Daily Archives: September 30, 2024

News and Info

The Warning Lights In America That We Can’t Afford To Ignore

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What do you do when one of the warning indicators lights up on your dashboard or your car’s computer screen? Ignoring it can be costly. In fact, I saw a survey that revealed 30% of people either overlooked or ignored the indicator altogether. Only about 50% of drivers acknowledged the warning and knew what it meant. Just like failing to heed those signs can lead to a breakdown, we, as a country, are facing cultural warning indicators that we can’t afford to ignore.

In just the past two months, there were two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump. That alone is alarming, but even more disturbing is a recent poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen for Napolitan News. This survey of 1,000 registered voters should drive us to our knees in prayer.

Here’s what they asked: “While it is always difficult to wish ill of another human being, would America be better off if Donald Trump had been killed last weekend?” Shockingly, the results showed that only 47% of Democrats said “no,” while 28% said America would be better off, and 25% were unsure. In other words, 53% of Democrats were either comfortable with Trump being murdered or unsure how to respond to such a serious question.

But there’s more. Forty-nine percent of Democrats think it’s at least somewhat likely that Trump himself or his campaign was involved in these assassination attempts, while 52% of Republicans believe the Democratic Party or the Harris campaign had a role. This kind of political rage is a flashing warning light that many are choosing to ignore.

As Proverbs 28:2 says, “Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes; but by a man of understanding and knowledge, right will be prolonged.” This truth is unfolding before our very eyes. Instability, violence, and policy swings with each administration have created a fragile nation and an unstable world. Proverbs also tells us that “moral rot” is the root cause of a nation’s downfall. The sin of the people is the real problem, not just politics.

So, how do we stop this moral decay? Proverbs 1:7 reminds us that the beginning of knowledge, or the pathway out, is found in the fear, or reverence, of the Lord. Only a return to God will heal our nation. This fall election is crucial, but it won’t solve our nation’s sin problem. It may even worsen it. The solution is deeper — it’s spiritual. We must restore a healthy reverence for God in our society, which will lead to respect for the lives of others and bring back the security and stability our country once knew.

We need to pray. We need to vote. We need to stand. But beyond that, we must live out our faith, engage with our communities, and be ambassadors of God’s truth. Only then can we start turning the tide and address the deeper issues plaguing our nation.

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand. He also served two terms as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and served as Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Source: The Warning Lights In America That We Can’t Afford To Ignore – Harbinger’s Daily

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – “Small” Miracles

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Bible in a Year :

Do not despise these small beginnings.

Zechariah 4:10 nlt

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Zechariah 4:6-10

At our wedding shower, our shy friend Dave stood in a corner clutching an oblong, tissue-wrapped object. When his turn came to present his gift, he brought it forward. Evan and I unwrapped it to discover a hand-carved piece of wood containing perfect oblong concentric woodgrain circles and the engraved sentence, “Some of God’s miracles are small.” The plaque has hung in our home for forty-five years, reminding us again and again that God is at work even in the small things. Paying a bill. Providing a meal. Healing a cold. All tallying up to an impressive record of God’s provision.

Through the prophet Zechariah, the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel received a similar message from God regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. After returning from their Babylonian captivity, a season of slow progress began, and the Israelites grew discouraged. “Do not despise these small beginnings,” God declared (Zechariah 4:10 nlt). He accomplishes His desires through us and sometimes in spite of us. “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (v. 6).

When we grow weary at the apparent smallness of God’s work in and around us, may we remember that some of His miracles may be “small.” He uses the small things to build toward His greater purposes.

By:  Elisa Morgan

Reflect & Pray

Where have you seen God’s small miracles in your life? How has He used small things to provide for your needs and the needs of those around you?

Dear God, thank You for working Your small miracles in my life. Please help me to notice all Your works!

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Defeating Doubt

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But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.

James 1:6 (AMP)

Many times in life, we are opposed by thoughts and emotions that are intended to weaken our relationship with God. Doubt is one such feeling.

Feelings of doubt or uncertainty don’t mean that we don’t have faith and are not relying on God. It simply means that the devil is bringing temptation to stop us from putting our confidence in the Lord. We can consider the source of doubt and realize it is a lie.

We should “watch and pray” as we are instructed in God’s Word (see Matthew 26:40–41). When we are faced with doubt, see it for the deception that it is. Take that doubt to God and ask Him to give you the strength to defeat it. Don’t feed those doubts; feed your faith instead. Remember what God says about your life and your future and choose to stand on those promises.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, strengthen my faith and help me overcome my doubts by trusting in Your promise and the truth of Your Word, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

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How Benjamin Netanyahu tricked “the” terrorist

Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group’s central command headquarters Friday. An Iranian general was killed in the same strike. Israel’s military says it has now eliminated eight of Hezbollah’s nine most senior military commanders. As of this morning, Israel has also killed Hamas leaders in Lebanon and Syria and bombed Houthi targets in Yemen.

