The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.
God has gifted us with the Bible — a book of borders. Those borders are blessings, the means to abundant life. By choosing obedience instead of our own paths, we live in the life-giving flow of God’s Word.
God has established borders for us. You may have chosen to violate those boundaries — spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially or relationally. Choose the Door that is Christ Jesus. Walk through that Door to repent and return to your rightful place inside the blessings of God.
He is not looking for a perfect people; God is looking for a people who are willing. Not perfect, but willing to live by His truth, to speak out against evil, to reach out to alleviate suffering with His heart, His hands, and His feet. We are willing to choose for ourselves and our homes that we will serve the Lord with gladness.
God has chosen us to be the light of the world, to be the salt of the earth, right here and right now. He calls us to be blameless and harmless in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, to shine like the stars in the sky (Philippians 2:15). We are the seasoning that brings out the God-flavor in this world, that points others to Him (Matthew 5:13).
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). If God stands with us, who can stand against us? (Romans 8:31) Our faith is the victory that overcomes this world (1 John 5:4).
Commit to live within the borders that God has established. Your obedience opens the windows of heaven, a pouring-out of the blessings that are exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Let us joyfully live within the boundaries so that we may see our King and be counted worthy to gladly enter into that holy city one day.
Blessing:
Heavenly Father, thank You for the borders that You have established for me. I know that they are there to provide for me and to protect me. I commit to live within those boundaries. Thank You for the truth that sets me free, for the blessings found there. In the name of Jesus… Amen.
But one and the same Spirit works all these [spiritual gifts], distributing to each one individually as He wills. . . . But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 1 Corinthians 12:11, 18
Identical twins share many of the same physical traits: hair and eye color, height, facial characteristics, and others. Research suggests that 25 percent of identical twins can be said to be mirror images of one another except in one specific area: Identical twins have different fingerprints.
That fact confirms the biblical testimony that we were knit together in our mother’s womb, that we were “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14, NIV). We are not only made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), but we are also uniquely made in God’s image. We are all different, unique, and special in God’s sight. The apostle Paul extends the idea of uniqueness by saying that God gives each Christian spiritual gifts “individually as He wills” and puts us in the Body of Christ “as He please[s].” When we compare who we are with others, we stand on the precipice of succumbing to envy, pride, or jealousy (2 Corinthians 10:12).
Cultivate contentment as you seek God’s will for your life. Look for every opportunity to serve God and others as only you can.
God gives gifts where He gives a calling. Henry Wilkinson
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
I wasn’t raised in the church. I grew up in an alcohol-dazed world, and I saw what it did to the adult generation. So, I detoured myself into the drug culture and tried a lot of things. And I tried enough to know that it all was empty.
When I heard about Jesus Christ, I thought, “I would like to know God. That idea sounds really good.” The idea of having a relationship with God held great appeal for me.
But I also noticed that the Christians on my high school campus were sweet and nice and loving. I thought, “I’m not that way. I’m cynical and sarcastic. In fact, I can be kind of mean. I don’t know if I can become one of those people.”
However, after I became a Christian, God started working in my life. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t have a little bit of cynicism still. I’m not saying that I haven’t been sarcastic since my conversion. But I am saying that God changed my heart.
In fact, when I told people that I was a Christian, they didn’t believe it. They thought I was joking. And later when I became a preacher, they laughed even harder. It was the last thing anyone envisioned for me.
But God had a different plan for my life. And who knows what kind of plan He has for you?
Maybe you have tried to get your life together. Maybe you’re still searching for answers. You’ve been trying to fill the void in your life with anything and everything, but nothing satisfies.
God holds the missing piece. You won’t find it in your pursuits or in anything this world has to offer. But you will find it in a relationship with God. The missing piece is a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. And He will change you from the inside out.
In 2010, a tsunami struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing more than four hundred people. But the deaths could have been prevented or minimized had the tsunami warning system been working properly. The tsunami detection networks (buoys) had become detached and drifted away.
Jesus said His disciples had a responsibility to warn fellow disciples of things that could harm them spiritually—including unrepentant sin. He outlined a process in which a believer who’s been sinned against by another can humbly, privately, and prayerfully “point out” the sin to the offending believer (Matthew 18:15). If the person repents, then the conflict can be resolved and relationship restored. If the believer refuses to repent, then “one or two others” can help resolve the conflict (v. 16). If the sinning person still doesn’t repent, then the issue is to be brought before “the church” (v. 17). If the offender still won’t repent, the individual is to be removed from assembly fellowship, but he or she can certainly still be prayed for and shown Christ’s love.
