Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Mess for Good

Leave a comment

Max Lucado

Twenty years of marriage, three kids, and now he’s gone. Traded her in for a younger model.  She told me her story, and we prayed. Then I said,  “It won’t be painless or quick. But God will use this mess for good. With God’s help you’ll get through this.”

Remember Joseph?  Genesis 37:4 says his brothers “hated him.”  Far from home, they cast him into a pit, leaving him for dead. A murderous cover-up from the get go. Pits have no easy exit. Joseph’s story got worse before it got better. Yet in his explanation we find his inspiration: “You meant evil against me,” he said, “but God meant it for good. . .”  The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant, turned out to strengthen him.  The same will be said about you.  You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Is this promise from You, Lord?

1 Comment

Charles Stanley

You and I will never go wrong by trusting and obeying God. You may be praying and asking God to work in your life and situation. Maybe there is something you long to have or something you want to experience. You want to make sure that you are getting His best and are in step with His will. But how can you be sure that the promises you’re claiming from Scripture are those God intended for you?

When you trust God for promises in His Word and feel as though He has answered, ask yourself the following questions about your choice:

Does this promise meet my personal need or desire?
Sometimes we can want something so badly that we make choices without considering the consequences. But if we wait for God and remain committed to be right in step with His will, we will receive His blessing, and it will be more than we imagined. In fact, it will be the best. We may be right on target and have chosen the right course of action. If this is the case, then God promises that we will hear His voice or at least sense His leading telling us that this is the right way (Isa 30:21).

Have I submitted my desires to His will?
This is a crucial step. I once knew a woman who wanted to marry a man whom she had known for years. It seemed like a perfect match, but I counseled her to get alone with the Father and remind Him of His promises to her and ask Him if this union was His best. “If it is God’s gift to you, He will make sure you keep it. If it is not, you do not want it.” I could tell by the look in her eyes that she really did not want to submit her desires to the Lord. That night, however, she got down on her knees and gave God the relationship. Three weeks later she found out that he was seeing someone else. The Father had protected her from making a terrible mistake. Though it took a long time for her to get over the incident, she is now happily married to a wonderful man who loves her without hindrance. God had something better in mind. Before you make a horrendous mistake, stop and submit your life and situation to Him. You will be very glad you did.

If God answers this promise, will He be glorified?
Often people are more concerned about having their needs met than they are about pleasing God. They forget that if their lives are not in step with His will, then there will be heartache, disappointment, and sorrow. However, if He is our first concern, then the decisions we make will glorify Him and He will be honored. When He is, then others will see His work in our lives and they will want to develop a personal relationship with Him.

Can God fulfill this promise to me without harming or hurting someone else and without interfering with His will for his or her life?
Many times, our requests are “me” centered. We want things that are not necessarily bad, but they may be things that could draw someone else away from the Lord. You cannot just pick a promise out of His Word and claim it as your own or push to achieve it in your life. God has a plan, and He always takes into account your life and the lives of others around you. Therefore you need to pray, “Lord, this is what I want to do, but I want to make sure that it lines up with Your will for my life and that it will not harm anyone else.” God’s promises always bring blessing and hope. They never subtract or take away our emotional strength or faith; they always add and multiply what He has so generously given.

Does the Holy Spirit bear witness to my spirit that God is pleased with this promise?
You may want something so desperately that you will go to Scripture, choose a promise, claim it, and then tell others, “This is what God is going to do for me.” But He never does. Each time you remind Him of what you have read in His Word, you sense His quietness of Spirit. He is waiting for you to get in line with His will and stop trying to make something happen that is not His best for your life.

By claiming this promise, am I contradicting God’s Word in any way?
You always want to make sure that what you are asking the Father to do is in alignment with His will for your life. It also needs to be something that is biblically on target. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and this was exactly what he needed and what the Lord had planned to give him. When we study Scripture, we are going to begin to think like He does, gaining His mind about our situation. He may not remove our trials, but He will give us such a strong sense of hope that we will be able to endure to the end with a spirit of victory and reward. God wants us to claim His promises, not just to gain a material blessing, but so that we can understand His truth for our lives. A promise made to us by God emphasizes His greatness, His faithfulness, and His unchanging love for us.

