John Hagee

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

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Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it.

Song of Solomon 8:7

Red roses, sweet sentiments, and chubby cherubs with drawn bows abound on this “love-iest” of holidays!

Every human heart longs to be fully loved and fully known. Beyond the flutter of infatuation, Jesus calls us to a sacrificial love that demands the best of ourselves. The very definition of sacrifice tells us that we give up something valuable for the sake of something more worthy or important.

Paul encourages us to concentrate on harmony in our relationships, on ways to build up others and promote their spiritual growth (Romans 14:19). He urges us to not say or do things that would interfere with the free exchange of love. Put an end to selfishness, and consider another person’s feelings and preferences.

Speak words that are a gift of grace to the person who hears them (Ephesians 4:29). Appropriate words spoken at the right time are like apples of gold in a silver setting (Proverbs 25:11).

Instead of pitting ourselves against one another, we should treat one another with deep affection; prefer one another in love (Romans 12:10). Competition and comparison have no place in God’s family.

Choose love above all else – today and every day. Embrace the sacrificial love that Jesus modeled for us. In the same way He loves us, let us love one another. How does that look in your relationships?

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. May you be rooted and grounded in the incomprehensible love of Jesus, complete in Him. O, the riches of God’s love for us!

Today’s Bible Reading: 

Old Testament

Exodus 37:1-38:31

New Testament 

Matthew 28:1-20

Psalms & Proverbs

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 9:9-10

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Freedom’s Paradox

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A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
Proverbs 25:28, NLT

 Recommended Reading: 1 Peter 1:13-16

One of life’s paradoxes is how self-discipline gives us freedom. People without self-control live under the tyranny of whatever desires master them—pleasure, sleep, sex, indulgence, addictions, or hatred. When the Lord becomes the King of our life, He enables us to grow in the quality of self-control. It’s a fruit of the Spirit. As we’re released from our vices, we’re increasingly free to live healthy and happy lives.

To many people, the word freedom means doing anything you want whenever and wherever you want. But true freedom is impossible without constraint. Limitations don’t bring confinement—they enable freedom. Paul told Timothy, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV). Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…self-control.” 

Identify any area of life in which you find yourself in bondage. Ask God to help you to allow His Spirit to work in your heart so that you will experience true freedom.

Jesus, who lived such a remarkable life, has sent His Spirit to dwell in you. His goal is to reproduce Himself through you—the courage, the self-control, the love, everything.
Charles Stanley

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Safe in God’s Love

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 But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. 

—Jude 1:20–21

Scripture:

Jude 1:20-21 

Though God’s love is unsought, undeserved, and unconditional, it is possible for us to be out of harmony with Him.

The Book of Jude tells us, “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love” (verses 20–21 NLT).

Notice the words “keep yourselves safe in God’s love.” The New King James Version translates it as “keep yourselves in the love of God.”

Does this mean we need to keep ourselves in a state where God will love us? In other words, do we need to make sure that we’re very lovable people? That is virtually impossible. No matter how hard we try, we ultimately will fall short of God’s standards.

Obviously, there is God’s part: He is ready to keep us. But we must take practical steps to keep ourselves in His love.

The Bible isn’t saying that we should do certain things to somehow merit God’s love or earn His approval. Rather, to keep ourselves in the love of God simply means that we need to keep ourselves in a place where God can actively bless us and show His love toward us.

Take, for example, the story of the Prodigal Son. His father loved him, but he foolishly took his portion of the inheritance and went to a distant country to live as a fool. Ultimately, he came to his senses and returned home.

Here’s the question: While the prodigal was away, was he still his father’s son? Yes, although he was a wayward son and a distant son. But technically, was the prodigal still his son? Yes. Was he keeping himself in a place where his father could actively demonstrate his love? No, he was not.

His father probably didn’t even know where his son was at the time. But when his son returned home, he forgave him. The father took off his son’s rags, put a ring on his finger, clothed him, and threw a party for him. So, was the son then in a place where his father could actively show his love toward him? Yes, he was.

The same is true when we disobey God and do things we shouldn’t do. It isn’t that God stops loving us. It isn’t even that we have ceased to be true Christians. We are simply wayward children or prodigals. We have essentially taken ourselves out of the love of God. We have removed ourselves from a place where God can actively show His love in our lives.

