Daily Archives: July 24, 2024

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Our True Refuge Is God

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Bible in a Year :

He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Psalm 91:2

 

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16

After his wife died, Fred felt he could endure the pain as long as he had his Monday breakfasts with his buddies. His fellow retirees lifted his spirits. Whenever sadness came, Fred would think about the next time he’d enjoy their company again. Their corner table was his safe place from grief.

Over time, however, the gatherings ended. Some friends became ill; others passed away. The emptiness led Fred to seek solace in the God he’d met in his youth. “I have breakfast by myself now,” he says, “but I remember to hold on to the truth that Jesus is with me. And when I leave the diner, I don’t leave to face the rest of my days alone.”

Like the psalmist, Fred discovered the safety and comfort of God’s presence: “He is my refuge . . . in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2). Fred came to know safety not as a physical place to hide, but as the steadfast presence of God that we can trust and rest in (v. 1). Both Fred and the psalmist found that they didn’t have to face difficult days alone. We too can be assured of God’s protection and help. When we turn to Him in trust, He promises to respond and be with us (vv. 14-16).

Do we have a safe place, a “corner table” we go to when life is hard? It won’t last but God will. He waits for us to go to Him, our true refuge.

By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

When life is hard, what’s your safe place? How can you turn to and trust God as your refuge?

Dear God, You’re my safe place. Yours is the presence that will never leave me to fend for myself. Your help and protection surround me always.

 

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Thankful for the Process of Transformation

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And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (AMPC)

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight, and the process can seem very slow at times. But that doesn’t change the fact that one of the benefits of living in a relationship with Jesus is the freedom to forget the past and move ahead into what God has for us.

When you are tempted to condemn yourself over the progress you think you should be making, turn your focus back on Jesus and be thankful that He is doing His work in your life in His perfect timing. Remind yourself, “God loves me, and He has a good plan for my life. I haven’t arrived yet, but I’m okay and I’m on my way!” Remember that through faith you have been made right with God, and even though you have not arrived at perfection, you are making progress.

Prayer of the Day: Thank You, Father, that You are transforming my life in Your perfect timing. I trust You, and I choose not to feel condemned or frustrated anymore. You are at work in my life, and I am grateful for that.

 

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Why has President Biden not spoken to the public since last week?

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Conspiracy theories and the path to transforming truth

Conspiracy theories abound in the news today. For example, why has President Joe Biden not spoken publicly since it was announced last Wednesday that he had contracted COVID-19?

  • Did he have a stroke?
  • Is he now in hospice care?
  • Will the Oval Office address his plans for tonight prove such suspicions wrong?
  • Or will skeptics see a brief address given from a teleprompter (if this is what he delivers) as a further cover-up of his alleged infirmities?

And what of Mr. Biden’s health across recent weeks, months, and even years? Numerous pundits are faulting Vice President Kamala Harris for participating in an “epic miscalculation” or even an elaborate cover-up of his purported failings.

Others have alleged conspiracies behind the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump:

  • Some claimed that President Biden “sent the orders,” while others called the attempt a “failed coup.”
  • Still others “reported” that the Secret Service was ordered not to take out the gunman until after he fired on Mr. Trump.
  • Elon Musk blamed the shooting on “extreme incompetence” or “deliberate” action by the Secret Service.
  • Still others claimed the shooting was staged to benefit Mr. Trump politically.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned yesterday after a contentious hearing with Congress on Monday. Will this lead to greater accountability, or is it part of the alleged cover-up?

“If words can mean anything”

Sociologist James Davison Hunter observes:

When the shared meaning of words is undermined, when we no longer trust that words signify what we thought, any meaning can be imputed to words. If words can mean anything, they have no intimate meaning or possibility of a common meaning.

This is the cultural crisis behind the political crises of our day. When all truth is personal and subjective, as postmodernists have claimed for decades, we are left with a “post-truth” society in which “your truth” is as valid as “my truth.” Now that social media has given everyone a platform to broadcast “their truth,” we should not be surprised by the confusion and chaos that surround nearly every consequential event of our day. The fake news circulating yesterday that former President Jimmy Carter had died is just one example.

However, there is good news in the bad news.

Scripture describes followers of Jesus as “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15, my emphasis). We can exercise this role because we serve the One who is “the truth” (John 14:6). By his power, we can know the truth (John 8:31–32) and proclaim the truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

But there’s a catch:

To experience fully the truth of Christ, we must experience fully the Christ who is truth.

Oswald Chambers noted:

The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you.” It is his wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification. . . .

Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in him, and he manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation (his emphasis).

Think of it: the living Lord Jesus is literally living in you by his resident Spirit (Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 3:16). As St. Ignatius of Antioch said, “You have Jesus Christ in yourselves.”

“The fragrance of the knowledge of him”

Jesus can guide us into the truth (John 16:13) and speak the truth through us (Luke 12:12). But first we must be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), surrendering our life to him as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) and submitting to the “filling” and control of his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Jesus promised his first followers, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). And so they were:

  • When the early Christians were “filled” by the Spirit, they began to share the gospel miraculously (Acts 2:4).
  • When Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit,” he preached the gospel boldly to the religious authorities who arranged Jesus’ execution and could have done the same to him (Acts 4:8–12).
  • When the early church prayed for courage in the face of persecution (Acts 4:29), “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (v. 31).
  • After Paul was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17), “immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues” (v. 20).
  • When Barnabas, “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” arrived in Antioch, “a great many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 11:24).