If God answers this promise, will it further my spiritual growth?
The answer to this question should be a flat-out “Yes!” If you have to think about it or try to convince yourself that gaining the answer to your promise will actually be good, then either you have missed the point, or you are off track with God.

By now you probably realize that claiming a promise of God is not a simple matter. It takes faith, obedience, and patience. But even more than these three, gaining the promises of God requires a deep abiding love for Him. Therefore, choose to trust Him, to commit your way to Him, and to delight in His precepts, and you will be able to claim His promises. And you will quickly discover that the goodness God has for you will never end.

Adapted from “10 Principles for Studying Your Bible” by Dr. Charles Stanley, 2008.

 

Related Resources

Related Video

How to Claim a Promise

In this message, Dr. Stanley discusses the “static” we feel in our spirits when we’re not in the will of God. Our entire belief system is based on the promises of God, and we can trust God to be faithful to keep them all. However, many people miss out because they neglect Him and don’t take hold of the promises God has made to His children. (Watch How to Claim a Promise.)

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Slower Pace

Leave a comment

Our Daily Bread

Exodus 20:8-11

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. —Exodus 20:9-10

When writer Bruce Feiler was diagnosed with bone cancer in his thigh, he couldn’t walk without some help for over a year. Learning to get around on crutches caused him to appreciate a slower pace of life. Feiler said, “The idea of slowing down became the number one lesson I learned from my experience.”

After God’s people were liberated from Egypt, He gave them a commandment that would cause them to slow down and view Him and the world “in pause.” The fourth commandment introduced a dramatic contrast to the Israelites’ slavery under Pharaoh when they had no break in their daily work routine.

The commandment insisted that God’s people set aside one day a week to remember several important things: God’s work in creation (Gen. 2:2), their liberation from Egyptian bondage (Deut. 5:12-15), their relationship with God (6:4-6), and their need for personal refreshment (Exod. 31:12-18). This was not to be a day of laziness, but one where God’s people acknowledged, worshiped, and rested in Him.

We too are called to slow down, to be refreshed physically, mentally, and emotionally, and to behold God in His good creation. —Marvin Williams

Lord, I need spiritual and physical rest. Help me

to deliberately take the time to spend with You.

Please remove any obstacle that keeps me from

having a more balanced rhythm to my life.

Living for God begins with resting in Him.

Bible in a year: Psalms 135-136; 1 Corinthians 12

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Divine Guidance

Leave a comment

Alistair Begg

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  Psalms 73

The psalmist felt his need of divine guidance. He had just been discovering the foolishness of his own heart, and to prevent himself from being constantly led astray by it, he resolved that God’s counsel should be his guide. A sense of our own folly is a great step toward being wise, when it leads us to rely on the wisdom of the Lord. The blind man leans on his friend’s arm and reaches his home in safety, and likewise we should give ourselves up implicitly to divine guidance, without doubting, assured that even though we cannot see, it is always safe to trust the All-seeing God. “You will” is a blessed expression of confidence. He was sure that the Lord would not neglect the necessary task.

Here is a word for you, believer; rest in it. Be sure that God will be your counselor and friend; He will guide you; He will direct all your ways. In His written Word you have this assurance fulfilled in part, for Holy Scripture is His “counsel” to you. We are happy to have God’s Word as our constant guide! What is the sailor without his compass? And what is the Christian without the Bible? This is the unerring chart, the map in which every shoal is described, and all the channels from the quicksands of destruction to the harbor of salvation mapped and marked by one who knows the way.

