Monthly Archives: August 2016

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Do You Remember?

Leave a comment

Read: Jeremiah 2:1-3

The word of the Lord came to me: Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 2:1-3

This is part of the first message of Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. It highlights for us what God has to say to someone who has begun to drift away from him. Have you ever had that problem? I find there are times in my life when, without even realizing it, I have begun to lose some of the fervor and the joy and the peace which marks the presence of God in my life, flowing through my life as it ought.

The tragic thing about that condition, as so exemplified in the nation of Judah, is that this can happen, but nobody knows what is wrong. That was happening to Judah. They really blamed God for the whole thing. That is what most of us do, too. Judah said it was God’s fault, that he did not keep his promises, did not deliver them when he ought to, did not keep them from their enemies as he promised. They were charging God with gross misconduct and with inability to keep his promises.

So God has something to say to this nation. What does he say? The first thing he says is call them to look back and reflect on what life was like when you first began a love relationship. God says, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me. In marital counseling I have dealt with couples who have been married twenty-five or thirty years but who are having difficulties. They are tense, angry, upset, and sometimes they will not even speak to one another. I have had to sit down with couples like that and try to find a way to begin a healing process. Long ago I learned the best way is simply to say, You know, before we start, I need to get acquainted with you a little bit. Tell me something about yourselves. How did you meet, and where? You can feel the atmosphere soften, and their hearts begin to expand a bit, as they think back to the days when they were not angry or upset, but were in love, and as they remember what that meant. Half the battle is won when you can get couples thinking back to what it was like when they first knew each other.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Do You Remember? →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – God’s Call Involves Overcoming Obstacles

Leave a comment

Read: 1 John 5:1-15

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (v. 4)

As our church mission group prepared to cross the border into Mexico from California to build houses for the homeless, we decided to keep all of our passports together. On prior mission trips, border guards never asked for passports entering into Mexico. We wanted to make sure that we had all the passports in a safe place for reentering into the United States.

Unfortunately, on this trip the border guards detained a few volunteers in two vehicles entering the country because they did not have their passports. Most of our party crossed into Mexico before realizing that Mexican border guards were holding back several members of our group.

Our first response was to pray. We knew that going back into the United States to deliver the passports could take several hours. God revealed to us a better way. Rather than drive back through the border, we took several team members to the walking bridge into the United States with passports in hand. They were able to deliver the other passports to the Mexican authorities and this allowed our entire group to enter into Mexico.

Those with their passports had already driven to a taco stand near the mission site. They cheered the group of “hostages” upon their arrival an hour later. God had answered our prayers.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for helping us to overcome the world’s obstacles. Please help us to seek you first when the enemy resists us.

Author: Rob Donoho

 

https://woh.org/

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Trusting God? Or Testing God?

Leave a comment

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” —Psalm 91:1–2

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he quoted the Scriptures—but he left something out. He said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’ ” (Matthew 4:6).

He quoted Psalm 91, which says, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (verses 11–12). Notice Satan left out the words “to keep you in all your ways.” Why? If you look at it contextually, these verses are effectively saying that when you’re in the will of God, you don’t have to be afraid. You can trust the Lord.

Satan was essentially saying, “Just jump off, and the angels will catch you.”

But Jesus put it into context, saying, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’ ” (Matthew 4:7).

You don’t have to get up every morning and say, “I might die today.” Yes, you might—but not if God doesn’t want you to. The Lord knows the date of your birth and the date of your death. You can be confident in Him. I believe that Christians are indestructible until God is done with them.

That doesn’t mean we go out and drink strychnine or play with venomous snakes. But it does mean that if it is not a Christian’s time, then he or she isn’t going anywhere. There is a difference between trusting the Lord and testing the Lord by taking unnecessary risks.

We don’t have to live in fear, because our times are in His hands.

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Fulfill His Righteous Law

Leave a comment

“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4)

The road to receiving a driver’s license was not an easy one for Bob. At first, he couldn’t seem to do much right. Thankfully, the driving instructor was there every step of the way – teaching Bob, encouraging him, and occasionally slamming on the brake on the passenger side of the car in order to keep them both from disaster! The driving teacher was dedicated to helping students receive their licenses.

