Friday, January 28, 2011

Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 January, Morning

“The things which are not seen.” - 2 Corinthians 4:18

In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the believer’s enlightened eye can see death’s river passed, the gloomy stream forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with him, and made to sit together with him on his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father on his throne. The thought of this future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short-eternity, how long! Death, how brief-immortality, how endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol’s clusters, and sip of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there.

“When the world my heart is rending
With its heaviest storm of care,
My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,
Find a refuge from despair.
Faith’s bright vision shall sustain me
Till life’s pilgrimage is past;
Fears may vex and troubles pain me,
I shall reach my home at last.”

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 29 January, Morning

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Wolves, bears blamed for decline of elk in Yellowstone

Wolves and grizzly bears are mostly to blame for a steep population decline in a signature elk herd in the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, government scientists said on Wednesday.

The elk population in the northern section of the park is prized by sportsmen who hunt outside

Yellowstone boundaries in Montana and by the millions who pour into the park each year to see wildlife.

Annual counts of the northern Yellowstone elk population show it has plummeted by more than 70 percent since 1995, falling from 16,791 to fewer than 5,000 today.

The herd, which seasonally migrates north from the park and into the Gardiner, Montana area, saw its numbers cut by nearly a quarter over the past year or from 6,070 in December 2009 to 4,635 last month, according to the latest survey by state and federal officials.

Biologists said wolves and grizzlies are the major reasons for the

decline, with wolves reintroduced in the area in the mid-1990s.

But hunting and a drought that began to plague the region in the early 2000s, reducing forage for elk and lowering reproduction also have played significant roles in the decline, according to the Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group.

The group, composed of state and federal wildlife and land managers, said the reduction in northern Yellowstone elk comes amid a significant

decline in wolves and slight drop in grizzlies in the same area in recent years. (At left: grizzly takes over wolf kill of elk, chasing wolves away)

The number of wolves in the park's northern range fell from 94 in 2007 to 37 last year, with the population dented by a public hunt in 2009 and diseases like

distemper.

Scientists said fewer predators and the cancellation of a late season elk hunt in the region will likely boost the herd's numbers.

Source:
Reuters, "Wolves, bears blamed for decline of elk in Yellowstone", accessed January 20, 2011

Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 January, Evening

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” - Luke 2:20

What was the subject of their praise? They praised God for what they had heard-for the good tidings of great joy that a Saviour was born unto them. Let us copy them; let us also raise a song of thanksgiving that we have heard of Jesus and his salvation. They also praised God for what they had seen. There is the sweetest music-what we have experienced, what we have felt within, what we have made our own-”the things which we have made touching the King.” It is not enough to hear about Jesus: mere hearing may tune the harp, but the fingers of living faith must create the music. If you have seen Jesus with the God-giving sight of faith, suffer no cobwebs to linger among the harp strings, but loud to the praise of sovereign grace, awake your psaltery and harp. One point for which they praised God was the agreement between what they had heard and what they had seen. Observe the last sentence-”As it was told unto them.” Have you not found the gospel to be in yourselves just what the Bible said it would be? Jesus said he would give you rest-have you not enjoyed the sweetest peace in him? He said you should have joy, and comfort, and life through believing in him-have you not received all these? Are not his ways ways of pleasantness, and his paths paths of peace? Surely you can say with the queen of Sheba, “The half has not been told me.” I have found Christ more sweet than his servants ever said he was. I looked upon his likeness as they painted it, but it was a mere daub compared with himself; for the King in his beauty outshines all imaginable loveliness. Surely what we have “seen” keeps pace with, nay, far exceeds, what we have “heard.” Let us, then, glorify and praise God for a Saviour so precious, and so satisfying.

