Daily Archives: July 17, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Certainty About Salvation

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1 John 5:13

One of the main reasons many Christians fail to serve God joyfully is their uncertainty about where they stand with Him. They don’t understand the basic nature of their relationship with the Lord and, as a result, hold back from dedicating themselves fully to His service.

You probably have seen similar types of hesitancy played out in day-to-day life. For example, perhaps you’re acquainted with a man and a woman who are known as the “on again, off again” couple—the pair who seem to dance around the idea of relationship but somehow never quite seem able to commit. It’s difficult to make that life-changing decision when you’re not sure how the other person feels about you, isn’t it?

The same thing holds true in your life of faith. No one wants a spouse—or a Savior—who might leave at any time, for any reason. No, we want certainty. And when that is missing, the whole context of the relationship is out of balance.

The apostle John was surely thinking about this as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write the beautiful word of encouragement we find in 1 John 5:13. What was his purpose in writing? “That you may know that you have eternal life” (emphasis added).

John was writing to bring certainty to uncertain believers. He wanted them to know that there was no “off again” time for anyone who had engaged in a relationship with the Father. Because God is your constant companion, you can trust that He is faithful—eternally.

Bible in One Year: Ecclesiastes 1-4

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Just Like Dad

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Read: John 5:17–20

Bible in a Year: Psalms 18–19; Acts 20:17–38

The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.—John 5:19

Isn’t it endearing to see a child mimicking his parents? How often we’ve seen the young boy in a car seat, gripping his imaginary steering wheel intently while keeping a close eye on the driver to see what Daddy does next.

I remember doing the same thing when I was young. Nothing gave me greater pleasure than doing exactly what my dad did—and I’m sure he got an even bigger kick watching me copy his actions.

I would like to think God felt the same way when He saw His dearest Son doing exactly what the Father did—reaching out to the lost, helping the needy, and healing the sick. Jesus said, ”the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).

We too are called to do the same—to “follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love” (Eph. 5:1-2). As we continue growing to be more like Jesus, may we seek to love like the Father loves, forgive like He forgives, care like He cares, and live in ways that please Him. It is a delight to copy His actions, in the power of the Spirit, knowing that our reward is the affectionate, tender smile of a loving Father. —Leslie Koh

Jesus, thank You for showing us the way to the Father. Help us to be more and more like You and the Father each day.

 

Our Daily Bread welcomes writer Leslie Koh! Meet Leslie and all our authors at odb.org/all-authors.

The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like the Son.

INSIGHT: The theme of following God appears throughout all of Scripture. In the Old Testament, Moses warned the Israelites not to live like the Canaanites when they entered the Promised Land: “Do not follow their practices” (Lev. 18:3) or “imitate the detestable ways of the nations there” (Deut. 18:9). Instead they were to obey and follow God’s laws (Lev. 18:4, 26-30). They were His chosen people. “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples . . . to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deut. 7:6-7; 14:2; 26:18).

In the New Testament, the apostle Peter says that believers in Christ are also “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9). Therefore, we are to imitate God: “Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do” (1:15). We are to live radically different from the world, to “be perfect, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), to “be merciful, just as [our] Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36), to love as God loves (Eph. 5:1-2).

As we reflect on the challenge to imitate God, we can ask, If I am not following God’s example, who am I imitating?

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Into the Story

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Science fiction novelist Kurt Vonnegut once said of one of his most recurrent characters, “Trout was the only character I ever created who had enough imagination to suspect that he might be the creation of another human being. He had spoken of this possibility several times to his parakeet. He had said, for instance, ‘Honest to God, Bill, the way things are going, all I can think of is that I’m a character in a book by somebody who wants to write about somebody who suffers all the time.”(1) In this scene from the book Breakfast of Champions, Kilgore Trout’s haunting suspicion is unveiled before him. Sitting content at a bar, Kilgore is suddenly overwhelmed by someone or something that has entered the room. Beginning to sweat, he becomes uncomfortably aware of a presence disturbingly greater than himself.

