Charles Stanley – The Key to the Christian Life

October 19, 2014 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Life Principle 24

To live the Christian life is to allow Jesus to live His life in and through us.

Many Christians today seem content to live what they think is an adequate Christian life. They believe that if they go to church, read their Bibles occasionally, and say their prayers once in a while, they will be all right with God. Occasionally, they may be inspired to go above and beyond their normal routines and volunteer to serve others as ushers, members of a church committee, or even go on a short-term mission trip. Though they go through the motions of being a “good Christian,” they do not enjoy the power, peace, and joy that should come with the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10). Eventually, the counterfeit Christian life they are living becomes a burden and does not comfort them when the storms of adversity assail.

This was not what you were created for. God does not call you or any believer to a marginal Christian life characterized by chores and rituals. He desires to have a daily relationship with you where you experience His presence and trust Him for wisdom, courage, and strength in all situations. With every step you take, decision you make, conversation you have, and thought you entertain, the Lord wants to glorify Himself through you. He desires to shine in your life—with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control illuminating your unique talents, traits, and personality as you walk in obedience to Him.

In other words, to live the Christian life is to allow Jesus to live in and through you. That is why Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

How do you allow Jesus to do so? In what way does He live in and through you? If these two questions seem difficult or confusing to you, you aren’t alone. Many people never realize how powerfully Christ could demonstrate His life through them. This is because many believe that the key to living the Christian life starts with pious acts, when it really begins with a deep, intimate relationship with Him.

Therefore, to answer the first question: How do you allow Jesus to do this?—you must realize the answer comes by working on your relationship with Christ. You do this through Bible study, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other believers. You not only learn about Him, but you must also listen to Him, because He will teach you how to love Him, live for Him, and walk in His ways.

The answer to the second question: In what way does He live in and through you?—is as unique as each believer who follows Him. This is because He has a special purpose for your life, and the most important thing you can ever do is simply obey Him—no matter what He tells you to do. God will allow situations and troubles in your life that only He can solve. This is so He can demonstrate His glory, power, love, and wisdom through you.

Is there anything distracting you from having an intimate relationship with the Lord? Have you failed to trust God’s sovereignty? Are you worried that you’re not doing enough to deserve a relationship with Him or that you could lose the eternal life He has given you? Then you need to return to the basic truth that your salvation is through faith in Christ and not by works. There is absolutely nothing you can do to earn it or be worthy of it. Therefore, there is nothing you can do or fail to do that would cause you to forfeit it either.

The issue is not your salvation but the impact of your life for Christ and the joy and fulfillment you receive from Him. God does not call you to an adequate life—He wants it to be extraordinary. However, for you to experience the life He planned for you, you must stop being distracted by peripheral issues and focus your attention completely on Him. Can you do it? Can you trust Jesus to live His life through you and take care of all that troubles you?

Of course you can! The God who redeems you can teach you how to live for Him. The Savior you trusted for your eternity is more than capable of taking care of all the matters that burden you daily and shining through you brightly so that others can know Him and be saved. Therefore, die to your notions of what the Christian life should be so you can experience true life in Him.

Open to go to 30 Life Principles

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Right Foundation

October 19, 2014 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Matthew 7:24–29

Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. —Matthew 7:24

“I’ve got bad news for you,” said the builder, who was renovating an old house I had inherited. “When we started to convert the back half of the garage for your office, we found that the walls had almost no foundation. We will have to demolish them, dig proper foundations, and start again.”

“Do you have to do that?” I pleaded, silently calculating the extra cost. “Can’t you just patch it up?” But the builder was adamant. “Unless we go down to the proper depth, the building inspector won’t approve it. The right foundation is vital.”

The right foundation makes the difference between something that lasts and something temporary. Jesus knew that though foundations are invisible, they are vitally important to the strength and stability of the house (Matt. 7:24-25), especially when it is battered by the elements. He also knew the hearts of His listeners. They would be tempted to take the easy way, find shortcuts, or do things by halves to gain their objectives.

Other foundations may be quicker and easier. Building our lives on the right foundation is hard work, but God’s truth is the only bedrock worth building on. When the storms of life hit, houses built on and held together by Him stand firm. —Marion Stroud

Father, the winds of life’s storms can be

powerful and threatening. Thank You for the

foundation of the truth of Your faithfulness. Help

me to rely on Your strength in my storms.