After a lot more practice under the careful watch of the instructor, Bob finally started getting it right. In fact, Bob passed all his written tests and road tests and was ready to receive his license. That driver’s license was the goal of all the study and practice! On the day Bob turned 16, he went down to the Department of Motor Vehicles (a very special place indeed!) and stood in line to receive his license. He soon had his license – with his very own picture on it! That license was what he had waited so long to receive; now he could drive legally.

Now that Bob had his license, did he need the driving instructor to sit in the front seat with him anymore? Would he need to call the instructor every time he wanted to go to the store? No; he had his license. His license gave him the freedom to drive the car by himself.

But did having the driver’s license give Bob the freedom to drive the car any way he wanted? Could he drive 100 miles an hour without putting himself and others in danger? Could he drive through red lights anytime he wanted? No. He was still bound to obey the rules of the road. The license didn’t give him the freedom to break the law, but it did give him the freedom to obey the law. Once he had his license, Bob drove in the way that the driving instructor taught him was good and right.

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Fulfill His Righteous Law →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Our Normal Practice

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: 1 John 3:9

“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.”

The apostle John gave us another indicator for knowing we have eternal life: “you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him” (1 John 2:29).

This test can be a tricky one. We might understand John to say that only those who always do what is right are born of God. Though that’s certainly God’s standard for us, obviously none of us measures up to it. Even John himself said, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

When John spoke of “everyone who practices righteousness,” he was thinking of our normal practice, of the dominant direction of our lives.

Sometimes our obedience is marked more by desire than by performance. So we have to ask ourselves: Is my life characterized by an earnest desire and a sincere effort to obey God in all that he commands? What is my attitude toward God’s law? Do I find it to be holy, just, and good? And do I delight in it in my inner being, even though I find my sinful nature struggling against it? (See Romans 7:12,22-23.)

Accompanying our sincere desire to obey God will be a heightened sensitivity to our indwelling sin. Often it’s our increased awareness of sin that causes us to doubt our salvation or to give Satan an inroad into our minds to suggest that “a Christian wouldn’t sin like you do.” But Satan would certainly not suggest such a thought to an unbeliever. Rather, he wants unbelievers to be complacent about their sin. So turn the tables on Satan and your own internal doubts. Ask yourself if those accusations or doubts are not really a sign that you do trust Christ. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – God’s Clear Voice

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: 2 Peter 1-3

I trust in your word. – Psalm 119:42

Picture this: You’re up on a high mountain with two of your Christian friends and you hear a voice from heaven saying, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” The three of you look at each other and say, “Did you hear that?” You all nod your heads and look around to see if anyone else is up there with you, but it’s just the three of you.

Would you be more convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God through hearing a voice from heaven than by reading the Bible’s declaration that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

While you turn that question around in your mind, let’s reflect on 2 Peter 1:16-19.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place.

In the context of what Peter writes here, the reference to a more sure word of prophecy is obviously the Bible. This is a mind-boggling evaluation of the validity of the Scriptures, which Peter says are more dependable, more reliable than a voice from heaven. And remember, he’s the one who heard the voice.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for Your Word–my permanent record of Your love and promises to me. Amen.

To Ponder

When someone wants to know if you’re really serious about something, they usually say, “Put it in writing.” God did that for us.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  The Political Illusion: Limits of Government

Leave a comment

Back in 2001 on BreakPoint, Chuck Colson talked about a concept that would become a cornerstone of his Christian worldview teaching on government and politics. That concept was “the political illusion”: the idea that government can create the good society and solve all our problems.

In the midst of this extraordinary presidential race, we thought it was time to hear Chuck on this topic again. And be sure to tune in next week, as John Stonestreet will share with us his thoughts on the election. Now, let’s hear from Chuck:

Congress recently shot down a constitutional amendment that would have required the federal government to balance its budget. In essence Congress said, We can’t do it. We can’t do what it takes to balance the budget.

It was a major admission of defeat.

