Jesus made it clear that we would endure hardship in this life. But God gave His children amazing tools to keep trials from overwhelming us. For instance, He placed His Spirit inside each believer to guide and empower. In addition, He gave us prayer so we could not only communicate and stay connected with our Father but also bring Him our requests.

Today I want to focus on yet another one of His marvelous gifts: the Bible. Scripture is the actual Word of God Almighty. It is truth. It never changes. It enables us in all circumstances, so we have a sure foundation on which to base our lives and decisions.

There are thousands of promises in the Bible–countless assurances that we can rely on with perfect confidence. God wants us to learn them so we won’t miss out on blessings He wants to give. And wise believers will turn His promises into prayers and the cries of their hearts.

Let me give you an example that relates to difficult decisions. Psalms 32:8 states, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” We can pray God’s words back to Him, saying that we believe He will teach us and reveal His path, while remaining by our side as our caregiver through the entire situation.

When hardships arise, we need a solid foundation on which to stand. Otherwise, our emotions could easily lead us astray through faulty thinking. God is faithful and unchanging, so we can trust in His promises, which enable us to rest confidently and act boldly.

We typically fill our parties with people similar to ourselves. We invite into our homes those we work with, play with, or otherwise have something in common with. We celebrate with fellow graduates, entertain people from our neighborhoods, and open our doors to four year-olds when our own is turning four. Psychologists concur: we socialize with those in our circles because we have some ring of similarity that connects us.

The man in the parable of the great banquet is no different. The story is told in Luke chapter 14 of an affluent master of ceremonies who had invited a great number of people like himself to a meal. The list was likely distinguished; the guests were no doubt as prosperous socially as they were financially. Jesus sets the story at a critical time for all involved. The invitations had long been sent out and accepted. Places were now set; the table was now prepared. All was ready. Accordingly, the owner of the house sent his servant to bring in the guests. But none would come.

Anthropologists characterize the culture of Jesus’s day as an “honor/shame” society, where one’s quality of life was directly affected by the amount of honor or shame socially attributed to him or her. The public eye was paramount; every interaction either furthered or diminished one’s standing, honor, and regard in the eyes of the world.

Thus, in this parable, the master of the banquet had just been deliberately and publicly shamed. He was pushed to the margins of society and treated with the force of contempt. Hearers of this parable would have been waiting with baited breath to hear how this man would attempt to reclaim his honor. But scandalously, in fact, the master of the feast did not attempt to reverse his public shame. Altogether curiously, he embraced it.

Turning to the slave, the owner of the house appointed the servant with a new task. “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and the poor and maimed and lame and blind bring in here” (Luke 14:21). Returning, the servant reported, “Lord it has all occurred as you ordered, and still there is room.” So the owner of the house responded again, “Go out into the waves and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

The slave is told to do what he must to compel the masses to come, liberating the blind, the lame, and the excluded of their social status and stigma with an invitation to dine with none other than the master. It is a staggering portrayal of a God who is shamed by the rejection of his people, and yet continues to respond with unfathomable grace and profound invitation into his presence. The owner of the house has opened wide the doors. The feast is ready—and there is yet room.

The longing to belong in the right circles is a desire that touches us all. Even so, one only has to watch a group of kids on playground to see how easily our desire to belong is corrupted by our need to exclude. The inner circle is not inner if there are no outsiders. Lines of honor and shame are futile if the majority is not on the wrong side. But in this story, God scandalously breaks these lines of demarcation and stratification. The Father forever challenges the notion that his house will be filled only with the rich or the righteous or those without shame.

The banquet is ready and there is a call to fill the house with the lost and unworthy, the homeless, the blind, the outsiders and the out-of-place. The invitation Jesus presents is wide enough to scour the darkest of hedges and the depths of the city streets. Whether we find ourselves outside of the circle because we have rejected him or at the table communing with his guests, it is a thought to digest: the kingdom of God is like a great banquet. God’s compulsion is our nourishment. The feast is ready and there is still room.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning    “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.”     Song of Solomon 5:13

Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April showers have done their

work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty. Come my soul, put on thine

holiday attire and go forth to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou

knowest whither to betake thyself, for to thee “the beds of spices” are well

known, and thou hast so often smelt the perfume of “the sweet flowers,” that

thou wilt go at once to thy well-beloved and find all loveliness, all joy in

him. That cheek once so rudely smitten with a rod, oft bedewed with tears of

sympathy and then defiled with spittle–that cheek as it smiles with mercy is as

fragrant aromatic to my heart. Thou didst not hide thy face from shame and

spitting, O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest delight in

praising thee. Those cheeks were furrowed by the plough of grief, and crimsoned

with red lines of blood from thy thorn-crowned temples; such marks of love

unbounded cannot but charm my soul far more than “pillars of perfume.” If I may

not see the whole of his face I would behold his cheeks, for the least glimpse

of him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual sense and yields a variety of

delights. In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a bed of spices; not one

flower, but all manner of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose and my lily, my

heartsease and my cluster of camphire. When he is with me it is May all the year

round, and my soul goes forth to wash her happy face in the morning-dew of his

grace, and to solace herself with the singing of the birds of his promises.