O God we bless You, that we may trust You to guide us now, and even to the end! After this guidance through life, the psalmist anticipates a divine reception-“and afterward . . . receive me to glory.” What a thought for you, believer! God Himself will receive you in glory-you! Though you are wandering, erring, straying, still He will bring you safe at last to glory! This is your portion; live on it today, and if perplexities should surround you, go in the strength of this text straight to the throne.

 

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Election

Leave a comment

CharlesSpurgeon

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14

Suggested Further Reading: Psalm 33:1-12

Revelation points us to a period long before this world was fashioned, to the days when the morning stars were formed; when, like drops of dew, from the fingers of the morning, stars and constellations fell trickling from the hand of God; when, by his own lips, he launched forth ponderous orbs; when with his own hand he sent comets, like thunderbolts, wandering through the sky, to find one day their proper sphere. We go back to years gone by, when worlds were made and systems fashioned, but we have not even approached the beginning yet. Until we go to the time when all the universe slept in the mind of God as yet unborn, until we enter the eternity where God the Creator lived alone, everything sleeping within him, all creation resting in his mighty gigantic thought, we have not guessed the beginning. We may go back, back, back, ages upon ages. We may go back, if we might use such strange words, whole eternities, and yet never arrive at the beginning. Our wing might be tired, our imagination would die away; if it could outstrip the lightnings flashing in majesty, power, and rapidity, it would soon weary itself before it could get to the beginning. But God from the beginning chose his people. When the unnavigated heavens were yet unfanned by the wing of a single angel; when space was shoreless, or else unborn when universal silence reigned; when neither a voice or whisper shocked the solemnity of silence; when there was no being and no motion, no time, and nothing but God himself alone in his eternity; when without the song of an angel, without the attendance of even the cherubim, long before the living creatures were born, or the wheels of the chariot of Jehovah were fashioned, even then, “in the beginning was the Word,” and in the beginning God’s people were one with the Word, and “in the beginning he chose them into eternal life.” Our election then is eternal.

For meditation: God’s love is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 103:17).

Sermon nos. 41-42

1 September (Preached 2 September 1855)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

1 Comment

John MacArthur

“Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:10-12).

Our nation has known many wars, but Vietnam was an especially frustrating campaign. Thick jungle terrain made the enemy hard to find and guerrilla warfare made him hard to fight. Many Vietnamese who peacefully worked the rice paddies by day donned the black garb of the Viet Cong soldier by night and invaded unsuspecting U.S. forces camped nearby. American public opinion was strongly anti-war and morale among our troops was often low.

Spiritual warfare has similar parallels. Subtly and deceitfully, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). His emissaries disguise themselves as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:13-15). It takes wisdom and discernment to identify them and defend yourself against their attacks.

Most people are defenseless, however, because they scoff at the supernatural and deny the reality of spiritual warfare. They think Satan may be fine for movie plots and book sales, but assume only the superstitious and credulous take him seriously. Unfortunately, many Christians have succumbed to their ridicule and forsaken the battle.

Ephesians 6:10-24 reminds us that spiritual warfare is real and that God has given us all the resources we need– not only to defend ourselves, but also to take the initiative and win the victory over the forces of darkness.

I pray that our studies this month will encourage you in the battle and challenge you to always have on “the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11).

Suggestions for Prayer:

Seek discernment and grace to identify the enemy and stand against him courageously.

For Further Study:

Read Ephesians 6:10-24. What armor has God supplied to protect you in spiritual warfare?

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Blessings of Meditation

Leave a comment

Joyce meyer

My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. —Proverbs 4:20-22

In these verses, the writer used the words, attend to my words, which is another way of exhorting us to meditate. I love the fact that God not only frequently tells us to meditate—to ponder seriously—His Word, but He frequently promises results. It’s as if God says, “Okay, Joyce, if you meditate, here’s what I’m going to do for you.” In this passage, the promise is life and health. Isn’t that amazing? It’s even a promise that when you contemplate and brood over the Bible, it will affect your physical body.