Stay in a place where God can show His love to you. Keep yourself from all that is unlike Him, from all that would violate God’s love and grieve Him. Stay away from the things that would tear you down. Instead, stay close to the Lord and around people who will build you up spiritually.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Days of Praise

Days of Praise – Sweet Naamah

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.” (Song of Solomon 1:16)

These words begin King Solomon’s tender expressions of love to his beautiful young wife. Solomon wrote a thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32), but apparently this was his favorite, for he called it his “song of songs” (Song 1:1), and it clearly centered on his beloved, whom he called “my sister, my spouse” no less than four times (Song 4:9-12; 5:1), thereby intimating both their spiritual and marital relationship.

Rehoboam was Solomon’s only son, as far as recorded, and his mother’s name was Naamah (2 Chronicles 12:13), meaning “pleasant.” Since he was 41 years old when he inherited Solomon’s throne and since Solomon had only reigned 40 years (2 Chronicles 9:30), the marriage of Solomon and Naamah must have been formalized when Solomon was quite young, long before he was married to Pharoah’s daughter or any of his other 700 wives. Naamah was then and always his one real love, in spite of his spiritual defections in old age. His counsel to young men near the end of his life was “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days…of thy vanity” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).

Note that Solomon called her “fair” and “beloved” in our text, and then “pleasant.” The Hebrew word for “pleasant” is very similar to “Naamah,” as though Solomon were calling her by a shortened form of her name as a term of endearment. The same word is occasionally translated “sweet.” Naamah was surely a sweet, pleasant maiden but also a capable woman in mind and heart, fit to become a queen.

Solomon’s song for and about her is an inspired ode to true marital love and thus can even be a figurative testimony to the love of Christ, the “greater than Solomon,” for His church (Matthew 12:42). HMM

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

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Jesus’ Blood

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Bible in a Year :

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Isaiah 1:18

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Isaiah 1:15–20

The color red doesn’t always naturally occur in the things we make. How do you put the vibrant color of an apple into a T-shirt or lipstick? In early times, the red pigment was made from clay or red rocks. In the 1400s, the Aztecs invented a way of using cochineal insects to make red dye. Today, those same tiny insects supply the world with red.

In the Bible, red denotes royalty, and it also signifies sin and shame. Further, it’s the color of blood. When soldiers “stripped [Jesus] and put a scarlet robe on him” (Matthew 27:28), these three symbolisms merged into one heartbreaking image of red: Jesus was ridiculed as would-be royalty, He was cloaked in shame, and He was robed in the color of the blood He would soon shed. But Isaiah’s words foretell the promise of this crimsoned Jesus to deliver us from the red that stains us: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (1:18).

One other thing about those cochineal insects used for red dye—they are actually milky white on the outside. Only when they are crushed do they release their red blood. That little fact echoes for us other words from Isaiah: “[Jesus] was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus, who knew no sin, is here to save us who are red with sin. You see, in His crushing death, Jesus endured a whole lot of red so you could be white as snow.

By:  Kenneth Petersen

Reflect & Pray

How do “sins . . . like scarlet” stain your life? How might Jesus restore you and make you clean again?

Dear God, thank You for Your Son, Jesus, and the saving grace of His shed blood.

http://www.odb.org

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – Evidences of God’s Power

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“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know . . . what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

God’s power is seen in creation, preservation, redemption, and resurrection.

Think of all the energy we get from the sun, and multiply that by the innumerable stars in space. But God by His great power created all the stars with no effort whatsoever: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host” (Ps. 33:6). He just spoke, and they were made.

God’s power also preserves the universe. Christ “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3), and “in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Chaos would result unless His sustaining hands were directing the orderliness of creation (Ps. 104; Jer. 31:35-36).

God’s power was beautifully demonstrated at the cross. Satan was subdued, death was conquered, and the penalty for our sins was paid. The gospel “is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes” (Rom. 1:16). When we were saved, God made each of us “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only that, but “He who began a good work in [us] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). God’s power saved us and gives us strength to live lives pleasing to Him.

