Tag Archives: Bible

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Navy SEAL widow inspires the nation

Leave a comment

Carryn Weigand Owens is being called America’s “moral compass.” Anyone who saw President Trump’s tribute Monday night to Ryan Owens, her fallen Navy SEAL husband, will never forget it. The president was right: her husband’s sacrifice is “etched into eternity.” And her courage in responding to his tragic death is an example for us all.

We should not be surprised.

Carryn Weigand was co-captain of the University of Virginia Cavaliers women’s soccer team and one of its best players. After earning a BA and Master’s degree, she chose to serve her country as an intelligence officer around the time of the 9/11 attacks. Then she met and married Ryan, a Navy SEAL Team 6 member. The couple had four children together. After twelve deployments, he was killed on January 28 during a mission in Yemen. Carryn buried him in Arlington National Cemetery just six days before the president’s speech to Congress.

This Sunday would have been Ryan’s thirty-seventh birthday. The next day would have been their thirteenth wedding anniversary. Carryn’s courage in the midst of her grief is an example for us all. And proof that character transcends politics.

Or at least it should.

A former Hillary Clinton campaign volunteer responded to Carryn’s appearance Monday night and the extended ovation she received by tweeting a horribly derogatory statement. The good news is that he was immediately fired by his employer after a firestorm of criticism. A Salon columnist later called the president’s recognition of Owens’s sacrifice a “disgrace”; a Washington Post writer called it “contemptibly cynical.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Navy SEAL widow inspires the nation →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Value of God’s Word

Leave a comment

 

2 Timothy 3:14-17

From the opening verse of Genesis to the final words of Revelation, Scripture is divinely inspired; every word has purpose. In today’s passage, we are told that the sacred writings are “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be … equipped for every good work.” In other words, they offer preparation for whatever we will face in life (2 Tim. 3:16-17). No other book holds such value for living.

The Old Testament introduces us to God’s nature, ways, and power; it lays the foundation for us to understand the Lord’s holiness and humanity’s desperate need for a Savior. The New Testament explains that Jesus sacrificially became our “bridge” to the Father (John 14:6). Its writings clarify why we must trust Christ for salvation, how to live as God’s children, and what to expect in this life and after death.

Ephesians 6:13-17 compares the Word to armor, and for good reason: In the battle of life, we have a real enemy who wants to destroy us. But God’s power is greater (1 John 4:4), and dressing in war gear prepares us for the temptations, lies, and decisions we will encounter daily.

We should be excited about the Word of God, for it is our hope—and the only instruction that leads to victory, in life and after physical death.

The Bible predicted that many people would reject the truth, and a glimpse at our world today shows that to be the case. Don’t let yourself fall into the same trap. Life without His truth is destined for failure, so meditate daily on Scripture, and ask God to speak to you.

Bible in One Year: Deuteronomy 28-30

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — One of Us

Leave a comment

Read: Hebrews 2:9–18

Bible in a Year: Numbers 26–27; Mark 8:1–21

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.—Hebrews 2:18

At the memorial service for Charles Schulz (1922-2000), creator of the beloved Peanuts comic strip, friend and fellow cartoonist Cathy Guisewite spoke of his humanity and compassion. “He gave everyone in the world characters who knew exactly how all of us felt, who made us feel we were never alone. And then he gave the cartoonist himself, and he made us feel that we were never alone. . . . He encouraged us. He commiserated with us. He made us feel he was exactly like us.”

When we feel that no one understands or can help us, we are reminded that Jesus gave us Himself, and He knows exactly who we are and what we are facing today.

Hebrews 2:9-18 presents the remarkable truth that Jesus fully shared our humanity during His life on earth (v. 14). He “taste[d] death for everyone” (v. 9), broke the power of Satan (v. 14), and freed “those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (v. 15). Jesus was made like us, “fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God” (v. 17). Thank You, Lord, for sharing our humanity so that we might know Your help today and live in Your presence forever. —David McCasland

What fears and concerns do you have? What should you do with those fears? (1 Peter 5:6–7). What does the Lord promise to do for you? (Heb. 13:5).

No one understands like Jesus.