We’ve known for a long time that when we fill our minds with healthy, positive thoughts, it affects our body and improves our health. This is just another way of repeating this truth. Or take the opposite viewpoint: Suppose we fill our minds with negative thoughts and remind ourselves how frail we are or how sick we were the day before. We soon become so filled with self-pity and self-defeating thoughts that we get even sicker.

In the previous pages, I’ve already mentioned the idea of prosperity (see Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8). I believe that by “prosperity,” God means that we’ll be enriched and prosper in every part of our lives. It’s not a promise of more material wealth, but an assurance of being able to enjoy all the wonderful blessings we have.

Recently when I meditated on several passages in the Bible, I realized God was showing me that the Word has hidden treasures in it—powerful, life-giving secrets—which God wants to reveal to us. They are there for those who muse, ponder, and contemplate the Word of God.

What we often forget is that God wants our fellowship, our company, and our time with Him. If we want a deep relationship with our heavenly Father, we have to make quality time for God. I recently heard someone say, “Quality time comes out of quantity times.” In other words, it’s only as we spend time with God on a regular, daily basis that we have those special, life-changing moments. We can’t program them to happen, but if we’re there on a daily basis, God will cause some of those times to be quality times of special blessing.

D. L. Moody once said that the Bible would keep us from sin, or sin would keep us from the Bible. That’s the principle here. As we concentrate on God’s Word and allow it to fill our thoughts, we will push away all desire to sin or to displease God in any way. We become more deeply rooted in Him. Again, think of it in the negative. When our mind remains focused on our problems all the time, we become consumed with them. If we meditate on what’s wrong with others, we see even more flaws and faults. But when we concentrate on God’s Word, light comes into our souls.

I want to go back one more time to that powerful statement in Philippians 4:8. No matter which translation or paraphrase we read it in, the message is powerful and exactly what we need to do to condition our minds for victory.

Here’s Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase in The Message: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

Dear Father in heaven, teach me the blessings of pondering Your Word, of filling my heart and mind with Your spiritual manna. May I grow into maturity and become more and more like Your Son, Jesus. It’s in His name that I pray. Amen.

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Gives Us a New Song to Sing

1 Comment

dr_bright

“He has given me a new song to sing, of praise to our God. Now many will hear of the glorious things He did for me, and stand in awe before the Lord, and put their trust in Him” (Psalm 40:3).

Jim was big man on campus, president of his fraternity and an atheist. He ridiculed all those who professed faith in God, especially the Christians in his fraternity house.

I was invited, over his objections, to speak at one of their weekly meetings. A number of fraternity brothers were active in Campus Crusade and insisted that I come even though Jim resented the idea. Yet, upon completion of my message, he was one of the very first to respond and, after further counsel, received Christ. He became one of the most joyful, radiant, contagious, fruitful witnesses for Christ on the entire campus.

He had a new song to sing, a song of praise to God who had liberated him from a life of decadence and deceit. Now his heart fairly burst with joy as he developed a strategy to help reach every key student for Christ on a great university campus.

There is no greater joy in life than that of sharing Christ with others, and there is no greater joy that comes to another than that which comes with the assurance of salvation when one receives Christ into his life.

Would you like to be an instrument of God to cause others to sing praises to Him? Then tell them the glorious things He has done for you and for them, and encourage them to place their trust in Christ.

Bible Reading: Psalm 40:4-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will seek every opportunity to encourage others to receive Christ so that they can join with me in singing a new song of praise to our God, and together we will share the glorious things He does for us when we place our trust in Him.

 

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; P.G. – Constant Care

Leave a comment

ppt_seal01

Dickie Brown, a British sheep farmer, says sheep will not drink from moving water. When he brought his flock to a small stream, he used rocks to dam up a shallow portion providing a place where the water was “still” so that the sheep could – and would – drink and be refreshed. Even though thirsty, his directionally-challenged sheep had to be led to the water. Dickie’s care for his sheep was constant.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  Psalm 23:2

Jesus has provided living water to satiate your spiritual thirst. He gently leads you to Himself and then stays constantly beside you. In John 10, He calls you sheep, and reminds you that He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for you.

