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	<title>DEEPERDEVOTION.com</title>
	<link>http://deeperdevotion.com</link>
	<description>Delivered Monday through Friday, our daily devotions are the perfect companion to your time in the Word. Biblical, consistent, and with over three years of back content, DEEPERDEVOTION.com is a great resource for everyone. Check us out on the web at www.deeperdevotion.com</description>
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		<category>Devotions</category>
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		<itunes:summary>Delivered Monday through Friday, our devotions are the perfect companion to your time in the Word. Biblical, consistent, and with over three years of back content, DEEPERDEVOTION.com is a great resource for everyone. Check us out on the web at www.deeperdevotion.com</itunes:summary>
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			<itunes:name>DEEPERDEVOTION.com</itunes:name>
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		<title>A Discredit to God?</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/790</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/790#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:48:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[As a Christian, you are either actively living as a servant of God, or receiving His grace in vain, and thereby causing the ministry of the Gospel to be discredited by those around you.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Glenn Ansley
2 Corinthians 6:1, 3-4
And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain giving no cause for offense, in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God&#8230;
As a Christian, you are either actively living as a servant of God, or receiving His grace in vain, and thereby causing the ministry of the Gospel to be discredited by those around you. 
Servants of God guard their hearts closely. They spend time reading the Bible and seeking the Lord in prayer because they know that it will teach them how to serve their Master more completely. 
Servants of God center their lives on the Lord rather than their own desires. It is not possible for His grace to be taken in vain because His grace is at the center of everything they do. 
2 Corinthians 6:4-10 goes on to explain how a servant of God responds in various situations that each of us encounter on a daily basis. Any response other than the ones mentioned in these verses leads to the discredit of the gospel rather than to its service.
I wonder what today will bring you way? More importantly, I wonder how you will respond to that. I pray that as you reflect on your day this evening, you may confidently say that you acted as a servant of God, and that no part of the ministry was discredited because of something you selfishly chose to do.
Read 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 and make that your goal for today.
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		<item>
		<title>Wardrobe Malfunctions</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/789</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/789#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2004 03:02:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">83431021</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Man is the same he has been since the fall. Sinful.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Jeff Fields
Our nation has been in a moral uproar of sorts since the big mishap during halftime of the Super Bowl. Did any one else notice this? All of a sudden there is a realization of the depth of our society&#8217;s degradation. We think things are getting worse, when actually, human sin and our falleness has always been a constant. Man is the same he has been since the fall. Sinful. 
It seems as though I am a cultural commentator. I am fascinated with the relationship between the culture and genuine Christianity. As we have been called as believers to &#8220;colonize&#8221; the world we live in, more times than not the culture has more influence on the Church than we have on the culture. As the word &#8220;Post-Modernism&#8221; infiltrates theological circles and church services, we face the same opportunity to reach a certain segment of society as Paul did.
Acts 17:16-21
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. And some were saying, &#8220;What would this idle babbler wish to say?&#8221; Others, &#8220;He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,&#8221;  because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, &#8220;May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? &#8220;For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; we want to know therefore what these things mean.&#8221; Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.
 Sound pretty postmodern to me.
In a world of &#8220;Wardrobe Malfunctions&#8221;, swim suit editions of sporting magazines, internet porn, abortion, spam and MTV, the cross of Christ is still seen as religious mythology and now, a movie that seems to be anti Semitic. 
This culture we need to &#8220;colonize&#8221; does not think much of church buildings, what kind of music we have when we &#8220;worship&#8221; or what color the carpet is. They leave that stuff to the religious. What they are concerned with is if we actually believe all the stuff we say we do. And IF we do, why is there such a gap between what we say and what we do. Why is there such a care for those inside the church rather than those who are not there? Why is there such a difference between what the Bible says and how Believers live their lives? 
There will always be &#8220;wardrobe malfunctions.&#8221; Stories in the OT make that look like Barbie and Ken. Let&#8217;s get on with the business at hand: Colonization of the world for the Glory of Christ and the salvation of the lost.
Enough energy has been wasted on dealing with stuff that has nothing to do with our mission. We have a purpose&#8230;now lets work on the mission.
