Charles Stanley – Trained to Discern

 

Hebrews 5:11-14

In today’s world, impatience is an all-too-common trait. We want food, help, and information right away. Just waiting for the computer to turn on or the “next available agent” to answer our call can cause frustration. But the Lord specializes in steady work. He’s more interested in the quality of the process than a speedy outcome.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of spiritual discernment. When we become Christians, we aren’t instantly wise and knowledgeable—learning begins at salvation and continues the rest of our life.

Some believers, however, don’t seem to grow up at all. They get older, but their understanding of God’s Word never goes very deep. This lack of spiritual wisdom results from ignorance of the Scriptures, apathy and complacency about matters of faith, and a failure to apply biblical truths. Discernment requires time and effort. You can’t simply move through life, thoughtlessly reacting to situations yet never learning from them.

Take time to reflect on your responses and observe the consequences of your actions and choices. If you feel convicted by what you notice, let that motivate you to begin a lifelong pursuit of the Lord and His ways. Start reading the Bible regularly. And as you do, ask the Lord to open your heart and mind to understand what He’s saying.

Remember, just reading God’s Word isn’t enough. Without applying what you’ve read, all you’ll have is head knowledge. Obedience trains us to discern good and evil. Through practice, we learn wisdom and develop spiritual maturity. With God’s grace and your perseverance, the ability to discern will come.

Bible in One Year: 2 Samuel 20-22

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread — Peace-Filled Hearts

 

Bible in a Year:1 Samuel 17–18; Luke 11:1–28

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 14:30

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Proverbs 14:29–35

For forty-five years after his career as a professional athlete ended, Jerry Kramer wasn’t inducted into his sport’s hall of fame (the highest recognition). He enjoyed many other honors and achievements, but this one eluded him. Although he’d been nominated for the honor ten times, it had never been bestowed. Despite having his hopes dashed so many times, Kramer was gracious, saying, “I felt like [the National Football League] had given me 100 presents in my lifetime and to be upset or angry about one I didn’t get was kind of stupid!”

Where others might have grown bitter after being denied so many times in favor of other players, Kramer wasn’t. His attitude illustrates the way we can safeguard our hearts against the corrosive nature of envy, which “rots the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). When we become preoccupied with what we don’t have—and fail to recognize the many things we do—the peace of God will elude us.

After an eleventh nomination, Jerry Kramer ultimately was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in February 2018. Our earthly desires may not be fulfilled as his finally were. Yet we can all have a “heart at peace” when we instead focus our attention on the many ways God has been generous toward us. No matter what we want but do not have, we can always enjoy the life-giving peace He brings to our lives.

By Kirsten Holmberg

Today’s Reflection

In what area of life are you tempted to focus on what you don’t have? What steps can you take this week to focus on what God has provided?

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Goodness Explained vs. Goodness Displayed

 

About twenty years ago, my dad felt a sharp pain in his leg and had to be rushed to the hospital. Dr. Frasco—a top-flight vascular surgeon—found my family in the hospital waiting room and told us that he needed to operate, and that although there wasn’t time to explain, due to the complexity of my dad’s condition, there was a good chance he would have to amputate my dad’s leg.

Despite Dr. Frasco’s qualifications, it was tempting in this situation to question him, to be suspicious of his prognosis and his chosen course of action. My dad looked perfectly healthy from the outside. Maybe this surgeon was taking the easy way out. Maybe he’d rather get an amputation over with now rather than have to battle operation after operation so my dad could keep his leg. These were understandable thoughts, and they were thoughts that my mom, my brother, and I had and that we discussed.

But suppose that Dr. Frasco had come to my family and said that during the operation, my dad was going to need a significant number of blood transfusions, and that they were having trouble finding a suitable donor. And suppose further that Dr. Frasco—out of compassion for my father and for my family—offered to donate his own blood. And suppose even further that Dr. Frasco did this at the risk of his own life, perhaps because such a large quantity of blood was needed.