Give gratitude in your prayer time today for His everlasting presence with you. Then boldly stand in prayer beside others who need to experience the Good Shepherd’s love…whether family or friends. And be particularly inclusive of all who serve in America’s federal government, from President Obama to the lowest intern, that they, too, might find the Lord’s still waters and green pastures.

Recommended Reading: John 4:7-15

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Eternal Life: Adjust Your Focus

2 Comments

Charles Stanley

Romans 8:6

Many believers can almost instinctively complete this statement: “For the wages of sin is_____.” Reading that sentence, perhaps you even filled in the blank out loud: death. We all know what that means, right? Verse 23 of Romans 6 proclaims it’s what we deserve for our sin. This is how we view ourselves from time to time—dirty sinners who have narrowly escaped a horrible death.

The problem here is that too many believers remember just the first half of the verse—the part that deals with our sin. If we focus on the sin rather than God’s plan for restoration, then our entire spiritual perspective gets off balance. Emphasizing the sin directs all the attention to self—what I have done, how I have acted, where I have been. This self-centeredness will never lead to the peaceful assurance of salvation that the Lord has provided. When we focus on ourselves, we leave little room for God.

Romans 8:6 is a good companion verse to the one we’ve been looking at, because the Lord would have us focus not on our problem, but on His solution. You see, Romans 6:23 is not simply a condemnation for sin; it is a proclamation of salvation! The apostle Paul boldly declares that God saw our dire situation and acted on His own initiative to rescue us.

The heavenly Father graciously handed salvation over to us as a free gift. And when the Lord gives a gift, there is no one who can ever steal it away and nothing that can interfere with its permanence (Rom. 8:35-39). That’s the assurance our God wants us to have.

 

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Real Deal

Leave a comment

Our Daily Bread

1 Corinthians 15:1-21

[Christ] rose again the third day . . . [and] was seen by over five hundred brethren. —1 Corinthians 15:4-6

Sometimes cleaning out Grandpa’s attic pays off. For an Ohio man, it paid off in the discovery of a more than 100-year-old set of mint-condition baseball cards. Appraisers placed the cards’ value at $3 million.

One key to the high value of those cards was the fact that they were well-preserved. But beyond that, the true worth of the cards rested in the fact that they were authentic. If they had been fakes or counterfeits—no matter how good they looked—they wouldn’t have been worth the cardboard they were printed on.

The apostle Paul had something similar to say about Christianity. He said that our faith would be completely worthless and counterfeit if Jesus’ resurrection were not the real deal. It took bravery and confidence in God’s plan for Paul to say, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” (1 Cor. 15:14) and “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (v.17).

The Christian faith rests on the authenticity of this story: Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead. Praise God for the clear evidence of Jesus’ death and resurrection (vv.3-8). It’s the real deal, and we can stake our eternity and our total dependence on God on its truth. —Dave Branon

Lord, we’re eternally thankful for the truth

confirmed in Your Word and in our hearts that

You died and rose again for us. We love You, Lord,

and lift our voices in praise!

God is the only true God.

Bible in a year: Psalms 132-134; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Christ in the covenant

Leave a comment

CharlesSpurgeon

“I will give thee for a covenant of the people.” Isaiah 49:8

Suggested Further Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

When tempted to sin, reply, “I cannot do this great wickedness. I cannot, for I am one of Christ’s.” When wealth is before you to be won by sin, touch it not; say that you are Christ’s else you would take it; but now you cannot. Tell Satan that you would not gain the world if you had to love Christ less. Are you exposed in the world to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are one of Christ’s. Are you in a field where much is to be done, and others are sitting down idly and lazily, doing nothing? Go at your work, and when the sweat stands upon your brow and you are bidden to stay, say, “No, I cannot stop; I am one of Christ’s. He had a baptism to be baptised with, and so have I, and I am in bondage until it is accomplished. I am one of Christ’s. If I were not one of his, and purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am one of Christ’s.” When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, “Hush your strains, O temptress; I am one of Christ’s. Your music cannot affect me; I am not my own, I am bought with a price.” When the cause of God needs you, give yourself to it, for you are Christ’s. When the poor need you, give yourself away, for you are one of Christ’s. When, at any time there is anything to be done for his church and for his cross, do it, remembering that you are one of Christ’s. I beseech you, never belie your profession. Go not where others could say, “He cannot be Christ’s.”

