Monthly Archives: January 2017

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Don’t Judge Anyone

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Read: Luke 6:37-42

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. (v. 37 NIV)

In the Gospels you will see Jesus hanging out with people of questionable reputation, healing people of diseases, and assuring them of God’s forgiveness. He never once said to anyone, “I won’t heal you until you stop sinning,” or “You can’t eat with me because of your lifestyle!”

Jesus didn’t have a problem with “sinners.” The only people Jesus had problems with were those who believed they weren’t sinners! Jesus had issues with the religious leaders who enforced the letter of the law, while ignoring the spirit behind the law, and thinking they themselves were above the law.

It’s easy to point out the sins of others—especially if we don’t know them personally. It’s even easier to point out the sins of an entire group of people! This deflects the focus—if I point at them, no one will be looking at me! However, Jesus says this is hypocrisy. If I cannot or will not admit my own faults and failures, how dare I point out yours?

Let’s face it—we are all sinners. The good news is that Jesus has compassion for sinners. He understands our tendency to excuse or deny our own sinfulness, while finding fault with others. But then he says, “Stop it!” When we follow Jesus’ example, we learn not to judge other people’s behavior before taking a good hard look at our own. —Susan Hetrick

Prayer: Forgiving God, show me my own faults, and teach me compassion for others.

 

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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

 

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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?

 

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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.

 

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Life After Death

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Luke 12:16-20

The thought of death frightens many people. But believers have no reason to fear. Jesus’ empty tomb proves that there is life after the physical body dies.

Unbelievers who dread their demise have two different approaches to life. One group piles up wealth, good deeds, or worldly success in the hope of passing it on to their children or to charity. They expect to “live on” in the memories of those who benefit from their hard work. But it’s the rare person who is still remembered a few generations later. And none truly live on.

The other group chooses to laugh in the face of death. Their philosophy is “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). Their existence seems pleasurable from the outside, but can you imagine a more futile way to live your life? God does not intend for us to pass the time with such meaninglessness.

Here’s the key to significance: fulfilling our unique, God-given, eternal purpose. In this life, we do not labor to leave a physical legacy or waste our days pursuing pleasure. Instead, we help those in need, influence our culture, and reach out to the lost. And when a believer enters heaven, he or she keeps on working for Jesus.

For the believer, death is not a fearsome end. It is the doorway to a new life of serving the Lord in heaven. Our days on earth are just the beginning of our existence; they will seem like only a few minutes compared to an eternity spent in His presence.

Bible in One Year: Exodus 34-35

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Unseen Heroes

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Read: Exodus 17:8–15

Bible in a Year: Exodus 16–18; Matthew 18:1–20

Aaron and Hur held [Moses’s] hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.—Exodus 17:12

Stories in the Bible can make us stop and wonder. For instance, when Moses led God’s people into the Promised Land and the Amalekites attacked, how did he know to go to the top of the hill and hold up God’s staff? (Ex. 17:8-15). We aren’t told, but we learn that when Moses raised his hands, the Israelites would win the battle, and when he lowered them, the Amalekites would win. When Moses got tired, his brother Aaron and another man, Hur, held up Moses’s arms so the Israelites could triumph.

We aren’t told much about Hur, but he played a crucial role at this point in Israel’s history. This reminds us that unseen heroes matter, that supporters and those who encourage leaders play a key and often overlooked role. Leaders may be the ones mentioned in the history books or lauded on social media, but the quiet, faithful witness of those who serve in other ways is not overlooked by the Lord. He sees the person who intercedes daily in prayer for friends and family. He sees the woman who puts away the chairs each Sunday in church. He sees the neighbor who reaches out with a word of encouragement.

God is using us, even if our task feels insignificant. And may we notice and thank any unseen heroes who help us. —Amy Boucher Pye

Dear Father, thank You for creating me and gifting me in my own unique way. Help me to serve You and others faithfully and to appreciate those You have sent to help me.

Unseen heroes are always seen by God.

INSIGHT: In Exodus 17, it’s interesting that the task of holding Moses’s hands in the air did not fall only to Moses. Moses needed Aaron and Hur’s aid. It seems that the need for help is part of the point of the story. The entire army and the nation of Israel itself were depending on him. If he had failed—and on his own, this was virtually a guarantee—Israel would have lost the battle and many people would have died. Perhaps the dramatic moment when Moses realized his need for help prepared him for applying this lesson to his life. The leadership of the nation was too much responsibility for him alone. He needed help (see Exodus 18). The battle with the Amalekites reminds us of the reality that we do not, cannot, and need not stand alone. J.R. Hudberg

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Case for Lament

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“Lamentation” is not a word that is heard very often. Words like sadness, regret, sorrow, or mourning are far more common. But I wonder if something is not lost in the dismissal of lament from our language and our lives.

