Daily Archives: March 14, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Our Struggle With Guilt

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1 John 1:5-9

For some of us, guilt is a steady companion. We live under the weight of past mistakes and the fear of future wrongdoing. Even if we try to move forward, self-reproach tags along.

Not all guilty emotions are based in fact, but those that result from breaking biblical or civil law are legitimate: When we transgress, the Holy Spirit points out what is wrong and how to correct it. Then, in response to our confession, God offers us forgiveness and cleansing from guilt every single time (Ps. 32:5).

Where does false guilt originate? There are several answers. For one thing, Satan uses it to harass believers. Through lies and accusations, the enemy seeks to replace inner peace with turmoil, and joy with discouragement.

Another source of guilt is legalism, the judging of conduct according to a precise standard. God’s Word establishes the way we are to live, but some Christians and churches impose additional rules. And failure to follow man-made regulations can produce shame. Childhood experiences can also bring out the negative emotion of guilt. Whether this stems from the aftermath of traumatic events or the feeling that we didn’t meet parental expectations, a memory can prompt us to judge ourselves harshly as adults. Living under severe criticism can have this effect, too, as can perfectionistic tendencies—which tell us we can always “do more” and “do better.”

Legalism, painful childhood experiences, perfectionism, and hurtful comments are fertile soil for guilt. If you struggle with self-condemnation, be sure to check the legitimacy of the source.

Bible in One Year: Judges 4-6

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Open Arms

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Read: Psalm 139:17–24

Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 23–25; Mark 14:1–26

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.—Psalm 139:23

The day my husband, Dan, and I began our caregiving journey with our aging parents, we linked arms and felt as if we were plunging off a cliff. We didn’t know that in the process of caregiving the hardest task we would face would be to allow our hearts to be searched and molded and to allow God to use this special time to make us like Him in new ways.

On days when I felt I was plunging toward earth in an out-of-control free-fall, God showed me my agendas, my reservations, my fears, my pride, and my selfishness. He used my broken places to show me His love and forgiveness.

My pastor has said, “The best day is the day you see yourself for who you are—desperate without Christ. Then see yourself as He sees you—complete in Him.” This was the blessing of caregiving in my life. As I saw who God had created me to be, I turned and ran weeping into His arms. I cried out with the psalmist: “Search me, God, and know my heart” (Ps. 139:23).

This is my prayer for you—that as you see yourself in the midst of your own circumstances, you will turn and run into the open, loving, and forgiving arms of God. —Shelly Beach

Gracious Father, I recognize today my desperate need of Your love, wisdom, and grace. Search me and know me. Pour out Your grace and mercy in my life to bring healing to my heart.

When worry walks in, strength runs out. But strength returns when we run to God.

INSIGHT: There is no place where David is outside God’s protective presence and care (139:7-12). Recognizing that it was a great privilege to know such a God, David prayed a prayer of commitment, seeking to live a blameless life (vv. 23-24). Even as he asks God to “search and test” him (v. 23), he was well-assured that God already knew him through and through, for he had declared at the start of this song, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” (v. 1). The Old Testament patriarch Job made a similar statement, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Job’s world had been turned upside down, having lost his wealth, his family, and his health (1:14-2:7). In the midst of his trials he boldly asks, “Does [God] not see my ways and count my every step?” (31:4). Perhaps, like David and Job, you may be going through a rough patch. We can be encouraged that our God knows and cares. What is your response to the truth that God knows everything about you and His arms of love are always open? Sim Kay Tee

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – A Look in the Mirror

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I wish it had been an unusual conversation. A group of close friends had gathered for dinner to catch up on life’s happenings and events. In the course of conversation, and it happens more often than I’d like to admit, the typical meanderings through each other’s lives shifted to calling out the particular character flaws of individuals we all knew, but who were not present with us. “She’s so judgmental,” one friend observed. “Well, she’s a perfectionist and hyper-critical” another added, and on and on it continued as the evening progressed. Never one to remain silent, I added my perspective that dissected personality peccadillos, all without a defense or a counter-narrative. How easy it was to evaluate another with surgical precision without stopping for a minute to think about how it might feel to be on the other side of the scalpel.

As I replayed the conversation in my mind, I was struck by the fact that the very nature of our conversation displayed the very same tendencies we had called out in these others. More than that, hadn’t we just demonstrated the very judgmental and critical spirits we had leveled against others? Psychologists have long understood this all too common tendency of identifying in others what we tend to struggle with in our own lives. We had all demonstrated the process of psychological projection by which individuals defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities by attributing them to others.(1) How easy it had been to deny the existence of these ugly qualities in ourselves by placing them (and blame) on others.