Precious Lord Jesus, let me in very deed know the blessedness which dwells in

abiding, unbroken fellowship with thee. I am a poor worthless one, whose cheek

thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss thee in return with the kisses of my

lips.

Evening   “I am the rose of Sharon.”    Song of Solomon 2:1

Whatever there may be of beauty in the material world, Jesus Christ possesses

all that in the spiritual world in a tenfold degree. Amongst flowers the rose is

deemed the sweetest, but Jesus is infinitely more beautiful in the garden of the

soul than the rose can be in the gardens of earth. He takes the first place as

the fairest among ten thousand. He is the sun, and all others are the stars; the

heavens and the day are dark in comparison with him, for the King in his beauty

transcends all. “I am the rose of Sharon.” This was the best and rarest of

roses. Jesus is not “the rose” alone, he is “the rose of Sharon,” just as he

calls his righteousness “gold,” and then adds, “the gold of

Ophir”–the best of the best. He is positively lovely, and superlatively the

loveliest. There is variety in his charms. The rose is delightful to the eye,

and its scent is pleasant and refreshing; so each of the senses of the soul,

whether it be the taste or feeling, the hearing, the sight, or the spiritual

smell, finds appropriate gratification in Jesus. Even the recollection of his

love is sweet. Take the rose of Sharon, and pull it leaf from leaf, and lay by

the leaves in the jar of memory, and you shall find each leaf fragrant long

afterwards, filling the house with perfume. Christ satisfies the highest taste

of the most educated spirit to the very full. The greatest amateur in

perfumes is quite satisfied with the rose: and when the soul has arrived at her

highest pitch of true taste, she shall still be content with Christ, nay, she

shall be the better able to appreciate him. Heaven itself possesses nothing

which excels the rose of Sharon. What emblem can fully set forth his beauty?

Human speech and earth-born things fail to tell of him. Earth’s choicest charms

commingled, feebly picture his abounding preciousness. Blessed rose, bloom in my

heart forever!

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!    Psalms 139:17

Divine omniscience provides no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking about us, never turns His mind from us, always has us before His eyes; and this is precisely how we would want it, because it would be dreadful to exist for a moment outside the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring countless benefits to us: It is consequently a supreme delight to remember them. The Lord always thought about His people: hence their election and the covenant of grace by which their salvation is secured. He will always think upon them: hence their final perseverance by which they shall be brought safely to their final rest.

In all our wanderings the watchful glance of the Eternal Watcher is constantly fixed upon us—we never roam beyond the Shepherd’s eye. In our sorrows He observes us incessantly, and not a painful emotion escapes Him; in our toils He notices all our weariness, and He writes all the struggles of His faithful ones in His book. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all our paths and penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not a nerve or tissue, valve or vessel of our bodily frame is uncared for; all the details of our little world are thought upon by the great God.

Dear reader, is this precious to you? Then hold to it. Do not be led astray by those philosophical fools who preach an impersonal God and talk of self-existent, self-governing matter. The Lord lives and thinks upon us; this is a far too precious truth for us to be easily robbed of it. To be noticed by a nobleman is valued so highly that he who has it counts his fortune made; but how much greater is it to be thought of by the King of kings! If the Lord thinks upon us, all is well, and we may rejoice evermore.

The family reading plan for April 30, 2012

Song 5 | Hebrews 5

Romans 5:1-4

The list called “fruit of the Spirit” includes “patience” (Gal. 5:22-23), but that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit wills it into the believer’s life. Instead, He acts as our ever-dependable teacher and the one who enables our growth. Spiritual fruit matures over time as we obey the Lord and surrender to His will.

Patience with both God and our fellow man is an outgrowth of deepening faith. The Holy Spirit urges believers to take note of the Lord’s handiwork on the journey through life. Our confidence in Him is nurtured by answered prayer, the rich blessings that arise unexpectedly from difficult circumstances, and every trace of good that God salvages from a bad situation. As our trust in His goodness and sovereignty grows, we find ourselves more willing to wait for God’s solutions and outcomes.

In fact, I believe that recognizing God’s sovereignty is key to developing patience. A significant part of surrendering to His absolute control is waiting upon Him to do what He will. We are wise to realize that our lives unfold according to His master plan–exasperated toe tapping doesn’t bother Him a bit. God expects His children to step into His timeline and practice patience no matter what pace He sets.

