Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Most Important of the Least Important Things

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To say I was looking forward to watching my team play was an understatement. My excitement was heightened by the fact that the value of the tickets I possessed far outweighed what I had actually paid for them. The high demand and difficulty in obtaining them meant they were worth much more financially than the purchase price. They were also of personal value, as this was to be our oldest son’s first game, to mark his tenth birthday, and I have only ever been a handful of times in my life myself. Lastly, the game had taken on a much greater historical significance, as my club appeared to be on the brink of winning the league for the first time in 30 years, and there was even the possibility that the championship might be clinched at the match we were going to. Everything seemed perfectly poised. Everything, that is, until the world suddenly changed…

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the globe and has caused some of the richest and most technologically advanced nations to grind to a halt. Sporting fixtures were of course one casualty of the chaos, prompting the coach of my team to reflect that the game was simply the “most important of the least important things.”

This succinct reflection perfectly captures the way in which the on-going tragedy has put everything else into perspective. It has given us all pause for thought about how we spend our time and what we consider valuable in normal life. Has the crisis caused you to think about or re-evaluate what or who is important in your life?

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Conversation with God

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The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me. — John 10:27 (AMP)

Adapted from the resource Wake Up to the Word – by Joyce Meyer

It’s so important to remember that prayer is meant to be a conversation. When you’re praying, make sure to listen to what God tells you, either through His Word or His still, small voice in your heart (which will always line up with His Word).

Communication is a two-way street—it doesn’t consist of one person doing all the talking while the other does all the listening. The best conversations happen when both people are fully engaged in both listening and speaking. You may need to develop your ability to listen, but boy is it worth it when you start hearing the awesome things God has to say! He’s invited us into an authentic, intimate relationship with Him where we’re free to share absolutely everything.

God is not someone we visit for one hour on Sunday morning and ignore the rest of the week unless we have an emergency—He is Someone we live with. He’s our home, our safe place, and we can be comfortable with Him.

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You so much that talking to You doesn’t have to be a ritual or formula! Today, help me to be aware and intentional to thank You for the blessings in each moment, and to listen closely when You speak. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Be Fearless

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“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1).

The psalmist David did not choose words carelessly – but under divine inspiration – when he spoke of light and salvation.

Of all the memorials in Westminster Abbey, not one has a nobler thought inscribed on it than the monument to Lord Lawrence – simply his name, with the date of his death, and these words:

“He feared man so little because he feared God so much.”

Charles H. Spurgeon gives some helpful insights into Psalm 27:1.

“In the New Testament, the idea which is hinted at in the language of David is expressly revealed as a truth. God does not merely give us His light. He is light, just as He is love in His own uncreated nature.

“God is light, ‘John writes in his epistle,’ and in Him is no darkness at all.’ When John sought to teach us our Lord’s Godhead as clearly and as sharply as possible, he calls Him the ‘light,’ meaning to teach us that as such He shares the essential nature of the Deity.”

How wonderful that we need not live in darkness – in any sense of the word – but that we immediately can have the Light of Life, God Himself, available to us in the person of His indwelling Holy Spirit as well as in His inspired Word. Every prerequisite for the abundant, supernatural life has been made available to us, and access is immediate if we come to Him immediately with our needs.

Bible Reading: Psalm 27:2-6

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With God’s help, I will follow Him who is my light and my salvation. I will have no fear of men or circumstances.

 

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Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Sometimes God Takes His Time

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

Sometimes God takes His time.  One-hundred and twenty years to prepare Noah for the flood. Eighty years to prepare Moses for his work.  God called young David to be king, but returned him to the sheep pasture.  He called Paul to be an apostle and then isolated him in Arabia for fourteen years.

How long will God take with you?  His history is redeemed, not in minutes, but in lifetimes.  We fear the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave.  Will this sky ever brighten?  This load ever lighten?

Life in the pit stinks.  Yet for all its rottenness, doesn’t it do this much?  Doesn’t it force us to look upward?  The Bible promises, at the right time, in God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good.  You will get through this!