INSIGHT: Hebrews 2:5-18 explains why Jesus being fully human is so significant. The author of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 8 to show that God from the beginning intended humanity to rule over creation. Although we are not yet ruling fully as God intended, the resurrected Jesus has been crowned king of creation and someday we too will reign with Him. Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22, which describes Jesus celebrating in worship with His brothers and sisters. Because Jesus is not only our Lord but also our fully human “brother,” we will someday rule alongside Him. Monica Brands

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Super Heroes and Humanity

Leave a comment

Nothing quite grips us as much as a good novel or movie where some really sinister characters are finally confronted by a brave hero or heroine, who then rises up to face down tyranny, resist oppression, fight the bad guys, and establish justice.

During the 60s and 70s there was still enough residual optimism around that sci-fi movies brimmed with optimism about humanity and our future. We were explorers in search of brave new worlds. We were ambassadors seeking out strange new civilizations. We were friends seeking the harmony of all in a shared, friendly Galaxy. Yet, the writers needed to add adventure and flavor, so various enemies were encountered and often reasoned with into an eventual accommodation.

The mood shifted however. We believed we were more informed, less naïve, less gullible, and less willing and able to embrace ideals. They all seemed strangely utopian, inauthentic, and a denial of what life is really like. Enter sci-fi 2.0, the upgrade.

The writing is now more realistic, gritty, and dark, and the sheer hardships to be faced are more front and center. Our heroes are more human. Their flaws, their fears, and their unique temperaments are very much in vogue. Yet, they still have a mission, by and large, and that mission is to “save” us. Ironic, isn’t it? We see the continuous recycling of the theme of redemption or the struggle with good and evil, despite our antipathy to such things. It looks like an ingrained quest for some kind of answer, some kind of salvation, some hope that there is a better life, somewhere or some way.

I wonder if we are able to stop and think of Jesus in terms of the heroic. We hear that “he emptied himself” and “took on the form of a bond-servant.” Not only did he accept being made in the likeness of men, but “he humbled himself” even to the point of “death on a cross.”(1) As Dorothy Sayers put so well, the drama is the doctrine. In this story, we see a universe that descends into the grip of an evil power, humanity enslaved and targeted for death and misery, and the creeping control of dark passion as the powers invade, infect, subvert, and seek control.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Super Heroes and Humanity →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Start a Blessing Box

Leave a comment

Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.—Deuteronomy 15:10 NIV

Here’s an idea: Get yourself a big box and start going through your possessions, asking God to show you what you have that you can use to bless others. Fill it up with things that are nice but that you no longer need.

Look in cabinets, drawers, closets, the basement, and the garage. You will fill up your box quickly. Don’t keep something for years in case you ever need it—if you’re anything like me, by the time you need it, you will have forgotten that you have it and go buy another one anyway.

Take the clutter that is frustrating you and turn it into blessings. Keep the box in a handy place and start asking God to show you who needs to be blessed.

One woman I know, who is a radical giver, got all the things together she wanted to use to bless people and displayed them on her kitchen table. She invited several friends over and told them to take anything they wanted from the table. She urged them to keep on taking until everything was gone.

I encourage you to be a giver and look for ways in which you can use what you have to be a blessing to others.

Love Others Today: I challenge you to start a blessing box before you go to bed tonight. Even if you only put one or two things in it, get it started.

From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Only Way

Leave a comment

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the Way – yes, and the Truth and the life. No one can get to the Father except by means of Me'” (John 14:6).

Dr. Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, was conducting a great city-wide campaign in Tokyo and asked me to be in charge of the student phase of the crusade. So day after day, for more than a month, I spoke to thousands of students on many campuses, presenting the claims of Christ and challenging the students to receive Him as their Savior and Lord.

Many thousands responded, but occasionally a student would object and say that Jesus had no relevance for the Japanese – that Christianity is for the Westerner, not for the Asian. They were surprised when I reminded them that Jesus was born and reared in and carried out His ministry in the Middle East and that He was in many ways closer to them culturally and geographically that He was to me.

I reminded them, and I want to remind you, that though the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, in what is now Israel, He came to this world to die for all people in all lands.