As believers in Jesus, let’s pray for the wisdom and courage we need to care enough to lovingly warn one another of the dangers of unrepentant sin and of the joys of restoration to our heavenly Father and other believers. Jesus will be “there . . . with [us]” as we do (v. 20).
“In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
A humble heart is a teachable heart.
Scripture speaks of a past, present, and future aspect of salvation. You have been saved from the penalty of sin (salvation), are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification), and will ultimately be saved from the presence of sin (glorification). At first glance James 1:21 may sound like it’s written to unbelievers, urging them to receive the Word, which is able to redeem them. But the phrase “save your souls” carries the idea that the implanted Word has the ongoing power to continually save one’s soul. It’s a reference to the present and ongoing process of sanctification, which is nurtured by the Spirit-energized Word of God.
The Word was implanted within you by the Holy Spirit at the time of your salvation. It is the source of power and growth for your new life in Christ. Your responsibility is to receive it in purity and humility so it can do its sanctifying work.
“Humility” in James 1:21 could be translated “meek,” “gentle,” or “having a willing spirit”; but I prefer “teachable.” If your heart is pure and humble, you will be teachable and will set aside all resentment, anger, and pride to learn God’s truth and apply it to your life.
When Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), He was addressing this very issue. If you love Him, you will desire to obey Him and will receive His Word so you can know His will for your life. As you receive the Word, the Holy Spirit empowers you to live according to its principles.
Paul said, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another . . . and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:16-17). That’s the essence of a biblical lifestyle and the fruit of receiving the Word in humility. May God bless you with a teachable spirit and an ever-increasing love for His truth.
Suggestions for Prayer
Ask God to keep your heart tender towards Christ and His Word.
For Further Study
Read Nehemiah 8.
Who read God’s Word to the people?
How did the people respond?
Would you characterize them as receivers of the Word? Explain.
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
— Hebrews 11:1 (AMPC)
“I will not fear” is the only acceptable attitude we can have toward fear. That does not mean we will never feel fear, but it does mean we will not allow it to rule our lives. The Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear (see 2 Timothy 1:7).
Fear is not from God, but faith is! We should remember to do everything with a spirit of faith. Faith is confidence in God and a belief that His promises are true. Faith will cause a person to go forward, to try new things, and to be aggressive.
Be firm in your resolve to do whatever you need to do, even if you have to “do it afraid”! To “do it afraid” means to feel the fear and do what you believe you should do anyway. Stand in faith, be thankful for God’s promises, and boldly pursue what God has put in your heart to do.
Prayer of the Day: Thank You, Father, that I can live in faith and not in fear. Regardless of the difficulty of the situation I may be facing, I will choose to do what You have called me to do, even if I have to “do it afraid.” Thank You for giving me the strength that I need.
Almost every Christian finds prayer hard at some time (or most of the time). Why is that?
One of the reasons why we’re tempted to give up on prayer is that we don’t always receive an immediate response from God. In a world that so highly exalts instant gratification, this is a real difficulty. It’s the same issue as in trying to maintain a proper exercise regimen or diet: we want to see results now, today. If our new approach does not quickly show its benefits, most of us are unlikely to persevere.
Our tendency to lack endurance is one reason that Jesus told the parable about the persistent widow, who was relentless in seeking out justice from the judge. Luke makes the editorial comment that Jesus was encouraging his listeners to understand that they “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). In other words, Jesus wants us to pray—and then to keep on praying.
When Paul tells us to “keep alert” and to pray “with all perseverance,” he is echoing Jesus’ words to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He died: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Paul spoke similarly to the Ephesian elders, telling them to “be alert” (Acts 20:31). In a world embroiled in a cosmic spiritual battle, the stakes are too high to give up on prayer.
As we keep coming to God with prayer and supplication, we will all have to learn to be content with trusting that God will answer us in His good timing, and we will all need to remember that Satan would love to persuade us that prayer makes no difference and that God does not listen or act. You may not see an answer to a desperate prayer on this side of eternity. Sometimes persistence may appear to be met with silence. But in due time, God will show you that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises” (2 Peter 3:9). He answers all your prayers exactly when He knows it is right to and in precisely the manner that is always best for you. God is always doing far more than we can ask or even imagined. Sometimes we can glimpse some of His purposes, but sometimes we are asked to live by faith, not by sight.
