Daily Archives: June 18, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Teaching Our Children to Pray

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Luke 11:1-4

Because of pressing needs and full schedules, parents sometimes neglect teaching important spiritual lessons. It can be tempting to assume that the children will learn in Sunday school to pray and read the Bible. But the truth is, God has given parents the job of training their sons and daughters in spiritual matters.

After listening to Jesus pray, His disciples recognized that they had much to learn and asked Him to teach them how to pray. In the same way, we can motivate our children and help them develop a prayer life that will endure. It’s not enough to tell them to pray; they need an example. We must be willing to let them see and hear us as we talk to our heavenly Father.

When we bring our concerns to the Lord as a family, our children learn that God answers prayer. He’s our provider, protector, and guide. Seeing how the Lord responds to our requests will motivate our children to take all their concerns to Him as well.

Children also need to understand that prayer is not just a list of requests but a conversation that builds a relationship with the Lord. When they hear us praise and exalt Him, they’ll realize praying should be God-focused rather than self-centered. And as they observe us reading the Bible and letting it guide our requests, they’ll learn to pray according to God’s will.

Whether you have children or not, realizing that others learn about the Lord through your prayers may tempt you to feel inadequate. However, instead of dwelling on your shortcomings, let them motivate you to go to the Scriptures and learn from your heavenly Father how to pray.

Bible in One Year: Psalm 39-43

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Perfect Father

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Read: Proverbs 20:3–7

Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 10–11; Acts 4:1–22

The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.—Proverbs 20:7

My father once admitted to me, “When you were growing up, I was gone a lot.”

I don’t remember that. Besides working his full-time job, he was gone some evenings to direct choir practice at church, and he occasionally traveled for a week or two with a men’s quartet. But for all the significant (and many small) moments of my life—he was there.

For instance, when I was eight, I had a tiny part in an afternoon play at school. All the mothers came, but only one dad—mine. In many little ways, he has always let my sisters and me know that we are important to him and that he loves us. And seeing him tenderly caring for my mom in the last few years of her life taught me exactly what unselfish love looks like. Dad isn’t perfect, but he’s always been a dad who gives me a good glimpse of my heavenly Father. And ideally, that’s what a Christian dad should do.

At times earthly fathers disappoint or hurt their children. But our Father in heaven is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Ps. 103:8). When a dad who loves the Lord corrects, comforts, instructs, and provides for the needs of his children, he models for them our perfect Father in heaven. —Cindy Hess Kasper

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your faithfulness that I can always count on. Please help me to live today in a way that leaves behind a legacy of faithfulness and love.

A life lived for Christ is the best inheritance we can leave our children.

INSIGHT: Proverbs 20:7 challenges parents to model righteousness. In contrast to earthly parents who may disappoint, however, our heavenly Father loves us perfectly. Psalm 103 describes God’s loving character and asks the reader to remember the gracious benefits He gives His people—forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, and compassion (vv. 3-5). These benefits are rooted in God’s character described in verse 8: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” This verse reminds the reader of God’s own description of His character in Exodus 34:6: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Ask God to help you model His faithful love to others. J.R. Hudberg

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A More Excellent Way

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And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment].—Philippians 1:9

When something abounds, it grows and becomes so big that it chases people down, overtaking and overwhelming them. This is how Paul prayed for the church—that love would abound. Then he said, “So that you may surely learn to sense what it vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value” (Philippians 1:10).

It is very important to be a person of excellence—to do your very best every day in all you believe God is asking you to do . . . to do every job to the best of your ability. You can’t be an excellent person and not walk in love, and you can’t walk in love and not be an excellent person. To abound in love is the most excellent thing you can do.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Gave His Son

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“Since He did not spare even His own Son for us but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also surely give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32).

George was very faithful in his Christian walk. In fact, he had a little black book in which he recorded all of his activities for each day. These included daily devotions, note-taking, verses to be memorized, appointments to be kept and every activity of his life. Outwardly he seemed so perfect that I, as a young Christian, wanted to be like him. Then one day he had a nervous breakdown. As he told me later, the last thing he did before he went to the hospital was to throw away his little black book and tell his wife he never wanted to see it again. Without realizing it, he had become very legalistic in his relationship with God rather than accepting, by faith, what God had already done for him. while in the hospital he began to recall some of the thousands of verses which he had memorized through the years. It was then that he relaxed enough to allow the Holy Spirit to illumine his mind to comprehend the importance of living by faith.

As Paul writes to the Galatians in the third chapter: “What magician has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell upon you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death as clearly as though I had waved a placard before you with a picture on it of Christ dying on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by trying to keep the Jewish laws? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you heard about Christ and trusted Him to save you. Then, have you gone completely crazy? For if trying to obey the Jewish laws never gave you spiritual life in the first place, why do you think that trying to obey them now will make you stronger Christians?”