The Scripture reminds us, “Whosoever will may come.” In addition to coming to Him for salvation, Christians have the privilege of coming to God the Father a thousand times, and more, each day in prayer in the name of Jesus. This is because He is our mediator, unlike anyone else who has ever lived – Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius. No other religious leader died for us and was raised from the dead.

Jesus alone can bridge the great chasm between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, because He personally has paid the penalty for our sins. God proved His love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still in our sins.

Bible Reading: John 14:1-5

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will ask the Holy Spirit to examine my heart to see if there be any wicked way in me, so that I can confess and turn from my sin. I will visualize our mediator – the Lord Jesus Christ – seated at the right hand of God making intercession for me. I will also ask the Lord to lead me today to someone who does not yet know our Savior, that I may share with him or her the most joyful news ever announced.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – All Have Fallen Short

Leave a comment

 

Simply put—we’re not good enough to go to heaven! So what can we do? Perhaps if we do enough good deeds, they will offset our bad deeds. The question then surfaces: how many good deeds do we need to do? If I spend one year being greedy, how many years should I be generous? No one knows how many good deeds it takes to offset the bad. A rule sheet can’t be found—simply because it doesn’t exist.

God doesn’t operate this way. All we can do is ask for mercy. And God, because of his kindness, gives it. God turned over our sins to his Son. His Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins. He did what we could not do so that we might become what we dare not dream: citizens of heaven!

From Max on Life

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Home

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Will Oprah run for president?

Leave a comment

An interview with Oprah Winfrey aired yesterday in which she signaled she may be open to running for president. She now joins a list of celebrities such as Kanye West, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Tim McGraw who have speculated publicly about running for office. If they do, they can expect a level of public scrutiny they’ve never experienced before. The higher the mountain, the harder it is to climb.

The same principle holds for Christians. If you serve Jesus, you can expect opposition from everyone who is opposed to your Lord (John 15:18).

It’s no surprise that religious persecution in China is intensifying as the government seeks to curb the rapid growth of Christianity in the formally atheistic country. Catholic nuns in the Democratic Republic of Congo are coming under increasing attacks from vandals who are destroying convents and churches. As Christianity spreads rapidly across Africa, such oppression will likely intensify.

Believers in America seldom face life-threatening persecution. However, we are watching the culture slide away from biblical morality with increasing speed. For instance, the latest version of Beauty and the Beast has a gay scene between LeFou and Gaston. Disney just aired its first-ever gay cartoon kiss. Creators of Moana say they wouldn’t rule out an LGBT Disney princess in the future.

Moral relativism has untethered our culture from objective truth and Judeo-Christian morality. As a result, we have witnessed seismic shifts on life’s most essential issues, from abortion to same-sex marriage to euthanasia. How should Christians respond?

One: Know why we believe what we believe.

Our faith is more than an opinion we hope others will tolerate. It is founded on empirical, historical facts: the Bible is truth and Jesus rose from the dead. Don’t believe the deception that your faith is just one “truth” among many. It is grounded in a reality that the entire universe will one day acknowledge (Philippians 2:9–11).

Two: Know why others believe what they believe. Continue reading Denison Forum – Will Oprah run for president? →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –God’s Word to Us

Leave a comment

 

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Most everyone in our society has easy access to a Bible, yet far too often this book is left unopened. If only people grasped its true worth, they would prize God’s Word above every other possession.

All of Scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit. While He used man to pen each line, every thought and word in the Bible originated with God Himself (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Consider how we treasure letters from people we love. Our response to Scripture should be even stronger. The Creator of the universe—the God who holds eternity in His hand—recorded all the truth that is necessary for His children to live fully and joyfully, both before and after death (2 Peter 1:3). God reveals Himself through His Word, which is alive and so powerful that it can transform our lives (Heb. 4:12).

What’s more, Romans 10:17 explains the great importance of our love for the Bible: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Scripture, then, is the very means by which saving faith is possible.

How could such a book become so commonplace in our heart? So taken for granted? It is vital that we realize the preeminence of its author—and Scripture’s potential impact on our life today.