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 January, Evening

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Short Christian devotionals or writings

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 January, Morning

“Perfect in Christ Jesus.” - Colossians 1:28

Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in you? Does not every day teach you that? Every tear which trickles from your eye, weeps “imperfection”; every harsh word which proceeds from your lip, mutters “imperfection.” You have too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream for a moment of any perfection in yourself. But amidst this sad consciousness of imperfection, here is comfort for you-you are “perfect in Christ Jesus.” In God’s sight, you are “complete in him;” even now you are “accepted in the Beloved.” But there is a second perfection, yet to be realized, which is sure to all the seed. Is it not delightful to look forward to the time when every stain of sin shall be removed from the believer, and he shall be presented faultless before the throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? The Church of Christ then will be so pure, that not even the eye of Omniscience will see a spot or blemish in her; so holy and so glorious, that Hart did not go beyond the truth when he said-

“With my Saviour’s garments on,
Holy as the Holy One.”

Then shall we know, and taste, and feel the happiness of this vast but short sentence, “Complete in Christ.” Not till then shall we fully comprehend the heights and depths of the salvation of Jesus. Doth not thy heart leap for joy at the thought of it? Black as thou art, thou shalt be white one day; filthy as thou art, thou shalt be clean. Oh, it is a marvellous salvation this! Christ takes a worm and transforms it into an angel; Christ takes a black and deformed thing and makes it clean and matchless in his glory, peerless in his beauty, and fit to be the companion of seraphs. O my soul, stand and admire this blessed truth of perfection in Christ.

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 28 January, Morning

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- Big Wall Christian Calendar in one (1) page - 12 Monthly printable Calendars 2011 January to December (Jan - Dec 2011)

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A Special Birthday Prayer for You , Christian cards with Bible verses , God holds my tomorrow , Whatever our need , With God all things are possible , Your Friendship is a Blessing

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Experts predict climb in grizzly conflicts

Conflicts between people and grizzlies in the Yellowstone National Park region are likely to rise this year as more bears try to recolonize areas now inhabited by people, wildlife managers said on Tuesday.

The news comes as federal and state agencies gather beginning on Wednesday in Montana to craft measures they hope will reduce the number of grizzlies they must kill in 2011 for threatening people and livestock.

Problems between Yellowstone area grizzlies and people reached unprecedented levels last year, with bear managers in Wyoming alone grappling with an all-time high of 52 grizzly captures. One incident involved a grizzly killing a Michigan

man and mauling two other victims.

On July 28, a mother grizzly killed a camper and injured two others (One victim at right) at a campsite for tents in a national forest in Montana. That rampage came just weeks after a grizzly mauled a hiker to death in northwestern Wyoming.

But the estimated 600 grizzlies in the park and nearby Wyoming, Montana and Idaho won't be the focus of renewed efforts to contain conflicts.

"We can cope with the bears, now we need to work on the humans," said Gregg Losinski, member of a federal and state task force on bear recovery.

Hunting and trapping of the outsized, hump-shouldered bears drove them to near extinction before they were added to the threatened and endangered species list in 1975.

The grizzly population in the Yellowstone region has climbed to an estimated 600, 100 more than the recovery goal. Bear experts say more conflicts are an ironic outcome of the steady recovery of the species.

"Conflicts are a natural result of the increasing number of bears; the

two go hand in hand," said Chris Servheen, grizzly recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

And scientists say those conflicts will climb as grizzlies venture into areas that made up their historic habitat.

"They used to live only in the park and wilderness areas; now they live right next door to where we live," said Chuck Schwartz, head of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. (At upper right: Interagency Team processes yearlings)

DELISTING WOULD OPEN WAY TO HUNTING

The comeback by Yellowstone area grizzlies is the chief reason the

Obama administration wants the bears to be delisted, which opens the way for public hunting.

Dan Ashe, President Barack Obama's pick to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the bulk of imperiled species, stated last month that the administration "will delist the grizzly" in the Yellowstone region, predicting final action within 18 months.

With delisting -- and hunting -- at least a year away, bear managers say they will be stepping up campaigns at campgrounds and in

communities about safeguarding food and garbage that draw bears.

And some areas in national parks and forests will require campers and trailers instead of tents, a policy that stems from a deadly campground attack last summer, that left a Michigan man dead and 2 others mauled.

An estimated 75 Yellowstone area grizzlies were killed in 2010, many targeted by wildlife managers because of problem behavior like raiding

chicken coops, rifling tents or trash at popular campsites and preying on domestic livestock.

Schwartz is eyeing a link between last year and 2008, when grizzlies experienced record mortality at a projected 79, for conflicts and for a delay in the start of spring.

