MAMAW'S SUNDAY DEVOTIONAL - ABUNDANT LIFE DAYBOOK BY NANCY GUTHRIE

I recieved this book for review from by Tyndale Publishing. I have been reading the daily devotionals this past week and it is such a blessing. I was also surprise at how beautiful the cover is. The lower section of the cover is just for advertising and come off. The book cover itself looks like tooled leather it would make a beautiful gift for someone. I will be adding a review in a couple of weeks.

Abundant Life Daybook

God has come to you, to bless you.

In the first chapter of the Bible, we read that God created Adam and Eve and “blessed them.” And the rest of Bible is the story of God blessing his people through Christ. Over 365 days these gospel-rich daily readings will take you through the Bible, inviting you to savor the abundant goodness God intends for you to experience and enjoy. Each day you’ll be reminded of yet another way God has loved you and will still be loving you into eternity.

Introduction to Nancy Gutherie's Abundant Life Day Book: 365 Blessings to Begin Your Day

Have you ever wondered why we say “God bless you” to people

when they sneeze? There was a time when sneezing was a symptom of the deathly plague. And because getting the plague was considered a sign of God’s displeasure, saying, “God bless you” when someone sneezed was offering a prayer that the person would receive the blessing of God—ongoing life—rather than dying from

the plague. To be blessed is to have life—abundant, overflowing life.

In the best-known blessing from the Bible , we read that the Lord

instructed Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of

Israel with this special blessing:

May the LORD bless you

and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

God wanted his people to enjoy the assurance of his intention

to bless them. From this special blessing we learn that to be blessed

is to see the smile of God over our lives rather than to live under

his frown. It is to experience his ongoing grace rather than expect

his condemnation. It is to enjoy God’s favor rather than endure his

rejection. It is to be at peace with him rather than being his enemy.

Experiencing God’s blessing is not merely getting good things

from God. The essence of blessing is God himself. When we begin

to see how much God has given to us in Christ, and how much

he is worth, we realize that all of the things we were hoping to get

from God—good health, loving relationships, protection from

harm, material provision—are only temporary, tangible reminders

of all we have in Christ. As blessed people we can say along with

the psalmist:

I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)

As we begin this journey together over the next year, there are

two important things you must know. First, while I’ve taken great

liberty in writing these blessings as if they are God speaking to you,

the only aspect of each day’s blessing that has the authority of God

is the Word of God quoted at the top of each page. Writing as if it

is God who is speaking is only a device employed for the purpose of

helping you hear him speak his blessing personally to you. My hope

is that it will serve to make the Scripture come alive and become

even more precious to you. I have sought to be faithful to God’s

Word in expounding on it and applying it using this literary device,

and have done so with a sense of holy fear, prayerfully seeking to be

one “who correctly explains the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Second, you need to know that the Bible makes it clear that while

God offers his goodness to all who will embrace Christ by faith, he

does not force his blessing on those who do not desire him. But if

you want him, he will freely give himself to you. You do not have

to earn God’s blessing (in fact, you can’t earn it!). You do not have

to deserve God’s blessing (in fact, no one deserves it!). You cannot

twist God’s arm or wrestle his blessing from his reluctant grasp using the right technique or the right prayer. This life with God is not

about what he wants you to do for him, but what he has done for

you through Christ.

If you have lingered away from God, fearing what he will demand of you, unsure of all it will mean for you, you need not stay

away any longer. If you have settled for trying to be a good person

or a spiritual person, you can become a completely new person.

You can turn to Christ and take hold of him by faith. Tell him that

you want to belong to him, to know him and be known by him,

to be changed by him. He “is being patient for your sake. He does

not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2

Peter 3:9) Then you’ll be able to celebrate that “he has enabled you

to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the

light ” (Colossians 1:12).

That is what this book is about—the blessing and inheritance

that belong to God’s people. I invite you to celebrate that blessing

and revel in that inheritance. I invite you to drench your soul in

this steady stream of God’s blessing given to you freely and fully in

Christ. I hope that you’ll open this book day after day along with

God’s Word, and that you’ll open your life to all that God has given

to us in Christ, confident that because “he did not spare even his

own Son but gave him up for us all, [he will] also give us everything

else” (Romans 8:32).

Nancy Guthrie