Daily Archives: January 25, 2015

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – How do I handle a difficult trial not of my own doing?

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Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-7

Even those who maintain close, intimate fellowship with the Lord are not immune to disappointments, obstacles, challenges, struggles, and feelings of hopelessness. In fact at times, God allows us to face impossible circumstances in order to test and try our faith. It is the adversity that motivates us to seek Him, and when we do, He faithfully strengthens and refreshes us.

God knows every emotion, need, and desire we have. He cares when we face difficult situations and grow weary. He hears our cries and understands exactly what it will take to bring us into a more intimate relationship with Him.

The apostle Peter addressed his two letters to “those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1; 2 Pet. 3:1). If he were choosing a modern title for his letters, he might consider “Encouragement for Times of Suffering,” or “Hope for the Hurting,” because encouragement and hope are exactly what Peter conveyed to these distressed believers.

These Christians faced all kinds of persecution. They were beaten, slandered, assaulted, and in many cases lost their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ. Peter called them “aliens” because their citizenship was not of this world but of the kingdom of God. Still, they faced times of great discouragement and loss and needed the courage only available through Christ. Peter explained that they could rejoice even in times of trial because Jesus— their risen Savior and Lord—would always be the living hope within them (1 Pet. 1:3). So long as we have the Lord Jesus Christ, no situation is hopeless.

Would you like to have eternal hope? Then focus your heart on Jesus (1 Tim. 4:6). He wants to bring His will and good pleasure to fruition in your life. Even if you find yourself in a seemingly impossible situation, remember that He has an entirely different view of the details. And if you will let Him, He will take your life, no matter how bruised and broken, and make something beautiful out of it.

Isn’t this what hope is all about—beauty for ashes, gladness instead of sorrow, and a coat of praise instead of fainting (Is. 61:1–3)? This is the ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ in your life. Therefore, bring to Him your afflictions and disappointments. Tell Him your sorrows, and He will restore your hope.

Adapted from “The Charles F. Stanley’s Life Principles Bible,” 2008

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Quiet Rest

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I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8

Read: Mark 6:30-32; | Bible in a Year: Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16

Some years ago my son Brian and I agreed to haul some equipment into an isolated Idaho backcountry ranch for a friend. There are no roads into the area, at least none that my truck could negotiate. So Ralph, the young ranch manager, arranged to meet us at road’s end with a small wagon hitched to a pair of mules.

On the way into the ranch, Ralph and I started chatting and I learned that he lived on the property year-round. “What do you do in the winter?” I asked, knowing that winters in the high country were long and bitter and that the ranch had no electricity or telephone service, only a satellite radio. “How do you endure it?”

“Actually,” he drawled, “I find it right peaceable.”

In the midst of our pressure-filled days, we sometimes crave peace and quiet. There is too much noise in the air; there are too many people around. We want to “come aside . . . and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Can we find a place to do this?

Yes, there is such a place. When we take a few moments to reflect on God’s love and mercy and cast our burdens on Him, we will find in that quiet God-filled space the peace that the world has taken away.

There is a place of quiet rest,

Near to the heart of God,

A place where all is joy and peace,

Near to the heart of God. —McAfee

Spending quiet time with God will bring quiet rest.

INSIGHT: Jesus is concerned with our physical health. He showed this when He invited the disciples to come away and rest because “they did not even have time to eat” (Mark 6:31). Rest from work and time to refresh our minds and bodies is important. Jesus is also concerned for our spiritual health and invites all those who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest (Matt. 11:28).

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – The Steadfast Love of the Lord

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I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us.  Isaiah 63:7

 And can you not do this? Are there no mercies that you have experienced? What! Though you are gloomy now, can you forget that blessed hour when Jesus met you and said, “Come unto me”? Can you not remember that rapturous moment when He snapped your fetters, dashed your chains to the earth, and said, “I came to break your bonds and set you free”? Or if the love of your conversion be forgotten, there must surely be some precious milestone along the road of life not quite grown over with moss, on which you can read a happy memorial of His mercy toward you. What! Did you never have a sickness like that which you are suffering now, and did He not restore you? Were you never poor before, and did He not supply your wants? Were you never in difficulties before, and did He not deliver you?