Patience doesn’t come naturally. That’s why we have the Holy Spirit. He strengthens our resolve to endure without complaint when progress seems sluggish. After all, God is slow only from a human standpoint. From a divine, eternal perspective, He’s always working at the perfect speed

While many industries continue to struggle from economic downturn, the identity management industry, a trade emerging from the realities of the Internet Age, continues to gain business steadily. As one company notes in its mission statement, they began with the realization that “the line dividing people’s ‘online’ lives from their ‘offline’ personal and professional lives was eroding, and quickly.”(1) While the notion of anonymity or the felt safety of a social network lures users into online disinhibition, reputations are forged in a very public domain. And, as many have discovered, this can come back to haunt them—long after posted pictures are distant memories. In a survey taken in 2006, one in ten hiring managers admitted rejecting candidates because of things they discovered about them on the Internet. With the increasing popularity of social networks, personal video sites, and blogs, today that ratio is now one in two. Hence the need for identity managers—who scour the Internet with an individual’s reputation in mind and scrub websites of image-damaging material—grows almost as quickly as a high-schooler’s Facebook page.

With the boom of the reputation business in mind, I wonder how identity managers might have attempted to deal with the social repute of Jesus. Among officials, politicians, and soldiers, his reputation as a political nightmare and agitator of the people preceded him. Among the religious leaders, his reputation was securely forged by the scandal and outrage of his messianic claims. Beyond these reputations, the most common accusations of his personal depravity had to do with the company he kept, the Sabbath he broke, and the food and drink he enjoyed. In two different gospels, Jesus remarks on his reputation as a glutton. “[T]he Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!'”(2) In fact, if you were to remove the accounts of his meals or conversations with members of society’s worst, or his parables that incorporated these untouchables, there would be very little left of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. According to etiquette books and accepted social norms, both from the first century and the twenty-first, the reputation of Jesus leaves much to be desired.

Ironically, the reputation of those Jesus left behind does not resemble his reputation much at all. Writing in 1949 with both humor and lament, Dorothy Sayers describes the differences: “For nineteen and a half centuries, the Christian churches have labored, not without success, to remove this unfortunate impression made by their Lord and Master. They have hustled the Magdalens from the communion table, founded total abstinence societies in the name of him who made the water wine, and added improvements of their own, such as various bans and anathemas upon dancing and theatergoing….[F]eeling that the original commandment ‘thou shalt not work’ was rather half hearted, [they] have added to it a new commandment, ‘thou shalt not play.”(3)  Her observations have a ring of both comedy and tragedy. The impression Christians often give the world is that Christianity comes with an oddly restricted understanding of words such as “virtue,” “morality,” “faithfulness,” and “goodness.” Curiously, this reputation is far more similar to the law-abiding religion of which Jesus had nothing nice to say. “Woe to you, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 23:23).

When the apostle Paul described the kind of fruit that will flourish in the life of one who follows Jesus, he was not giving the church a checklist or a rigid code like the religious law from which he himself was freed.(4) He was describing the kinds of reputations that emerge precisely when following the friend of tax-collectors and sinners, the drunkard, the Sabbath-breaker, the Son of God. Jesus loved the broken, discarded people around him to a social fault. He was patient and kind, joyful and peaceful in ways that made the world completely uncomfortable. His faithfulness was not a badge that made it seem permissible to exclude others for their lack of virtue. His self-control did not lead him to condemn the world around him or to isolate himself in disgust of their immorality; rather, it allowed him to walk to his death for the sake of all.

There are no doubt pockets of the world where the reputation of the church lines up with that of its founder. The prophets and identity managers of the church today pray for many more. Until then, in a world deciphering, critically or otherwise, the question of reputation, “What does it mean to be Christian?” perhaps we might ask instead, “What did it mean to be Christ?”

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) From the website ReputationDefender.com/company, accessed Jan 15, 2009.
(2) Luke 7:34, Matthew 11:19.
(3) Dorothy Sayers, “Christian morality” in The Whimsical Christian (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 151-152.
(4) “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Morning    “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”  Psalm 119:49

Whatever your especial need may be, you may readily find some promise in the

Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is rough and you

are weary? Here is the promise–“He giveth power to the faint.” When you read

such a promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask him to fulfil his

own word. Are you seeking after Christ, and thirsting for closer communion with

him? This promise shines like a star upon you–“Blessed are they that hunger and

thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Take that promise to the

throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over

again with this–“Lord, thou hast said it, do as thou hast said.” Are

you distressed because of sin, and burdened with the heavy load of your

iniquities? Listen to these words–“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy

transgressions, and will no more remember thy sins.” You have no merit of your

own to plead why he should pardon you, but plead his written engagements and he

will perform them. Are you afraid lest you should not be able to hold on to the

end, lest, after having thought yourself a child of God, you should prove a

castaway? If that is your state, take this word of grace to the throne and plead

it: “The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but the covenant of

my love shall not depart from thee.” If you have lost the sweet sense of

the Saviour’s presence, and are seeking him with a sorrowful heart, remember

the promises: “Return unto me, and I will return unto you;” “For a small moment

have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Banquet your

faith upon God’s own word, and whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank

of Faith with your Father’s note of hand, saying, “Remember the word unto thy

servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”

Evening  “All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”   Ezekiel 3:7

Are there no exceptions? No, not one. Even the favoured race are thus described.

