“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah” (Psalm 68:19)
Our Heavenly Father demonstrates His love towards us every day. These daily blessings are often not seen or appreciated by His children. Why is this? We often focus upon our past, instead of living out today. We often worry about the future instead of enjoying the blessings of today. God not only gives us blessings for today, but he gives them abundantly! What are some of these daily blessings? Will we enjoy these blessings today?
1. God gives us the gift of a brand new day to love and serve Him.
2. God gives us the privilege of opening His Word and hearing His words of truth, encouragement, promise and exhortation.
3. God give us the opportunity to speak to Him at any time during the coming day. He is never too busy to hear our prayers.
4. God promises to love us throughout the day regardless of what happens.
5. God’s Holy Spirit dwells within us. He brings guidance, comfort and spiritual fruit into our lives.
6. God gives us the confidence that whatever comes into our lives today must first pass through His loving hands.
7. God gives us His forgiveness . When we confess our sins to Him, He restores us to a right relationship with Him.
8. God gives us what we need for today not necessarily what we want.
9. God brings people into our lives each day to fulfill His plan for our lives.
10. God gives us the privilege of His presence throughout the day. He is always with us!
11. God gives us the strength we need to bear what may happen throughout the day.
12. God gives us His comfort when sorrow, rejection or pain may seem to overcome us.
13. God gives us the assurance of eternal life if die today. We are confident that death is an entranceway to heaven.
14. God is always available to hold us up when we seem ready to fall. Fathers do this for their children.
15. God knows all that is happening in our lives today. Nothing that happens today is a surprise to God.
16. God gives us wisdom to face whatever situation may arise in our life.
17. God gives us the opportunity to enjoy His creation.
18. God gives us the ministry of encouraging others and praying for others.
19. God enables us to escape the snares of Satan’s temptations.
20. God gives us a restful night sleep if we trust in Him.
“Dear Lord, I often forget the blessings that you give to me every day of my life. Yes, I see particular answers to prayer, but I often forget what you give to me every day. I thank you for all of your blessings that you give to me each day; however, the greatest blessing is that you sent your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die for my sin. Help me to keep looking up to you instead allowing myself to focus on the past or the future. Today is the gift that you have given me. Help me not to forget how you have loaded me up with great blessings today. I love you, Lord. Amen.”
Maria Teresa Standridge-A woman who loves God and others.
What does it feel like to hear from the doctor that you have only a few months to live? Maria Teresa Standridge recently received this news from her doctors in Italy. Maria Teresa has served the Lord with her husband, Bill, for nearly sixty years in Rome, Italy. Though she is eighty-eight years old, she is still serving the Lord. They have been an inspiration to me because of their faithful service unto the Lord even into their eighties.
I have been given permission to share Maria Teresa’s thoughts about her impending death. Please take time to read this beautiful testimony of God’s peace in the midst of facing death.
I’M GOING HOME! BY MARIA TERESA STANDRIDGE (ROME, ITALY)
“Mr. Standridge, bring your wife to the emergency room immediately for a blood transfusion. The levels in her blood are very low. We have already informed your doctor. ”
I had just finished blood tests in a medical center and things seemed really serious. I did not expect anything like this, even though, for a few weeks, I had been feeling pretty weak and with little energy. We went straight to the emergency room of a large hospital in Rome, close to home, and soon I was lying on a bed with a needle stuck in my arm and a nice bag of blood, which was followed by two more, transferring its liquid, drop by drop, into my veins.
Since then I have been on a rollercoaster of news and surprises, hospitalization, other blood tests, and also samples of bone marrow, that led to a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, to which doctors have added the unpromising adjective “terminal” .
So today, without any particular pain and, apparently, still in good health and with a good measure of strength, I find myself thinking in a very practical and realistic way, of my “going home with the Lord” when He wills. Perhaps very soon.
How have I reacted to a story like this? Honestly, surprised and almost in disbelief. But, even so, with HIS peace.
A few years ago, when I was invited to do Bible studies in a Conference for women, I said with a laugh that, given my age of more than 85, (soon I’m going to be 89), the organizers would do well to also get a “spare tire” in case I had to decline the invitation. But honestly, given my health that I thought was disease-proof, I said it jokingly as if I were actually immortal.
Today, the jokes are over and the reality is different. It is a reality of a certain sadness (I’d be lying if I said otherwise), but also very calm.
Sadness because leukemia is a reality that speaks of separation from Bill, the only love of my life, with whom I have spent more than 56 years, and have had the joy of serving the Lord, in a kind of spiritual and also intellectual symbiosis. I shared a passion for the Word of God, the commitment of raising four children, and the responsibility of helping many to learn and grow in biblical faith.
Bill and Maria Teresa Standridge- Serving the Lord together for over 56 years in Italy!
I know that after my departure Bill will feel a bit as though he was “mutilated”, but I know that his love for the Lord, His Word, and the Italians, will support him and help him serve as long as he has the strength.
Of course I do not like, either, the idea of leaving our four children, three daughters-in-law and also a son-in-law, who love me and twelve grandchildren (one married) and two great-grandchildren, each one more lovely than the other. But the moment of separation will come.
But my joy is that all have trusted the Lord as their Savior and are therefore in his hands.
