Tag Archives: chariots of fire

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Staying Focused

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The movie Chariots of Fire is the story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, two British runners who compete in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Early in the film, Abrahams loses a race to Liddell. His coach tells him he lost the race because he lost focus. He turned to look at the competition and it distracted him from his purpose.

This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.

Galatians 5:8

In the verses leading up to today’s scripture, Paul tells the Galatians the same thing. “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7) False teachers were distracting the Galatians. They were placing emphasis on the law instead of grace. Paul reminded them this tangent was not from God, who called them to His purposes, but from the enemy.

God has a plan for you as well, but Satan will use distractions to keep you from His calling. Pray today for the Holy Spirit to help you remain focused on His truth and on your purposes in Him. Pray also for the nation’s leaders to seek God’s will for the country, and to desire to please Him rather than man.

Recommended Reading: Galatians 1:6-10

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Consider God’s Mightiness

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Alistair Begg

His camp is exceedingly great. Joel 2:11

Consider, my soul, the mightiness of the Lord who is your glory and defense. He is a man of war; Jehovah is His name. All the forces of heaven are at His command; legions wait at His door; cherubim and seraphim, watchers and holy ones, principalities and powers are all attentive to His will. If our eyes were not blinded by the dust of sin, we should see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about the Lord’s servants. The powers of nature are all subject to the absolute control of the Creator: Stormy wind and tempest, lightning and rain, snow and hail, and the soft dews and cheering sunshine come and go at His decree.

The bands of Orion He looses, and He binds the sweet influences of the Pleiades.1 Earth, sea, and air and the places under the earth are the barracks for Jehovah’s great armies; space is His camping ground, light is His banner, and flame is His sword. When He goes forth to war, famine ravages the land, pestilence smites the nations, hurricane sweeps the sea, tornado shakes the mountains, and earthquake makes the solid world to tremble.

As for animate creatures, they all own His dominion, and from the great fish that swallowed the prophet down to “all manner of flies,” which plagued the field of Zoan,2 all are His servants, and even the caterpillars and the worms are squadrons of His great army, for His camp is very great. My soul, see to it that you are at peace with this mighty King. Be sure to enlist under His banner, for to war against Him is madness, and to serve Him is glory.

Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, is ready to receive recruits for the army of the Lord: If I am not already enlisted, let me go to Him before I sleep and beg to be accepted through His merits; and if I be already, as I hope I am, a soldier of the cross, let me be of good courage, for the enemy is powerless compared with my Lord, whose camp is very great.

1) Job 38:31  2) Psalm 78:43-45

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The family reading plan for July 24, 2014 * Jeremiah 20 * Mark 6

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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Alistair Begg – Your Troubles Will End Soon

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Whom he justified he also glorified.      Romans 8:30

Here is a precious truth for you, believer. You may be poor or suffering or unknown, but for your encouragement take a moment to review your calling and the consequences that flow from it, and especially the blessed result spoken of here. As surely as you are God’s child today, so surely will all your trials soon come to an end, and you shall be rich to an extent that is hard to imagine.

Wait awhile, and your weary head will wear the crown of glory, and the worker’s hand shall grasp the palm-branch of victory. Do not bemoan your troubles, but rather rejoice that before long you will be where no longer “shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.”1 The chariots of fire are at your door, and it will take only a moment to transport you to the glorified. The everlasting song is almost on your lip. The portals of heaven stand open for you.

Do not think that you can fail to enter into your rest. If He has called you, nothing can divide you from His love. Distress cannot sever the bond; the fire of persecution cannot burn the link; the hammer of hell cannot break the chain. You are secure; that voice which called you at first shall call you yet again from earth to heaven, from death’s dark gloom to immortality’s unuttered splendors. Rest assured, the heart of Him who has justified you beats with infinite love toward you. You will soon be with the glorified, where your portion is; you are only waiting here to be made ready for the inheritance, and with that done, the wings of angels shall carry you far away, to the mount of peace and joy and blessedness, where

Far from a world of grief and sin,

With God eternally shut in,

you shall rest forever and ever.

1 – Revelation 21:4

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Alistair Begg – Not Far From Home

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That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. Hebrews 2:14

Child of God, death has lost its sting, because the devil’s power over it is destroyed. Stop fearing death! Ask God the Holy Spirit to grant you an intimate knowledge and a firm belief in your Redeemer’s death, so that you may be strengthened for that journey. Living near the cross of Calvary, you may learn to think of death with pleasure and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is blessed to die in the Lord: It is a covenant blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment; it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones are already living. The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not.

We are not far from home–a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will its voyage be? How many weary winds must beat upon the sail before it shall be berthed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be buffeted on the waves before it comes to that sea that knows no storm? Listen to the answer: “away from the body and at home with the Lord.”1 The ship has just departed, but it is already at its destination. It simply spread its sail, and it was there. Like that ship of old upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, “Peace, be still,” and immediately it came to land. Do not think that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth, they open in heaven. The chariots of fire are not an instant on the road.

So child of God, what is there for you to fear in death, seeing that through the death of your Lord Jesus its curse and sting are destroyed? And now it is like a Jacob’s ladder with its base in a dark grave, but with its top reaching to everlasting glory.