Daily Archives: December 15, 2016

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Jesus Christ Is Lord

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Romans 14:7-12

Followers of Jesus would agree that whether we live or die, we do so for Christ. But His sovereignty is not limited to those who claim Him as King. The entire world—the whole universe, in fact—is subject to His authority. At the final judgment, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and praise God.

In the here and now, relatively few people recognize the Lord’s rule and seek to remain in His will. Most refuse to see that all of our human constructs—such as government, culture, and society—thrive or falter in the palm of God’s hand. Moreover, nonbelievers resist Christ’s sovereignty in their own lives. People who won’t surrender their will to the Lord’s great purpose assume control of their own destiny. However, the Lord’s supreme reign cannot be thwarted.

It’s common for men and women today to believe that there are no consequences for rejecting the lordship of Jesus Christ. You may have heard people say things like, “That Christian stuff works for you, but it’s not for me. I’ll live on my own terms.” Yet Jesus’ parable of houses built on either solid rock or sand offers a different perspective (Matt. 7:24-27). Only those who make their abode in the Lord can withstand the upheavals of this world.

Kneeling before Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life is the wisest decision you can make. The sovereign Ruler of the universe loves you and desires to bless all of your days. Make your eternal home in the safety of His kingdom, and forever delight in Him.

Bible in One Year: 2 Timothy 1-4

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — One Short Sleep

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Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

Bible in a Year: Amos 1–3; Revelation 6

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.—2 Corinthians 5:8

Henry Durbanville, a Scottish pastor from another era, told the story of an elderly woman in his parish who lived in a remote part of Scotland. She longed to see the city of Edinburgh, but she was afraid to take the journey because of the long, dark tunnel through which the train had to pass to get there.

One day, however, circumstances compelled her to go to Edinburgh, and as the train sped toward the city, her agitation increased. But before the train reached the tunnel, the woman, worn out with worry, fell fast asleep. When she awoke she had already arrived in the city!

It’s possible that some of us will not experience death. If we’re alive when Jesus returns, we will “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:13-18). But many of us will pass into heaven through death and for some that thought causes great anxiety. We worry that the process of dying will be too difficult to bear.

With the assurance of Jesus as our Savior we can rest in the confidence that when we close our eyes on earth and pass through death, we will open our eyes in God’s presence. “One short sleep past we wake eternally,” John Donne said. —David Roper

I love the life You’ve given to me, Lord, yet I wonder what it will be like to see You personally. Help me to trust You with the future. I look forward to that day when I meet You.

To see Jesus will be heaven’s greatest joy.

INSIGHT: After Paul describes Christ’s return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, he proceeds to discuss daily living (5:12-24). It is easy to get lost in the intricacies and complexities of biblical prophecy. However, it is all a “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). Amid all the trumpeting and reunions, it is “the Lord himself [who] will come down from heaven” (1 Thess. 4:16). Then Christians will be gloriously “like him for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). How does the vision of Christ’s return have an impact on you individually and practically? Jim Townsend

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – I Still Believe in Santa, and God Too

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I am thirty-five years old, and I still believe in Santa.

I remember well that dark day when my friends told me that Santa didn’t exist. I was devastated. I felt this heaviness in my gut, and the colors of Christmas seemed to fade. I was made to feel like I was a baby for believing in Santa, and so I quickly gave up the belief. I didn’t want to be the odd one out. I didn’t want to be a fool.

But in the privacy of my own mind I began to think it through. If Santa didn’t exist, where did all of those great gifts under the tree come from year after year? If Santa didn’t exist, how did my letters always disappear from the fireplace? Plus, I had been in Santa’s presence plenty of times! I had frequently bumped into him in the mall and on the streets of New York City, and I had pictures to prove it. One time Santa even showed up at my house on Christmas.

How irrational it would have been for me to conclude that Santa simply didn’t exist! To affirm that Santa was merely a legend that had evolved over many generations, or to accept that the multiple and multiply attested appearances of Santa were cases of me and everyone else hallucinating—only a willful neglect of the evidence could lead to such conclusions.

It turned out that my friends had not been very precise with their thinking or with their words. It wasn’t that Santa didn’t exist; it was that Santa wasn’t who I thought he was.

It turns out he is far greater than I had thought. He is indeed capable of providing gifts and picking up letters, and he is, as suspected, responsible for the disappearance of the mountain of cookies that we would leave out for him on Christmas Eve.

But, thankfully, he doesn’t live as far away as the North Pole. He isn’t someone whom I could only hope to catch a momentary glimpse of once a year. He isn’t someone who likes me only if I am not naughty but nice. The good news is that Santa is with me all year, and he loves and is there for me no matter what. Santa exists; it’s just that when he is fully revealed, he is also Mom and Dad.

Many of us can remember a time when someone told us God doesn’t exist, and perhaps they made us feel foolish for believing such a thing. Did we give up that belief because we had really thought it through, or simply because we didn’t want to be seen as a baby?

