Daily Archives: August 22, 2024

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Place It on God’s Plate

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Bible in a Year :

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.

Psalm 55:22

 

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Psalm 55:16-23

For years, a mother prayed as she helped her adult daughter navigate the healthcare system and find counseling and the best medications. Her extreme highs and deep lows weighed on her mama’s heart day after day. Often exhausted from sadness, she realized she had to take care of herself too. A friend suggested writing out her worries and things she couldn’t control on small pieces of paper and placing them on “God’s plate” at her bedside. This simple practice didn’t eliminate all stress, but seeing that plate reminds her those concerns are on God’s plate, not hers.

In a way, many of David’s psalms were his way of listing his troubles and laying them on God’s plate (Psalm 55:1, 16-17). If the coup attempt by his son Absalom is what’s being described, David’s “close friend” Ahithophel had indeed betrayed him and was involved in the plot to kill him (2 Samuel 15-16). So “evening, morning and noon [David cried] out in distress,” and God heard his prayer (Psalm 55:1-2, 16-17). He chose to “cast [his] cares on the Lord” and experienced His care (v. 22).

We can authentically acknowledge that worries and fears affect us all. We may even have thoughts like David’s: “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (v. 6). God is near and is the only one who has the power to change situations. Place it all on His plate.

By:  Anne Cetas

Reflect & Pray

Where are your worries—on God’s plate or yours? What will you give to Him right now?

I often have concerns on my heart, dear God. I relinquish them all to You again. I’m emptying my plate and filling Yours.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Known by Our Fruit

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Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit. You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:33–34 (AMPC)

A woman I’ll call Dorothy knew more about the church and every member and visitor than anyone else did. She was fairly well known as the church gossip. “One thing about her,” a friend said, “she’s not prejudiced—she talks about everyone,” and he laughed. He also added, “She’ll probably get into heaven, but God may have to cut off her tongue first.”

One day as I stood near the front door, I heard Dorothy telling several people about one of the deacons, “But it isn’t up to me to judge him,” she said. The venom poured from her mouth, and she went on to mention several others. Of course, she was critical of each one.

I listened to her and realized something. She was only speaking from what was already inside her heart. That’s obvious, but I grasped something else. Dorothy was so critical of herself, so filled with disgust for herself, how could she speak well of others?

Too often people make promises that they’ll speak better of others and gossip less. They really try, but nothing ever changes. This is because they are trying to change their words without changing their thoughts. That’s a bad solution, because they start at the wrong end. What they need to do is look inward, asking, “What is going on inside of me?”

“For out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks,” Jesus said. As I considered those words, I felt a deep compassion for Dorothy. She had allowed Satan to fill her mind with critical, harsh thoughts. She didn’t speak much about herself, but I’m sure she was totally critical of herself as well as other people, and when she spoke, the evil words came out of her mouth.

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. The same is true of our lives. Everything begins with a thought. If we allow negative and unkind thoughts to fill our minds, they bear fruit. If we dwell on the bad, we produce bad fruit..

If I believe God truly loves me, and if I enjoy fellowship with Him every day, I’m planting good seeds in my own heart. The more good seeds I plant, the more good fruit I produce. The more I think kind and loving thoughts, the more I see others as kind and loving.

“Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Kind or judgmental words don’t just come to us—they come out of our mouths because we have nurtured them in our minds. The more we open ourselves to the Spirit’s positive and loving thoughts, the more we pray, and the more we read God’s Word, the more good fruit we produce on the inside—and that good fruit shows itself by the way we behave toward others.

Prayer of the Day: Dear loving God, I ask You to forgive me for all the harsh things I’ve said about other people. Also, please forgive me for allowing harsh thoughts to fill my mind—about myself or about others. I know I can’t make myself more loving, but You can. Please, help me focus on healthy, positive thoughts, for I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey speak to the DNC

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The Democratic National Convention meeting in Chicago continues to dominate the news cycle this morning. Bill Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, and Tim Walz were the highlighted speakers, while Oprah Winfrey gave a surprise speech and Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and other celebrities appeared as well.

As the November 5 election draws ever closer, voters will obviously need to choose between the parties and their candidates. However, we will also choose between two electoral philosophies. Understanding them can help us frame the partisan vitriol of our day in a way that encourages our souls and empowers our witness.

