Daily Archives: January 28, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Facing Death Unprepared

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Luke 23:32-43

God’s grace is revealed in His willingness to welcome anyone at any time into His kingdom, even at the moment of death. The repentant thief who hung on a cross next to Jesus had absolutely nothing to offer the Lord—no good works, no faithful service. He couldn’t even be baptized. In his utterly helpless condition, the only thing he could do was believe. But that was all it took, because faith is the only way to be saved.

Although both thieves began their crucifixion by hurling verbal abuse at Jesus (Matt. 27:44), as the torturous minutes passed, one of them had a change of heart. His railing against the Savior turned to rebuke of the other criminal, and then to defense of Jesus, admission of his own guilt, and a plea for a place in Christ’s kingdom (Luke 23:40-42).

What was it that turned this mocker into a believer? Even if he had little prior knowledge of Jesus, the crowd’s taunts supplied him with the information that he needed to be saved. Scornful onlookers accused Jesus Christ of being exactly who He was: the King of Israel, the Savior of others, and the Son of God. (See Matt. 27:42-43.) As the condemned man watched and listened, he turned in faith to the only One who could save Him: the One dying for him.

On the hill that day, one man died in his sin, one Man died for sin, and the other was saved out of his sin. There are only two responses to the inevitability of death. We can either accept or reject Christ’s substitutionary payment for our sin. How will you respond?

Bible in One Year: Exodus 36-38

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Always Loved, Always Valued

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Read: Romans 8:31–39

Bible in a Year: Exodus 19–20; Matthew 18:21–35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?—Romans 8:35

We serve a God who loves us more than our work.

Oh, it’s true that God wants us to work to feed our families and to responsibly take care of the world He created. And He expects us to serve the weak, hungry, naked, thirsty, and broken people around us even as we remain alert to those who have not yet responded to the Holy Spirit’s tug on their lives.

And yet we serve a God who loves us more than our work.

We must never forget this because there may come a time when our ability to “do for God” is torn from us by health or failure or unforeseen catastrophe. It is in those hours that God wants us to remember that He loves us not for what we do for Him but because of who we are: His children! Once we call on the name of Christ for salvation, nothing—“trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”—will ever again separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 39).

When all we can do or all we have is taken from us, then all He wants us to do is rest in our identity in Him. —Randy Kilgore

Father, help us never lose sight of the unconditional love You have for us, and let us hold on to that hope when our labor—and the fruit of our labor—are gone.

The reason we exist is to be in fellowship with God.

INSIGHT: Are you as convinced as Paul was that nothing can separate you from the love of God? Paul was raised with a belief that his compliance with Mosaic law gave him acceptance with God. Yet all of that changed when he discovered that the Jesus he hated was the God who loved him. Through a direct encounter with the resurrected Christ, he learned that the love of God is not earned, but accepted as a gift of grace and mercy (Rom. 4:4-5). It comes to us not because of what we have done for Him or others but because of what God in His mercy has done for us.  Mart DeHaan

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Keep Pressing On

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I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.—Philippians 3:13-14

Our relationships with God are progressive and we all move from one level to another. No one ever “masters” communication with God because there is no limit to the depth of relationship we can have with Him; it just keeps growing, keeps going deeper, keeps getting stronger. Our ability to hear His voice develops and improves over time. Over time and with practice, we get better at sharing our hearts with God and we become more skilled and experienced at hearing His voice and understanding what He is saying to us. We never become certified experts in prayer and we never stop learning to communicate with God; our experiences just keep getting richer and better.

God has so much for you, and though you may not have arrived at your final destination, you can thank God you are on the pathway that will take you there. As long as you are making progress, it really doesn’t matter if you are crawling, walking, or running. Just keep pressing on!

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 – You Can Be Sure This Is God’s Will

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“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV).

“Always give thanks for everything?” my friend Jim remarked with impatience bordering on anger. “How can I give thanks to God when my wife is dying of cancer? I would be a fool, and besides I don’t feel thankful. My heart is breaking. I can’t stand to see her suffer any more.”

Jim was a Christian, but he had not yet learned how to appropriate the supernatural resources of God by faith. He had not heard that the Holy Spirit produces the supernatural, spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He did not know that the Holy Spirit was ready and eager to lift his load, fill his heart with peace and enable him to demonstrate a thankful attitude, even in times of heartache, sorrow and disappointment.

