Daily Archives: December 28, 2017

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –More Essentials of Meditation

Leave a comment

 

Psalm 19:14

We have already explored three fundamentals of effective meditation. Today, let’s round out the list by adding three additional ones. Picking up where we left off yesterday, we will now consider:

  1. Silence. What a struggle this one can be! How often do you sit down to pray and then end up doing all the talking yourself? The prophet Isaiah reminds us that “in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isa. 30:15). However, we’re not often quiet in prayer, are we? Sometimes we go on and on with our petitions but never actually give the Father an opportunity to respond. How can we ever truly know His heart unless we stop and listen to Him in silence?
  2. Self-Control. This simply means admitting to yourself that you need to deal with some things in your life. God is continually refining us and shaping us into the men and women He wants us to be. As we surrender more and more to His will, we need to acknowledge these areas are no longer ours to control.
  3. Submission. Finally, believers must submit to God. All of the prayer and meditation in the world will not make a difference in your life if you have a rebellious spirit. He desires to know you, use you, and mold you according to His best plan for you personally. This cannot happen if you do not intentionally submit to His work in your life.

Meditation can be hard work, but as with exercise, the rewards are well worth the effort. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help, and make a commitment to start meditating today.

Bible in One Year: Revelation 5-8

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Everyday Moments

Leave a comment

Read: Proverbs 15:13–15

Bible in a Year: Zechariah 5–8; Revelation 19

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.—Proverbs 15:13

I piled groceries in my car and carefully exited my parking spot. Suddenly a man darted across the pavement just in front of me, not noticing my approach. I slammed on my brakes, just missing him. Startled, he looked up and met my gaze. In that moment, I knew I had a choice: respond with rolled-eye frustration or offer a smiling forgiveness. I smiled.

Relief flickered across his face, raising the edges of his own lips in gratefulness.

Proverbs 15:13 says, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” Is the writer directing us to cheery grins in the face of every interruption, disappointment, and inconvenience life brings? Surely not! There are times for genuine mourning, despair, and even anger at injustice. But in our everyday moments, a smile can offer relief, hope, and the grace needed to continue.

Perhaps the point of the proverb is that a smile naturally results from the condition of our inner beings. A “happy heart” is at peace, content, and yielded to God’s best. With such a heart, happy from the inside out, we can respond to surprising circumstances with a genuine smile, inviting others to embrace the hope and peace they too can experience with God. —Elisa Morgan

Dear Father, today as I cross paths with others around me, make my heart happy that I may share with them the hope only You can offer.

Encourage one another and build each other up. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

INSIGHT: In today’s reading we see the dynamic impact of a happy heart. It is interesting to note that our attitude toward our circumstances—not our situation—is the key issue. A wise person seeks out knowledge, which builds positive character rather than feeding (literally “grazing like cattle”) on those things that lead to foolishness. The oppressed are those who are bowed down or in great need, which can cause emotional turmoil. But we also see in verse 15 how those who are cheerful have a continual feast. The one who focuses on the God of compassion finds hope in difficult situations and also helps others to have hope.

Are you struggling today? Ask God to help you focus on Him with a joyful attitude. Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Where Is God

Leave a comment

In a certain home town there lived a cobbler, Martin Avdeitch by name. He lived in a small basement room whose one window looked out onto the street, and all he could see were the feet of people passing by. But since there was hardly a pair of boots that had not been in his hands at one time for repair, Martin recognized each person by his shoes. Day after day, he would work in his shop, watching boots pass by. One day he found himself consumed with the hope of a dream that he would find the Lord’s feet outside his window. Instead, he found a lingering pair of worn boots belonging to an old soldier. Though at first disappointed, Martin realized the old man might be hungry and invited him inside to a warm fire and some tea. He had other visitors that evening, and though sadly none were Christ, he let them in also. Sitting down at the end of day, Martin heard a voice whisper his name as he read the words: “I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in. Inasmuch as you did for the least of these, you did unto me.”(1)

Every Christmas, our family reads the story of Martin the Cobbler as an aid to our celebration. Tolstoy’s words offer something of a creative attempt to capture the wonder of a God who comes near and helps us picture the gift of Christ among us in accessible terms. Notably, the story was originally titled, Where God Is, Love Is.

The Christian story that informs the Christian calendar gives its followers time and opportunity to remember the coming of Christ in a specific context—in Bethlehem, in the Nativity, in the first Christmas. But it also presents repeated opportunities and reminders to prepare for the coming of Christ again and again. Like Martin eagerly waiting at the window, the Christian worldview is one that asks of every day of every year: How will Christ come near today? Will I wait for him? Am I ready for him? Am I even expecting to find him? We are reminded to keep watch, to be prepared, and to continually ready our hearts and minds for the one who is already near. At the same time, the Christian story would also have us to remember how unexpectedly Christ at times appears—as a baby in Bethlehem, a man on a cross, as a woman in need.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Where Is God →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Making Tough Decisions

1 Comment

For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.— Hebrews 4:15

It’s important to make the right choices, especially in the middle of hurt, discouragement, frustration and confusion—when the right choice is the tough choice to make. When things are stressful, we naturally like to take the path of least resistance. But those are the very moments when making the right choice can make the greatest difference. Because to reap right results in life, you have to do right when you don’t feel like it.

