Daily Archives: August 12, 2018

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –A Lifestyle of Obedience

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Genesis 6:9-22

A lifestyle of obedience requires commitment and perseverance. Noah needed both as he obeyed the Lord’s instructions to build a large boat with a roof, doors, and three decks. God spelled out the exact measurements, the type of wood to use, and the way to make the vessel watertight. It was essential that Noah adhere to every detail if the ark was to house all the animals and stay afloat.

Scripture does not describe reactions to the project, but knowing human nature, we can imagine the disbelief and rejection Noah probably experienced. Yet he worked faithfully to the end and “did everything just as God commanded Him” (Gen. 6:22 NIV).

The Lord wants us to follow His instructions precisely. Unfortunately, we like to add some of our desires and preferences to His plan. We are like a child whose parent assigns three chores. The first is done satisfactorily, the second is put off until another day, and the third is skipped because the child deems it unnecessary. This is not obedience. In our case, we know we’re called to show compassion and kindness, forgiving others as the Lord forgave us (Col. 3:13). However, our human nature wants to pick and choose which parts of Scripture we’ll obey. As believers, we should keep in mind that God honors those who wholeheartedly follow Him (John 12:26).

Many people in the Bible saw obedience as their goal. Abraham determined to go wherever God led. Moses felt inadequate but still carried out the Lord’s plan. Paul did an about-face to become Christ’s disciple. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to follow the path of righteousness.

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 12-14

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Help from Heaven

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Read: Joshua 10:6–15 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 84–86; Romans 12

Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! Joshua 10:14

SOS, the Morse code signal, was created in 1905 because sailors needed a way to indicate extreme distress. The signal gained notoriety in 1910 when used by the sinking ship Steamship Kentucky, saving all forty-six people aboard.

While SOS may be a more recent invention, the urgent cry for help is as old as humanity. We hear it often in the Old Testament story of Joshua, who faced opposition from fellow Israelites (Joshua 9:18) and challenging terrain (3:15–17) for more than fourteen years as the Israelites slowly conquered and settled the land God had promised them. During this struggle “the Lord was with Joshua” (6:27).

In Joshua 10, the Israelites go to the aid of the Gibeonites, allies of Israel who were being attacked by five kings. Joshua knew that he needed the Lord’s help to defeat so many powerful enemies (v. 12). God responded with a hailstorm, even stopping the sun in the middle of the sky to give Israel more time to defeat the enemy. Joshua 10:14 recounts, “Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!”

If you are in the midst of a challenging situation, you can send out an SOS to God. Although help will look different than the assistance Joshua received, perhaps help comes through an unexpected job, an understanding doctor, or peace in the midst of grief. Be encouraged that these are ways He is responding to your call for help and fighting for you.

Thank You, Father, for walking with me on this difficult journey and hearing me when I cry out to You.

As we cry out to God for help, we can trust that He will be with us.

By Lisa Samra

INSIGHT

The Gibeonites feared Israel’s God, so they tricked Joshua and the Israelites into becoming their allies (Joshua 9). So when Gibeon called Israel for help (10:6), they were ultimately calling on God.

Do we wait for a crisis to turn to Him?

Tim Gustafson

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Favored Ones

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Read: Luke 1:26-38

Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! (v. 28)

Before my first chemotherapy treatment, I cried out fearfully and desperately to the Lord. I had watched my 46-year-old father succumb to the side effects of chemotherapy by contracting a fungal infection that took his life. I wondered if death in my 40s would be my destiny too. That day I opened up my Bible to the daily reading, “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). The assignment ahead of me did not change. However, through his Word, God assured me he was with me. When God sees fear, he favors.

God drops a life-altering assignment into Mary’s life. Gabriel assures Mary, not once, but twice, of God’s favor. God knows Mary needs this assurance: when she tells Joseph and her parents; when stares of condemnation fly her way; when the Law cries, “Stone her”; when she and Joseph flee to Egypt with baby Jesus; when she loses the boy Jesus at the Passover Feast; when she mourns at the foot of the cross. To favor means to grace or to endue with special blessing. When Mary’s assignment feels unlike favor, she will ever remember the words spoken over her, “The Lord is with you!”

Life’s hard assignments cause us to wonder about God’s presence with us. Yet as with Mary, God delights to reveal he is with us and that his favor rests upon us. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). —Michelle Christy

Prayer: Open our eyes and hearts to see and hear your favor, O Lord!

 

https://woh.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Preparing for the Best

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Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. — Psalm 33:1

Adapted from the resource Closer to God Each Day Devotional – by Joyce Meyer

How we approach each new day and each new situation makes a huge difference. If we decide ahead of time that we won’t be happy or peaceful unless we get exactly what we want, then we will rarely be at peace.

I have heard people say things like, “If it rains tomorrow I am not going to be happy,” or “If I don’t get the job, I am going to be so upset.” When we think thoughts such as this, we are setting ourselves up to be unhappy and to lose our peace and joy before we even have a problem.

Instead of preparing to be upset, we can prepare to be at peace. We can think and speak things like, “I really hope the weather is nice tomorrow, and I hope I get this new job. But my joy comes from my relationship with Jesus, so I choose to be happy and have rest in my soul no matter what I come up against tomorrow. Whether it’s rainy or sunny, whether I get the job or not, I choose the joy of the Lord!”

The way we approach our lives makes all the difference in the quality of life we can have. When we can’t fix life, let’s remember that we can fix our approach toward it.

Prayer Starter: Father, help me to approach life today with a godly attitude—positive and full of faith. Help me to make a habit of preparing for the best in every situation. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – A Blameless Watchman

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“If you refuse to warn the wicked when I want you to tell them, You are under the penalty of death, therefore repent and save your life – they will die in their sins, but I will punish you. I will demand your blood for theirs. But if you warn them and they keep on sinning, and refuse to repent, they will die in their sins, but you are blameless – you have done all you could” (Ezekiel 3:18-19).

One of the most sobering messages I find in all the words of God is this terrible warning found in the book of Ezekiel. God commanded Ezekiel to warn the people of Israel to turn from their sins. Some would argue that this has no application for the Christian. I would disagree. In principle this is exactly what our Lord commands us to do – to go and make disciples of all nations, to preach the gospel to all men, to follow Jesus and He will make us to become fishers of men.

It is a sobering thing to realize that all around us there are multitudes of men and women, even loved ones, who do not know the Savior. Many of them have never received an intelligent, Spirit-filled, loving witness concerning our Savior. Who will tell them? There are some people whom you and I can reach whom nobody else can influence.

I am writing this day’s devotion while in Amsterdam where I am speaking at an international gathering of Christian evangelists. During the course of my days here I have talked with many taxi drivers, maids, waiters and other employees of the hotel. Only one professed to be a believer and we had good fellowship together. Some were openly defiant, even angry at the name of Jesus. But in each case I have shared the gospel, constrained by the love of Christ out of a deep sense of gratitude for all that He has done for me, and as an act of obedience to His command to be His witness.

I pray that God will give me a greater sense of urgency to warn men that unless they turn to Christ they will die in their sins. I do not want to be responsible because I failed to warn them. They must know that there is a heaven and a hell and that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible Reading:Ezekiel 3:15-21

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will ask the Holy Spirit to quicken within my heart, out of a deep sense of gratitude for all He has done for me and from a desire to obey our Lord’s commands, a greater sense of urgency to be His witness and to warn men to turn from their wicked ways and receive Christ, the gift of God’s love

 

 

http://www.cru.org