Now, in this situation, my response to Dr. Frasco would change markedly. Maybe I couldn’t explain to you the reasons why Dr. Frasco might have to amputate my dad’s leg, and maybe initially I had reason to be suspicious of his prognosis. But if Dr. Frasco had offered my dad his own blood, I would have been convinced that he was for us, I would have been convinced that we could trust him, and I would have been rightly convinced of this. Even if Dr. Frasco’s reasoning remained opaque to me, he would have done something so indisputably loving and so inordinately costly that I could only rationally conclude that he was for my family.

There are two ways to defend the goodness of a person when he or she is accused of wrongdoing. The first way is to explain the good reasons the person had for acting as he or she did. This is the more traditional approach to responding to the problem of evil, to respond by telling a story about why God might create and sustain a world that turned out like this one. But there is also a second way to defend the goodness of God against objections from evil and suffering—not by explaining goodness but by displaying goodness.

The Christian claim is that this is precisely what God has done for each of us. When he saw us hurting and in need of healing, he provided his own blood. He chose to join us in our suffering and to take on himself whatever suffering was necessary for us to be healed. He displayed his love in such an extravagant way that we have strong reason to believe that we can trust him, even when we don’t fully understand his ways.

Ironically, the famous atheist and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said it best: “The gods justified human life by living it themselves—the only satisfactory [response to the problem of suffering] ever invented.”(1) Remarkably, Nietzsche was writing of the ancient Greeks here and, in his bias, didn’t make the connection to Christianity. As a Christian, however, I am very pleased to agree with him and then point emphatically to the cross of Jesus Christ.

At the cross of Jesus, we see the absolute uniqueness of the Christian response to suffering. In some religious traditions, the idea of God suffering is unthinkable; it is thought to make God weak. In others, to reach divinity is precisely to move beyond the possibility of suffering, to give up your attachments to other people so that you will never have to suffer for anyone. Only in Christ do we have a God who loves us enough to suffer with us, by us, and—ultimately—for us.

Vince Vitale is director of the Zacharias Institute and a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals, trans. Francis Golffing (New York: Doubleday, 1956), 30.

 

 

http://www.rzim.org/

 

Joyce Meyer – Only a Fool Hates Discipline!

 

The [reverent] fear of the LORD [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but arrogant fools despise [skillful and godly] wisdom and instruction and self-discipline. — Proverbs 1:7 (AMP)

Adapted from the resource Power Thoughts Devotional – by Joyce Meyer

Some people cringe at the mention of the word discipline. They have a mental attitude toward it that is unhealthy and self-defeating. We need to see that discipline is our friend, not our enemy. It helps us be what we say we want to be, do what we say we want to do, and have what we say we want to have.

Discipline doesn’t prevent you from having fun and doing what you want to do in life, but instead it helps you obtain what you truly want, which is peace, joy, and right relationships. Learn to love discipline (it will keep you out of trouble!), and embrace it as your companion in life.

Prayer Starter: Lord, Your Word says You have given me a spirit of discipline and self-control (see 2 Timothy 1:7 AMPC). Help me to draw on Your help today and every day—help me to do what I know to do so I can have everything Your Word says I can have and walk in Your good plan for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Examples of His Love 

 

“Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions” (1 John 3:18).

The story is told about two farmers. Every day, one of them would haul pails of water up the steep slope to his terraced field and irrigate his meager crop.

The second farmer tilled the terrace just below, and he would poke a hole in the dyke and let the other farmer’s water run down into his field.

The first farmer was upset. Being a Christian, he went to his pastor and asked for advice. The pastor told him to keep on watering as before and to say nothing. So, the farmer returned to his fields and the watering of his crop, but the farmer below him continued to drain off his water. Nothing had changed.

After a few days, the first farmer went to his pastor again. The pastor told him to go a step further – to water his neighbor’s crop! So the next day, the farmer brought water to his neighbor’s field and watered the crops. After that, he watered his own field.

This went on for three days, and not a word was exchanged between the two farmers. But after the third day, the second farmer came to the first farmer.

“How do I become a Christian?” he asked.