The pattern is clear. If we want to know “the truth,” we must know the One who is the truth by being submitted to his Spirit. If we do, we will make him known. Then we will glorify and serve the One who “through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

So, here’s the question: Have you submitted your life and witness to the Spirit of God yet today?

If not, why not?

A culture desperate for truth awaits your answer.

Wednesday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself.” —St. Augustine

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – Disciples and Servants

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” (Matthew 10:24)

Note the twofold relation of the believer to the Lord Jesus Christ expressed in this verse. We are His disciples and servants; He is our Master and Lord. Each of the two relationships is vital.

The word for “disciple” means “pupil.” The word “master” is the same as “teacher.” The Lord Jesus, therefore, is our teacher, and He teaches us through His Word—the Holy Scriptures. It is our function to learn His teachings and, of course, to believe them. No Christian (one under the authority of Christ) has the right to reject or even to question one of the teachings of His Word (Matthew 5:18-19). The lord-servant relationship goes even further. The word for “servant” is actually “bond slave.” The “lord” of a slave was his owner; the word itself means “supreme ruler” and is the title commonly assigned to God Himself in the New Testament. Thus, if a disciple is to believe the word of his master without question, the servant is to obey the word of his lord without hesitation.

But the world scoffs at the teachings of God’s Word and will try to persecute those who seek to follow them. The unbelieving world—even the religious world—responded to the teachings of the Master by ridiculing Him, then torturing Him, and finally hanging Him on a tree to die.

Yet we are to go to the same world with the same teachings. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). “As thou hast sent me into the world,” He prayed, “even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

He does warn us: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20). HMM

 

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – Disposition and Deeds

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Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The defining characteristic of Christian disciples is not that they do good things; it’s that they are good in their motives. Their motives have been made good by the supernatural grace of God.

The only thing that surpasses right doing is right being. Jesus Christ came to put a new heredity into anyone who would let him, a heredity that would surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees. Jesus says, in essence, “If you are my disciple, you must be right not only in how you live but also in your motives and your dreams, in the deepest recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure.”

Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God. Jesus Christ claims that, by the power of his redemption, he can put his own disposition into anyone, making them as pure and simple as a child. The purity God demands is impossible for me unless I can be remade from within—and this is exactly what Jesus Christ has undertaken with his redemption.

None of us can make ourselves pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ doesn’t give us rules and regulations. His teachings are truths which only he can interpret. If we wish to understand them, we must do so through the disposition he puts in us—his own disposition. This is what it means that Jesus Christ alters our heredity: he doesn’t alter
human nature; he alters the disposition of sin that lies beneath it. This is the great marvel of his salvation.

Psalms 35-36; Acts 25

 

 

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – What God Expects

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He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much . . .
—Luke 16:10

What God expects, and all God expects, is that we dedicate completely all of our talents and gifts to Him. That is the meaning of the parable of the talents in Matthew, chapter 25. Read this parable, and you will see that we are always rewarded because of our faithfulness. You can be just as faithful as anyone and have the commendation of the Lord. Take the one talent you have and invest it in eternal things. Some talented people lose their reward because they do things to be seen of men. Some untalented people lose their reward because they fail to dedicate what they have, because it is not noticed by men. Both have sinned equally.

Read more about the Parable of the Talents.

Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.

Prayer for the day

Let me not be concerned with the praise of men, but may my talent be completely yielded to You, Lord

 

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GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – Let Your Strengths Shine

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Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.—Matthew 5:15 (NKJV)

Are you shining your light on others? Sometimes fear can stop us from moving forward on the path that God has placed before us. If you are feeling stretched in a new role that is opening up for you, pray. Ask God to help you refocus your energy—away from your insecurities and back onto Him.

Thank You, dear Lord, for believing in me, even when I doubt myself. Guide me to hand my vulnerabilities over to You so that my gifts and talents can shine.

 

 

https://guideposts.org/daily-devotions/devotions-for-women/devotions-for-faith-prayer-devotions-for-women/

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck – Expectant 

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But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.  ––Micah 7:7, NKJV

Expectancy is the very root of faith. This is a powerful and important word that gives power to our daily walk of faith. It’s fine to believe in Christ’s victory over Satan at the cross. We all need to believe in that promise of Satan’s ultimate defeat.

But it’s a far different thing to step out on that promise and fight when you’re outsized, outmanned, outsmarted, and outmatched in every way. Jesus had already told his followers they’d already won, but how many men today are ready to walk in that promise and actually fight? You have already won by virtue of your salvation, and it’s not of you, but of Him. Don’t get played by Satan and attach to his power. Everything––whether pain or pleasure, no matter what your physical and mental experience is right now––is used by our loving Father who supplies everything to build our character. It’s your choice: God or the one who destroys our character, Satan.

Expectancy is an attitude of the mind that brings confidence and courage. Caleb chose not to focus on the enemy but on the promise of God. He knew his position and was expectant of good things—from that position. A fighting God’s man is not owned by the devil; he’s caught up in the victory, and he knows God’s already won. That sort of man is an unstoppable force; the kind of motivated fighter God is looking for.

Listen to what God says about Caleb: “Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it” (Numbers 14:24). Caleb expected because he chose to expect. God controls and has promised … are you expectant?

Father, thank You for giving me the motivating root word of faith: Expectancy!

 

 

Every Man Ministries