Are there people or situations that you have given up praying for because you have had no clear and positive response? Remember, you have not had such a response yet. One day, you will see what God was doing in directing matters differently than how you would have chosen. Until that day, you can persevere in prayer, because it is what He commands and because He has promised to work for the good of His people. Why not begin today to pray with perseverance for something you have quit speaking to God about?
Questions for Thought
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
“And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD.” (2 Kings 19:15a)
Hezekiah had good reason to pray! Hezekiah was the King of Judah. Maybe you’ve heard of Judah: it was a small nation, the only two tribes left over from the Twelve Tribes of Israel. And Hezekiah, King of Judah, had a problem: he was an enemy of the pagan king of Assyria, Sennacherib (pronounced sen-AK-er-rib). Assyria back then was a little like America is today: the strongest nation on earth. And the nation of Judah was like one of those tiny countries you see on a map – so small that nobody remembers the name of. In other words, King Hezekiah was no match for King Sennacherib.
Because Hezekiah and Sennacherib were enemies, Sennacherib brought his forces down to do battle against Hezekiah and the Kingdom of Judah. Sennacherib fought hard, and his armies defeated a lot of Judean towns. Hezekiah became frightened. So instead of relying on God, he sent money – some of it was God’s money – to Sennacherib, trying to buy him off!
Well, Sennacherib didn’t just want money. He wanted to humiliate Hezekiah in the capital city, Jerusalem. So Sennacherib sent messenger boys to Hezekiah, announcing that Sennacherib would defeat God’s people if they resisted him.
What could Hezekiah do? He’d already sent money to Sennacherib, but Sennacherib wasn’t satisfied. Hezekiah was so upset that he tore his clothes and went to the temple of the Lord. Instead of sending more money to the wicked king Sennacherib, Hezekiah sent word to Isaiah, the prophet of God, asking what to do. Isaiah sent back word not to worry, since God would take care of Hezekiah’s problem with Sennacherib.
When Sennacherib heard what Isaiah had said, he sent a letter to Hezekiah, repeating his threats. Hezekiah grew very upset again. This time, he didn’t send money to the wicked king, and he didn’t even call on God’s prophet. Instead, he spread out the letter on the ground and prayed to God.
After Hezekiah had pled with God for help, God sent word by the prophet Isaiah saying that God had heard Hezekiah’s prayer. In Isaiah 37:21, God says that because Hezekiah had prayed, He would rise up against Sennacherib and defeat him. Soon afterwards, God miraculously killed 125,000 of Sennacherib’s troops, and Sennacherib returned home to Assyria without ever fighting against Hezekiah. Eventually, two of Sennacherib’s sons assassinated him while he prayed to his false god.
You’ve probably noticed that the story of Hezekiah and Sennacherib is complicated. You can read the whole thing in 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37. Each version of the story gives details that the other one doesn’t mention. When Isaiah tells the story, he makes the point that this devotional is making: it wasn’t until Hezekiah himself prayed to God that God defeated Sennacherib.
Was it bad for Hezekiah to ask advice from God’s prophet, Isaiah? Of course not! And when Hezekiah asked advice, God promised to help. But it wasn’t until Hezekiah himself prayed that God actually struck down Sennacherib’s army. God had planned to fight against Sennacherib, but He waited to do it until after Hezekiah asked Him to do it. God wants His people to bring their concerns to Him and to rely on Him to do His will.
When you face difficult circumstances, it’s not good to try working things out on your own, as Hezekiah did when he paid money to Sennacherib. It is good to ask advice from older, more mature Christians like your teachers, parents, and pastors. But that’s not enough! You should ask God for help. God wants to hear your prayers, and He wants to show His power in response to your prayers.
God powerfully responds to the prayers of His people.
My Response: » When I face difficulties, do I try working things out on my own? Or do I pray for God’s direction and help so that I’ll know how to respond?
