Daily Archives: June 11, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Hard-Hearted Believer

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Hebrews 3:12-19

The believer’s path toward a hardened heart can start innocently enough—it’s easy for us to become preoccupied with things that have little or no spiritual value. Once our focus is diverted from God, it doesn’t take much for the preoccupation to take up greater amounts of time. The diversion can become so consuming that we end up ignoring matters of importance to the Lord.

As our spiritual life withers, we may give up private devotion and public worship. Anyone who is spending time with the Lord daily is going to have a pliable heart, but the person who lays Scripture aside gives Satan an opportunity. When allowed to function apart from God, the heart is deceitful and turns from Him.

If a believer’s mind is preoccupied and his heart is distant from God, he can easily be swayed by the deceitfulness of sin. As sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is dulled by a hard “shell” that’s been forming around his heart, the drifting Christian begins to find Satan’s false promises more tempting. He foolishly trusts in the deception and becomes ever more deeply enmeshed in sin. This, in turn, leads to even greater preoccupation with non-spiritual matters and further neglect of his spiritual life.

Believers are not immune to hardening of the heart. We can become as insensitive to God’s voice as an unbeliever, but we have a way to remove the spiritual callus that has been forming within us. By repenting and refocusing, we can again turn to devotion and worship in order to be soft-hearted before God.

Bible in One Year: Psalms 1-7

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Postures of the Heart

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Read: 2 Chronicles 6:7–9, 12–15

Bible in a Year: Ezra 1–2; John 19:23–42

[Solomon] knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and lifted his hands toward heaven [and] he prayed.—2 Chronicles 6:13-14 nlt

When my husband plays the harmonica for our church praise team, I have noticed that he sometimes closes his eyes when he plays a song. He says this helps him focus and block out distractions so he can play his best—just his harmonica, the music, and him—all praising God.

Some people wonder if our eyes must be closed when we pray. Since we can pray at any time in any place, however, it might prove difficult to always close our eyes—especially if we are taking a walk, pulling weeds, or driving a vehicle!

There are also no rules on what position our body must be in when we talk to God. When King Solomon prayed to dedicate the temple he had built, he knelt down and “spread out his hands toward heaven” (2 Chron. 6:13-14). Kneeling (Eph. 3:14), standing (Luke 18:10-13), and even lying face down (Matt. 26:39) are all mentioned in the Bible as positions for prayer.

Whether we kneel or stand before God, whether we lift our hands heavenward or close our eyes so we can better focus on God—it is not the posture of our body, but of our heart that is important. Everything we do “flows from [our heart]” (Prov. 4:23). When we pray, may our hearts always be bowed in adoration, gratitude, and humility to our loving God, for we know that His eyes are “open and [His] ears attentive to the prayers” of His people (2 Chron. 6:40). —Cindy Hess Kasper

Lord, direct my focus always toward You and teach me to follow You in obedience and love.

The highest form of prayer comes from the depths of a humble heart.

INSIGHT: The dedication of the temple was much more than a formality; it was a celebration. God had kept His promise to David about the temple being built, but it was also tangible evidence of the settling and permanence of Israel. The temple wasn’t simply where Israelites went to meet with God; it was the place where God resided among His people. Truly that was reason to celebrate! It’s no wonder that Solomon knelt and spread out his hands before the Lord in response to what the Lord had done. In light of the faithful love of God, Solomon could only bow in worship and prayer.What is your reaction to the faithfulness of the Lord? Why not pause and worship Him now with a humble heart. J.R. Hudberg

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – He Is with You

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Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. —Isaiah 41:10 NLT

No matter what your fear is, God’s Word says you are not to fear because He is with you. It is just that simple. I am sure the question comes to mind: If God is with me, why do bad things happen? God never promises us trouble-free lives, but He does promise us His presence and the strength (mental, physical, and emotional) we need to get through our troubles.

Whatever the problem is, you can be assured it will pass, God will be with you all the way through it, and you will be stronger and know God better when it is over than before it began.

Power Thought: God is with me at all times, so there is no need to be afraid.

From the book the book Power Thoughts Devotional by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Save Your Life

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“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23,24, KJV).

Martin Luther once told the maidens and housewives of Germany that in scrubbing floors and going about their household duties they were accomplishing just as great a work in the sight of heaven as the monks and priests with their penances and holy offices.

In the 15th century, a woman – Margery Baxter – had said the same thing couched in different terms.

“If ye desire to see the true cross of Christ,” she said, “I will show it to you at home in your own house.”

Stretching out her arms, she continued, “This is the true cross of Christ, thou mightest and mayest behold and worship in thine own house. Therefore, it is but vain to run to the church to worship dead crosses.”