There is a saying, ‘Love your friends and hate your enemies.’ But I say: Love your enemies!…If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathens do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

Bible Reading: I John 3:14-17

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  I will make every effort to demonstrate the love of Christ by the way I act toward others.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado – Remember the Unbending Grace of Christ

 

Listen to Today’s Devotion

 

If we’re not teaching people how to be saved, perhaps it’s because we have forgotten the tragedy of being lost!  If we’re not teaching the message of forgiveness, it may be because we don’t remember what it’s like to be guilty.

When times get hard, when death looms, when anger singes, when shame weighs heavily, remember Jesus.  Remember this descendant of David who beat down death.

You know a person is never the same after simultaneously seeing his or her utter despair and Christ’s unbending grace.  To see the despair without the grace is suicidal.  To see the grace without the despair results in futility.  But to see them both…that’s conversion.

Read more Six Hours One Friday

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

 

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Denison Forum – Hitler’s home movies are being digitized: What your reaction says about us

Adolf Hitler is wearing a white double-breasted jacket and black trousers. On his arm is a red band with a black swastika. In another scene, he wears a gray suit with a fedora and talks with Heinrich Himmler, the overseer of the Holocaust camps.

These are some of the home movies shot by Eva Braun and her friends at the Berghof, Hitler’s retreat in southeastern Germany. Braun was Hitler’s longtime girlfriend and briefly his wife. The Alpine scenery in the background is stunning.

We know about these movies because the National Archives is restoring and digitizing them. The entire four hours of footage should be completed this month.

How I react to Hitler

When you saw today’s headline and read the accompanying story, what was your reaction?

Mine was one of disgust mixed with curiosity. No figure in modern history conjures (or deserves) more revulsion than Adolf Hitler. At the same time, to see him as he was, recorded by friends in a relaxed environment, is historically unique.

What I didn’t feel was fear.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Hitler’s home movies are being digitized: What your reaction says about us

Media’s Coverup Begins with Hair-Splitting over the Word ‘Spy’

The stupid debate over “spying” is a stall by a media terrified by their complicit role in the Russian Collusion Hoax will be exposed.

 

From Obama to Lynch to Comey to Isikoff to Brennan to Tapper. That is how the Russian Collusion Hoax aka the Insurance Policy began.

Not with journalism.

Journalism involves wiping off the make-up, leaving your cozy studio, and going out in the world to track down a story that may or may not be a sure thing. Real journalism involves risk and sweat, the chance of failure, and the chance you might have to report something inconvenient to your own personal political beliefs. Real journalism does not involve picking up the phone to be told what to report.

From Obama to Lynch to Comey to Isikoff to Brennan to Tapper was not journalism. Not even close. No story was tracked down. No information uncovered. No truth revealed (quite the opposite, in fact).  This was always a plot, a scheme, a conspiracy, a coup attempt deliberately premised on lies…

And from the beginning, the establishment media, all of them, were in on it…

And this is why the media are so desperate to distract us today with a breathtakingly stupid debate over the definition of the word “spying.”

Let’s begin with the beguine…

Months before Trump won the 2016 presidential election, and thanks to disgraceful men like the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), everyone in the elite media and Deep State already had the phony Russia Dossier, everyone knew it was oppo-research bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, and by the time Trump won, everyone knew it was bullshit, because…

By that time, every corrupt media outlet in the country had spent millions hoping to verify even one of the dossier’s disgusting details. By that time, the Obama administration, by way of Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department, James Comey’s F.B.I., and John Brennan’s C.I.A., had already spent countless man hours spying on then-candidate Trump and his campaign.

We now know this was a dedicated spying campaign that included actual wiretaps, covert human sources deployed to surreptitiously gather information on campaign personnel, and the use of human informants. Justified solely on oppo research collected by the other major party’s nominee, this was not only a sophisticated spy campaign involving the C.I.A. and  F.B.I. against the other major party’s nominee, it was a desperate spy campaign — so desperate the FISA court was serially lied to as a means to obtain those wiretaps.

You see, all along there was always this one little-tiny-itty-bitty-teensy-weensy problem: not a single piece of the dossier’s dirt could be confirmed. Despite all the resources at the command of the Deep State and the corporate media, nothing could be confirmed.

How, then, do we obtain a wiretap to spy on the Trump campaign if the dossier is bullshit?