Early Tuesday morning, a significant portion of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station along the Dnieper River in Ukraine was destroyed. The reservoir it previously restrained held roughly 18 million cubic meters of water, most of which has now spilled over the remaining walls and flooded much of the area between what’s left of the dam and the city of Kherson, less than fifty miles away. As many as one hundred towns and villages downstream from the dam have either already flooded or are in danger of that fate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed those thoughts, describing the dam’s breach as a “monumental humanitarian, economic and ecological catastrophe,” adding that it represented “another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
But while we cannot know the full extent of that devastation until the waters recede over the next five to seven days, the damage wrought by the flood could be felt for years to come.
Far-reaching consequences from the destroyed Nova Kakhovka dam
One of the greatest fears, initially, was that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant upriver from the dam could experience a meltdown since it relied heavily upon the now-depleted reservoir to cool its reactors. It would appear that, at least for a few months, they have sufficient supplies of water in reserve to operate safely, but officials have noted that bringing in water from the outside could be necessary eventually.
The more pressing fear is that the lands along the river will be unusable for quite some time. The reservoir was responsible for irrigating much of Ukraine’s most fertile farmland, and any land that survived the flood could be difficult to rely upon without the reservoir’s reserves.
Considering that, prior to the war, Ukraine provided roughly 16 percent of the world’s corn exports and supplied 40 percent of the grain used by the World Food Program to help feed some of the most impoverished and malnourished people on the planet, the loss of that arable land will be felt around the globe. The rise in wheat prices—up 3 percent in the hours following the dam’s collapse—offers another reminder that we will all feel that impact to some extent.
However, the reservoir was also the primary source of water for Crimea, the region that has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Given that most experts have blamed Russia for the attack—though the cause is still uncertain as of this writing—many have wondered why the Kremlin would cripple the portion of Ukraine that is of greatest concern to most Russian citizens.
However, Russia is prepared to ensure that the region still gets its water. The difference is that now it will be forced to rely largely on water pumped across the Kerch bridge from the Russian mainland. Consequently, even if Ukraine manages to retake the area, it will be difficult to sever ties with Russia completely.
Did Russia destroy the Nova Kakhovka dam?
Ultimately, most have laid the blame for the dam’s collapse at the feet of the Kremlin.
Last year, Zelensky claimed that the Russians had placed mines on the dam and warned that “there may come a moment when an explosion occurs.” Considering that the invading armies have been in control of the dam and its power plant from the opening days of the war, they would have had ample opportunity to prepare it for sabotage in the event that such an extreme step was deemed helpful to their cause.
However, Ukraine had also carried out test strikes on the dam last year to see if it would be possible to raise the river’s waters enough “to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages.” The tactic was held as a “last resort,” though, and the circumstances of the war have changed enough in the time since that it would make little strategic sense for Ukraine to have attacked the dam. The rising waters and muddy landscape the floods will leave behind are likely to prove to be a great impediment to their attempts at a counteroffensive.
Russia is most likely to blame for the dam’s collapse, either through outright attack or negligence over the last year. The destruction of the dam was not the only attack on civilian infrastructure to make headlines yesterday, though.
The Ukranian plot to sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline
News also broke on Tuesday that the CIA learned last June of a Ukrainian plan to sabotage the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline that linked Russia to Germany. The Kremlin was initially held responsible by most Western powers, including the United States, but that belief shifted as the investigation pointed in other directions. And while Ukraine has denied any responsibility for the attack last September, the details in the leaked report align so closely with how the attack took place that it has become increasingly difficult to believe anyone else could have been behind it.
The intelligence report claims that Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, General Valery Zaluzhny, was given command of the attack so that President Zelensky would have plausible deniability in its aftermath. As such, his comments that the destruction of the pipelines was “a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression toward [the European Union]” look both manipulative and damning in retrospect.
The increasing odds that Ukraine was behind that attack do not change the likelihood that Russia was responsible for what took place at the Nova Kakhovka dam, but it does remind us of an important principle to keep in mind when evaluating both the war in Ukraine and complex situations in other realms of life.
A warning against dichotomous thinking
It is human nature to prefer a simple explanation—even when it’s wrong—to a more complex one. As a result, it can be easy to ignore inconvenient truths when they muddy the waters of how we would prefer to see a given situation.
With the war in Ukraine, it is simpler to see Ukrainians as valiant heroes, fighting in defense of their homeland and Russians as the evil invaders bent on destruction. To be sure, there is a good bit of validity to both characterizations.
However, neither side is without fault in this war, and it’s vital that we don’t lose sight of the gray areas in which the truth often resides just because the world seems simpler in black and white.
