Daily Archives: July 27, 2026

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Priorities

Leave a comment

 

NEW!Listen Now

We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

Recommended Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

Both the Old Testament (1 Samuel 16:7) and the New Testament draw a clear distinction between the priority of the inner person over the outer person. Yet in our modern world that priority is reversed. Far more attention is put on cultivating the outward appearance than is put on developing the spiritual person.

That’s not to say that the physical person is not important. Paul made clear that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and should be treated accordingly (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). But Paul also made clear that our physical body is slowly fading away and will return to dust in anticipation of a glorified, eternal body when Christ returns. As he said in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, things that are seen are temporary while things that are not seen are eternal. Death is at work in us physically, but life is at work in us spiritually (verse 12).

Make sure your priorities are biblical and that you are cultivating the life that will live eternally through prayer and Bible study.

All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.
C. S. Lewis

 

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Words That Honor God

Leave a comment

 

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19

Today’s Scripture

James 1:19-21

Listen to Today’s Devotion

Apple LinkSpotify Link

Today’s Devotion

My friend, Alex, a book editor, checked his inbox, anticipating an angry email from an author. He’d been working with a prominent business leader on the client’s manuscript for months. Unexpectedly, the publisher had decided to halt the publication of the book due to company problems. After emailing the author the bad news, Alex braced himself.

A week later a reply came. “I didn’t answer right away because I wanted to think first about my words and how to respond,” the author wrote. He expressed disappointment, then calmly stated how he thought the publisher could’ve handled the issue.

The author’s wise, measured response left a deep impression on me. His behavior reflected what the Bible says our communication should be like, especially when we’re angry. The apostle James tells us to keep “a tight rein on [our] tongues” because it’s easy to sin with our words (James 1:26; see 3:5-6). We’re to prioritize listening to others so we can understand them, choose our words, and consider whether it’s necessary to get angry (1:19).

Not only does restraint in speech help us to avoid sin and allow the Scriptures to change us (v. 21), but it also reflects who God is to others: “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8). Let’s model our loving God with our words—and our silences.

Reflect & Pray

When angered, how can you restrain your communication? How do your words reflect your faith?  

Wise Father, please help me to be quick to listen, and slow to speak and become angry.

Today’s Insights

The book of James cycles through a handful of themes that are introduced in the first chapter and revisited throughout the letter. One of these themes is the tongue, which James compares to a rudder, a fire, a horse’s bit, and poison (3:1-12). The tongue is important to monitor, especially for teachers (vv. 1-2). It’s also difficult to tame, he says, and rare is the person who has control over it (v. 8). How refreshing it is, then, when a person is “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19). Words that honor God are like a spring of water that overflows with “praise” rather than “cursing” (3:9-10) and “[produces] the righteousness God desires” (1:20). This kind of righteous life is characterized by heavenly wisdom that’s “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” (3:17-18).

For further study, read When Anger Burns.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Adding to the Fellowship

Leave a comment

 

 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. 

—Acts 2:44–47

Scripture:

I love new believers. They are the lifeblood of the church. When I have the privilege of speaking to other pastors, I tell them that if they don’t have a constant flow of new believers coming into their congregations, they will become spiritually dead. We can either evangelize or fossilize.

Show me a church where new believers are not coming in, and I’ll show you a church that is stagnating. Show me a church that has new believers coming in on a regular basis, and I’ll show you a church that has vibrancy and life.

That said, new believers need older believers to stabilize them. New believers’ hearts are full of zeal, but they don’t understand the ground rules yet. They need older believers to teach them.

Older believers also need new believers. They need their zeal. They need their passion. They need their excitement to remind them of what they’ve forgotten.

Sadly, it’s usually the new believers who want to do the most when they know the least. When we ask people to help out with something at Harvest Christian Fellowship, we often have new believers who come and say they want to help: “I’ll do whatever you need. I would like to sign up for six ministries.”

While we’re very appreciative of their willingness to serve, we want them to have a good foundation first so they can be properly trained and equipped to do what God has called them to do.

On the other hand, there are older believers who have known the Lord for years, maybe even decades, who don’t give a passing thought to helping out at church. It should be just the opposite.

But as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, I want to point out that what’s true for the church is also true for our country. New believers are the lifeblood of our country. Our nation was forged in the flames of revival. And we pray for a new revival to sweep across this country.

The description of the church in Acts 2:44–47 serves as a model: “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved” (NLT).