The Christian hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is for me a song of lament. Because of certain associations, it is a song that immediately evokes a sense of grief, and yet it is the sort of mourning for me that is somehow both held and expressed in worship. Whether the Christian story is one you embrace or not, the connection of these two ideas—worship and lamentation—may seem even more foreign than the word itself. What could lament possibly have to do with worship? Surely if not opposites, they are words and postures diametrically opposed. While this may be true in many popular applications, which use the word worship to denote passion for something, worship in the Judeo/Christian vision and experience of the world once considered lamentation a significant element. It is a thought worth considering, particularly on behalf of those who dismiss the possibility of God’s existence out of a conviction that a world of so much pain is incompatible with a God worth loving.

In her honest memoir No More Faking Fine, Esther Fleece admits between court hearings, restraining orders, and the harrowing dynamics of a shattered family that it was shaping her suspicions about God. “I was learning a dangerous lesson: that love can end abruptly, that the support that was there in the past can sometimes be swept up suddenly like a rug under your feet, leaving you stumbling. What’s worse, I couldn’t help but worry if God’s love was like this too.”(1) The book recounts her ability to successfully fake being fine; she went from competent student to accomplished professional, all the while reeling with anxiety and battling debilitating despair. But discovering the language of lament offered a kind of merciful undoing. “A lament saves us from staying stuck in grief and rescues us from a faith based on falsehoods,” she writes. “It was a false belief that told me I would always be incapable of being loved. It was a false belief that led me to believe I was the reason for my parents’ divorce. It was a false belief that told me I would never find my way out of despair… While a lament may not change our circumstances, it will help clear up our misunderstandings about God… A lament is a pathway; it serves a purpose. But a lament denied turns into a lie.”(2) Fleece discovered that the God who not only gives permission to lament but considers it worship was far more capable of reaching a crumbling world of pain than she ever imagined.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Case for Lament →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Retire from Self-Care

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. . . Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved. —Acts 16:31

God wants to take care of you, and He can do a much better job of it if you will avoid a problem called independence, which is really self-care.

The desire to take care of yourself is based on fear. You are afraid of what might happen if you entrust yourself totally to God and He doesn’t come through for you. The root problem of independence is, you trust yourself more than you trust God.

People love to have a backup plan. You may ask God to get involved in your life, but if He doesn’t respond as quickly as you’d like, you take control back into your own hands.

But God has a plan for you—and His plan is much better than yours. So give yourself to Him and see what happens.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Orders Your Steps

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“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37:23, KJV).

Miriam Booth – a beautiful, brilliant, cultured woman – daughter of the Salvation Army founder, began her Christian work with great promise. She had unusual success. Before long, however, disease struck her and brought her to the point of death. A friend visiting her one day said it seemed a pity that a woman so capable should be hindered by illness from doing the Lord’s work. “It is great to do the Lord’s work,” she replied with gentle grace, “but it is greater to do the Lord’s will.”

Are you looking for direction, for purpose, for meaning to your life?

The psalmist wanted to make it very plain that the person who is “good,” the one who is clothed with the righteousness, the goodness of Christ, can have the absolute assurance that His steps, one by one, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, are ordered by the Lord (planned and directed by Him).

That wonderful truth is made even more meaningful by the reminder that our “stops” as well are directed by the Lord. He knows when we need to slow down, to wait on Him. As a Christian leader once said, after several weeks of being bedridden: “I needed to be flat on my back so that the only way I could look was up.”

Finding the will of God has been difficult for many people – for most of us at one time or another. But the truth remains that He promises to give wisdom to any who ask, and we have that privilege when we belong to Him by virtue of having received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.

If you are facing a crossroad in your life, wait on Him and avoid the usual rush to a decision that might be disastrous. “He is faithful who promised.” Depend upon Him to make the way clear as you lay the decision prayerfully before Him.

Bible Reading: Isaiah 58:9-14

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: When I need wisdom for a specific decision today, I will breathe an earnest prayer for direction. Then I will thank God for the clear leading which He promises and for enabling me to continue living the supernatural life, as He directs my steps.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Strength to Overcome

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God’s word to Joshua is God’s word to us. “Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1:6). Do not cower before your woes. Take the land God has given you to possess. “And the Lord said to Joshua, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor” (Joshua 6:2). God did not say, Joshua, take the city. God said, Joshua, receive the city I have taken. Joshua didn’t go forth hoping to win. He knew that God had already won.

