Tag Archives: Bible

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Put Off, Put On

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Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 4:22,24

“Put off your old self . . . and . . . put on the new self.”

Sometimes we get the impression that the Christian life consists mainly of negative prohibitions. These are definitely an important part of our spiritual discipline, as attested by the fact that eight of the Ten Commandments are prohibitions (Exodus 20:1-19). We need the prohibitions set forth not just in the Ten Commandments but in all the life-application sections of the New Testament. Indwelling sin needs the constant restraint of being denied its gratification.

The Christian life, however, should also be directed toward positive expressions of Christian character. All of Paul’s ethical teaching is characterized by this twofold approach of putting off the old self and putting on the new self (as in Ephesians 4:21-24).

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Who’s Steering?

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Today’s Scripture: Genesis 10-11

“Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

In early biblical records, we find man doing exactly what he’s doing today–making plans based on his egotistical pride and rebellious heart. In Genesis 11 we find man determined to construct a world without God, and so he began a massive effort to build a tower–the tower of Babel–to make himself a name, to take his future into his own hands, to grab the steering wheel of history so that the kingdom of human reason replaces the kingdom of God.

I know a young man who had a careful Christian upbringing. He was involved in Bible classes during the week, Sunday school, and all the right things. But during his junior high days, he decided to go his own way. And he’s been doing that for years. Some time ago, I went to visit him in jail and sat by his mother. Tears were running down her cheeks, and her heart was broken for this son who had committed robbery and was now serving time.

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BreakPoint

BreakPoint – Death Stars and Déjà Vu: Hollywood is out of Ideas

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2015 was an important year for a lot of reasons, but for the nerd community, one of the biggest milestones came on October 21—the day Marty McFly from “Back to the Future” arrived in a time-traveling DeLorean from 1985. Most of the film’s predictions didn’t pan out. Even though the Chicago Cubs came close to the World Series.

But when Marty McFly stumbled into an advertisement for “Jaws 19,” his sojourn in 2015 came eerily close to ours. As Ross Douthat points out in The New York Times, the fact that the top-earning flick of last year was the seventh installment in a saga that was already classic in Marty’s time says a lot about the state of Hollywood.

Consider that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” dethroned a fourth “Jurassic Park” film at the box office and comes from a director who just rebooted Gene Roddenberry’s “Star Trek.” All of this in a cinematic climate dominated by recycled Marvel and DC comics personalities from the 1950s to 70s.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – JESUS: SHAME IN ABANDONMENT

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Read Matthew 27:38-56; Psalm 22

As the poet John Donne wrote, no man is an island. Like it or not, the way others treat us affects how we feel about ourselves. People who inform our self-perception are usually parents and leaders. Their attention to our needs confirms our value. But what happens when they ignore our cries for help?

We sometimes think that Jesus didn’t experience this human struggle, but His response to the Father’s silence reveals His emotional anguish on the cross. When criticism surrounded Him during His ministry, His Father’s affirmation sustained Him.

But through the long, torturous night of His trial and resulting crucifixion, God the Father seemed silent.

Like His ancestor David, Jesus had entrusted His honor to God, remaining silent before His accusers rather than engaging in a heated self-defense. He clung to His identity as God’s beloved Son, an identity confirmed by His Father (see Matt. 3:17). But as wave after wave of mockery, abuse, and false testimony crashed against Him, Jesus felt weaker and ever more alone.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – WHY YOU DIDN’T WIN THE POWERBALL LOTTERY

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At least three winning tickets were sold for last night’s $1.5 billion Powerball drawing. If one of them wasn’t yours, don’t be surprised—the odds were not in your favor.

You are 1071 times more likely to be struck by lightening; 428 times more likely to be crushed by a meteor; fifty times more likely to be killed by a shark; and fifteen times more likely to be canonized as a saint (though being elected pope helps greatly).

What would you do with $1.5 billion? Most people think immediately of what they would buy. But most of what they would buy is more than they need: a gigantic mansion, a new Lamborghini, a personal jet. Why do we want more than we need?

Consider Donald “Chip” Pugh of Lima, Ohio. After he allegedly failed to appear in court, city police posted his mug shot on Facebook. Mr. Pugh didn’t like his picture, so he took a selfie of himself in a suit and sunglasses which he forwarded with the explanation, “Here is a better photo that one is terrible.” He remains at large this morning.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Praying God’s Way

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Luke 18:1-8

We like to keep things simple: Follow a few steps and reach the preferred result. Prayer, however, cannot be reduced to an easy formula. It isn’t some static activity where repeating certain words brings the desired solution. It’s ongoing communication with the heavenly Father and should involve listening, speaking, and acting on what we hear from Him.