 

Read more You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum – Tom Hanks’s virtual commencement address and Star Wars Day: Are you trusting the Force more than the Father?

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Tom Hanks delivered a virtual commencement address last weekend for the graduates of Ohio’s Wright State University. He called them the “chosen ones” in part because of the pandemic that has changed our lives so dramatically.

The actor explained: “You are the chosen ones because of a fate unimagined when you began your Wright State adventures.” As a result, he predicted, “You will be enlightened in ways your degree never held in promise. You will have made it through a time of great sacrifice and great need. No one will be more fresh to the task of restarting our normalcy than you—our chosen ones.”

What Warren Buffett thinks about our future 

Yesterday was Star Wars Day with its annual slogan, “May the Fourth be with you.” But today is also special for Star Wars fans, since the fifth rhymes with Sith (the ancient enemies of the Jedi Order).

The Star Wars universe has been a cultural phenomenon for more than four decades in large part because of its assurance that “the Force will be with you, always.” This “Force,” however, is not a personal God but, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explained, an impersonal “energy field created by all living things.” It is available to us as we seek to defeat the “dark side.”

In this sense, the Star Wars worldview reinforces and amplifies our belief in ourselves. A single Jedi knight can destroy a Death Star. People passionately committed to good can defeat those committed to evil.

What Tom Hanks told the graduates of Wright State University is what Americans believe about ourselves: we can persevere through pain and triumph over tragedy. Warren Buffett made the same optimistic claim during a recent company shareholders meeting: “Nothing can basically stop America. The American miracle, the American magic, has always prevailed, and it will do so again.”

This can-do spirit fueled the pioneers who risked their lives and families to come to this New World, the settlers who pushed its frontiers from the East Coast to the West, and the entrepreneurs who built the greatest economic force the world has ever seen. Every time I travel overseas, I am deeply grateful to return to this country. My father and grandfather fought for our nation. I will always love America.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Advancing Through Adversity

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Philippians 3:7-11

One of the hardest things for Christians to understand is how to find joy in suffering. Yet we know it can be done, because James tells us, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2). And Peter says, “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing” (1 Peter 4:13). What’s more, with regard to persecution, Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (Matt. 5:12). But how is this possible?

Paul offers a clue in Philippians, where he talks about “the fellowship of [Jesus’] sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). In this part of the letter, the apostle’s objective is to know Christ and know Him thoroughly. If the Lord is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, then can we truly know Him while ignoring these attributes?

When we view hardships as windows into the heart of our Savior, our perspective changes: Suffering begins to feel more like an opportunity than a curse. It gives us access to intimate fellowship with Jesus that comes only through shared suffering.

Are you struggling in a trial today? I pray for your strength to endure so that you might discover more of who Jesus truly is.

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 10-12

 

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Eclipse

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Bible in a Year:

I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—and will rebuild it as it used to be.

Amos 9:11

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Amos 8:9–12; 9:11–12

I was prepared with eye protection, an ideal viewing location, and homemade moon pie desserts. Along with millions of people in the US, my family watched the rare occurrence of a total solar eclipse—the moon covering the entire disk of the sun.

The eclipse caused an unusual darkness to come over the typically bright summer afternoon. Although for us this eclipse was a fun celebration and a reminder of God’s incredible power over creation (Psalm 135:6–7), throughout history darkness during the day has been seen as abnormal and foreboding (Exodus 10:21; Matthew 27:45), a sign that everything is not as it should be.

This is what darkness signified for Amos, a prophet during the time of the divided monarchy in ancient Israel. Amos warned the Northern Kingdom that destruction would come if they continued to turn away from God. As a sign, God would “make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight” (Amos 8:9).

But God’s ultimate desire and purpose was—and is—to make all things right. Even when the people were taken into exile, God promised to one day bring a remnant back to Jerusalem and “repair its broken walls and restore its ruins” (9:11).

