Monthly Archives: April 2016

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Leaving an Imprint – Part One

Leave a comment

 

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27

Friend to Friend

Let’s rewind humanity’s story way back to the beginning. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ … So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26–27, ESV).

My brain doesn’t know what to do with this. I don’t know how to process this mystery. His image displayed in my life. How can that be? How can there be such a compelling connection between God’s heart and my humanity? Especially when I know me. I know that on my best, most holy day, I don’t come close to being imago Dei, the image of God.

Even so, the Bible says that I am made in God’s image (v. 27), and that Jesus is the “radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3 ESV). As followers of Jesus, you and I get to share in the glory of God and reflect His nature as well. The apostle Paul wrote it this way:

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Leaving an Imprint – Part One →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Your Joy Restored

Leave a comment

“Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation: and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee” (Psalm 51:10-13, KJV).

“The Christian owes it to the world to be supernaturally joyful,” said A. W. Tozer.

How do we attain that joy?

When we refuse to exhale spiritually by confessing our sins, we are miserable. On the other hand, when we do confess our sins, we experience God’s complete forgiveness. He removes our guilt and fills our lives with joy, the kind of joy we will very much want to share with others.

The psalmist also knew this when he wrote: “Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires…Restore to me again the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You. Then I will teach Your ways to other sinners, and they – guilty like me – will repent and return to You” (Psalm 51:10,12,13).

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Your Joy Restored →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Need to Confess

Leave a comment

Read: Leviticus 4

Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Lev 4:30

In the book of Leviticus, the five great offerings specified there set forth for us so clearly and helpfully the basic needs of our humanity, needs which God has built into every one of us, and how these needs can be met — the only way in which they can be met. Here we come to the fourth of these offerings, the sin offering.

Remember that in the previous offerings, just as in the sin offering, blood had to be shed, and a death had to occur. But all the blood of the animal was poured out at the foot of the altar. But with the blood of the sin offering something unusual was always done. The blood had to be sprinkled seven times before the LORD. Then, in the case of the offering for the anointed priest as we see here, it had to be put on the horns of the altar of incense which stood in the holy place, right in front of the veil which guarded the holy of holies — i.e., right before the presence of the LORD.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Need to Confess →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Authority

Leave a comment

Read: Mark 1:21-22

For he taught them as one who had authority. (v. 22)

I once read a story about Pope John XXIII meeting with a group of people one day. Included in the group were a number of mothers with young children. At one point the pope said to one of these moms, “Could you tell me the names of your children? I realize I could get that information from someone else but something very special happens when a mother speaks the names of her own children.” This charming story speaks to the difference it makes when a person talks about someone they know not just well but intimately well.

When Jesus talked about God in the synagogue in Capernaum, people were amazed because he did not talk about God the way the typical religious teachers did. What did the people sense that was so amazingly different about Jesus? Could it be that whereas other teachers talked about God from a distance, Jesus spoke of God as someone who loved the Father and the Spirit intimately and from the inside of their eternal relationship? When Jesus spoke of God, it was like a mother pronouncing her child’s name: you could sense the close connection.

As Christians, we have God’s own Holy Spirit living inside of us. By this Spirit, we too can talk about God and witness to Jesus from the context of a close relationship. When we speak, the world should notice how much love accompanies our words.

Prayer:

May we not just talk about you, O God, but speak our love for you from our hearts.

Author: Scott Hoezee

https://woh.org/

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Heart Residence

Leave a comment

Too ashamed or intimidated in front of others, the student, co-worker or friend will wait until all are gone to ask the question that concerns them. The leader, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, did the same. Coming to Jesus by night, he inquired of Him if He were truly the Messiah sent from God. Belief that it was so would have expelled him from the ruling class. But he had to know.

Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:3

The answer was definite. You must believe in the Savior Jesus; God sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17). Belief brings about a moral transformation (being born again). This rebirth, Bible commentator Matthew Henry says, brings a new nature, new principles, new affections and new aims. Jesus takes up residence within to guide you to do right, to love others, and to seek purity in your life – and to provide forgiveness when you fall short of these aspirations.

Knowing the Lord and having access to Him through prayer and His Word will guide you to understand His will. Pray that the Word of God will have a place in the hearts of every man and woman in this country, including its political leaders. They have to know.

Recommended Reading: Hebrews 4:7-16

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

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Battle of the Gods

Leave a comment

And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.—2 Kings 6:17

I think we would all agree there is a battle going on in the United States today. It’s a battle for our very souls, a battle for right and wrong, a battle over the Bible, a battle over the family. Really, it is a battle over worldviews. And if you want to simplify it even further, it is a battle of the gods.