Think about the last time you saw a Bible. What was your reaction? Did you finger the pages with awe, or did you pass it by with barely a glance? Next time you open this precious book, read the words, savor their meaning, and ask God to help you apply its lessons to your life.

Bible in One Year: Deuteronomy 24-27

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All of Me

Leave a comment

Read: Matthew 27:45–54

Bible in a Year: Numbers 23–25; Mark 7:14–37

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.—Romans 12:1

Young Isaac Watts found the music in his church sadly lacking, and his father challenged him to create something better. Isaac did. His hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” has been called the greatest in the English language and has been translated into many other languages.

Watts’s worshipful third verse ushers us into the presence of Christ at the crucifixion.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

The crucifixion Watts describes so elegantly stands as history’s most awful moment. We do well to pause and stand with those around the cross. The Son of God strains for breath, held by crude spikes driven through His flesh. After tortured hours, a supernatural darkness descends. Finally, mercifully, the Lord of the universe dismisses His anguished spirit. An earthquake rattles the landscape. Back in the city the thick temple curtain rips in half. Graves open, and dead bodies resurrect, walking about the city (Matt. 27:51-53). These events compel the centurion who crucified Jesus to say, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (v. 54).

“The Cross reorders all values and cancels all vanities,” says the Poetry Foundation in commenting on Watts’s poem. The song could only conclude: “Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” —Tim Gustafson

It is our privilege to give everything we have to the One who gave us everything on the cross.

INSIGHT: When the Lord Jesus Christ hung upon the cross, cosmic events accompanied by signs and wonders occurred between heaven and earth. A supernatural darkness came over the earth midday. Many theologians believe that for the first time in eternity past the fellowship between the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—was interrupted. As Christ took our sins upon Himself on the cross, His Father could not stay in fellowship with Him. An earthquake opened the tombs of some Old Testament believers, who were brought back to life. So dramatic were these events that even a Gentile, such as the Roman centurion who oversaw Jesus’s crucifixion, made a declaration of faith. Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Kind, Beautiful, and Foolish

Leave a comment

In his book The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky sets forth the bold assertion that “beauty will save the world.” The sheer number of ways in which this quote has been applied attests to the risk inherent in the idea, and perhaps inherent in beauty itself. Certainly the church during the Reformation recognized the risks involved in imaging God, using beauty to communicate an incommunicable mystery, the impersonal to describe a Person. For good reason, many are cautious when we hear a statement such as the one in this novel.

But Dostoevsky did not pronounce the idea with the naïveté with which it is often quoted. He did not have in mind the kind of beauty we worship in the fashion or beauty industries nor did he have in mind an impersonal object or a purely abstract notion, a distinct but distant ideal. On the contrary, Dostoevsky entertains the idea in a person, in Myshkin, who lives the quality of beauty as if an inescapable quality of his inmost being. For Myshkin’s inclination is to help rather than to harm, to give mercy rather than malice, forgiving again and again, though surrounded by people who do not. In fact, it is this group who tirelessly labels Myshkin the “idiot” because he refuses to participate in the disparaging and destructive ugliness of their own ways but instead takes what is cruel and repulsive in them and their culture and dispels it. They hate him for it; they believe him a fool. But it is a kind and beautiful foolishness.

I sometimes wonder if we have so stripped away the possibility of actual beauty in our encounters with the divine that we not only miss something real of God and others to behold in the world, but we miss opportunities to show the world the beauty of God—in hands and faces, in people who bestow crowns of beauty instead of ashes, in communities that repair ruined cities instead of causing further devastation.(1) Theologian William Dyrness laments the modern mentality that has somehow lost the sense of the “wholeness that beauty reflects.”(2) We are so mindful of beauty’s limitations; but isn’t it we who are the limited as the depicters of God’s beauty? “[When I look at] the moon and the stars that you have established,” sang David, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them?” (Psalm 8:3). Describing the very wholeness that beauty reflects, Dyrness continues, “Based on God’s continuing presence in the Spirit of Christ, God is somehow present in all beauty.”(3)

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Kind, Beautiful, and Foolish →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – God Speaks a Fresh Word

Leave a comment

Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength.…—Psalm 105:4

When King Jehoshaphat heard that a huge army was amassing to attack Judah, he knew what to do. He needed to set himself to seek not the advice of the people, but to seek God and hear directly from Him.