For meditation: The Christian is doubly Christ’s one—by his choice to bear fruit (John 15:16) and by his purchase to glorify God in the body (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). Are you giving him at present everything he paid for?

Sermon no. 103

31 August (1856)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Rejecting the World

1 Comment

John MacArthur

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Loving the world begins with thinking that God doesn’t know what’s best for you and is trying to cheat you out of something you deserve. That thought soon blossoms into a willingness to disregard God’s warnings altogether and take whatever Satan has to offer.

Love of the world started in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day. Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” What made them think the fruit was good for food or able to make them wise? God didn’t tell them that. In fact, He warned them that they would die if they ate the fruit (Gen. 2:17). But Eve believed the serpent’s lie and Adam followed suit.

Satan continues to propagate his lies but you needn’t fall prey to them if you love God and remember that the world is opposed to everything He stands for. It is spiritually dead; void of the Spirit (John 14:17); morally defiled; and dominated by pride, greed, and evil desires. It produces wrong opinions, selfish aims, sinful pleasures, demoralizing influences, corrupt politics, empty honors, and fickle love.

You can’t love the world and God at the same time because love knows no rivals. It gives its object first place. If you love God, He will have first place in your life. If you love the world, the love of the Father isn’t in you (1 John 2:15).

Galatians 1:3-5 explains that Jesus says that “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.” Christ died to deliver us from Satan’s evil system. What greater motivation could there be to reject the world and live to God’s glory?

Suggestions for Prayer:

Ask God for greater wisdom and grace to resist the world’s influences.

For Further Study:

According to Ephesians 6:10-18, how can you as a believer protect yourself against Satan’s evil system?

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be a Doer

Leave a comment

Joyce meyer

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].—James 1:22

Any time you see what the Word says and refuse to do it, reasoning has somehow gotten involved and deceived you into believing something other than the truth. There may be times when you don’t understand everything the Word says, but you should move ahead and do it. God wants you to obey him whether or not you feel like it, want to do it, or think it is a good idea. When God speaks, we are not to question His methods. His ways are not our own.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.” In other words, don’t rely on reason or logic. When God speaks, we are to mobilize, not rationalize.

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Power Over Nations

Leave a comment

dr_bright

“To everyone who overcomes – who to the very end keeps on doing things that please Me – I will give power over the nations. You will rule them with a rod of iron just as My Father gave Me the authority to rule them; they will be shattered like a pot of clay that is broken into tiny pieces. And I will give you the Morning Star!” (Revelation 2:26-28).

I marvel at the numerous promises made to the overcomer, the one “who to the very end keeps on doing things that please Me.” Now we are even promised power over the nations, as we rule and reign with our heavenly Father in that coming day.

As I ponder this verse, I see in a very few words the key to the entire Christian life – the one thing alone that will keep us victorious today, tomorrow, and throughout our lives. Again, it is that significant clause: “who to the very end keeps on doing things that please Me.”

Lest you think that is an over simplification of the victorious Christian life, can you think of anything else God requires of us? And He even provides His Holy Spirit as an indwelling reminder of the daily victory He makes possible. This is the supernatural life. Earlier, we are told of a conquering Christ who will rule the nations of the earth with a rod of iron. This promise tells us that Christ will turn this power over to the conqueror – the overcomer – and his victorious companions in death.