In the Bible there is only one God; it isn’t multiple choice. God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:5). There is the true and living God who is the God of Scripture and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God who loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross.

Then there are all the other gods. So the battle rages today—the battle of the gods and the battle of the worldviews.

Continue reading Greg Laurie – Battle of the Gods →

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Obey His Word

Leave a comment

“Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go; keep her; for she is thy life.” (Proverbs 4:13)

Pretend you have invented something very special. It took a very long time for you to design, and it is very useful. Let’s say you call it a “Jillipy-Bop.” The Jillipy-Bop is so special and useful that all your friends tell you they want a Jillipy-Bop of their own! Your parents are so impressed with the Jillipy-Bop that they help you get your Jillipy-Bop patented, mass-produced, and marketed. A store in your hometown has agreed to sell your Jillipy-Bops, and you are now in business!

However, your Jillipy-Bops each come with some small parts that the buyer must put together before it works. You must put a set of instructions in every Jillipy-Bop box. You write up the instructions and ship out the boxed Jillipy-Bops. The instructions you wrote up are very simple, so you are sure that no one will have trouble putting your invention together if they follow the instructions.

But soon you receive a letter from a customer that has a problem with his Jillipy-Bop. “This thing doesn’t work!” the customer writes. “I want my money back!” This customer includes his name, address and telephone number, so your parents tell you that, as a businessman, it would be wise if you call and try to find out what happened.

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Obey His Word →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – From Curse to Christ

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: Galatians 3:24

“The law was our guardian until Christ came.”

The primary purpose of the law is not to curse us but to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). Rather, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). The language is emphatic. Christ literally became a curse in our place as our substitute. He experienced the full fury of the curse that we should have experienced. It’s true he did it for us, but he did so by doing it in our place as our appointed substitute.

Here we see the importance of our legal union with Christ. As our God-appointed legal representative, he was legally qualified to endure the curse in our place as our substitute. There’s no adequate analogy for this union in human experience. One person may pay a financial debt for someone else, but no one can serve a prison sentence as a substitute for another. In human jurisprudence, a moral debt such as a prison sentence can be served only by the person who incurred it.

Continue reading The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – From Curse to Christ →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Unbroken Fellowship

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 50-52

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. – Hebrews 2:1

In the last chapters of Jeremiah, God is trying to get the attention of Babylon and warn the people that if they continue to follow their current lifestyle, the curtain will fall and the show will be over.

In Jeremiah 51:33, we find an example of God’s warning: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.’” The Babylonians did not heed the warning, and in the years to come, the prophecies of Babylon’s shocking destruction were all fulfilled.

What are the warnings you and I must not ignore in our walk of daily discipleship? What are the signs that we may be getting sidetracked from the Lord’s plan for our lives? Is it getting easier to skip a daily quiet time of prayer and Bible reading? Are we passing up opportunities to share our faith with others? What about our prayer life and our thoughts?

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Unbroken Fellowship →

Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – CALLED TO BE HOLY

Leave a comment

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Steeplechase runner Tangquy Pepiot learned the hard way about finishing a race well. In a competition in 2015 he was well ahead of the other runners entering the final home stretch. About thirty meters from the finish he began waving his arms for the crowd to cheer his impending victory. But as he slowed to soak in the adulation, another runner, Meron Simon, caught up and passed Pepiot at the finish line. Pepiot lost by .10 seconds.

We’ve seen the importance of basing our identity on being saved in Christ. But being justified isn’t the end of our story; it is not the finish line of our spiritual race. For the rest of the week we’ll examine what it means to know that we are also sanctified in Christ.

The opening verses of our reading today provide us with the simplest understanding of sanctification. It is the work of God to make us holy (v. 2). Being justified in Christ allows us to be in a relationship with God, and being sanctified in Christ transforms our lives to look more like Jesus.

Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – CALLED TO BE HOLY →

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – ‘PANAMA PAPERS’ CORRUPTION SCANDAL BREAKS THE INTERNET

Leave a comment

#PanamaPapers was the top trending topic on Twitter yesterday. It is trending on Facebook and on the front page of reddit.

Why? What is this all about?

Yesterday, news broke of a year-long investigation into offshore shell corporations. These companies have been used by some of the world’s most notable politicians and leaders to hide billions of dollars. The investigation is being called the “Panama Papers” scandal because the information was leaked from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, by an anonymous source.

The data was initially obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The scope of the leak is massive—11.5 million documents on 214,000 shell companies spanning a period from 1977 to 2015. This may be the largest leak of classified information in history. Nearly 400 journalists in more than twenty-five languages have worked on the story over the last year.

