Daily Archives: August 6, 2024

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Holding To A Biblical Worldview Has Never Been More Critical

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A worldview is the lens through which we interpret the world and live our daily lives. If our worldview is based on the Bible, we hold a biblical view of marriage, family, society, law, justice, morality, and basic right and wrong. God said … the end. His word is eternal, unchangeable, and absolute because God is eternal, unchanging, and rules over all things.

If we hold a biblical Christian worldview, we know God ordained marriage for life as a covenant between one man and one woman. We know this because God said so in Genesis 1:27, and Jesus confirmed and repeated it in Mark 10:6-8, “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” God left no room for compromise, caveats, nuances, or “social norms.”

Christians understand most unsaved people hold a secular, humanist, self-centered, relativist, or evolutionary worldview. Their beliefs may be sincerely held and ardently supported, but it doesn’t matter how many people are for or against something when they’re wrong. Truth is not decided by a show of hands or headcount. God does not rule by consensus. The only opinion that matters in all endeavors of human existence is “What does God think?”

How can I say dogmatically that only God’s opinion matters? Because my Christian worldview is rooted in the Scripture that says, “Declare among the nations: ‘The Lord reigns!’ The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity” (Psalm 96:10). If that’s not clear enough, we have Paul’s testimony repeating Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness” (1 Corinthians 10:26). God has the divine right to rule over all humanity because He is Lord.

Why Does A Worldview Matter?

A Christian biblical worldview is essential in a world that is constantly morphing into whatever is popular, gratifying, or legal. That is one of many reasons our Founding Fathers did not establish a Democracy (That’s a common lie we are being fed on purpose. Just because we hear it often doesn’t make it true).

America is a Constitutional Representative Republic. In a pure democracy, the majority rules. Whatever many want, everyone gets. What happens when the majority is wrong, biased, selfish, immoral, or addicted? We get a mess, like when the majority votes that drug addiction should be legalized or mothers should be legally allowed to kill their babies even after they are fully born, breathing, and out of the womb, as in California, Michigan, and New York.

If we hold a biblical Christian worldview, we know this is wrong because murder is written into the Decalogue (Ex. 20:13). It’s murder to kill a living human being, preborn, newborn, or octogenarian. Our 14th Amendment protections apply to us all. Just because abortion is legal or euthanasia becomes socially acceptable doesn’t make them right, only harder to prosecute.

Why do some Christians accept cultural shifts and try to fit in? Fear, faithlessness, and ignorance. If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. People with no biblical Christian worldview often follow the crowd, some out of a desire to fit in, others out of ignorance that there’s another option. Both have nothing on which to depend when questions arise that they don’t understand or have never faced. What should I do if…?

As Christians with a biblical worldview, our automatic response should be, “What does the Bible say? What is God’s perspective?” We know what is right because the Bible addresses right and wrong in every possible context: religious, societal, interpersonal, and governmental.

Why A Biblical Worldview?

How could one 2000-year-old book possibly address every matter of human behavior and thought? The answer to that also arises from a biblical worldview: Only an eternal God could have known what would happen in advance. Only a Master Creator would have anticipated everything humanity would face over our existence and made preparations for our salvation and everyday lives. Only a loving Father would have written it down and preserved it for us to reference thousands of years later.

If humanity and the universe are products of luck, chance, chaos, and evolution, then we have the right to be and conduct ourselves according to our whims and desires. Instead of what is right, we default to what feels good, what we want, what benefits us most, or what advances our agenda. That’s the natural outcome of a me-based evolutionary belief system. I’m the final authority. It puts “me” in God’s place.

Our modern society believes it can do whatever it wants because they’re more evolved, more advanced, and more open-minded. I love the phrase that defines that attitude: “Don’t be so open-minded, your brains fall out.” Too many people have tried to be open-minded, tolerant, and inclusive because they’ve been force-fed that nonsense and told it’s what we must do in this highly evolved social paradigm.

Well, guess what? Our society isn’t new. “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Abortion was legal and common in ancient Rome. Pagan temple prostitutes gave birth all the time. When they became pregnant, they would give birth, then put the babies out in the street and leave them to die or worse—offer them as sacrifices to pagan deities. Like modern abortions, where 97% of all abortions are elective – the baby was ‘sacrificed’ because it was inconvenient – these babies were disposable outcomes of illicit sexual activity.

