Monthly Archives: June 2017

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Is pro-life legislation ‘a form of slavery’?

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Author Margaret Atwood recently likened abortion legislation in Texas to “a form of slavery.” She is “waiting for a lawsuit that says if you force me to have children I cannot afford, you should pay for the process.” In her view, “It is really a form of slavery to force women to have children that they cannot afford and then to say that they have to raise them.”

The illogic of her statement astounds me. First, Atwood ignores adoption, an option that spares the life of the child with no financial burden to the mother. Second, she is apparently unaware of the financial resources available for impoverished families from public and private funds. Third, her argument would apply to children as well as to unborn babies.

If a mother becomes impoverished, is it slavery to prevent her from killing her child? If not, why is it slavery to prevent her from killing her unborn child? When her baby is born, it merely changes its location from inside her womb to outside her body, but our laws illogically grant protections to the latter that they deny the former.

Of course, these facts would not change Margaret Atwood’s mind. In her view, an unborn child is not yet a person and thus deserves no protection from the government. This is how abortion advocates view the nearly sixty million lives ended by abortion since 1973. Many cite rape and incest as justification for their position. However, as of this morning, there have been 404,332 abortions in the US this year; only 3,922 were due to incest or rape.

Some see life through the prism of opinion, elevating the “mother’s right to choose” above the unborn child’s right to live. Others see life through the prism of Scripture, viewing life as sacred from conception to natural death. According to the Bible, God formed us in the womb (Isaiah 44:24; Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:5) so that we are all the work of his hand (Isaiah 64:8). He planned our lives before we were born (Galatians 1:15) and views each of us as worth the death of his Son (Romans 5:8).

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Single-Minded Focus

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2 Timothy 2:4-5

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life” (2 Tim. 2:4). The word for “entangle,” which also occurs in 2 Peter 2:20, means to be so wrapped up in something that movement is hindered. This is the term the Greeks would have used to describe a rabbit ensnared in a thorn patch.

Peter’s letter admonished followers not to return to past sins, but Paul was emphasizing a different lesson: He was warning Timothy against allowing essential daily pursuits to supersede a commitment to Christ. Paul himself at times worked as a tentmaker while carrying on with ministry; however, he realized there was potential for an occupation to become all-consuming, to the detriment of a person’s spiritual life.

Growing and managing wealth, providing for one’s family, and taking advantage of leisure time are important activities. In fact, God encourages all of them. However, these blessings are not to become distractions that draw believers away from church or regular prayer and Bible study. Nor are we to compartmentalize our life into “Christian ministry” and “regular work/play.” We are Christ’s soldiers, no matter where we are or what we are doing—there is no such thing as a part-time warrior.

It’s important for believers not to draw artificial boundary lines between the secular and the sacred. Everything God gives—from vocation and wealth to leisure activities—is to be used for His glory. By keeping priorities straight and activities in balance, you can prevent hobbies and interests from becoming a snare.

Bible in One Year: Job 26-30

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — God Calling

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Read: Genesis 3:1–10

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 28–29; John 17

This is how God showed his love . . . : He sent his one and only Son into the world.—1 John 4:9

One morning my daughter gave her eleven-month-old son her cell phone for a moment to entertain him. Less than a minute later my phone rang, and as I picked it up I heard his little voice. He had somehow hit the “speed dial” to my number, and what followed was a “conversation” I will long remember. My grandson can only say a few words, but he knows my voice and responds to it. So I talked to him and told him how much I love him.

The joy I felt at the sound of my grandson’s voice was a reminder to me of God’s deep desire for a relationship with us. From the very beginning, the Bible shows God actively pursuing us. After Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God and then hid from Him in the garden, “the Lord God called” to Adam (Gen. 3:9).

God continued to pursue humanity through Jesus. Because God desires a relationship with us, He sent Jesus to earth to pay the penalty for our sin by His death on the cross. “This is how God showed his love . . . . He sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God” (1 John 4:9-10 The Message).