And that perspective is equally important in other areas of our lives as well.
Take politics, for example. Our country and our culture would be so much healthier if people were willing to see beyond the labels and put in the work to truly understand those who think differently. In the same way, how much healthier would our churches be if we did the same there? How about our families or workplace?
Ultimately, we will be far better witnesses to the One who is the truth (John 14:6) if we are willing to embrace a more nuanced and correct view of the world around us instead of clinging to the simple stereotypes that can so quickly lead us into error.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
God’s Word tells us that “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34). God does something interesting in this verse: He combines an individual choice with a corporate organization.
The choices that we make as individuals create a blessing for the entire body. We often think of this in a backwards manner. Some believe that if we can get righteousness on a political platform, it will change everything. Wrong! Righteousness is not a political platform; it is a personal choice.
Righteousness is knowing to do right and following through with right action. It is a choice I make. It is a choice that you make. No candidate, no policy can force us to think and act rightly. Righteousness cannot be legislated. The personal decision to live rightly exalts a nation. If I do right, if you do right, if we all do right corporately, we begin to get better. It starts with you and with me. It is not an outside-in change; it is an inside-out change.
Change begins when we examine our lives, when we ask God to search our hearts and reveal any wicked way that He finds in us (Psalm 139:23-24). When we acknowledge where we have crossed the line, where we have crashed through the borders that He has erected for our best lives, we can repent and run back within the borders of blessing.
Let righteousness begin with you. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Re-establish the borders of God in your life. Return to His Word and His commandments. Change begins in you!
Blessing:
Heavenly Father, search my heart. Show me the places where I am in opposition to You and Your Word. Forgive me, and lead me back to right standing with You. I long to live and move and have my being in You. In the name of Jesus… Amen.
Robert K. Greenleaf, born in 1904, spent four decades working in corporate management for one of America’s largest telecommunications companies. Toward the end of his tenure there, he became disenfranchised with corporate management philosophy. He saw it as a top-down, authoritarian, and power-based approach. So he resigned and founded a non-profit to research the idea of servant leadership. His work planted seeds of change that continue bearing fruit to this day.
The style of leadership Greenleaf reacted to—authoritarian, top-down—was the style Jesus identified in His day among Gentile rulers: They “lord it over” and “exercise authority over” their subjects (Mark 10:42). But Jesus demonstrated a different style: He came not to be served by others but to serve those He came to save. And His style was evident throughout His life and ministry. His service was sacrificial, costly, and humble—but it changed the world. And God “highly exalted Him” and lifted up His Name (Philippians 2:9).
Look for ways today to lead by serving. It’s a simple but powerful way to show Jesus to the world.
Our humility serves us falsely, when it leads us to shrink from any duty. J. R. Miller
Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.
Shortly before he died, Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, recorded a song called “Party.” Here are some of the lyrics: “We were up all night, singing and giving a chase… the next morning everybody was hung over.”
In the refrain he repeatedly implores his party mates to “come back and play.”
Don’t be pulled into the illusion that drinking and partying will make you a happy person. Christians should live apart from that.
Romans 13 tells us, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living” (verses 11–12 NLT).
Here’s how the J. B. Phillips New Testament puts it: “The present time is of the highest importance—it is time to wake up to reality. Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day!”
That is good advice. Don’t chase after those things. Proverbs 20:1 says, “Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise” (NLT). Eventually the party will be over. Then where will you be?
I’m reminded of the great hymn of the church that says, “On Christ, the solid Rock I stand—all other ground is sinking sand.”
This world offers you cheap thrills that never will meet your deepest needs. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon arrived at the same conclusion: life is empty without God.
Here are some vacation tips: The next time you’re traveling through Middleton, Wisconsin, you might want to visit the National Mustard Museum. For those of us who feel that one mustard is plenty, this place amazes, featuring 6,090 different mustards from around the world. In McLean, Texas, you might be surprised to run across the Barbed Wire Museum—or more surprised there is such a passion for, well . . . fencing.
It’s telling what kinds of things we choose to make important. One writer says you could do worse than spend an afternoon at the Banana Museum (though we beg to differ).
We laugh in fun, yet it’s sobering to admit we maintain our own museums—places of the heart where we celebrate certain idols of our own making. God instructs us, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) and “you shall not bow down to them or worship them” (v. 5). But we do anyway, creating our own graven gods, perhaps of wealth or lust or success—or of some other fill-in-the-blank “treasure” we worship in secret.