In the meantime, every new believer, every decision made for Christ, represents a mini revival. As these new believers commit themselves to the biblical truths and principles on which our nation is built, our nation becomes incrementally stronger, more vibrant, and more attuned to God’s leading.

When we share our faith, we’re not only changing lives, but we’re also changing our country.

 

Reflection question: What would it look like in your life to prioritize sharing your faith? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!

 

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – A Debtor to Grace

Leave a comment

 

by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18)

All too often we find ourselves as frustrated as the apostle Paul in that we often know to do the right thing, to abstain from a particular sin, but we quickly fall right back into that sin. We must daily recognize our sinful habits and determine in our hearts, with strength from the Holy Spirit, to withstand the sin and overcome temptation. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). The writer of “Come Thou Fount” had the same frustration.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Scripture tells us we are secure in Christ, never to be separated. Christ informed His disciples that “my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27–29). We are safe in Christ’s hand surrounded by the Father’s hand. And then the transaction is sealed by “the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).

Take courage. We are secure in Him. JDM

 

 

 

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

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Go Beyond Words and Help Others

Leave a comment

 

But if anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?

1 John 3:17 (AMPC)

We are all different, and we each have different needs. I urge you to go the extra mile and begin to truly listen to what people tell you about their needs, being ready to help them. Because sometimes we give people what is easy for us to give, but we are still not meeting their need.

Perhaps you can easily give people words of encouragement, so you tend to encourage everyone. This is good because everyone needs some words of encouragement, but you might be giving those words to people who really need you to see that, more than words of encouragement, they need practical help in some way.

They may be three months behind on the rent and instead of simply encouraging them to believe God will provide, they need you to help them pay the rent. If you are not able to help financially, that is understandable, but it is good to at least consider doing something extra to go along with your words when the situation calls for more action.

Prayer of the Day: God, help me truly see the needs of others. Teach me to love people through both encouraging words and meaningful action, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Providence 

Leave a comment

 

Play

Sometime ago I made a special visit to the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. I wanted to see the handwritten lyrics that hang on the wall, framed and visible for all to see. Horatio Spafford wrote them, never imagining they would become the words to one of the world’s best-loved hymns.

On December 2, 1873, he received a telegram from his wife that began, “Saved alone. What shall I do?” The ship she was on had collided with another ship and had sunk. Their four daughters drowned and Anna survived.  While sailing on the ship to bring her home, Spafford wrote the lyrics to a song that would become an anthem to the providence of God. “Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say…It is Well with My Soul!”

 

 

 

Home

Today in the Word

Today in the Word – Moody Bible Institute – False Prophets

Leave a comment

 

Read Matthew 7:15–16

Fans of the Peanuts comic strip know that Linus often talks about the Great Pumpkin around Halloween. He tries to convince others to sit with him in the pumpkin patch on Halloween night, waiting and hoping for the Great Pumpkin to appear. Some kids call him a “false prophet.” “No one in my class has ever seen a false prophet,” says Sally. “How about joining me for ‘Show and Tell’?”

There are two kinds of prophets implied in today’s reading: true and false. Followers of Christ are to watch out for and be on guard against false prophets (v. 15). The picture of a wolf in sheep’s clothing tells us that false prophets are deceptive and harmful. They might claim to be telling God’s truth but they’re lying. They’re “ferocious,” actively prowling to do damage. This word has also been translated “ravenous” or “vicious.”

We will recognize false prophets by their fruit, that is, the results of their words and actions (v. 16). After all, people do not pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles! But they might tickle our ears and fill us with false hopes: “They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD” (Jer. 23:16). All this suggests that false prophets won’t be difficult to recognize… if we’re careful and on our guard.

Watchfulness is an underrated virtue, but one that is often recommended by Jesus. He spoke of it in connection with His return (Matt. 24:42–43). The end times will be characterized by false prophets who might deceive even true followers of Christ (Matt. 24:24). In fact, “Many will follow [false prophets’] depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Peter 2:1–3). But don’t worry—their doom is assured!

Go Deeper

Are there false prophets today? How would we recognize one? Are we bold enough to call them out in the name of Christ? Why or why not?

Pray with Us

Lord, we want to be on our guard against false prophets. As we are bombarded by messages, fill us with discernment to know Your truths. We are grateful that we can always trust You.

They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.Matthew 7:15

 

 

 

https://www.moodybible.org/