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		<item>
		<title>Beside Quiet Waters</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/788</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/788#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2004 03:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Life is just tough!  Each day you face things that are stressful, challenging, tempting, painful, and trying to your faith.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Scott Meier
Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,
Life is just tough!  Each day you face things that are stressful, challenging, tempting, painful, and trying to your faith.  Unless you live in a dark room with no contact with the outside world, there is no way to avoid the challenges of life.  But there is a way to deal with them, and that is through your relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you had been alive when David wrote Psalm 23, you would immediately understand what it was he was talking about, for everyone knew shepherds and what they did.  One thing a shepherd has to be on the lookout for is fast moving water.  Sheep get so excited about a refreshing drink they can easily end up falling in.  When this happens, their wool gets soaked and they quickly drown.  It is the shepherds job to make sure that the streams their flock drinks from is slow moving and shallow.
David is testifying to God being our shepherd.  Even though there are dangers associated with sheep getting a drink, there is no way to avoid the need for water.  Just as there are dangers and struggles we will face in everyday life, God, like the shepherd, watches over us, steering us clear of those dangers and preparing to catch us when things go wrong.
Sheep have a great trust in their shepherd.  They can tell his voice and they know he can be trusted.  In a former church I had a youth whose family raised sheep, and when I would walk in the pen they would run from me.  When he walked in, they came right up to him.  That trusting relationship was one built over time and through experiences.  
Our relationship with God is strengthened when we face struggles in life and when we learn to lean on Him.
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		<item>
		<title>God&#8217;s Waiting Room</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/787</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/787#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jun 2004 21:32:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Corallie Thornton
Proverbs 20:21
An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.
What an amazing statement! Quite often when we are waiting for a breakthrough, we want it now! We don&#8217;t want to wait&#8230; we want it yesterday.
Are you frustrated that your desire to minister is going nowhere? God gives you a promise, and you get so excited that you want to do it right away. But God doesn&#8217;t work that way. He must first establish things in you you&#8217;ll need for your ministry. If you started without these things, you wouldn&#8217;t make it.
God uses this waiting period as an establishing period in our lives. If you had your breakthrough or your ministry right away, it might not last until the end. God needs to firmly establish in you some principals, which will enable you to cope with what He has prepared for your life. 
So don&#8217;t get frustrated if you seem to be going nowhere. Remember that God might be testing your endurance. 
&#8220;Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.&#8221;
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		<item>
		<title>Do Not Say &#8216;Tomorrow&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/786</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/786#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 May 2004 10:49:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">2003631405</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It happened so quickly. One moment the white pickup and its trailer were directly in front of me, the next moment it was on the other side of the road and a old red Thunderbird was up against a telephone poll.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Glenn Ansley
James 4:13-14 
Come now, you who say, &#8220;Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.&#8221; Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
It happened so quickly. One moment the white pickup and its trailer were directly in front of me, the next moment it was on the other side of the road and a old red Thunderbird was up against a telephone poll. 
We we&#8217;re doing about 50 M.P.H. when the two teenagers in the Thunderbird ran the red light. I remember seeing them out of the corner of my eye, quickly glancing at the light to make sure I wasn&#8217;t the one running it, and then forcefully slamming the breaks and jerking to the right in my effort to avoid the collision that was taking place directly in front of me. Six lanes of traffic came to an immediate halt. I had narrowly escaped a horrible accident.
Close calls will always make you question life. What if I had been going a little faster or that Thunderbird had been going a little slower? What if the Thunderbird had collided with the back of the pickup and spun into me rather than the front of the pickup and into the telephone poll? Why had the Lord protected me and allowed the couple in white pickup to be hit?
Life is full of surprise and tragedy. It can happen to the most unlikely individual in the most inopportune time. James tells us that life is like a vapor. One day we&#8217;re here, and the next we&#8217;re not. I realize that the Lord doesn&#8217;t want us to question life after narrowly escaping disaster; He wants us to answer life every single day. He wants us to live for Him rather than ourselves. His gospel and the love of Jesus must continually be expressed to others. And most of all, His gospel and the love of Christ must be present in our hearts. 
As far as I could tell, there were no serious injuries in the accident I saw last week. God had given them a second chance as well. I pray that it serves as a wakeup call in their lives. If they have resisted the gospel in the past, I pray that this would now open their eyes. If they are believers, I ask that the Lord would help them to reevaluate their life. 
I pray the same for you&#8230; hoping that tragedy is not needed to see this come about.