It’s easy to read this passage and miss the point. Yes, God holds us accountable for the museums of sin we create. But He also speaks of “showing love to a thousand generations of those who love [Him]” (v. 6). He knows how trivial our “museums” really are. He knows our true satisfaction lies only in our love for Him.
“Putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness . . . receive the word” (James 1:21).
You cannot receive God’s Word and harbor sin at the same time.
When the psalmist said, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Thy word” (Ps. 119:101), he was acknowledging a key principle of spiritual growth: you must set aside sin if you expect to benefit from God’s Word. Peter was expressing the same thought when he said, “Putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:1-2). Likewise, James admonished us to put off sin and receive the Word (James 1:21).
Neither James nor Peter were addressing unbelievers, because without Christ, people have no capacity to set sin aside or receive God’s Word. But we as Christians are characterized by our ability to do both, and must continually purify our lives through confession of sin, repentance, and right choices. That’s why Paul said, “Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (Rom. 6:19).
The Greek word translated “putting aside” in James 1:21 originally meant taking off dirty, soiled clothes. “Filthiness” translates a Greek word that was used of moral vice as well as dirty clothes. Its root word was sometimes used of ear wax, which impedes a person’s hearing. Similarly, sin impedes reception of the Word. “Wickedness” speaks of any evil intent or desire. Together they stress the importance of setting aside all evil actions and intentions.
Simply stated, you should never presume on God’s grace by approaching His Word with unconfessed sin. David prayed, “Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous [deliberate] sins; let them not rule over me; then I shall be blameless” (Ps. 19:13). He wanted to be pure before the Lord. I pray that you share his desire and will always receive the Word in purity.
Suggestions for Prayer
Memorize Psalm 19:14. Make it your prayer as you study God’s Word.
For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort] in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence).
Sometimes we have to make a few adjustments in our lifestyle to follow wisdom. We may have to say no to too much activity. Hebrews 11:1 teaches that faith is the assurance of things we do not see now. But, like God, we can call “those things that be not, as though they are” (see Romans 4:17). This spiritual principle applies in the negative realm as well as in the positive realm. So, we may need to make some adjustments to the things we say.
If you feel that it is hard to get up in the morning, don’t say, “I am too tired.” Get all of that weak, tired, wimpy, quitter, give-up talk out of your vocabulary. Instead, say, “Because the Lord is my strength, I can do whatever I need to do today.”
Prayer of the Day: Lord, help me to follow wisdom and make whatever adjustments to my lifestyle that need to be made. Help me to speak words of faith and trust in Your strength to overcome any challenges that come my way, amen.
“The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.” (Psalm 10:16)
“I’m king of the mountain!” shouted Sammy, as his younger siblings scrambled up the huge mound of dirt to dethrone him. The Rettus children were spending an afternoon playing King of the Mountain. To be king of the mountain, one person had to stand on the top of a designated mountain (a pile of snow, a sand dune, or a mound of dirt) without letting his siblings push him down. Whoever was the lone person on top of the mountain was king, ruling over all the others.
Scripture tells us that God is King. He is King of all the earth (Psalm 47:7); He is King above all gods (Psalm 95:5); He is King forever (Psalm 10:16); He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). God reigns over all, and no man can overthrown His rule.
When playing King of the Mountain, the younger Rettus children would plot to overthrow Sammy. Danny and Joey would use dirt bombs and large reeds to distract him, while the Jon would charge up to overthrow the king. But no matter how hard they tried, Sammy usually ended up on the top of the mound shouting, “I’m king of the mountain!”
Wicked men live their lives as though God could be overthrown. It’s like they’re throwing dirt bombs and using sticks to try to defeat God – the King over all. They attempt to fight against God. But in the end, God will always be king, and the wicked will perish for eternity.
Do you serve God as your King? Or do you live in rebellion under His rule? Do you humbly follow His commands in Scripture to obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1), to love your enemies (Matthew 5:44), and to submit to authority (Hebrews 13:17), or do you ignore His Word? Each day you have a choice: you can live in submission to God your King, or you can live in rebellion against the King of all the earth.
Because God is king, you must submit to His rule.
My Response: » Do I obey God as my King? Do I follow all of His commandments?
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.