The power of God is also made evident in resurrection. Did you know that someday God is going to resurrect every human being who ever lived? The righteous will be raised to eternal life, and the unrighteous to eternal damnation (John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:11-15). Billions of people, long dead, will be resurrected. What tremendous power!

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Praise God for the power He has shown in His beautiful creation.
  • Thank God that by His power He made you into a new creation and will someday raise you to eternal life.

For Further Study

Psalm 33 is a song of praise to God for His power and sovereignty. Examine what it teaches about God’s power, and read it as your own prayer of praise.

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur 

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Blessed Assurance

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For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

— Romans 8:38-39 (AMPC)

You cannot trust unless you believe you are loved. To grow in God and be changed you must trust Him. Often, He will lead you in ways you cannot understand. During those times you must have a tight grip on His love for you. The apostle Paul was convinced that nothing would ever be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You need to have that same absolute assurance of God’s undying love for you.

Accept God’s love for you and make that love the basis for your love for others. Receive His affirmation, knowing that you are changing and becoming everything He desires you to be.

Prayer of the Day: Father, help me trust in Your unending love for me, as I continue to grow in my faith. Show me how to use Your love as an example on how to show my love for other people, amen.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Alistair Begg

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – The Ultimate Reality

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Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you.”

Isaiah 42:5–6

In 1932, Albert Einstein observed, “Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore.”[1] Indeed, you won’t have to listen too long before you hear people say that we live in a world of chance, where history merely repeats itself and there is no overarching purpose in the universe. If this is true, it is hard to find significance in life. There is nothing to do but live, and then die.

God speaks into the absence of purpose resulting from this view of reality. He proclaims the ultimate reality that changes everything: Himself. God introduces Himself, revealing His identity: “I am the LORD.” God’s name (here, “the LORD”) is not simply what we call Him; it expresses His being. God’s many names in the Bible give significant information about who He is: eternal, self-sustaining, sovereign… and much more!

As God speaks, He also reveals His power. The heavens are His design, and He is the one who spread out the earth and gives form and life to all that comes from it. Creation’s stability and productivity are grounded in the Creator. We are not the product of some self-existing evolutionary surge but of the direct act of a Designer. We cannot make sense of our existence apart from God. We were never meant to.

And what is God’s purpose now for everything that He has made? To bring about righteousness on the earth through salvation. “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.” He is speaking here not to us but to His Son, the Servant whom Isaiah introduces. When we are in need of counsel, in need of friendship, in need of forgiveness, in need of salvation, God has said, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold” (Isaiah 42:1, NIV).

We will never be as satisfied in life as when we discover our ultimate reality in Christ. Flowing from that reality we find our purpose: “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”[2] If you wish to know purpose and fulfillment in life, you have only to embrace and rejoice in the Lord’s Servant, glorifying God just as Simeon did: “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32).

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

Isaiah 42:1–13

Topics: Character of God Creation Jesus Christ

FOOTNOTES

1 “My Credo,” quoted in Michael White and John Gribbin, Einstein: A Life in Science(Free Press, 2005), p 262.

2 Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q.1.

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – Today’s Devotional

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God Delights To Answer Prayer

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).

Regular readers, please see a special note for you at the foot of this devotional.*

When Michele was eleven, her best friend left their school to go to a different school. Michele’s class was small, and she didn’t feel close to any of the other three girls in the class. She wanted so much to have a best friend that she could talk to.

That summer before sixth grade, Michele’s mom said, “Why don’t you pray that God will send a new girl to your class next year to be your close friend?” She took her mom’s advice and started praying. But she didn’t have much faith. Where would a new girl come from? And even if a new girl did come, would she really want to be her friend? Michele dreaded the beginning of the new school year, because she didn’t believe God would answer her prayer.

Then in August, a new girl named Kelly and her family started coming to Michele’s church. God had moved her all the way to Kansas from the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean! That fall, Kelly was in Michele’s sixth grade class. She was so cheerful and friendly that it was easy for Michele to get to know her. They quickly became best friends and went through the rest of high school together. They even attended the same college for four years, and still keep in touch today.

