Daily Archives: May 23, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Our Bridge to God

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John 14:1-6

The last verse in today’s passage makes a powerful and unequivocal statement. Jesus clearly says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

People have taken exception to that statement for 2,000 years. Some say the Lord didn’t mean for it to be taken literally. Others categorically reject His authority to make the claim at all. However, as believers in the lordship of Jesus Christ, we must take what He says as truth. So let’s think for a moment about the word picture in that verse.

When Jesus calls Himself “the way,” many people imagine a one-way street. They take this to mean that there are lots of roads, but He is the only one that leads to the Father. That’s a good image, but I think we can do even better.

I like to think of Jesus not as a road but as a bridge—our bridge to God. Consider the apostle Paul’s warning in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (emphasis added). The picture here is of a great chasm between us and God, and we cannot make it across. Unable to bridge the gap, we fall.

So, what is the only way across a chasm? A bridge, of course. And that’s what Jesus is for us. He stands in the gap, providing safe passage across the void and into the loving arms of the Father.

Meditate on this mental image. When we imagine ourselves helpless and lost—with heaven just out of reach, beyond a great divide—we can begin to appreciate the true power of the cross.

Bible in One Year: Ezra 1-4

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Defending God

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Read: Luke 9:51–56

Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 19–21; John 8:1–27

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.—Proverbs 15:1

The anti-God bumper stickers covering the car seized the attention of a university professor. As a former atheist himself, the professor thought perhaps the owner wanted to make believers angry. “The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism,” he explained. Then he warned, “All too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.”

In recalling his own journey to faith, this professor noted the concern of a Christian friend who invited him to consider the truth of Christ. His friend’s “sense of urgency was conveyed without a trace of anger.” He never forgot the genuine respect and grace he received that day.

Believers in Jesus often take offense when others reject Him. But how does He feel about that rejection? Jesus constantly faced threats and hatred, yet He never took doubt about His deity personally. Once, when a village refused Him hospitality, James and John wanted instant retaliation. “Lord,” they asked, “do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54). Jesus didn’t want that, and He “turned and rebuked them” (v. 55). After all, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

It may surprise us to consider that God doesn’t need us to defend Him. He wants us to represent Him! That takes time, work, restraint, and love. —Tim Gustafson

Lord, when we are confronted with hate, help us not to be haters but to respond as Your Son did: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

The best way to defend Jesus is to live like Him.

INSIGHT: Luke 9:51 says, “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Christ was deliberately going to Jerusalem to face even more opposition because of His commitment to die on the cross for our redemption. When James and John rightly perceived opposition to their Master, they wrongly responded with an attitude of vindictive punishment. Most likely they were thinking of Elijah calling down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1:10-12) and the fire that fell in judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). Yet they missed the point that Jesus’s truth claims are submitted for human consideration without coercion or duress.As one theologian wisely said: “God is a Gentleman and will not violate our own free will.” The time of judgment that is most certainly coming has its own set time in God’s calendar. Before it arrives, each human being who hears the gospel has the freedom to believe it or reject it. God is “patient with [us],” the apostle Peter wrote, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

How might you show grace and faithfulness in letting your gospel light shine today regardless of the response? Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Art of Abiding

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When it comes to exercise many of us ask: “How long will it take?” or “How much do I have to do?” The shorter the duration the better, we hope. Scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario have researched the benefits of shorter-duration, high-intensity workouts. They found that the aerobic benefits were just as high as those who had worked out for much longer periods of time.(1) As one professor noted, “If you are someone, like me, who just wants to boost health and fitness and you don’t have 45 minutes or an hour to work out, our data show that you can get big benefits from even a single minute of intense exercise.”(2) This is good news for all who feel there are not enough hours in a day.

Yet, as good as this news may be for some, I am increasingly nervous about all the schemes and strategies to make one’s life more efficient. From the One Minute Manager to the One Minute Workout the short-cutting of our lives appears endemic. If one needs a quicker, faster, shorter version, there is an app for that. But I worry about what happens to our aptitude for endurance in the elevation of the efficient?