According to the BBC, the leak reveals information about seventy-two current or former heads of state. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak, and Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi were included. According to The Guardian, associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly moved as much as $2 billion through offshore accounts.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘PANAMA PAPERS’ CORRUPTION SCANDAL BREAKS THE INTERNET →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Lamb of God

1 Comment

John 1:29-36

Scripture has a variety of titles for Jesus—Messiah, Lord, Christ, Rabbi, Teacher—but the one that is probably least familiar to the modern world is the Lamb of God. Since most of us do not have a Jewish background, we may have a limited understanding of this designation. But the Israelites of that day understood its significance. Lambs were for sacrifice.

God has always dealt with transgression through the blood of sacrifices. When Adam and Eve sinned, an animal was slain to cover the nakedness and shame of two individuals (Gen. 3:21). On the first Passover, each household covered the doorway with sacrificial blood (Ex. 12:1-7). Later, a goat was slaughtered for the atonement of the entire nation (Lev. 16:15). Now in John 1:29, we see the ultimate sacrifice—the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

Many lives are marked by some fine achievements, but think about the enormity of what Jesus accomplished through His death. Just as innocent animals had died in place of the guilty, so Christ gave His perfect life for sinful mankind. He assumed full responsibility for all our sins and took the punishment that we deserved. As He hung on the cross, the judgment and wrath of God was poured out on Him instead of on us.

Since we are limited by our human minds and senses, we cannot fully understand all that the Lamb of God endured to bring us salvation. But we know enough to realize that we owe Him our lives. He took our place on the cross, so let’s give Him first place in our hearts.

Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 30-31

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Blacksmith and the King

Leave a comment

Read: Exodus 31:1-11

Bible in a Year: Judges 19-21; Luke 7:31-50

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. —Colossians 3:23

In 1878, when Scotsman Alexander Mackay arrived in what is now Uganda to serve as a missionary, he first set up a blacksmith forge among a tribe ruled by King Mutesa. Villagers gathered around this stranger who worked with his hands, puzzled because everyone “knew” that work was for women. At that time, men in Uganda never worked with their hands. They raided other villages to capture slaves, selling them to outsiders. Yet here was this foreign man at work forging farming tools.

Continue reading Our Daily Bread — The Blacksmith and the King →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – The Start of Jesus’ Final Challenge

Leave a comment

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane” (Matthew 26:36).

The agony of Jesus’ death, beginning with His ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, is something finite believers will never fully comprehend.

C.H. Spurgeon, in an 1880s sermon, said this to his congregation: “It will not be enough for you to hear, or read [about Christ]; you must do your own thinking and consider your Lord for yourselves. . . . Shut yourself up with Jesus, if you would know him.” However, even those who most conscientiously follow Spurgeon’s admonition to meditate on Jesus’ Person and ministry find the effort reveals much about Him that is beyond human understanding.

As we continue our study of the events leading up to the Lord’s sacrificial death, we also realize that it’s difficult to grasp the full meaning of many of them. Even with the aid of the Spirit’s illumination, we find the weight of Jesus’ agony and suffering more than our minds can completely fathom. As the sinless God-man, He could perceive the full scope of sin’s horror in a way we never can.

Continue reading John MacArthur – Strength for Today – The Start of Jesus’ Final Challenge →

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Faint-Hearted Faith 

1 Comment

From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.   Psalm 61:2

Sometimes it seems like you are a million miles away from Jesus. It’s as if He’s doing big business on the other side of the world in Africa, India, and China. Your small concerns seem trivial in the big scheme of our Savior’s strategy. As in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25), your Master has left you to faithfully manage His stuff while He has gone away. However, you grow impatient, bored, and even faint-hearted from fear and/or fatigue. You wonder if faithfulness to your heavenly Father is really worth the effort and you question the cause and your calling. It was exciting when you first started on this journey of faith, but now it is unfocused and uncertain. You may become melancholy or depressed.

Your heart may grow faint without the fire of fresh faith. Left unchecked, a crevice of concern can become a canyon of crisis between you and Christ. Life may have backed you onto a fearful ledge and you are paralyzed for fear of falling. However, now is the time to grab hold of the Lord’s arm for stability. Even when you are on the verge of despair, God is there. No spot is too dreary or condition too deplorable. Even in life or death situations, prayer is available.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Faint-Hearted Faith  →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Can’t Drive a Parked Car

Leave a comment

Establish my steps and direct them by [means of] Your word.…—Psalm 119:133

People often ask, “How do I know what God wants me to do with my life?” Some spend many years being totally immobile because they are waiting to hear a voice from heaven telling them what to do. My best advice to anyone in this position is to simply do something. Do what you think God might be calling you to do and if you make a mistake, He will help you correct it. Don’t spend your life so afraid of making a mistake that you never try to obey what you believe God has spoken to you.