The early Christians understood this was wrong because God values life, so they began rescuing those infants. The First Century Church became known for rescuing these uncared-for and unseen babies. The idea of an orphanage as we know it was born in the early Church. Historians Josephus and Tacitus noted the practice of Christians saving babies because it was so unusual. They had only the Old Testament then, but by comparing the teachings of Christ to the Mosaic Law, the young Church understood allowing babies to die was inhumane and abhorrent.

Practical Applications of A Biblical Worldview

What of the other social issues of our time, like homosexual marriage and legalized drug use? How could the Bible possibly address modern society and the problems and questions we face? That’s the easiest question to answer if you hold a biblical worldview. Because God created everything and everyone, God would know everything we would ever face because He knows what is in the hearts of men and women.

How do we know sexual perversion is wrong? Because the Bible says so in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Why is 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in your Bible? Simple, because that letter was written to the Church of Corinth, where it was already happening. Paul based his answer on Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 22 because sexual perversion was common in Canaan before Israel inhabited the Promised Land. All the gender nonsense we face is not new, evolved, or a newfound freedom of expression; it was happening in 2000 BC!

Because God is the Author of the Bible, He addressed all the concerns, behaviors, ideas, and situations we would ever face. Even when no verse says, “Thou shalt not…” we have God’s eternal promises and timeless principles that apply to any generation or question. Only an all-knowing God could do that, and He did! Now, more than ever, the world is looking for answers. They don’t need compliant, complacent, tolerant, make-no-waves Christians; they need the truth from the Bible.

Unsaved people can see that the world is a mess, and they are desperately seeking answers. We have them. They don’t fit the politically or socially accepted narrative because the current culture is godless, anti-Christian, immoral, and wicked. Our biblical Christian worldview will stand in stark contrast to the world’s viewpoint, but we were never meant to fit in; we were meant to stand out, to “shine as lights in the darkness”(Philippians 2:15).

Never be afraid to stand for the truth and against the lies. Stand on the truths of the Bible. Speak for God unapologetically, “The Bible says…” God was right the first time. His word still applies. His answers are still true. His way works because humans will always repeat the processes and practices of those before them. When societies have been out of step with God’s word, they have always failed and fallen. Pray that does not happen to America. Speak up in the places God has given you influence.

Let Ephesians 6:13 be your guide. Reject what the liberal, godless, mainstream media is selling. Never be ashamed to be salt and light to a world that is spiritually dead in sin, morally decaying in filth, and blinded by the thick darkness of Satanic deception.

Watchmen, fill your mind with things of Christ—think Christianly. Be a fountain of His words—speak biblically. Be a beacon in the town square, at home, online, and in public. Pray, Vote, Stand, and Finish well.

 

ByJoseph Kerr

Source: Holding To A Biblical Worldview Has Never Been More Critical – Harbinger’s Daily

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – God Is in Control

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Bible in a Year :

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

Job 1:21

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Job 1:6-12, 20-22

Carol couldn’t understand why it was happening all at once. As if work wasn’t bad enough, her daughter fractured her foot in school, and she herself came down with a severe infection. What did I do to deserve this? Carol wondered. All she could do was ask God for strength.

Job didn’t know why calamity had hit him so hard either—pain and loss far greater than what Carol experienced. There’s no indication he was aware of the cosmic battle for his soul. Satan wanted to test Job’s faith, claiming he’d turn from God if he lost everything (Job 1:6-12). When disaster struck, Job’s friends insisted he was being punished for his sins. That wasn’t why, but he must have wondered, Why me? What he didn’t know was that God had allowed it to happen.

Job’s story offers a powerful lesson about suffering and about faith. We may try to discover the reason behind our pain, but perhaps there’s a bigger story behind the scenes that we won’t understand in our lifetime.

Like Job, we can hold on to what we do know: God is in full control. It’s not an easy thing to say, but in the midst of his pain, Job kept looking to God and trusting in His sovereignty: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (v. 21). May we too keep trusting in God no matter what happens—and even when we don’t understand.

By:  Leslie Koh

Reflect & Pray

What challenges are you facing? Which promises of God give you strength to keep going?

Dear Father, I don’t understand why some of life’s challenges happen to me. But I choose to trust You.