No doubt, Jehoshaphat had been involved in other battles before this one, so why couldn’t he use the same methods he had employed in previous situations? No matter how many times something has worked in the past, it may not work to solve a current crisis unless God anoints it afresh. He may anoint an old method and choose to work through it, but He may also give us brand-new direction, instructions we have never heard before. We must always look to God, not to methods, formulas, or ways that have worked in the past. Our focus, our source of strength and supply, must be God and God alone.

Jehoshaphat knew that unless he heard from God, he was not going to make it. The Amplified Bible calls his need to hear God’s voice “his vital need.” It was something he could not do without; it was vital. It was essential to his life and the survival of his people.

You may be in a situation similar to Jehoshaphat’s. You, too, may need a fresh word from God. You may feel that, like a drowning man or woman, you are going under for the last time. You may be desperate for a personal word from God in order to survive.

God wants to speak to you even more than you want to hear from Him. Seek Him by giving Him your time and attention, and you won’t be disappointed.

God’s Word for You Today: Be open to hear a fresh word from God today.

From the book Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – We Hear His Voice

Leave a comment

“My sheep recognize My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else, so no one can kidnap them from Me. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

Are you one of God’s “sheep”? Do you know for sure that you are a child of God? Do you have any question about your salvation? How do you know that Christ is in your life and that you have eternal life and that no one can take you away from our Lord? What is the basis of your assurance?

Frequently, one hears a Christian share the dramatic testimony of how Christ changed his life from years of drug addiction, gross immorality or some other distressing problem. On the other hand, there are many, like myself, who have knelt quietly in the privacy of the home, at a mountain retreat, or in a church sanctuary, and there received Christ into their lives with no dramatic emotional experience at that time of decision. Both are valid, authentic ways to come to Christ.

The apostle Paul had a dramatic conversion experience. However, Timothy, his son in the faith, had learned of Christ from his mother and grandmother in his early youth. The important thing is not how you met Christ, but the assurance that you are a child of God, your sins have been forgiven and you have eternal life. It is not presumptuous or arrogant to say that you know these things to be true, because God’s Word says so (1 John 5:11-13): “And what is it that God has said? That He has given us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have His Son, does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.”

Bible Reading: John 10:22-26

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: As one of God’s sheep, I will ask the Holy Spirit to help me be more sensitive and alert to the voice of my Savior, in order that I may follow Him more closely and always obey Him, and especially that I may be sensitive to what He would have me say to those around me who are in need of His love and forgiveness.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The God Who Never Leaves

Leave a comment

 

When I was seven, I ran away from home. I’d had enough of my father’s rules—I could make it on my own, thank you very much! I didn’t go far.  At the end of the alley I remembered I was hungry, so I went back home.

Did my dad know of my insurrection? Fathers usually do. Was I still his son? Apparently so. If you’d asked my father, “Mr. Lucado, your son says he has no need of a father. Do you still consider him your son?” What do you think my dad would have said? I don’t have to guess at his answer.  His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him. So is God’s! I can count on him to be in my corner no matter how I perform. You can too!

From Max on Life

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Home

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Brain science and Trump’s speech to Congress

Leave a comment

I thought Donald Trump’s address last night to a joint session of Congress was the most effective speech he’s ever given. His words and tone were presidential, and his passion for our country was obvious. Seventy percent of viewers said the speech made them more optimistic about the direction of the country. I heard one television commentator say afterwards, “He may have been inaugurated on January 20, but he became president tonight.”

However, the partisan divide that challenges our future is on clear display this morning.

The Huffington Post sarcastically headlines, “Speaker’s Pet,” with a picture of the president shaking hands with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. The Los Angeles Times complains, “Trump speech: Promise the world, leave out the details.” The Washington Post is skeptical: “A tale of two speeches: The contradictions of Donald Trump’s Presidency.” On the other side of the aisle, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was “Blown Away” by the president’s “Unifying” speech to Congress.

Why are our political divisions so entrenched? According to scientists, our brains are to blame.

