Daily Archives: March 23, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Turning Inadequacy Into Victory

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Philippians 2:13

In every life, a sense of insufficiency will surface from time to time, but through the Holy Spirit, we have the power to combat it. Like the many insufficient but willing saints who have gone before us, we can turn inadequacy into victory.

  1. Acknowledge your weakness. Suppose a neighbor walks across the yard and tells you about his sister’s life-threatening illness. He is upset and scared, wondering what comes after death. You clearly sense God speaking in your heart, urging you to explain His saving grace to the man, but inadequacy nearly drowns out the prompting. Feeling unsure is a normal human reaction, and following God’s directive requires that we acknowledge our fear—for example, by praying, “Lord, I don’t feel capable of witnessing to my neighbor.”
  2. Pray for strength. Say to God, “Father, I know this is what You want me to do, so I am trusting You to be true to Your Word. You said You would make me adequate in Christ Jesus.” The Lord assumes responsibility for enabling you to know what to say, how to say it, and the spirit in which to deliver His message.
  3. Step out in faith. Do something that propels you into the God-given opportunity, allowing Him to prove His power and your ability when you rely upon Him.

Let the Lord turn your inadequacy into victory—He delights in proving Himself in His children’s lives. The key is to look beyond our limitations to Jesus Christ’s total sufficiency. Only then can we live joyfully and confidently, even when we are painfully aware of our personal shortcomings.

Bible in One Year: 1 Samuel 1-3

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Cradled in Comfort

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Read: Isaiah 66:12–16

Bible in a Year: Joshua 13–15; Luke 1:57–80

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.—Isaiah 66:13

My friend entrusted me with the privilege of holding her precious, four-day-old daughter. Not long after I took the baby into my arms, she started to fuss. I hugged her closer, my cheek pressed against her head, and began to sway and hum in a gentle rhythm to soothe her. Despite these earnest attempts, and my decade and a half of parenting experience, I couldn’t pacify her. She became increasingly upset until I placed her back into the crook of her mother’s eager arm. Peace washed over her almost instantaneously; her cries subsided and her newborn frame relaxed into the safety she already trusted. My friend knew precisely how to hold and pat her daughter to alleviate her distress.

God extends comfort to His children like a mother: tender, trustworthy, and diligent in her efforts to calm her child. When we are weary or upset, He carries us affectionately in His arms. As our Father and Creator, He knows us intimately. He “will keep in perfect peace all who trust in [him], all whose thoughts are fixed on [him]” (Isa. 26:3 nlt).

When the troubles of this world weigh heavy on our hearts, we can find comfort in the knowledge that He protects and fights for us, His children, as a loving parent. —Kirsten Holmberg

Lord, help me to look to You for my comfort in times of distress.

God’s comfort soothes us perfectly.

INSIGHT: In reflecting on the exile of Israel under divine discipline, the prophet Isaiah offers hope and comfort. He sees very clearly that “the Holy One of Israel” and the Creator of all things in heaven and earth are connected. Israel had a wayward heart that is characteristic of the human race. Yet the ultimate goal of Israel’s discipline was to secure their repentance and therefore a future blessing in the eternal covenant established with His people. Certainly God’s plan for Israel’s redemption included an unexpected impulse of divine grace extended to all the peoples of the world—from every tribe, tongue, and nation: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Stay Balanced

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Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. —1 Peter 5:8

Listening to the Holy Spirit will keep us balanced in every area of our lives. The Spirit will tell us when we’re spending too much money or not spending enough, when we’re talking too much or not talking enough, or even when we’re resting too much or not resting enough. Any time we are doing too much or too little of something, we are out of balance.

The verse for today states that we are to be well-balanced so Satan cannot take advantage of us. For years, he took advantage of me because I was not balanced in my approach to work. I felt that my whole life should be arranged around work. As long as I was working and accomplishing something, I didn’t feel the guilt that the devil used against me. But that urge to work all the time was not from God; it did not push me toward godly balance in my life. Work is a good thing, but I also needed to rest and have enjoyment.

Each day as you seek to hear from God, ask Him to show you any area in your life that is out of balance and work with Him to make adjustments. We have many things in life to juggle and therefore it is easy to get out of balance, but God is always available to help us in this area. Simply ask Him if you are doing too much or too little of anything and make the changes He recommends.

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 – Loving and Kind

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“But His joy is in those who reverence Him, those who expect Him to be loving and kind” (Psalm 147:11).

Can you imagine an intelligent person saying no to Christ if he fully understood how much God loves him and if he realized that when he receives Christ his sins are all forgiven and he is given eternal life together with new meaning and purpose for his present life?

