Perspective for Challenging Times
Ephesians 3:19-21 

There are many ways we can fail to reach the goals that the Lord has for us. Today, I would like to focus on how our perspective can impede fulfilling His best for our lives.

For one thing, our thought process during times of difficulty can be detrimental to our success. In the midst of adversity, it is easy for our trust to flounder and for our eyes to drift from Jesus to the problem. Once our focus shifts away from God, the problem becomes magnified. Negative thinking can overwhelm faith and extinguish courage. Then we may be tempted to quit, which obviously thwarts God’s plan for our good.

What’s more, we tend to see the obstacle in terms of our own strength and resources rather than God’s. The apostle Paul clearly understood this, because he said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). The Lord’s ability and love are unlimited. Everything that we need, He will provide.

Too often, we miss God’s best because we view the obstacle as a problem instead of an opportunity. Realize that roadblocks are a way for the Lord to demonstrate His awesome power and grow our faith.

What happens when our focus shifts to a godly perspective on difficulties? Gloom turns to gladness, and we experience joy.

When God gave Joshua instructions, He revealed that Jericho would be defeated. But He doesn’t always show the whole picture; sometimes He reveals it little by little. Why? So we will learn to rely on Him daily—He desires that we look to Him for guidance today and trust Him with tomorrow

Guilty of Double-dealing

And I will cut off from this place . . . Those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom.

Zephaniah 1:4-5

These people thought they were safe because they were with both parties: they went with the followers of Jehovah and bowed at the same time to Milcom. But duplicity is abominable with God, and His soul hates hypocrisy.

The idolater who distinctly gives himself to his false god has one sin less than he who brings his polluted and detestable sacrifice into the temple of the Lord, while his heart is with the world and its sins.

To hold with the hare and run with the hounds is a coward’s policy. In the common matters of daily life, a double-minded man is despised, but in religion he is loathsome to the last degree.

The penalty pronounced in the verse before us is terrible, but it is well-deserved; for how should divine justice spare the sinner who knows the right, approves it, and professes to follow it, and all the while loves the evil and gives it dominion in his heart?

My soul, search yourself this morning and see whether you are guilty of double-dealing. You profess to be a follower of Jesus-do you truly love Him? Is your heart right with God? Are you a member of the family of old Father Honest, or are you a relative of Mr. Shady?

A name for being alive is of little value if I am actually dead in trespasses and sins. To have one foot on the land of truth and another on the sea of falsehood will involve a terrible fall and a total ruin. Christ will be all or nothing.

God fills the whole universe, and as a result there is no room for another god. If, then, He reigns in my heart, there will be no space for another reigning power.

Do I rest alone on Jesus crucified and live alone for Him? Is it my desire to do so? Is my heart set on doing so?

If yes, then blessed be the mighty grace that has led me to salvation; and if no, then, Lord, pardon my sad offense, and unite my heart to fear Your name.

The family reading plan for November 14, 2011

1 Chronicles 3 , 4 | Hebrews 9

You Matter
Matthew 5:13-16 

As I was growing up, I had several different Sunday School teachers, but Craig Stowe is the one I remember best. A few times a month, Mr. Stowe would be coming home from work about the time I was delivering papers on my regular route. He always pulled to the side of the road to ask how I was doing and inquire about school and the like. Sometimes Mr. Stowe would ask if there was anything he could pray about for me. And before he pulled away, he bought a newspaper—for five times its worth.

Those brief conversations with Mr. Stowe had a significant impact on my life. I knew he cared about me because he took the time to look me in the eye and make sure I was doing well. That feeling of love is one I try to pass on, even if I have just a few minutes with a person.

Believers are called to put Christ’s love on display (Matt. 5:15). Because the Lord is living through us, we are equipped to impact others. Instead of trying to resonate in some impressive way that impacts thousands of lives, why not let God use you to reach one person at a time? You can make a big difference with simple acts of service and kindness—a hug, a conversation, a meal. Try “loving on” people the way your heavenly Father shows affection for you.

Everyone matters to the Lord. At times all it takes for someone to feel His care and compassion is a little bit of kindness from one of God’s children. Believers have the privilege to serve as the Father’s hands and feet on earth. In that way, you can shine His light into someone’s private darkness

The Benefit of Trials   –  The tested genuineness of your faith.

1 Peter 1:7

Untested faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be small faith, and it is likely to remain little as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: Tempests are her trainers, and bolts of lightning are her illuminators.

When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship does not move to its harbor; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too.

Let the winds rush and howl, and let the waters lift themselves, though the vessel may rock and her deck may be washed with waves and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway toward her desired haven.

No flowers are as lovely a blue as those that grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam as brightly as those that glisten in the midnight sky; no water tastes as sweet as that which springs up in the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.

Tested faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness if you had not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God’s strength if you had not been supported in the flood.

Faith increases in quality, assurance, and intensity the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Do not let this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: The full portion will be measured out to you in due course.

Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for that degree of holy confidence you have now attained: Walk according to that rule, and you will still have more and more of the blessing of God, until your faith will remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

The family reading plan for November 12, 2011

2 Kings 25 | Hebrews 7

The Purpose of Conviction
Hebrews 12:4-11 

Have you ever seen a parent firmly grip a naughty child and lead him to where he ought to be? Sometimes our heavenly Father must employ a strong and directing hand too. Even as believers, we’re a wayward people and prone to wander. But when we go far afield, God helps us back to the path of righteousness.

The Father’s guiding hand is always on His children. But when believers fall into sin and rebellion, His tightens His grip. We call that pressure on our hearts and minds “conviction.” By impressing upon us, This action/attitude/thought is not in keeping with who you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit works to make us aware of wrongdoing. Conviction has the purpose of awakening believers to where they are in their relationship with God. If you’ve gotten off-course, don’t you want to know about it so you can get back in the center of His will as quickly as possible?

Sometimes the Lord employs discipline—a loving redirection toward the path His children have abandoned. Discipline can be painful and costly, particularly when we have resisted the pressure of conviction. However, any wise parent will tell you that living with the consequences of foolish behavior teaches children valuable lessons about keeping to the straight and narrow.

Left to his own devices, man will destroy himself chasing after fleeting pleasures and egocentric desires. God has a better journey in mind for us: to travel toward perfect freedom in Christ, guided by His loving hand. When we stray, He tightens His grip and draws us back to the way of righteousness

Everlasting Arms    –    Underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:27

God-the eternal God-is Himself our support at all times, and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation. Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God until he hardly knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless.

Well, child of God, remember that when you are at your worst and lowest, even then “underneath” you “are the everlasting arms.” Sin may drag you ever so low, but Christ’s great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the depths, but you cannot have fallen so low as the uttermost; and He saves “to the uttermost.”1

Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are “the everlasting arms.”

He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict; but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the “everlasting arms”-they are underneath him; and, while he is sustained, all Satan’s efforts to harm him achieve nothing.

This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but sincere worker in the service of God. It implies a promise of strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for each duty.

And, finally, when death comes, the promise will still hold good. When we stand in the middle of the Jordan, we will be able to say with David, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”2

We will descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the “everlasting arms”-arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for “the everlasting God . . . does not faint or grow weary.”3

1 Hebrews 7:25 2 Psalm 23:4 3 Isaiah 40:28

The family reading plan for November 11, 2011

2 Kings 24 | Hebrews 6