God has given us the gift of borders. As long as we live within the boundaries He has designated in His Word, we receive His blessings, His provision, and protection. The moment that we step across and outside of those borders, we stand against His will and undefended.
Before a mother even knows that she is pregnant, the child has blood. God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Before the man and woman ever conceived a child, before the mother even knew that she was carrying a baby, God knew that child.
Before a child ever draws a breath, God sees in them his image. God has chosen us to be the light of the world, to be the salt of the earth, right here and right now. The King of Glory has forgiven us, the debt of our sin. He paid the price to set us free when we had no ability to do so ourselves. Choose to live within the border of blessing. Tear down the barricade between yourself and God to restore His ultimate purpose in your life.
Blessing:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and give you His peace. May God take you through the problem to the provision. May you, with bold relentless faith, go straight through the problem and receive the promise of God. Let this day and the days that follow be days of triumph and victory because God is a faithful God who will never fail you. In Jesus’ name, we receive the answer, Amen.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. 1 Samuel 16:13
On the day of His ascension to heaven, Jesus prepared His disciples for the task that was before them. He explained the Old Testament Scriptures to them (Luke 24:45), He outlined their mission (Luke 24:47), and He told them they would receive “power from on high” (Luke 24:49) from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). Thus, He revealed the two dynamics that would equip all who would follow Him: Word and Spirit.
The equipping of believers by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit became the hallmarks of Christian discipleship. By the Spirit, we are given gifts, abilities, and traits to manifest the ministry of Christ in the world (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Galatians 5). And by the Word of God we are taught, challenged, corrected, and trained so we “may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Do you want to be useful to God in ministry? Yield to the Spirit of God and live in the Word of God, and you will be thoroughly equipped.
Every man who is divinely called to the ministry is divinely equipped. A. W. Pink
It isn’t that unusual anymore to hear about another rock star who overdosed or another Hollywood celebrity who has checked into a drug rehab unit—or, tragically, has committed suicide.
It’s hard for us to understand how people living in a Tinseltown world could be miserable. But they have the same problems we have. The difference is they have a lot of the things that we dream of, yet they see the emptiness and futility of it all.
Solomon saw this as well. He wrote, “Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new” (Ecclesiastes 1:8–9 NLT).
It’s the conclusion that everyone will come to eventually. Of course, we can discover it the hard way, or we can discover it the easy way. We can take God’s word for it, or we can foolishly chase after all the things that, in the end, will leave us empty.
And some people who go down that road will lose their lives in the process.
You don’t have to find out the hard way. You can come to God, and He will fill the void in your life. We all were born with an emptiness inside. No earthly relationship will fill it. No amount of sex or possessions will fill it. Nor will knowledge or morality or even good, clean living.
We were designed to know God. And until you come into a relationship with Him, you will keep coming up empty, time and again, just as Solomon did.
When you turn to God in faith and let Him forgive your sins, He will fill the void in your life—a void that only He can fill.
There were two frustrating aspects of megachurch pastor Andy Stanley’s recent advocacy of theistic evolution.
The first, as already documented on these pages, was that Stanley’s position is at odds with the biblical story of creation, which he, as a pastor, is charged to defend. While the Northpoint Church Community head tried his hardest to synchronize Genesis with Darwin, the plain reading of Scripture doesn’t allow such a harmonization to take place.
The second frustrating aspect, which will be the focus of this article, is that those who preemptively disavow the creation account so as not to be seen in conflict with “the science,” are, ironically, not keeping up with the “the science” themselves as it pertains to evolutionary claims.
Far from discrediting theism, the latest scientific literature continues to drive a stake through the heart of Darwin’s original hypothesis.
This new evidence comes by way of an international journal called Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, which is a peer-reviewed publication established in 1950. It seeks to offer “informative and critical reviews of recent advances in different aspects of biophysics and molecular biology.”
We’re not talking about Internet randos posting on Wikipedia.
The journal published a paper not too long ago with this title: “Neo-Darwinism Must Mutate to Survive.” It was penned by one scholar at the University of Missouri-Columbia and another at the University of Texas at Arlington.
The authors waste no time in getting to their main idea:
“Darwinian evolution is a 19th century descriptive concept that itself has evolved. Selection by survival of the fittest was a captivating idea. Microevolution was biologically and empirically verified by discovery of mutations.
“There has been limited progress to the modern synthesis. The central focus of this perspective is to provide evidence to document that selection based on survival of the fittest is insufficient for other than microevolution.”