University of Southern California cognitive neuroscientist Jonas Kaplan has been studying how our brains react when our political beliefs are challenged. Kaplan and his colleagues performed functional MRI scans on the brains of forty participants, all of whom held strong political views. They monitored brain activity as their team presented counterarguments and tried to sway the subjects’ political positions.

According to the MRI scans, the areas of the brain that were triggered control deep, emotional thoughts about the subjects’ personal identity. When these parts of the brain were stimulated, the subjects felt challenged and became defensive, shutting down any willingness to accept counterarguments.

Such divisiveness is truly dangerous, for it threatens our nation’s future. In a two-party system, compromise and consensus are essential to progress. When one-half of Congress stands to applaud the president while the other half sits in stony silence, the government gridlocks and America suffers.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Brain science and Trump’s speech to Congress →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Walking Wisely

Leave a comment

 

Ephesians 5:15-17

When Paul exhorts us to walk wisely, he gives three instructions to help us make godly choices. First, he says to “be careful how you walk” (Eph. 5:15). Because we live in a morally corrupt society, we must be vigilant about the way we think and act. Unless we deliberately choose to guard ourselves, we will simply do what comes naturally and go along with cultural influences.

Next, in verse 16, the apostle instructs us to make the most of our time. The Lord has entrusted each of us with 24 hours per day and various opportunities to participate in His plans for us. But so often we are tempted to squander our time and energy on our own pursuits without a thought of what our heavenly Father may have in mind for us.

In verse 17, Paul lays out the final exhortation: to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17) In its broadest sense, God’s will for us is that we would each become the person that He created us to be and do the work He has planned for us to accomplish (Eph. 2:10). Knowing this, we should look at every decision with consideration of whether our choice will further or hinder our heavenly Father’s purposes for our life. To live thoughtlessly outside of His will is foolish.

The Lord wants us to walk wisely so that we can enjoy all of the marvelous benefits that He’s promised in His Word and longs to give us. Wasted opportunities and time misspent can never be reclaimed. Let’s commit to make each and every day count for Jesus Christ instead of merely living for ourselves.

Bible in One Year: Deuteronomy 21-23

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Chuckle in the Darkness

Leave a comment

Read: John 11:17–27

Bible in a Year: Numbers 20–22; Mark 7:1–13

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.—John 3:16

In a Washington Post article titled “Tech Titans’ Latest Project: Defy Death,” Ariana Cha wrote about the efforts of Peter Thiele and other tech moguls to extend human life indefinitely. They’re prepared to spend billions on the project.

They are a little late. Death has already been defeated! Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Jesus assures us that those who put their trust in Him will never, ever, under any circumstances whatever, die.

To be clear, our bodies will die—and there is nothing anyone can do to change that. But the thinking, reasoning, remembering, loving, adventuring part of us that we call “me, myself, and I” will never, ever die.

And here’s the best part: It’s a gift! All you have to do is receive the salvation Jesus offers. C. S. Lewis, musing on this notion, describes it as something like “a chuckle in the darkness”—the sense that something that simple is the answer.

Some say, “It’s too simple.” Well, I say, if God loved you even before you were born and wants you to live with Him forever, why would He make it hard? —David Roper

Dear Jesus, I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I want to accept You as my Lord and Savior and follow You. Please forgive my sins and help me, from this moment on, to live a life that is pleasing to You.

Christ has replaced the dark door of death with the shining gate of life.

INSIGHT: Often when confronted with death, we are tempted to either deny how painful it is or to live without hope, only seeing the grief. In this passage, Jesus holds together both the horror of death and the sure promise of life. Because death is a tragic distortion of God’s good creation, Jesus as the Resurrection and Life is all that is opposed to it. If we read the whole story of Lazarus’s resurrection, we see a fuller picture of how Jesus responds to death and grief. He is “deeply moved” and “troubled” (John 11:33) and He weeps (v. 35). Seeing death in all its horror, He defiantly overcomes it and raises Lazarus to life. Jesus’s shout, “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43) points to the hope of our own bodily resurrection. Monica Brands

