Daily Archives: June 3, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Overcoming the Barrier of Inadequacy

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2 Corinthians 2:14-17

No one likes feelings of inadequacy, but they are something we all must learn to handle, as no one can avoid them permanently. Tragically, however, many people live with a cloud over their head because in their thinking, they never measure up. For some, this may be due to childhood experiences that negatively affected their self-image. For others, the problem may stem from a lack of success related to work, school, relationships, or any number of things.

In today’s passage, Paul asks a question that points to a common insecurity: “Who is adequate for these things?” (v. 16). Have you ever avoided serving the Lord in ways that challenge your comfort zone? If so, you’ve probably missed a tremendous opportunity to overcome feelings of inadequacy. He has promised to lead us “in triumph in Christ” (v. 14), but unless we believe Him and step out in faith, we’ll never experience the fullness of life that He has planned for us.

Feeling inadequate is not a sin, but using it as an excuse is. When the Lord challenges you to do something that you feel is beyond your abilities, you have two options: You can focus on Christ and proceed in triumph, or you can focus on yourself and withdraw in defeat.

It’s really a matter of faith. God would never ask you to do something without empowering you to accomplish it. This doesn’t necessarily mean you will do it perfectly, but each step of obedience is a victory. The alternative is to play it safe, but then you’ll miss out on God’s best for your life.

Bible in One Year: Job 9-12

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Someone to Trust

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Read: John 13:33–35

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 19–20; John 13:21–38

Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?—Proverbs 20:6 nrsv

“I just can’t trust anyone,” my friend said through tears. “Every time I do, they hurt me.” Her story angered me—an ex-boyfriend, whom she really thought she could trust, had started spreading rumors about her as soon as they broke up. Struggling to trust again after a pain-filled childhood, this betrayal seemed just one more confirmation that people could not be trusted.

I struggled to find words that would comfort. One thing I could not say was that she was wrong about how hard it is to find someone to fully trust, that most people are completely kind and trustworthy. Her story was painfully familiar, reminding me of moments of unexpected betrayal in my own life. In fact, Scripture is very candid about human nature. In Proverbs 20:6, the author voices the same lament as my friend, forever memorializing the pain of betrayal.

What I could say is that the cruelty of others is only part of the story. Although wounds from others are real and painful, Jesus has made genuine love possible. In John 13:35, Jesus told His disciples that the world would know they were His followers because of their love. Although some people may still hurt us, because of Jesus there will also always be those who, freely sharing His love, will unconditionally support and care for us. Resting in His unfailing love, may we find healing, community, and courage to love others as He did.

Welcome to Monica Brands! Meet all our authors at odb.org/all-authors. —Monica Brands

Jesus has made true love possible.

INSIGHT: Love is one of the most prominent themes in the apostle John’s writing. In John’s gospel, Jesus spoke often about love: God’s love for the world (3:16), the love of the Father for the Son (3:35; 5:20; 10:17), Jesus’s love for His disciples (13:34-35), how the disciples were to show they love Jesus and each other (14:23-28), and even what love looks like (15:13). In his later letters (see 1, 2, and 3 John), John continues to focus on God’s love, mentioning God’s love for us or our love for Him and others more than thirty times.Perhaps the most famous of all Jesus’s statements about love is found in John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus said this in the same context of asking His disciples to love one another as He had loved them (13:34) and mere hours before He demonstrated this great love by going to the cross to die for them. Sacrificing ourselves for another is the greatest expression of love. Who needs to see Jesus’s love through you today? J.R. Hudberg

 

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – God Is on Your Side

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For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory. —Psalm 149:4 AMPC

If you never face trials, you will never have to exercise your faith. But even when facing hard times, you shouldn’t dread life. Isaiah 8:13 (AMPC) says, The Lord of hosts—regard Him as holy and honor His holy name [by regarding Him as your only hope of safety], and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread [lest you offend Him by your fear of man and distrust of Him].

If you dread life and fear people, you are not trusting the Lord to save you. Keep your reverential fear and awe of God; dread displeasing Him, but don’t fear anything else. If God is for you, who can be against you? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37 NIV).

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Bring Forth Much Fruit

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“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24, KJV).

Alex was distressed over his constant failure to live the Christian life victoriously.

“I am always failing,” he said. “I know what is right, but I am simply not able to keep the many commitments, resolutions and rededications that I make to the Lord almost daily. What is wrong with me? Why do I constantly fail? How can I push that magic button which will change my life and make me the kind of person God wants me to be, and the kind of person I want to be?”

I turned with him to review Romans 7 and 8, and discussed with him how all of us experience this conflict when we walk in our own strength. But the victory is ours as we walk in the Spirit. It is impossible to control ourselves and be controlled by the Holy Spirit at the same time.

Perhaps you have had that same problem and wondered why your life was not bringing forth much fruit. Christ cannot be in control if you are on the throne of your life. So you must abdicate – surrender the throne of your life to Christ. This involves faith.