But now, let’s talk about the reasons for my peace of mind.
I came to know Jesus as Savior and Lord when I was 20 years old. Since then, the grace of God has surrounded me and the unmerited favor of the Lord has wrapped and protected me.
I know I’m saved, and my faith is based on the promises of God’s Word. One that comforts me in particular is the letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7) What more than that could you want or hope for?
Then I had the honor to receive from the Lord a clear call to serve full-time, I went to Bible school, I had teachers of great value, I have experienced the extraordinary time of evangelistic fervor and spiritual growth in Italy after the end of World War II. I was a part of the beginning of the new period of political freedom in Italy that gave us permission to start youth camps, summer schools, conferences and all kinds of activities that the Lord has blessed. I threw myself headlong into every new evangelistic project.
My university studies prepared me to have a ministry of writing and my heart led me to make available to the Lord every capacity that He had given me.
Over the years I learned to study and nourish myself in the Word of God, I understood the importance of furthering knowledge in His truth, and rooted my faith in obedience to what it says. Without a good supply of this type of knowledge, the Christian life can become very severe and be very flat.
I confess also that I have made many mistakes for which I had to ask forgiveness from the Lord, from my loved ones, brothers and sisters, and I realized that forgiveness is the key to the Christian life. It is essential in both the human family and that of God.
He who does not forgive others has understood little of the love of God, but those who practice the confession of their sins to God and asking for the pardon of all they have offended, know that the blood of Christ purifies them and allows them to walk in the light (1 John 1:8-10).
After so many years of walking with the Lord, I realized that “in me, in my flesh, Maria Teresa, dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18), but whatever I did that is good is what he has done for me and in me (Isaiah 26:12).
During a conference in Isola del Gran Sasso, Daniel, one of our sons, in a meditation stressed the fact that after the resurrection, Jesus bore in his body the marks of his suffering and death for us. The disciples have seen his scars and know that, with his resurrected human body, Jesus ascended to heaven.
In the vision of Revelation, John later saw Him as a “lamb, standing, which seemed to have been sacrificed” (5:6) and I, with myriads of believers (and hopefully with you) will behold for all eternity those signs of the price paid by Jesus for our salvation. Those signs will inspire us to worship Him in perfection.
This wonderful thought humbles me, but also fills me with great gratitude.
With love, Maria Teresa Rome, March 2013
I have always had the habit of saying: “Why me?” when things go wrong. For some reason, deep in my heart, I feel that nothing bad should come my way. Why should I get sick? Why should my plane be delayed? Why should I have an expensive car repair?
Why is it that I don’t ever say: “Why me?” when I think of all the undeserved blessings that I have received. On this Good Friday, I need to say: “Why me?” in regard to Christ’s death on the cross. I don’t deserve the love of God. I don’t deserve my Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross to take away my sin. Why does He love me? Why did He die for me?
A couple of years ago, I was able to spend twenty-four hours in Jerusalem. It was a whirlwind trip, but one of the things that stood out was my visit to the possible place where Jesus died. There is a road that passes outside the old city and the rock formation above the road forms into the shape of a skull. This sight was a serious reminder of all that Christ suffered on the cross for a world of lost sinners, of which I am a part.
The Place of the Skull (Golgotha or Calvary).
Reflecting upon Christ’s death causes me to cry out: “Why me?” Christ suffered physically upon the cross, but more importantly He suffered spiritually. He took all of our sin upon Himself. For this reason, He cried out to God, the Father. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Christ felt the full force of the Father’s wrath on the cross because He became sin for us; so that we could have His righteousness upon ourselves. The perfect Son of God took my place! “Why me?”
There are many other people in history who could say:”Why me?” They knew their sin before God. They knew that they deserved God’s wrath; yet they could say: “Why me?”
Matthew, the crooked tax collector, could have said: “Why me?”
The repentant thief on the cross could have said: “Why me?”
Saul (Paul), the persecutor of the church, could have said: “Why me?”
The Ethiopian Eunuch could have said: “Why me?”
Countless Christian slaves in the Roman Empire could have said: “Why me?”
Those who have died for their faith could have said: “Why me?”
Countless millions of believers through the centuries could say: “Why me?”
“Dear Heavenly Father, I still don’t understand: “Why me?” You sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me. You gave me your Word which showed me all that Christ did on the cross for me. You sent your Holy Spirit to convict me of my sin. Father, you adopted me into your family. You have promised me a place in heaven. “Why me?!!” Though I may never know the answer to this question, I thank you for your great, undeserved love towards me. Help me never to forget the question: “Why me?”
WHY SHOULD HE LOVE ME SO? By Robert Harkness (1925) Love sent my Savior to die in my stead;
Why should He love me so?
Meekly to Calvary’s cross He was led;
Why should He love me so?
Nails pierced His hands and His feet for my sin;
Why should He love me so?
He suffered sore my salvation to win;
Why should He love me so?
O how He agonized there in my place;
Why should He love me so?
Nothing withholding my sin to efface;
Why should He love me so?
CHORUS
Why should He love me so?
Why should He love me so?
Why should my Savior to Calvary go?
Why should He love me so?
Bible Treasures for Today 