Politicians have been promising to fix the deficit for years. In 1976 both presidential candidates made promises to balance the books. But today the debt is bigger than ever, and growing.

And it’s finally beginning to dawn on people that government is not able to deliver on a lot of its promises.

For most of us, that’s a hard lesson to learn. We instinctively turn to government to solve our social problems. It’s a habit reinforced from the time we’re young.

Listen to these quotations from the Teachers’ Edition of a fifth-grade social studies textbook.

“Today, when people lose their jobs,” the textbook says, “they can get some money from the government.” A few pages later the book says, “Today, families who do not have enough money for food can get money from the government.” And a few pages later we read, “Today families who cannot afford to pay their rent can get help from the government.”

Continue reading BreakPoint –  The Political Illusion: Limits of Government →

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE TRINITY AND THE END OF WAITING

Leave a comment

Read LUKE 2:22–32

Many have tried to understand the Trinity through analogy. Perhaps the Trinity is like a person’s roles or relationships, as when one person is simultaneously a father, son, and friend. Perhaps it is like water, which can exist as gas, liquid, or solid. Or perhaps it is like an egg, which is one thing yet consists of a shell, yolk, and egg white.

These analogies are sometimes heretical and always inadequate. They cannot truly explain how God can be three Persons and yet one God. This divine mystery demands our faith even as we continue to seek understanding. That’s how Simeon lived his life, and he was richly rewarded in today’s reading.

Simeon had waited all his life for the coming of the Messiah, and God granted him the privilege of seeing Jesus in person before he died. The Holy Spirit was with Simeon and had revealed that this would be so. On that day, the Spirit

led him to a specific young couple in the temple courts (vv. 25–28).

Simeon took the incarnate Son of God in his arms and rejoiced! The Messiah had come; the time of waiting was ended! Jesus was God’s salvation for “all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (vv. 29–32). Responding to Him, whether in acceptance or in rejection, would determine people’s eternal destinies and relationship with God.

Mary and Joseph had come to the temple because God the Father had mandated that all firstborn sons be dedicated to the Lord (v. 23). This was a reminder of the nation’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, the tenth plague, and the life-saving blood on the doorposts (see Exodus 13). Now God the Son fulfilled this symbolism—the first person to be perfectly consecrated to God and to live a perfectly holy life.

APPLY THE WORD

Simeon’s meeting with Mary and Joseph (and that of Anna in verses 36 to 38) in the temple courts is an example of a “divine appointment.” Mary and Joseph were surely surprised, but they responded with humble attentiveness and faith, just as we should when God brings people across our paths. Are we ready for our next divine appointment?

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – IS THIS THE MOST DANGEROUS OLYMPICS EVER?

Leave a comment

The Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games is tonight. I can’t remember an Olympics more troubled than this one.

Problems began with a Zika outbreak in Brazil that led 150 health officials to recommend moving the games out of Rio de Janeiro, the host city. Spectators will be greeted with demonstrations, violent crime, poverty, and infrastructure failures. According to ABC News, the event could cost Brazil as much as $15 billion in losses.

Last week, a foot and other body parts washed up on a shore where Olympians will be playing volleyball. Nearly 60,000 people were murdered in Brazil in 2014; the country has been called “the deadliest place in the world outside Syria.” Assaults on beaches or in parks after dark are common. Drug gangs run the streets of many Brazilian cities.

Health experts are warning athletes competing in ocean events not to put their heads underwater. Raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria has contaminated the water, especially where the rowing and sailing races will take place. Viral levels are up to 1.7 million times what would be considered unhealthy in the US. Ingesting three teaspoons of the water is likely to make an athlete sick.

And yet 10,500 athletes from 206 nations will be competing in twenty-eight different sports, hoping to win one or more of the 4,924 medals that will be awarded. Some 500,000 foreign travelers are purchasing 7.5 million tickets to attend.

The rest of us will be watching more than 6,000 hours of television coverage. There will be $5.4 billion lost in productivity from employees watching the Olympics while at work. Seventy-two percent of business professionals plan to watch the Games; 3.6 billion people will tune in worldwide.