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – My Normal Mind

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I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones). —Ephesians 1:16-18

This section in Ephesians is difficult for many of us to understand. What does Paul mean by “the eyes of your heart flooded with light” (v. 18)? I believe he is referring to the mind, because that’s what needs enlightenment. It is with the mind that we grasp God’s truths and hold to them.

Too many of us have difficulty being “flooded with light” because we are distracted with too many other things. The apostle prays for us to have what I call a normal mind—a mind that’s open to the Holy Spirit’s work—so that we may follow God’s plan and live enriched lives.

One way to think about the idea of a normal mind is to look at two of Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha. Most people know the story of the sisters and the visit Jesus made to their home in Bethany. Martha scurried around, making certain that everything in their home was exactly right, while Mary sat down to listen to Jesus. Luke says Martha “was distracted with much serving” (see Luke 10:40), and she complained to Jesus that she needed her sister’s help.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things (v. 41), Jesus told her, and then He commended Mary for having chosen the “good portion.”

As I thought about that incident, I realized it was more than Martha being distracted. I’m sure her mind jumped around, making certain that everything was exactly right. The implication is that even if there had been nothing more to do, Martha wouldn’t have stopped to sit at Jesus’ feet. She was so caught up in busyness that her mind would have searched for something else to do.

The Marthas seem to be in control of our world, don’t they? They are the ones who get things done. When they’re not accomplishing their own goals, they seem to be telling others what they should do. In today’s world of “multi-tasking,” the Marthas seem to get the awards and the accolades. Some people are busy all the time. They wear their busyness like a badge, as if that makes them more important.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Learn to Be Patient

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“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to be patient” (Romans 5:3).

A Christian family was struggling with the trials of being parents (they had four young children – two of them in diapers). One day the wife, who was frustrated to her wits’ end, came to me for spiritual counsel. As she phrased it, she was at the point of losing her sanity.

How could she cope with rearing her children? She told how angry she got with the children when they disobeyed her. In fact, she indicated there were times when she feared she might physically harm her children, though she loved them dearly.

How could she cope with rearing her children? She needed the fruit of the Spirit, patience and love. The only way she could obtain such patience was by faith, confessing her sins and appropriating the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This she began to do, continually. Today, she is a women of godly patience, and being a parent has become a joyful privilege for her.

All of us need Christ’s patience, regardless of who we are or in what circumstances we find ourselves. Patience is granted to us by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit. It is produced by faith as a fruit of the Spirit, and it is granted in times of great crises (Luke 21:15-19); in dealing with church situations (2 Corinthians 12:12); in opposing evil (Revelation 2:2), for soundness of faith (Titus 2:2) and in waiting for the return of Jesus Christ (James 5:7,8).

Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will look on trials and problems as a forerunner of great patience in my life, while claiming the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen me.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – You Need a Savior

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If we could save ourselves—why would we need a Savior? Jesus didn’t enter the world to help us save ourselves. He entered the world to save us from ourselves.

As a Boy Scout, I earned a lifesaving merit badge. In fact the only people I saved were other Boy Scouts who didn’t need to be saved. During training I would rescue other trainees. We took turns saving each other. But since we weren’t really drowning, we resisted being rescued. “Stop kicking and let me save you,” I’d say. It’s impossible to save those who’re trying to save themselves.

You might save yourself from a broken heart or going broke or running out of gas. But you’re not good enough to save yourself from sin. You aren’t strong enough to save yourself from death. You need a Savior. Because of Bethlehem you have one!

From Because of Bethlehem

 

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – What to do when you’re discouraged with America

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Does it seem to you that the gap between Christians and non-Christians is continuing to grow in America?

According to LifeWay Research, two-thirds of Americans now support euthanasia, while nearly two-thirds of evangelical Christians disagree. According to the Pew Research Center, only 25 percent of non-religious Americans believe that abortion is morally wrong, but 75 percent of white evangelical Christians disagree.

When you become discouraged with the direction of our culture, what should you do?

I was reading 1 Chronicles 5 yesterday, frankly a bit bored with the ongoing list of genealogies and tribal members, when a verse stopped me in my tracks: “The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war” (v. 18).

Not surprisingly, these expert warriors waged war against pagan armies and “prevailed over them” (v. 20a). But surprisingly, their victory came because “they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him” (v. 20b).

Which won the battle, their expertise or their prayers?

For many years I struggled with the relationship between human agency and divine sovereignty. I’d heard the saying, “Let go and let God,” but it seemed to contradict the fact that the Lord gives us minds, abilities, and resources he would seemingly want us to employ in his service. I’d also heard the opposite: “What you are is God’s gift to you—what you make of yourself is your gift to God.” But this seemed to make our Lord a God in the balcony who watches us on the stage but doesn’t interact with us. I knew from Scripture and experience that this wasn’t true.

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