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		<item>
		<title>Out of the Miry Clay</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/783</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/783#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2004 11:05:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">324503037</guid>
		<description><![CDATA["True to his character, he had found a mud hole formed by the previous night's rainfall and was inventing several different ways to get in trouble with it."]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Glenn Ansley
Psalms 40:2
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; 
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
The church Kristie and I attend hosted a picnic at one of the local lakes last Sunday night. It was the perfect way to spend the evening with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our church must have about one million members under the age of ten. These kids were running around like everywhere like maniacs. Many of them played down by the lake while others kicked a soccer ball around on the grass. My eyes were on Christian though. Christian&#8217;s a third grader in the Sunday school class Kristie and I teach. True to his character, he had found a mud hole formed by the previous night&#8217;s rainfall and was inventing several different ways to get in trouble with it. Mud was everywhere.
Our church didn&#8217;t meet to make mud pies and watch ten-year-old boys get in trouble though. As a body of believers, we came to celebrate and witness the baptisms of several new brothers and sisters in Christ.
One by one we listened to them give their testimonies of God&#8217;s amazing grace. Shortly thereafter, they were all led out into the lake to be baptized.
As I reflect back on the event, I realize just how much it did have to do with mud! Much like David in the Psalms, we had gathered together to jointly praise God for pulling us out of the muck and the mire we once enjoyed so much.
I think about Christian being covered with the mud and realize how great a symbolism baptism is. Not only are we proclaiming ourselves dead to sin and raised again with Christ, but we also are publicly proclaiming our own purification from the sin that once covered us like mud. 
A new life, represented by immerging from the water, leaves us clean and spotless before the heavenly father and all those who agree with one mind.
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		<item>
		<title>Walk the Talk!</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/779</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/779#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2004 11:22:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">444969986</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People who just talk about doing things, then don't do them, really bug me.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Corallie Thronton
James 2:14-16
What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, &#8220;Go in peace be warmed and be filled,&#8221; and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?&#8221;
People who just talk about doing things, then don&#8217;t do them, really bug me. I hate it when Christians talk about serving God, and never get around to actually doing it. This Christian life is a practical one. I like people to be practical in their Christian walk.
I absolutely despise it when all Christians do is talk. I would much rather be out doing it, then just talking about it. What is the purpose of faith, if you do nothing with it? Suppose you can help someone, but you don&#8217;t. Where is your faith really at?
I want you to seriously ask yourself this question. Where is my faith at? Am I spending my time doing too much talking, and not enough walking?
It doesn&#8217;t do us any good to just sit in church and hear the Word. That&#8217;s what many Christians do though; they sit in church. That&#8217;s all they do. Doesn&#8217;t do anybody any good to just hear it, you have to do it as well. 
I can sit in my garage, but that doesn&#8217;t make me a car. No matter how long I sit in my garage, no matter how much I talk about being a car, do you think that will make me a car? I can sit in church all my life, but that doesn&#8217;t make me a Christian. I can talk about it, but that doesn&#8217;t make me a Christian.
Don&#8217;t be one of those people who just talks about serving God. Go out and do it!
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		<item>
		<title>Life in the Fast Lane</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/778</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/778#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 May 2004 11:05:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">1680020630</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the opportunity to attend a conference a couple of weeks ago. Third year in a row...]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Jeff Fields
Luke 5:36-39
And He was also telling them a parable: &#8220;No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. &#8220;And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. &#8220;But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. &#8220;And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, &#8216;The old is good enough.&#8217;&#8221;
I had the opportunity to attend a conference a couple of weeks ago. Third year in a row. With out fail, each time I returned home with new wine. Sweeter to the taste, more fragrant, more desirous and full of satisfaction. The problem with having God touch you deep in your soul is that you can&#8217;t bear the taste of old wine any longer. It offers no fulfillment and the aroma has grown stale. It&#8217;s kinda like the glory days of youth gone by. You can never go back. And even if you could, why would you?
Sheri and I spent the weekend with TJ and Tara over Easter and celebrated his birthday at Outback Steak House. TJ gets the same thing every time he goes there. I gave him a hard time about trying something new, but as the person took our orders, he chickened out and got the Alice Springs Chicken&#8230;again. His thinking is&#8230;he likes the taste, he knows what he is gonna get. Nothing wrong with that. Most of us are like that. We are comfortable with what we know. 