Arise, go to the river of your experience and pull up a few bulrushes and fashion them into an ark, in which your infant-faith may float safely on the stream. Forget not what your God has done for you; turn over the book of your remembrance, and consider the days of old. Can you not remember the hill Mizar? Did the Lord never meet with you at Hermon? Have you never climbed the Delectable Mountains? Have you never been helped in time of need? I know you have.

Go back, then, a little way to the choice mercies of yesterday, and though all may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past–they shall glitter through the darkness, and you shall trust in the Lord till the day break and the shadows flee away. “Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.”1

1) Psalm 25:6

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for January 25, 2015
* Genesis 26
* Matthew 25

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

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Preaching for the poor

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“The poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matthew 11:5

Suggested Further Reading: Amos 7:10-17

There was a tinker once, who never so much as brushed his back against the walls of a college, who wrote a Pilgrim’s Progress. Did ever a doctor in divinity write such a book? There was a pot-boy once—a boy who carried on his back the pewter pots for his mother, who kept the Old Bell. That man drove men mad, as the world had it, but led them to Christ, as we have it, all his life long, until, loaded with honours, he sank into his grave, with the good will of a multitude round about him, with an imperishable name written in the world’s records, as well as in the records of the church. Did you ever hear of any mighty man, whose name stood in more esteem among God’s people than the name of George Whitefield? And yet these were poor men, who, as Wycliffe said, were taking to the preaching of the gospel. If you will read the life of Wycliffe, you will find him saying there, that he believed that the Reformation in England was more promoted by the labours of the poor men whom he sent out from Lutterworth than by his own. He gathered around him a number of the poor people whom he instructed in the faith, and then he sent them two and two into every village, as Jesus did. They went into the market-place, and they gathered the people around; they opened the book and read a chapter, and then they left them a manuscript of it, which for months and years after the people would assemble to read, and would remember the gospellers that had come to tell them the gospel of Christ. These men went from market-place to market-place, from town to town, and from village to village, and though their names are unknown to fame, they were the real reformers.

For meditation: Wycliffe’s translation of the text was “Poor men are taking to the preaching of the gospel.” A small percentage of Christians would be regarded as great in worldly terms (1 Corinthians 1:27)—only a tiny fraction of preachers would be so described. Are your preachers suitably honoured and supported by your church (1 Corinthians 9:11; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17,18)?

Sermon no. 114

25 January (1857)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Understanding Your Calling

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“I pray that . . . you may know what is the hope of [God’s] calling” (Eph. 1:18).

The hope of your calling is grounded in God’s promises and in Christ’s accomplishments.

In Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul proclaims the blessings of our salvation. In verse 18 he prays that we will comprehend those great truths, which he summarizes in the phrase “the hope of His calling.”

“Calling” here refers to God’s effectual calling—the calling that redeems the soul. Scripture speaks of two kinds of calling: the gospel or general call and the effectual or specific call. The gospel call is given by men and is a universal call to repent and trust Christ for salvation (e.g., Matt. 28:19; Acts 17:30-31). It goes out to all sinners but not all who hear it respond in faith.

The effectual call is given by God only to the elect. By it He speaks to the soul, grants saving faith, and ushers elect sinners into salvation (John 6:37-44, 65; Acts 2:39). All who receive it respond in faith.

The hope that your effectual calling instills is grounded in God’s promises and Christ’s accomplishments (1 Pet. 1:3), and is characterized by confidently expecting yet patiently waiting for those promises to be fulfilled. It is your hope of final glorification and of sharing God’s glory when Christ returns (Col. 3:4). It is a source of strength and stability amid the trials of life (1 Pet. 3:14-15). Consequently it should fill you with joy (Rom. 5:2) and motivate you to godly living (1 John 3:3).

