Daily Treasure

Okay – what does “surrender” really mean? From several definitions: It means I’m finished fighting. It means I’m giving up. It means I’ve stopped struggling. It means I’ve thrown down my weapons. It means I’ve recognized another’s authority. It means I’ve given up my own rights. It means I’ve put myself at the mercy of another. It means I’m willing to follow the orders of another.

It seems that so often I kick and scream at even the thought of yielding control. I don’t want to give up my “rights” or my personality. If I can just understand that yielding to the loving and trusted ONE can bring quietness, rest, and much happiness.

“All to Jesus I surrender; All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.”

Jan Clay

Indiana

Pray Together: Don’t forget The Rest of the Family Offering. Pray and give joyfully and generously to help our other FWB agencies.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I was never one that liked science as a subject in school. Too many theories and facts for me to learn. It’s fascinating, but it can’t match the truths I know in Christ. If you have ever read or studied anything about the butterfly, it’s amazing all the stages it goes through to become a beautiful, winged creature. To picture it in the larva stage you wonder how it ever becomes a butterfly.

In our sinful state, one might wonder how God can transform us into something beautiful for His glory. The same God who can put larva through “metamorphosis” can apply His grace and cause changes in our lives to turn us from ordinary to extraordinary! 

Scientists may try their best to explain away the things of God, but, I’d rather believe in the One who created all things. He spoke things into existence and formed man and breathed life into him. Man will never be able to do any of that. I’d rather accept, by faith, how God “hath made everything beautiful in His time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Sue Winchester

Missouri

Pray Together: Please remember to pray for Home missionary kids. There are those who are seeking the Lord’s will for future areas of ministry.

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”  (Ephesians 5:9).

I love singing! I’m not very good at it, but I enjoy lifting my voice in song. Singing in school was always fun, especially at Christmas time. In public schools that has changed through the years. I’m so glad singing for Jesus is timeless and without restrictions.

When you are saved, God places a new song in your heart. You shouldn’t stifle it. Rejoice and raise your voice in song! Even if you feel you can’t carry a tune in a bucket with a handle on it, “make a joyful noise unto God.”

Sue Winchester

Missouri

Pray Together: Pray for the WNAC Office Team as they prepare for the National Retreat in Branson, MO (September 11-12).

Basic math I’ve been able to conquer, but beyond that, I’m clueless. The Bible makes math simple as we look today as some verses. God and His Word are not complicated. We tend to make things a lot harder than they need to be.

ADDITION: “And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (1 Peter 1:5-7).

SUBTRACTION: “….If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20b).

MULTIPLICATION: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).

DIVISION: “And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all” (Mark 6:41). (This is also a great example of multiplication and fractions as well.)

My prayer for you today is blessings be added to you, pain be subtracted, joys be multiplied, and there will be no divisions among you.

Sue Winchester

Missouri

Pray Together: COTE d’IVOIRE: Alice Smith plans to return to the field this month. Pray care for her mother will be finalized and Alice can leave as expected.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Not everything about school was fun. We had to learn good study habits. If we could all learn by just reading that would have been great. However, many of us don’t grasp material that quickly. Sometimes we must even reinforce what we’ve read to help us better understand.

As with our work in the classroom or career choice, we want to do the best we can. We have to utilize whatever resources we have to get the job done. To do less is to find ourselves ashamed of the results. As Christians, we should desire to do and be our best for our Master. This will mean sacrificing time to allow Him to reinforce what we have read in His Word. It also means using good study materials.

How can we “rightly divide the word of truth,” if we never spend time in study of it? Our TWG Bible study writers have developed materials to help you dig deeper into the Word. Avail yourself to them, using them to go beyond just reading God’s precious Word. I’ve been privileged to write for the TWG blog. This has definitely encouraged me to do my own “digging” into the Word. I’d like to challenge each of you to find whatever tools you can find to help you be a better “workman.”

Sue Winchester

Missouri

Pray Together: All new WNAC programs and Bible studies begin in September. Pray God will speak to the hearts of all our women through this year’s studies.

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (I Timothy 4:13).

It’s either started, or will soon start. It’s a magical time, at least for most parents. It’s “Back to School.” Summer is gone and now it’s back to classes and homework. I thought it would be good for us to apply this theme prior to our next Bible study. Many of us have long finished sitting in a classroom. Do you remember some of your favorite subjects in school? One I really enjoyed then and now is reading. It is something that we have used in our cycle of life. We read to learn, then learn to do, and finally do to grow. This can apply to any age of “student.” The Christian’s classroom should be us sitting at the feet of Jesus each day ever learning about Him and His Word.

Paul was a mentor for Timothy. Since Paul was about his missionary journeys, he wasn’t always available for Timothy. He encouraged young Timothy to continue reading and gave him instructions and his example to help him keep pressing on until they could talk face to face. Timothy would then apply what he read and learned. Christ is our greatest example and gives us instructions through His Word. We need to continue reading our “textbook,” the Bible, until His return.

Reading can be instructional, but it also can be recreational. If you keep it inspirational, you can even find humorous books to read. If reading edifies you, it is worth your time. Make time each day to visit a special library. It contains sixty-six books filled with a storehouse of wisdom and subject matter. It is the Bible, a must-read.

Sue Winchester

Missouri

Pray Together: Pray for the High family as they anticipate the arrival of a baby in October.

Read Proverbs 3:5-6

I just keep trusting my Lord as I walk along

I just keep trusting my Lord and He gives a song

Though the storm clouds darken the sky o’er the heavenly trail

I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail.  – John W. Peterson

This chorus has stuck with me over the last 8 months. I know God has a plan for my life, and even though I don’t always see what is on the road ahead, I know that He will not fail me. He will guide me down the path He has planned for me. I don’t have to understand. I just have to keep trusting my Lord, with all my heart.

Lori McCraney

Tennessee

Pray Together: As we enter a new WNAC year, ask God what He would have you do in your women’s group.