Michele would tell you now that God delights to answer the prayers of His children. It brings Him glory when we ask and truly depend on Him for things we need. If we ask for things that are good for us, He is pleased to give them to us at just the right time. But sometimes He goes beyond giving us what we ask for. Often, His gifts are better than anything we could have asked for or even imagined. And His gifts are always the best thing for us.

God delights to answer the prayers of His children.

My Response:
» What am I praying for?
» Am I praying with faith that God will answer in the best way?

* Dear Reader,
On behalf of Kids 4 Truth, I apologize that this devotional is so similar to the one posted a week later, which is an edited version of the same thing. We are very sorry that this happened, and it was difficult to fix because the mistake was caught after the audio was recorded. This is the older, un-edited version. The February 21st version is the newer, edited devotional. ~ Joy McCarnan, K4T Executive Editor

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – A majority of Americans say Biden and Trump are too old to serve second terms

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The Associated Press is reporting this morning that Sunday’s Super Bowl, with 123.4 million viewers, was the most-watched program in television history. The Kansas City Chiefs and their fans are preparing for their victory parade tomorrow. A variety of outlets are offering their rankings of Super Bowl commercials from best to worst (my personal favorite was the Ben Affleck/Tom Brady/Matt Damon ad).

And people are still talking about something that did not happen during the game: the customary interview with the president of the United States. White House officials said they made the decision to skip the interview because Super Bowl viewers wanted to watch football, not the president. One official added that President Biden turned down the interview because the network would have aired just a brief clip on Sunday instead of a fuller extended version.

However, many saw the decision as evidence of Mr. Biden’s advancing age, an issue that has been especially in the news with last week’s report from special counsel Robert Hur that the president is an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

This issue is not going away for the president, or for the leading contender to replace him in the Oval Office.

The median age for US presidents

The median age for all US presidents on the day of their first inauguration is fifty-five years old. This aligns with the fact that most Americans prefer the president to be in their fifties.

Consequently, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, 86 percent of Americans think Joe Biden, age 81, is too old to serve a second term as president; 62 percent say the same about Donald Trump, age 77.

This issue is not confined to the Oval Office.

According to the Census Bureau, the median age in America is 38.9 years old. However, the average ages in the House and Senate are 58 and 64, respectively.

In the Senate:

  • Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is 72.
  • Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is 81.
  • Senators Chuck Grassley and Bernie Sanders are 90 and 81, respectively; neither has any plans to retire.

In the House of Representatives:

  • Nancy Pelosi, age 83, is running for reelection.
  • Bill Pascrell Jr. and Eleanor Holmes Norton are both 86.
  • Harold Rogers and Maxine Waters are both 85.
  • Steny Hoyer is 84.

What does the gerontological state of our leadership say about us?

“Their entire identity is tied to their jobs”

Mary Kate Cary was a speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush and serves as adjunct professor with the University of Virginia Department of Politics. She notes that most baby boomers who delay retirement do so because they can’t afford to stop working. However, the political leaders we’ve listed today have plenty of money and would enjoy government pensions and health care benefits if they retired.

In her experience, some leaders are in denial about their mortality, equating retirement with death and refusing to admit any limitations they might be facing. Others are motivated by power and ego with the belief that they’re indispensable.

And some are identity driven. Cary writes: “Many of the senior leaders I’ve seen have worked so hard for so long that their entire identity is tied to their jobs.”

Let’s reflect on Cary’s last point. People in a democracy elect leaders who represent them (in the sense of typifying them) to represent them (in the sense of acting on their behalf). In a performance-centric culture that measures success by achievements, why would our leaders not tie their “entire identity” to their jobs?

How are they different from the rest of us?

“Do vs. done”

As a wise mentor once told me, the difference between Christianity and every other worldview can be summarized by this simple formula: “Do vs. done.”

If we focus on what we do, we’re never done. We have to keep doing it with no assurance that we’ve ever done enough. If we focus on what Christ has done, however, there’s nothing we must do: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Now we have a choice to make. We can find our identity in what we do, with all the failures and frustrations common to fallen people.

Or we can find our identity in what Christ has done, remembering every day that we are the beloved children of God (John 1:12). We can serve him, not so he will love us but because he already does. We can serve others, not so they will love us but because our Father loves them.