How good it is to know that God loves us and wants us to respond to His love through Jesus. Even when we don’t quite know what to say, our Father longs to hear from us! —James Banks

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me and pursuing a relationship with me. Help me to be a joy to You by drawing near to You.

God’s love for us is revealed through Jesus.

INSIGHT: God did not force Adam and Eve to obey Him but allowed them to choose whether or not they would obey. Similarly, He did not force them to come to Him after they sinned. Instead, He called to them and allowed them to respond to His call. Have you responded to God’s offer of a restored relationship with Him? J.R. Hudberg

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Throwing Stones

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Each of us, in an instant, can drudge up a snapshot of humanity at its worst. Images of genocide in Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia, or the Sudan come readily to mind. Other impressions are not far off: students planning deadly attacks at school, looters taking advantage of natural disasters, the greed that paved the Trail of Tears. They are visions that challenge the widespread hope that people are generally good, leaving in its wake the sinking feeling of human depravity. But ironically, such snapshots of humanity also seem to grant permission to distance ourselves from this depravity. Whether with theory or judgment, we place ourselves in different categories. Perhaps even unconsciously, we consider their inferior virtue, their primitive sense of morality, or their distinctively depraved character. And it is rare that we see the stones in our hands as a problem.

As Jesus stood with a girl at his feet in the middle of a group armed with rocks and morality, he crouched down in the sand and with his finger wrote something that caused a fuming crowd to drop their stones and a devastated girl to get up. No one knows what he wrote on the ground that day with the Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery, and yet we often emerge from the story not with curiosity but with satisfaction. This public conviction of the Pharisees strikes most of us with the force of victory. Their air of superiority is palpable, and it is satisfying to picture them owning up to their own shortfall. If we imagine ourselves in the scene at all, it is most likely in a crumpled heap of shame with the woman at Jesus’s feet; it is rarely, if ever, with the Pharisees.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Throwing Stones →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Regret & Dread

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Key Scripture: Philippians 3: 13,14

“I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling me upward.”

When making decisions in your life, it’s easy to start asking yourself the question, “Did I make the right decision?” And although some of that can be healthy, it can also quickly get out of balance and lead your heart to place of regret and dread. When this happens, it’s also easy to start regretting the past and dreading the future, and in fact, both are “thieves of joy.”

Many people stay trapped in the past. There is only one thing that can be done about the past, and that is to forget it. When we make mistakes or bad decision (which we all do from time to time), the only thing we can do is ask God’s forgiveness and go on. Like Paul, we are all pressing toward the mark of perfection, but none of us have arrived.

I believe Paul enjoyed his life and ministry and this “one aspiration” of his was part of the reason why. Like us, he was pressing toward the mark of perfection, admitting that he had not arrived, but having insight on how to enjoy his life while he was making the trip.

And if regret has us constantly looking backwards in the past, dread has us always fearing forwards concerning the future. I spend a lot of years with regret pulling one arm and dread pulling on the other. The result was that I felt like I was being pulled apart, and I didn’t even know what the problem was.

Dreading things can become a bad habit, an attitude that develops out of lethargy or laziness, or perhaps because of multiple bad decisions. Procrastination and dread often work together. An upcoming task is dreaded, so procrastination says, “Put it off until later.” That sounds good for a few minutes, but the thing is still there to be dreaded until it is finished. It would be far better to do it and be free to go on to other things.

Final Thoughts and Action Items

I have learned from experience that living life one day at a time is something that can be done. God gives me the grace for today, but He does not give me grace for yesterday or tomorrow. When I am trying to live yesterday today, I can easily start to second guess the decisions made and I find myself full of unanswerable questions and regret. When I live tomorrow today, I allow fear of the unknown to creep in and I can easily start walking through life with endless amounts of dread. Ultimately, living in either regret or dread is pressure. And what I’ve discovered over time is to take the pressure off by believing God and trusting His Word.

Action Items

Are you relying on the grace that’s been given to you today? Have you asked God to help you rely on that grace?