Why? Because we all want to make history, and if we can’t make it, we want to watch it.

Continue reading Denison Forum – IS THIS THE MOST DANGEROUS OLYMPICS EVER? →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Easy to Say, Difficult to Do

Leave a comment

Matthew 5:10-12

God’s commands sometimes defy human logic. Take, for example, the command to rejoice in persecution. It doesn’t make sense until we realize the effect of praise—it keeps us focused upon the Lord and the good things that He can bring out of hardship.

The apostle Paul faced greater abuse and suffering than most of us ever will. He was beaten, put on trial, and imprisoned, yet he looked beyond those difficulties to what the Lord was accomplishing through his life. That is, though he didn’t rejoice that he was a captive, he was able to celebrate the great ministry he had among his prison guards.

If we believe God is in control and keeps His promises, then we must trust in the principle of Romans 5:3-5. This passage assures us that our hardships have a purpose. Specifically, they develop our endurance, strengthen our character, and solidify our hope. Two immediate blessings of suffering are the deepening of our faith and the preparation for greater service to the kingdom. We’re able to rejoice because we are maturing believers whom God can use for His purposes.

The Lord will bring good from our persecution, just as He did for Paul. But if we allow doubt to cloud our faith, we won’t be able to rejoice in what He is doing in and through our lives. And if we can’t rejoice, we are in danger of giving up before God’s good work can be completed. Rejoicing keeps us focused upon the Lord and His purpose so that we may see our trial through to the end and receive our reward.

Bible in One Year: Isaiah 50-53

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Not Perfect

Leave a comment

Read: Romans 7:14–25 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 66–67; Romans 7

I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18

In his book Jumping Through Fires, David Nasser tells the story of his spiritual journey. Before he began a relationship with Jesus, he was befriended by a group of Christian teens. Although most of the time his buddies were generous, winsome, and nonjudgmental, David witnessed one of them lie to his girlfriend. Feeling convicted, the young man later confessed and asked for her forgiveness. Reflecting on this, David said that the incident drew him closer to his Christian friends. He realized that they needed grace, just as he did.

We don’t have to act like we’re perfect with the people we know. It’s okay to be honest about our mistakes and struggles. The apostle Paul openly referred to himself as the worst of all sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). He also described his wrestling match with sin in Romans 7, where he said, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (v. 18). Unfortunately, the opposite was also true: “The evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (v. 19).

We don’t have to be perfect. It’s okay to be honest about our mistakes and struggles.

Being open about our struggles puts us on the same level with every other human alive—which is right where we belong! However, because of Jesus Christ, our sin will not follow us into eternity. It’s like the old saying goes, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”

Dear Jesus, I worship You as the only perfect human ever to live. Thank You for making it possible for me to have victory over sin.

The only difference between Christians and everyone else is forgiveness.

INSIGHT:

When Paul says that the “law” is spiritual, he is likely referring to the Torah (meaning “instruction”), the first five books of the Old Testament. The Torah is a gift to teach us something about God’s holiness and our sin.

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Challenge of Atticus Finch

Leave a comment

Few challenges are as great for novelists as crafting a believably good character. Our native preoccupation with darkness often casts virtue in a light that is less than plausible. Perhaps most damning of all, however, is the deep-seated assumption that goodness itself is boring while the allure of badness remains magnetic. Poets and critics have long pointed to the character of Satan as the runaway hero of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Though this certainly wasn’t Milton’s intent, it is difficult to dispute that Satan stands out in the roster of characters as arguably the most dynamic, compelling, and relatable. A contemporary example would be the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. It’s not just that we find darkness more interesting than light, it’s that we find it more believable.

Many have received the emerging details from Harper Lee’s novel Go Set a Watchman as disheartening news once it became clear that the book was going to cast a shadow over the beloved character of Atticus Finch. This man who has stood for many as a champion of truth, justice, and human decency may turn out to be more of a fiction than his readers ever realized. Dramatic as it sounds, America may be losing one of her icons. In the words of Sam Sacks in his Wall Street Journal review, “Go Set a Watchman is a distressing book, one that delivers a startling rebuttal to the shining idealism of To Kill a Mockingbird. This story is of the toppling of idols; its major theme is disillusion.”