Political “rights” and moral wrongs

One approach is to vote for candidates we believe will best serve our nation, irrespective of our personal needs and wishes. However, Americans obviously disagree as to what is best for America. For example, as an evangelical Christian, I support biblical morality with regard to abortion, euthanasia, and LGBTQ issues. Many in our nation clearly disagree with me.

A second approach is to vote for candidates we believe will most benefit us personally—those who promise to lower our taxes, raise our income, protect our rights, solve our problems, and so on. However, what benefits us may not benefit others. Raising your taxes to provide more governmental services for me is better for me than for you. Lowering my taxes may hamstring the government’s ability to provide such services to you.

And what some consider to be “rights,” others consider to be moral wrongs. For example, employing governmental means to advance elective abortion or LGBTQ agendas using my taxes for purposes with which I strongly disagree.

All this to say, the outcome of our election this fall will inevitably disappoint us. Even if the leaders we elect never fall into personal immorality, never lie to us, and never make decisions based on personal agendas rather than the common good, they will inevitably lead in ways with which some of us disagree. This is simply the way democracy in a pluralistic society works.

How should you and I respond to this fact?

An election is not a coronation

We are to pay our taxes and respect those in authority—by virtue of their position, if not their person (Romans 13:7). Some of us are called to run for public office as well.

And we are to pray for our leaders, whether we voted for them or not (1 Timothy 2:12). As Dr. Mark Turman and Kaitlyn Schiess discussed on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, praying for our leaders reminds us not to idolize them and helps us fight against the temptation to confuse our president for our King.

The former is as finite and fallen, as prone to sin and failure, as the rest of us. The latter is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17).

As my wife notes in her latest blog, an election is not a coronation.

David testified, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ our God” (Psalm 20:7). This was his personal commitment as well: “The king trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 21:7).

His example invites us to do the same today.

The key to helping our divided and divisive nation know the hope and grace of Christ is for us to experience and then model that hope and grace personally. Br. David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston asks:

Why would we choose to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? Because that is the way of God. That is how God responds to those who resist God and choose evil over good. God never stops loving, never stops caring, never stops blessing—even when the creatures whom God has made respond to this love with indifference or opposition…

Only God’s love abiding in us can love in this way. Only God’s strength at work in our weakness can make us God-like in our words and actions…

Love as God loves, give as God gives, be merciful as God is merciful, surprise people by your generosity and kindness—and everyone will know that you are “children of the Most High.”

His wise words apply especially to the way we engage the political issues of our day amid the deepest partisan divisions since the Civil War. When we “surprise people by [our] generosity and kindness,” we serve a cause that will endure long after the election is over.

“Victory, Sir! Victory!”

The Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, ended a war that had waged for twenty-three years, stopped French attempts to dominate Europe, and helped advance the British Empire. However, historian Brian Cathcart reports that no one in London had any idea on that Sunday that the battle had commenced, much less that it had been won.

Monday’s papers carried reports that fighting had begun in Belgium. Tuesday brought news of victory, but the report mistakenly distorted an indecisive encounter two days before Waterloo, plunging the city into confusion.

It was not until Wednesday evening that messenger Major Henry Percy was able to bring the news to the governmental Cabinet. He then rushed to the Prince, dropped to one knee, and pronounced the words “Victory, Sir! Victory!” And all of England celebrated.

You carry news of the greatest victory since time began: the triumph of Jesus over sin, death, and the grave. Ten thousand millennia after the last election in human history is over, he will still be “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

When last did you thank him for this victory?

With whom will you share it today?

Thursday news to know:

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

Quote for the day:

“The church is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship.” —Lesslie Newbigin

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Rock of Offense

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.” (Jeremiah 13:16)

The figurative representations of Christ as the foundation rock of the great spiritual house of God (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6) and also as the water-yielding rock of sustenance in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4) are two of the great symbols of the Bible.

But for those who reject Him, He becomes “a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense….And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken” (Isaiah 8:14-15).

Not only will the stone cause such a one to stumble, but Jesus said, “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). This figure is taken from the fall of the great image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet…and brake them to pieces” (Daniel 2:34). All the kingdoms of the world were represented in the image, but “the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient” (1 Peter 2:7-8).