Make a mental list of how many times you either think or say things like, “I just regret that decision,” or “I’m really concerned about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Decide that today is the only day God has given you and commit to do the very best that you can. At the end of your day, ask God to help you change the habit of regret and dread.

For more on this topic, check out Joyce’s book Enjoy Your Journey.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Faith Can Grow

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“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thous has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21, KJV).

At one stage of my spiritual growth, I was able to trust God for a soul – and He answered that prayer by leading me to one person whose heart He had prepared. Through the years God has increased my faith to trust Him for 6 souls then 20, 50, 100, 1000, 1 million, 100 million souls! Always He has honored my faith and obedience. Now I pray for a billion souls and by faith I believe that a billion will be harvested for the glory of God.

God has not changed; I have changed.

I believe that God deals with us in a similar way with regard to spiritual fruit. As we continue to trust God to develop in us all the various love traits, He honors that faithfulness because we are obeying Him by doing what He commands us to do.

Faithfulness is that trait of the Holy Spirit (faithfulness- love) that makes faith a living reality every day in the life of the believer who is living supernaturally. As we continue to walk in the power, love and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we learn to develop greater confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Word, in our rights as children of God and in the ability of the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower and control our lives.

Faithfulness can be compared to an athlete’s conditioning. A marathon runner does not begin training by running great distances. Instead, he starts with short runs. Then, as his body becomes more conditioned, he increases the distance of his runs until he reaches the full distance of the marathon.

Faithfulness in the life of a Christian also develops over an extended period of time spent in “conditioning.” As we learn to trust God in small things, our faith grows and grows until we are able to trust Him in greater things.

God rewards us for our faithfulness, and each time we see Him respond favorably, He reaches out to us through His Holy Spirit and increases our faith to trust Him for even greater things.

Bible Reading: Matthew 25:14-20

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will seek to cultivate this fruit of the Spirit by being faithful to the calling God has entrusted to me.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Master Builder

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Several years ago the state was rebuilding an overpass near my house. Three lanes reduced to one, transforming a morning commute into a daily stew. The project, like human history, had been in development since before time began. My next-door neighbors were highway engineers, consultants to the department of transportation. “It’ll take time,” they responded to my grumbles, “but it will get finished. “ They had seen the plans.

In the Old Testament story of Joseph, God allows us to study His plans. Brothers dumping brother. Their family feuds scattered like nails and cement bags on a vacant lot. But watch the Master Builder at work. He cleared the debris and stabilized the structure. And the chaos of Genesis 37:24—“They cast him into the pit”—became the triumph of Genesis 50:20—“life for many people.” God redeemed the story of Joseph. Can’t He redeem your story as well?

From You’ll Get Through This

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Facial-recognition software is coming to stores

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I still remember my first crime. I was six or seven years old and was standing with my mother in the grocery store checkout line. As she paid for our food, I snatched a pack of chewing gum from a nearby rack and buried it in my pocket.

I have not shoplifted since. Apparently, I’m the exception to the rule.

The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (its existence tells us this is a serious problem) reports that one in eleven Americans are shoplifters. Many become addicted to the “rush” of getting away with their crime; 57 percent of adult shoplifters say it is hard for them to stop even when they’re apprehended.

Enter facial-recognition software, which uses biometrics of known shoplifters from store databases and police logs. Every visitor’s face is tracked automatically and compared at thirty frames per second. A match is sent to employees’ smartphones. One company says its software has reduced shoplifting by 91 percent.

This is just one way technological innovation is improving our lives.

Apple will soon introduce an iPhone feature that will prevent texting while driving. It will detect that your car is moving or your phone is connected to the vehicle via Bluetooth or cable. Your phone will then withhold notifications for text messages and news updates. This is good news—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 3,477 people were killed by distracted driving in 2015. That’s nine people every day.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Facial-recognition software is coming to stores →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Character of a Good Soldier

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2 Timothy 2:1-3

In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul calls on believers to “fight the good fight of faith.” Like first-century Christians, believers today are in a three-front war against the flesh, the world system, and Satan. The military metaphor is a good reminder that believers must prepare for daily spiritual battle. A good soldier …

Is strong in Christ. Paul knew that the Lord stood by his side and strengthened him during trials (2 Tim. 4:17). The Holy Spirit provides the courage and power to obey God’s commands, so we can rely upon His might to carry us to victory against any enemy.

