Category Archives: Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Back Door    

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No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.—1 Corinthians 10:13

There is always a way out. There is always a back door. (Sometimes it may even be the front door or perhaps a window.) You may think you’re trapped and that there is no way out of Satan’s web. But there always is! The enemy may harass you, but he can never exceed what God, in His grace and wisdom, allows.

On one occasion Satan came asking for permission to assault Simon Peter. Jesus turned to the fisherman and said, essentially, “Simon, Simon, Satan has been asking for you by name that you would be taken out of the care and protection of God.”

It’s interesting that Satan asked specifically for Peter. Has he ever asked for me by name? I doubt it. I don’t know that I have ever been tempted by the Devil himself.

Let me explain. I have certainly been hit with temptations orchestrated by the Devil, but Satan only can be in one place at one time. Sometimes we think of him as roughly God’s equal, only on the dark side. We know that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere-present, and we may imagine Satan to have similar attributes. He doesn’t. The Devil is not God’s equal. The Devil is a powerful spirit being, but he has limitations. He can’t be all over the world, tempting and harassing everyone at the same time. That is why he employs his vast army of demons. So even though Satan himself may have never tried to tempt me and drag me down, he’s had lots of help over the years.

In the case of Peter, however, the Devil didn’t want to trust an attack to one of his underlings. He came knocking himself. Peter was a big fish and a direct threat to Satan’s kingdom.

Immediately aware of Satan’s designs, Jesus warned Peter, assuring him, “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith should not fail” (see Luke 22: 32).

Jesus prays for you, too. He is your Advocate and speaks in your defense when the Evil One tries to slander you before the Father.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

 

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Greg Laurie – The Truth About Happiness    

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Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! —Habakkuk 3:17–18

Today’s Scripture from the book of Habakkuk is a magnificent description of a heart that holds on to joy by faith. The prophet looked around him and knew he was in a season of deep trouble and need. But in spite of all the negative circumstances, he said, “I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in my God.”

Solomon said, “For the happy heart, life is a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15, NLT). The psalmist wrote that in the presence of God there is fullness of joy and at His right hand pleasures forevermore (see Psalm 16:11). Jesus said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10, NLT). God wants us to experience joy as believers—not a fickle happiness that depends on circumstances or changes with the wind direction, but a joy that remains in spite of what may be taking place around you.

Anyone can be relatively happy when things are going well. But when you face adversity or sickness or hardship and then rejoice, you show that something supernatural has occurred in your life. In fact, you show yourself to be a real Christian. This is a unique trait of believers—that we can rejoice when things go wrong.

How do we do it? We find the key in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Paul didn’t say to rejoice in circumstances. Rather, he said to rejoice in the Lord. In other words, God is still on the throne. You’re still going to heaven. You’re still forgiven. God still has a plan for your life; He has not abandoned you. We need to take joy in the Lord always. That is the key. I recognize that in spite of what I may be going through right now, His plans for me are still good. And He will never leave or forsake me.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – God Is Good . . . Period      

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No one is good–except God alone. —Luke 18:19

Why does God allow tragedy? Why does He allow babies to be born with disabilities? Why does He permit wars to rage? If God can prevent such hardships and heartaches, why doesn’t He?

Here is the classic statement of the problem: Either God is all-powerful but He is not all good, therefore He doesn’t stop evil. Or, He is all good but He is not all-powerful, therefore He can’t stop evil. And the general tendency is to blame all of the problems of the world on God, to say that God is the one who is somehow responsible.

“If God is so good and loving,” people will say, “why does He allow evil?” By even stating it in that way, however, what they’re really saying is they don’t believe God to be good and loving.

By questioning God’s goodness and love, we are in essence saying that we know more about it than He does. The fact is, God doesn’t become good because that is our opinion of Him or because we happen to personally agree with His actions or His words. Nor does He become good because we vote on it and all agree that is the case.

God is good because God says He is good. And it is not up for a vote.

You see, God is good whether I believe it or not, and He alone is the final court of arbitration. As the apostle Paul said, “Let God be true, and every human being a liar” (Romans 3:4, NIV).