Bible Reading: Psalm 2:1-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will trust the Lord to make being an overcomer a reality for me as a way of life – by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Fully Persuaded

Leave a comment

ppt_seal01

Only certain people have direct access to the President of the United States. He guards his privacy and is approachable only on his own terms. But you can draw near to the Lord – who is far greater in every way – with only an uplift of your eyes. It’s a wonderful right of entry that cannot be denied to you as a believer. But do you understand what all of this means?

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10:19

Think of Jesus’ relationship to His disciples. He was their Master. And yet, right before He went to the cross, He washed their feet. Christ was humble; He had no identity crisis. He knew exactly who He was and where He was going…He knew His purpose on Earth. His humility that night and throughout His life was born of this confidence.

Thirty-one times the New Testament speaks of the confidence you can have…the freedom and the boldness given to you in your relationship through Jesus. Be fully persuaded that you have access to the Lord at any time.

Therefore, let your prayers ascend to Him with intercessions for this nation, for your family and for yourself to have the courage to do and be that which the Lord asks of you.

Recommended Reading: 1 John 3:16-24

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – What Do You Live For?

Leave a comment

greglaurie

I saw an advertisement in a computer magazine with a photo of a guy shaving. It asked the question “Is it an alarm or a calling that gets you out of bed in the morning?” That is a very good question. What do you live for? What makes you tick? What do you get up for in the morning?

All of us have something or someone we live for. Some passion, ideal, that drives us on, giving our lives purpose, some sense of meaning, raising it above the level of mere existence. We don’t want our lives on this earth to be some temporary “blip on the screen.”

Paul’s passion was Jesus. The apostle wrote, in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul of course used to be known as the notorious Christian killer, Saul of Tarsus. But Saul met the risen Lord on the Damascus road and had his life forever changed. Now he would serve Jesus with as much passion as he once served Satan. Can you imagine what a different world we’d live in if more Christians served the Lord with the same level of commitment that they used to serve the devil with?

There are two questions every believer should ask. Saul asked two questions on the day of his conversion. “Who are you, Lord?” and “What will you have me to do?” Those would be great questions for you to personally ask Jesus today. Let that calling to serve Him get you up in the morning instead of an alarm clock. He has a plan and purpose for you today!

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Eternal Life: You Can Be Sure

1 Comment

Charles Stanley

1 John 5:13

Writing to the early church, the apostle John wanted to make something perfectly clear: God offers His children everlasting life. Men and women in Christ should have no fear of physical death, because their true lives—their eternal lives—are secure in Jesus. Today’s passage is unique because in it, John plainly states his purpose for writing. The point of his ministry was to empower believers with the unshakable faith of eternal life in Christ.

The basis for this truth lies in . . .

1. The unchanging promises of God. Over and over in his gospel and letters, the apostle declares God’s assurance of never-ending life. For example, he quotes Jesus’ promise of eternity in John 3:16, 6:40, and 10:27-30.

2. The unconditional love of God. Our Father loves us so much that He wants an everlasting, intimate relationship with each one of us. To achieve this, He demonstrated His love in a remarkable way: by providing our salvation at a great price (Rom. 5:6-11; 8:33-39).

3. The finished work of Christ on the cross. By offering His life as a substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf, Jesus provided the means of salvation once and for all. Our part is to accept the gift He so freely gives (Heb. 10:23-28).

4. The witness of God’s Spirit to our heart. Our Father places His Holy Spirit within every believer to testify to the truth of our salvation (Rom. 8:15-17).

Scripture tells us that we can have complete assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Does your day-to-day life reflect this confidence?

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Risks and Rescue

Leave a comment

Our Daily Bread

Romans 16:1-7

Greet Priscilla and Aquila . . . who risked their own necks for my life. —Romans 16:3-4

On September 7, 1838, Grace Darling, the daughter of an English lighthouse keeper, spotted a shipwreck and survivors offshore. Together, she and her father courageously rowed their boat a mile through rough waters to rescue several people. Grace became a legend for her compassionate heart and steady hand in risking her life to rescue others.

