Monthly Archives: April 2017

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be Blessed

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Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her, [saying], Many daughters have done virtuously, nobly, and well [with the strength of character that is steadfast in goodness], but you excel them all.—Proverbs 31:28-29

A virtuous and worthy wife [earnest and strong in character] is a crowning joy to her husband…(Proverbs 12:4). She enjoys the praise of her children and husband. They rise up to call her blessed. Her husband says that many daughters have been virtuous and noble but that she exceeds them all. In other words, he says that she is the best wife anyone could ever have. He applauds and celebrates her strength of character and goodness.

One year my birthday happened to be during one of our conferences, and my husband, Dave, stood up and read Proverbs 31 to me in front of a room filled with people. Then my children one by one rose up to say kind and edifying things to me. There is no better feeling than to spend years raising your children, and then have them tell you that they honor you, love you, and don’t believe they could have had a better mother. Or to have your husband say you are the best wife in the world. Those comments certainly were confidence boosters for me.

Lord, whether anyone ever gives me these commendations, I want to live my life in a way that brings joy and blessing to others. Build strength into my character. 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 – A Healthy, Growing Body 

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“Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times – speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly – and so become more and more in every way like Christ who is the Head of His body, the church. Under His direction the whole body is fitted together perfectly, and each part in its own special way helps the other parts, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

I am concerned, as you no doubt are, that God’s ideal church, in which the whole body is fitted together perfectly, becomes a reality. And if that is to happen, it will mean that I must become a part of that perfect fit.

Within the body of Christ, each of us has a unique function. True, two people might have similar functions just as a body has two hands that function similarly. But those two hands are not identical. Just try to wear a lefthand glove on your right hand!

The hands have similar functions, not identical functions. You and I might have similar abilities, but we are not identical. We are unique creations of God.

Therefore, we should not look upon our abilities with pride or be boastful of them. On the other hand, we should not be envious or look with disdain on others because of their different abilities.

Spiritual gifts include (1 Corinthians 12): wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostleship, teaching, helping, and administration; (Romans 12, additional): leadership, exhortation, giving and mercy.

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:7-14

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  So that I might fit more perfectly into God’s whole body, I will prayerfully seek the leadership of the Holy Spirit to enable me to make a maximum contribution to the body of Christ.

 

http://www.cru.org

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE EARLY CHURCH PRAYS TOGETHER

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Read Acts 2:1-41

Sociologist Christian Smith has studied the religious lives of American young adults and found them to be highly individualistic. Many believe “religion need not be practiced in and by a community.” Statistics documenting declining church participation support his findings that Americans increasingly believe that other people are not essential to an individual’s faith.

That idea stands in stark contrast to the communal Christianity we see modeled for us in the book of Acts. After that first Resurrection Sunday, the early followers of Christ did not scatter to their own private spiritual disciplines. Instead, the 120 believers found themselves almost constantly together, especially for prayer. Having received Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit, they confidently prayed together for the promise’s fulfillment.

The first church prayed together, and the Lord answered them together. On the day of Pentecost, “they were all together in one place” (v. 1) when tongues of fire came upon them and the prophesy of Joel came to pass: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. . .Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28, 29). As a community, God’s people were blessed.

But the answer to their prayers was not only for their own edification. The coming of the Holy Spirit equipped and empowered the church to proclaim Christ to those around them—and those as far away as the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In a single day, the infant church grew by 3,000 people. Doubtless, those thousands of people who first trusted Christ at Pentecost gave thanks to the Lord for the community of praying believers who had first gathered in one place to intercede for their salvation.

APPLY THE WORD

Private prayer is a priority of the Christian life (see Matt. 6:6), but when we pray together we multiply our thanks to God. Paul encourages the practice of praying together with others for others: “Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many” (1 Cor. 1:11). Look for opportunities to pray in community.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Corrects His Children

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“If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:7)

It was August, and the Ellisons’ air conditioner had broken down. Mrs. Ellison called the repairman, who tested the unit and took it apart. To his surprise, he found large quantities of sand in the outdoor fan. Mrs. Ellison asked her children if they knew how the sand had gotten in. Sadly, they admitted that they and their neighbor friends had made a game of throwing sand into the fan and running away before it could blow back into their faces.