As a reminder, “microevolution” concerns the variation that exists within a particular species. It could be the result of environmental factors, like impacts on a local climate, or it could be man-made, as is the case with animal breeding.
The point is that this variation takes place within a specific group. Microevolution does not account for an entirely new species. Fish classifications are numerous, for instance, but they remain fish; they don’t mutate into frogs, crocodiles, or birds.
With that background, why do Olen Brown, who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology, and David Hullender, who is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, assert that “selection based on survival of the fittest is insufficient for other than microevolution?”
In short, it’s mathematically preposterous to infer macroevolutionary developments from microevolutionary observations.
They write that macroevolution has “shown to be probabilistically highly implausible (on the order of 10-50) when based on selection by survival of the fittest.”
Now, if you’re like me and still have no idea how you passed your high school precalculus class, you see a number like 10-50 and your brain shuts off in protest. Yet unlike my high school days, there are currently online tutorials that put the concept of negative exponents in layman’s terms.
You can see for yourself how many zeroes are to the right of the decimal point when calculating ten to the power of negative 50 as a possible outcome; basically, it’s a prospect that we non-mathematicians would call a … ridiculously absurd likelihood.
Brown and Hullender are distinguished university employees, so their conclusion is more academic sounding. But if you read the following paragraph carefully, you certainly get that ridiculously absurd likelihood vibe:
“Any overall mechanistic explanation of the origin and evolution of life ultimately must satisfy two challenges: the transition from non-life to life, and the blossoming of life forms that is so extreme as to appear outrageous.
“Evolution of a few flowers on a hillside is reasonably explained by mutation and selection; it stretches logic to explain the millions of extremely diverse species seen currently and in the fossil record.”
The duo note that such “probability assessment has largely been overlooked” for the simple fact that “evolution is generally accepted as scientifically established.”
The consensus attitude is, “It happened, we are here, so the probability is one.”
Expressed differently, today’s scientific community has assumed Darwinian evolution to be true because they are philosophically hostile to a theistic alternative.
Outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins, for example, are so intent on making sense of “intelligent design” apart from God that they have been reduced to spit-balling guesses about space aliens or multiverse phenomena as potential answers to our fundamental questions about life’s origin.
This atheistic pre-commitment is less about science and more about absolving themselves (in their minds, at least) of accountability to a Holy God who requires our obedience.
Mathematical implausibility aside, proponents of Darwinian evolution are running up against another obstacle.
Charles Darwin’s theory, remember, is built on a model of transitionary phases, wherein lower lifeforms evolve into higher, more advanced ones through the method of natural selection and survival of the fittest. This process, we’re told, has taken place through incremental intervals spanning millions of years, eventually producing the most superior organism to date: humans.
This theory, it turns out, makes a big assumption: That these transitionary phases improve an organism’s chance of survival.
This assumption, however, is unwarranted, as Brown and Hullender maintain:
“[S]urvival of the fittest is illogical when proposed as adequate for selecting the origination of all complex, major, new body-types and metabolic functions because the multiple changes in multiple genomes that are required have intermediate stages without advantage; selection would not reasonably occur, and disadvantage or death would logically prevail.”
To paraphrase: What advantage does a half-evolved eye offer for survival? Or how about a three-quarters evolved lung? Or a two-thirds evolved genitalia? How do mammals even reproduce without fully functioning sex organs?
This is what Brown and Hullender are getting at when they assert that “survival of the fittest,” contrary to popular acceptance, is a death warrant to its recipient because the “evolved” organism is left physically vulnerable during these “intermediate stages.”
It’s as if creatures were first created in a mature, completed state.
The authors of “Neo-Darwinism Must Mutate to Survive” follow up with this bold statement:
“It is our perspective that the burden is too great for survival of the fittest to select evolutionary changes that accomplish all evolutionary novelty. Thus, evolution lacks a sufficient mechanism for multifactorial selections because a process that looks forward, is nonrandom, deterministic, or occurs by an unknown biological process, is required.”
Those words “nonrandom” and “deterministic” are important.
In context, they mean that our vastly fine-tuned universe cannot be explained rationally by a materialistic worldview that is premised on random, “non-purposeful” acts.
In Romans 1:20 the Apostle Paul states that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made,” leaving us all “without excuse.”
Looks like modern-day science is reluctantly catching up.