The apostle Paul tells us of another man and woman team who took risks to rescue others. He wrote about Priscilla and Aquila, his fellow workers in Christ, who “risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (Rom. 16:3-4).

We are not told exactly what “risk” Paul was referring to, but with beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, and threats of death so common to Paul’s ministry, it’s not hard to see how this couple could have put themselves in harm’s way to help their friend. Apparently, Paul’s rescue was more important to them than their own safety.

Rescuing others—whether from physical or spiritual danger—often carries a risk. But when we take a risk by reaching out to others, we reflect the heart of our Savior who gave up so much for us. —Dennis Fisher

The hand of God protects our way

When we would do His will;

And even when we take a risk,

We know He’s with us still. —D. DeHaan

When you’ve been rescued, you’ll want to rescue others.

Bible in a year: Psalms 129-131; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Filled with Reason

Leave a comment

Ravi Z

As the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary proclaiming all that would come to pass, she was perplexed, and yet the text reports that she believed.

“Nothing will be impossible with God,” the angel assured her, and he added news of another miracle close at hand: “Behold, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. She who was called barren is now in her sixth month.”(1)

The scene is hardly the slow motion picture we often imagine it to be in Christmas plays. Undoubtedly as full of questions as she was faith, Mary nonetheless said to Gabriel, “May it be done to me according to your word.” And we are told that immediately Mary arose and went to the house of Elizabeth.

This visit seems a detail easily overlooked. If something fearful and wonderful were to affront the routine of your ordinary day, who would you run to tell first? Mary didn’t immediately run to the man she was promised to marry. She didn’t go first to the religious leaders for their insight into her encounter with God or to her parents for help in dealing with the ramifications of unwed motherhood. She went in a hurry to Elizabeth, though we are not entirely told why. Perhaps Mary was as startled about Elizabeth’s womb as she was about her own. Perhaps she ran to verify Gabriel’s words about her barren relative and in so doing the words about herself. Perhaps she rushed to the one person in her life who would be most conscious of the miraculous hand of God. I imagine a terrified but anticipant teenager running expectantly toward the house of her older relative. “Is it true?”

Yet instead of describing what was going on inside of Mary, the text describes what was going on inside of Elizabeth. As Mary burst through the door with her greeting, the child leaped inside Elizabeth’s womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice Elizabeth cried out: “How has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

If Mary rushed to Elizabeth’s house for affirmation of all that was said to her and all that was to come, she did not turn away disheartened or disillusioned: God was surely among them. The truth of all that was spoken to Mary in a jarring visit from an angel was affirmed in that visit with Elizabeth. And Mary burst into song, uttering one of the most beautiful doxologies in all of Scripture:

My soul exalts the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For God has had regard for the humble state of his bondslave;

For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

Two thousand years ago, a young girl somehow believed that the promises of God spoken to her were miraculous enough to affect generations to come. But more than recognizing God’s words as true, Mary allowed truth to turn her life in a direction she never would have dreamed for herself. She took Gabriel’s invitation to participate in the redemptive narrative of God and accepted with everything in her, despite any fearful, sorrowful cost. Such an orientation may seem irrational to many, but it reflects the beauty of a soul able to be filled with God. As Madeleine L’Engle observes in her poem “After Annunciation”:

This is the irrational season

When love blooms bright and wild,

Had Mary been filled with reason

There’d have been no room for the child.

Mary received God and God’s promises as more than mere words. Beyond reason or rationality, she surrendered to God as author, allowing her life to be deeply and personally transformed, in both wonder and pain. Standing with Elizabeth, Mary praised the mighty one for the things God had done for her, knowing much was still yet to come for both. As was prophesied long before, the Messiah was drawing near, inviting the world to be filled with an invitation bright and wild. As was promised to Mary, the Holy Spirit came upon her, the power of the most high overshadowed her, and the holy child was the light of God.

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

(1) See Luke 1:36-48.

Scriptures, Lessons, News and Links to help you survive.