As you face this new day, do so with the confidence that you are one of God’s elect. He called you to Himself and will hold you there no matter what circumstances you face. Nothing can separate you from His love (Rom. 8:38-39)!

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God for the security of your salvation.
  • Ask Him to impress on your heart the blessings and responsibilities of your calling.
  • Live today in anticipation of Christ’s imminent return.

For Further Study

Joshua’s call to lead Israel was not a call to salvation, but it illustrates some important principles for spiritual leadership. You might not see yourself as a spiritual leader, but you are important to those who look to you as an example of Christian character.

Read Joshua 1:1-9 then answer these questions:

  • What were the circumstances of Joshua’s call (vv. 1-2)?
  • What promises did God make to him (vv. 3-6)?
  • What did God require of him (vv. 7-9)?
Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Temptation to Quit

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And when He came to the place, He said to them, Pray that you may not [at all] enter into temptation. —Luke 22:40

Jesus told the disciples twice in one day to pray they wouldn’t enter into temptation: And when He came to the place, He said to them, Pray that you may not [at all] enter into temptation. . . . And when He got up from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from grief, and He said to them, Why do you sleep? Get up and pray that you may not enter [at all] into temptation (Luke 22:40, 45–46).

The best way to resist the temptation to give up when times are hard is to pray that you won’t give in to the temptation. It’s wiser and more effective to pray and ask for God’s help as you stand against temptation than to try to exert willpower alone. Work with God, and pray you won’t surrender to the temptation to give up.

Power Thought: I believe God will strengthen me against the temptation to quit.

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – No More Fears

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“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18, KJV).

“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room,” declared Robert Murray McCheyne, “I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me: ‘He ever liveth to make intercession.'”

Is there some fear in your life over which you do not have victory? Whether it is great or small, you can gain victory over that fear through claiming, by faith, God’s supernatural love for yourself and for others, for “perfect love casts out fear.”

That promise makes it imperative that you and I claim God’s agape, the supernatural love described in 1 Corinthians 13, love for God, for our neighbors, for ourselves and for our enemies – for all men. As we do this, we can begin to practice that perfect love, showing it to our families and to friends and neighbors.

No fear is too small for Christ to handle, and certainly none is too large. Remember, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV). If fear does not come from God, then we must reject that spirit of fear as coming from the enemy of men’s souls.

Fear of the future is a large fear for many people, but sometimes the seemingly small fears – of crowds, of heights, whatever – can cause more distress than greater fears. It is in these instances that God demonstrates His faithfulness to fill our hearts with His love and to cast out fear.

Faith is the most effective foe of fear, and “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will recognize any kind of fear in my life for what it is: an attempt of the enemy to sabotage my effectiveness as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith I will claim God’s supernatural love for myself and others, and thereby gain victory over fear. As I pray for myself, I shall pray for others also who experience the same devastating results of fear.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; – J.R. Surprising Revelation

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Panicked customers of a German bank began flooding the switchboard as soon as they heard the news. Sometime during a weekend in January 2013, there had been a break-in that seemed straight out of a Hollywood movie. Safety deposit boxes had been raided, and some $15 million in cash, gems and other valuables were gone. Police discovered the job had been pulled by professionals who bored a 100-foot tunnel from a nearby parking garage using pneumatic drills with sophisticated silencers. The bank’s clients thought their treasures were safe, but they were dead wrong.

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

I Thessalonians 5:2

This is much like the imagery Scripture uses to illustrate the sudden return of the Lord. Even many Christians have been lulled into complacency about the last days. But just as God’s hand has been on America, He will also orchestrate world events to bring about His purposes. No one knows the day or the hour, but all can be certain that it is one day closer today than it was yesterday.

As you pray for America and its leaders today, ask God to help you use your time wisely to bring others into readiness for His return.

Recommended Reading: Luke 17:26-35