Shares knowledge. The church possesses not only the good news about salvation; it has all the riches of God’s Word. Many people have listened to biblical teaching and experienced the Lord interceding in their lives. To keep those lessons to oneself can leave unbelievers in harm’s way and deprive fellow Christians of necessary wisdom.

Suffers willingly. Hardship is part of combat and, therefore, part of the Christian experience. Believers will endure adversity and be asked to make sacrifices. It is little wonder, then, that Paul reminds Timothy to stand strong in the Lord and to uphold others (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

A wise commanding officer gives his troops a war cry that encourages their hearts and emboldens their steps. Paul had one, too: “Remember Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:8). Keep in mind that you serve an omnipotent Lord. He stands beside you, takes part in your suffering, and holds you securely through the most formidable battles.

Bible in One Year: Job 22-25

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread –Fifteen-Minute Challenge

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Read: Psalm 119:33–40

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 25–27; John 16

Turn my heart toward your statutes.—Psalm 119:36

Dr. Charles W. Eliot, longtime president of Harvard University, believed that ordinary people who read consistently from the world’s great literature for even a few minutes a day could gain a valuable education. In 1910, he compiled selections from books of history, science, philosophy, and fine art into fifty volumes called The Harvard Classics. Each set of books included Dr. Eliot’s Reading Guide titled “Fifteen Minutes A Day” containing recommended selections of eight to ten pages for each day of the year.

What if we spent fifteen minutes a day reading God’s Word? We could say with the psalmist, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word” (Ps. 119:36-37).

Fifteen minutes a day adds up to ninety-one hours a year. But for whatever amount of time we decide to read the Bible each day, consistency is the secret and the key ingredient is not perfection but persistence. If we miss a day or a week, we can start reading again. As the Holy Spirit teaches us, God’s Word moves from our minds to our hearts, then to our hands and feet—taking us beyond education to transformation.

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end” (v. 33). —David C. McCasland

I turn to You, the Author, to teach me as I read Your Word today. I want to hear from You, to know You, and to grow closer to You.

The Bible is the only Book whose Author is always present when it is read.

INSIGHT: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Each new section starts with a successive letter from the Hebrew alphabet (known as an acrostic poem). The major emphasis of this psalm is to celebrate the usefulness and value of the law. In Psalm 119 the author uses a variety of words to describe the laws and commands of God. Eight times he mentions meditating: on God’s decrees (vv. 23, 48), deeds (v. 27), precepts (vv. 15, 78), laws (v. 97), statutes (v. 99), and promises (v. 148). Meditation is the act of thinking deeply about something, focusing intently on an idea. We really get to know the commands of God by meditating on them. Reading is the necessary first step, but once we have read His Word, meditating on it throughout the day helps us to keep it in our minds.Do you want to learn more about spending time with God?

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Vapor and Mist

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Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leafs a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.(1)

One of my most cherished memories is of the New England landscape in the fall. The vibrant colors from dogwood, sassafras, sumac, red oak, and maples can only be described as the finest artist’s palette of paints—crimsons and scarlets, purples, oranges and yellows splashed across the canvas. Making our pilgrimage each year to the local fair, the route transported my husband and me into that world of color, as the road would bend through picturesque towns and take us deeper and deeper into that fall canvas. Sadly, this beauty was transient. Fall rains and wind would come to fade and to muddle those colors. All that would remain were the dull browns melding and making their home in the dark soil that encompassed them.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Vapor and Mist →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Make a Decision

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I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings the curses; therefor choose life, that you and your descendants may live.— Deuteronomy 30:19 (AMPC)

I’m going to start with a question that may seem tough to ask at the beginning of a study, but I believe it goes to the core of how you are living your life: Are you living your life with quantity in mind or with quality in mind?