God has promised to answer His children’s prayers, but He often waits before responding. He does so for many reasons.

Preparation. Sometimes God has to make us ready for what He wants to give us. We may have some attitudes or behaviors not aligned with His will (James 4:3). He’ll deal with them before He gives us His gift.

Spiritual growth. The Lord may use delays to test our faith or deepen our relationship with Him. No response from Him means He wants us to continue to seek Him and converse with Him. Continue reading Charles Stanley – Praying God’s Way →

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Gates of Paradise

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Read: John 10:1-9

Bible in a Year: Genesis 31-32; Matthew 9:18-38

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. —John 10:9

Italian artist Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) spent years skillfully crafting images of Jesus’ life into the bronze doors of Italy’s Florence Baptistery. These bronze reliefs were so moving that Michelangelo called them the Gates of Paradise.

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Public Realms, Quiet Gifts

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“I didn’t even know he was sick.”

In public spaces the day after news of pop icon David Bowie’s passing became public information, it was a common sentiment. It was the sentiment of flabbergast, as if death seemed irreconcilable with a persona so large. It was a sentiment that seemed to fit with my own most vivid memory of Bowie, trapped somewhere between fantasy and reality, with those eyebrows and that hair and the gaze of the Goblin King in Jim Henson’s 1987 film Labyrinth.

But I am struck by how many times I have now heard this statement. “I didn’t even know he was sick.” “I didn’t even know he had cancer.” It is the honest shock of a public so accustomed to the knowledge of everything and anything filed away in public realms of accessible information and social media over-sharing. The shock of the death of an icon is compounded by the shock that we somehow missed the immensely personal news of his diagnosis, followed by the shock that we didn’t know because it actually wasn’t trending news, that we didn’t know because that he didn’t actually share it.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Identifying with Those in Need

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“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:2).

Because we too are human beings, God makes it possible for us to empathize with others who might be enduring hardship.

The Apostolic Confession, an ancient church confession, says, “If any Christian is condemned for Christ’s sake to the mines by the ungodly, do not overlook him, but from the proceeds of your toil and sweat, send him something to support himself, and to reward the soldier of Christ.” You can see from this quote that the early church took seriously its responsibility to help people who were suffering persecution. To obtain money to free a fellow believer, some early Christians even sold themselves into slavery.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever have to face such extreme measures. But we can definitely learn from the heart attitude that prompted such an action. The point is, we should do whatever we can to understand what others are going through. We don’t necessarily have to experience the same starvation, imprisonment, or harsh treatment that they are enduring in order to sympathize. Being human—“in the body,” as today’s verse says—and suffering our own hurts and hungers should be enough incentive for us to help others.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Generous Heavenly Father 

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May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. Jude 1:2, NLT

Christmas day is always an exercise in expectancy: gift giving and gift receiving. I marveled at the joy of our children and grandchildren, as their beautifully wrapped boxes and packages became tangled ribbons and wrinkled wrapping paper, but what gave me the most pause was their genuine gratitude to one another for their gifts. I thanked the Lord for putting in their hearts and minds a spirit of true thankfulness. I also prayed for all of us to grow more and more grateful for God’s blessings. Yes, an abundant Christian life is a life ever growing in God’s graces.

Jude, brother of James and half brother of Jesus experienced first hand the mercy, peace and love of Christ. He probably saw Jesus show mercy to the woman caught in adultery who was forgiven, but instructed to sin no more. Perhaps Jude was one of the disciples post resurrection in the presence of the Lord when He breathed the Spirit on them and said, “Peace be with you.” And oh how like torrential rain Christ poured out His love on those poor in spirit. He fed. He healed. He taught. He suffered. He died. He rose from the dead. All for the sake of His vast love.

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Endless Love

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Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.  2 Corinthians 6:17

Recommended Reading

2 Corinthians 6:11-18

Diana Ross and Lionel Richie released one of history’s most famous songs when they sang “Endless Love” in 1981. How many times have we heard it at weddings! But endless love implies eternity, and that’s why it’s important to fall in love with someone who knows and loves the same Savior you do.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Transforming a Painful Childhood into a Purposeful Adulthood

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Today’s Truth

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to…bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

Isaiah 61:1,3

Friend to Friend

In my last devotion we visited with Queen Esther, but I’m not quite ready to leave this little orphan-girl-turned-powerful-queen just yet. Reading her story gives me so much hope! While we don’t know much about Esther’s parents, we do know that she was an orphan who was raised by her cousin, Mordecai. As far as we can tell, she had no feminine influence in her life, and yet she grew to be a gracious lovely woman who won the favor of everyone she encountered.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Perfect in His Sight Promise

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“But Christ gave Himself to God for our sins as one sacrifice for all time, and then sat down at the place of highest honor at God’s right hand, waiting for His enemies to be laid under His feet. For by that one offering He made forever perfect in the sight of God all those whom He is making Holy” (Hebrews 10:12-14).