Her message was plain: holiness is in our daily service.

Your life and mine are worshiping Christ today to the degree that we practice the presence of God in every minute detail of our lives throughout the day. We are taking up our cross when we shine for Jesus just where we are, obediently serving Him and sharing His good news with others.

If you and I want to save our lives, we do well to lose them in obedient service to the Lord Jesus Christ, allowing His indwelling Holy Spirit to work in us and through us.

Bible Reading: John 12:23-26

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will take up my cross today – shining just where He puts me at this point in my life.

 

http://www.cru.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – No Struggles 

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They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.   Psalm 73:4-5

Having no struggles at all will never happen in this lifetime. A no-struggle existence is not possible until you graduate to heaven’s struggleless environment with your Savior. The nice and the naughty alike struggle, though outwardly they may seem void of vexation. The righteous and the wicked both struggle to varying degrees. No one is exempt from struggles. Yes, there may be seasons of minimal conflict but struggles are on the way. You are either struggling, about to struggle, or have just finished struggling. Indeed, everyone from monks to mafiosi struggle. Therefore, don’t spend your life trying to insulate yourself from struggles.

You will stress out more from trying to avoid struggles than you will from accepting their reality. This is not to say God would have us solicit struggles into our life. But He does understand that struggles are meant to send us to Him. Struggles look for a Savior, and Jesus is our friend in our fight against struggles.

Envy can erode your eternal perspective by giving you a false impression of others who seem to live lives without struggles. This is inaccurate and ill-conceived. No amount of money or power can completely drive struggles from someone’s life. In fact, it may compound struggles because of the complexity of choices that are created. Someone’s large amount of discretionary time may, on the surface, give the appearance that they are without struggles. Not true. There are still the internal struggles of sin and self against God’s best. And there are the external struggles created by other people’s choices and circumstances that are out of one’s control. You can join in another’s struggle through prayer.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – No Struggles  →

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Commands You To Tell Others About Jesus Christ (Part 2)

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“And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

If we are obedient Christians, we will follow the command that God has given us in Mark 16:15 to tell others the Good News of Jesus Christ. But this command is not always easy to follow. Sometimes, we are afraid that others may laugh at us. Other times, we don’t know what to say. What are some things we can do that will help us obey this command?

Pray. Before we tell others, we should pray for them. Even though God uses us (no matter how young or old we are) to be witnesses for Him, it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who works in the hearts of those we tell. We can pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of our friends and neighbors before we give them the Good News. Also, we can pray for ourselves. Jesus promises that He is always with us, so we can pray that we will remember His promise and not be afraid. Jesus also promises that the Holy Spirit will empower us to witness for him (Acts 1:8)!

Prepare. Read your Bible and pick out verses that will help you when you talk, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world, that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that we only need to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead in order to be saved. You may like to use the Romans Road, or verses that go with the Wordless book. You can write out these verses on a card or underline them in your Bible so that you can find them quickly. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is “powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword”!

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Commands You To Tell Others About Jesus Christ (Part 2) →

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – GOD’S LOVE AND OURS

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Read 1 JOHN 4:7-12

A church member once told the pastor that the church should have a sign out front warning people away, and then launched into a litany of complaints about all the problems within the congregation: gossip, cliquish mentalities, selfish behavior—and too many complainers!

How contrary this is to the picture of Christian life in today’s reading. The shining attribute of the Christian community should be love, a theme that will continue for the next few days. In fact, the community is twice addressed as “beloved” (also translated as “dear friends,” vv. 7, 11); and Scripture calls us to love one another three times in six verses.

While this should underscore the call to love one another, God’s own love is mentioned twice as much—six times! In other words, the foundation for Christian love is that “God is love” (v. 8). Central to God’s love is the coming of Jesus Christ as an atonement for sin. If we want to know anything about love, we must first look to the true source and example: the Father’s sending the Son into our world.

Notice the important connection with yesterday’s point, that those who are from God must confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This affirmation is not merely an intellectual belief; it is the very basis of Christian communal life. When the Incarnation becomes the basis for our love, we demonstrate that we are “born of God” and know Him (v. 7). It means that “God lives in us” (v. 12). But most importantly, it means that God’s love “is made complete in us” (v. 12). That is, if people want to know God’s love, they should be able to look to God’s people as the expression of that love.

APPLY THE WORD

This Sunday you have an opportunity to embody Scripture’s call to love one another as God has loved us. As you worship with the community of the “beloved,” avoid self-serving conversations and actions. Instead, find someone in need and focus on serving them rather than having your own preferences as the priority.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org