Imagine the difference such grace-centered, joyful living would make in our unhappy, anxious, performance-driven culture.

John MacArthur noted:

“God treated Jesus on the cross as if he lived your life so he could treat you as if you lived his.”

How will you treat yourself today?

Tuesday news to know

Quote for the day

“At the heart of what it means to be a Christian is to receive a new identity. In Jesus, we do not lose our true selves, but we become our true selves, only in him.” —John Piper

Denison Forum

John Hagee

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

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Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

Amos 3:3

Great marriages do not just happen! They succeed because the husband and the wife invest 110% to create a relationship that does not just survive, but thrives!

A basketball player tosses up hundreds of practice attempts so he can sink that critical free throw in a game situation. Good musicians practice endlessly to perfect their sound. Luck has little to do with it. Couples must be deliberate about building Godly relationships and strong families.

They determine to serve Jesus – individually and together. They seek His way of doing things first, and they trust God for all the other things (Matthew 6:33).

Intentional couples carve out time for one another. External demands and obligations take a toll, so they seriously guard their intimacy and create space for just the two of them.

They cultivate authentic communication. Ten minutes of talk about to-do lists and daily details does not constitute connection. Genuine communication requires time, eye contact, listening, and conversing.

Intentional couples choose the priorities they build into their relationships. How will they serve together? Will their home be filled with music? Or will they spend every free minute outdoors? Who will be in their inner circle? When will they pray and study together?

Couples do not drift into great marriages; they take prayer, time, practice, and work. Heart-to-heart and hand-in-hand, they agree on how to walk together. They build intentionally.

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. Build your home upon the sure foundation of Christ Jesus. May He bless the home of the righteous and add every good thing to them!

Today’s Bible Reading: 

Old Testament

Exodus 35:10-36:35

New Testament 

Matthew 27:35-66

Psalms & Proverbs

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 9:7-8

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Hogging the Road

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He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Proverbs 16:32

 Recommended Reading: Titus 2:11-15

Fred had no self-control, and he left a path of destruction behind him. He was a four-hundred-pound hog who got loose in Colorado last fall. He covered four miles over ten days, tearing up lawns and digging up roots along the way. He was finally captured by animal service agents, who found him a home at a local high school’s agriculture farm.

Too many people who lack self-control carve a path of heartache and destruction. Peter told us to add self-control to our knowledge (2 Peter 1:6), and Paul told Titus to bring self-control to the churches and Christians on the island of Crete (Titus 1:8). He said, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled” (Titus 2:11-12, NIV). 

Is there an area of your life needing more self-discipline? Ask for God’s help and work diligently on that area. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just speaking hogwash!

Not only is self-control strong, it is also beautiful. Anger is not beautiful. Ungoverned temper is not lovely. Rage is demonic. But a spirit calm, strong, and unflustered amid storms of feeling and all manner of disturbing emotions, is sublime in its beauty.
James Russell Miller

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Why God Created Us

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Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them. 

—Isaiah 43:7

Scripture:

Isaiah 43:7 

What is the purpose of our lives? Why do we exist? Why are we here on this earth?

According to the Bible, we exist primarily to bring pleasure to God. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God said, “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them” (Isaiah 43:7 NLT).

That thought really bothers some people. They like to think that the world revolves around them. The result is they will end up squandering their lives in pursuit of something they never should have been seeking outright, and that something is happiness.

If you want to be an unhappy person, then try to be a happy person. In other words, if you try to find happiness by pursuing it, you never will attain it.

God predestined us to bring Him glory. That is a foundational truth that we all need to lay hold of. To miss this is to miss the reason that we’re on this earth in the first place.

The Bible says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:4–5 NLT).

This is also echoed in Heaven. We read in Revelation 4 about twenty-four elders who fall in worship before the Lord on His throne, saying, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased” (verse 11 NLT).

Let that sink in for a moment. The twenty-four elders are saying to God, “You created everything, and it’s for Your pleasure that they exist and were created.” God didn’t create us for our own pleasure; He created us for His pleasure. He created us to glorify Him.

When people try to find happiness in someone or something, it always will be a little bit beyond their reach, a little bit elusive, a little bit hard to get. They think it will be in that next relationship, that next experience, that next possession, or that next accomplishment.