In both cases, a late spring with snow still in the high country pushed bears to lower elevations for food earlier and delayed or even destroyed the crop of fruit-producing plants like huckleberries (left) which the omnivores favor.

Yellowstone area grizzlies were delisted in 2007. Sportsmen were eager to harvest the trophy animals but states had to put hunts on hold after environmentalists gained a legal victory in 2009 that relisted the bears as threatened.

Conservation groups successfully argued the government failed to

analyze the impact of climate changes on Yellowstone area grizzlies, pointing to the dwindling supply of whitebark pines and cutthroat trout (at right) bears rely on.

Scientists say a warming West is the leading cause of a sharp drop in whitebarks (left), high-elevation trees under assault by diseases and pests. Climate changes also play a role in the decline of cutthroat trout, which depend on cold water.

Source:
Reuters,"Experts predict climb in grizzly conflicts", accessed January 20, 2011

Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 January, Evening

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” - Luke 2:19

There was an exercise, on the part of this blessed woman, of three powers of her being: her memory-she kept all these things; her affections-she kept them in her heart; her intellect-she pondered them; so that memory, affection, and understanding, were all exercised about the things which she had heard. Beloved, remember what you have heard of your Lord Jesus, and what he has done for you; make your heart the golden pot of manna to preserve the memorial of the heavenly bread whereon you have fed in days gone by. Let your memory treasure up everything about Christ which you have either felt, or known, or believed, and then let your fond affections hold him fast for evermore. Love the person of your Lord! Bring forth the alabaster box of your heart, even though it be broken, and let all the precious ointment of your affection come streaming on his pierced feet. Let your intellect be exercised concerning the Lord Jesus. Meditate upon what you read: stop not at the surface; dive into the depths. Be not as the swallow which toucheth the brook with her wing, but as the fish which penetrates the lowest wave. Abide with your Lord: let him not be to you as a wayfaring man, that tarrieth for a night, but constrain him, saying, “Abide with us, for the day is far spent.” Hold him, and do not let him go. The word “ponder,” means to weigh. Make ready the balances of judgment. Oh, but where are the scales that can weigh the Lord Christ? “He taketh up the isles as a very little thing:”-who shall take him up? “He weigheth the mountains in scales”-in what scales shall we weigh him? Be it so, if your understanding cannot comprehend, let your affections apprehend; and if your spirit cannot compass the Lord Jesus in the grasp of understanding, let it embrace him in the arms of affection.

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 January, Evening

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Free Christian Calendars 2011 and Free Christian Planners 2011 with Bible verses:

- Big Wall Christian Calendar in one (1) page - 12 Monthly printable Calendars 2011 January to December (Jan - Dec 2011)

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Short Christian devotionals or writings or sermons for encouragements from CH Spurgeon

Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 January, Morning

“And of his fulness have all we received.” - John 1:16

These words tell us that there is a fulness in Christ. There is a fulness of essential Deity, for “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead.” There is a fulness of perfect manhood, for in him, bodily, that Godhead was revealed. There is a fulness of atoning efficacy in his blood, for “the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” There is a fulness of justifying righteousness in his life, for “there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” There is a fulness of divine prevalence in his plea, for “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him; seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” There is a fulness of victory in his death, for through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil. There is a fulness of efficacy in his resurrection from the dead, for by it “we are begotten again unto a lively hope.” There is a fulness of triumph in his ascension, for “when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.” There is a fulness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fulness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fulness at all times; a fulness of comfort in affliction; a fulness of guidance in prosperity. A fulness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love; a fulness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Oh, what a fulness must this be of which all receive! Fulness, indeed, must there be when the stream is always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied; ask largely, and thou shalt receive largely, for this “fulness” is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel-God with us.

Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 27 January, Morning

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- Big Wall Christian Calendar in one (1) page - 12 Monthly printable Calendars 2011 January to December (Jan - Dec 2011)

Free Christian Cards Templates:

A Special Birthday Prayer for You , Christian cards with Bible verses , God holds my tomorrow , Whatever our need , With God all things are possible , Your Friendship is a Blessing