However, the killing of Nasrallah is making headlines not just for its political significance but also for the way it was conducted.

According to a senior Israeli official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Friday address to the United Nations was part of a “diversionary plan” intended to make Nasrallah believe Israel would not take drastic action with the prime minister out of the country. The terrorist leader was believed to be watching Mr. Netanyahu’s speech at the UN “and was then attacked by Israeli Air Force planes.” The prime minister approved the strike before delivering his speech, the official added.

A “measure of justice”

To Hezbollah and its jihadist allies, Nasrallah is being mourned today as a hero. To US President Joe Biden, his killing was a “measure of justice” for his many victims, including “hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror” and thousands of Israeli and Lebanese civilians.

To Mr. Netanyahu, Nasrallah “was not just another terrorist—he was the terrorist” (his emphasis).

As a reminder, Israel’s current conflict with Hezbollah started when the terrorist group began bombing northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas’s genocidal invasion on October 7. Nearly eighty thousand Israelis living near the Lebanese border have been forced to flee. Israel’s goal is to enable them to return to their homes in peace.

As I watched the news regarding Nasrallah’s death unfold over the weekend, the biblical admonition echoed in my mind: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

“The soul who sins shall die”

I am not saying that all suffering is the consequence of sin. To the contrary, I am praying fervently for the many innocent victims of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern US and for the brave Ukrainians as they stand up to Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion.

I am not saying that Israel’s leaders can do no wrong or that their every action is an expression of God’s will. Nor am I claiming that the State of Israel founded in 1948 is a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy, a question that is much debated (see my extensive article here).

But I am saying that sins have consequences for sinners.

  • Some are apparent in the moment, as with God’s judgment on Ananias and Sapphira for their deception (Acts 5:1–11) and on King Herod for his idolatrous pride (Acts 12:20–23).
  • Some take longer to unfold, as with God’s eventual judgment on Egypt (Exodus 15) and the execution of the genocidal Haman in Persia (Esther 7:7–10).
  • Some must be “discerned” through the eyes of faith as we trust the justice and timing of God (Psalm 73:17).

But all unconfessed and unrepented sin leads to the same ultimate result: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). For the lost, their “death” is eternity in hell (Revelation 20:15). For the Christian, their “death” is the forfeit of God’s blessing in this life and reward in the next (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:10–15).

I have often quoted the maxim,

“Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.”

If you are thinking that this statement doesn’t apply to you, you’re being deceived right now.

Three personal steps

How should we respond today?

One: Confess personal sins immediately.

Since none of us knows when we will stand before God’s judgment (Matthew 24:36; Hebrews 9:27), we must be ready to meet him today. Ask his Spirit to show you anything that is wrong between you and your Lord, then confess what comes to your mind and claim your Father’s forgiving grace (1 John 1:9). Do it now.

Two: Seek reconciliation with others.

Jesus taught us to “first be reconciled to your brother” even before offering worship to the Lord (Matthew 5:24). The only day we have to make our relationships right with others is today.

Three: View temptation as spiritual poison leading to death.

God will enable us to defeat all temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), but we must turn immediately to him, seeking the power and victory that can be ours.

A surprising thank-you card

In one of my pastorates, I preached a sermon emphasizing our need to be ready for the judgment of God. Following our evening service, an older couple thanked me for my message that morning. They told me they had taken my sermon to heart, praying together that afternoon as they confessed their sins and asked God to make them right with him and others.

On Monday, the wife died of a heart attack. On Tuesday, I received a thank-you card from her in the mail. She had written and posted it on Sunday in case she did not see me that night. I read it in her memorial service on Wednesday.

You and I are one day closer to eternity than ever before.

Are you ready?

Monday news to know:

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

Quote for the day:

“Let us stop the progress of sin in our soul at the first stage, for the farther it goes the faster it will increase.” —Thomas Fuller

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Real and the Unreal World

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.” (1 Samuel 2:8)

The above text contains the first reference in the Bible to God’s world. The “pillars” upon which it is set are, literally, “firm summits” (not “columns”), speaking of its permanence, “established that it shall not be moved” through the eternal ages when “the LORD reigneth” (Psalm 96:10).

That is the real world, where all who have been “raised up” by the Lord through faith in His Word will “inherit the throne of glory” and reign with Him forever. But that real world has, for a time, become “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4), often mistakenly represented by its worldly inhabitants as their “real” world. In reality, this present world is very ephemeral, for “the world passeth away” (1 John 2:17).

This present unreal world has become the domain of Satan, “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), for “the whole world lieth in wickedness [or ‘the wicked one’]” (1 John 5:19). Consequently, it is essential for believers now living in the world to heed the Lord’s warning: “I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).