As an expression of your will, in prayer, you surrender the throne of your life to Him, and by faith you draw upon His resources to live a supernatural life, holy and fruitful. The command of Ephesians 5:18 is given to all believers: We are to be filled, directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, continually, moment by moment, every day. And the promise of 1 John 5:14, 15 is made to all believers: When we pray according to God’s will, He hears and answers us.

The person who walks by faith in the control of the Holy Spirit has a new Master. The Lord Jesus said, “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38, NAS). “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24, NAS).

Bible Reading: John 12:25-31

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Because my deep desire is to “bear much fruit,” I will surrender afresh to God’s Holy Spirit so that He might endow me with supernatural life and enable me to bear much fruit for His glory.

 

http://www.cru.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us to Set Our Eyes Upon Him

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“Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that w are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” (Lamentations 3:19-25)

Have you ever been humbled by your own sin? How about by a trial, something hard that you or your family have to go through? Sin and trials humble us. Sometimes the sins we do have consequences, some bad results that come because of the sin. Sometimes we feel very hurt and sad and worried about trials. When sin and trials come, our hearts can be miserable. But even when we are going through times like that, we should not forget that God can help us and bring us through the hardest things.

Hard times do not happen only to grownups. Kids face temptations and heartbreaks, too. If it were not for the mercy of God, you might get overwhelmed by everything, and you might want to “throw in the towel” (just give up). But God does not fail. He is faithful to care for His children. He is good to those who hope and wait on Him.

Do you know what it means to hope and wait on God? Sometimes we want to try really hard to figure everything out and change everything that is going on so that it will not hurt so much. To hope and to wait on God means to trust Him that He will work everything out for His glory and our best good. It means believing that God will handle the whole thing perfectly, in His perfect timing (because He is perfect), and He will change things if He wants to change things. To hope and wait on God means to look only to Him for your help. Just keep setting your focus on Jesus. He will help you through hard times, and He will not let sin and trials destroy you as long as you are trusting Him for your help.

God is faithful! Hope in Him.

We should hope in God to help us through hard times.

My Response:

» When something makes me sad or worried, do I try to fix it by myself, or do I look to God?

» How can I encourage others who might be fighting against sin or going through a really hard time in their hearts?

 

http://kids4truth.com/home.aspx

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – Diamonds in the Making

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2 Corinthians 7:5

Carbon is a soft natural material, but it is also the raw material from which diamonds—the hardest substance on earth—are made. How does that happen? Diamonds are formed 75 to 120 miles below the earth’s surface. When carbon buried deep in the earth is put under extreme pressure, and when the temperature is at least 192 degrees Fahrenheit, the carbon changes into diamonds. Scientists discovered that there have been only three times during Earth’s history when diamonds were made, and the planet no longer makes diamonds as it once did. Diamonds are highly valued as jewelry. Maybe your mother or father has a diamond ring. Diamonds are also valued in industry. A diamond saw blade will cut through almost anything.

In the Scripture verse for today, the Apostle Paul describes being harassed, or troubled, on every side. He was under extreme pressure, but God used that pressure to change Paul from an ordinary person into an extraordinary man of God. And God can do the same thing for us. When we feel like everything is pushing on us so hard we cannot stand it, it could be that God is changing us from soft material into a beautiful diamond that he can use.

Dear Lord, I hate to be under pressure. Help me to understand, though, that you can use my troubles to create something new and beautiful in my heart. Amen.

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE TEST OF LOVE

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Read 1 JOHN 2:3-11

In the early church, Gnostic Christians claimed to have a “special knowledge” that set them apart as super-spiritual. Many commentators have suggested that the secessionists of 1 John were a similar group who claimed a special spirituality because of their “superior knowledge.”

As our passage today demonstrates repeatedly, true spiritual maturity lies not in claims of knowledge or personal experience of God, but in the way one lives. Knowledge of God will be demonstrated by obedience to Christ’s commands and by walking as Jesus did.

In fact, this is not a “new command” at all, but one given “since the beginning” (v. 7). The command to love God and neighbor has its roots in the Old Testament (see Deut. 6:5; 19:9). The command itself is not new, but the scope has been enlarged. The call to love has been embodied in the person of Jesus and His command to all followers: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

Quite naturally, then, our reading ends by linking together obedience to God’s commands and our love for one another. Those who claim to walk in the light of Christ are identified by how they treat “a brother or sister” in Christ (v. 9). Love for others is not what brings you into a saving relationship with Christ, but it is a tangible sign of that relationship. Conversely, “anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness . . . because the darkness has blinded them” (v. 11). In short, the true test of an authentic relationship with God is not an empty claim of “knowledge,” but a life marked by obedience to Christ’s command to love one another.

APPLY THE WORD

Confession of sin can be difficult, even painful. But Scripture shows us that confession is essential to fellowship with God. Spend time today asking the Holy Spirit to show you areas of sin. Then confess those sins before God in repentance, knowing that He has promised, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins” (1:9).

 

http://www.todayintheword.org