Daily Archives: August 23, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Confident About Salvation

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1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Salvation fills believers with joy, but the devil tries to diminish its effect by sowing doubt and confusion. One of Satan’s purposes in doing so is to make your faith unattractive to others. Confidence about your salvation is essential to counteracting the enemy’s tactics—and it involves a what, a who, and a how.

First, you need to understand what salvation means. Though physically alive, all people are born spiritually dead—in other words, separated from the Father and lost in sin (Eph. 2:12). According to John 3:3, the only way to see the kingdom of God is to be “born again.”

Second, you must understand through whom this new life comes. Jesus shed His blood on the cross to pay the sin debt man owed (Rom. 6:23). His substitutionary atoning death provided forgiveness of sins for everyone who trusts in Him (Acts 10:43), and His resurrection is proof that He conquered death. When you trust in the Savior, your sins are forgiven and you cross over from death to life (John 5:24).

Third, you must know how to live in a God-pleasing way. This is impossible in human strength. That’s why God sends His Spirit to permanently indwell everyone who places faith in Jesus (Rom. 8:11). As we let the Holy Spirit have control, He’ll guide us into all truth (John 16:13) and empower us to achieve whatever God calls us to do.

Sin separated mankind from God, and we were spiritually dead. Jesus is the way to eternal life (John 14:6), and the Holy Spirit provides the divine power and guidance to live righteously. What blessed assurance!

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 49-50

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread –Our Guilt Is Gone

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Read: Psalm 32:1–11

Bible in a Year: Psalms 113–115; 1 Corinthians 6

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.—Psalm 32:5

As a young girl, I invited a friend to browse with me through a gift shop near my home. She shocked me, though, by shoving a handful of colorful crayon-shaped barrettes into my pocket and yanking me out the door of the shop without paying for them. Guilt gnawed at me for a week before I approached my mom—my confession pouring out as quickly as my tears.

Grieved over my bad choice of not resisting my friend, I returned the stolen items, apologized, and vowed never to steal again. The owner told me never to come back. But because my mom forgave me and assured me that I had done my best to make things right, I slept peacefully that night.

King David also rested in forgiveness through confession (Ps. 32:1–2). He had hidden his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Sam. 11–12) until his “strength was sapped” (Ps. 32:3–4). But once David refused to “cover up” his wrongs, the Lord erased his guilt (v. 5). God protected him “from trouble” and wrapped him in “songs of deliverance” (v. 7). David rejoiced because the “Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him” (v. 10).

We can’t choose the consequences of our sins or control people’s responses when we confess and seek forgiveness. But the Lord can empower us to enjoy freedom from the bondage of sin and peace through confession, as He confirms that our guilt is gone—forever. —Xochitl Dixon

Lord, when we confess our sins and receive Your forgiveness, please help us believe our guilt is completely and forever wiped away.

When God forgives, our guilt is gone.

INSIGHT: A burdened conscience is a heavy weight to carry. Ever since the fall of man in the garden of Eden, our response to sin has been either to blame others (Gen. 3:12-13) or take responsibility for our transgression before God (1 John 1:9). The penitent in today’s psalm acknowledges his transgressions to his Creator and Redeemer and experiences the cleansing of his conscience and with it the lifting of a burdensome load. Clearly this psalm teaches us that we can experience freedom from the bondage of sin through divine forgiveness.

When has guilt and remorse racked your soul? How did God’s forgiveness and cleansing provide freedom? Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Property of Tears

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Five year-old Samantha was the victim of a cruel and tragic murder, and her own tears were the evidence that sealed the case against her abductor. “[S]he solved the crime,” said her young mother. “She was her own hero.”(1) DNA in the form of teardrops was found on the passenger-side door of the killer’s car, irrevocably making their mark on the crime scene and everyone who imagines them.

It is impossible to hear stories like this, of heinous murders, of calculated school shootings, without retreating to the deepest whys and hows of life. The abrupt ending to these lives is another wretched symptom of a sick and desperate world. The problem of evil is a problem that confronts us, sometimes jarringly. The problem of pain is only intensified by the personal nature of our experience with it.

The first time I heard Samantha’s story my numbed mind was startled by this property of tears. I had no idea that our tears were so personally our own. Samantha’s tears solved the case because there were none others like hers. They were unique to the eyes they came from, intricately a part of Samantha herself. In the pains and joys that cause us to weep and to mourn, we leave marks far more intimate than I ever realized. We shed evidence of our own makeup, leaving behind a complex, yet humble message: I was here, and my pain was real. There are a lot of really bad and unhelpful things that people say in the face of tragedy and to those who mourn. For me this brings new meaning to the wisdom of being silent with the grief-striken, sharing tears instead of advice.