Though Harper Lee may force us to reconsider the character of Atticus Finch, I find it deeply encouraging that our sorrow regarding his possible moral compromises shows a clear hunger for genuine goodness. True, disillusion may be an all-too-common theme in our imaginative landscape these days, but if we feel betrayed by Atticus Finch (or his author), that sense of betrayal is surely motivated by a conviction that true men and women of integrity exist, and that their example, strength, and leadership are much-needed. Moreover, that goodness is not only plausible, but foundational to reality. In other word, not only is goodness real, but there is a goodness that sets the clear standard against which we measure all else, including Atticus Finch and his shortcomings.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Challenge of Atticus Finch →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Loving Money Ignores True Gain

Leave a comment

“But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment” (1 Timothy 6:6).

True wealth is found in contentment, not in monetary gain.

Love of money and contentment are mutually exclusive. An ancient Roman proverb says, “Money is like seawater; the more you drink, the thirstier you get.” Ecclesiastes 5:10 summarizes the point this way: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.”

History has also demonstrated that no amount of riches can compensate for a lack of contentment. Millionaire financier John D. Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” That wealthiest of industrialists, Henry Ford, was quoted as saying, “I was happier doing mechanic’s work.”

The Cynic and Stoic philosophers of Paul’s day were probably more content than any of the modern corporate tycoons. Those philosophers viewed the contented person as one who was self-sufficient, unflappable, and unmoved by outside circumstances. But true Christians have the best understanding of contentment because they know it comes from God. Paul told the Corinthian church, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5; see also 9:8).

The genuine believer, therefore, sees contentment as more than merely a noble human virtue. For him, it derives from the sufficiency God the Father and Christ the Son provide (Phil. 4:19). Thus a godly person is not motivated by the love of money but by the love of God (see Ps. 63:1-5).

The richest person is the one who needs nothing else because he is content with what he has. He adheres to the philosophy of Proverbs 30:8-9, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.”

Continue reading John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Loving Money Ignores True Gain →

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Are You Called to Missions? 

Leave a comment

Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. Romans 15:21

I remember as a child hearing of the great missionary efforts of many modern heroes of the faith. People like Hudson Taylor or Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, who, following in the footsteps of St. Paul, forsook comfort and security in order to share the love of Christ in places where his name had never been proclaimed. In light of these stories, I came to assume that Christian missions always began “here” and went “there.”

Similarly, I thought a missionary was the Christian equivalent of a Navy SEAL, a highly skilled and elite position to be taken up by a very select few. While we should never diminish or discourage the faithful obedience of foreign missionaries, we also must affirm another central truth of Christian mission: the work of Christian missions is the call of every single follower of Jesus Christ.

To be a missionary is literally to be one who is sent out on a mission. As followers of Christ, by virtue of our baptism into the life and death of Jesus, each of us has been sent out with an explicit mission. We are not only invited but are commissioned, without exception, to proclaim the love of God shown in Christ through our love of God and neighbor.

As we grow in faithfulness to Christ and his Kingdom, we must reclaim this central vision of the Christian life: to be a disciple is to be a missionary! Whether your mission field is Cambodia or Chicago, Argentina or Alabama, the call on each of our lives is the same. We must seek to live not simply for ourselves, but to live as bold, prophetic witnesses to the self-giving, self-sacrificing love of God. For the Christian, the call to missions is never a question of “if” but is simply a question of “where.”

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Are You Called to Missions?  →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Cracked Pots

Leave a comment

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

Recommended Reading

2 Corinthians 4:1-9

Everyone knows what it’s like to be disappointed by someone we love or admire. Our husbands, wives, children, or parents sometimes let us down. Our heroes stumble. Our leaders falter. It can devastate us and damage our relationships because we place high expectations on those we love. Sometimes we forget they are broken people just like we are.