No matter who you are, whether you are a CEO of a business or a committed stay-at-home mom, we all have the same amount of time available to us—the quantity is the very same. 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. So why do some appear to enjoy it more? Over my life, I’ve come to realize that it’s all about making the choice to enjoy it, the “choosing life” as Deuteronomy says. And that life is choosing to walk in the life and promises Christ died to give us.

As believers, you and I have available to us the quality of that life through Christ. His life is not filled with fear, stress, worry, anxiety or depression. God is not impatient, and He is in no hurry. He takes time to enjoy His creation, the words of His hands. And because Christ lives inside of us, we have access to approach life in the same way.

However, does that sound like your life today? Do you find yourself rushing through the quantity of your life while sacrificing the quality of it? We must all come to the place where we make the decision to not only enjoy our work and accomplishments, but also enjoy the road in getting there.

Final Thoughts and Action Items

We will never enjoy life unless we make a quality decision to do so. Satan is an expert at stealing, and our joy is one of his favorite targets. Nehemiah 8:10 tell us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. In John 10:10 we are told that “the thief” comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have and enjoy life.

Satan is the thief, and one of the things he seeks to steal is our joy. If he can steal our joy from us, we will be weak, and when we are weak, the enemy takes advantage of us. Weak believers are no threat to him and his works of destruction.

To live as God intends for us to live, the first thing we must do is truly believe that it is God’s will for us to experience continual joy. That doesn’t mean we’ll never face opposition or hardship, but instead, that we will face it with Christ on our side and ultimately, be able to rely on his joy as our strength to go through it. But again, we must make the decision enter and rely upon that joy.

Action Items

What decisions are you making today? Are you making those decisions with quality in mind or quantity?

Are you actively relying on the joy of the Lord to be your strength? Or are you trying to do it in your own strength?

Decide to rest in God’s joy. Make the decision today to look for quality over quantity, knowing that when you rely on Christ, you’ll accomplish everything you need to and in God’s timing.

For more on this topic, check out Joyce’s book Enjoy Your Journey.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Everything Is Possible

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“Jesus looked at them intently, then said, ‘Without God, it is utterly impossible. But with God everything is possible'” (Mark 10:27).

“An hour in prayer can give the believer enough power to overcome the second most powerful force in the universe,” sagely declared an anonymous observer.

God’s Word gives us many “exceeding great and precious promises” that confirm the truth of this wise observation – and the truth of the scriptural promise that with God everything is possible. One of these precious promises declares, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31,KJV).

Sometimes renewed strength – spiritual strength, God’s strength – is all we need to face the problem or difficulty or testing or trial that confronts us.

In the gigantic tasks God has given us to do in the work of Campus Crusade for Christ, often it is the confirmed realization that with God everything is possible that keeps us going on, trusting God to do that which no man could possibly do.

God’s indwelling Holy Spirit, making possible the supernatural life, constantly empowers and enables us to reach out and attempt great and mighty things for God – always an outreach that involves the needs of others more than our own personal needs, as great as they may seem to be at times.

Bible Reading: Mark 10:23-27

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: “Dear Lord, give me a heart like Yours – one that reaches out to the ends of the earth, and the end of the block, with the good news of the gospel, always believing that nothing is impossible with Your help.”

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Master Weaver

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In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good! Nothing in the Old Testament story of Joseph glosses over the presence of evil. Bloodstains, tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty nd miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace.

The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him. “You meant evil against me,” Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that means to weave. You wove evil, he was saying, but God rewove it together for good. God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn, intertwines the colors. Nothing escapes His reach.

From You’ll Get Through This

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Why going to church is good for your health

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New research indicates that church attendance reduces stress. Before I explain why, let’s survey some reasons we need the help.

According to an expert on radicalization, the latest terrorist attacks in Great Britain are “just the tip of the iceberg, and it’s an enormous iceberg.” British authorities are currently investigating 500 active terrorism plotters, 3,000 other persons of interest, and 20,000 others with links to militancy. UK security officials say the number of radicalized individuals has become unmanageable.