The “world” includes its inhabitants and the world system they have developed. This present world, because of sin, has become so unreal that it no longer even knows its Creator. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not” (John 1:10). Nevertheless, “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). We can defeat this present evil world and prepare for our eternal service in the real world to come. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). HMM

 

 

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

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – The Commission of the Call

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I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions. — Colossians 1:24

The call of God is utterly unique. We think we are answering God’s call when we devote ourselves to spiritual service, but once we get into a right relationship with him, we see how wrong we’ve been. When God calls, he calls us to something we’ve never dreamed of before. In one radiant, flashing moment, we see what he wants us to do—to “fill up” in our flesh “what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions”—and we are riveted with a terrific pain.

The call of God has nothing to do with personal holiness. It’s about being made broken bread and poured-out wine. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink whole grapes. But God can never crush those who resist the fingers he uses to do it. Those fingers may belong to someone we dislike, or to some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit. We think, “If only God would use his own fingers to crush me, and do it in some special, heavenly way!” We have to learn that we cannot choose the scene or the means of our martyrdom.

I wonder what kind of fingers God has been using to squeeze you. Have you been hard as a marble and escaped? If God had persisted in squeezing you while you were still unripe, the wine would have been remarkably bitter. If you wish to be a person whom God can easily crush, you must allow his presence to govern every element of your natural life and to break those elements in his service.

We have to be rightly related to God before we can be broken in his hands. Keep right with him, let him do with you as he likes, and you will find that he is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit his other children.

Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3

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 – Our Greatest Need

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I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land…
—Psalm 143:6

Not long ago I visited the dean of a great American university. We looked out the window of his office and watched hundreds of students walking to their classes. I asked the dean, “What is the greatest problem at this university?” He thought a moment and answered, “Emptiness.” So many people today are bored, lonely, searching for something. You can see it in their faces.

One girl home from college told her wealthy father, “Father, I want something but I don’t know what it is.” That’s true of many people; we want something to meet the deepest problems of our lives, but we haven’t found it. David said, “I have found it. I shall not want.” The Apostle Paul expressed it, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

You don’t have to give up on life, to throw up your hands and cry, “It’s no use.” . . . You can have God’s peace, God’s joy, God’s happiness, God’s security; and yours can become the most thrilling life in the world.

Know the peace that a relationship with Christ can bring.

Franklin Graham shares his story of once running from God.

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

Prayer for the day

Lord Jesus, You quench the thirst and longing of my soul. Praise Your blessed name.

 

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GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – Great Things for His Glory

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But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”—2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

In 1963, when astronaut Ed White II ventured out on America’s first spacewalk, he carried a handful of mustard seeds sewn into his spacesuit as a symbol of his faith and to help him feel safe on the journey. Norman Vincent Peale reached out to White before his mission and wrote, “You don’t need to take a mustard seed with you as a symbol of your faith. You have the faith itself and the inner sturdiness that will carry you through this tremendous and rewarding experience.” When you need a little strength in your life, know that you, too, have the “inner sturdiness” to do great things for God’s glory.

Dear Lord, give me a clear vision of Your will and give me the strength to follow it.

 

 

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

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck – The Devil’s FOMO

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Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord.  ––Psalm 4:4-5

I first heard the phrase “FOMO” (fear of missing out) when my oldest daughter was in middle school. It’s that time in a pre-teen’s life when friends—and their acceptance—loom large. Birthday parties, swim parties, ice skating sessions. Who’s invited? Who’s not invited? Am I invited? And if I say “yes” to that event, will I miss out on a better invitation?

FOMO’s not just for socially sensitive teens, though. If we’re honest, we all struggle with it. It’s the proverbial “the grass is always greener” dilemma. “If I marry this person, how do I know I won’t be giving up my chance at someone (fill in the blank: smarter, richer, prettier)?” “Maybe I should quietly quit this job so I can jump ship to that other job,” or worse, “My wife doesn’t seem to love me anymore, so maybe I should have that affair.”

The devil’s good at setting us up for FOMO. Two of your peers at work are promoted but not you, or all your friends are invited to the lake to water ski—except you. And even as grown male adults, we often act like children, don’t we? (Well, I do.) We know in our head that there are more important things in life, yet it stings when we get left out or passed over.

That’s the battleground, brother. The devil knows that if he can get us to take that bait right away in any given FOMO situation, he can then sink that hook deeper. Ever notice that the deceiver typically tries to manipulate through strong emotional reaction—and usually it involves anger? Paul tells the Ephesian church, “’In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27). That first part is from Psalm 4, as David understood the power of anger to pollute the mind and sour the spirit. He saw it in Saul, whose jealousy and anger made him try to kill David.

Being sober minded is not a side gig. For God’s man, there’s no room for part-time spiritual adulting. The great thing is that we have a Father who loves clarity, dispenses wisdom, and offers us a way of escape from every trap the enemy sets for us. In Him, there’s never any FOMO—we are always invited and always welcome before His throne.

Father, help me surrender those FOMO moments that seem to come out of nowhere, and exchange that instant negative reaction with Your peace that passes understanding.

 

 

Every Man Ministries