There is something deeply necessary in the Christian hope that pain will one day be removed and tears will be no more. We are rightly comforted by the hope of a God who will wipe away every tear from the eyes of the weeping and the promise that there will one day be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.(2) But perhaps there is something deeply necessary about a God who has marked our tears so specifically even now, declaring that our pain is far from a generic or empty occurrence.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Property of Tears →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Too Much Talk Leads to Sin

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In a multitude of words transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent. — Proverbs 10:19

We all need to learn how to establish and maintain boundaries with our words. Proverbs 10:19 in the NIV states, When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. In other words, people who talk a lot will often find themselves in trouble.

Because our words carry so much power, we need to learn to say only what needs to be said. Almost every time we have a problem with somebody, it’s over something we have said or that person said. There may be other elements—something somebody is doing, for example—but the main cause of the argument most of the time is something that was said. If we learn to speak only what is wise and necessary, then we will have much more peace.

Power Thought: I speak words of wisdom that are filled with God’s power.

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 – He Does Glorious Things 

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“Thank the Lord for all the glorious things He does; proclaim them to the nations. Sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles” (Psalm 105:1,2).

How long has it been since you have taken time to meditate upon and list all the glorious things the Lord has done for you and how long has it been since you have shared them with your family, your neighbors or even strangers? Of course, your list may differ from that of your neighbors or of fellow believers in your local church or from mine. But among those glorious things that He has done are: He has, by His Holy Spirit, drawn us all to Himself; He has created within our hearts a hunger for His love; and through faith in Christ we have become His children; our sins have been forgiven and we now have the joy of living every moment of every day in vital union and fellowship with Him – all this with the certainty that we shall spend eternity with Him. Mere human words could never express the gratitude that wells up within one’s heart at the thought of God’s great gifts. The word “alleluia” is universal and is spoken in all languages as an expression of praise to God and no word is more appropriate.

My personal list of blessings also includes a godly, praying mother who lived her Christianity and dedicated me to Christ before I was born, and followed me – as she did all her other children – with her daily prayers; a wonderful father who, I had the privilege of introducing to Christ after I became a Christian and seeing him begin to experience that peace which comes from knowing Christ; a godly wife who loves the Lord Jesus Christ and shares my commitment to serve Him as our Lord and Master whatever the cost, wherever He leads us.

I thank Him for sons who love Him, and who have committed their lives to serving Him wherever He leads; a daughter-in-law who shares the love and conviction of her husband; a marvelous staff of thousands of godly men and women who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and hundreds of thousands of co-laborers who undergird me and this ministry.

The glorious things that He has done are without number. Yes, we must sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles. We must proclaim the glorious things he has done to all the nations!

Bible Reading: Psalm 113

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will meditate upon the glorious things God has done for me and I will sing His praises and tell everyone about His miracles. I will give my prayer and financial support to helping proclaim His greatness to all the nations of the earth.

 

http://www.cru.org

Uncategorized

Max Lucado – Do-it-Yourself Christianity

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Do-it-yourself Christianity isn’t much encouragement to the done in and worn out!  “Try a little harder” is little encouragement for the abused. At some point we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey we realize that a fifty-fifty proposition is too little.  We need help from the inside out. The kind of help Jesus promised.

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But know him, because he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

Note the dwelling place of God…in you. Not near us or above us, but in us! In the hidden recesses of our being dwells, not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God. Imagine that!

Read more When God Whispers Your Name

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

 

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn photos spark furor

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Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn is threatening legal action against those responsible for leaking nude photos of herself and then-boyfriend Tiger Woods. Dozens of such photos of the couple and other celebrities are reportedly being released onto the internet.

Here’s my question: If Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods followed biblical morality, would they be in this position? They were never married, yet they obviously behaved as if they were. The seventh commandment would have prevented the humiliation that is now transpiring.

We can ask a second question of the other celebrities whose intimate photos are now being published: Why do these photos exist? I’m not defending those who are distributing them, of course. But if the celebrities obeyed Scripture regarding modesty (1 Timothy 2:9–10), lust (Matthew 5:28), and stewardship of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19), we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Here’s my third question: When you heard about the photos of Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn, did the immorality of their relationship come first to mind? Or is such sexuality so common today that you’re desensitized to it morally?

In a culture as hedonistic as ours, one of Satan’s most effective tools is the “everyone’s doing it” strategy. Three results please him and grieve our Lord:

One: We participate in ungodly activities because they’re now “normal.” One survey reports that only 11 percent of Christian singles are waiting to have sex until they’re married.

Two: We stop teaching biblical morality to our children. Scripture calls us to teach God’s precepts “diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7). But it’s hard to teach what we don’t believe. If we think sex outside of marriage is normal, so will our kids. Continue reading Denison Forum – Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn photos spark furor →