Mrs. Ellison reminded them of the rule they had broken: sand was not supposed to be thrown or removed from the sandbox. Because of the children’s disobedience, the family would spend hundreds of dollars to replace the broken fan. The Ellison children would do extra cleanup in the yard as punishment, and a trip to Six Flags would be cancelled so that the money could go toward a new air conditioner. The Ellison children learned to take better care of property and to obey authority.

Mrs. Ellison also asked the neighbor children not to throw sand into the new fan. She explained about the damage, but she did not punish them. They went to their own yards and threw dirt and sand into their air conditioning fans. Soon other families were calling the same repairman and buying new air conditioners.

Why didn’t Mrs. Ellison discipline the neighbor children? They had knowingly broken the rules along with her children. But they were not her children, so she did not punish them.

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Corrects His Children →

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily – Today’s Reading

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The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of ‘little Christs’, all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented— as an author invents characters in a novel—all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to ‘be myself’ without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call ‘Myself’ becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call ‘My wishes’ become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men’s thoughts or even suggested to me by devils. Eggs and alcohol and a good night’s sleep will be the real origins of what I flatter myself by regarding as my own highly personal and discriminating decision to make love to the girl opposite to me in the railway carriage. Propaganda will be the real origin of what I regard as my own personal political ideas. I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call ‘me’ can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Impact of the Cross

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Hebrews 2:14-15

A day after the crucifixion, life must have looked hopeless to Jesus’ followers. They’d watched their beloved leader die, and the enemy seemed to have won. Considering the prevalence of evil today, we could make the same assumption. But we’d be wrong because when Christ died on the cross, Satan was defeated.

In Genesis 3:15, the evil one—who had spoken through the serpent—was cursed for his part in Adam and Eve’s sin. Referring to the conflict between the realms of light and darkness, God told Satan, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” This was the Lord’s way of foretelling, “Christ will be victorious over you.”

That’s why the enemy went to such great lengths in both testaments to derail God’s program of redemption, even attempting genocide to prevent Jesus’ arrival or otherwise disrupt the divine agenda (Est. 3:6; Matt. 2:16). Since the devil knows all the prophecies, he was well aware that Jesus Christ, the virgin-born, sinless, incarnate Son of God, came to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). This meant that if the Lamb of God died on the cross at Passover, His shed blood would pay mankind’s sin debt in full (Rom. 4:7-8). Satan did want Jesus to die, but at any other time and in any other way. (See Luke 4:29-30.) Yet all his efforts amounted to “nipping on the heel” compared to the deathblow Christ would deliver from the cross.

Satan has lost his power and can in no way tamper with our eternal life. If you believe in Christ, remember: “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 6-7

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Price of Love

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Read: Isaiah 53:9–12

Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 27–29; Luke 13:1–22

He poured out his life unto death.—Isaiah 53:12

Our daughter burst into tears as we waved goodbye to my parents. After visiting us in England, they were starting their long journey back to their home in the US. “I don’t want them to go,” she said. As I comforted her, my husband remarked, “I’m afraid that’s the price of love.”

We might feel the pain of being separated from loved ones, but Jesus felt the ultimate separation when He paid the price of love on the cross. He, who was both human and God, fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy 700 years after Isaiah gave it when He “bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). In this chapter we see rich pointers to Jesus being the suffering Servant, such as when He was “pierced for our transgressions” (v. 5), which happened when He was nailed to the cross and when one of the soldiers pierced His side (John 19:34), and that “by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).

Because of love, Jesus came to earth and was born a baby. Because of love, He received the abuse of the teachers of the law, the crowds, and the soldiers. Because of love, He suffered and died to be the perfect sacrifice, standing in our place before the Father. We live because of love. —Amy Boucher Pye

Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins, have mercy on us, and help us to extend mercy and love to others. Show us how we might share Your love with others today.

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice who died to give us life.