Shootings such as yesterday’s tragedy in Orlando seem to make the news daily. In addition to violence, consider the escalating moral challenges of our day. A Catholic farmer was recently barred from a municipal farmers market in Michigan because he stated on Facebook “his Catholic belief that marriage is a sacramental union between one man and one woman” and chose not to host a lesbian couple’s wedding at his orchard.

A transgender man is in the news because he stopped taking testosterone and is now pregnant. The Church of England will vote next month on whether to create an official “baptism-style” service to celebrate sex changes. A woman in San Diego says she is “objectum-sexual,” a person who is in love with an object. In her case, she says she married a train station in California.

Do you feel your stress level increase when you read the news? So do I. This is not good—stress has been linked to cancer, lung disease, fatal accidents, suicide, and cirrhosis of the liver. It can damage the heart, weaken the immune system, and cause weight gain.

Fortunately, there’s an amazing remedy for stress: going to church.

We already knew that church attendance improves the longevity of women. A Harvard professor’s study found that women who attend religious services more than once a week have a 33 percent lower risk of death than women who never attend worship.

Now a new report by a Vanderbilt University professor indicates that those who attend church services may reduce their mortality risk by 55 percent. The study collected data on more than 5,000 people, finding that those who did not attend church at all were twice as likely to die prematurely as those who had attended a worship service in the past year.

Why is churchgoing so healthy? The Vanderbilt professor explains that social support, a sense of compassion, and personal holiness result from church attendance. Each is known to contribute to reducing stress. And the lower our stress, the longer and healthier our lives.

The remedy for stress is not found in our fallen culture but in our risen Lord. Fifty days after Easter, his followers were surrounded by a hostile Empire and decadent society. As they met God in worship, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. They witnessed so boldly and preached so courageously that three thousand came to Christ (Acts 2). Before long, they “turned the world upside down” for Jesus (Acts 17:6).

Now God is ready to do through us what he did through them. Two days ago, Christians around the world marked Pentecost Sunday. Will today be Pentecost Tuesday?

NOTE: For more on today’s topic, see Ryan Denison’s Going to church leads to longer life.

 

Denison Forum

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Father’s Good Gifts

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Matthew 7:7-11

One of God’s most generous assurances to His children is found in today’s reading from Matthew 7. Not only are we granted permission to come to the Father with our requests, but He also promises to answer our prayers. However, you may be thinking, If this is true, why hasn’t He given me what I asked for?

The key to understanding this passage is found in verses 9–11: “What man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? … If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” Think in terms of parenting. A child may want the latest video game, but his parent knows that a different gift would be better for him. In the same way, the God who made us is more keenly aware of our needs than we are (Matt. 6:8).

Because of spiritual immaturity or the limitations of our humanity, we may ask for what we perceive as good and necessary, when it isn’t truly in our best interest. But our Father gives what He knows is more beneficial. The qualities of Christlike character are among His best gifts, but these develop through trials and testing. We may feel He’s given us a snake instead of a fish, but the problem is with our lack of understanding, not with the Lord’s goodness.

When it seems that the Lord isn’t answering your requests, remember that He’s a loving Father, and consider what good gifts He is giving instead. Although it may take years to gain a godly perspective, in time you’ll say, “Lord, You were right. Thank You for giving me exactly what I needed.”

Bible in One Year: Job 17-21

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — What Do We Want?

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Read: Romans 8:1–11

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 23–24; John 15

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.—Romans 8:11

“I went from the horse-and-buggy to a man walking on the moon,” said the elderly man to his granddaughter, who shared this story with me recently. But then he mused, “I never thought it would be so short.”

Life is short, and many of us turn to Jesus because we want to live forever. That’s not bad, but we don’t comprehend what eternal life really is. We tend to crave the wrong things. We long for something better, and we think it’s just ahead. If only I were out of school. If only I had that job. If only I were married. If only I could retire. If only . . . And then one day we catch an echo of our grandfather’s voice as we wonder where the time has flown.

