Daily Archives: March 21, 2018

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – In Search of Wholeness

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John 4:7-30

Take an honest look at your life. Do you feel whole and complete, or is there the sense that something’s missing? If you’re aware of an emptiness, what are you using to try and fill that void? Is it relationships with family and friends? Or have you opted for achievements, hoping they will bring a sense of significance? Maybe you use a substance or activity of some kind to deaden the ache or provide temporary comfort.

Jesus met a woman with just such an empty place in her soul. She was longing for a healthy relationship but had been repeatedly rejected. In those days, a man could divorce his wife simply because she displeased him in some way. The Samaritan woman had gone through this rejection five times and was now seeking to fill her soul with a man who wasn’t her husband.

She probably tried to cover up her hurt so those nearby wouldn’t notice, but when Jesus met her at the well and told all that she had done, her days of hiding were over. She had finally found the One who could bring wholeness to her life. Before you can fill the emptiness in your soul, you must likewise let Christ’s piercing gaze penetrate into the depths of your heart and reveal the root cause of your incompleteness.

We were created for God. All other pursuits are inadequate substitutes and will never bring the lasting satisfaction we are seeking. Life has a way of beating us down, leaving us depleted and disillusioned. But when we allow Jesus Christ unrestricted access to our hearts, He fills us up with His unfailing love.

Bible in One Year: Ruth 1-2

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Walking on Water

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Read: Matthew 14:25–33 | Bible in a Year: Joshua 7–9; Luke 1:21–38

Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27

During an especially cold winter, I ventured out to Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake in the world, to see it frozen over. Bundled up on the beach where I usually enjoy soaking up the sun, the view was breathtaking. The water was actually frozen in waves creating an icy masterpiece.

Because the water was frozen solid next to the shore, I had the opportunity to “walk on water.” Even with the knowledge that the ice was thick enough to support me, I took the first few steps tentatively. I was fearful the ice wouldn’t continue to hold me. As I cautiously explored this unfamiliar terrain, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat onto the Sea of Galilee.

Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, their response was also fear. But Jesus responded, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:26–27). Peter was able to overcome his fear and step out onto the water because he knew Jesus was present. When his courageous steps faltered because of the wind and waves, Peter cried out to Jesus. Jesus was still there, near enough to simply reach out His hand to rescue him.

If you are facing a situation today where Jesus is calling you to do something that may seem as impossible as walking on water, take courage. The one who calls you will be present with you.

Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are always with us.

When we call out to God, He hears.

By Lisa Samra

INSIGHT

The fact that Jesus Christ walked on water carries with it a powerful message about His deity. In John’s gospel Christ refers to Himself as the great “I am” (John 6:35, 48; 8:12, 58; 9:5; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). Biblical theologians see these “I am” statements as clear references to the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked God by what name He should be called, He answered: “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you’ ” (Exodus 3:14).

When we feel like we are in the storm of an impossible situation, we can take courage that Christ—the Creator of the world—is present with us and in control.

Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Cross of the Moment

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“[W]e are perpetually disillusioned. The perfect life is spread before us every day, but it changes and withers at a touch.”(1)

The author of this comment did not have the dashed hopes of a person weary of contemporary political promises or the daunting purposelessness of life. His was not the disappointment of a child after his once-adored video game lost its thrill or the dispirited outlook of a millenial overwhelmed with options and fearful of missing out on something vital. No, long before video games existed, long before Generation Y was disillusioned with Generation X or X with the Baby Boomers before them, disillusionment reigned nonetheless. A social commentator in the late 1920s made this comment about his own disillusioned culture, words which in fact came more than a decade after a group of literary notables identified themselves as the “Lost Generation,” so-named because of their own general feeling of disillusionment.  In other words, disillusionment is epidemic.

As humans who tell and hear and live by stories, the possibility of taking in a story that is bigger than reality is quite likely. (Advertisers, in fact, count on it regularly.) Subsequently, disillusionment is a quality that follows humanity and its stories around. Yet despite its common occurrence, disillusionment is a crushing blow, and the collateral damage of shattered expectations quite painful. With good reason, we speak of it in terms of the discomfort and disruption that it fosters; we frame the crushing of certain hope and images in terms of loss and difficulty. The disillusioned do not speak of their losses lightly, no more than victims of burglary move quickly past the feeling of loss and violation.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Put Yourself in the Offering Plate

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Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. — Romans 12:1

In 2 Corinthians 8, when Paul was talking to the Corinthian believers about their giving, he gave them the example of the churches in Macedonia. He said in verse 5, Nor [was this gift of theirs merely the contribution] that we expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us [as His agents] by the will of God [entirely disregarding their personal interests, they gave as much as they possibly could, having put themselves at our disposal to be directed by the will of God].