INSIGHT: Can you think of a time when you thought you would have been willing to do anything for love? Or, by contrast, have you known what it is like to avoid love—for fear of being hurt?  Living eight centuries before Christ, the prophet Isaiah had the hard job of letting the people of Jerusalem know that God loved them too much to let them continue to turn their backs on Him without consequence. Before confronting the idolatries of Ephraim, Assyria, and Egypt, Isaiah described the citizens of Jerusalem and Judea as dearly loved children who had rebelled against their Father (1:2-3). In chapter five it is evident that God cares too much about His people to let them continue embracing the false gods and futile hopes of other nations (vv. 1-7). Woven through Isaiah’s warnings, however, are promises that the painful judgments of God have a merciful purpose. Beyond the consequences, Isaiah sees a future of restoration not just for Jerusalem but also for the whole world (2:1-5). Yet, until the day of Jesus’s resurrection, the means by which God would carry out that rescue was a secret of His love. Mart DeHaan

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Your Source of Security

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“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” —Deuteronomy 33:12 NIV

One way to know whether you really love yourself in a healthy, bal¬anced way or not is to ask yourself whether you are a relatively secure person or whether you struggle with insecurity. Simply put, insecurity is a feeling that you really aren’t “good enough,” or needing others’ approval in order to be confident. It has to do with whether your life is built on the unshakable foundation of God’s love or the faulty founda¬tion of what others think of you.

Your security does not depend on your bank account, your job, the way you look, other people’s opinions of you or even the way others treat you. I know this can be tempting in today’s world, but I urge you not to base your security on your educational or professional achieve¬ments, the labels inside your clothes, your car, or the house you live in. Don’t base it on whether you are married or single, or whether you have children or not. Don’t look for your security anywhere but in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. He is the only one whose opinion matters, and He is the only one who will love you forever and never change His thoughts toward you.

Re-read the scripture for today and be encouraged. You are the beloved of the Lord and you can rest secure in Him.

Love Yourself Today: Start working with God to develop a rock-solid sense of security. He loves you, and through Him you can do whatever you need to do in life.

From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – His Rich Storehouse 

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“However, Christ has given each of us special abilities – whatever He wants us to have out of His rich storehouse of gifts” (Ephesians 4:7).

Roger and Len read a popular book on spiritual gifts. Instead of being blessed, they were distressed. They came for counsel.

“What is our gift?” they pleaded, as though I had the ability to immediately discern God’s supernatural provision for them.

“First of all,” I explained, “you should not be exercised over the undue emphasis on gifts, which has been of somewhat recent origin. For centuries, until recent times, men did not make a great deal of that particular emphasis in the Word of God.

“The emphasis was on the authority of the Scripture, the lordship of Christ, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Great servants of God were mightily used as preachers, missionaries, teachers and godly laymen, without ever being made particularly aware that spiritual gifts were something that needed to be emphasized. The feeling was, ‘Whatever God calls me to do, He will enable me to do, if I am willing to surrender my will to Christ, study the Word of God, obey the leading of the Holy Spirit, work hard and trust God to guide me.'”

I gave them my own testimony of how, though I had been a Christian for more than 30 years and God had graciously used my life in many ways – sometimes my preaching, other times my teaching or administrative gifts, or in the area of helps – I quite honestly did not know my spiritual gift nor did I seek to “discover” my gift. I was very content to know, with the apostle Paul, that I could do all things through Christ who strengthened me, who keeps pouring His power into me. I showed them a quotation from a book on gifts, in which a famous Christian leader declared that for 25 years he had believed he had a particular gift but recently had cause to question whether he possessed it, and concluded finally that he did not.

My word to you, then, as to Roger and Len, is not to be distressed if you do not know your gift. Simply continue to walk in faith and obedience, make Christ the Lord of every part of your life, be sure you are filled with the Spirit, and hide the Word of God in your heart daily.

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  For the rest of my life I shall seek the Giver and not the gift, depending upon Him to give me the necessary wisdom and ability and whatever else is needed to accomplish the task which He has called me to do. I shall share this concept with other Christians who are confused over the matter of spiritual gifts.

 

http://www.cru.org

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – RAYING AGAINST TEMPTATION

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Read Luke 22:31-46

A segment of the BBC series Human Planet depicts two fishermen harvesting rare goose barnacles from dangerous rocks along Spain’s northern coast. The men are attached to one another by ropes and take turns descending to the base of the rocks between onslaughts of violent waves. As one man gathers barnacles, he depends on the other to shout a warning when a particularly large breaker approaches and to pull him to safety if necessary.

Our calling as Christians often brings us into potentially dangerous situations. We struggle not against flesh and blood—or waves and rocks—but against spiritual forces of evil that seek to destroy our souls (see Eph. 6:12). To survive unhurt, we too must be constantly vigilant, both for ourselves and for others.