What’s amazing to me is that Jesus knows what we feel like. When He became a human being, He struggled with all of the frustrations we struggle with. He felt like giving up and taking the easy way, but He overcame and made the tough choices.

When we grow weary and falter in our determination, we can know with confidence that we serve a God who knows what we’re going through. He wants to help us and give us His grace so we don’t have to make tough decisions on our own.

When you find yourself stressed-out or on the verge of giving up, remember that God is with you and He understands. Find the strength to make the tough choices in Him.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Praying for Results

Leave a comment

“Ask and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Anyone who seeks, finds. If only you will knock, the door will be open” (Matthew 7:7,8).

We were conducting a Bible study on the subject of prayer when Amy, a professing Christian most of her life, said, “God never answers my prayers. In fact, I cannot recall a single prayer of mine that God has answered specifically.”

Several others in the group chimed in and said, “Neither can I.” So we turned to this passage and discussed it together. Would God lie to us? Is His Word trustworthy? Or is prayer an exercise in futility? Are we simply talking to ourselves and each other, or is there a God who hears and answers? If so, why have these not had their prayers answered?

First of all, we had to review the qualifications for prayer. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My Word abides in you, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” The Scripture also says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” So if we expect to have our prayers answered, Jesus Christ must be the Lord of our lives. There must be no unconfessed sin in our lives and we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Further, 1 John 5:14,15 reminds us: “If we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears us and answers,” so we must be sure that we are praying according to the Word of God. As we pray, the Spirit of God impresses upon us certain things for which to pray specifically, such as the salvation of a friend, the healing of a body or a financial need. If the prayer is offered with a pure motive and according to God’s will, we can expect an answer to it.

And we cannot pray casually. We must enter into an expectant spirit of prayer, knowing that, when we meet His conditions, God will hear and answer us.

Within a matter of weeks everyone in that Bible study, especially Amy, was inspired by the exciting challenge of prayer. God had truly heard, and again and again, they were able to point to specific answers.

Bible Reading: Luke 11:5-13

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I shall review my spiritual walk to be sure I am meeting God’s conditions: (1) Christ is Lord of my life. (2) I am filled with the Holy Spirit. (3) There is no unconfessed sin in my life. (4) I am praying according to God’s Word. And (5) I am praying specifically. As a result, I expect my prayers to be answered because God promises they will be.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Love is Never Failing

Leave a comment

 

Listen to Today’s Devotion

God will not let you go. The big news of the Bible is not that you love God but that God loves you! He tattooed your name on the palm of his hand. His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore. You never leave his mind, escape his sight, or flee his thoughts.

You need not win his love. You already have it. He sees the worst of you and loves you still. Your sins of tomorrow and failings of the future will not surprise him; he sees them now. Every day and deed of your life has passed before his eyes and been calculated in his decision. He knows you better than you know you and has reached this verdict: he loves you still! No discovery will disillusion him. No rebellion will dissuade him. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love—never failing. Never ending.

Read more Lucado Inspirational Reader

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Home

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – An eight-hour flight from Los Angeles to Los Angeles

Leave a comment

A jet heading from Los Angeles to Tokyo turned around four hours into the flight and returned to LAX. The crew discovered that an unauthorized person had boarded the flight, so they chose to return to Los Angeles.

What one person does can affect multitudes of people.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Sealver Siliga went to dinner with some friends on Christmas Eve. He asked the manager how many employees were still working, then left a $1,000 tip to ensure that each received $100 for Christmas.

By contrast, an employee burned a bagel in a St. Louis airport restaurant Tuesday night. Hundreds of travelers were forced to evacuate into 11-degree cold.

My wife and I recently saw Darkest Hour, a fascinating depiction of Winston Churchill’s leadership in the early days of World War II. As the film shows, government advisors pled with the new prime minister to negotiate for peace with Hitler. England’s troops were trapped at Dunkirk, on the western coast of France, as the Germans advanced.

But Churchill ordered the largest evacuation in military history, sending nearly a thousand vessels to rescue 338,226 Allied soldiers. Describing Churchill’s rhetoric, President John F. Kennedy said that he “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle,” turning his government from pacifism to courage.

“Being a better person” is our top resolution

In a world that is more interconnected than ever before, what we do today can affect humanity for years to come.

Continue reading Denison Forum – An eight-hour flight from Los Angeles to Los Angeles →