. Obviously if God wants to "reason together" with us, he has
 answers He can backup and prove. Reason is not fiction. Job had the right idea when his life
 fell apart. When he had lost it all including his health, having only his very life, he turned from
 his friends and their explanation and desired to reason with God. And God honored that desire
 with an understanding that satisfied Job. Questions? Don't be deceived or lulled into the
 emptiness of the world by avoiding God. Ask your questions of the one who has the answers
 while the invitation is extended and your chair is still there. 

Lord, make me being in my chair for your reason paramount in my life. Deborah

 Devotional September 6, 2000
The Scripture: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
 pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, 
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:6

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
 convenient for me. Proverbs 30:8

The Thought: For a while I have been trying to eat healthier mainly by eating low fat and 
more healthy foods. I had previously many times told my son, Buddy, now 26, that due to
 family illnesses he needs to start now taking care of his health. While I was ill recently my 
son had to purchase his own lunch fixins. I was rather pleasantly surprised when I looked in
 the refrigerator and saw the "healthy" lunch meat. Although he has been dragging his feet in
 this area I guess some of the encouragement to health is beginning to hit home with him. 

When Eve gave the forbidden fruit to Adam, her entire family at that time was also affected by
 her choice. That is true in other areas of our lives as well. What we take in to our family affects 
them. Not just food but everything. If we eat poorly we encourage poor eating habits. If we 
condone drinking we leave the door open for our family to have a problem with it. If we do not
 stand against drugs we set our family up as victims of this evil. While we personally may not
 have a problem with the so called "legal" gambling called lotteries, that does not mean that our
 children who may follow in our footsteps won't be lured in past their ability to resist and cope.
 The same goes with anger, unforgiveness, laziness and other character and emotional traits.
 We must offer our families that which is good for them as much as possible making a buffet
 that will make them healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. If we want
 our grandchildren to have stable, happy homes, we have to fill our children with what it takes to 
be a good husband or wife and what to look for in a mate when they begin to understand the
 concept of "mommy and daddy." We should keep ourselves from anything we would not want
 to "feed" our families or anything we would not want them to imitate when the choice is theirs. 
We are sowing seeds, we ought to plant something good. 

Lord, feed us and help us to select the good food of this life for ourselves and others. Let us sow
 good seed. 

Deborah