Jesus knew the vulnerabilities of His disciples. Earlier He had taught them to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13). Now, on the Mount of Olives hours before His death on the cross, He reminded them that they would face a renewed onslaught of spiritual danger for which they must be prayerfully alert.

They failed at watchfulness, however. The evening advanced, and fatigue won. Thankfully, they were not alone. While their prayerful vigilance faltered, Christ’s never does. He is so alert and earnest in His prayers that His anguished sweat was “like drops of blood” as it fell (v. 44). While Peter failed to consider his danger, Jesus was praying for his spiritual safety (vv. 31–32). While the disciples snored, their intercessor was pleading for them.

Temptation presses us, but today’s passage strengthens us. We have been given warning of danger and help to escape it. We have someone who joins us in prayer.

APPLY THE WORD

Puritan theologian John Owen wrote, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” Are you aware of the danger of sin? What sins are particular temptations for you, your family, your church, or your community? Take a few moments today to pray for the Lord’s help to escape these temptations, and be encouraged by the thought that Jesus is praying alongside you.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily – Today’s Reading – On Forgiveness

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On forgiveness

I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says “Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology, I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.” But excusing says “I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it, you weren’t really to blame.”. . .

Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.

From The Weight of Glory

Compiled in Words to Live By

The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses.

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – Don’t Fret

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Psalm 37:1

What in the world does “fret” mean? Here is a little word that doesn’t have any positive definitions. It means “to worry, to be discontent, to have something be eaten away by something else.” It means, “to torment or irritate or upset someone or yourself.” So when the Bible says not to “fret” it means “quit worrying about it.” That’s not always easy to do, is it?

Here’s another little word with a negative definition: Envy. Envy is a kind of jealousy. The dictionary defines it as the “resentful or unhappy feeling of wanting somebody else’s success, good fortune, qualities, or possessions.” We can envy someone else’s clothes, their looks, their friendships, their talents, or their achievements. For example, when a friend does well on an exam, instead of being happy for her, you feel jealous and you wish it could have been you instead. That’s envy.

The Bible says that we shouldn’t fret about or envy the apparent success of people who do wrong. Do you know someone who got rewarded for cheating? How did it make you feel? Did you fret and feel envious? Unfortunately, fretting and envy don’t change the situation, but they do make us miserable. That’s why the Bible says not to fret or envy. And although people who cheat to get ahead appear to be getting away with it, they’re losers in the long run.

Dear Lord, I admit I have both fretted and been envious. Please help me to be content with doing honest work and to trust you with the rest. Amen.

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – What Really Happened at Calvary

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Hebrews 10:10-14

If asked what took place on Good Friday, many people could list the events of Calvary. Some might explain that Christ was nailed to the cross, Roman soldiers gambled for His garments, and darkness covered the land. Others would mention the crown of thorns, an earthquake, and Jesus’ mother watching with what must have been heartbreak and horror.

But no matter how many visible details one could mention, far more was going on than the eye could see: At the cross, sin was judged.

In giving His very first command in the garden of Eden, God warned that disobedience carried the death penalty (Gen. 2:17). So from the start, His judgment of sin was prophesied, and later it was also pictured in the elaborate sacrificial system He established. Under this system, each transgression required an animal’s blood to be sprinkled on the altar. The severity of the penalty—payment of a life—was a graphic way for our holy God to communicate how offensive and grievous sin actually is. It was also a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God, who would come to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Jesus Christ was, on the cross, what that lamb was on the altar—but with a significant difference: Under the old covenant, every time sin was committed, another animal had to die. Jesus, however, willingly offered Himself once for all to atone for the sin of the entire world (Heb. 7:27).

Refusing to personally accept Christ’s substitutionary atonement leaves a person with the responsibility of paying his or her own sin debt. Won’t you thank the Savior for your amazing free gift—or receive it from Him now?

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 3-5

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Remember the Cross

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Read: Mark 15:19–20, 33–39

Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 25–26; Luke 12:32–59

“Surely this man was the Son of God!”—Mark 15:39

In the church I attend, a large cross stands at the front of the sanctuary. It represents the original cross where Jesus died—the place where our sin intersected with His holiness. There God allowed His perfect Son to die for the sake of every wrong thing we have ever done, said, or thought. On the cross, Jesus finished the work that was required to save us from the death we deserve (Rom. 6:23).

