Daily Archives: January 17, 2016

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Times of Trouble

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Psalms 46:2-11

During this life, hard times are inevitable. Some watch a loved one suffer and die; others are wrongly accused or mistreated. People endure crippling ailments. The range of human pain is broad, but there is only one place of true comfort.

Today’s passage speaks of great calamities, some from natural causes and some caused by men (Ps. 46:2, 6). Such trials often bewilder us, but verse 10 tells us where to turn: God’s followers should be still and remember He’s the sovereign Lord of the universe. In our world of smart phones and deadlines, it’s sometimes hard to stop even for a moment. But the key to dealing with difficulty lies in trusting the One who is in control of all things.

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Hint of Heaven

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Read: 1 Corinthians 14:6-12,26

Bible in a Year: Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. —1 Corinthians 14:12

The world-class botanical garden across the street from our church was the setting for an all-church community gathering. As I walked around the gardens greeting people I have known for years, catching up with those I hadn’t seen recently, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings cared for by people who know and love plants, I realized that the evening was rich with symbols of how the church is supposed to function—a little hint of heaven on earth.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Gentleness: Power Under Control

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“Walk . . . with all . . . gentleness” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

The antidote to our vengeful, violent society is biblical gentleness.

A popular bumper sticker says, “Don’t Get Mad—Get Even.” People demand what they perceive to be their rights, no matter how the demand harms others. Some go to court to squeeze every last cent out of those who hurt them. More and more violent crimes are committed each year. We need a strong dose of biblical truth to cure these attitudes. The biblical solution is gentleness.

The world might interpret gentleness or meekness as cowardice, timidity, or lack of strength. But the Bible describes it as not being vengeful, bitter, or unforgiving. It is a quiet, willing submission to God and others without the rebellious, vengeful self-assertion that characterizes human nature.

The Greek word translated “gentleness” was used to speak of a soothing medicine. It was used of a light, cool breeze and of a colt that had been broken and tamed, whose energy could be channeled for useful purposes. It also descrbes one who is tenderhearted, pleasant, and mild.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Doubt God 

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Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Satan’s first goal is to get you. If he is unable to get you, his next step is to get you to doubt God. After all, what good is faith that is watered down by doubt? This isn’t to say we may not go through seasons of doubt as disciples of Christ. But doubt is not the ongoing pattern of a serious and faithful follower of Jesus. Thomas was a doubter for a time, but when he came face-to-face with his resurrected Savior and Lord, his doubts fled like an exposed bandit. Do not underestimate the enemy’s endeavors to get you to doubt God. If he is successful in planting and growing seeds of doubt, your faith will be stunted. Your faith will be choked to death by the weeds of worry, by the crabgrass cares in this world.

In some ways, it was easier to trust God when you first believed. Now that you have aged in years as a Christian, you may have formalized your faith to the point where the miraculous has been replaced by the mundane. Questions and doubt have replaced God’s promises of assurance.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Practice Makes Perfect

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You shall walk after the Lord your God and [reverently] fear Him . . . and obey His voice. . . . —Deuteronomy 13:4

Once we begin listening to and hearing from God, it is important to obey whatever we hear Him say. Obedience increases our quality of fellowship with Him and strengthens our faith. We might say, “Practice makes perfect” when it comes to hearing and obeying Him. In other words, we become more and more confident as we gain experience.

It takes a lot of practice to reach the point of complete submission to God’s leading. Even knowing that God’s ways are perfect and that His plans always work, we still feign ignorance sometimes when He asks us to do something that requires personal sacrifice, or we might even be afraid that we are not hearing clearly and therefore become too cautious to take action.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Skip Judgment

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“Now I say that each believer should confess his sins to God when he is aware of them, while there is time to be forgiven. Judgment will not touch him if he does” (Psalm 32:6).

Mary had rebelled against the preaching of her Nazarene father, a godly pastor. She lived with her boy friend in open defiance of her biblical teaching. Now, God was disciplining her because of disobedience. She was miserable, filled with hate and resentment, when a mutual friend brought her to my office for counsel.

I shared with Mary that just as a loving father disciplines a disobedient child, so God in His love for us disciplines us when we are disobedient. Actually, “child training” would be a more accurate way of describing what God does for us when we are disobedient.

Like Mary, many Christians unnecessarily go through all kinds of adversity: financial, emotional, marital and family problems, and even physical illness. More often than not, God is trying to get their attention. But because they refuse to listen and obey Him, they are disciplined and their misery continues.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman -What are You Working For?