The same can be said about you and your challenge. God says, Receive the blessing of my victory. The question is not, will you overcome? It is, when will you overcome? Life will always bring challenges. But God will always give strength to face them.

From God is With You Every Day

 

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Why ‘priming’ is so transforming

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Call it the Senior Adult Championship. Thirty-five-year-old Serena Williams is playing her thirty-six-year-old sister Venus in the Australian Open final tomorrow. Venus is the oldest player to reach an Australian Open women’s final in the modern era. Meanwhile, Roger Federer will play either Rafael Nadal or Grigor Dimitrov in the men’s final on Sunday (their semifinal match is in the fourth set as I write this morning). Federer is the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final since 1974.

As the saying goes, you’re only as old as you feel. It turns out, science agrees.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman describes a fascinating process psychologists call “priming.” In brief, what happens to us in one moment can affect us in the next moment in ways we don’t recognize.

For example, if you see the word “EAT,” you are temporarily more likely to complete the word fragment SO_P as SOUP than as SOAP. If you had just seen the word “WASH,” the opposite would more likely occur. Once your brain is primed with food, you are more likely to recognize other words such as fork, hungry, fat, diet, and cookie.

Priming works with concepts as well as words. Research subjects who were asked to walk around a room much more slowly than usual were much quicker to recognize words related to old age such as forgetful, old, and lonely.

In short, what our minds experience now influences what we are likely to experience next.

David testified to the positive power of priming when he told the Lord, “Your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness” (Psalm 26:3). Jesus often began the day alone with his Father (cf. Mark 1:35), as did David (Psalm 5:3), Abraham (Genesis 19:27), Jacob (Genesis 28:18), and Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:20). It is no surprise that their lives were marked by faithfulness to the God they worshiped at the start of the day.
Continue reading Denison Forum – Why ‘priming’ is so transforming →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Rewards of Working Well

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Ephesians 6:5-8

To help with my college expenses, I spent summers working in a textile mill. My assignment was in the bleachery, the hottest part of the complex. I did not like the work, the heat, or the tough boss, and for the first couple of weeks, my attitude reflected my unhappiness. The job wouldn’t change, I realized, but my way of thinking could. I decided to work as if the Lord was my boss, and that choice made all the difference.

The heat did not bother me anymore. The work became tolerable, and best of all, I had many opportunities to share my faith because fellow workers noticed I was different. When I returned the following summer, that harsh boss gave me a job without hesitation.

Treating our work like an extension of our service to the Lord changes our attitude. Pleasing Him motivates us to do our best and inevitably results in the believer’s contentment. A job may be challenging, frustrating, or boring, but we can be at peace instead of wallowing in negative emotions.

A servant heart can impact other employees as well. Service that is rendered with kindness, grace, and humility gets coworkers’ attention, which in turn opens up opportunities for ministry to the people with whom we spend hours each day.

Rewards for enthusiastic service on the job can take many forms—including greater personal satisfaction in our work and opportunities to reflect Christ to others. There is also the great joy of knowing that our Father is happy with our performance.

Bible in One Year: Exodus 31-33

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All Too Human

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Read: Romans 7:14–25

Bible in a Year: Exodus 14–15; Matthew 17

The trouble is with me, for I am all too human.—Romans 7:14 NLT

British writer Evelyn Waugh wielded his words in a way that accentuated his character flaws. Eventually the novelist converted to Christianity, yet he still struggled. One day a woman asked him, “Mr. Waugh, how can you behave as you do and still call yourself a Christian?” He replied, “Madam, I may be as bad as you say. But believe me, were it not for my religion, I would scarcely be a human being.”

Waugh was waging the internal battle the apostle Paul describes: “I want to do what is right, but I can’t” (Rom. 7:18 NLT). He also says, “The trouble is not with the law . . . [It] is with me, for I am all too human” (v. 14 NLT). He further explains, “In my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me . . . . Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (vv. 22-24). And then the exultant answer: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25).

When we come in faith to Christ, admitting our wrongdoing and need of a Savior, we immediately become a new creation. But our spiritual formation remains a lifelong journey. As John the disciple observed: “Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But . . . when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). —Tim Gustafson

Father, we bring our struggles to You because You know all about them, yet You love us anyway. Teach us to rely on Your Holy Spirit. Make us more like Your Son each day.

