Daily Archives: July 21, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Courage in the Lonely Hour

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Deuteronomy 31:6-8

Loneliness is a powerful emotion. It can lead to despair, or it can draw us closer to the Lord. It is also a condition for which we were never designed. From the very beginning, God said that it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). So, He created Eve. Then came sin, the separator.

Ever since, we have been trying to regain the intimate fellowship that was lost in the Garden of Eden. Most of us start this journey to recovery by seeking healthy connections with other people. Friends and family can help enormously, but their presence is no substitute for fellowship with the heavenly Father. In fact, our best friends can sometimes impede our efforts by appearing to offer what God alone can give. Falling for such pretense is idolatry—allowing something to take God’s place.

That is why you see godly individuals throughout the Bible put to the loneliness test. We find examples in the story of Jacob wrestling alone with an angel (Gen. 32:24-32), Elijah standing alone on Mt. Sinai (1 Kings 19:1-21), and even Jesus praying alone in the garden because His friends had fallen asleep (Matt. 26:36-46). In all three cases, the picture is essentially the same.

Such heartrending experiences in our life are designed for one purpose: They bring us to the point where we can discover for ourselves that God is real. The learning process may take a while, but it is much more likely that we will rely on God if there is no one else to hang on to. When we experience utter loneliness, we can cling to the promise, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

Bible in One Year: Song of Solomon 5-8

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Dressed Up

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Read: Romans 13:11–14

Bible in a Year: Psalms 29–30; Acts 23:1–15

Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.—Romans 13:14

In her book Wearing God, author Lauren Winner says our clothes can silently communicate to others who we are. What we wear may indicate career, community or identity, moods, or social status. Think of a T-shirt with a slogan, a business suit, a uniform, or greasy jeans and what they might reveal. She writes, “The idea that, as with a garment, Christians might wordlessly speak something of Jesus—is appealing.”

According to Paul, we can similarly wordlessly represent Christ. Romans 13:14 tells us to “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” What does this mean? When we become Christians, we take on Christ’s identity. We’re “children of God through faith” (Gal. 3:26-27). That’s our status. Yet each day we need to clothe ourselves in His character. We do this by striving to live for and to be more like Jesus, growing in godliness, love, and obedience and turning our back on the sins that once enslaved us.

This growth in Christ is a result of the Holy Spirit working in us and our desire to be closer to Him through study of the Word, prayer, and time spent in fellowship with other Christians (John 14:26). When others look at our words and attitudes, what statement are we making about Christ? —Alyson Kieda

Dear Lord, we want to be a reflection of You. Help us to look more like You each day. Grow us in godliness, love, joy, and patience.

When others see us, may what they see speak well of the Savior.

INSIGHT: What does a well-dressed follower of Christ look like? Starting with verse 11 of Romans 13, Paul builds his case. Maybe he has a smile in his eyes as he thinks, “Hey, wake up you sleepy heads. It’s time to get up. Come on now. Wake up. The night’s about over. The sun’s coming up. It’s time to dress for the day rather than for the night” (see vv. 11-12).

At this point can you hear the emotion in Paul’s voice? Something like, “Come on now, I’m not kidding. Do you really want to be seen as a follower of Jesus dressed like that? Please now, ‘Do this’ for Jesus’s sake” (v. 11). Do what? He replies: “For you, I’ll say it again. Please, don’t hide who you are in Christ by wrapping yourself in self-centered desire. Clothe yourself in the ways of Jesus. Find in Him an honest concern for everyone who comes into your lives. Give yourselves and everyone you come in contact with a chance to see that a new day is dawning. It’s time to love others as Christ has loved us” (see vv. 8-12). For further study on Romans and other New Testament books, check out this free resource at christianuniversity.org/NT109. Mart DeHaan

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Do Not Be Afraid

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I had no idea why tears so abruptly filled my eyes. I was crying before I understood why I might be crying. But the sense that the reaction meant something was as real to me as the tears.

I was seated alone in a packed crowd at Duke University’s stunning neo-gothic chapel, listening very intently as Scottish composer James MacMillan conducted his St. Luke Passion for choir and orchestra. The core text of the piece is taken word for word from Luke’s Gospel. The narrative begins as Jesus and his disciples prepare for their last meal together and ends with the last breath of Christ on the cross, the centurion exclaiming what the angry crowd moments earlier would not: “Certainly this man was innocent.” At any point, for any number of reasons, tears were certainly explicable, appropriate even. But there was something very particular about this moment which gave me pause months, even years, thereafter. My body seemed to rush ahead of any sort of conscious thinking. This was not a slow climb of emotion welling up as tears that eventually fell. I was not reckoning with a particular thought or concept that suddenly clicked. Rather, my eyes seemed to confess that my brain and body were up to something, caught up in an activity that the conceptual part of me hadn’t yet realized.