The wise man builds his house upon the Rock.

Bible in a year: Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2

Insight

Jesus had just finished giving His “Sermon on the Mount” when He used the analogy found in today’s passage. His teachings provide a stable foundation that will weather any storm. The wind, the rain, and the house are not the problem. The house built on the sand fell down because the sand provided no support in the wind and rain. The wind and rain washed and blew away the foundation so that there was nothing to support the house. Even the best house will crumble with no foundation.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Songs from God

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God, my Maker, who gives songs in the night. Job 35:10

Any man can sing during the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When money is in plentiful supply, any man can praise the God who provides an abundant harvest or sends home a loaded ship. It is easy enough for a tuneful harp to whisper music when the winds blow; the difficulty is for music to carry when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but it takes a skillful singer whose song springs forth when there is not a ray of light to read by. No man can make a song in the night by himself; he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired.

Let everything go well, then I can weave songs, fashioning them from the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and with what shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord without jewels? Let this voice be clear and this body full of health, and I can sing God’s praise: Silence my tongue, put me on a bed of suffering, and how will I then chant God’s high praises, unless He Himself provides the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when everything is against him, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lip.

It was a divine song from Habakkuk that filled the night when he sang, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”1 So, since our Maker gives “songs in the night,” let us wait upon Him for the music. Chief musician, let us not remain songless because we face affliction, but tune our lips to the melody of thanksgiving.

1) Habakkuk 3:17-18

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The family reading plan for October 19, 2014 * Daniel 4 * Psalm 108, 109

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Memento mori

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“Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.” Deuteronomy 32:29

Suggested Further Reading: Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

I know not when, nor where, nor how I shall breathe out my life. Into that sacred ark I cannot look—that ark of the secrets of God. I cannot pry between the folded leaves of that book which is chained to the throne of God, wherein is written the whole history of man. When I walk by the way I may fall dead in the streets; an apoplexy may usher me into the presence of my Judge. Riding along the road, I may be carried as swiftly to my tomb. While I am thinking of the multitudes of miles over which the fiery wheels are running, I may be in a minute, without a moment’s warning, sent down to the shades of death. In my own house I am not safe. There are a thousand gates to death, and the roads from earth to Hades are innumerable. From this spot in which I stand there is a straight path to the grave; and where you sit there is an entrance into eternity. Oh, let us consider then, how uncertain life is. Talk we of a hair; it is something massive when compared with the thread of life. Speak we of a spider’s web; it is ponderous compared with the web of life. We are but as a bubble; nay, less substantial. As a moment’s foam upon the breaker, such are we. As an instant spray—nay, the drops of spray are enduring as the orbs of heaven compared with the moments of our life. Oh, let us, then, prepare to meet our God, because when and how we shall appear before him is quite unknown to us. We may never go out of this hall alive. Some of us may be carried hence on young men’s shoulders, as Ananias and Sapphira of old. We may not live to see our homes again.

For meditation: The New Park Street Pulpit contains no sermons from October 1856. On the 19th a congregation of some 7,000 assembled for the first time at the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall. As Spurgeon prayed some troublemakers cried out “Fire” and in the ensuing panic seven people were trampled to death. Spurgeon never forgot it. “Memento mori”—“Remember you must die.”

Sermon no. 304

19 October (Preached 18 March 1860)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Gaining True Wisdom

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“The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7).

God’s Word imparts wisdom and knowledge beyond the realm of mere human understanding.

David’s characterization of God’s Word as “the testimony of the Lord” (Ps. 19:7) speaks of its role as God’s witness to who He is and what He requires of us. In addition, it’s a “sure” witness. That means it’s unwavering, immovable, unmistakable, reliable, and trustworthy.

Peter made the same point when, after recounting his incredible experience with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Pet. 1:16-18), he said, “but we have a testimony more sure than that—the prophetic word” (v. 19, literal translation). The testimony of God’s written Word is a surer and more convincing confirmation of God’s truth than even apostolic experiences with Christ Himself!

Perhaps that’s why our Lord prevented the two disciples on the Emmaus Road from recognizing Him as He gave them a biblical basis for the things they had seen and heard (Luke 24:27). Their faith and preaching were to be based on Scripture, not merely on their own personal experiences—no matter how profound or moving those experiences may have been.