What, then, is “good”? Good is whatever God approves. And by the same token, bad is exactly what God says is bad. Some might say, “That’s circular reasoning,” but I would describe it as biblical reasoning. The Word of God is our source of truth, defining right and wrong and what our values ought to be.

In Isaiah 1:18 we read, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord.” God is saying, “Here’s the way I see things. You need to see it the way I see it.” And He goes on to tell us that His thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways are above our ways.

He is good. If you don’t start there, you’ll never get anywhere.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – A Calm Heart in the Storm   

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The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. —2 Timothy 4:18

Paul could have a calm heart in the middle of the mother of all storms because he knew he was in the center of God’s will for his life. He was on business for God.

In his prison cell back in Caesarea, Jesus Himself had stood by Paul and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11). Then, in the middle of the storm out at sea, an angel stood by Paul with this message from God: “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar” (Acts 27:24).

Bear witness at Rome . . . brought before Caesar . . .

Paul knew that God would get him to where he was supposed to be—at the right time, in the right place, and with whatever he needed to complete the job at hand. With these things in mind, Paul could even relax in the middle of a hurricane . . . just before a shipwreck. He knew he had heaven’s business to transact in Rome, and he knew that God would get him through any difficulty along the way. He was walking in God’s plan, and he could rest in the fact that it was God’s responsibility to get him through—rough seas or not!

The same is true of our service to the King. No, we aren’t assured of smooth sailing, and we’re not promised immunity from shipwrecks (or viper bites!) along the way. But we are definitely assured of a safe arrival. Know this: As long as God has work for us to do here on earth, we will be here to do it. God will preserve us to do it. And when that work is done, it is done, and He’ll bring us home to heaven—not a moment too soon and not a moment too late.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Thorn in the Flesh

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To keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.—2 Corinthians 12:7
Paul’s thorn in the flesh that he mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12 could have been some kind of disability, something he’d been born with. More likely, it was something he incurred later in life as a result of his many beatings, shipwrecks, or the time he was stoned and left for dead.
Whatever it was, it bothered him greatly—to the point that he asked the Lord on three separate occasions to take it away. Each time, however, the Lord said no, telling Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (verse 9). Effectively Jesus was saying, “Paul, I’m not giving you healing this time. I’m giving you Me. I’m giving you My presence, and that is My answer to you.”
Sometimes when we have physical afflictions, the healing will come. By all means pray for it, and pray more than once. Ask the Lord to touch you, heal you, restore you. But there are times in our lives too when He will say, “My grace is sufficient.” And instead of a healing, He personally will be there for you in a unique and sufficient way.
God is with you regardless of what hardship, heartache, or storm you may be enduring right now. You are not alone.
I remember teaching my granddaughter Stella some Bible verses when she was only twoand-a-half. One was: “Jesus said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ ” Stella did pretty good with it, even though she said “porsake” instead of “forsake.” I don’t think she even understands what it means yet. But that’s okay; she is hearing God’s Word and getting it into her little heart.
What a truth to hang on to! What a handhold in any storm! He will never leave or forsake you . . . even when tragedy hits . . . even when your company downsizes, and you get the dreaded pink slip . . . even when the doctor calls and says, “The test results are back, and I need you to come to my office immediately” . . . even when the phone rings and someone says, “There’s been an accident.”
You aren’t alone. The Lord is standing next to you. He cares. He will be there.
Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – What It Means to Prosper