The author himself, Kurt Vonnegut, has stepped beyond the role of narrator and into the book itself, and the effect is as bizarre for Kilgore as it is for the readers. When the author of the book steps into the novel, fiction is lost within a new reality. Kilgore senses the world as he knows it collapsing. In fact, this was the author’s intent. Vonnegut has placed himself in Kilgore’s world for no other reason than to explain the meaninglessness of Kilgore’s life. He came to explain to Kilgore face to face that the very tiresome life he has led was, in fact, all due to the pen and whims of an author who made it all up for his own sake. In this twisted ending, no doubt illustrative of Vonnegut’s own humanism, Kilgore is forced to conclude that apart from the imagination of the author he does not actually exist. Ironically, he also must come to terms with the fact that it is because of the author that his very existence has been ridiculous.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Go With the Flow

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Brethren, for this reason, in [spite of all] our stress and crushing difficulties we have been filled with comfort and cheer about you [because of] your faith (the leaning of your whole personality on God in complete trust and confidence).—1 Thessalonians 3:7

Go with the flow, and stop being anxious about things that may never happen. If you really trust God, you don’t need a backup plan. Faith means that you have peace even when you 12 don’t have all the answers.

Life will always be stressful if you constantly try to rearrange it. For example, getting upset in a traffic jam doesn’t get you out of it any sooner. But planning for obstacles will inspire you to leave a little earlier for your appointments and keep you from hurrying. Grow in wisdom, and place high priority on keeping your peace in spite of any jams you get into today.

From the book Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Glory Will Be Ours

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“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later” (Romans 8:18).

In Sydney, Australia, a taxi driver to whom I witnessed became very angry.

“I was in World War II,” he exploded, “and I saw thousands of people die. I don’t want to have anything to do with a God who allows war.”

“Don’t blame God for war and the slaughter of millions of people,” I explained. “War is the result of man’s sin. Man does what he does because of his selfishness and pride. God does not desire that man should destroy men. God is not in favor of war. But sickness, death, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods are all a part of God’s judgement because of man’s sin, because of man’s disobedience to His commands.

The problem of suffering is a mysterious one, but for the Christian there is a good, logical answer. All creation waits patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect His children. On that day, thorns and thistles, sin and death and decay – the things that overcome the world will disappear at God’s command.

The world around us then will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy. Even the things of nature, animals and plants which now suffer deterioration and death, await the coming of the time of this great glory.

We Christians – though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory – also groan to be released from pain, heartache, sorrow and suffering. We too wait anxiously for that day when God will give us full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us – bodies that will never suffer again, and that will never die.

Bible Reading: Romans 8:24-27

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will rejoice in the certainty that glory is ahead for me as a believer, and as a result I am willing to joyfully endure whatever suffering comes my way. I will also encourage others in their times of sorrow to consider God’s love and plan for them, and will help them to understand the scriptural reason for man’s suffering.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Always Wins

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See the cross on the hill? Can you hear the soldiers pound the nails? Jesus’ enemies smirk. “This time,” Satan whispers. “This time I will win.” For a sad Friday and a silent Saturday it appeared he had.

What Satan intended as the ultimate evil, God used for the ultimate good. God rolled the rock away and Jesus walked out on Sunday morning. And if you look closely, you can see Satan scampering from the cemetery with his forked tail between his legs. “Will I ever win?” he grumbles. No…he won’t.

Do you believe no evil is beyond God’s reach?  That He can redeem every pit, including the one in which you find yourself?  Trust God. He will get you through this. Will it be easy or quick? I hope so, but it seldom is. Yet, God will make good out of this mess. That’s His job.

From You’ll Get Through This

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Man caught in ATM seeks help through receipt slot

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Of all the strange stories making news over the weekend, this was perhaps the strangest. A worker went inside an ATM in Corpus Christi to repair the locking mechanism of the door. It shut behind him, locking him in.

He didn’t have his phone with him, so he started feeding notes into the receipt dispenser asking for help. Most customers thought his notes were a prank, but someone finally called the police. They kicked down the door, freeing the man.

Imagine this event as a parable: people are locked inside the materialism of our culture. They need help escaping their prison for the freedom found only in Jesus. How will we respond?

I was reading Jeremiah 1 and came to this statement from God about Israel: “I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me” (v. 16a). What “evil”? “They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands” (v. 16b).

What was Jeremiah to do in response? “But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you” (v. 17a). Note that the prophet must say “everything” he hears from God, whether his message will be popular or unpopular. The Lord anticipated this concern, continuing: “Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you” (v. 17b). “Dismayed” translates a Hebrew word that means to be “terrified.”

As I studied these words, this paradoxical insight came to me: we need not fear people unless we fear them.
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