The non-believer who does not know all these things continues to live in disobedience, rejecting God’s love and forgiveness. Why? Simply because he does not understand; he lacks information.

It is difficult to imagine a person saying no to such a wonderful life of challenge and adventure with the risen Christ if that person knows all the facts about who Christ is and why He came to this world. It is the same with the Christian who is living in spiritual poverty. He often continues to live a frustrated, fruitless life, simply because he just does not understand who the Holy Spirit is and what the supernatural life is all about. But lack of knowledge is not the only obstacle to enjoying the supernatural life.

Pride: Pride, which is an exaltation of self instead of God, is the root cause of all sin. This defeating aspect of our human nature has kept many Christians from living supernaturally. Pride is not the same as a God-given healthy love and acceptance of oneself.

Fear of man: Peer pressure keeps many Christians from living the supernatural life. “The fear of man brings a snare” (Proverbs 29:25, NAS).

Many are afraid to be different, or are ashamed to witness for Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. “But His joy is in those who reverence Him, those who expect Him to be loving and kind.”

Bible Reading: Psalm 147:5-10

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  I will claim the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to overcome pride and fear of man, I will reverence the Lord and expect Him to be loving and kind as He promised.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Give God Your Whispering Thoughts

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In the 19th century an anonymous Russian monk set out to live in unceasing communion with God. In a book entitled, “The Way of the Pilgrim,” he tells of having one prayer constantly in his mind: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The prayer became so internalized he constantly prayed it.

Perhaps you and I should take note. By the time your life is over, you will have spent six months at stoplights, a year and a half looking for lost stuff (double that number in my case) and a whopping five years standing in lines. Why don’t we give these moments to God? Simple phrases like, “Thank you, Father.” “Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord.” “You are my resting place, Jesus.” Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen or the office became a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts!

From Just Like Jesus

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Seven arrested in London terrorist attack

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The world has witnessed what British Prime Minister Theresa May is calling “a sick and depraved terrorist attack.” CNN reports this morning that authorities have now arrested seven people in connection with the deadliest terror attack in central London in twelve years.

Just before 2:45 PM GMT yesterday, while the House of Commons was debating a proposal regarding Scottish independence, a silver Hyundai 4×4 veered from the roadway of Westminster Bridge. The narrow sidewalk where the Thames flows under the “Big Ben” clock tower was crowded with tourists and office workers. The terrorist drove into the crowd; witnesses reported that the impact threw two bodies into the Thames.

The driver then smashed into the iron railings near the base of the clock tower and got out of the vehicle carrying a large knife. He repeatedly stabbed police officer Keith Palmer, killing him. An armed policeman then shot and killed the attacker.

A woman from Spain and a man in his mid-fifties were killed. Twenty-nine people were hospitalized; seven are in critical condition. Among the injured was a group of French schoolchildren.

The attack came on the one-year anniversary of the Brussels bombings that killed thirty-two people. Police say they know the assailant but have not released information about him as of this morning. They believe, however, that he was “inspired by international terrorism.”

We can now add London to the recent list of vehicular attacks, along with Nice, France; Berlin, Germany; Ohio State University; and Jerusalem. ISIS and al Qaeda have called on their followers to use trucks and weapons to “mow down the enemies of Allah.”

Why do jihadists see tourists on a London sidewalk as their enemies?
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C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily – Today’s Reading

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TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On disagreeable, nasty people; and on avoiding obsessing about their bullying.

10 March 1954

I am sorry things are not better. I am very puzzled by people like your Committee Secretary, people who are just nasty. I find it easier to understand the great crimes, for the raw material of them exists in us all; the mere disagreeableness which seems to spring from no recognisable passion is mysterious. (Like the total stranger in a train of whom I once asked ‘Do you know when we get to Liverpool’ and who replied ‘I’m not paid to answer your questions: ask the guard’). I have found it more among boys than anyone else. That makes me think it really comes from inner insecurity—a dim sense that one is Nobody, a strong determination to be Somebody, and a belief that this can be achieved by arrogance. Probably you, who can’t hit back, come in for a good deal of resentful arrogance aroused by others on whom she doesn’t vent it, because they can. (A bully in an Elizabethan play, having been sat on by a man he dare not fight, says ‘I’ll go home and beat all my servants’). But I mustn’t encourage you to go on thinking about her: that, after all, is almost the greatest evil nasty people can do us—to become an obsession, to haunt our minds. A brief prayer for them, and then away to other subjects, is the thing, if one can only stick to it. I hope the other job will materialise. . . .

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