All the sins you and I have ever committed or ever shall commit – past, present and future – are forgiven the moment we receive Christ, according to God’s Word. Think of it and rejoice!

Then you may rightly ask, “If all of my sins – past, present and future – are forgiven, why do I need to confess my sins?”

According to God’s Word, confession is an act of obedience and an expression or demonstration of faith that makes real in our experience what is already true concerning us from God’s point of view.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Secret of Jesus

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Read: John 5:18-30

Jesus gave them this answer: Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself (John 5:19a)

That is probably the most radical statement in the entire Word of God, because it indicates the first step in being a channel of the power of God: a recognition that any effort made to use God’s power for one’s own benefit will finally leave nothing but a hollow, empty feeling; it will never achieve anything. You may climb to the top of whatever heap you aspire to, and gain the admiration and attention of all the world, but if you have not found this secret, your life will be unsatisfying to you, and of no use whatever to God. The Son can do nothing of his own accord.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Don’t Skip the Preliminaries

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Read: Acts 16:25-31

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (v. 30 NIV)

So I want to grow in my knowledge of Christ, but how can I do that? What’s the magic formula? Of course, there isn’t a formula. As outspoken journalist H. L. Mencken warned, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

Oh, there are definitely things you can do to grow in your knowledge of Christ. They are called spiritual disciplines, and I’ll talk about them later. Millions of people have practiced these disciplines for 2,000 years now, and they work wonderfully as instruments that lead to a deeper knowledge of Christ. But they won’t work for you if you skip the preliminaries.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.H. – Friendly Counsel

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For thousands of years, there have been legends of rejuvenating waters. Writings of the fifth century Greek historian Herodotus spoke of a mythical fountain that granted youth to those who drank or bathed in it. The Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon was searching for the fountain when he landed in Florida in 1513. Youth was a powerful motivator for the conquistador to venture into the unknown.

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 13:14

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Sowing the Wind

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They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.—Hosea 8:7

In the early twentieth century G. K. Chesterton wrote, almost prophetically, “You may talk of God as a metaphor or a mystification . . . but nobody protests. But if you speak of God as a fact, as a thing like a tiger, as a reason for changing one’s conduct, then the modern world will stop you somehow if it can.”

When people are angry with God, they are often angry with God’s people. This is because they are being convicted by the Holy Spirit as a result of their sin. Jesus said, “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers” (Matthew 5:11).

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is Our Shepherd

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“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” (Psalm 23:1-2)

One spring afternoon, a tourist named Peter was riding a bus through the countryside in Scotland. Up and down the steep green hills, woolly sheep and their little lambs grazed. Many of the lambs were playing. Peter smiled as he watched them leaping and kicking the air with their tiny hooves.

Another passenger on the bus pointed out a circle of large, weathered stones on the side of a hill. “Look, a sheepfold!” he said. A kind shepherd had built that sheepfold long ago. He wanted his lambs to have a safe place to sleep at night, a place where he could watch over them.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Say No

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Today’s Scripture: Titus 2:11-12

“The grace of God has appeared . . . training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.”

Grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness. Ungodliness in its broadest form basically comprises disregarding God, ignoring him, or not taking him into account in one’s life. It’s a lack of fear and reverence for him. The wickedness portrayed by Paul in Romans 1:18-32 all starts with the idea that “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (verse 21, NIV). A person may be highly moral and even benevolent and still be ungodly.

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BreakPoint

BreakPoint – Powerball and the Moral Deficit: Bad Odds for the Poor

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America is in the midst of Powerball fever. And it’s not hard to see why. The potential value of a winning ticket went from $40 million in November, to $800 million last Saturday night, to an estimated $1.3 billion as I record.

In interviews everywhere, people are fantasizing about what they would do with all that money. Many are admitting to buying tickets in bulk. Though in one a refreshing change of pace, a woman at a supermarket told a colleague that she wasn’t playing because, “No one needs that kind of money.”

Well, she’s definitely in the minority. People are lining up to buy, despite the fact that the chances of winning are astronomical: one in 292 million. In miles, that’s more than three times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, what astronomers call an astronomical unit or AU.

Now, if all that was happening was a bunch of people throwing away a couple of bucks on astronomically-long odds, it wouldn’t warrant comment. But that’s not the only thing going on here. As ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser recently said on his radio show, it’s clear that “the lure of easy money affects the segment of the population you wish it [that] it didn’t affect.”

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