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I know that as you pray for me, and as the Holy Spirit helps me, this is all going to turn out for my good.—Philippians 1:19
Sometimes I think that today’s “prosperity preachers” have hijacked a legitimate biblical term. After all, God does want His sons and daughters to prosper. But what does that really mean? That you’ll never get sick? Never have problems? Never run out of money? Never have strains in your relationships? No, that is not what the Bible means by “prosperity.”
Five years before making his journey to Rome, Paul wrote to the believers there and said in Romans 1:10, “Making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.” In other words, “Hey, would you guys pray for me? I’m coming your way. And pray that the Lord gives me a prosperous journey by the will of God.”
Did God answer his prayer? Yes. He did make it to Rome and had an amazing ministry there of preaching, teaching, discipleship, and writing. He just hadn’t understood that getting to Rome would mean false accusations, arrest, incarceration, and chains. He couldn’t have foreseen that it would involve hurricane-force winds at sea, shipwreck on an island, and the bite of a poisonous viper on the way.
The reality is that you can live a prosperous life in the will of God and still face fierce personal conflict and adversity. Paul went through a shipwreck on his way to Rome, but he had a prosperous journey by the will of God because of what it ultimately accomplished.
Facing storms and shipwrecks in our lives really isn’t a matter of if; it is a matter of when. So it’s time for us to get our sea legs under us. Rather than trying to avoid the storms of life, we need to learn how to get through them, how to survive them, and how to learn the lessons that we can only learn in such times and such places.
It has been said that you can’t direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails. In other words, I can’t control all the elements of my world—or even very many of them at all. But I can control my reaction to them. I can adjust my sails—and adapt.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Break the Glass!

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You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.—Psalm 56:8
When you’re hurting and no one else seems to understand, God understands. You can bring a burden before the Lord that may seem insignificant to someone else. Whatever weighs on your heart is a concern to Him, and He wants you to talk to Him about it. As it says in the J. B. Phillips version of 1 Peter 5:7, “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.”
David understood this when he wrote, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book,” (Psalm 56:8, NLT). That is a wonderful insight into the personal compassion that God has for each and every one of us.
We are prone to only pray about the “big things.” We tend to think of prayer as a last resort, like the fire alarms that say, “In case of emergency, break this glass.” If it’s a little fire, so to speak, we think, I can handle this, and we’ll put the fire out. But if half the building is burning, then we go ahead and break the glass.
What is God telling us?
Break the glass.
No matter what it may be, run to Him in prayer. Don’t wait for a small thing to become a big thing. Your heavenly Father is interested in every detail of your life. Don’t reduce the infinite to the finite by placing a limit on God, because He says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).
Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything” (NLT). Note the word everything. It doesn’t say, “Pray about some things.” Nor does it say, “Pray about really big things.” I checked the original language, and guess what? It says “everything” in Greek and “everything” in English. And that is just what God intended. Pray about everything.

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Greg Laurie – Shipwrecks   

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Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. —2 Corinthians 11:25

Writing to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul said, in effect, “Trust me. I’ve been through it. I know more than I ever wanted to know about shipwrecks.”

I have never been literally shipwrecked, but I have been through some pretty rough seas. I remember being on one of those Bible study cruises years ago with a group of people from our church. We were trying to have an evening service as the ship bounced and rocked on the choppy waves. People were getting sick and lurching out of the room. Let’s just say the pastor gave an early benediction and ended the service before it ever really got started. But that wasn’t a shipwreck; it was only rough seas.

We’ve all had our share of rough seas, haven’t we? I’ve had my share of hardships in life. More than many? Perhaps. But not as many as some. I remember thinking not that long ago that maybe the days of big shipwrecks in my life were over. Oh, I know there always will be some difficulties, challenges, and trials in the Christian life. But I’d found myself hoping that I might somehow escape any big, traumatic events through my remaining years. You know . . . relatively smooth sailing the rest of the way to heaven. But of course, that was not to be with the unexpected death of our oldest son Christopher in July of 2008.

Anyone who has ever done any sailing can tell you how rapidly the weather can change—how quickly you can find yourself facing stiff winds and rising seas. The fact is, we can’t know what’s ahead of us in life. We can’t see the storms that may be churning just over the horizon. But God can!

And what was true for the psalmist in a time of uncertainty and great storms is true for you and me as well: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake. . . . The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:1-3, 7, NIV).

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – The Positive Side of Adversity

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My troubles turned out all for the best–they forced me to learn from your textbook. Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine. —Psalm 119:71–72

Here’s the problem in a nutshell: our definition of good is what benefits us in the here and now, not in our eternal life to come. In other words, we are interested in what will benefit us temporarily, but God is interested in what will benefit us eternally. We are interested in what will make us happy for a while, but God is far more interested in what will make us holy.

So here is the key. Jesus loves us, and He wants to be glorified through our lives. In view of that reality, He won’t always remove suffering because it can make us stronger and bring us closer to Him. Even though we would never choose it, suffering can give us a greater platform for glorifying God and pointing others toward Him.

Adversity levels us and keeps us humble. Success or prosperity has a tendency to make people proud and self-sufficient. We may not feel an overwhelming need for God when we have our salary, our investments, our career, our 401k, our homes, our health, and our family. But when the economy goes south or the stock market crashes or our home burns, we have the opportunity to turn back to God with all our hearts, being reminded of what really matters in life.

The truth is, you and I shouldn’t always be so afraid of pain. There’s something worse than pain: it is a prosperity that leads us to forget about God.

Adversity teaches us eternal truths we might not otherwise learn. For most of us, our basic objective in life is to avoid pain at all costs. Bottom line, we just want to dodge pain whenever we can. We want to get into better shape and look cool in our new gym outfit, but we don’t want to sweat and strain.

No pain, no gain? Alas, it’s true. And what is true of the gym or health club is also true of life. Our pain reminds us of a deeper need: the need for God in our lives. And God will teach us lessons in those valleys that we never would have learned on mountaintops.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Two Homes, Two Foundations

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We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. —Acts 14:22

We don’t always like to read a verse like that. We would rather the passage read, “Through many days of perpetual happiness we enter the kingdom of God.” But that isn’t Scripture, and that isn’t life. Trials and tribulations will come. Job said it well: “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1, NIV).

Jesus once told a story about two men who built two homes. They may have been built at the same time, close together, and even with the same floor plan. One of the builders, however, erected his home on shifting sand, while the other built on a stable rock foundation.

Then the storms came, hitting both of those houses—hard! The house that had been built on sand collapsed and fell in upon itself, while the one built on the rock stood firm. The obvious moral of the story is to build your life on a foundation that will last, like the one we find in the pages of God’s Word.

But here’s an application we sometimes miss: The storm came to both lives. The wind beat on both houses. The rain poured on both building sites. The man who was wise and carefully chose a stable foundation got hit with the same hurricane-force winds as the man who foolishly took shortcuts and didn’t bother to plan ahead.

We all will experience storms in life. Good things will happen to us as well as tragic and inexplicable things. Every life will have its share of pain. Even so, we have a God who, despite the worst tragedy, can bring good out of bad. That is not to say that God will make bad good because bad is bad. But it is to say that good can come out of bad. As Romans 8:28 affirms, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV).

Life is a process, and as finite beings who live moment to moment, we can’t see around the bend. We can’t discern God’s ultimate purposes. But we can know that the ultimate result will be good . . . because He is good.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – “So That We Can Comfort Others”

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Experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. —2 Corinthians 1:5

If someone just found out they have cancer and you are a cancer survivor, you have no idea how much encouragement and perspective you can bring to such a person, who feels as though he or she has been handed a death sentence.

If you have alcoholism in your past, and God has graciously delivered you from that plague and kept you from falling back into it again, your life can bring great hope to someone still in the grip of the addiction.

Or maybe a couple you know lost a child through illness or some terrible accident, and they are walking on the ragged edge of sanity, feeling like they can’t go on another minute, much less another day. If you have lost a child in the past and God has brought you healing, you can come along and say, “We lost a child, too, and it was the hardest thing that ever happened to us. Though we still mourn that child, and though we’re still dealing with it and miss him every single day, we want you to know that God can help you each step of the way. His grace really will be sufficient for you.”

You have no idea how much comfort that can bring. And it would be something that only you could say. No one else could say those words with the same kind of credibility.

The apostle Paul, who had his own serious issues with suffering, as I have said, wrote, “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5, NLT).

God will give you that comfort—over and beyond what you can personally contain—so that you can share it with others.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – The Clock Is Ticking   

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A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. —Luke 12:21

A watchmaker who built grandfather clocks inscribed these words on every clock he built: “Lo, here I stand by thee upright to give thee warning day and night, for every tick that I do click cuts short the time thou hast to live.”

Jesus told the story of a rich farmer who enjoyed great success. Reflecting on his accomplishments, he said, “I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, ‘My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’ ” (Luke 12:18-19, NLT). But God told him, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?” (verse 20, NLT).

We can find some commendable things about this rich man. He was a hardworking farmer. He probably would have had to work longer and get up earlier and expend more energy than the other farmers of his day to achieve such success. But his mistake wasn’t in being successful in his work. His mistake wasn’t even in acquiring possessions. His mistake was failing to make plans for eternity. He was living large. But he forgot that the clock was ticking, that life was passing by.

And this man who died, leaving all his possessions behind, is like many people today. They just want to enjoy the moment. “Take it easy!” they say. “Eat, drink, and be merry!” Yet God says that is not the way to live.

In Psalm 10, the psalmist describes an arrogant, wicked man. One of the most striking things he says about this man is in verse 4: “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (NIV).

That says it so well, doesn’t it? There was no room for God, no room for the Creator, Lord, and Savior in all this man’s many thoughts about this and that.

Our lives on this earth may be very brief, but when we fill our thoughts with the eternal God and His purposes, we prepare ourselves for an endless life in His presence.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – You Belong to Him

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Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me. —Acts 27:23

Paul spoke of “the God to whom I belong.” In Song of Solomon we read, “My beloved is mine, and I am His” (2:16). As a Christian, you belong to the Lord. You are His.

There are a number of analogies the Lord uses to show how we belong to God. For instance, we are called “the bride of Christ.”

My bride is Cathe. I call her my wife, and she calls me her husband. She belongs to me, and I belong to her. That is just the way it works. We belong to each other.

.The Bible also compares us to sheep that belong to a shepherd. In John chapter 10, Jesus affirmed that He is the Good Shepherd and that we are His sheep. Sometimes we romanticize these wooly little animals, sheep. They look so charming out there in the green grass, under the watchful eye of the shepherd. But we should also bear in mind that they are some of the stupidest animals on the face of the earth. It should not inflate you with pride to hear that you are compared to dumb, defenseless sheep.

We are also compared to children belonging to a father. Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ ” Abba was an affectionate cry of a Hebrew child. Even if you go to Israel today, you will hear little children crying out, “Abba” to their fathers. We might say, “Daddy” or “Papa.” It’s a close, affectionate, endearing term. And we have that kind of access and closeness with our Father God.

I belong to God. I’ve been bought and paid for, and I am His.

I heard the story of an older gentleman who was known for his godly life. Someone once asked him, “Old man, what do you do when you get tempted?”

He smiled and replied, “Well, I just look up to heaven and say, ‘Lord, your property is in danger.’ ”

You are God’s bride. You are His sheep. You are His child. You are His property. And like Paul, you, too, can say, “I belong to God.”

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Beauty for Ashes   

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To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. —Isaiah 61:3

I have been amazed at the testimonies of some people when they tell me the way they used to be. I’ve looked at them and thought, There is no way they used to be that way. Jesus Christ has so radically changed them.

Isaiah 61:3-4 promises that God “will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago” (NLT).

For the person who has made a mess of his or her life—a pile of ashes, so to speak—God says, “I will bring beauty.” For those who mourn because of the wrongs they have done and the sins they have committed, God says, “I will bring joy out of it.”

Only God can take a tangled mess of a life, turn it around, and transform it in such a way that you wouldn’t even know that individual used to be a very different person. Not only that, but such a transformation gives hope to others who may still despair over the condition of their lives.

If you come to Christ and say, “Lord, here I am. Forgive me of my sin,” He can transform you and change you. He can take your mistakes and your sins, turn them around, and even use them for His glory. When you commit your life to Christ, putting the broken, stained, twisted pieces into His hand, He will transform it into a thing of beauty.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Watching from the Grandstands    

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Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us. —Hebrews 12:1–2

Are friends and loved ones in heaven watching us right now and cheering us on? What “huge crowd” is this? What is this “great cloud of witnesses,” as it says in the King James Bible?

One big hint is the fact that Hebrews 12 comes right after Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 is a record of the great men and women of faith who died serving God. We sometimes refer to it as the Hall of Faith. You read about Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Samson, David, Rahab, Daniel, and the list goes on.

So who are the witnesses in Hebrews 12:1? One interpretation says they are simply people of faith who have gone before us, giving us a model to follow so that we might live and exercise our faith as they did. Reading about the lives of these men and women who have walked with God and trusted Christ and stood strong in the face of trials and persecutions can add steel to our souls.

Another way to look at it is that these men and women aren’t simply giving us a template to follow, but are actually observing us and taking note of our progress in the faith. They are the “cloud of witnesses” watching us and cheering us on, if you will.

Is that the case? Are there heavenly grandstands where people monitor the progress of loved ones living out their lives on earth? It wouldn’t surprise me at all, but I don’t know. But I do know this much: We are in the race of our lives on earth, and we don’t how long it will last. And I know for certain that Jesus is watching us, turn for turn, step for step.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – The Power of Prayer       

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He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” —Genesis 32:26

Never underestimate the power of prayer. When you are praying according to God’s will, your prayer is unstoppable. And how do we know what God’s will is? By careful study of Scripture.

Jesus made this promise: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

We gravitate immediately toward the latter part of that verse: Ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. We love that, as though God were some sort of genie. But that isn’t the case. We tend to forget about the first part of this verse: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . . If we are walking in fellowship with God and studying the Word of God, then we will start praying according to the will of God. And then we will start seeing our prayers answered.

First John 5:14-15 says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

Therefore, we should never give up or back down. We need to keep praying. That is why Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). In the original language there is an ascending intensity to the terms. It is like starting off with some politeness. Then you get more aggressive. And then you aren’t letting go, like Jacob, who wrestled with the Lord and refused to let go until He blessed him.

Don’t give up.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Created to Know Him

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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. —Ecclesiastes 12:13

If you are seeking fulfillment, purpose, or meaning from this world and from human accomplishments, I have some bad news: you will never find it. There is nothing in the world that will fill the deepest void in your life—not the ultimate car, not the greatest job, not the most beautiful girl or the most handsome guy, not the greatest education, not winning it all on American Idol. There is nothing that can even come close.

King Solomon, one of the wealthiest men who ever lived, had everything he wanted. Yet he went on a binge, trying to satisfy his appetites with the wrong things. He went after passion. He went after possessions. He went after things of beauty and buildings and land. He drank, and he partied. After all of that, here was his conclusion: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11, NLT).

Have you ever been ravenously hungry and tried to satisfy your appetite with snacking? It just doesn’t work. You want a real meal. In the same way, we were created with a God-shaped hole in our lives. We have been created to love God, to know God, and to bear fruit. Everything else is secondary.

Think about it: everything else in life, every other responsibility, no matter how significant, must be ordered behind the central purpose of your existence on earth—knowing, loving, and serving your Creator. Yes, God cares about your career, your marriage, your family, and your ministry. But knowing Him, prioritizing Him, is number one. And when you do, the Bible says you never will be a loser for it.

Jesus said it like this: “Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:32-33, NLT).

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Promise of a New Body        

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In the same way, our earthly bodies which die and decay are different from the bodies we shall have when we come back to life again, for they will never die. The bodies we have now embarrass us, for they become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when we come back to life again. Yes, they are weak, dying bodies now, but when we live again they will be full of strength. They are just human bodies at death, but when they come back to life they will be superhuman bodies. —1 Corinthians 15:42–44

You will have a new body in heaven.

If you were disabled on earth, you won’t be disabled in heaven. If your body on earth was broken by the ravages of age or disease, that won’t be the case in your heavenly Father’s house.

The Bible says that our resurrection bodies will resemble the resurrection body of Christ. Think of it! In 1 John 3:2 we read, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

What were the differences between the resurrection body of Jesus and the body that was put to death on the cross? When Jesus walked among us on this earth, He voluntarily exposed Himself to the limitations of humanity. Just like everyone else, He got sleepy, thirsty, tired, and hungry. In His resurrected body there were similarities to the old body but major differences too.

His disciples recognized Him, and yet . . . something in them wondered, Is it really You, Lord?

But then again, He could do things He never did in His old body. He would suddenly appear in a room without using a door. And we also know that Jesus ascended through the air, higher and higher, until He disappeared from sight into the clouds. Will we be able to move around like that in our new bodies?

No one can say for sure, but we can know this. The Bible says that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – “Fullness of Joy”  

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I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. —1 Corinthians 13:12

People sometimes ask, “What will we know in heaven? Will we recognize each other?” That question always amazes me. As if we’re going to forget everything—or be walking around in a fuzzy cloud of semi-awareness! We still will love, but our love will be perfected. We still will think and remember, but our thoughts will be perfected too. We certainly will know each other in heaven—and infinitely better than we knew each other on earth.

How do I know that? In Matthew 17 we read the account of Jesus on the mountaintop with Peter, James, and John. In those moments when He was transfigured before them, with His face shining like the sun and His clothes white as the light, He was seen talking to both Moses and Elijah.

From the account, it’s obvious that the disciples knew it was Moses and Elijah, though they were never told that fact or introduced to them. I doubt these two visitors from heaven had little name tags on: “Hi. My name is Moses.” Do you think Moses was standing with two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments under his arm, just to give them a little hint? No, but there was something about these two that made them instantly recognizable.

The disciples knew Moses and Elijah. And when we have been changed and encounter one another on the other side, we will know too. But I’d like to add just one thing. If you ever want to look me up in heaven, don’t look for a bald guy. Look for a guy with lots and lots of hair.

Think of the purest, highest, most ecstatic joy on earth, multiply it a thousand times, and you’ll get a fleeting glimpse of heaven’s euphoria. That is why David wrote, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

We will be aware in heaven—more aware than we’ve ever been before.

You will know more there. You will love more there. Your love for family and friends will be a stronger, sweeter, purer love. Death breaks ties on earth, but they will be renewed in heaven. Heaven is a perfecting of the highest moments of our present Christian experience.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Beyond These Shadowlands     

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These priests provide only a hint of what goes on in the true sanctuary of heaven, which Moses caught a glimpse of as he was about to set up the tent-shrine. It was then that God said, “Be careful to do it exactly as you saw it on the Mountain.” —Hebrews 8:5

So often we tend to think of heaven as surreal and earth as real. In other words, our point of reference is earth. This is earth. This is real. And heaven? Well, who knows?

In truth, it’s the opposite! Heaven is what is real, earth is what is temporary. That is why C. S. Lewis described life on earth as “the shadowlands.” Earth is only a pale version of heaven, not the other way around.

God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle like the one in heaven. And in Hebrews 8:5, we read that the priests in New Testament days served in a place of worship that was only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. In fact, as Moses prepared to build the tabernacle, God gave him this warning. He said, “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain” (Hebrews 8:5, NLT).

God wanted to make it clear to Moses that the original was in heaven and the copy was on the earth. To quote C. S. Lewis again, “The hills and valleys of Heaven will be to those you now experience not as a copy is to an original, nor as the substitute is to the genuine article, but as the flower to the root, or the diamond to the coal.”

As earthbound human beings, we tend to start with earth and reason up toward heaven. What we ought to do is start with heaven and reason down toward earth. Heaven is the real deal, the eternal dwelling place. Earth is the copy, the temporary dwelling place.

When you see that sunset or that panoramic view of God’s finest expressed in nature, and the beauty just takes your breath away, remember it is just a glimpse of the real thing that awaits you in heaven.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013