Even when life is at its darkest, like Israel, we can find comfort in knowing God is at work to bring light and hope back—to all people (Acts 15:14–18).

By:  Lisa M. Samra

 

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Myth of Safety

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In the January 2, 2015 issue of Science magazine, I read a troubling article. Two researchers—one a cancer geneticist and the other a biostatistician—found that approximately two-thirds of all cancers are the result of “biological bad luck.”(1) The ‘bad luck’ they describe is simply the random genetic mutations that happen as a result of healthy cells dividing. Utilizing a statistical model to analyze historical literature on cancer, they examined the rates of cell division in 31 types of bodily tissue. Focusing specifically on stem cells—the specialized population of cells within each organ tissue that provide replacements when cells wear out—they found that the higher the rate of stem-cell division the more increased the risk of cancer. The reason why? Dividing cells must make copies of their DNA. The more they divide (over time), the higher the risk that errors in the copying process could set off the uncontrolled growth that leads to cancer.(2)

These findings are troubling because they create doubt as to whether preventative controls matter at all in the fight against cancer. They are troubling especially as I thought of all those who have come face to face with the “randomness” of cancer. They are more than just statistics; they are family members, friends, and colleagues who struggle with this often-deadly disease. Confidence erodes in any sense of control over one’s safety and health in light of findings like these.

As I read studies like this, or simply look out on the world around me, it is sometimes difficult not to collapse under the weight of what appears to be random catastrophic events. Mistaken identity, for example, was the “reason” a classmate and dear friend of my brother was murdered, not two-weeks into his new marriage. Working as an urban missionary, he was murdered at the front door of a home in which he was coming to share the Christian faith. Those inside mistook him for someone who had done harm to them in the past. In another seemingly random event, two wilderness experts/enthusiasts river-rafting in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge awoke to find a grizzly bear in their campsite. Though they were armed with a rifle and other necessary protection, they were mauled and killed by the bear. They startled the bear as they emerged in the morning to prepare some breakfast. Apparently, being in the wrong place at the wrong time can get one killed. But the ‘wrong’ place often seems to be as arbitrary as a roll of the dice. Now as I write this, a microorganism has spread around the globe and erased all notions of being in the ‘right’ place.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – It Won’t Last Forever

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Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. — James 1:2–3 (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource Trusting God Day by Day – by Joyce Meyer

I’ve heard many people who live in places where there are four distinct seasons talk about how much they enjoy winter, spring, summer, and fall. They like the variety and the unique beauty, qualities, and opportunities of each season. The Bible tells us God Himself changes times and seasons (see Dan. 2:21).

Seasons change, both in the natural world and in our lives. We all have off days, tough weeks, bad months, or even sometimes a whole year that seems way too full of troubles, but thankfully every difficult situation will come to an end.

Some of the trying situations we find ourselves in seem to go on way too long. When this happens, we’re often tempted to complain or get discouraged. Instead of giving in, though, the best thing we can do is look to God for strength and ask Him to teach us something valuable as we press through each day. According to James 1:2–3, God uses trials and pressure to produce character and growth in us.

Sometimes His blessings come through unexpected circumstances that appear negative, but if we choose to trust God and keep a positive attitude in the middle of those situations, we’ll experience the blessings He wants to give us. If you’re going through a difficult time right now, let me remind you that this probably isn’t the first challenge you’ve ever faced. You overcame the last one (and probably learned some valuable lessons through it), and you will make it through this one, too.

Your trials are temporary—they will not last forever. Better days are coming. Keep your focus on Jesus, let Him strengthen you, and remember that this is just a season, and it will pass.

Prayer Starter: Father, please help me to grow, even in the middle of the difficult things I’m dealing with. Thank You for strengthening me, for staying by my side, and for the blessings You have ahead. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Ways That Are Right and Best

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“He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to Him” (Psalm 25:9).

