Daily Archives: February 7, 2018

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – God—The Greatest Lover of All

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Jeremiah 31:3

God’s love is totally different from ours. For one thing, His love is everlasting. He bestows it on us continuously, and there is absolutely nothing that can interrupt or interfere with it. This is because His love is not based on a feeling but flows from His very nature. Therefore, it is perfect, unchangeable, and trustworthy (1 John 4:8). In contrast, disagreements and other circumstances can cause human love to fluctuate or fail.

What’s more, God’s love is unconditional—there’s nothing we can say or do to either deserve or deter it. We never have to wonder if the Lord still loves us. Every day you and I walk under the canopy of His love, which remains unaffected by our behavior, whether good or bad. Even if we wander from His will or fall into disobedience, we don’t have to worry that the canopy will be removed. We did not build it, so we can’t dismantle it. The source of God’s love is God Himself, and His love is eternal, perfect, and without any conditions whatsoever.

Notice I did not say you would necessarily enjoy life because He loves you; nor did I say that God would overlook transgressions. Disobedience is a matter of grave consequence for the Christian. Yet even in our foolishness and sin, the Lord is our loving Father, who faithfully disciplines His children. We must always remember that sin does not affect God’s boundless love for us.

The heavenly Father has always loved you, and He always will. As you release any misconceptions about His everlasting love, you’ll be able to rejoice under His canopy.

Bible in One Year: Leviticus 26-27

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Blanket for Everyone

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Read: John 18:15–27

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 1–3; Matthew 24:1–28

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.—1 Peter 4:8

Linus Van Pelt, better known as simply “Linus,” was a mainstay in the Peanuts comic strip. Witty and wise, yet insecure, Linus constantly carried a security blanket. We can identify. We have our fears and insecurities too.

The disciple Peter knew something about fear. When Jesus was arrested, Peter displayed courage by following the Lord into the courtyard of the high priest. But then he began to show his fear by lying to protect his identity (John 18:15-26). He spoke disgraceful words that denied his Lord. But Jesus never stopped loving Peter and ultimately restored him (see John 21:15-19).

Peter’s emphasis on love in 1 Peter 4:8 came from one who had experienced the deep love of Jesus. And he, in turn, stressed the importance of love in our relationships with the words “above all.” The intensity of the verse continues with the encouragement to “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Have you ever needed that kind of “blanket”? I have! After saying or doing something I later regretted, I have felt the chilly draft of guilt and shame. I have needed to be “covered” in the manner that Jesus covered disgraced, shame-filled people in the Gospels.

To followers of Jesus, love is a blanket to be graciously and courageously given away for the comfort and reclamation of others. As recipients of such great love, let us be givers of the same. —Arthur Jackson

Father, Your love, in and through Jesus, has rescued us time and time again. Help me to be an instrument of Your saving love for others.

God loves you and me—let’s love each other.

INSIGHT: We may wonder how Peter could deny his Lord (John 18:15-27). One reason was that Peter’s security was shaken. He had just seen Jesus beaten, falsely accused, and mocked; and now feared for his own life. He was also spiritually weak. Just hours before, Jesus had warned Peter that he would betray Him (13:31-38). Yet when Jesus led His disciples to the garden and urged them to watch and pray, Peter and the others slept. Despite Peter’s denial, Jesus forgave him and restored him (John 21:15-19). Alyson Kieda

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Foreign and Belonging

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I have not spent much of my life as a foreigner, though my short bouts with being a cultural outsider remind me of the difficulty of always feeling on the outside of the circle. Just as the distance between outside and inside seems to be closing, something happens or something is said and you are reminded again that you do not really belong. On a visit with Wellspring International to Northern Uganda some years ago, the thought never left us. Everywhere the director and I went, children seemed to sing of “munos,” a term essentially (and affectionately) meaning “whiteys.” It made us smile every time we heard it. But even when communicated playfully, it can be both humbling and humiliating to always carry with you the sober thought: I am out of place.