That just amazes me, because they didn’t just give their money—but they gave themselves.

I wonder how many of us are willing to write our names down and stick that in the offering plate. Romans 12:1 says we should offer all of ourselves as a sacrifice to God.

This means living for God outside of church. It means being willing to give money, but it also means being ready to love anyone God brings across your path. It means being willing to use any resource you have for His kingdom.

So the next time you’re in church and the offering plate comes around, I encourage you to tell God that you’re giving all of yourself to Him!

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – God Answers While We Are Praying

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“So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and He will give them to you if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to” (Matthew 6:31-33).

Whenever God impresses you with a need, you can always be assured that He will supply that need, often through others.

I remember the first time I asked God for a specific amount of money. We needed $485 for a particular ministry. While I was still on my knees in prayer, there came a knock at the door and the mailman handed me a registered letter containing a check for $500. Earlier, a young man from Zurich, Switzerland, had written his parents that he had received Christ through our ministry at UCLA, and he mentioned my name as one who had helped him. His parents and their daughter had then flown all the way from Zurich to California to learn how they also could become Christians. God honored their desire and after prayer and counsel they had gone home rejoicing in the assurance of their salvation. Now they were writing and sending this generous check to express their gratitude.

Later, we needed $10,000 and God impressed us to pray for that amount. An hour after we prayed, a man whom I did not know well called to say, “I am a new Christian, and I don’t know how God speaks to man, but you have been on my mind all day, so I thought it might be that God was trying to tell me something. I thought I would just call to see if you have a need.”

I told him we had just prayed for $10,000. He said, “That’s a lot of money, but I’ll call you back in an hour.”

An hour later he called to say he would send a check the next day for $10,000 as a loan without interest. He added, “If God continues to bless me and my business, I will give you the money.”

God greatly blessed his faith and obedience, and a year later the loan became a gift. God has graciously demonstrated His faithfulness on thousands of occasions and often in even greater ways.

For those who seek first God’s kingdom, He promises, “I will answer them before they even call Me. While they are still talking to Me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers” (Isaiah 65:24). If our hearts and motives are pure and we seek always to please Him in what we do, we can never ask Him for too much. We can always be assured that our faithful God will answer us as we pray in accordance with His Word and Will.

Bible Reading:Matthew 6:24-33

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  I will remember the faithfulness of God, that so long as my heart and my motives are pure and I pray according His Word and will, He will hear me and answer me even before I pray.

 

http://www.cru.org

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Tabulated List of Grace

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

A couple who resorted to do-it-yourself marriage counseling resolved to list each others’ faults and then read them aloud. The wife gave her list and he read: You snore; you eat in bed; the list continued. When the husband gave her his list, she smiled. He’d written his grievances, but next to each he’d written– I forgive this. The result was a tabulated list of grace.

Imagine you are before the judgment seat of Christ. The book is opened and the reading begins—each sin, each deceit, and each occasion of greed. But as soon as the infraction is read, grace is proclaimed. Jesus says, I forgive this. Registered forgiveness! No humiliation! No shame! Because in heaven you will be in your sinless state—happy to let God do in heaven what he did on earth. He will be honored in your weakness!

From When Christ Comes

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Austin bombing suspect dies as police close in

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The suspected serial bomber who terrorized Austin, Texas, died in a confrontation with police overnight.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, authorities identified a twenty-four-year-old man using security video from a FedEx store, store receipts, and cell phone technology. They traced his vehicle to a hotel and began following it.

As SWAT approached, the suspect detonated a bomb in his car.

Interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters, “We believe this individual is responsible for all of the incidents in Austin.” However, he urged the community to remain vigilant for other possible explosives, adding that “we do not know where (the suspect) has been in the past 24 hours.”

In other news, two students were shot yesterday at Great Mills High School, sixty miles southeast of Washington, DC. A sixteen-year-old girl is in critical condition, while a fourteen-year-old boy is in stable condition.

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