 

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Power of the Spirit

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…Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV)

“I’m a nobody,” my friend Gary said, “and besides, God has so many millions of people to look out for, and in comparison with some of them, my problems seem so petty.”

His words shocked me. Of course, God has millions to care for—but He can care for all of them at the same time. Gary missed something very important. God wants us to ask for help—and to ask often. Look at it this way: If Satan constantly attacks our minds, how else can we fortify ourselves? We fight back—but our major weapon is to cry out to the Lord asking for His strength to become ours!

Too many times, we think we can do it ourselves. In some instances, that may be true, but if we’re going to win continually over the attacks against our minds, we must realize that willpower alone won’t work. What we need is the humility to turn to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to strengthen us.

I realize that many people do not grasp how the Lord lovingly operates in their lives. Not only does God love us like a father, but He also has caring concern for every part of our lives. Our heavenly Father wants to intervene and help us, but He waits for an invitation to get involved. We issue that invitation and open the door for God’s help through prayer. God’s Word says, You do not have, because you do not ask (James 4:2 NKJV).

Perhaps we can think of it this way. God is watching us all the time, and He is aware of the temptations, struggles, and hardships we face—and we all face them. If we think we can do it by ourselves, God takes no action. But He remains ready to jump in and rescue us as soon as we cry out, asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives.

Our victory begins with right thinking. We have to be convinced that God cares, wants to act, and waits for us to cry out. When we cry out, we understand the words quoted previously, that it’s not by force or power, but by God’s Holy Spirit that victory comes. For example, take the matter of personal fellowship—daily time spent in prayer and reading the Word. As Christians, we know this is what God wants and what we need if we’re going to mature spiritually. At one time in my life, I tried to maintain spiritual self-discipline. I determined that I would pray and read my Bible every single day. I would do well for two or three days, and then something would interfere—sometimes my family or something at our church, but mostly little things that took my attention away from daily fellowship with my Lord.

One day, in desperation, I cried out, “Without Your help, I’ll never be faithful in doing this.” That’s when the Holy Spirit came to me and gave me the self-discipline I needed. It was almost as if God watched me struggle and allowed me to become frustrated and angry with myself. But as soon as I sincerely asked for help, the Spirit came to my rescue. We are too independent, and we experience a lot of unnecessary frustration simply because we try to do things without God’s help.

With the Spirit’s help, I am learning—yes, still learning—that I can choose what I want to think about. I can choose my thoughts, and I need to do that carefully. Unless I’m in regular fellowship with Him, I won’t know the difference between healthy thoughts and unhealthy ones. And if I don’t know the difference, I provide the opportunity for Satan to sneak into my mind and torment me. Spend plenty of time studying God’s Word, and you will quickly recognize each lie that Satan tries to plant in your mind.

Prayer of the Day: Father God, I want to think thoughts that honor You. I want to have a mind that’s fully centered on You, and I know that can’t happen unless I spend daily time with You. Help me, Holy Spirit; help me to be obedient and eager to be in constant fellowship with You, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Is a recession imminent?

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How the Christian faith is relevant to financial fears

There were some massive news stories over the weekend:

  • Debby strengthened into a hurricane overnight and may bring “catastrophic flooding” to Florida.
  • Kamala Harris earned enough votes to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
  • The US sent jets and warships to the Middle East as Israel prepares for severe and perhaps imminent Iranian retaliation.
  • US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal for the accused September 11 plotters.

But I would guess that none of these feel as personally relevant to you (unless you live in Florida) as the financial news of recent days that is causing many to wonder if a recession is imminent:

  • The Dow closed down more than 600 points on Friday.
  • The Nasdaq fell 10 percent below its record high on disappointing earnings from Amazon and Intel.
  • US hiring unexpectedly declined sharply in July.
  • Unemployment rose in the month as well.
  • Investors fear that the Federal Reserve made a mistake by keeping interest rates at current levels.

The cacophony of bad news is sparking a global sell-off. Earlier today, Japanese stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop in history. European stocks have fallen more than 2 percent in early trading this morning.

Many have been struggling financially for some time. In a new CNN poll, 39 percent of US adults said they worry they won’t be able to make ends meet. The percentage of past due credit cards is at its highest level since 2012. Young adults are discouraged, and sixty-year-olds are “staring at financial peril.”

