Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Survival and Revival

 

Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

Deuteronomy 4:40, NIV

Recommended Reading

Deuteronomy 32:44-47

When George Washington was inaugurated as America’s first president, his inaugural address included these words: “. . . the [favorable] smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”

Continue reading Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Survival and Revival

Joyce Meyer – Start Your Day Right

 

When I said, My foot is slipping, Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, held me up.—Psalm 94:18

Some people seem to start their day on the “wrong foot.” They feel all right when they wake up, but as soon as something goes wrong, they lose their footing and walk with a “loser’s limp” the rest of the day. Once they are off to a bad start, it seems they never catch up.

If someone offends us early in the morning, our anger can keep us defensive all day. If we start the day rushing, it seems we never slow down. But to¬day our feet can be firmly planted in God’s Word.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God – Truth and Lies

 

Today’s Truth

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie.

Psalm 40:4-5

We hope you are enjoying the Girlfriends in God daily devotions. We (Mary, Sharon, and Gwen) would like to introduce you to some of our special friends. From time-to-time, the Friday devotions will be written by one of our friends in ministry. We call them our “Friday Friends.” So grab your Bible and a fresh cup of coffee and drink in the words from our “Friday Friend,” Logan Wolfram.

Friend to Friend

Have you ever noticed how much longer it sometimes takes us to believe the truth of what God says about us than it takes for us to be deceived by a lie from the enemy? Our sin comes charging after us cloaked in a blanket of false identity, and the more we allow ourselves to believe the lies that Satan spews, the more we actually begin to live our lives out of that place.

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Truth and Lies

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Bible’s No. 1 Promise

 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV).

As I travel from country to country, I find that millions of people in many countries and cultures are receiving Christ into their lives after hearing about Him for the first time. Millions of others would respond joyfully if they fully understood the truth of John 3:16, the most wonderful promise ever given to man.

Only through His indwelling presence can they live supernaturally. The first prerequisite to supernatural living, of course, is life – eternal life, supernatural life from God. I encourage you to meditate often on the content of this God-inspired promise:

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Bible’s No. 1 Promise

Ray Stedman – The Power of His Presence;

 

Who is Jesus?

Read: John 1:1-4

He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:2-3)

John says without any doubt that Jesus is God. He declares that Jesus is the Creator of all things. This accounts for Jesus’ strange and remarkable personality. He is the originator of all things. Eight times in the opening chapter of Genesis it says. And God said. God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God said, Let there be a firmament between the heavens and the earth and there was. God said, Let the earth bring forth trees and vegetation, and these sprang into being. The Son of God, was speaking into being what the Father had designed in that amazing mind of his.

Any scientist who studies in the natural realm is always astonished when he comes to see the complexity of life, the marvelous symmetry of things, what lies behind all visible matter, the molecules, the atom, the make-up of a flower or of a star. The obvious order, design and symmetry of everything is astonishing.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Power of His Presence;

Words of Hope Daily Devotional – Passion

 

Read: Philippians 3:7-11

I want to know Christ. (v. 10 NRSV)

Our meditations for this month will focus on knowing Christ, and they will be grouped under five words: passion (1-5), possibilities (6-12), preliminaries (13-17), practices (18-24), and proof (25-31). What do you think of when I say the word “passion”? I think of a line from W. B. Yeats famous poem “The Second Coming”: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

That line of the poem should trouble us a great deal. Is it true that the best lack all conviction? Can it be that Christians are not full of passionate intensity? Is that why things are falling apart in this world? Let’s focus first on the passion that moved Paul and the other early Christians to turn their “world upside down” (Acts 17:6).

Continue reading Words of Hope Daily Devotional – Passion

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – New Year Fear Antidote

 

Studies show terrorist acts have increased almost fivefold since the 9/11 attacks on the United States. An increase in attacks escalates fear. The Washington Post recently reported that 83 percent of Americans were fearful that a terrorist attack resulting in large casualties was likely in the near future. This fear can be paralyzing and keep people from living life to the fullest.

Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.

Proverbs 1:33

King Solomon wrote about the power of wisdom in Proverbs, a book that will be the focus of this month’s Vantage Point devotionals. Today’s verse starts the New Year by declaring one of the greatest hopes of knowing Jesus as your Savior. Scripture says Jesus became God’s wisdom for you (I Corinthians 1:30). Knowing Him won’t stop terrorism or keep bad things from happening in life. It will, however, give you peace, security, and remove your fear.