A guide, taking some tourists through Mammoth Cave, reached a place called “The Cathedral.”

Mounting a rock called “The Pulpit,” he said he wanted to preach a sermon, and it would be short.

“Keep close to your guide,” he said.

The tourists soon found it was a good sermon. If they did not keep close to the guide, they would be lost in the midst of pits, precipices and caverns.

It is hard to find one’s way through Mammoth Cave without a guide. It is harder to find one’s way through the world without the lamp of God’s Word.

“Keep your eye on the Light of the World (Jesus) and use the Lamp of God’s Word” is a good motto for the Christian to follow.

Humbly turning to God is one of the most meaningful exercises a person can take. We come in touch with divine sovereignty, and we become instant candidates to discern God’s will for our lives.

Humbling ourselves is clearly in line with God’s formula for revival:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV).

Bible Reading: Psalm 25:1-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I will fix my heart and mind on Jesus first and others second, which is true humility.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Deliverance Comes

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

You’ll get through this!  You fear you won’t.  We all do.  We feel stuck, trapped, locked in.  Will we ever exit this pit?  Yes!  Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras— bold, brassy, and everywhere.

Out of the lion’s den for Daniel, the whale’s belly for Jonah, and prison for Paul. Through the Red Sea onto dry ground. Through the wilderness, through the valley of the shadow of death. Through! It’s a favorite word of God’s! Isaiah 43:2 says,  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”

It won’t be painless. Have you wept your final tear, received your last round of chemotherapy?  Not necessarily. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle?  Not in this life.  We see Satan’s tricks and ploys but God sees Satan tripped and foiled.  You’ll get through this!

Read more You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum – High school principal visits 612 graduating seniors: Reframing the depth of the pandemic to experience God in depth

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Wylie, Texas, is a town of fifty thousand people twenty-eight miles northeast of Dallas. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, none of the students graduating from Wylie High School will have a traditional graduation ceremony or other end-of-year events.

Since they could not come to the school, the school’s principal came to them. All 612 of them.

Virdie Montgomery spent 80 hours driving 800 miles over 12 days to visit each high school senior at their home. He explained, “The most valuable gift any of us can give anyone that isn’t replaceable is time. Where one spends one’s time says a lot about what they value.”

One of the seniors told CNN, “It kind of shows people that somebody does care for you out there. Most principals wouldn’t do that.”

Hiker posing for photo falls to her death 

COVID-19 is affecting everyone, even those it does not infect. Some responses are positive, as Principal Montgomery shows. Others are tragic.

A hiker celebrating the end of her area’s coronavirus pandemic posed for a cliffside photo in Antalya, Turkey. She climbed over a safety fence to take the picture on the edge of a cliff in front of its scenic waterfalls. She then slipped on grass and fell roughly 115 feet to her death.

The US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman began its deployment last November before the coronavirus outbreak began. Its 4,500 crew members are thus free of infection. As a paradoxical result, they cannot go home to their families because their ship is too valuable to end its deployment.

The hope is that once the Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is up and running, the crew of the Truman can finally come home. But no one knows when that day will come.

Continue reading Denison Forum – High school principal visits 612 graduating seniors: Reframing the depth of the pandemic to experience God in depth →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Sunday Reflection: The Pursuit of Righteousness

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Jesus speaks about righteousness many times in the Sermon on the Mount—from pursuing it to being persecuted because of it (Matt. 5:6; Matt. 5:10; Matt. 5:20).  We can easily think of pursuing righteousness in terms of following rules or abiding by the law. But it’s much more than that. To pursue righteousness is to live with an unrelenting desire for justice and holiness. It’s like selling all our possessions in order to buy the field where we know treasure is buried (Matt. 13:44-46).

But we don’t engage in this pursuit out of obligation or anxiety. Jesus taught that the man who sold everything to buy the field did it out of joy (v. 44). You would be joyful, too, if you believed you were gaining something worth more than all your possessions combined. And this is how we should understand God’s love for us: Nothing on earth can compare to the riches we have in Him.