Are the best so bad?–then what must the worst be? Come, my heart, consider how

far thou hast a share in this universal accusation, and while considering, be

ready to take shame unto thyself wherein thou mayst have been guilty. The first

charge is impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of holy shame, an

unhallowed boldness in evil. Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no

compunction, hear of my guilt and yet remain unhumbled, and even confess my

iniquity and manifest no inward humiliation on account of it. For a sinner to go

to God’s house and pretend to pray to him and praise him argues a

brazen-facedness of the worst kind! Alas! since the day of my new birth I have

doubted my Lord to his face, murmured unblushingly in his presence, worshipped

before him in a slovenly manner, and sinned without bewailing myself concerning

it. If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder than flint, I should have far

more holy fear, and a far deeper contrition of spirit. Woe is me, I am one of

the impudent house of Israel. The second charge is hardheartedness, and I must

not venture to plead innocent here. Once I had nothing but a heart of stone, and

although through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart, much of my former

obduracy remains. I am not affected by the death of Jesus as I

ought to be; neither am I moved by the ruin of my fellow men, the wickedness of

the times, the chastisement of my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I

should be. O that my heart would melt at the recital of my Saviour’s sufferings

and death. Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone within me, this

hateful body of death. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the disease is not

incurable, the Saviour’s precious blood is the universal solvent, and me, even

me, it will effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the fire.

The Lord is king forever and ever.   Psalms 10:16

Jesus Christ is not a tyrant claiming divine right, but He is really and truly the Lord’s anointed! “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”1 God has given to Him all power and all authority.

As the Son of man, He is now head over all things in His church, and He reigns over heaven and earth and hell with the keys of life and death at His belt. Certain princes have been glad to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is such in His church. If it could be put to the vote whether He should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown Him. We ought to crown Him more gloriously than we do! We would regard no expense too great if we could glorify Christ. Suffering would be pleasure, and loss would be gain, if through that we could surround His brow with brighter crowns and make Him more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, He shall reign. Long live the King! All hail to You, King Jesus! Go on, you virgin souls who love your Lord. Bow at His feet; cover His path with the lilies of your love and the roses of your gratitude: “Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.”

Our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right of conquest: He has taken the hearts of His people by storm and has defeated their enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the Red Sea of His own blood, our Redeemer has drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: Shall He not be Lord and King? He has delivered us from sin’s dominion and from the heavy curse of the law: Shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are His portion, whom He has taken out of the hand of the enemy with His sword and with His bow: Who will snatch His conquest from His hand? All hail, King Jesus! We gladly own Your gentle sway! Rule in our hearts forever, You lovely Prince of Peace.

1Colossians 1:19

The family reading plan for April 27, 2012

Song 2 | Hebrews 2

James 1:1-4

When people confide to me that they are praying for patience, I often ask what else they’re doing to acquire a calm and gentle heart. Patience isn’t so much something believers receive as it is an attribute that they develop over time and through experience.

Think of patience as a muscle that you have to use in order to see it build. To that end, believers should recognize difficulty as an opportunity to flex their patience. The human instinct is to cry out to God in bewilderment when tribu-lation comes knocking. We blame. We resist. We complain. What we don’t do is say, “Thank You, Father–it’s time to grow in patience!” People aren’t trained to think that way, but according to the Bible, that is exactly how Christians are to respond.

James tells us to consider trials a joy (1:2). But we often fail at this, don’t we? Humanly speaking, praising the Lord for tribulation is unnatural. However, doing so begins to make sense to believers when they cling to God’s promise that good comes from hardship (Rom. 8:28). We are not waiting on the Lord in vain. We can praise Him for the solution He will bring, the lives He will change, or the spiritual fruit He will develop in us.

Accepting hardship as a means of growth is a radical concept in this world. Even more extreme is the believer who praises the Lord for the storm. But God’s followers have cause to rejoice. Tribulation increases our patience so that we can stand firm on His promises and await His good timing.

“Faith is believing what you want to believe, yet cannot prove.”

Sadly, many people, including some Christians, live with this definition of faith. For some it feels liberating. It means being able to believe in anything you want to believe. No explanation is required, indeed, no explanation can be given; it is just a matter of faith. For others, such a definition is sickening. Embracing faith means you stop thinking. As faith increases, reason and meaning eventually disappear. No explanations can be given, and none can be expected. Thus, living in faith is living in the dark.

For both groups, the problem is the same. By starting with the wrong definition of faith, they have asked the wrong question, are dealing with the wrong problem, and so have ended up with the wrong answer. Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not about believing in things that do not exist. It neither makes all things believable nor meaning impossible.

So what is the right definition of faith? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” writes the author of Hebrews. A few verses later faith is similarly defined as knowing that God exists and that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Perhaps the best word we can use to translate the Greek word “pistis” (usually translated faith) is the word “trust” or “trustworthy.” Suppose you tell a friend that you have faith in her. What does that mean? It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists. And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character.