The benefit of God’s sure Word is that it makes the simple wise (Ps. 19:7). It takes undiscerning, ignorant, and gullible people and teaches them profound truth from God that they can apply to their lives. As they do, they become skilled in the art of godly living.

That was the psalmist’s joy when he wrote, “Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Thy precepts” (Ps. 119:98-100).

Applying that principle to New Testament believers, Paul prayed that we would be “filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9). As that occurs, we’re enabled to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in every respect (v. 10). That’s the outworking of godly wisdom, and the key to holy living.

Suggestions for Prayer; Pray that God’s wisdom will increase and abound in your life today and every day.

For Further Study; Read Luke 24:13-35, noting how Jesus ministered the Word to the disciples on the Emmaus Road.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Faint Not

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When you go forth to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. . . . Let not your [minds and] hearts faint; fear not, and do not tremble or be terrified [and in dread] because of them. For the Lord your God is He Who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.—Deuteronomy 20:1,3-4

A fainthearted person cannot take much. He has to have everything a certain way or he gives up and quits. He gets discouraged and depressed quickly.

What happens when your heart faints? It just gives up. In your heart you say, “I can’t do this. It’s just too hard.” If that describes you, know that you don’t have to stay that way. The power of God is available to you to break that fainthearted spirit off your life.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – God’s Word Works

October 19, 2014 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

“As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, so also is My Word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to, and prosper everywhere I send it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

An angry student leader confronted me at the conclusion of my message to a student meeting at UCLA. “You have no right to impose your views on these students,” he exclaimed. “You will confuse them. They are easily influenced and might respond to some of your religious views which I totally reject.”

I learned that he was the Communist leader on the campus and did not believe in God or the Scriptures. I invited him to our home for dinner and as we ate, we talked about many things of a general nature, nothing controversial. After we had finished our dessert, I reached over and picked up my Bible and said that I would like to read something very important to him. He resisted, saying, “I don’t want to hear anything from the Bible. I don’t believe it. It is a ridiculous book filled with all kinds of myths, contradictions and exaggerations.”

I would have made similar statements during my years of agnosticism. Not because I knew such statements to be true, but because I was simply parroting what others had told me – I did not really know the facts.

I said, “If you don’t mind, I would like to read you something anyway,” and I turned to John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (KJV). I continued through the 14th verse. Then I turned to Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1, reading similar portions identifying Christ as the Creator, the visible expression of the invisible God. I concluded with 1 John 2:22,23.

As I read each passage, he asked if he could read for himself. The initial flash of anger soon turned to interest and then to acceptance and finally he was life a repentant child experiencing the love of the Father’s embrace. He surrendered all resistance. As he stood to leave that evening, I asked him to sign our guest book. He wrote his name, address and these words: “The night of decision.”

Bible Reading: Isaiah 55:6-13

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will share a portion of God’s word with someone who does not know our Savior with the prayer that he, too, will come to know Him and experience with me the supernatural life which is our heritage in Christ.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Descent to Deliverance

October 19, 2014 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

God had a specific mission for Jonah. The Lord directed him to Nineveh to preach to the Assyrians. However, Jonah refused and ran in the opposite direction. The Hebrew text says Jonah went “down” to Joppa, “down” into the hold of the ship, and eventually was tossed “down” into the sea where he was swallowed by a giant fish. This paints a picture of spiritual descent that resulted from his disobedience and rebellion.

I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

Jonah 2:2

In today’s verse, Sheol represented a grave and the fish’s stomach was metaphorically like a tomb. Yet Jonah eventually had a change of heart and thanked the Lord for saving him from drowning in such a miraculous way. God heard Jonah’s prayer from inside the fish and delivered him to continue his mission.

Always know that you can trust your Heavenly Father with your past, present and future. Even when circumstances appear stormy, remember that He is with you, hears your prayers, and will help you fulfill His purposes as you give your humble obedience. Pray also that America’s leaders who are running from God would turn their hearts toward His love, mercy and grace.

DAILY DEVOTIONS, NEWS AND INFORMATION

Daily Archives: October 19, 2014

Charles Stanley – The Key to the Christian Life

Our Daily Bread — The Right Foundation

Alistair Begg – Songs from God

Charles Spurgeon – Memento mori

John MacArthur – Gaining True Wisdom

Joyce Meyer – Faint Not

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – God’s Word Works

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Descent to Deliverance

Scriptures, Lessons, News and Links to help you survive.