Neurologists and therapists experienced with the power of music wouldn’t find in my description anything much out of the ordinary. “Listening to music is not just auditory,” writes the late neurologist Oliver Sacks, “it is motoric as well: ‘We listen to music with our muscles,’ as Nietzsche wrote. We keep time to music, involuntarily, even if we are not consciously attending to it, and our faces and postures mirror the ‘narrative’ of the melody, and the thoughts and feelings it produces.”(1) The use of music in a wide range of therapies has long been known effective, helping patients who have difficulty with language, cognition, or motor control, even as the processes involved remain somewhat mysterious. Recent advancements in the field of neurology and brain-imaging offer much insight into the brain’s activity in the midst of music-making and music-hearing. With increasing light being shed on the brain’s plasticity (its ability to change) and music’s ability to activate and engage entire regions and networks within the brain, music is increasingly being engaged as an effective component of rehabilitative care.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Give It Up!

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Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.— Psalm 25:1

This is a very short but powerful verse. In fact it gives you the answer for your whole life: give it to the Lord.

This doesn’t mean you should bring Him just your worries and problems. It means bringing Him your entire existence and everything it entails. Grasping that truth will set you free from weariness and a feeling of wanting to give up.

I used to get worn out preparing for my meetings. I would get so intense about it and work so hard at making sure everything was right that I worked myself into exhaustion. Then I learned that all I have to do is give Him my life and everything in it. As we yield to Him, His peace fills us.

As you pray tonight, give your entire life to God and experience the freedom of knowing that whatever you face—good or bad—He has it under control.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – His Spirit Tells Us

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“That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord. But we know about these things because God has sent His Spirit to tell us, and His Spirit searches out and shows us all of God’s deepest secrets” (1 Corinthians 2:9,10).

For many years, on every populated continent, I have asked millions of Christians this question: “What is the greatest thing that has ever happened to you since you became a Christian?”

The answer invariably has been: “To experience the reality, power, control and fruit of the Holy Spirit.” There is no other truth that so transforms the life of the Christian and enables him to be fruitful for the glory of God.

Two strangers were viewing the Niagara whirlpool rapids one day and one said to the other, “Come and I’ll show you the greatest unused power in the world.”

Taking him to the foot of Niagara Falls, he said, “There is the greatest unused power in the world!”

“Oh, no my friend,” came the reply, “not so. The greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God.”

Christ’s strength is given to us through the Holy Spirit to meet our every need. How do we receive that strength, that supernatural power?

As Christians, we have the potential within us, in the person of God’s Holy Spirit, but sin hinders the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

By confessing all our known sin and appropriating that supernatural power of the Holy Spirit within us, we can, by faith, be filled and continue to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, according to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit ministers to our every need.

When we by faith are filled with the Holy Spirit, He guides us, empowers us, makes us holy, bears witness in our lives, comforts us, gives us joy, gives discernment, bears fruit in and through our lives and gives us spiritual gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Bible Reading: I Corinthians 2:11-16

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will by faith appropriate the greatest unused power in the world today, the supernatural power of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit who enables me to live a supernatural life. I will share with someone today how he, too, can live a supernatural life.

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Jesus, a Friend for Life

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I spent too much of a high school summer working in the oil field. We donned gas masks, waded into ankle deep, contaminated mire. My mom burned my work clothes. The stink stunk! Yours can do the same. Linger too long in the stench of your hurt, and you’ll smell like the toxin you despise.

The better option? Join with David as he announces, “The Lord lives. Blessed be my Rock. It is God who avenges me. He delivers me from my enemies. Therefore I will give thanks to You, O God!” (Psalm 18:46-49). Wander daily through the gallery of God’s goodness. Catalog His kindnesses. Look at what you have. Let Jesus be the friend you need. Talk to Him. Spare no details. Disclose your fear and describe your dread. You just found a friend for life in Jesus Christ. What could be better than that?

From Facing Your Giants

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Learning from the tragedy of O. J. Simpson

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This morning’s news is dominated by O. J. Simpson after a parole board unanimously voted yesterday to release the former NFL player from prison. The seventy-year-old Simpson could be free as early as October 1 after serving the minimum nine years of a thirty-three-year sentence.

Orenthal James Simpson was indisputably one of the greatest athletes in NFL history—a five-time Pro Bowler, five-time first-team All Pro, NFL Most Valuable Player, NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, and AP Athlete of the Year.

But his success on the field concealed a troubled life off it.

His father was a well-known drag queen in the San Francisco area who later announced he was gay and died of AIDS in 1986. His parents separated when he was five, and he was raised by his mother. He joined a street gang as a teenager and was incarcerated briefly.

After two years of community college, Simpson transferred to the University of Southern California, where his gifts as a running back made national headlines. He won the Heisman Trophy and was drafted number one by the NFL. His football career and endorsements made him a household name.

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