Think about it
• Is there a difference between those who seek righteousness and those who are righteous?

  •  What does a hunger and thirst for holiness and justice look like in today’s world?  How would you describe what it means to be satisfied in that pursuit?

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The One Who Sees

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Bible in a Year:

You may be sure that your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Numbers 32:16–24

“Oh no!” My wife’s voice rang out when she stepped into the kitchen. The moment she did, our ninety-pound Labrador retriever “Max” bolted from the room.

Gone was the leg of lamb that had been sitting too close to the edge of the counter. Max had consumed it, leaving only an empty pan. He tried to hide under a bed. But only his head and shoulders fit. His uncovered rump and tail betrayed his whereabouts when I went to track him down.

“Oh, Max,” I murmured, “Your ‘sin’ will find you out.” The phrase was borrowed from Moses, when he admonished two tribes of Israel to be obedient to God and keep their promises. He told them: “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

Sin may feel good for a moment, but it causes the ultimate pain of separation from God. Moses was reminding his people that God misses nothing. As one biblical writer put it, “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

Though seeing all, our holy God lovingly draws us to confess our sin, repent of it (turn from it), and walk rightly with Him (1 John 1:9). May we follow Him in love today.

By:  James Banks

 

 

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – I’m a Friend of God

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I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. … — John 15:15 (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource The Power of Being Thankful – by Joyce Meyer

One of the biggest keys to effective prayer is approaching God as a friend, because that is who you are (see John 15:15). When we go to God believing that He sees us as His friends, countless new wonders are opened to us. We experience real freedom and boldness, which are both priceless gifts to be grateful for.

If we do not know God as a friend, we’ll be hesitant, not bold, in asking for what we need. But if we go to Him as our friend—without losing our awe of Him—our prayers will stay fresh, exciting, and intimate.

A friendship is about loving and being loved. It means knowing that God is on your side, wanting to help you, cheering you on, and always working things together for your good.

Today, know that God loves you deeply and wants your friendship more than anything.

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for calling me Your friend. Help me to come to You confidently, knowing that You love me and You are for me. Thank You that I’m never alone, because You’re always with me. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Perfect Harmony

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“Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14).

Martha had a very poor self-image. The distress she felt because of her physical appearance was compounded by the guilt of being grossly overweight. She hated herself and was despondent to the point of seriously considering suicide.

I counsel many students and older adults who are not able to accept themselves. Some are weighted down with guilt because of unconfessed sins. Others are not reconciled to their physical handicaps or deformities. Still others feel inferior mentally or socially.

My counsel to such people is this: God loves you and accepts you as you are. The love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit enables us to love ourselves as God made us. We can be thankful for ourselves, loving ourselves unconditionally as God does, and we can love others unconditionally, too.

It is Satan who is the great accuser, causing us to hate ourselves and others. God, having commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, and our enemies, will enable us to do what He commands us to do as we claim His promise.

The great tragedy of many families is that resentment, bitterness and hate overtake their members like an all-consuming cancer, ultimately destroying the unity among husband, wife and children. Love of the husband and wife for each other, and of parents and children for one another, is so basic that it should not need to be mentioned. Yet, sadly and alarmingly, children are alienated from their parents, and even many Christian marriages are ending in divorce – in fact, in greater numbers today than at any other time in history.

God’s kind of love is a unifying force. Paul admonishes us to “put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

Bible Reading:Colossians 3:18-25

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Since God commands us to love Him, our neighbors, our enemies and ourselves, today I will claim that supernatural love by faith on the basis of God’s command to love and the promise that if I ask anything according to His will, He will hear and answer me.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – Pit Crew

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John 10:41

In the world of professional auto racing, only a few people get to be drivers and have their names splashed across the newspapers and TV. But for every successful racecar driver, there are dozens of back-up people, many of whom are called the “pit crew.” Pit crews are vital to the success of any racer. When the driver comes off the track and heads to the pit, the crew springs into action. They fuel the car and change all the tires in seconds. They make minor adjustments and get the driver back out on the track. Time spent in the pit impacts the outcome of the race. A slow pit crew can cause a driver to lose.