It is in this way that the writer of Hebrews talks about faith in God. Faith is knowing that God is real and that you can trust in God’s promises. You cannot trust someone who isn’t there, nor can you rely on someone whose promises are not reliable. This is why faith is talked about as the substance of things hoped for and as the evidence of things not seen. Both words carry with them a sense of reality. Our hope is not wishful thinking. Faith does not make God real. On the contrary, faith is the response to a real God who wants to be known to us:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you, though you do not know me,
so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:5-6).

Ever since the church began, the refrain has always been the same: Come, believe, follow the light of the world. It has never appealed for people to leap into the dark; no such invitation is found anywhere in Scripture. Instead, we are called to step into the light. The Christian gospel is not a message that revels in ignorance. It is the revelation of God in the person of Christ, so that we might know there is no other. The Christian is called to see things as they really are, and not as she would simply like them to be. We trust in a God who has been revealed to us in the Son and the Spirit. We believe because God is real.

The Christian gospel invites you to delve into reality. It commands you to be honest in your commitment to know that which is true. Is Jesus real? Who did he claim to be? Is he really alive today? Faith comes in response to knowing the answers to these questions, even as Christ is calling you near. But don’t stop after the initial introductions! Just as you are able to put more trust in someone as you grow to know him, so faith increases as you grow in your relationship with Christ. There is a God who is real and true; there is a God who is near and longing to gather you nearer. The great joy of the Christian faith is found in the person who invites us to trust and believe.

Michael Ramsden is European director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in the United Kingdom.

Morning  “God, even our own God.”  Psalm 67:6

It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings which God gives

us, but it is stranger still how little use we make of God himself. Though he is

“our own God,” we apply ourselves but little to him, and ask but little of him.

How seldom do we ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often do we go about

our business, without seeking his guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we

strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord,

that he may sustain us! This is not because we may not, for the Lord seems to

say, “I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst freely

come to my store, and the oftener the more welcome.” It is our

own fault if we make not free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast

such a friend, and he invites thee, draw from him daily. Never want whilst thou

hast a God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help thee; go

to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest–there is all that thou canst

want. Learn the divine skill of making God all things to thee. He can supply

thee with all, or, better still, he can be to thee instead of all. Let me urge

thee, then, to make use of thy God. Make use of him in prayer. Go to him often,

because he is thy God. O, wilt thou fail to use so great a privilege? Fly to

him, tell him all thy wants. Use him constantly by faith at all

times. If some dark providence has beclouded thee, use thy God as a “sun;” if

some strong enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a “shield,” for he is a sun

and shield to his people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use

him as a “guide,” for he will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and wherever thou

art, remember God is just what thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and

that he can do all thou wantest.

Evening  “The Lord is King forever and ever.”   Psalm 10:16

Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine right, but he is really and truly

the Lord’s anointed! “It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness

dwell.” God hath given to him all power and all authority. As the Son of man, he

is now head over all things to his church, and he reigns over heaven, and earth,

and hell, with the keys of life and death at his girdle. Certain princes have

delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord

Jesus Christ is such in his church. If it could be put to the vote whether he

should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown him. O that we

could crown him more gloriously than we do! We would count no

expense to be wasted that could glorify Christ. Suffering would be pleasure,

and loss would be gain, if thereby we could surround his brow with brighter

crowns, and make him more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, he shall

reign. Long live the King! All hail to thee, King Jesus! Go forth, ye virgin

souls who love your Lord, bow at his feet, strew his way with the lilies of your

love, and the roses of your gratitude: “Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown

him Lord of all.” Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right of conquest:

he has taken and carried by storm the hearts of his people, and has slain their

enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the Red Sea of his own

blood, our Redeemer has drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall he not be King

in Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the iron yoke and heavy curse of the law:

shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are his portion, whom he has taken out of

the hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow: who shall snatch his

conquest from his hand? All hail, King Jesus! we gladly own thy gentle sway!

Rule in our hearts forever, thou lovely Prince of Peace.

Blessed is the one who stays awake.   Revelation 16:15

“I die every day,”1 said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not at this time being called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test. But the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are still more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age.

We have to bear the sneer of the world—that is small; its flatteries, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy are far worse. Our danger is that we might grow rich and become proud; we might give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world and lose our faith. Or if wealth does not test us, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, we may be hugged to death by the bear.

The devil cares very little which it is, as long as he destroys our love for Christ and our confidence in Him. I am afraid that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and easy days than in those rougher times. We must stay awake now, for we are crossing enchanted ground and are most likely to fall asleep to our own ruin, unless our faith in Jesus is a reality and our love for Jesus an ardent flame. Many in these days of easy-believism are likely to prove to be tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with attractive masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God.

Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardor; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things as well as in the rougher, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”2

11 Corinthians 15:31 2Romans 8:37

The family reading plan for April 26, 2012

Song 1 | Hebrews 1

Romans 11:33-36

Most of us enjoy feeling in control of our own schedule and grow frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. Yet if we truly desire to walk in the center of God’s perfect will, we must become willing to cooperate with His time frame.