The sight of a cross causes me to consider what Jesus endured for us. Before being crucified, He was flogged and spit on. The soldiers hit Him in the head with sticks and got down on their knees in mock worship. They tried to make Him carry His own cross to the place where He would die, but He was too weak from the brutal flogging. At Golgotha, they hammered nails through His flesh to keep Him on the cross when they turned it upright. Those wounds bore the weight of His body as He hung there. Six hours later, Jesus took His final breath (Mark 15:37). A centurion who witnessed Jesus’s death declared, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (v. 39).

The next time you see the symbol of the cross, consider what it means to you. God’s Son suffered and died there and then rose again to make eternal life possible. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear Jesus, I can’t begin to thank You enough for taking care of my sin when You died on the cross. I acknowledge Your sacrifice, and I believe in the power of Your resurrection.

The cross of Christ reveals our sin at its worst and God’s love at its best.

INSIGHT: In the two cameos provided in our reading today, we witness the injustice and horrors of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Verses 19-20 reveal the terrible indignity Jesus endured before going to the cross. Roman soldiers mocked, struck, and spit on Him. Next, a supernatural darkness came over the world (vv. 33-39). Many theologians believe it was then that the eternal fellowship of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—was disrupted as God the Son was made sin for us so that we might have right standing and relationship with God. The Father turned away from Him and in anguish Christ cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But because of God’s redeeming love, we will never be forsaken. How does this give you greater confidence in facing the future? Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Absence of Beauty

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I stood in front of the painting long enough that my neck hurt from craning upward, long enough to make the connection that onlookers that day likely held a similar stance as they watched Jesus of Nazareth on the cross. Francisco de Zurbarán’s massive 1627 painting The Crucifixion hangs in gallery 211 of the Chicago Art Institute. Viewers must stand back from the piece and gaze upward in order to take it all in. Zurbarán depicts the point just before Christ takes his last breath. His body leans forward from exhaustion; his head hangs downward. All details of any background activity are absent, the black backdrop a jarring juxtaposition beside his pale, bruised skin. The artist’s use of light intensifies the stark pull of sympathy towards a body that is both clearly suffering and yet somehow beautiful. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I believed about Christianity. But there was something about the painting I couldn’t stop trying to grasp.

There is indeed something about beauty that for many of us is intensely spiritual. Whether peering into the natural beauty of a majestic waterfall or the exquisite lights of the Eiffel Tower, many describe a connection between beauty and the transcendent in religious terms—at times, even contradictingly so, our own theories of the world either undercutting or cutting off the very possibilities we want to espouse. For many of the minds I admire today, beauty is both a compelling part of their faith and compelling evidence for God’s existence. A blind and mechanistic universe cannot answer for the longings stirred by earthly beauty. Stated more personally, I could not account for the longings stirred by the beauty of a suffering God in person. Staring at Jesus in The Crucifixion, I could not explain the quality of beauty that seemed distinctive of his very soul—choosing even in pain and death to forgive tirelessly, though surrounded by people who do not. As a hen uses her wings to gather her chicks, there are indeed times I suspect the Spirit uses beauty to bring us quietly before the Son.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Absence of Beauty →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Our Best Help

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I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.—Psalm 121:1-2 NKJV

We should be maturing in our faith to the point that we don’t run to someone else every time we need to know what to do. I am not implying that asking for a word of counsel from people we feel are wiser than we are is wrong, but I do believe asking for people’s opinions excessively and relying on them too heavily is wrong and insulting to God.

As you can tell from today’s verse, David sought God first and knew God was his only help. The same is true for us, so we must be like David and always look to God first. We need to develop a habit of seeing God as our “first choice” for advice, not as our last resort.

God may use a person of His choice to clarify things, offer additional insight, or confirm what He has already told us, so seek Him first and if He leads you to a person, follow His leading.

In Numbers 22:20-28, God even used a donkey to speak to someone. He wants to speak to us so much that He will use whatever means is necessary. You can be assured that if you are trusting God to speak that He will find a way to get His message through to you.

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 – Destroying the Devil’s Works 

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“But if you keep on sinning, it shows that you belong to Satan, who since he first began to sin has kept steadily at it. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

A young Christian came to inquire of me one day, “How do you account for the fact that so many Christian leaders, many of them famous personalities, pastors and heads of Christian organizations are involved in moral and financial scandals?”

He named several well-known pastors and Christian leaders to illustrate his point.