The book of Ruth scarcely neglects an opportunity to point out this reality. Long after hearers of the story are well acquainted with who Ruth is and where she is from, long after she is living in Judah, she continues to be referred to as “Ruth the Moabite” or even merely “the Moabite woman.” Her perpetual status as an outsider brings to mind the vision of Keats and the “song that found a path/ through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home/ She stood in tears amid the alien corn.”

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – What If…?

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Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.— Philippians 3:13

The longer a person lives, the more likely they are to wonder “what if…?” and feel the regret or sadness it often causes. The good news is that for any follower of Jesus, “what if?” doesn’t have to be a regret over the past, but an exciting challenge to see the future God has for them.

I know of a congregation that was challenged by their pastor to do four simple things (for only a month) to consecrate themselves for the coming year. He asked them to pray every day, fast one day a week, tithe, and bring one unsaved person a week to church.

The result was an unprecedented breakthrough in the life of this church. God’s presence became stronger in the services. Financial breakthroughs came for ministry projects and proposed buildings. And most exciting of all, church members entered a phenomenal season of bringing lost souls into God’s kingdom.

I want to challenge you: What if you pursued God today, just like that church? What if you dedicated your life entirely to Him? What if you pushed forward, ready to see what God can do? What might happen?

Prayer Starter: Lord, I don’t want to spend my life asking “what if?” and never seeing any breakthroughs in my life. I make a fresh commitment to pursue You today, excited to see the amazing things You will do in my life.

 

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Refuge for the Oppressed

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“All who are oppressed may come to Him. He is a refuge for them in their time of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).

The late evangelist Henry Moorehouse once faced a disturbing dilemma. His little paralyzed daughter greeted him as he entered the house bearing a package for his wife.

“Where is Mother?” he asked, after kissing and embracing his daughter.

“Mother is upstairs,” the girl responded.

“Well,” Moorehouse said, “I have a package for her.”

“Oh,” the girl pleaded, “let me carry the package to Mother.”

“Why, Minnie dear,” her father replied, “how can you carry the package? You can’t carry yourself.”

With a smile, the girl continued, “That is true, Papa. But you can give me the package, and I will carry the package – and you will carry me.”

Taking her up in his arms, Moorehouse carried his daughter upstairs – little Minnie and the package, too. Then he saw his own position before the Lord; he had been carrying a heavy burden in recent days, but was not God carrying Him?

In similar fashion, you and I often feel the weight of heavy burdens – sometimes forgetting that even as we carry them we are being carried by our heavenly Father, who is a “refuge for them in their time of trouble.”

Bible Reading: Psalm 9:10-14

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: As I carry my burdens today – large or small – I will recognize that my heavenly Father is carrying me, and I will pass this wonderful truth on to others who are weighted down with the loads and cares of daily living.

 

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Prayer is Conversation with God

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

Mark 1:35 says, “Jesus went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” This dialogue must have been common among His friends:

“Has anyone seen Jesus?”

“Oh, you know. He’s up to the same thing.”

“Praying again?”

“Yep. He’s been gone since sunrise.”

Jesus would even disappear for an entire night of prayer. Prayer for most of us isn’t a matter of a month-long retreat or even an hour of meditation. It’s a conversation with God while driving to work or waiting for an appointment.

God will teach you to pray. We speak, He listens. He speaks, we listen.  This is prayer in its purest form. God changes His people through such moments. May I challenge you? Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then, get ready to connect with God like never before!

Read more Before Amen

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Winter Olympics set record for promiscuity

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North Korea is making headlines this morning with the announcement that Kim Jong-un’s sister will attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on Friday night. She will be the first immediate Kim family member to cross the border.

In other news, organizers are providing 110,000 condoms to athletes, a record number for a Winter Olympics.

Many articles have appeared in recent years chronicling the extreme sexual promiscuity of athletes during the Olympics. Every writer I’ve seen on the subject has found a way to make light of such sin or even to celebrate it.

Immorality and athletics do not have to go together, as several Philadelphia Eagles players proved Sunday evening when they used their Super Bowl victory to glorify God. It is tragic when Olympic athletes fail to use their platform for moral good. It is even more tragic that our culture doesn’t expect them to.

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