Consider how you pray about situations in your life. Without realizing it, you may be demanding that God follow the schedule you’ve constructed according to your very limited human wisdom. Yet if we believe He is who He says He is, how can surrendering to His way not be to our benefit? Think about His unique, praiseworthy qualities:

• His all-encompassing knowledge. Unlike us, the Lord has complete awareness about our world and the details of every individual life–past, present, and future.
• His complete wisdom. God understands man’s every motive, whereas none of us are able to accurately discern people’s intentions. We make choices based on partial information, whereas He has the wisdom to take action based on truth.
• His unconditional love. Our Creator is always motivated by love and constantly has our best in mind. Unless we trust His heart, our view of reality will be distorted.
• His perfect sufficiency. At just the right time, God will provide us with everything we need to carry out His plan.

Submitting to God’s timetable requires faith and courage. Believe in the goodness of His heart and His plans–and determine to wait until He gives the signal to move forward. Then, as you follow His schedule, you’ll experience the joy of watching Him make all things beautiful in His timing.

Saint John Chrysostom wrote this about the power of prayer:

“Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by the clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings. . . . The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire, it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest; extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt.”(1)

Who can read that and not be tempted to exclaim, “Is that mere rhetoric?” No, not so. Each of the instances referred to by Chrysostom is drawn right out of the Scriptures.

In all of its expressions, whether halting and short or flowing in beautiful, well-structured phrases, prayer is simply a conversation with God. If we turn prayer into a monologue or use it as a way to showcase our gift with words or as a venue for informing or instructing others who may be listening, we defeat the very purpose of prayer. The Bible makes it clear that prayer is intended as the line of connection from the heart of the praying person directly to the heart of God. Jesus himself practiced a lifestyle of prayer and urged his disciples to imitate him by making it part of their daily existence. His prayers represented prayer at its best and most sincere.

I marvel at the impact of praying with a hurting person. I have prayed many times with someone who has claimed to be a skeptic and is living in a manner that supports that claim, only to finish my prayer and open my eyes to see tears in his eyes. Although prayer remains a mystery to all of us but especially to one who lives apart from God, I have observed again and again that even the hardened heart retains a longing for the possibility of communicating with God.

Prayer can accomplish amazing things, reaching into hearts in a way that all the correct answers to questions that are honestly asked sometimes cannot do. Conversely, more certainly than anything else, sustained prayer that seems to bring nothing in response can result in a sense of futility with life and an erosion of faith. Like the myth of Sisyphus, who repeatedly rolled a huge rock up a mountain only to watch it roll down again, unanswered prayer may well be where most of those who have lost their faith began that journey into unbelief.

It is not my intention to deny the great disappointments of unanswered prayer or even to attempt to provide answers to why our prayers are not answered. Rather, I want us to take a good, hard look at what God intends prayer to be.

The most definitive passage on prayer is what is often called the Lord’s Prayer or, as some scholars like to call it, the Disciples’ Prayer. The highly significant first words carry the weight of all of prayer: “Our Father in heaven.” This is a uniquely Christian utterance. In these two words alone—”Our Father”—we recognize, at least implicitly, two truths: the nearness of God as heavenly Father, and the sovereignty of God as the one who controls everything. As soon as you cry out in prayer, “Heavenly Father,” you are recognizing his presence in your life.

And on the heels of the Lord’s Prayer and as his conclusion to it, Jesus tells us that God will give the Holy Spirit, his indwelling presence, to those who ask for it. That is the whole point of the prayer. It is not spoken in the form of a question—it ends with an exclamation point. God will give the gift of the indwelling presence of the holy God to any who ask for it—this is an absolute certainty! You can count on it!

Sadly, we hear so little of this today. We have turned prayer into a means to our ends and seldom wait on God’s response long enough to think about what he wants for us in that very moment. By reducing the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to one particular gift, we have robbed people of the Holy Presence that prompts us in prayer, prays for us when we don’t have the words to pray for ourselves, and comforts us in our times of need.

The paramount need today is the indwelling presence of God.  In this incredible twist, the indwelling presence of God, the Holy Spirit, makes God both the enabler of our prayers and the provider of answers to those prayers. More than anything else, this is what prayer is about—training one’s hungers and longings to correspond with God’s will for us—and it is what the Christian faith is all about. Paul reminds us of this numerous times. Jesus talks of the prompting from within and the provision that comes from without, which is the work of the Holy Spirit within us and the provision of God from without.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. 

Excerpted from Has Christianity Failed You? by RAVI ZACHARIAS.  Copyright © 2010 by Ravi Zacharias.  Used by permission of Zondervan; http://www.zondervan.com

(1) Quoted in Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1959), 156.

Morning    “This do in remembrance of me.”     1 Corinthians 11:24

It seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could be no need for

this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our

memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas!

too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable

fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the

blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son

of God, should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it

is, alas! too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget him who

never forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood forth for our sins! Forget

him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only

possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us,

that we suffer him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we

should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The

cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be

an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your

conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus?

Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom

your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses

your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the

incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which

takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous

weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind

a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever

else we let slip, let us hold fast to him.

Evening    “Blessed is he that watcheth.”     Revelation 16:15

“We die daily,” said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians;

they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day

called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would

give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present

moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us

than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world–that

is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning,

its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud,

lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world,

and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as

mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be

hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he

destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. I fear me that the

Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and

silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse

the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing,

unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame.

Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not

wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born

children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in

which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these

things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display his omnipotence in

you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the

rougher, “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.

Revelation 3:20

What is your desire this evening? Is it focused on heavenly things? Do you long to enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights and depths and lengths and breadths of His love? Then you must draw near to Jesus; you must get a clear sight of Him in His preciousness and completeness: you must view Him in His work—in His role as prophet, friend, and king—and in His person. He who understands Christ, receives an anointing from the Holy One, by which He knows all things. Christ is the great master-key of all the chambers of God: There is no treasure-house of God that will not open and yield up all its wealth to the soul that lives near to Jesus.

Are you saying, “I wish that He would live in my heart and make it His dwelling-place forever”? Open the door, beloved, and He will come into your soul. He has been knocking continually in order that you and He may break bread together. He eats with you because you provide the house or the heart, and you with Him because He brings the meal. He could not eat with you if it were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you eat with Him, for you would have an empty table if He did not bring the food with Him.

Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul. He will come with that love that you long to feel; He will come with that joy into which you cannot work your poor depressed spirit; He will bring the peace that now you do not have; He will come with His flagons of wine and sweet apples of love and will cheer you until you have no other sickness but that of overpowering, divine love. Only open the door to Him, drive out His enemies, give Him the keys of your heart, and He will live there forever. What wondrous love that brings such a guest to dwell in such a heart!

The family reading plan for April 25, 2012

Ecclesiastes 12 | Philemon 1

Luke 22:31-34

The disciple Peter was a man of great faith and bold action. But as readers of the New Testament know, his brash style sometimes led him to make humiliating mistakes. More than once, this disciple had to wear the label of “miserable failure” rather than that of “obedient servant.”

We can all relate when it comes to falling short of expectations. Obedience to God is a learning process, and failure is a part of our development as humble servants. When we yield to temptation or rebel against God’s authority, we realize that sin has few rewards, and even those are fleeting.

Failure is an excellent learning tool, as Peter could certainly attest. Through trial and error, he discovered that humility is required of believers (John 13:5-14); that God’s ways are higher than the world’s ways (Mark 8:33); and that one should never take his eyes off Jesus (Matt. 14:30). He took each of those lessons to heart and thereby grew stronger in his faith. Isn’t that Romans 8:28 in action? God caused Peter’s failures to be put to good use as training material because the disciple was eager to mature and serve.

God doesn’t reward rebellion or wrongdoing. However, by His grace, He blesses those who choose repentance and embrace chastisement as a tool for growth.

We would probably all prefer to grow in our faith without ever making a mistake before God’s eyes, but we cannot deny that missteps are instructive. Failure teaches believers that it is much wiser and more profitable to be obedient to the Lord. That’s a lesson we all should take to heart

During my sojourn throughout different parts of the world, I have learned that there are some streets where if you get lost and would like to ask for directions, you should think twice—or rather, ask twice.

“Where is the public library?” you may ask a local who is passing by. “Oh, it is straight ahead, hundred meters away,” he might say.

And so you walk on, and after 30 minutes and way past that “hundred meters,” you realize that the person has given you wrong directions. Then you decide to ask another for what are, hopefully, the right directions. This time, the person whom you ask tells you to go back the way you came from for a hundred meters. “How can this be? I just came from there,” you inform her. However, she insists that she is right and that you should trust her. So you retreat a hundred meters and you are back to where you had started, and not any closer to your destination.

You see, none of those whom you had asked actually knew for sure where your destination is. However, in order to “save face,” they pretend that they do and sometimes do a very good job at it! As they did not want to appear ignorant, they had to convincingly point you towards a certain direction—oftentimes, the wrong one.

Trying to get to your destination on one of these crowded streets is in a lot of ways like how we are trying to live our lives. For most of us, our destination is the place where we will find the answers to our existential questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here?  Where am I going?

We long to arrive at that seemingly elusive place where the yearning of our heart will be satisfied; where our soul will finally find its home and rest. But how do we get there? Which direction do we go? How long is the journey?

Some of us were shown the route of the Great American Dream (also known as the Great Singaporean Dream or the Great Malaysian Dream) where we are told that our pursuit of happiness will lead us to our destination. However, not much farther down the path of a successful career, a lovely family, and a five-room picket-fenced house, we find that we are not getting any closer to where our heart wants to go. The soul continues to seek its home.

Then there are those who have taken the route of pleasure by embracing a certain lifestyle that would gratify one in all kinds of sensuous desires. Like many after him, Solomon, the king who possessed so much wealth and denied himself nothing he desired, found this path only futility in his years of indulgence. He records this poignantly in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11:

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.”