I ask you again: Does God give you the power of the Holy Spirit as a result of your trying to obey His laws? No, of course not. He gives that power when you believe in Christ and fully trust Him. The greatest heresy of the Christian life is legalism; and yet, it inevitably seems to attract dedicated, committed Christians. They are happy to accept salvation as a gift of God by faith. But like the Galatians, they insist on earning their way thereafter.

We must never forget that salvation is a gift of God which we receive by faith. Nothing can be earned. If we believe God, we will want to work to please Him, not to earn His favor.

Bible Reading: Romans 8:33-39

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will invite the Holy Spirit to protect me from becoming legalistic in my walk with Christ. Having received salvation by faith, I shall claim each day’s blessings by faith as I live the supernatural life.

 

http://www.cru.org

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – The Family of God

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Read: Mark 3:20-21, 31-35

Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. (v. 35)

Because they receive so little attention in the Gospels, we may sometimes forget that Jesus actually had a human family. He was born into a Jewish home and grew up in Galilee with a mother, father, and siblings. In the initial verses of our Bible reading today, we see the biological family of Jesus very concerned about him. They heard about all he was doing, not even stopping to eat, so they rushed out to lay hold of him and take him back home. They feared that he was “out of his mind” (v. 21)

One of the great things about families is that they can provide safety and security. What concerned Jesus’ family was that he was taking risks with his life. He was putting himself in danger and they wanted to sweep in and protect him.

Obviously, in Jesus, we have a Savior who was willing to put his life on the line for us. He was willing to go all the way to the cross in order to offer his life as a sacrifice for our sins.

His biological family, at this point, could not understand that. For Jesus, family is not limited to those to whom he was related biologically. “Whoever does the will of God” is part of his family. Whoever does God’s will. Is that you? —John Koedyker

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for opening your family to all of us. Help us this day and every day to do your will. Amen.

 

https://woh.org/

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Gives Rewards

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One night as my family was walking into a store, we heard a woman yelling that her purse had been stolen. Just then, we saw a man in a green jacket run right past us carrying the stolen purse! Immediately my dad and another man took off chasing after the thief. Realizing he was going to be caught, the thief threw the purse underneath a parked car and continued fleeing the scene. My dad and the other man finally caught the thief and turned him over to the police.

While my dad was busy trying to catch the thief, a few kids found the purse and returned it to the woman. She was so happy to get her purse back that she started giving out money to reward the kids. But by the time my dad came back with the police the woman was all out of money, and my dad didn’t get anything as a reward!

Later I asked Dad if it bothered him that the kids got reward money for returning the purse when he didn’t get anything for catching the thief. I’ll never forget his answer. He said that it had bothered him for a minute, but then he remembered that we are here to serve God and that God gives rewards for service to Him.

Throughout the Bible, God’s rewards are often referred to as crowns. Let’s look at what the Bible says about God and His rewards.

God rewards those who are waiting for Him to come back (2 Timothy 4:8). Jesus is coming back someday. You need to be looking forward to that day and be ready for that day to come.

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Gives Rewards →

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – FAITHFULNESS AND HOSPITALITY

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Read 3 JOHN 1-8

The Letters of John have a kind of telescopic effect, each letter focusing further in. First John addresses the general Christian community, 2 John addresses a particular church and its concerns, and 3 John addresses an individual leader named Gaius. Though we know very little about this man, 3 John provides us with important lessons about the Christian faith.

We learn, for example, that “the elder” was delighted to hear about Gaius’ faith (v. 1). Notice that the letter commends Gaius not just for doctrinal correctness (“faithfulness in the truth”) but also for a total life of faith (“how you continue to walk in it”). Here was a man who lived out his faith toward others. Gaius’ displays of Christian love were so wellknown because “some believers came and testified” (v. 3) about it.

We are not given many details, but it appears that Gaius had demonstrated love by hosting other Christians who were traveling through the area. In an Empire where Christianity was a minority religion and often viewed with suspicion, hospitality was a true blessing to traveling Christians. These individuals may have been strangers to Gaius (v. 5), but he received them in great love, and a report had made its way back to the elder.

Gaius clearly took his faith seriously, and the letter uses the occasion to praise Gaius in his work and to encourage him to remain steadfast in it. John reminds Gaius that these strangers had gone out “for the sake of the Name” (v. 7), that is, as traveling missionaries. Of course, such people would receive “no help from the pagans” (v. 7), which is why it was all the more important “to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth” (v. 8).

 

http://www.todayintheword.org