Those who live this way don’t care what it costs. They don’t care about rules and regulations. Happiness is the main priority of their lives. But they never will find it.

Here’s the good news for us as Christians. When we seek to fulfill the purpose for which God created us—which is to glorify Him, honor Him, and bring Him pleasure—then we will find happiness.

It will come not from seeking it but from seeking Him. As the psalmist David wrote, “Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15 NLT). We must never lose sight of the simple truth that we were created to glorify God.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Importance of Reading

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by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” (1 Timothy 4:13)

In this video age, Christians are in grave danger of forgetting the importance of reading. The word translated “reading” in this verse is the Greek anagnosis, a compound word meaning essentially “renewed knowledge.” A sermon or lecture is knowledge heard; an educational film or video is knowledge seen; but reading is knowledge that can be read, rehearsed, reviewed, and renewed again and again, until fully and securely learned. In fact, it is necessary for students to take notes, even when hearing a sermon or seeing a film, if they expect to retain any knowledge received by such means.

The importance of reading is also pointed out by the verb used in the verse. “Give attendance” means, literally, “continue steadfastly.” It is so translated in Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.”

Reading and studying the Scriptures are especially necessary for a fruitful Christian ministry, but even this is not really enough. The Bible also commands us always to be ready to give an “answer” (Greek apologia, a systematic defense) to everyone who asks a “reason” (Greek logos, a logical explanation) for our Christian hope (1 Peter 3:15). To do this requires steadfast continuance in the study not only of the Bible but also of other sound literature as well. A truly effective and influential Christian is an informed Christian, armed with facts and sound counsel, prepared and capable both in his own professional field of practice and in his spiritual service as a Christian witness.

It is significant that Paul, just before his martyrdom and while imprisoned in a damp, cold Roman dungeon, still desired his books to read (2 Timothy 4:13). The conscientious Christian must never cease to study and to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). HMM

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

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Loving Our Enemies

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Bible in a Year :

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:44

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Matthew 5:43–48

With the American Civil War spawning many bitter feelings, Abraham Lincoln saw fit to speak a kind word about the South. A shocked bystander asked how he could do so. He replied, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Reflecting on those words a century later, Martin Luther King Jr. commented, “This is the power of redemptive love.”

In calling disciples of Christ to love their enemies, King looked to the teachings of Jesus. He noted that although believers might struggle to love those who persecute them, this love grows out of “a consistent and total surrender to God.” “When we love in this way,” King continued, “we’ll know God and experience the beauty of His holiness.” 

King referenced Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which He said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44–45). Jesus counseled against the conventional wisdom of the day of loving only one’s neighbors and hating one’s enemies. Instead, God the Father gives His children the strength to love those who oppose them.

It may feel impossible to love our enemies, but as we look to God for help, He’ll answer our prayers. He gives the courage to embrace this radical practice, for as Jesus said, “with God all things are possible” (19:26).

By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

Who is your enemy? If you feel conflicted about loving those who oppose you, how could you submit those feelings to God?

Loving God, You’ve made me—as well as those who hurt me—in Your image. Help me to see them as You do.

http://www.odb.org

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – God Has Unlimited Power

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 “‘Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all’” (1 Chronicles 29:11).

God has unlimited power and ultimate control over everything.

There is no limit to God’s power. Revelation 19:6 says, “The Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” In fact, one Hebrew name for God is El Shaddai (El means “God”; Shaddai means “almighty”). Another word for “almighty” is “omnipotent.”

God can do anything effortlessly. It is no more difficult for Him to create a universe than it is for Him to make a butterfly. We get tired when we work, but God’s infinite power never lessens: “The creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired” (Isa. 40:28).

Not only does God have unlimited power but also the authority to use it. “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Ps. 115:3). But God’s power, authority, and will are in harmony with His nature. He cannot sin, neither can He accept impenitent sinners. Such actions would contradict His holiness.

People often question what God does because they don’t understand that He can do anything He wants. They ask, “Why did God do that?” I’ve often replied, “Because He wanted to.” He showed His sovereignty—His ultimate control of everything—in showing mercy to some like Isaac and Jacob, while hardening the hearts of others like Pharaoh (Rom. 9:6-21). To those who object to God’s right to control such things, Paul said, “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay . . . ?” (vv. 20-21).