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Taking Up and Laying Down

Leave a comment

The life and ministry of Jesus—his birth, his life and death, his resurrection and ascension—are all echoed in the celebrations and seasons of the church year. For the Christian, preparations are made for his coming during the season of Advent. Anticipation is garnered for the triumphant entry of God into the world in Jesus on Christmas Day, while the season of Epiphany unfolds further glimpses of his life and ministry. Each season of the church year is filled with expectation, discovery, and hope.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. And unlike the joyous celebration of Christmas, and the expectant discovery of Epiphany, Lent is a solemn season for the Christian. As part of the Ash Wednesday worship service, ashes are imposed on one’s forehead in the pattern of a cross. The imposed ashes are from the previous year’s Palm Sunday fronds—fronds reminiscent of those waved triumphantly as Jesus entered Jerusalem on his way to Golgotha. The Jews believed he entered the city as the coming King; they did not yet understand he would demonstrate his reign through the willing offer of his life.

These ashes on Christian foreheads can remind all humans of our common destiny: “From dust you come and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). For the Christian, the Lenten season is also meant to call us toward a common mission of offering our lives in service and sacrifice. It invites us to lose our lives in order to find them anew, resurrected with Jesus on Easter morning.

Whether or not one actively observes Lent, the season can serve as an invitation to evaluate our own lives and to examine the invitation of Jesus to die with him. We can enter this deathly contemplation with the anticipation of resurrection on Easter morning. But Christ’s path to resurrection is the path of laying down lives, the path of relinquishment, and the path of self-denial. This path feels entirely unnatural, for it takes us in the opposite direction of self-preservation.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Taking Up and Laying Down →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be Patient

Leave a comment

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. —James 1:4

James teaches us that we can rejoice when we find ourselves involved in difficult situations, knowing that God is trying our faith to bring out patience. I have found that trials did eventually bring out patience in me, but first they brought a lot of other junk to the surface—such as pride, anger, rebellion, self-pity, complaining, and many other things. It seems that these ungodly traits, with God’s help, need to be faced and dealt with because they hinder patience as well as other good fruit like kindness, love, humility, and other things.

The Bible talks about purification, sanctification, and sacrifice. These are not popular words; nevertheless, these are things we go through in order to become like Jesus in our character. God’s desire is to make us perfect, lacking in nothing. He wants us to ultimately be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which usually requires us to go through some difficulties that, although are unpleasant, do eventually help us mature.

I struggled with the difficulties in my life for a long time until I finally learned that God would work them out for good and use them to help me in many ways. He simply wants you and me to surrender and say, “I trust You, God. I believe when this difficulty is over, I will be a better person than I was before it began!”

No matter what you are going through, trust God that you are growing closer to Him each day!

From the book Closer to God Each Day by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – I Am With You Always

Leave a comment

“And then teach new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this — that I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

When David Livingstone sailed for Africa the first time, a group of his friends accompanied him to the pier to wish him bon voyage.

Concerned for the safety of the missionary, some of his well-wishers reminded him of the dangers which would confront him in the dark land to which he was journeying. One of the men tried to convince him he should remain in England.

Opening his Bible, Livingstone read the six decisive words that had sealed the matter for him long before: “Lo, I am with you always.”

Then turning to the man who was especially concerned about his safety, Livingstone smiled before he gave a calm reply.

“That, my friend, is the word of a gentleman,” he said. “So let us be going.”

For many years, I have visited scores of countries on each continent, each year traveling tens of thousands of miles, as the director of the worldwide ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. What a joy and comfort it is to know that I am never outside of His care! Whether at home or abroad, He is always with me, even to the end of the world. I can never travel so far away that He is not with me.

And so it is with you, if you have placed your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. You have His indwelling Holy Spirit as your constant companion – the one who makes possible the supernatural life that is the right and privilege of every believer. How important that we never lose sight of this truth: He is with us always.

Bible Reading: Matthew 28:16-20

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I am reminded afresh that Jesus, to whom God has given all authority in heaven and earth, is with me; that He will never leave me nor forsake me; that His supernatural power is available to me moment by moment, enabling me to do all that God has called me to do — if only I will trust and obey Him.

 

http://www.cru.org