About the same time, I had a call from a beloved friend and fellow staff member, Bob. “I’m calling to ask for your prayers,” he said. “My wife has an inoperable brain tumor, but we are trusting the Lord for a miracle. We are both thanking God, for we know He makes no mistakes and we are ready for whatever happens.”

Bob and Alice were controlled by the Holy Spirit, responding as Spirit-filled persons are equipped to respond. Though God did not heal Alice’s ailing body, He performed a greater miracle by providing the supernatural resources which enabled Bob and Alice to praise and give thanks to God as a powerful testimony of His love and grace in their behalf.

Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:11-17

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Knowing that “all things work together for good to those who love God” – and that includes me – I determine through the enabling of the Holy Spirit to obey God today as an expression of faith by thanking Him in everything and for everything.

 

http://www.cru.org

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – Winning with God

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Romans 8:37

There were some ancient people known as Phrygians who lived in what is now the country of Turkey. They believed that when you conquered an enemy, some of the enemy’s physical strength passed into you. That’s just a myth, of course. But when we Christians struggle against sin and win, we grow stronger. We grow more powerful not from the enemy, but from Christ’s strength. Then we can face the next battle stronger. We become more than conquerors because we have Jesus fighting with us against the enemy.

God knows that every day that we try to live for him, we are fighting a war with an enemy. Satan doesn’t want us serving God. He’d rather hurt us than see us become conquerors with Christ. But through the mighty powers of God’s Son, we can defeat the enemy and become great warriors in God’s kingdom.

Dear Lord, I know that with you all things are possible. Please give me your strength to help me beat the enemy. Amen.

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God “Picks” Workers According to His Own Wisdom and Power

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“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

If you were picking players for a basketball team, you would probably not pick Evan. Evan is short, slow, and not very smart. He misses most of the shots he takes, and he sometimes actually just drops the basketball. Evan is usually the last person to be picked for any kinds of sports team – if he even gets picked at all.

The Bible tells us that God has chosen “foolish things” and “weak things” to accomplish His work. Evan is not very smart, and he is not very strong, but God has chosen Evan to be His child. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, God has chosen you to shame those who are smart and strong in ways the world values.

God does great things through people who love Him. When He does those great things, He doesn’t want His people to say, “Look what I did because I am smart!” He wants them to say, “Look what God did.” God chooses people who are not necessarily smart or strong so that they will know that God is great, and they are not.

You may not be the smartest or strongest kid in the world, but that makes you the kind of material God can use. When unbelievers see the great things God does through us, they will be ashamed because they will see that even though we were foolish and weak, we were on the winning team the whole time.

God chose you not because you are great, but because He is.

My Response:

» Am I trying to tell God who is or isn’t worthy to serve Him?

» Am I fearful to obey a command from God because I think of myself as unworthy or unable to be of use to Him?

» Am I trying to do things for God in my own power, or am I letting God help me and use me in spite of my shortcomings?

 

http://kids4truth.com/home.aspx

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Keep Divine Appointments

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Read: John 4:4-30, 39-41

And he had to pass through Samaria. (v. 4)

Most Jewish people in Jesus’ day despised the Samaritans and would rather walk around Samaria, going more than 90 miles out of their way, than walk through it. Not Jesus. He had a divine appointment with a woman at a well in Sychar. Their appointment wasn’t about a drink of water, or her marital status. It was about the pain in her heart.

This woman was an outsider in her village. She was seen as “unclean” and people avoided her. In our culture “outsiders” might be immigrants, addicts, ex-cons, or the homeless. Jesus chose to befriend outsiders. Where we see differences, Jesus saw people in pain. Jesus always saw a person’s heart.

While shopping, a woman who smelled like she hadn’t bathed in weeks asked me about a certain brand of shampoo. Then she told me her son had killed himself recently, and she wasn’t coping; she couldn’t sleep, eat, or make decisions. Most days she couldn’t leave her house. I listened as she cried and talked about her son. We prayed together, then she smiled and bought her shampoo. This was a divine appointment. She needed someone to acknowledge her pain, and remind her God still loved her.

When you encounter an outsider, do you see them as Jesus would? Perhaps they need to be reminded they are loved. It could be a divine appointment; be sure to keep it. —Susan Hetrick

Prayer: Lord, when you have set divine appointments for me, remind me to see people as you do.

 

https://woh.org/