Thus, the stone of stumbling, which is Christ, is also the Word, and it is deadly dangerous to stumble over the holy Scriptures. One should give glory to God before darkness falls and he stumbles upon the dark mountain in the shadow of death. HMM

 

 

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

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – I Indeed . . . but He

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I indeed baptize you with water . . . but he . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. — Matthew 3:11 kjv

Have I ever come to a place in my experience where I can say, “I indeed . . . but he”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. It means that “I indeed” am at an end; I can do nothing more. “But he” begins right there—he does what no one else can do.

“But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11). Am I prepared for his coming? Jesus cannot come to me as long as there’s something inside me blocking his way. It doesn’t matter whether the thing is bad or good, sin or something I consider a personal quality. When he comes, I must be prepared for him to drag everything into the light. Wherever I know I am unclean, he will put his feet. Wherever I think I am clean, he will withdraw them. Repentance doesn’t bring a sense of sin but a sense of total unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am completely helpless; I know that no part of me is worthy even to carry his sandals. Have I repented like that? Or do I have a lingering urge to defend myself? The reason God cannot come into my life is because I haven’t entered completely into repentance.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). John doesn’t speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience. He speaks of it as a work performed by Jesus Christ. The only conscious experience those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit ever have is a sense of being absolutely unworthy.

“I indeed” was unworthy, “but he” came, and a marvelous thing happened. Get to the place in the margin where he does everything.

Psalms 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5

Wisdom from Oswald

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.So Send I You, 1330 L

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – This World Is Not Our Home

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For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself, and not by human hands.
—2 Corinthians 5:1 (TLB)

Death, to the Christian, is the exchanging of a tent for a building. Here we are as pilgrims or gypsies, living in a frail, flimsy home; subject to disease, pain, and peril. But at death we exchange this crumbling, disintegrating tent for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The wandering wayfarer comes into his own at death and is given the title to a mansion which will never deteriorate nor crumble. Do you think that God, who has provided so amply for living, has made no provision for dying? The Bible says we are strangers in a foreign land. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven. When a Christian dies, he goes into the presence of Christ. He goes to Heaven to spend eternity with God.

Is Heaven real? Read and share.

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

Prayer for the day

Dear Lord, today keep me mindful that as Your child my real home is not on this earth, but that one day I will exchange this tent for a house made by You in heaven.

 

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GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – God’s Healing Power

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“I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the Lord. “For you are called an outcast—‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’”—Jeremiah 30:17 (NLT)

If you or someone you love is having a rough time, turn to God in prayer. Fill your mind with the healing power of His Word. Focus on His restorative power and ask for His healing to lift up those who need His blessing today, tomorrow and always.

Great Physician, be near those who are struggling with pain and hardship. Heal them according to Your will. Help them feel your comfort and love.

 

 

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

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck – Mind Clutter

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So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” …  ––Hebrews 3:7-8

Whether you’re sizing up a decision, a relationship, or a particular circumstance, the process can be taxing and overwhelming. When your mind is filled with unlimited options, decision-making can become very confusing. God’s man is devoted fully to God’s purposes, and will not need a long list of options. Instead, he will target what really matters based on his exposure and experiences with God’s purposes, found in His Word, in prayer, and through godly counsel.

When you came to Christ, your filters changed. For God’s man, this means deciding things differently, and making decisions based on God’s purposes. God’s way eliminates confusion and provides clear decisions and godly instincts for effectiveness.

God’s man will be driven by the love and character of Christ. Plain and simple. A man who risks committing himself fully to these purposes consciously builds his life around them, keeps punching and will not be mastered by any earthly moment. He might get stunned or knocked down, but he will get back up, come out punching, and land more blows. Why? Because he sees the most important variables in a given situation: what shows love for God and what demonstrates love for people. Extra information is unnecessary because godly instincts are in charge. Instead of making messes, he discerns—through spiritual “muscle memory” and often without much rumination—the better, godly things around him.

Holy hunches, sensing the Spirit, trusting insight over eyesight sounds spooky to a lot of men because it requires faith––and risk. God’s Spirit is not failing in our lives. Why would we assume differently? The disparity between intuition and impulse lies in our familiarity with His voice. If we are hearing his voice, we cannot give in to our impulses. True, we have formed habits in our past life. And our Father understands this. The greatest news, despite our past, is that He promises to work with us through the firm but compassionate voice of His Holy Spirit.

Thank You for working with me, Father. Your voice is an increasingly familiar and welcome sound in my life!

 

 

Every Man Ministries