How is the Christian faith relevant to times like these?

Humans have four fundamental needs

New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof writes that the Chinese term for “crisis” (weiji) is composed of the characters for “danger” (wei) and for “opportunity” (ji). Accordingly, he notes, “We’re in a period of great danger but also one pregnant with opportunity for a new path—if we can seize it.”

The path we have been on for generations isn’t working. Secularism by definition values only this world and thus measures success by materialistic means. But this is what philosophers call a “category mistake,” akin to asking how much the number 7 weighs or the color of a C scale. In this case, we are using creation as if it were the Creator, valuing the means as the ends.

And this does not work because it cannot work.

Humans have four fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. None can be met fully by material possessions. No matter what we have, it isn’t enough. There’s always more to own, more people to impress, more races to win.

In a consumption-based economy, we are conditioned to be consumers who choose what we want now over what we want most. In a post-Christian culture, we are conditioned to be existentialists who choose what we want in this world over what we will want in the next.

However, the financial anxiety of these days offers us, in Kristof’s terms, an “opportunity for a new path.”

“He bestowed on us at once every good grace”

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1797) described God’s love for man:

He gave him a soul, made in his likeness, and endowed with memory, intellect, and will; he gave him a body equipped with the senses; it was for him that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all these things out of love for man, so that all creation might serve man, and man in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts.

But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do? Compelled . . . by the superabundance of his love for us, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life.

By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love, and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son (my emphasis).

The God who “is” love (1 John 4:8) loves us more than any human can. He loved us before he made us. He created our race knowing that we would cost him the life of his Son. He loves us despite sins we do not know we have committed and those we do not yet know we will.

To prove this love, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Billy Graham commented: “We cannot save ourselves; even one sin, the Bible teaches, would be enough to keep us out of heaven. Nor can a Savior who is less than God save us, for only God can forgive sin and make us part of his family forever.”

And this is just what Jesus has done. He would do it all over again, just for you.

“We are of such value to God”

We’ll say more across the week about the transforming relevance of God’s love for us. For today, let’s close with this reflection by St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380):

“We are of such value to God that he came to live among us and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to himself.”

In her view, “We can only respond by loving God for his love.”

Do you agree?

NOTE: You have a choice every night before you turn off the lights: Will you replay the day’s stress or embrace the peace that comes from God’s wisdom? We imagine you’d like to choose the second option more often! This is why we want to send you a unique and powerful new 365-evening devotional book by Janet Denison called Wisdom Matters. Get your copy today.

Monday news to know:

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

Quote for the day:

“God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.” —Rick Warren

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – Response to Prayer

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by Henry M. Morris III, D.Min.

“In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedest me with strength in my soul.” (Psalm 138:3)

God’s responses to our prayers are delivered in two ways: practically, in the circumstances or in the direction, and spiritually, in the “inner man” (Ephesians 3:16).

We are often so focused on the physical or external event for which we are insistently praying that when the answer comes, we fail to receive the full blessing—even if we read the practical answer correctly. Our heavenly Father is committed to providing our needs on Earth (Philippians 4:19; Luke 12:30), but such supply is of minimal significance in the scope of eternity. The good thoughts (Jeremiah 29:11) and the good gifts of God (Luke 11:13) are toward the expected end, the ultimate conformity “to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).

While God responds to our physical needs, His heart and His purpose are to fill us “with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). He blesses us “with all spiritual blessings” (Ephesians 1:3) and has chosen us to be “holy and without blame” (Ephesians 1:4). God’s Word is designed to allow us to participate in the “divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). God’s desire in responding to our prayers is this: “That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfullness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:9-12).

But please be on notice! This internal and spiritual worship and praise cannot be kept private. The “internal” blessings of God will overflow in godly behavior and visible joy (James 3:13; 1 Peter 1:8). HMM III

 

 

 

 

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

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – The Cross in Prayer

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In that day you will ask in my name. — John 16:26

We are too much given to thinking of the cross as something we have to get through, imagining it simply as the gateway to our salvation. We have to realize that we get through the cross only to get into it. The cross should stand for one thing only: complete and absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our identification with the Lord is realized most strongly in prayer. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why ask? So that you “may be one” as the Father and Son are one (John 17:22–23). Prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God.