The route of unbridled pleasure is also a misleading course that will not take us where our souls ultimately seek to go.

Then there is the relativist’s way of taking whichever road one wishes, believing they all will lead home. Practical experience with roads that may seem to head in the same direction remind us that they make drastic turns at crucial points and take fellow travelers on farther and farther away from each other. Not all roads can lead to home, it seems.

C.S. Lewis rightly observes that this world will offer us all sorts of things or ways that promise to take us to our soul’s destination, but they never quite keep to their word.(1) After the fleeting moment of enchantment leaves us, we are back to our starting point.

There is, however, one who professes to know the way to our destination. In fact, he claims that he IS the way: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Unlike Eastern gurus who claim that they have found the way and that they could show their followers the way, Jesus self-assuredly declares that he is the way, and that only through him will we find true rest at our soul’s rightful home.

Which way are you taking today to get wherever it is you feel you must go? And who are you asking for your directions along the way? As C.S. Lewis aptly concludes in Mere Christianity, “[L]ook for Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in.”

I’Ching Thomas is associate director of training at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.

(1) C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002), 135.
(2) Ibid., 227.

Morning   “Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.”    Song of Solomon 2:10

Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling

upon the face of the earth, and he would not have me spiritually asleep while

nature is all around me awaking from her winter’s rest. He bids me “Rise up,”

and well he may; for I have long enough been lying among the pots of

worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in him, why then should I cleave unto the

dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards

him. He calls me by the sweet title of “My love,” and counts me fair; this is a

good argument for my rising. If he has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus

comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial associates

among  the sons of men? He bids me “Come away.” Further and further from everything

selfish, grovelling, worldly, sinful, he calls me; yea, from the outwardly

religious world which knows him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the

higher life, he calls me. “Come away” has no harsh sound in it to my ear, for

what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would

that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from

them as I would. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor

heart for sin. Thou callest me to thyself by saying “Come away,” and this is a

melodious call indeed. To come to thee is to come home from exile,

to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to

come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a

stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me,

draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames

of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time

behind me, and indeed come away.

Evening    “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.”    Revelation 3:20

What is your desire this evening? Is it set upon heavenly things? Do you long to

enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close

communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights, and depths, and lengths,

and breadths? Then you must draw near to Jesus; you must get a clear sight of

him in his preciousness and completeness; you must view him in his work, in his

offices, in his person. He who understands Christ, receives an anointing from

the Holy One, by which he knows all things. Christ is the great master-key of

all the chambers of God; there is no treasure-house of God which will not open

and yield up all its wealth to the soul that lives near to Jesus.

Are you saying, “O that he would dwell in my bosom”? “Would that he would make

my heart his dwelling-place forever”? Open the door, beloved, and he will come

into your souls. He has long been knocking, and all with this object, that he

may sup with you, and you with him. He sups with you because you find the house

or the heart, and you with him because he brings the provision. He could not sup

with you if it were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you sup

with him, for you have a bare cupboard, if he did not bring provision with him.

Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul. He will come with that love which

you long to feel; he will come with that joy into which you

cannot work your poor depressed spirit; he will bring the peace which now you

have not; he will come with his flagons of wine and sweet apples of love, and

cheer you till you have no other sickness but that of “love o’erpowering, love

divine.” Only open the door to him, drive out his enemies, give him the keys of

your heart, and he will dwell there forever. Oh, wondrous love, that brings such

a guest to dwell in such a heart!

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.    Song of Songs 2:12

The season of spring is welcome in its freshness. The long and dreary winter helps us to appreciate spring’s genial warmth, and its promise of summer enhances its present delights. After periods of spiritual depression, it is delightful to see again the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Our slumbering graces rise from their lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil from their beds of earth; and our heart is made glad with delicious notes of gratitude, far more tuneful than the warbling of birds. The comforting assurance of peace, which is infinitely more delightful than the turtledove’s cooing, is heard within the soul.

This is the time for the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now she must rise from her natural sordidness and come away from her old associations. If we do not hoist the sail when the breeze is favorable, we make a grave mistake: Times of refreshing should never be allowed to pass us by. When Jesus Himself visits us in tenderness and entreats us to arise, can we be so ungrateful as to refuse His request? He has risen so that He may draw us after Him. He, by His Holy Spirit, has revived us so that we may in newness of life ascend to the heavenlies and enjoy fellowship with Him. We bid farewell to the coldness and indifference of a spiritual winter when the Lord creates a spring within. Then our sap flows with vigor, and our branches blossom with high resolve.

O Lord, if it is not springtime in my chilly heart, I pray You make it so, for I am tired of living at a distance from You. When will You bring this long and dreary winter to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! Quicken me, restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I earnestly implore you, Lord, to take pity upon Your servant and send me a happy revival of spiritual life!

The family reading plan for April 24, 2012

Ecclesiastes 11 | Titus 3