Never question God’s use of His power. He is in control, and “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds” (Ps. 145:17). We can trust that whatever He does, it’s for the best.

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise God for His infinite power and sovereignty.

For Further Study

Read Isaiah 40:21-31.

  • How has God demonstrated His power?
  • How has He demonstrated His sovereignty?
  • What comfort should that bring to you?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur 

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Prayer Produces Patience and Hope

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Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

— Romans 5:3-4 (AMPC)

It is easy to say, “Don’t worry.” But to actually do that requires experience with the faithfulness of God. When we trust God and then see and experience His faithfulness in our lives, it gives us great confidence to live without worry, fear, and anxiety.

That’s why it is so important to continue to have faith and trust in God in the very midst of trials and tribulations. With God’s help, we can steadfastly resist the temptation to give up and quit when the going gets rough. God uses those hard, trying times to build in us patience, endurance, and character that will eventually produce the habit of joyful and confident hope.

Always remember that when you are in a battle, you are gaining valuable experience that will benefit you in the future. You will more easily trust God when difficulty comes, and you will be able to testify to others regarding the goodness and faithfulness of God. If you are in a battle right now, you can let it defeat you or make you stronger! Make the right decision and let it help bring you into a deeper level of spiritual maturity.

Prayer of the Day: Father, You are a God Who is so marvelous, and I know You can work out things for my good—those things that Satan intends for my harm. Please strengthen my faith to trust Your faithfulness, even in trials. Help me grow in patience, endurance, and joyful, confident hope, amen.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Alistair Begg

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – The Key to Unity

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In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:22

When someone comes to Christ by faith, the transformation of their identity is comprehensive. In the language Paul employs in Ephesians 2, the dead sinner is now alive in Christ; the child of wrath becomes a child of God. But the new identity is not merely individual. We are not each of us alone in Christ; we are in Him with all of God’s people. This is why Paul, in Ephesians 2, moves from our individual experience of grace to the corporate work that God’s grace accomplishes. Paul tells us, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (v 19). The “one new man” (v 15) that Christ is making is gloriously crowded with fellow heirs of grace. This is not to say that our individual human identity becomes irrelevant. Our background and our makeup—our sex, ethnicity, and personal history—are not obliterated in Christ. We are who we are, made in God’s image, fashioned according to His purposes. But what unifies us in Christ—our union with Christ—transcends everything else.

We must beware the temptation to forget the reason for our unity. No one is immune from turning elements of their identity into barriers—barriers of status, of color, of class, of personality type, or personal preferences. As Christians, we must be prepared to acknowledge how easy it is to get this wrong. We must be prepared, if we find ourselves guilty of such wrong, to repent from and grieve over that which displeases God.

The key to Christian unity is the gospel. Paul recognized that only God can soften hard hearts, only God can open blind eyes, and only God can bring disparate people together and form something truly, gloriously united. God is making “one new man,” and He is making that new man in His church. In Christ, God is building a “holy temple” (Ephesians 2:21) that is “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Partiality based on race, class, or status has no place in the place where God dwells by His Spirit. One day you will experience the fullness of your union with Christ and His people for eternity; but that can, and should, begin now. You have the privilege of fostering that unity today in the way you use your time and in the way you think of, pray for, and speak to your brothers and sisters in your church.

We are building day by day,
As the moments glide away,
Our temple, which the world may not see;
Every victory won by grace
Will be sure to find its place
In our building for eternity.[1]

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

1 Corinthians 13

Topics: The Church Gospel Union with Christ Unity

FOOTNOTES

1 Fanny J. Crosby, “We Are Building” (1891).

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – God Has Not Given You a Spirit of Fear

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“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).

One day when Kelly was in second grade, she flipped a few pages ahead in her math book and saw little clocks all over the pages. She was going to have to learn how to tell time—on non-digital clocks! She was terrified. She was sure that she would never be able to learn that. From that moment on, she worried and worried and worried about the clock lesson.