According to 2 Corinthians 4:7, we are all earthen vessels, jugs of clay, easily chipped. The Voice translates 2 Corinthians 4:7 like this: “But this beautiful treasure (the Gospel) is contained in us—cracked pots made of earth and clay—so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us.”

God blesses us cracked pots in spite of our sinful, undeserving nature; and high on His list of blessings is forgiveness. As we look to Him alone, He gives us grace (He imparts a million blessings we don’t deserve) and mercy (He withholds a million judgments we do deserve).

If He gives grace and mercy to cracked pots like us, perhaps we need to extend the same to those we love.

Let us make sure that we are not so hard on others because if the shoe were on the other foot, we would want someone to understand our circumstances and help us to redeem ourselves.

Jesse R. Watson, Jr., in Morning Coffee

Read-Thru-the-Bible

Jeremiah 4 – 5

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Joy Stealers

Leave a comment

For my sighing comes before my food, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me. I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes [upon me]. – Job 3:24-26

People dread many things, and most don’t even realize what dread does to them. It sucks the joy right out of the present moment. The life God has provided for us through Jesus Christ is a precious gift, and we should enjoy every moment of it.

Dread is insidious and can insert itself into even the most innocuous of circumstances. For example, once I was getting a facial and enjoying it extremely. I glanced at the door and saw my clothes hanging on the hook and thought, Oh, I dread getting up and putting on my clothes and driving all the way home. Then I realized I was letting dread do its dirty work again. It was stealing the joy of the present moment.

Pray and ask God to show you every time you begin to dread any task or something lurking in your future that you’re not quite sure of. Merely eliminating dread from your life will release more of your God-given confidence and help you experience more joy.

Lord, make me aware of what I dread. It’s such a part of my life that it’s easy to not even notice. Help me to retain my joy and walk in all the confidence You’ve given me. Amen.

From the book The Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Is Your Faith One of Duty or Desire?

Leave a comment

Today’s Truth

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9

Friend to Friend

My ministry is primarily with women, and often the subject of marriage comes up. And for those brave souls who dare ask the hard questions, sex surfaces as one of the top three areas of marital tension. Questions brim from frustration and sometimes my answers are not what they want to hear. Frequency? What is acceptable and unacceptable? What is required?

Required? Do women really ask that? Yep. Required. That’s the word they use. Far too many women, Christians included, approach the marriage bed with a sense of duty rather than desire. And you know what? A husband always knows the difference. He can tell the difference. It is not the melody his heart longs for—a song in which his wife desires him, enjoys him and looks forward to their moments of intimacy.

And guess what? God knows the difference, too. I’m not talking about sexual intimacy here. I’m talking about spiritual intimacy. God can tell when we are serving Him out of duty and when we are serving Him out of an overflow of our great love. He knows when our time with Him is simply a number on our to-do list and when it is our heart’s greatest desire.

We dutifully work and we strive and we study and we push and we push and we push. If we stop all this bustling about to become good Christians, we just might fall in love with Jesus all over again.

David sang, “In your presence is fullness of joy!” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV). In Your presence… The Hebrew word for “joy” used here is simchah and means glee, gladness, intense joy, pleasure, rejoicing, an outward expression. It is not simply an outward emotion but an inner soul.

Serving God out of duty will leave you drained emotionally and spiritually. Ramping up religious duties may cause people to give more money, time and resources without giving what God longs for most…the heart.

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Is Your Faith One of Duty or Desire? →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Never Too Busy

Leave a comment

“He will listen to the prayers of the destitute for He is never too busy to heed their requests” (Psalm 102:17).

As a relatively young Christian businessman, I was deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. I was asked to be the chairman of all of our deputation ministry involving more than 100 college- and post college-age men and women who dedicated their lives to serving Christ in the hospitals, jails and skid row missions.

On many occasions it was my responsibility and privilege to speak at various mission meetings attended by hundreds of destitute winos, alcoholics, drug addicts and others who had lost their way and were now in desperate need of help, physically and spiritually. God always ministered to me as well as to them for I seldom spoke to such a group without my heart being deeply stirred. Inevitably I found myself reaching out to these men, poor, dejected, discouraged, many of whom had not bathed for months, and yet I found myself embracing them in the name of Jesus, pleading with them to allow Him to turn the tragedy of their lives into His eternal triumph. Many did and with life-changing results.