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Read: John 6:22-40

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. (John 6:27)

It is very clear from this passage that these people greatly misunderstood who our Lord was, what he was doing, and what he said to them. No other passage of Scripture more clearly reveals the confusion in the average person’s mind about Jesus.

Notice what Jesus must correct about their confusion: First, he says to them, Do not work for the food that perishes. He is not, of course, saying, Do not work for a living. Jesus is not advocating that. What he means is, Do not work merely to get food. Food is important. It is necessary for life, and you have to earn it. But do not let that be the sole reason for your working. Rather, Work for the food which endures to eternal life.

These people, like many today, clearly felt that the most important thing in life is to keep alive, to be healthy, strong and economically sufficient. That was what life was all about, they thought. Clearly the majority of people all over the world today have this view that this is why people work.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Like Little Children

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Read: Matthew 18:1-4

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (v. 3 NIV)

When Jesus spoke these famous words, he did not mean that children are innocent. Only someone who has never raised a toddler believes that children are innocent. Jesus explained his meaning with the word “humble.” He didn’t mean that children are selfless. Indeed, they can be incredibly self-centered; just ask the weary mother of a screaming child. Jesus was pointing to the dependency of children. Little children depend on others for guidance and help: “Mommy, will you help me? I’m hungry. I’m hurt.” They simply assume that they will get the help they need, because they rely on Mom and Dad.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R.- Strife and Stomachaches

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December 7, 1941, the Sunday Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, was called the “date which will live in infamy” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But there was another date of infamy involving Japan and the United States – on January 9, 1992. That was the day when President George H.W. Bush, attending an elaborate state dinner in Tokyo, became suddenly ill and threw up on Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. Even worse, the embarrassing incident was replayed endlessly on television news shows around the world.

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

Proverbs 17:1

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is Angry with Sin

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Psalm 7:11b ” …God is angry with the wicked every day”

Is God angry with my sin right now?

When you hear Bible stories, do you ever wonder why God sometimes sends terrible judgments on people who sin? He is holy, and sin displeases Him so much that He is angry with sin. Is it right for God to be angry?

When we get angry about something, our anger is usually not right. We get angry because someone hurts our feelings or keeps us from getting our way. But God’s anger is never this selfish kind of anger. His anger is righteous. God would not be perfectly holy if He were not angry with sin.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – A Suffering Life

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 5:8

“He learned obedience through what he suffered.”

The suffering of Christ was not limited to the hours he hung on the cross. It actually began at his incarnation when he laid aside his divine glory and assumed a human nature subject to the same physical weaknesses and infirmities we are exposed to.

He was born into a poor family in a nation under the heel of a foreign empire. His first crib was an animal’s feed trough. During his three years of public ministry, his brothers did not believe in him and on at least one occasion mocked him (John 7:1-5). He was misunderstood, criticized, and harassed by the Jewish religious leaders. In the words of Isaiah, “he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3, NIV).

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Today’s Walk

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Today’s Scripture: Deuteronomy 8-11

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4

The key to making it over the long haul in the Christian life is to make it over the short haul. Today is all we have. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow never comes. When you go to bed tonight and then wake up, what day will it be? Not tomorrow, but today.

In 1 Corinthians 10:12, Paul says, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” That’s a warning about not walking with God today.

Some time ago, I was speaking at a Christian college and a student asked me if working too hard was the cause of burnout. My response was that hard work is not the cause of burnout. Burnout occurs when we become so occupied with our work that we don’t have time for God.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – SAMARITAN WOMAN: IDENTIFICATION OF SHAME

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Read John 4:4-42

Traces of chocolate around his mouth betray a young child who has had his hands in the sweets jar. Evasive eyes indicate a neighbor has a secret. Telltale signs of shame provide clues that unmask our elaborate attempts to disguise our shame.

The Samaritan woman exhibited many shame-driven behaviors. She went to the well in the middle of the day to avoid the other village women. Her initial prickly, defensive replies to Jesus revealed her deep-seated insecurity. What was driving such behavior? Their first round of banter uncovered her sense of inferiority as a Gentile and a woman.

Jesus disarmed her with a humble request, addressing her fear of rejection with an offer of something she needed. He affirmed her humanity by including her along with everyone who needed the living water of His Spirit. And He looked deeper, recognizing that the first explanations for her attitude and actions didn’t fully explain her shame. His insightful question exposed the secret she had valiantly fought to hide. Her confession came out, along with the assumption that this religious Jewish man would dismiss her.

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