In the Bible, John the Baptist is an example of someone who never got to be the “driver.” He was more like part of Jesus’ pit crew. John’s role was to tell everyone that Jesus was coming and they should get ready. While John did not perform any miracles, he had an important job to do by alerting everyone that someone was coming soon who would take away the sin of the world. When some people asked John if he was the Christ, he simply replied, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” It takes a really big person to step back and let someone else shine in the spotlight. But when we perform the most everyday, insignificant tasks, God still sees what we are doing.

Dear Lord, Sometimes I want to be the person everyone talks about and praises, but help me to be humble. Amen.

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Unshakeable Faith

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John 15:1-7

Faith often matures in hardship, because trials remind us how dependent we are on the Lord. And as we allow ourselves to trust Him more deeply, we will increasingly find that with Him, we can endure anything.

The key to such rock-solid faith is an intimate relationship with God. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Upon salvation, we are grafted into the vine of Christ, which means that His Spirit lives and works in us and provides a constant connection between Father and child. Abiding in God gets us through hard times.

However, we have to choose to tap into that power. Trying to keep things from God’s control could interfere with His plans and cause our relationship with Him to grow distant. But when we commit to knowing God through prayer, meditation, and obedience, His power flows through us, like sap through a branch, bringing new growth.

Intimacy helps us trust the Lord when life gets difficult. And the more we abide—especially during hard times—the more we grow into unshakeable “oaks of righteousness” (Isa. 61:3).

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 4-6

 

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Community Memory

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Bible in a Year:

He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you.”

Luke 22:19

Today’s Scripture & Insight:Luke 22:14–23

In his book Restless Faith, theologian Richard Mouw talks about the importance of remembering the lessons of the past. He quotes sociologist Robert Bellah, who said that “healthy nations must be ‘communities of memory.’ ” Bellah extended that principle to other societal bonds such as families. Remembering is an important part of living in community.

The Scriptures teach the value of community memory as well. The Israelites were given the Passover feast to remind them of what God had done to rescue them from slavery in Egypt (see Exodus 12:1–30). Still today, Jewish people around the world revisit that rich community memory every spring.

Passover holds great meaning for followers of Christ too, for Passover has always pointed to the work of the Messiah on the cross. It was during Passover, the night before the cross, that Jesus established His own memorial table. Luke 22:19 records, “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’”

Every time we gather at the Lord’s Table to celebrate Communion, we remember that Christ rescued us from slavery to sin and provided us with eternal life. May the rescuing love of Jesus remind us that His cross is worth remembering—together.

By:  Bill Crowder

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Embracing Our Brokenness

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Show Your marvelous loving-kindness, O You Who save by Your right hand those who trust and take refuge in You from those who rise up against them. Keep and guard me as the pupil of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings. — Psalm 17:7-8 (AMPC)

Adapted from the resource Starting Your Day Right – by Joyce Meyer

Have you ever felt completely broken, as if you couldn’t seem to keep yourself together? King David felt this way for many years, so much so that he said, “I am like a broken ves­sel” (Psalm 31:12 NKJV).

Brokenness might seem like a bad thing, but it can actually serve a beautiful purpose. Through brokenness, the “outer shell,” or the fleshly, ungodly parts of us can be thrown off, and the character of Christ in our spirit can shine brighter. As a result, we become more open and available for God to work through us in brand-new ways.

We all need to be broken in the way David was; we need to be totally dependent on God to strengthen, guide, and deliver us from evil. Today, let’s have the same attitude that he did: “But I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God” (Psalm 31:14 AMPC).

Prayer Starter: Jesus, please help me to allow brokenness to bring about good results in my life. Thank You for healing and working through my broken places to help others find Your light. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

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