But unfortunately, there were far more who refused Christ. I am reminded of one with whom I pleaded to surrender his life to Christ and receive the gift of God’s grace. He had, through the ravages of drink, lost his wife, his children, his business and even his health. He had absolutely nothing left, but his response to my insistence that he receive Christ was, “I cannot, I have too much to give up.” I could hardly believe my ears! God was waiting with arms outstretched, eager to embrace him with His love and forgiveness, to transform his life. Let us never forget that this is God’s desire for every person for He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Bible Reading: Psalm 102:18-28

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will encourage others, rich and poor, old and young, all who are spiritually destitute, to turn to God, who loves and forgives, that they, too may experience eternal and supernatural life.

 

http://www.cru.org

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – You are a Fortified City

Leave a comment

Read: Jeremiah 1:11-19

Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:16-19

I remember that when I was a boy in high school, sixteen years old, I was arrested once — served a warrant because it was alleged, wrongly, it was proved, that I had been hunting out of season. I remember yet how fearsome it was to receive that warrant for my arrest, to open it up and read these words: The People of the State of Montana versus Ray C. Stedman. I thought, What unfair odds! The whole population of the state of Montana against me!

That is what this prophet Jeremiah had to face. All the people of the land, and its kings and priests, would all be against him. But God said, Don’t you worry, you shall stand. I’ll make you a stone, an iron, and a bronze against them. Nothing will shake you. And the amazing thing is that though this young man was thrown into prison, put in a dungeon where he was mired in the mud, put on a bread-and-water diet, though he was ostracized and isolated, set aside, rejected and insulted, and finally exiled into Egypt, never once when God asked him to speak did he ever fail to say the thing God told him to say. What remarkable courage this young man exhibited!

Yet, through all of it, he learned four things: He learned the sovereignty of God, his control over the nations of earth. He learned the ruthlessness of God, whose judgments would be unmerciful against his people who persisted in turning away from him. He learned the faithfulness of God always to fulfill his word, no matter what was said. Finally, he learned to suffer with the heart of God, the tenderness of God. This man suffered, he wept. He lost hope for a while and cried out, O that I had never been born! He felt the awful hurt of his people, and wept over them. But through it all he realized that he was but feeling the suffering of the heart of God over people who turn him aside, and the tenderness of God that draws them back at last, despite all their wandering.

Almighty God, how grateful I am that whatever I must face in this world, you will give me the grace I need to face it.

Life Application

Do we want to merely know about God — or do we want to intimately know God? What was the process by which Jeremiah learned four essential elements of God’s character? How did this knowledge of God fortify Jeremiah to endure unremitting testing and hardship?

 

http://www.raystedman.org/

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Five Steps of Temptation

Leave a comment

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 6:23

It has been said that opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats on the door every day. It happens to the best of us.

Don’t feel bad about that. Just because you are tempted doesn’t mean there is something wrong on your part. There is no sin in being tempted, because it is not the bait that constitutes temptation; it is the bite.

We play a key role in our own temptation. The Devil needs our cooperation for us to give in. Where there is no desire on our part, there is no temptation. As James 1:14–15 tells us, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

In these verses we effectively have the five steps of temptation. First, there is the temptation itself: “each one is tempted.” This is when an evil thought comes knocking on the door of your imagination. But instead of rejecting it outright, you invite it in and begin to entertain it. You think, What if I did this . . . just for fun?

You’re in trouble already, because now you’ve reached the second step. You have been enticed. Your will is weakening, and the temptation is getting stronger. You’re thinking, processing, and considering. There is still a way out, but it’s getting harder to resist. And now the hook is set.

That brings us to the third and fourth steps of temptation. Desire has conceived, and it gives birth to sin. The evil thought has been acted upon. The process is in full swing, which leads to the final step of temptation, where the effects of sin kick in: “sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie