James 1:1-4

When people confide to me that they are praying for patience, I often ask what else they’re doing to acquire a calm and gentle heart. Patience isn’t so much something believers receive as it is an attribute that they develop over time and through experience.

Think of patience as a muscle that you have to use in order to see it build. To that end, believers should recognize difficulty as an opportunity to flex their patience. The human instinct is to cry out to God in bewilderment when tribu-lation comes knocking. We blame. We resist. We complain. What we don’t do is say, “Thank You, Father–it’s time to grow in patience!” People aren’t trained to think that way, but according to the Bible, that is exactly how Christians are to respond.

James tells us to consider trials a joy (1:2). But we often fail at this, don’t we? Humanly speaking, praising the Lord for tribulation is unnatural. However, doing so begins to make sense to believers when they cling to God’s promise that good comes from hardship (Rom. 8:28). We are not waiting on the Lord in vain. We can praise Him for the solution He will bring, the lives He will change, or the spiritual fruit He will develop in us.

Accepting hardship as a means of growth is a radical concept in this world. Even more extreme is the believer who praises the Lord for the storm. But God’s followers have cause to rejoice. Tribulation increases our patience so that we can stand firm on His promises and await His good timing.

“Faith is believing what you want to believe, yet cannot prove.”

Sadly, many people, including some Christians, live with this definition of faith. For some it feels liberating. It means being able to believe in anything you want to believe. No explanation is required, indeed, no explanation can be given; it is just a matter of faith. For others, such a definition is sickening. Embracing faith means you stop thinking. As faith increases, reason and meaning eventually disappear. No explanations can be given, and none can be expected. Thus, living in faith is living in the dark.

For both groups, the problem is the same. By starting with the wrong definition of faith, they have asked the wrong question, are dealing with the wrong problem, and so have ended up with the wrong answer. Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not about believing in things that do not exist. It neither makes all things believable nor meaning impossible.

So what is the right definition of faith? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” writes the author of Hebrews. A few verses later faith is similarly defined as knowing that God exists and that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Perhaps the best word we can use to translate the Greek word “pistis” (usually translated faith) is the word “trust” or “trustworthy.” Suppose you tell a friend that you have faith in her. What does that mean? It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists. And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character.

It is in this way that the writer of Hebrews talks about faith in God. Faith is knowing that God is real and that you can trust in God’s promises. You cannot trust someone who isn’t there, nor can you rely on someone whose promises are not reliable. This is why faith is talked about as the substance of things hoped for and as the evidence of things not seen. Both words carry with them a sense of reality. Our hope is not wishful thinking. Faith does not make God real. On the contrary, faith is the response to a real God who wants to be known to us:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you, though you do not know me,
so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:5-6).

Ever since the church began, the refrain has always been the same: Come, believe, follow the light of the world. It has never appealed for people to leap into the dark; no such invitation is found anywhere in Scripture. Instead, we are called to step into the light. The Christian gospel is not a message that revels in ignorance. It is the revelation of God in the person of Christ, so that we might know there is no other. The Christian is called to see things as they really are, and not as she would simply like them to be. We trust in a God who has been revealed to us in the Son and the Spirit. We believe because God is real.

The Christian gospel invites you to delve into reality. It commands you to be honest in your commitment to know that which is true. Is Jesus real? Who did he claim to be? Is he really alive today? Faith comes in response to knowing the answers to these questions, even as Christ is calling you near. But don’t stop after the initial introductions! Just as you are able to put more trust in someone as you grow to know him, so faith increases as you grow in your relationship with Christ. There is a God who is real and true; there is a God who is near and longing to gather you nearer. The great joy of the Christian faith is found in the person who invites us to trust and believe.

Michael Ramsden is European director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in the United Kingdom.

Morning  “God, even our own God.”  Psalm 67:6

It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings which God gives

us, but it is stranger still how little use we make of God himself. Though he is

“our own God,” we apply ourselves but little to him, and ask but little of him.

How seldom do we ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often do we go about

our business, without seeking his guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we

strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of casting them upon the Lord,

that he may sustain us! This is not because we may not, for the Lord seems to

say, “I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst freely

come to my store, and the oftener the more welcome.” It is our

own fault if we make not free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast

such a friend, and he invites thee, draw from him daily. Never want whilst thou

hast a God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to help thee; go

to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest–there is all that thou canst

want. Learn the divine skill of making God all things to thee. He can supply

thee with all, or, better still, he can be to thee instead of all. Let me urge

thee, then, to make use of thy God. Make use of him in prayer. Go to him often,

because he is thy God. O, wilt thou fail to use so great a privilege? Fly to

him, tell him all thy wants. Use him constantly by faith at all

times. If some dark providence has beclouded thee, use thy God as a “sun;” if

some strong enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a “shield,” for he is a sun

and shield to his people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use

him as a “guide,” for he will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and wherever thou

art, remember God is just what thou wantest, and just where thou wantest, and

that he can do all thou wantest.

Evening  “The Lord is King forever and ever.”   Psalm 10:16

Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine right, but he is really and truly

the Lord’s anointed! “It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness

dwell.” God hath given to him all power and all authority. As the Son of man, he

is now head over all things to his church, and he reigns over heaven, and earth,

and hell, with the keys of life and death at his girdle. Certain princes have

delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord

Jesus Christ is such in his church. If it could be put to the vote whether he

should be King in the church, every believing heart would crown him. O that we

could crown him more gloriously than we do! We would count no

expense to be wasted that could glorify Christ. Suffering would be pleasure,

and loss would be gain, if thereby we could surround his brow with brighter

crowns, and make him more glorious in the eyes of men and angels. Yes, he shall

reign. Long live the King! All hail to thee, King Jesus! Go forth, ye virgin

souls who love your Lord, bow at his feet, strew his way with the lilies of your

love, and the roses of your gratitude: “Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown

him Lord of all.” Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right of conquest:

he has taken and carried by storm the hearts of his people, and has slain their

enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the Red Sea of his own

blood, our Redeemer has drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall he not be King

in Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the iron yoke and heavy curse of the law:

shall not the Liberator be crowned? We are his portion, whom he has taken out of

the hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow: who shall snatch his

conquest from his hand? All hail, King Jesus! we gladly own thy gentle sway!

Rule in our hearts forever, thou lovely Prince of Peace.

Blessed is the one who stays awake.   Revelation 16:15

“I die every day,”1 said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians; they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not at this time being called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would give us grace to bear the test. But the tests of Christian life, at the present moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are still more likely to overcome us than even those of the fiery age.

We have to bear the sneer of the world—that is small; its flatteries, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning, its hypocrisy are far worse. Our danger is that we might grow rich and become proud; we might give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world and lose our faith. Or if wealth does not test us, worldly care is quite as mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, we may be hugged to death by the bear.

The devil cares very little which it is, as long as he destroys our love for Christ and our confidence in Him. I am afraid that the Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and easy days than in those rougher times. We must stay awake now, for we are crossing enchanted ground and are most likely to fall asleep to our own ruin, unless our faith in Jesus is a reality and our love for Jesus an ardent flame. Many in these days of easy-believism are likely to prove to be tares, and not wheat; hypocrites with attractive masks on their faces, but not the true-born children of the living God.

Christian, do not think that these are times in which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardor; you need these things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display His omnipotence in you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things as well as in the rougher, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”2

11 Corinthians 15:31 2Romans 8:37

The family reading plan for April 26, 2012

Song 1 | Hebrews 1

Romans 11:33-36

Most of us enjoy feeling in control of our own schedule and grow frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. Yet if we truly desire to walk in the center of God’s perfect will, we must become willing to cooperate with His time frame.

Consider how you pray about situations in your life. Without realizing it, you may be demanding that God follow the schedule you’ve constructed according to your very limited human wisdom. Yet if we believe He is who He says He is, how can surrendering to His way not be to our benefit? Think about His unique, praiseworthy qualities:

• His all-encompassing knowledge. Unlike us, the Lord has complete awareness about our world and the details of every individual life–past, present, and future.
• His complete wisdom. God understands man’s every motive, whereas none of us are able to accurately discern people’s intentions. We make choices based on partial information, whereas He has the wisdom to take action based on truth.
• His unconditional love. Our Creator is always motivated by love and constantly has our best in mind. Unless we trust His heart, our view of reality will be distorted.
• His perfect sufficiency. At just the right time, God will provide us with everything we need to carry out His plan.

Submitting to God’s timetable requires faith and courage. Believe in the goodness of His heart and His plans–and determine to wait until He gives the signal to move forward. Then, as you follow His schedule, you’ll experience the joy of watching Him make all things beautiful in His timing.

Saint John Chrysostom wrote this about the power of prayer:

“Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by the clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings. . . . The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire, it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest; extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt.”(1)

Who can read that and not be tempted to exclaim, “Is that mere rhetoric?” No, not so. Each of the instances referred to by Chrysostom is drawn right out of the Scriptures.

In all of its expressions, whether halting and short or flowing in beautiful, well-structured phrases, prayer is simply a conversation with God. If we turn prayer into a monologue or use it as a way to showcase our gift with words or as a venue for informing or instructing others who may be listening, we defeat the very purpose of prayer. The Bible makes it clear that prayer is intended as the line of connection from the heart of the praying person directly to the heart of God. Jesus himself practiced a lifestyle of prayer and urged his disciples to imitate him by making it part of their daily existence. His prayers represented prayer at its best and most sincere.

I marvel at the impact of praying with a hurting person. I have prayed many times with someone who has claimed to be a skeptic and is living in a manner that supports that claim, only to finish my prayer and open my eyes to see tears in his eyes. Although prayer remains a mystery to all of us but especially to one who lives apart from God, I have observed again and again that even the hardened heart retains a longing for the possibility of communicating with God.

Prayer can accomplish amazing things, reaching into hearts in a way that all the correct answers to questions that are honestly asked sometimes cannot do. Conversely, more certainly than anything else, sustained prayer that seems to bring nothing in response can result in a sense of futility with life and an erosion of faith. Like the myth of Sisyphus, who repeatedly rolled a huge rock up a mountain only to watch it roll down again, unanswered prayer may well be where most of those who have lost their faith began that journey into unbelief.

It is not my intention to deny the great disappointments of unanswered prayer or even to attempt to provide answers to why our prayers are not answered. Rather, I want us to take a good, hard look at what God intends prayer to be.

The most definitive passage on prayer is what is often called the Lord’s Prayer or, as some scholars like to call it, the Disciples’ Prayer. The highly significant first words carry the weight of all of prayer: “Our Father in heaven.” This is a uniquely Christian utterance. In these two words alone—”Our Father”—we recognize, at least implicitly, two truths: the nearness of God as heavenly Father, and the sovereignty of God as the one who controls everything. As soon as you cry out in prayer, “Heavenly Father,” you are recognizing his presence in your life.

And on the heels of the Lord’s Prayer and as his conclusion to it, Jesus tells us that God will give the Holy Spirit, his indwelling presence, to those who ask for it. That is the whole point of the prayer. It is not spoken in the form of a question—it ends with an exclamation point. God will give the gift of the indwelling presence of the holy God to any who ask for it—this is an absolute certainty! You can count on it!

Sadly, we hear so little of this today. We have turned prayer into a means to our ends and seldom wait on God’s response long enough to think about what he wants for us in that very moment. By reducing the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to one particular gift, we have robbed people of the Holy Presence that prompts us in prayer, prays for us when we don’t have the words to pray for ourselves, and comforts us in our times of need.

The paramount need today is the indwelling presence of God.  In this incredible twist, the indwelling presence of God, the Holy Spirit, makes God both the enabler of our prayers and the provider of answers to those prayers. More than anything else, this is what prayer is about—training one’s hungers and longings to correspond with God’s will for us—and it is what the Christian faith is all about. Paul reminds us of this numerous times. Jesus talks of the prompting from within and the provision that comes from without, which is the work of the Holy Spirit within us and the provision of God from without.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. 

Excerpted from Has Christianity Failed You? by RAVI ZACHARIAS.  Copyright © 2010 by Ravi Zacharias.  Used by permission of Zondervan; http://www.zondervan.com

(1) Quoted in Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1959), 156.

Morning    “This do in remembrance of me.”     1 Corinthians 11:24

It seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could be no need for

this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our

memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas!

too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable

fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the

blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son

of God, should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it

is, alas! too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget him who

never forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood forth for our sins! Forget

him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only

possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us,

that we suffer him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we

should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The

cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be

an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your

conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus?

Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom

your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses

your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the

incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which

takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous

weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind

a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever

else we let slip, let us hold fast to him.

Evening    “Blessed is he that watcheth.”     Revelation 16:15

“We die daily,” said the apostle. This was the life of the early Christians;

they went everywhere with their lives in their hands. We are not in this day

called to pass through the same fearful persecutions: if we were, the Lord would

give us grace to bear the test; but the tests of Christian life, at the present

moment, though outwardly not so terrible, are yet more likely to overcome us

than even those of the fiery age. We have to bear the sneer of the world–that

is little; its blandishments, its soft words, its oily speeches, its fawning,

its hypocrisy, are far worse. Our danger is lest we grow rich and become proud,

lest we give ourselves up to the fashions of this present evil world,

and lose our faith. Or if wealth be not the trial, worldly care is quite as

mischievous. If we cannot be torn in pieces by the roaring lion, if we may be

hugged to death by the bear, the devil little cares which it is, so long as he

destroys our love to Christ, and our confidence in him. I fear me that the

Christian church is far more likely to lose her integrity in these soft and

silken days than in those rougher times. We must be awake now, for we traverse

the enchanted ground, and are most likely to fall asleep to our own undoing,

unless our faith in Jesus be a reality, and our love to Jesus a vehement flame.

Many in these days of easy profession are likely to prove tares, and not

wheat; hypocrites with fair masks on their faces, but not the true-born

children of the living God. Christian, do not think that these are times in

which you can dispense with watchfulness or with holy ardour; you need these

things more than ever, and may God the eternal Spirit display his omnipotence in

you, that you may be able to say, in all these softer things, as well as in the

rougher, “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.

Revelation 3:20

What is your desire this evening? Is it focused on heavenly things? Do you long to enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights and depths and lengths and breadths of His love? Then you must draw near to Jesus; you must get a clear sight of Him in His preciousness and completeness: you must view Him in His work—in His role as prophet, friend, and king—and in His person. He who understands Christ, receives an anointing from the Holy One, by which He knows all things. Christ is the great master-key of all the chambers of God: There is no treasure-house of God that will not open and yield up all its wealth to the soul that lives near to Jesus.

Are you saying, “I wish that He would live in my heart and make it His dwelling-place forever”? Open the door, beloved, and He will come into your soul. He has been knocking continually in order that you and He may break bread together. He eats with you because you provide the house or the heart, and you with Him because He brings the meal. He could not eat with you if it were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you eat with Him, for you would have an empty table if He did not bring the food with Him.

Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul. He will come with that love that you long to feel; He will come with that joy into which you cannot work your poor depressed spirit; He will bring the peace that now you do not have; He will come with His flagons of wine and sweet apples of love and will cheer you until you have no other sickness but that of overpowering, divine love. Only open the door to Him, drive out His enemies, give Him the keys of your heart, and He will live there forever. What wondrous love that brings such a guest to dwell in such a heart!

The family reading plan for April 25, 2012

Ecclesiastes 12 | Philemon 1

Luke 22:31-34

The disciple Peter was a man of great faith and bold action. But as readers of the New Testament know, his brash style sometimes led him to make humiliating mistakes. More than once, this disciple had to wear the label of “miserable failure” rather than that of “obedient servant.”

We can all relate when it comes to falling short of expectations. Obedience to God is a learning process, and failure is a part of our development as humble servants. When we yield to temptation or rebel against God’s authority, we realize that sin has few rewards, and even those are fleeting.

Failure is an excellent learning tool, as Peter could certainly attest. Through trial and error, he discovered that humility is required of believers (John 13:5-14); that God’s ways are higher than the world’s ways (Mark 8:33); and that one should never take his eyes off Jesus (Matt. 14:30). He took each of those lessons to heart and thereby grew stronger in his faith. Isn’t that Romans 8:28 in action? God caused Peter’s failures to be put to good use as training material because the disciple was eager to mature and serve.

God doesn’t reward rebellion or wrongdoing. However, by His grace, He blesses those who choose repentance and embrace chastisement as a tool for growth.

We would probably all prefer to grow in our faith without ever making a mistake before God’s eyes, but we cannot deny that missteps are instructive. Failure teaches believers that it is much wiser and more profitable to be obedient to the Lord. That’s a lesson we all should take to heart

During my sojourn throughout different parts of the world, I have learned that there are some streets where if you get lost and would like to ask for directions, you should think twice—or rather, ask twice.

“Where is the public library?” you may ask a local who is passing by. “Oh, it is straight ahead, hundred meters away,” he might say.

And so you walk on, and after 30 minutes and way past that “hundred meters,” you realize that the person has given you wrong directions. Then you decide to ask another for what are, hopefully, the right directions. This time, the person whom you ask tells you to go back the way you came from for a hundred meters. “How can this be? I just came from there,” you inform her. However, she insists that she is right and that you should trust her. So you retreat a hundred meters and you are back to where you had started, and not any closer to your destination.

You see, none of those whom you had asked actually knew for sure where your destination is. However, in order to “save face,” they pretend that they do and sometimes do a very good job at it! As they did not want to appear ignorant, they had to convincingly point you towards a certain direction—oftentimes, the wrong one.

Trying to get to your destination on one of these crowded streets is in a lot of ways like how we are trying to live our lives. For most of us, our destination is the place where we will find the answers to our existential questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here?  Where am I going?

We long to arrive at that seemingly elusive place where the yearning of our heart will be satisfied; where our soul will finally find its home and rest. But how do we get there? Which direction do we go? How long is the journey?

Some of us were shown the route of the Great American Dream (also known as the Great Singaporean Dream or the Great Malaysian Dream) where we are told that our pursuit of happiness will lead us to our destination. However, not much farther down the path of a successful career, a lovely family, and a five-room picket-fenced house, we find that we are not getting any closer to where our heart wants to go. The soul continues to seek its home.

Then there are those who have taken the route of pleasure by embracing a certain lifestyle that would gratify one in all kinds of sensuous desires. Like many after him, Solomon, the king who possessed so much wealth and denied himself nothing he desired, found this path only futility in his years of indulgence. He records this poignantly in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11:

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
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.”

The route of unbridled pleasure is also a misleading course that will not take us where our souls ultimately seek to go.

Then there is the relativist’s way of taking whichever road one wishes, believing they all will lead home. Practical experience with roads that may seem to head in the same direction remind us that they make drastic turns at crucial points and take fellow travelers on farther and farther away from each other. Not all roads can lead to home, it seems.

C.S. Lewis rightly observes that this world will offer us all sorts of things or ways that promise to take us to our soul’s destination, but they never quite keep to their word.(1) After the fleeting moment of enchantment leaves us, we are back to our starting point.

There is, however, one who professes to know the way to our destination. In fact, he claims that he IS the way: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Unlike Eastern gurus who claim that they have found the way and that they could show their followers the way, Jesus self-assuredly declares that he is the way, and that only through him will we find true rest at our soul’s rightful home.

Which way are you taking today to get wherever it is you feel you must go? And who are you asking for your directions along the way? As C.S. Lewis aptly concludes in Mere Christianity, “[L]ook for Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in.”

I’Ching Thomas is associate director of training at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.

(1) C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002), 135.
(2) Ibid., 227.

Morning   “Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.”    Song of Solomon 2:10

Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling

upon the face of the earth, and he would not have me spiritually asleep while

nature is all around me awaking from her winter’s rest. He bids me “Rise up,”

and well he may; for I have long enough been lying among the pots of

worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in him, why then should I cleave unto the

dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards

him. He calls me by the sweet title of “My love,” and counts me fair; this is a

good argument for my rising. If he has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus

comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial associates

among  the sons of men? He bids me “Come away.” Further and further from everything

selfish, grovelling, worldly, sinful, he calls me; yea, from the outwardly

religious world which knows him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the

higher life, he calls me. “Come away” has no harsh sound in it to my ear, for

what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would

that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from

them as I would. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor

heart for sin. Thou callest me to thyself by saying “Come away,” and this is a

melodious call indeed. To come to thee is to come home from exile,

to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to

come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a

stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me,

draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames

of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time

behind me, and indeed come away.

Evening    “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.”    Revelation 3:20

What is your desire this evening? Is it set upon heavenly things? Do you long to

enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close

communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights, and depths, and lengths,

and breadths? Then you must draw near to Jesus; you must get a clear sight of

him in his preciousness and completeness; you must view him in his work, in his

offices, in his person. He who understands Christ, receives an anointing from

the Holy One, by which he knows all things. Christ is the great master-key of

all the chambers of God; there is no treasure-house of God which will not open

and yield up all its wealth to the soul that lives near to Jesus.

Are you saying, “O that he would dwell in my bosom”? “Would that he would make

my heart his dwelling-place forever”? Open the door, beloved, and he will come

into your souls. He has long been knocking, and all with this object, that he

may sup with you, and you with him. He sups with you because you find the house

or the heart, and you with him because he brings the provision. He could not sup

with you if it were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you sup

with him, for you have a bare cupboard, if he did not bring provision with him.

Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul. He will come with that love which

you long to feel; he will come with that joy into which you

cannot work your poor depressed spirit; he will bring the peace which now you

have not; he will come with his flagons of wine and sweet apples of love, and

cheer you till you have no other sickness but that of “love o’erpowering, love

divine.” Only open the door to him, drive out his enemies, give him the keys of

your heart, and he will dwell there forever. Oh, wondrous love, that brings such

a guest to dwell in such a heart!

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.    Song of Songs 2:12

The season of spring is welcome in its freshness. The long and dreary winter helps us to appreciate spring’s genial warmth, and its promise of summer enhances its present delights. After periods of spiritual depression, it is delightful to see again the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Our slumbering graces rise from their lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil from their beds of earth; and our heart is made glad with delicious notes of gratitude, far more tuneful than the warbling of birds. The comforting assurance of peace, which is infinitely more delightful than the turtledove’s cooing, is heard within the soul.

This is the time for the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now she must rise from her natural sordidness and come away from her old associations. If we do not hoist the sail when the breeze is favorable, we make a grave mistake: Times of refreshing should never be allowed to pass us by. When Jesus Himself visits us in tenderness and entreats us to arise, can we be so ungrateful as to refuse His request? He has risen so that He may draw us after Him. He, by His Holy Spirit, has revived us so that we may in newness of life ascend to the heavenlies and enjoy fellowship with Him. We bid farewell to the coldness and indifference of a spiritual winter when the Lord creates a spring within. Then our sap flows with vigor, and our branches blossom with high resolve.

O Lord, if it is not springtime in my chilly heart, I pray You make it so, for I am tired of living at a distance from You. When will You bring this long and dreary winter to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! Quicken me, restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I earnestly implore you, Lord, to take pity upon Your servant and send me a happy revival of spiritual life!

The family reading plan for April 24, 2012

Ecclesiastes 11 | Titus 3

Hebrews 5:11-14

In today’s world, impatience is all too common a trait. We want food, help, and information fast. Just waiting for the computer to boot up or the “next avail-able agent” to answer our call can cause frustration. But the Lord specializes in slow, steady work. He’s more interested in a quality outcome than a speedy process.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of spiritual discernment. When we become Christians, we aren’t instantly wise and knowledgeable. It takes a lifetime to grow to maturity. Some believers, however, don’t seem to grow up at all. They get older, but their understanding of God’s Word never goes very deep.

This lack of godly wisdom is caused by ignorance of the Scriptures, apathy and complacency about spiritual things, and a failure to apply biblical truths. Discernment requires time and effort. You can’t simply move through life, thoughtlessly reacting to situations yet never learning from them. Take time to reflect on your responses and observe the consequences of your actions and choices. If you feel convicted by what you notice, let that motivate you to begin a lifelong pursuit of the Lord and His ways. Start reading the Bible regularly. And as you do, ask the Lord to open your heart and mind to understand what He’s saying.

But just reading God’s Word isn’t enough. Without applying what you’ve read, all you’ll have is head knowledge. Obedience trains us to discern good and evil. Through practice, we learn wisdom and develop spiritual maturity. If you’ll begin today and patiently persevere, in time discernment will come

Ralph Wood, professor of theology and literature at Baylor University, once asked a group of seminary students to compare two individuals: the modern, astute collegian who insists that sin and the fall of humanity are fallacies invented by the superstitious, and a primitive young man in a remote village whom you find in the woods sacrificing a chicken on a makeshift altar. “Which man is farther from the truth?” he asked. The students hemmed and hawed but hesitantly agreed that the pagan boy, however crudely, understood something the other did not. There is a need in our lives for atonement. There is a need for blood.

We have within us a basic sense of our desperate condition.  As Malcolm Muggeridge regularly insisted, the depravity of humankind is at once the most unpopular of the Christian doctrines and yet the most empirically verifiable. We are aware—or reminded often—that we are not quite what we could be, what we might be, what we were intended to be.  Something is wrong, something we yearn to see made right, but somehow find ourselves incapable of the kind of restoration we seek.

For generations, the Israelites labored to follow laws that were meant to atone for their sin and restore them to the presence of God: “And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.”(1) The language of sacrifice and offering was found throughout Near Eastern culture. But Israel’s sacrifices were not the same as blood shed by those attempting to appease the many gods they feared and followed. The prophets sent throughout Israel’s history were forever insisting that what God was commanding was something far more than the empty performance of sacrifice. God wanted sacrifices offered with hearts of worship, lives yearning to be in the presence of their creator, though recognizing the fear of such an act. The God of Israel wanted to be near his chosen people, and God made them a way, through the blood of a lamb.

When Christians speak of Christ as the Lamb of God, it might sound like a strange allegory, a symbolic code. The lamb is Christ. The lion is Christ. As with any metaphor, the risk is minimization, instantaneous recognition of the symbol and discontinuation of all that symbol might lead us to discover. But Christ as the lamb is not simply a metaphor. Oxford scholar John Lennox reminds us that these passages tell us not only who it is, but what it is. It is Christ as the lamb, the spotless lamb whose blood my life requires. The description moves well beyond symbolism. Christ is the Lamb whose blood atones my depravity, the Lamb who moves me forever into the presence of God.

When the apostle John describes his vision of heaven in the book of Revelation, the Lamb is found in the center of a singing multitude: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.”(2) Thoughtfully Lennox asks: “But how can a slain lamb stand?” It is an image that poses so much beyond a static metaphor. The Lamb who bore my sins, forever bears the scars of my atonement, even as he stands.

As the Lamb, Christ has reached a need we cannot. He has become the sacrifice we cannot give. He is the Lamb who was slain and yet stands so that we can stand in the presence of God. In these days of Easter, indeed, as the apostle instructs, behold the Lamb of God. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Cornerstone, the Shepherd, the Advocate who overcomes.  The Slain Lamb stands!

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

 (1) Ezekiel 46:13.
(2) Revelation 5:6.

Morning    “And because of all this we make a sure covenant.”    Nehemiah 9:38

There are many occasions in our experience when we may very rightly, and with

benefit, renew our covenant with God. After recovery from sickness when, like

Hezekiah, we have had a new term of years added to our life, we may fitly do it.

After any deliverance from trouble, when our joys bud forth anew, let us again

visit the foot of the cross, and renew our consecration. Especially, let us do

this after any sin which has grieved the Holy Spirit, or brought dishonour upon

the cause of God; let us then look to that blood which can make us whiter than

snow, and again offer ourselves unto the Lord. We should not only let our

troubles confirm our dedication to God, but our prosperity should do

the same. If we ever meet with occasions which deserve to be called “crowning

mercies” then, surely, if he hath crowned us, we ought also to crown our God;

let us bring forth anew all the jewels of the divine regalia which have been

stored in the jewel-closet of our heart, and let our God sit upon the throne of

our love, arrayed in royal apparel. If we would learn to profit by our

prosperity, we should not need so much adversity. If we would gather from a kiss

all the good it might confer upon us, we should not so often smart under the

rod. Have we lately received some blessing which we little expected? Has the

Lord put our feet in a large room? Can we sing of mercies multiplied? Then this

is the day to put our hand upon the horns of the altar, and say, “Bind me here,

my God; bind me here with cords, even forever.” Inasmuch as we need the

fulfilment of new promises from God, let us offer renewed prayers that our old

vows may not be dishonoured. Let us this morning make with him a sure covenant,

because of the pains of Jesus which for the last month we have been considering

with gratitude.

Evening   “The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and

the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”   Song of Solomon 2:12

Sweet is the season of spring: the long and dreary winter helps us to appreciate

its genial warmth, and its promise of summer enhances its present delights.

After periods of depression of spirit, it is delightful to behold again the

light of the Sun of Righteousness; then our slumbering graces rise from their

lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil from their beds of earth; then is our

heart made merry with delicious notes of gratitude, far more melodious than the

warbling of birds–and the comforting assurance of peace, infinitely more

delightful than the turtle’s note, is heard within the soul. Now is the time for

the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now must she rise from her

native sordidness, and come away from her old associations. If we do not hoist

the sail when the breeze is favourable, we shall be blameworthy: times of

refreshing ought not to pass over us unimproved. When Jesus himself visits us in

tenderness, and entreats us to arise, can we be so base as to refuse his

request? He has himself risen that he may draw us after him: he now by his Holy

Spirit has revived us, that we may, in newness of life, ascend into the

heavenlies, and hold communion with himself. Let our wintry state suffice us for

coldness and indifference; when the Lord creates a spring within, let our sap

flow with vigour, and our branch blossom with high resolve. O Lord, if it be not

spring time in my chilly heart, I pray thee make it so, for I am heartily weary

of living at a distance from thee. Oh! the long and dreary winter, when wilt

thou bring it to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! quicken thou me!

restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I would earnestly implore the

Lord to take pity upon his servant, and send me a happy revival of spiritual

life!

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain.   Revelation 5:6

Why should our exalted Lord appear in glory with His wounds? The wounds of Jesus are His glories, His jewels, His sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is altogether lovely. We see Him as the lily of matchless purity, and as the rose crimsoned with His own blood. We behold the beauty of Christ in all His earthly pilgrimage, but there never was such matchless beauty as when He hung upon the cross. There we saw all His beauties in perfection, all His attributes developed, all His love drawn out, all His character expressed.

Beloved, the wounds of Jesus are far fairer in our eyes than all the splendor and pomp of kings. The thorny crown is more than an imperial diadem. It is true that He no longer bears the scepter of reed, but there was even in that ignominy a glory that never flashed from a scepter of gold. Jesus wears the appearance of a slain Lamb as His royal dress in which He wooed our souls and redeemed them by His complete atonement. And these are not only the ornaments of Christ: They are the trophies of His love and of His victory. He has divided the spoil with the strong. He has redeemed for Himself a great multitude that no one can count, and these scars are the memorials of the fight. If Christ loves to retain the thought of His sufferings for His people, then how precious should his wounds be to us!

Behold how every wound of His

A precious balm distils,

Which heals the scars that sin had made,

And cures all mortal ills.

Those wounds are mouths that preach His grace,

The ensigns of His love;

The seals of our expected bliss

In paradise above.

The family reading plan for April 23, 2012

Ecclesiastes 10 | Titus 2

Luke 5:1-11

Decisions we consider insignificant may actually be important in God’s eyes. Obedience in the small details prepares the believer for obedience in all things. Today’s passage shows that Peter experienced a gentle first lesson in following the Lord.

Peter’s initial interaction with Christ seemed insignificant. We can assume Jesus asked Peter for the use of his boat, which meant that the weary fisherman put aside his cleanup duties in order to steer the craft for an itinerant preacher. It was a small decision, but the reward was noteworthy. Peter had a front-row seat for the message Jesus proclaimed to the crowd on the beach.

The future disciple was convinced of Christ’s authority because of what he heard. Therefore, he obeyed Jesus’ second request to let down the nets for a catch, even though doing so contradicted everything he knew about fishing. The results were miraculous–a catch so great that a second boat had to come and take part of the haul.

Jesus was gently easing Peter into a place of absolute obedience. The fisherman’s brief but compelling history of submitting to the Lord’s will and experiencing His blessing convinced him that giving up everything to follow Christ was the wisest choice. The rewards for that decision are both innumerable and immeasurable.

Peter’s experience of increasingly demanding calls to obedience and sacrifice isn’t unique. That’s how the Father teaches His children to follow His will. So don’t assume a decision is insignificant–God is setting you on a course to fulfill His good purpose for your life. Choose to obey Him always.

“The cross,” someone said recently, “has become so ordinary that we hardly see it anymore.” The words at once sent through me a rush of lament, which then settled into a pool of reflection. How can this be true? How can an image once shameful enough to bow the proudest heads become ordinary? Could the gallows ever be innocuous? Would the death sentence of someone near us ever fail to get our attention?

Theodore Prescott is a sculptor who has spent a great deal of time thinking about the cross. In the 1980’s he began working on a series of crosses using different materials, forms, and processes hoping to reconstitute the cultural and scriptural imagery of the Roman cross. In a sense, Prescott attempts to portray the incongruous. The Roman cross was a loathsome manner of execution that inflicted an anguished death; the Cross of Christ held a man who went willingly—and without guilt. Though a reflection of beauty and sacrifice, the cross is also an image of physical torture, inseparable from flesh and blood. There was a body on these beams. Its image bears both startling realities—the presence of outstretched limbs and the mystery of being scandalously vacant. These contrasts alone are replete with a peculiar depth. Yet, our daily intake of the cross “precludes contemplation,” notes Prescott. The cross has become so ordinary that we hardly see it anymore.

Maybe he is right. But if the cross has become merely a symbol of Christianity, an emblem of one religion in a sea of others, it is still a symbol that stands secluded and unique. Even as an image among many, it remains conspicuously on its own. The symbol of the cross is an instrument of death. Far from ordinary, it suggests, at the very least, a love quite beyond us, scandalous, and impenetrable. Perhaps it is we who have become ordinary, our senses dulled to unconsciousness by the daily matters we give precedence. Even in his own time, the apostle Paul lamented such a blurring of the cross, calling us to a greater vision. “[A]s I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:18-20).

For those who will not look carefully, the cross can be perceived as foolish or not perceived at all. It can be stripped of meaning or emptied of beauty, hope, and depth. But it cannot be emptied of Christ. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his lifewill lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). The message of the cross may be nothing to some, but to those who will stand in its shame and offense, scandal and power, it is everything.

Moreover, where the cross is obscured, Christ is still near. Ironically, what started Theodore Prescott thinking about the absence of the cross’s meaning was a piece of his own art in which many people saw a cruciform image, though this was not his intention. For those who will see, the cross of Christ is expectantly present in every moment and every scene. In its beauty, we are changed. In view of an outstretched body and in the scandal of its emptiness, we are left yearning for the face of the risen Christ: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).

The Gospel of John reports that Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the beams of the common cross that bore the radical rabbi. It read in three languages: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” There is nothing ordinary about the manner in which he died, the cross on which he hung, or the symbol of death on which he inscribed a hope that would be carried throughout the nations. There was a cross in history with his name on it, and he went to it with nothing short of transforming the world in mind.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning    “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”    Job 19:25

The marrow of Job’s comfort lies in that little word “My”–“My Redeemer,” and in

the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh! to get hold of a living Christ. We must

get a property in him before we can enjoy him. What is gold in the mine to me?

Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in California. It is gold in my

purse which will satisfy my necessities, by purchasing the bread I need. So a

Redeemer who does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my

blood, of what avail were such? Rest not content until by faith you can say

“Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and he is mine.” It may be you hold him

with a feeble hand; you half think it presumption to say, “He lives as my

Redeemer;” yet, remember if you have but faith as a grain of mustard seed, that

little faith entitles you to say it. But there is also another word here,

expressive of Job’s strong confidence, “I know.” To say, “I hope so, I trust so”

is comfortable; and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get

much further. But to reach the essence of consolation you must say, “I know.”

Ifs, buts, and perhapses, are sure murderers of peace and comfort. Doubts are

dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they sting the soul! If I have any

suspicion that Christ is not mine, then there is vinegar mingled with the gall

of death; but if I know that Jesus lives for me, then darkness is

not dark: even the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those ages before

the coming and advent of Christ, could say, “I know,” we should not speak less

positively. God forbid that our positiveness should be presumption. Let us see

that our evidences are right, lest we build upon an ungrounded hope; and then

let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is from the upper rooms

that we get the widest prospect. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is joy

unspeakable.

Evening    “Who is even at the right hand of God.”

Romans 8:34

He who was once despised and rejected of men, now occupies the honourable

position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right hand of God is the place of

majesty and favour. Our Lord Jesus is his people’s representative. When he died

for them, they had rest; he rose again for them, they had liberty; when he sat

down at his Father’s right hand, they had favour, and honour, and dignity. The

raising and elevation of Christ is the elevation, the acceptance, and

enshrinement, the glorifying of all his people, for he is their head and

representative. This sitting at the right hand of God, then, is to be viewed as

the acceptance of the person of the Surety, the reception of the Representative,

and  therefore, the acceptance of our souls. O saint, see in this thy sure freedom

from condemnation. “Who is he that condemneth?” Who shall condemn the men who

are in Jesus at the right hand of God?

The right hand is the place of power. Christ at the right hand of God hath all

power in heaven and in earth. Who shall fight against the people who have such

power vested in their Captain? O my soul, what can destroy thee if Omnipotence

be thy helper? If the aegis of the Almighty cover thee, what sword can smite

thee? Rest thou secure. If Jesus is thine all-prevailing King, and hath trodden

thine enemies beneath his feet; if sin, death, and hell are all vanquished by

him, and thou art represented in him, by no possibility canst thou be destroyed.

“Jesu’s tremendous name

Puts all our foes to flight:

Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,

A Lion is in fight.

“By all hell’s host withstood;

We all hell’s host o’erthrow;

And conquering them, through Jesu’s blood

We still to conquer go.”

Fight the Lord’s battles.    1 Samuel 18:17

The Christian is involved in a continual war, with Jesus Christ as the Captain of their salvation. He has said, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”2 Listen to the battle cries! Now let the people of God stand firm in their ranks, and let no man’s heart fail him. We may feel in these days that we are losing the battle and unless the Lord Jesus shall lift His sword we do not know what may become of the church of God in our time; but let us be courageous and bold.

Seldom has there been a time like this as biblical Christianity trembles on the brink of capitulation to pluralism and empty religious routine. We are in great need of a bold voice and a strong hand to preach and publish the Gospel for which martyrs bled and confessors died. The Savior is, by His Spirit, still on earth; let this encourage us. He is always ever in the middle of the fight, and therefore the outcome of the battle is not in doubt. And as the conflict rages, what a deep satisfaction it is to know that the Lord Jesus, in His office as our great Intercessor, is prevalently pleading for His people!

Turn your anxious gaze from the battle below, where, enshrouded in smoke, the faithful fight in garments rolled in blood. And lift your eyes above where the Savior lives and pleads, for while He intercedes, the cause of God is safe. Let us fight as if it all depended upon us, but let us look up and know that it all depends upon Him.

On the basis of our Savior’s atoning sacrifice and in the strength of the Holy Spirit’s power, we charge you who love Jesus to fight bravely in this holy war, for truth and righteousness, for the kingdom and the crown. Onward! The battle is not yours but God’s, and you will yet hear Him say, “Well done, brave warrior, well done!”

2Matthew 28:20

The family reading plan for April 20, 2012

Ecclesiastes 7 | 2 Timothy 3