Religion is comfortable. Heavy, but comfortable. Demanding, in a legalistic sort of way, but at least you know what to expect. No taste, but you&#8217;re not looking for taste, only to feel full. The stench of old wine can be covered up with busyness and self-serving ideas. The skins may leak but there is a line in the budget to cover maintenance. After a while, the old wine becomes as Jesus said &#8220;good enough.&#8221; Good enough to get by, good enough to yield a good day, good enough to yield a good job, nice house, good enough to build the ivory tower we look at the rest of the world from, good enough to put a time table on the God who lives outside of time.
The wonder of God is missing from our lives. We have taken a &#8220;full life&#8221; (John 10:10), life in the fast lane, full of wonder and imagination and we have turned it into something we can explain and structure. 
Try something different. Begin now to pray. Linger long with the Father in prayer and communion. Call your friends and ask them to pray. Pray with fervor for a move of God. Pray for the opportunity to make God famous. Pray that Sunday worship will be filled with the unexpected, that the Spirit of God would break the hearts of His people. Pray that the watches and clocks in our Churches will become secondary to what and how He wants us to respond. Pray for your Pastor. That God would bring Him to His holy mountain and give him a message for the Church. That the power of God would flow freely in you, unhindered and that revival would begin with&#8230;
Me. And you.
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		<item>
		<title>Dumb As Sheep</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/777</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/777#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 May 2004 10:39:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Sheep are pretty dumb.  As a matter of fact, they almost totally incapable of taking care of themselves.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by Scott Meier
Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
Sheep are pretty dumb.  As a matter of fact, they almost totally incapable of taking care of themselves.  I remember when I worked in my first church there was a family that raised sheep.  They had many stories of how the sheep would get tangled up in the fence or would get lost in a grove of trees in the pasture.  Not being able to find there way out, especially at night, this family shared how they would be awakened by the sound of the sheep crying in the night.
In the twenty-third Psalm, the Psalmist is comparing himself, and ultimately you and I, to sheep.  It was an analogy that was probably a bit of an insult to those who heard it many years ago, for they would have been well aware what he was saying is we are all incapable of taking care of ourselves.  So incapable, in fact, that we all need a shepherd.
In John 10:11, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd.  Again basically reminding those who hear these words that we are incapable of taking care of ourselves.  In the previous verse, John 10:10, Jesus has just stated that He came to bring us a full and abundant life.  That life, that a relationship with Christ offers, is one we cannot get any other way.  Just like a shepherd tending to his flock, Jesus came to tend to us and to our needs:  Our needs today and our needs eternal.
It is so easy for you and I to get tangled up in a life of sin and to find ourselves so lost all we can is cry out.  It is at those moments that Jesus comes rushing to our aid and to our side.
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		<item>
		<title>Control Freaks and the Yoke of Christ</title>
		<link>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/774</link>
		<comments>http://deeperdevotion.com/devotions/774#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2004 11:05:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glenn Ansley</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Devotions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">88825241</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of my life is marked by things that I have absolutely no control over. Although I have prided myself on being a man in control of his surroundings, the truth is I am not.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[by  Jeff Fields
Marked by the &#8220;otherness&#8221; of God
Matt 11:27-30
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.  &#8220;For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.
Most of my life is marked by things that I have absolutely no control over. Although I have prided myself on being a man in control of his surroundings, the truth is I am not. Something happened today that although it may seem as insignificant to some, it gave me a sense of desperation. Like there was absolutely nothing I could do to change the outcome. I made calls, felt like I had been wronged, misused and just a number. Nothing helped. There was nothing I could do.  the feeling in the pit of my stomach was heavy&#8230;it hurt&#8230;I felt cheated&#8230;then I remembered.
I am not sure I have ever controlled anything. My ego tells me I have always been in control. Today Jesus reminded me that He has always been in control. Every thing that has ever come my way has first passed through His hand. He has never left me with out a covering, with out place to go, with out love and with out understanding.
As I fell on my face this afternoon crying out to this wonderful God, these words flowed from my mouth; &#8220;my sustenance comes from you oh God. What others do, what others say, where others lead, matters not. For in you and you alone salvation is found. Rest and security comes from your strong right hand, mercy flows from your throne, holiness surrounds you&#8230;and you invite me to find my rest in you.&#8221;
The awesome thing about knowing God is that He knows me. Knows my fear, knows my weakness, my heart. And in spite of that, He offers rest. 
Rest oh my soul, rest in the arms of the one who loves you and gave Himself for you. Wow. Can you say amen? I can&#8230;Amen!
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