Sadly I acknowledged his statement to be true. It seems there is an all-out attack of Satan to destroy the credibility of the Christian message. My explanation to him was that our Lord and the apostle Paul dealt with the same problem because, even though the disciples had been with the Lord Jesus three years or more, Judas betrayed Him and the others deserted Him.

The apostle Paul spoke of several who had deserted him. Those included Demas, who loved the present world, and Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus, who strayed from the truth.

Only one person can help us live holy lives that will honor our Lord, who came to destroy the works of the devil, and that is the third person of the Trinity – God the Holy Spirit. As long as we cast our ballot for the Spirit in our warfare against the flesh, we can live supernaturally every day in the joy, the wonder, the adventure and the power of the resurrection. It is simply a matter of our will; the decision is ours.

Bible Reading: I John 3:4-10

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  “Oh, God, thank You that You sent Your Son to destroy the works of the devil. I will claim the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit so that I may live victoriously and never bring scandal or disgrace to Your name.”

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Reconciliation

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The most notorious road in the world is the Via Dolorosa, “the Way of Sorrows.” According to tradition, it’s the route Jesus took from Pilate’s hall to Calvary. The path is marked by stations frequently used by Christians for their devotions—each one a reminder of the events of Christ’s final journey. No one actually knows the exact route Jesus followed that Friday. But we do know where the path began. In heaven. Jesus began his journey when he left his home in search of us.

The Bible has a word for this quest: reconciliation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV). Reconciliation restiches the unraveled, reverses the rebellion, and rekindles the cold passion. Reconciliation touches the shoulder of the wayward and woos him homeward. The path to the cross tells us exactly how far God will go to call us back.

From He Chose the Nails

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Inspiring insight from United Airlines firestorm

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The daughter and attorney of Dr. David Dao held a news conference yesterday morning. The attorney told reporters that when his client was forcibly evicted from the United flight last Sunday, he suffered a concussion and broken nose and lost two front teeth. Dr. Dao’s daughter stated, “What happened to my dad should’ve never happened to any human being.”

As the United firestorm continues, a dear friend shared an insight with me that I asked his permission to share with you. Dr. David Dykes is the longtime pastor of the amazing Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. Regarding the man pulled from the flight, his first thought was, “When they are dragging this bleeding man off the plane, why didn’t someone stand up and say, ‘Let him go. I’ll take his place. Take me instead’?

“I suppose all the passengers were shocked and stunned into silence. I’m just glad that 2,000 years ago when I should have been the one rejected and bloodied, Jesus stepped forward and said, ‘Let him go. I’ll take his place. Take me instead!'”

St. Melito, bishop of Sardis (died AD 180), described well what Jesus experienced on Good Friday: he “endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.”

How should we respond to such sacrificial grace?

In Psalm 101, David vowed: “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (v. 3). After a long discussion of foods that are suitable for eating, the Lord concludes: “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). Paul encouraged us to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). He added that “God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). Job testified, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1).

Continue reading Denison Forum – Inspiring insight from United Airlines firestorm →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Recognize Your Vulnerability

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1 Corinthians 10:12-13

Some Christians see a fellow believer fall into sin but fail to acknowledge that they, too, could stumble. That’s dangerous. Satan has them right where he wants them: deceived by a false sense of confidence. Three enemies are constantly at work trying to bring us down—namely, the devil, his world system, and our own treacherous flesh.

Even though believers have a righteous standing before God, we must each, like Paul, acknowledge an internal problem: “sin which dwells in me” (Rom. 7:20). Satan takes full advantage of this weakness, luring us with fleshly and worldly temptations. He stokes our pride so we become unaware of our own vulnerability.

Christians need to be continually on guard. Since ignorance—of the nature of sin, the strategies of the enemy, and our own areas of weakness—sets us up for failure, we cannot afford to be careless in our thinking. Anytime we find ourselves excusing, redefining, or rationalizing sin, we’ve lost our sensitivity to God. His Word must always fill our minds and direct our steps.

If you’ve drifted from the Lord, turn back to Him by acknowledging your sin and accepting responsibility for it. Repentance means changing your mind and going in a different direction—toward God instead of away from Him.

The next step is harder: Respond with gratitude for God’s chastisement. Every time we fall into sin, our Father lovingly works to bring us back into fellowship with Him. His discipline may be painful, but it’s always good because it brings us to our senses and reconnects us with God.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 1-2

 

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