The truth is, we possess eternal life now. The apostle Paul wrote, “The law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). Then he said, “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (v. 5). In other words, our desires change when we come to Christ. This naturally gives us what we most desire. “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (v. 6).

It’s one of life’s great lies that we need to be somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else before we start truly living. When we find our life in Jesus, we exchange regret over life’s brevity for the full enjoyment of life with Him, both now and forever. —Tim Gustafson

Lord, You said You came to give us life to the fullest, but so often we have our own agenda and the wrong goals in mind. Please forgive us, and help us desire what You want.

To live forever we must let Jesus live in us now.

INSIGHT: Read John 10:10 to see what Jesus said about eternal life. What hinders you from enjoying life on earth now?To read more on the subject of contentment see Cultivating a Heart of Contentment at discoveryseries.org/hp052.

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In the Beginning

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Someone once told me that the most comforting premise of the Christian imagination was, for her, the assurance of a beginning. Her Hindu upbringing had been far less clear. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” These very first words of Scripture boldly proclaim that we are not lost and wandering in a cosmic circle of time and accident, isolated from any meaning beyond the name or reputation we manage to carve for ourselves. At the heart of the Christian imagination is one who stood at the foundation of the world, and with love, beauty, and wisdom, caused life and history to begin.

For the Christian, this comforting premise is deepened by the image of creation as the cooperative work of a relational, trinitarian God. The account of creation in the Gospel of John runs parallel to the creation accounts of the book of Genesis, except that John makes it clear that the Father was not acting alone. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”(1) Paul similarly describes the Son’s vital role in creation to the Colossians, referring to Jesus Christ as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”(2)

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Safe and Secure

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So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me? —Hebrews 13:6 AMPC

A confident person feels safe. He believes he is loved, valuable, cared for, and protected by God’s will for him. When we feel safe and secure, it’s easy to step out and try new things.

During the initial construction on the Golden Gate Bridge, no safety devices were used, and twenty-three men fell to their deaths. For the final part of the project, however, a large net was used as a safety precaution. Twenty-five percent more work was accomplished after the net was installed. Why? Because the men had the assurance of their safety, so they were free to wholeheartedly serve the project.

When people feel safe, they are free to take a chance on failing in order to try to succeed. As children of God, we are safe and secure, knowing God loves us and has a good plan for our lives. Therefore, we can live with thanksgiving and confidence as we step out boldly each and every day.

Prayer of Thanks: I thank You, God, that You are always there to catch me when I fall. Today, I choose to live with confidence because I know I am safe and secure in Your love. I know nothing will happen to me that I can’t handle because You are with me.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Most Vital Food

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“Your words are what sustain me; they are food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me. How proud I am to bear Your name, O Lord” (Jeremiah 15:16).

In my earlier years – as perhaps was true of yours – one thing that seemed to sustain me more than anything else was food: three square meals a day, and sometimes something in between. Food is still vital – I would not understate its value – but I have found something far more vital to my happiness and success as a believer in Christ.

Now, I can truly say with the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, that the very words of God are what really sustain me. They are food to my hungry soul. And they accomplish immeasurable good in my life, and thus in the lives of thousands of people whom I am privileged to meet throughout the world.

God’s Word brings joy to my sorrowing heart. Why? Because it has an answer – theanswer – to every need, every burden, every problem I will face this day, and in the days to come. Furthermore, it will provide the answers for others whom I contact.

God’s Word truly delights me, as it did Jeremiah. When I need encouragement, I turn to the Psalms. When I need practical wisdom for daily decisions, I turn to the Proverbs of Solomon. And so on with every kind of need I face.

All of this being true – God’s Word sustaining me, being food to my hungry soul, bringing joy to my sorrowing heart, and delighting me – “How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord!”

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 15:15-21

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: My spiritual food must take priority over all other considerations in my life.

 

http://www.cru.org