The psychoanalytic tradition defined projection as a defense mechanism which is understood as a largely unconscious strategy to avoid conscious conflict or anxiety. And what could cause more anxiety than having to face the truth about ourselves? As author Richard Rohr notes, “I am convinced that there is nothing on which people are so fixated as their self-image. We are literally prepared to go through hell just so we don’t have to give it up. We’re all affected by it.”(2) The people who irritate and frustrate, the ones with qualities we dislike so much, are in fact a mirror that reflects our own image. Yet, we find every conceivable way not to see that kind of ugly reflection staring back at us.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Avoid Comparisons

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Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.—2 Corinthians 10:12

Advertising is often geared to make people strive to look the best, be the best, and own the most. If you wear “this” particular brand of clothes, people will admire you! Try “this” new diet and lose those few extra pounds—and then you will be accepted and noticed. The world consistently gives us the impression that we need to be something other than what we are.

A confident person avoids comparisons. Confidence is not possible as long as we compare ourselves with other people. No matter how good we look, how talented or smart we are, or how successful we are, there is always someone who is better, and sooner or later we will run into him or her.

I believe confidence is found in doing the best we can with what we have to work with and not in comparing ourselves with others and competing with them. Our joy should not be found in being better than others, but in being the best we can be. Always struggling to maintain the number-one position is hard work. In fact, it’s impossible.

Lord, I refuse to compare myself with others and compete to be better than them. My only interest is to be the best I can be with the gifts and talents You have given me. Amen.

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

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Supernatural Wisdom – by Faith

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“If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it” (James 1:5).

Often – many times a day – I need divine wisdom, not only in the multitudes of decisions that I must make daily, but also in the witnessing situations the Lord brings across my path. No doubt you recognize a similar need in your life.

All I have to do to have His presence guide me, if my heart is right with Him, is to ask in faith, and He promises the wisdom I need for each day and for each moment of the day.

If we are going to live supernatural lives, and if we are going to demonstrate to others that they, too, can live such a life, then we must begin to think and act differently. And that is possible only as we go to the source of all divine wisdom.

This verse from Scripture assures us that God’s ear is always open to this kind of prayer. And of course the wisdom to which James refers is more than factual knowledge. It is the light of life, in which we can walk without stumbling.

Why does one need to pray to gain this wisdom? Perhaps because prayer is humbling and involves an acknowledgment of our inadequacy. Prayer opens our hearts and lives to the transforming influence of the Spirit of God.

Bible Reading: James 1:6-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  Knowing that I need God’s wisdom if I am to serve Him effectively and please Him today, I will obey Him – and claim His supernatural work in my life – by asking for His wisdom when I face a decision.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Christ Lives in You

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How could we ever hope to have the heart of Jesus as the Bible promises? Ready for a surprise? If you are in Christ, you already have the heart of Christ. Paul said it succinctly in Galatians 2:20…“Christ lives in me.” And Paul explains it with these words, “Strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16 TLB).

Strange is the word! If I have the mind of Jesus, why do I still have the hang-ups of Max? God is willing to change us into the likeness of the Savior. Here’s my suggestion. Let’s imagine what it means to be just like Jesus. How did he forgive? When did he pray? Why didn’t he give up? Let’s “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). Perhaps in seeing him, we will see what we can become.

From Just Like Jesus

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – A ‘historic storm’ and the state of our souls

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While the East Coast braces for what USA Today calls a “historic storm,” an op-ed in this morning’s New York Times warns that our nuclear weapons are vulnerable to cyberwarfare. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that synagogues across America are ramping up security in the face of continued bomb threats.

Some sins are so public that they generate headlines. Others, less so.

I was walking in our neighborhood early yesterday morning and watched a driver pull up to a four-way stop sign, slow down slightly to see that there were no other cars or people in the way, then speed through the intersection. For the rest of my walk, I considered the theological implications of what I had just witnessed.

Here’s why: my neighbor’s decision represents precisely the kind of temptation that most plagues people who read an article such as this one.

We know that public sin dishonors God, ruins our witness, and harms everyone it affects. My neighbor would no doubt have come to a legal stop if there had been other drivers or people in the intersection.

But private sins known to no one but God, choices for which we cannot see significant negative consequences, are another matter. Judgmental thoughts not verbalized, greed or lust or jealousy or anger not acted upon—these are temptations we think we can indulge. Only God knows, and we can confess them to him and be forgiven without cost. Or so we think.

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