As you pray today, ask for protection for you and the country against evil in 2016. Ask also for insight for yourself and the nation’s leaders in dealing with events like terrorism. Then thank God for the wisdom and peace He provides even in the midst of life’s disasters.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 112:1-10

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/index.php

Greg Laurie – Respect His Name

 

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”—Exodus 20:7

Do you care about your name? Do you like it when people slander you or say things that aren’t true about you? Have you ever had that happen? I have. No one enjoys that. We want to protect our name. The Bible says that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1).

God cares about His name, too. And He tells us, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). The words in vain literally could be translated “in an empty, idle, insincere, frivolous way.”

Continue reading Greg Laurie – Respect His Name

Kids 4 Truth International – God Cannot Lie

 

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)

Has anyone ever lied to you? When someone lies, it becomes harder for us to trust him. If he lied to us once, he might lie again. How can we ever be sure he is telling the truth?

God never lies. In fact, the Bible says in Titus 1:2 that He cannot lie. It goes against His perfect, holy nature to lie. He is absolutely truthful.

What are some things God tells us in His Word?

He says…

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Cannot Lie

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Saint or Sinner?

 

Today’s Scripture: Philippians 1:1

“To all the saints in Christ Jesus .”

As Christians, should we view ourselves as saints or sinners? My answer is both. Paul often referred to believers as saints (Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1), and we really are—not only in our standing before God but in our essential persons as well. We really are new creations in Christ. A fundamental change has occurred in the depths of our being. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell within us, and we’ve been freed from sin’s dominion. But despite this we still sin every day, many times a day. And in that sense we’re sinners.

Continue reading The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Saint or Sinner?

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Creation of Man

 

Today’s Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. – Colossians 1:16

Why does the theory of evolution get such a grip on people? I believe it’s because all people realize that if there is a God, and He made us and gave us life, we are accountable to Him for our actions.

If He has revealed His will to us; if He has given us the Ten Commandments; if He has given us the prophets and apostles, and even His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to teach us what is right and wrong; and if we don’t want to live the way He teaches and believe what He teaches, the simplest thing to do is deny that any of it is true. There is no God, the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales, and we owe our existence to a theory that tells us somehow, somewhere, at some time there came into existence a living cell, and from this cell man evolved by a process of natural selection.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Creation of Man

BreakPoint – Soul Mates: Bad Theology, False Expectations, and Deep Disappointment

 

Ronald Reagan once quipped that the trouble with his political opponents, “is not that they are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Well, I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for years over something that far too many of my fellow Christians believe in that just isn’t so. I speak, gentle listener, of the whole “soul mate” nonsense, especially when it comes to finding a husband or wife.

Let me be perfectly clear: No matter how many ads for Christian dating services you hear or trendy books you read, we simply don’t have “soul mates,” at least as our confused culture understands that term. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. Look for that concept, by the way, in the Bible, and the only thing you can find remotely close to it is the fierce friendship of David and Jonathan. “Jonathan made a covenant with David,” Scripture says, “because he loved him as his own soul.”

Now those are soul mates, friends. But the Bible knows nothing of romantic “soul mates.” This concept is more New Age than Christian. The Huffington Post gives nine signs that you’ve found your soul mate, the first one being: “You communicate without speaking.” Okay. One New Age website, however, gives three signs you’ve “definitely” found your soul mate: “You just connect without trying,” “Your level of communication is unmatched,” and “You create your own world together.”

That’s cute, it’s nice, maybe it’s even romantic . . . but it’s certainly not biblical.

Continue reading BreakPoint – Soul Mates: Bad Theology, False Expectations, and Deep Disappointment

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Life without Shame

 

Read Genesis 2:4-25  The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7

Marketing specialists know that an image of naked babies—cooing or playing or smiling—will capture most people’s hearts. Wide eyes and chubby tummies catch our attention, appealing to happy thoughts of a world full of innocence and wonder.

Today’s passage paints a similar picture, one of freshness, beauty, and discovery. God had just created the earth, bathing it with freshwater streams and preparing it to produce life. Finally, God shaped some dirt into a being who would bear His own likeness (Gen. 1:26; 5:1–2). He exhaled His own breath into this sculpture, filling it with life, personality, and spirit (v. 7).

God placed the newly created man in a garden and surrounded him with beautiful things to explore, create, and enjoy (v. 8–9). This human would be God’s image-bearer on the earth, imitating His creative work and tender care (v. 15).

Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Life without Shame