By contrast, author Malcolm Gladwell argued in his book Outliers that ten thousand hours of deliberate practice are needed before one can become good at some things. He cites Mozart, Bill Gates, and the Beatles as examples of brilliant artists and inventors whose patient practice and discipline began at an early age.(3) In fact, many artists suggest that their creative expression is something that must be practiced—exercised, as it were, just like any muscle. Significant achievement—in any area—is realized when bounded by discipline, and a tireless commitment to practice, routine, and structure. The painter, Wayne Thiebaud, once said that “an artist has to train his responses more than other people do. He has to be as disciplined as a mathematician. Discipline is not a restriction but an aid to freedom.”(4) Sadly, Thiebaud’s and Gladwell’s views are often the minority report in our hurried age.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Only God Can Change You

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The Lord will sustain, refresh, and strengthen him on his bed of languishing; all his bed You [O Lord] will turn, change, and transform in his illness. I said, Lord, be merciful and gracious to me; heal my inner self, for I have sinned against You.—Psalm 41:3-4

Don’t obsess over your faults, or you will never enjoy the life that Jesus died to give you. Only God can change you, so talk to Him about your desires. The Word says that those who wait on the Lord will change (see Isaiah 40:31).

Meanwhile, quit taking your flaws so seriously. Don’t let discouragement or depression rob you of your energy and make you angry. If you do, you may take that anger out on other people and miss the blessings God has in store for you today. Enjoy yourself, and lighten up! Take the right steps today toward the change you want to make by asking God to help you all day long.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Practicing the Presence of God

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“How precious it is, Lord, to realize that You are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day Your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, You are still thinking of me!” (Psalm 139:17,18).

Our sons, Zac and Brad, have helped me to understand, in some small measure, the truth of this promise, for in the course of a single day, I will lift them up in prayer many times. I am finite, but God is infinite. My love for our sons is limited, but his love is inexhaustible and unconditional. It is because of God’s love in my heart that I am able to love my sons unconditionally, even as He loves me.

What a comforting, encouraging thought, that the omnipotent Creator, God, who possesses all power and control of creation, loves me enough that He is constantly thinking about me. When I allow Him to do so, He talks to me, expressing His love, wisdom and grace from His Word, through divine impressions and the counsel of wise and godly friends. His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to make Himself strong and mighty in my behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Just as He is constantly thinking about me, I have been admonished to pray without ceasing. To talk to Him, to think about Him all the time – as difficult as it may sound – is a joyful reality to those who practice the presence of God, is that the kind of relationship you are experiencing day by day? If not, it can be.

Bible Reading: Psalm 139:1-10

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Mindful that God loves, cares and thinks about me constantly, I shall seek to live the supernatural life by practicing His presence, by praying without ceasing and by claiming His supernatural power by faith.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Be Grateful

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“How’s life?” someone asks. And we who have been resurrected from the dead say, Well, things could be better. Or… I couldn’t get a parking place. Or…My parents won’t let me move to Hawaii. Or… People won’t leave me alone so I can finish my sermon on selfishness.

Really? Are you so focused on what you don’t have that you are blind to what you do? If so, then come. Come thirsty. Come and drink deeply from God’s goodness.

You have a ticket to heaven no thief can take,

an eternal home no divorce can break.

Every sin of your life has been cast into the sea.

Every mistake you’ve made is nailed to the tree.

You are blood-bought and heaven-made.

A child of God—forever saved.

So be grateful, joyful—for isn’t it true?

What you don’t have is much less than what you do!

From A Love Worth Giving

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Terrorist attack in England: 3 facts

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Last night, pop singer Ariana Grande finished a concert in Manchester, England, some 200 miles northwest of London. As the audience filled with teenagers began leaving the show, an explosion ripped into the crowd. At least twenty-two people were killed, and nearly sixty people were injured.

The blast went off around 10:35 PM in the foyer outside the main hall of the Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe. Witnesses said the bomb appeared to have used nails; such shrapnel increases a bomb’s ability to wound its victims.

Police believe a man carrying explosives acted as a lone attacker and died in the blast. British Prime Minister Theresa May chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting this morning and called the episode an “appalling terrorist attack.” She just announced that police and security staff believe they know the identity of the apparent suicide bomber but are not revealing the name for the time being. Police just arrested a twenty-three-year-old man in connection with the attack.

As of this moment, we do not yet know who is responsible for this atrocity. Here’s what we do know.

One: We can expect such attacks to continue. As I am writing this morning, police have just evacuated a shopping center in Manchester, where witnesses heard a “big bang.” British police have said they are making an arrest every day on average in connected with suspected terrorism.

Radicalized Muslims believe that the West has been attacking Islam for centuries. Since Britain and other Western countries are democracies where we elect our leaders and support our military, they consider us complicit in this perceived attack on their religion.
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