I like to say, you can’t drive a parked car. You need to be moving if you want God to show you which way to go. He has no need to say to you, “Turn left” if you are not going anywhere. But if you are moving, He can give you directions.

Let me insert a word of wisdom here. There are certainly times when we need to be still, wait on God, pray, and not take immediate action. But that does not apply to every situation. There are times when the only way we can discover God’s will is to get moving in a certain direction and let Him speak to us and lead us as we go. If you are going in the wrong direction, He’ll close that door and open another one.

From the book Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Gift of His Spirit

1 Comment

“This is what God has prepared for us and, as a guarantee, He has given us His Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:5).

A dynamic young business man sat across from me in my office. By almost every standard of human measure he was an outstanding success in both his business and his religion.

He was one of the leading men in his field of specialty in the world. A highly moral, religious person, he was very active in his church. And yet, he was not sure that he was a Christian.

He wanted desperately – more than anything else in the world – to have real assurance, but he did not know how to go about obtaining it. Step by step, I explained to him from the Bible how he could receive Christ into his life and be sure of his salvation.

Soon we were on our knees in prayer, after which he went on his way rejoicing in the assurance of his salvation to begin a supernatural walk with God.

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Gift of His Spirit →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Need For Peace

Leave a comment

Read: Leviticus 3

If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the Lord an animal without defect. Lev 3:1

Now we come to the fellowship offering, which is better rendered the peace offering. In the peace offering we are recognizing another basic, fundamental need of the human heart. No proper life is possible without peace.

I am not referring here to the peace of forgiveness. That will come in the next two offerings: the sin and the trespass offerings. It is not peace with God; it is the peace of God we are talking about here. It is peace not in the sense of hostility ceased but in the sense of emotional stability, of an untroubled heart. That is what we need — a sense of security, of well-being, of confidence that things are under control and that it is all going to work out. That is the kind of peace this offering represents.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Need For Peace →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – The Unstoppable Kingdom

Leave a comment

Read: Mark 1:14-15

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel. (v. 14)

Jesus’ very first sermon was clearly inspired by John the Baptist. Lots of preachers begin by modeling themselves on other good preachers, and Jesus did too by echoing his cousin John. And it’s a good thing Jesus took up this sermon, because John was no longer free to preach it himself. He’d been arrested, thrown in prison, and would never get out. By the time we get to Mark 8, we will read about the sad end of this great forerunner of God’s Messiah.

It’s very upsetting that John was arrested. And so maybe it seems like an odd time for Jesus to begin whipping up enthusiasm for what he calls “good news.” Can we proclaim good news in a time of bad news? Or, when the world reacts to the proclamation of God’s kingdom by locking up the first preacher who proclaimed it, isn’t that a pretty good indication that the gospel doesn’t have much of a chance in this world?

In truth the world has always resisted God’s kingdom. It put John the Baptist to an end, and eventually would get around to doing the same thing to Jesus and then later to the apostles. But here’s the wonder of it all: the gospel’s light has never gone out. The message has never died. God really is on the move re-creating the world through Jesus. The kingdom of God is near, and there’s no stopping it!

Prayer:

When we feel beaten down by the world, lift our eyes to see your kingdom all around us

https://woh.org/

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P.- Purposes

Leave a comment

Concerning God’s will for the individual, some picture Him whispering a neatly packaged to-do list. You are to go to this specific college, work this job, and live here. However, learning God’s will for your life is a process. First, you need to learn God’s purposes in general.

I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well.

Luke 4:43

As you study God’s Word, you discover who He is, what He’s like, His priorities, His desires and what He expects of His children: things such as praying, loving Him, and caring for others. As you get to know Him and begin putting the teachings of the Bible into practice, you will respond to needs, decisions, and circumstances the way God wants you to. You’ll also learn to recognize His Holy Spirit as He guides you through the seasons of your life: attending school, raising children, or working a particular job or ministry.

Today’s verse shows Jesus was clear on why He was sent to the Earth. Are you sure of your purposes? Pursue the Lord and His will, respond to His leading…and don’t forget to pray for the leaders and people of this nation to seek God on the issues at hand in the country. Trust Him to accomplish His purposes through your prayers.

Recommended Reading: I Peter 4:1-11

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