From Obama to Lynch to Comey to … Isikoff.

Ahh, yes, a journalist.

Enter Yahoo’s Michael Isikoff, who was kind of enough to publish information about the unverified dossier.

And how odd that the same Michael Isikoff who, some 20 years ago, refused to publish a verified story about President Clinton having sex with an intern in the Oval Office, is now the same Michael Isikoff who was happy to publish a story about an unverified dossier. And how convenient was it for the Deep State that Isikoff’s stenography report was then used to corroborate the dossier so the FISA court would authorize a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign.

Wait a sec. Slow down. Rewind… See how that worked?

To get their warrants (plural) to spy on the Trump campaign, the dirty cops who applied for the warrant needed to confirm the dossier was real, so Isikoff somehow got his hands on the dossier, was somehow convinced to  publish unverified information in the dossier, and now Obama’s dirty cops had an outside source to confirm what was in the dossier, even though that second source was … the dossier.

But even after all that spying, all that wiretapping, all the scheming by C.I.A. operatives to convince numerous Trump personnel to attend overseas traps meetings, the human sources, the strategic (and illegal) media leaks, and God only know how many millions spent by the corporate media… The C.I.A. the F.B.I., the Justice and State Departments, and the media still could not verify a single negative thing in that dossier, which means no one could go public with the dossier.

And now Trump is president.

And now Trump has to go.

And now that phony dossier is the only way to wrap a burning tire around Trump’s neck, a burning tire that will smother his agenda and maybe even hopefully-perhaps-possibly overturn the election…

And now we’re going to use the dossier because the dossier has always been The Insurance Policy.

And so a scheme was hatched, a plot manufactured, a conspiracy born…

How do we legitimize telling the world about a flaming pile of bullshit no one can confirm…?

Easy…

We “brief” Trump on the flaming pile of bullshit and the “briefing of the president” is the hook that turns the flaming pile of bullshit into “legitimate news.”

Comey grabs the insurance policy. Comey briefs Trump on the insurance policy. Comey tells Brennan he briefed Trump on the insurance policy. And because he and CNN were in on this conspiracy from the beginning, all the scripts and chyrons are ready to fire when Brennan tells Jake Tapper to stop the world with the breaking news: TRUMP BRIEFED ON THE INSURANCE POLICY. And now the world knows about the dossier.

From Obama to Lynch to Comey to Isikoff to Brennan to Tapper.

And this is why the media want to distract us over the definition of “spying.”

You see, if you are arguing over the rules, over definitions, over nonsense, nothing is happening, everything is frozen, and the corporate media — not just Tapper and Isiskoff, but the legions of fake journalists who colluded to publish illegal leaks and what they knew was fake news because the Deep State told them to — are now terrified they are going to be exposed as the colluders they are in Attorney General Bill Barr’s investigation into the coup.

This ludicrous debate over the “spying” is a stall, this attempt to wrap us ’round the axle of nonsense is the act of a desperate gang of corrupt “journalists” who know that once their roles in the coup attempt are uncovered and exposed, not only will it (again) prove they’re all partisan hacks, but prove everything Trump says is true…

Because what are those who attempt to overturn a presidential election using lies if not the enemy of the we the people?

From Obama to Lynch to Comey to Isikoff to Brennan to Tapper.

They were all in on it, the entire corporate media, and now these traitors are screaming gibberish about “Bill Barr’s tinfoil hat” hoping to distract us from that fact, hoping to smear the truth of their treason as a conspiracy theory.

Debating whether or not Trump was spied on by the Obama administration is like debating whether or not water is wet.

I won’t do it.

Keep your eye on the ball, on the bastards who betrayed this country to collude with an F.B.I., C.I.A., and Justice Department that colluded with a Clinton campaign that colluded with a foreigner (Christopher Steele) who colluded with the Kremlin to fabricate lies about Trump, and did so to get their hands on an insurance policy to remove a duly elected American president.

 Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNCFollow his Facebook Page here.

 

Source: Nolte: Media’s Coverup Begins with Hair-Splitting over the Word ‘Spy’