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. C. S. Lewis

INSIGHT: Although we are saved by grace, we often struggle to live up to our position as children of God. However, we can turn to Christ and find His sufficient help and grace to move beyond our worst selves and to stand in Him (vv. 24-25). How does it give you confidence to know that God is still at work in your life? Bill Crowder

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In Pursuit of Spirituality

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There is a growing interest in new spirituality in our times. With its all-inclusive approach to religion accompanied by its emphasis on the spiritual disciplines, the East has become an object of great attraction. Eastern spirituality offers a wide variety of options from which one can choose depending on inclination. Prominent among them are yoga, astrology, holistic healings, and transcendental meditation, among many others.

The term ‘spirituality’ is sometimes used in a very vague sense. Gordon Wakefield offers a very helpful definition which says that in “all (Christian) traditions, and in many non-Christian faiths and philosophies, the underlying implication is that there is a constituent of human nature which seeks relations with the ground and purpose of existence, however conceived.”(1) The Bible describes this same predicament as a consequence of God’s work in us so that mankind would somehow desire and reach out for the Divine.(2) Over a period of time, this basic truth about human nature has taken different shapes and forms in terms of its expressions.

According to the new spirituality, the diagnosis of the problem of mankind is not moral sin against a Holy God (as diagnosed by the Biblical view) but that mankind suffers from “a type of metaphysical amnesia—an ignorance of their divine nature.”(3) In order to overcome this ‘metaphysical amnesia,’ the new spirituality has introduced several mystical paths as a means of attaining salvation or, in other words, to awaken people from a deep seated ignorance to the realization that they are god. What then lies at the heart of this path to ‘self-realization’ is the “transformation or alteration of consciousness,” which involves the process of “following a mystical path,” which would ultimately aid in the union with the Divine.(4)

These prescribed paths in turn are to be pursued with the sole spiritual objective to acquire the union between the finite and the infinite, wherein the individual in the ultimate sense ought to lose one’s identity by being one with the divine (like a drop of water loses its uniqueness when it merges with the vast ocean). Clearly, one has to strictly follow all that has been prescribed in order to earn one’s salvation. However, despite the labor that this spiritual exercise demands and the length of time that it consumes, there is, in fact, no assurance that one can ever attain success. Most importantly, there is also no way for us to verify if these paths are at all true.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In Pursuit of Spirituality →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be Positive

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. . . But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.—1 Corinthians 2:16

Ever since I started keeping my mind in a positive pattern, I can’t stand the feeling of being negative. I’ve seen so many good changes in my life since I’ve been delivered from a negative mind that now I’m opposed to anything negative.

Here’s what I suggest if you’ve struggled with staying positive: Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you each time you start to get negative. This is part of His work. John 16:7-8 teaches us that the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin and convince us of righteousness. When the conviction comes, ask God to help you. Don’t think you can handle this yourself. Lean on Him.

Being positive does not mean that we don’t face reality. The Bible says to do all the crisis demands and then stand firmly in your place (see Ephesians 6:13). Our place is “in Christ,” and in Him we can always be hopeful and positive because nothing is too hard for Him. Jesus was always positive and full of faith. We have His mind in us, and with His help, we can do the same things.

Think like God thinks, so you can be the person He wants you to be and have all that He wants you to have.

From the book Closer to God Each Day by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Sound Mind Principle

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“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV).

Some years ago, a young college graduate came to me for counsel concerning God’s will for his life. “How can I know what God wants me to do?” he asked.

Briefly, I explained a helpful approach to knowing the will of God: following what I call the “sound mind principle” of Scripture.

In less than an hour, by following the suggestions contained in this principle, this young man discovered what he had been seeking for years. He discovered not only the work which God wanted him to do but also the organization and manner in which he was to serve our Lord. Today he is serving Christ as a missionary in Africa, where he and his wife are touching the lives of thousands throughout the entire continent.

What is this “sound mind principle”? This verse refers to a well-balanced mind – a mind that is under the control of the Holy Spirit. It involves the practice of determining God’s wisdom and direction through use of your mind saturated with God’s Word, instead of relying only on emotional impressions. Though God often leads us through impressions, He generally expects us to use our “sound minds.”

For example, when you have an important decision to make, take a sheet of paper, list all the positive and negative factors. Then consider what God’s Word has to say about the matter – directly or indirectly. Be sure you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, then make your decision on the basis of what seems obvious, unless God specifically leads you to the contrary.

“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2, KJV).

Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: In every major decision I face today, I will apply the sound mind principle to determine God’s will in the matter, unless God specifically and supernaturally leads me to do something else which is also consistent with Scripture.

 

http://www.cru.org