If we think of prayer not as a oneness with God but rather as a way to get answers or blessings, we think wrongly. When we go to God for answers, we are bound to get irritated, because although God always responds, it isn’t always in the way we want. When a prayer seems to go unanswered, we must be careful not to blame someone else; that is a snare of Satan. If we look to God, we will find that there’s a reason which is a deep instruction for us, not for anyone else. We will see that our refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer is what has led to our irritation. We must remember that we are not here to prove that God answers prayer; we are here to be living monuments of his grace.

Have you, by the power of the cross, reached such oneness and intimacy with God that the only explanation for your life of prayer is Jesus Christ’s life of prayer? “In that day you will ask in my name.” You will be so identified with your Lord that there will be no distinction between his life and yours.

Psalms 70-71; Romans 8:22-39

 

 

 

Wisdom from Oswald

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R

 

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – Ills of the Human Race

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Set thy house in order . . .
—2 Kings 20:1

Man condemns himself by his refusal of God’s way of salvation. In love and mercy, God is offering to men and women a way of escape, a way of salvation, a hope and anticipation of better things. Man in his blindness, stupidity, stubbornness, egotism, and love of sinful pleasure, refuses God’s simple method of escaping the pangs of eternal banishment. Suppose you were sick and called a doctor who came and gave you a prescription. But after thinking it over you decided to ignore his advice and to refuse the medicine. When he returned a few days later, he might have found your condition much worse. Could you blame the doctor? Could you hold him responsible? He gave you the prescription, he prescribed the remedy. But you refused it!

Just so, God prescribes the remedy for the ills of the human race. That remedy is personal faith in, and commitment to, Jesus Christ. The remedy is to be “born again.” If we deliberately refuse it, then we must suffer the consequence; and we cannot blame God. Is it God’s fault that we refuse the remedy?

Learn More About God’s Free Gift of Salvation Today.

Why Bother With God? Billy Graham Answers.

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

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, as You sat looking over Jerusalem, You wept. Give me the same compassion for those who have not accepted Your remedy and been born again.

 

https://billygraham.org/

GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – Keep on the Right Path

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“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”—Matthew 7:13–14 (NIV)

When you ask God for help, you cultivate a deeper trust in Him. Abide by His word and avoid the broad road of least resistance; keep on the challenging and rewarding path that leads to glory and everlasting life. The Lord gives generously when you ask for things that are good and in accordance with His will.

Dear Lord, You lift me up and empower me with Your love. I am confident and humble, ready to follow You.

 

 

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

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck – Unimaginable

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The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.  ––Psalm 9:9-10, NKJV

Pete and Julia (not their real names) adopted a six-year-old boy to add to their growing family, which included three biological daughters. They adopted their son—let’s call him Ivan—from Eastern Europe, and the whole family traveled to meet the newest member of the family.

A few years after returning home, Ivan starting sneaking into his sisters’ rooms at night and touching them inappropriately. Pete and Julia did all they could to address the crisis—therapy for everyone (personal and family), prayer, pastoral counsel, and home safety precautions to ensure that the incidents did not occur again. When the girls had to sleep behind dead-bolted doors—those cheap indoor locks that just need a paper clip to pick weren’t cutting it—their son starting sneaking outside, picking the lock to the window, cutting a hole in the screen, and reaching in to touch one of his sisters.

The couple knew that the solution for Ivan went way beyond double-locked windows and deadbolted bedroom doors. Eventually they were able to place their son in a fulltime residential treatment center catering to sexually abused boys. Amazingly, the $12,000-per-month cost was covered by their school district. This was a huge answered prayer. Three years later, Ivan and his sisters reconciled and he was able to ask their forgiveness and write an amends letter to each one. Ivan now lives in a group home with other men, and while the path ahead will be hard, the daughters are doing well and the family has made it through the worst of the crisis.

What’s your unimaginable? As God’s man, you need to think of these scenarios ahead of time. Not dwell on them, but think and pray about them. Though I pray you never experience anything as terrible as what Pete and his family went through, I do encourage you to ask God the tough questions about crisis. “If I die first, will my wife and children be taken care of?” “If my spouse dies first, how will I care for my children?” God wants only the best for you, but this is a dark world and God’s men need to face it head on.

Father, I pray that You prepare my heart and head for life’s crises. Help me turn to You immediately in such times.

 

 

Every Man Ministries