When the day came to learn about telling time, Kelly was so worried and fearful that she could not even concentrate on the lesson. Just as she had feared, when she got her clock paper back, there were checkmarks next to almost every problem and a sad face at the top of the page! Her fear about that math lesson had taken over her mind and kept her from understanding.

Kelly eventually learned how to tell time on regular clocks. But she still sometimes allows herself to be controlled by sinful fear about other things. Any time that we are being controlled by fear, we are not being controlled by God. His Word says that fear does not come from Him. Instead, He gives us a spirit of power, love, and control. With God in control, we can be calm and clear-thinking, and we can obey everything that God tells us to do.

God does not give us a fearful spirit.

My Response:
» Is there sinful fear in my life that I need to confess to God? https://equipu.kids4truth.com

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Millions watch Taylor Swift watch the Chiefs win the Super Bowl

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More than one hundred million people watched the Chiefs’ overtime victory over the 49ers in yesterday’s Super Bowl. More than sixteen million of them then mysteriously contracted the “Super Bowl flu” and won’t be showing up for work today. Millions more plan to show up late. So many employees skip work the day after the big game that some state lawmakers are trying to make today an official holiday.

None of this surprises you, I assume. The Super Bowl has been an unofficial national holiday in America for years. What might surprise you is the number of fans watching yesterday’s game who have never watched football before.

They are called “Chiefties.”

The NFL has Taylor Swift to thank.

The “healing synthesis” we seek

The most watched watcher of football finished a four-night concert series in Tokyo on Saturday night, then crossed nine time zones to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, make nine catches for the Chiefs in yesterday’s game. Legions of her fans (known as “Swifties”), many of whom are new to football, watched the game so they could watch her watch the game.

Journalist David Samuels perceptively explains Swift’s popularity:

After spending the last fifty years tearing down the structures of families, churches, local government, ethnicity, gender, nations, and borders, a very large number of Americans now find themselves struggling to find rhythm and meaning to their lives.

The idea that Taylor Swift, of all people, can find happiness cheering for her boyfriend, a burly, bearded football star, seems well-deserved. It is also an embodiment of the kind of healing synthesis . . . a large majority of Americans want for themselves.

In a day when 76 percent of Americans believe their country is headed in the wrong direction and less than half are “very satisfied” with their own lives, Samuels’ analysis rings true.

But if we think we can find the “healing synthesis” we seek watching a pop star watch a football game, we’ll be sorely disappointed.

“We must be intent upon the eternal”

Taylor Swift traveled more than five thousand miles in her private jet to sit in a private suite at the Super Bowl. The Son of God traveled from heaven to earth to be born in a cave, executed on a cross, and buried in another cave.

Why? God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, my emphasis).

Fifteen centuries ago, St. Leo the Great explained:

Our Lord Jesus Christ, born true man without ever ceasing to be true God, began in his person a new creation and by the manner of his birth gave man a spiritual origin. What mind can grasp this mystery, what tongue can fittingly recount this gift of love? Guilt becomes innocence, old becomes new, strangers are adopted, and outsiders are made heirs. Rouse yourself, man, and recognize the dignity of your nature. Remember that you were made in God’s image; though corrupted in Adam, that image has been restored in Christ.

Consequently, as Leo noted:

“We are born in the present only to be reborn in the future. Our attachment, therefore, should not be to the transitory; instead, we must be intent upon the eternal.”

How to “stand near the fire”

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis noted:

If you want to get warm, you must stand near the fire. If you want to get wet, you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if he chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you; if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?

How can we “stand near the fire” today?

  • Make Christ the king of your life and day: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
  • Spend this day in his presence: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4).
  • Think biblically and act redemptively: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).
  • Name your greatest challenge, then “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that [you] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

The Anglican bishop Thomas Ken (1637–1711) penned a prayer that God will use to transform any who dare pray its words from their hearts:

Direct, control, suggest this day
All I design or do or say
That all my pow’rs with all their might
In Thy sole glory may unite.

For whose glory will your “pow’rs” unite today?

Monday news to know

Quote for the day

“This is the stunning message of Christianity: Jesus died for you so that he might live in you. Jesus doesn’t merely improve your old nature; he imparts to you an entirely new nature—one that is completely united with his.” —David Platt

Denison Forum

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