Tag Archives: christianity

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – How To Love God?

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Read: Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Romans 8:35a

How do you love God? You love him by answering this question. Who or what is going to separate us from the love of Christ? Is there any force, anywhere, that can come between you and Jesus? Who can remove us from Christ, once we fully come to him? Paul’s answer is, Let’s take a look at the possibilities.

First, can all the troubles and dangers of life separate us from his love: Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? (Romans 8:35b) That is life at its worst. Will that do it? Will hardship do it? That means the tight, narrow places we have to go through sometimes. Will persecution do it? That is hurt deliberately inflicted on us because we are Christians. Will famine, lack of food and money do it? Will nakedness, or lack of clothes? Will danger, or threat to our lives? Will the sword (war, riot, uprising) do it? No, Paul says, In these we are superconquerors. Why? Because rather than dividing us from Christ, they draw us closer to him. They make us cling harder. They scare us and make us run to him. When we are independent and think we can make it on our own, these things strike, and we start whimpering and running for home, and we cling all the closer. We can never be defeated then, so we are more than conquerors.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Something Understood

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Read: Matthew 13:34-35, 51-52

Have you understood all these things? (v. 51)

The last of George Herbert’s pen pictures is the simplest of all, yet it is as unexpected and as thought-provoking as any. The experience he writes of here is not one that our prayer answering God will give us every time; but as we get to know him better, we may find it happens increasingly often.

Here is the problem: if prayer is “something understood,” why do so many Bible people say to God in bewilderment, “But Lord, I don’t understand”? Here is the answer: they are being trained to trust where they cannot see; to trust that behind the scenes he has everything under control, and is working his purposes out in a way that they can’t yet grasp, but which will turn out to be the best of all ways.

And here is a quote, plus the concluding prayer, from just one more of Herbert’s fellow poets, Richard Trench (another archbishop, like yesterday’s Robert Leighton!). He writes of the times when we kneel to pray in a fog of not-understanding, and then somehow, rising from our knees, we find that “all, the distant and the near, / Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear; / We kneel, how weak; we rise, how full of power!” We may not know the answer, but we know the Answer Man.

Here is the poem in its entirety:

Continue reading Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Something Understood →

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Safe in the Storm

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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

—Psalm 46:1

When I was a kid, I attended Southern California Military Academy in Long Beach. We would have mandatory chapel every Sunday. Not being raised in a Christian home, I can recall it was the only time, for the most part, that I was ever in a church service. I remember one of the songs we sang in chapel was “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

At the time, I was experiencing a storm of my own because of the way my mom lived as an alcoholic. I remember singing, “When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high, and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of the lark. Walk on through the wind. Walk on through the rain.”

The problem was there was no mention of God in those lyrics. As we sang, “Walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone,” I thought, Who is with me? The lark that we’re singing about? Who is here?

As Christians, we do walk through storms in life. But we can hold our heads up high—not because of some bird singing but because the Lord is with us. He was with me as a little boy, though I hadn’t yet put my faith in Him completely. God was there as I cried out to Him.

We’re safer with Him in a storm than anywhere else without Him. I would rather be with Jesus in a storm than in the plushest, most luxurious place on earth without Him. The Bible tells us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

Sometimes God will calm or even stop the storms, but He is always with us through them.

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Chastens His Children

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“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:5-7)

“Joey and Cam, let’s go! We need to head home.” Cam’s mom called, as she wiped ketchup and bits of french fries off of the baby’s fingers and face.

Cam heard her, but he and Joey really wanted to keep playing on the restaurant’s playground for a few more minutes, so they pretended not to hear her. They got “lost” deep inside the maze and climbed backwards up the slides instead of coming out on the ground near her table. Cam did not make eye contact with his mom, but he could hear his little sister starting to get fussy. He did not care. He wanted to keep on playing. So that’s what he and Joey did.

“Cam! Joey! Last call! We are leaving now!” Cam’s mom did not sound too happy.

When they finally got into the van, she turned to the boys and said, “What was that all about at the playground? I know you heard me call the first time. Were you deliberately disobeying?”

The boys looked at one another. Joey nodded slowly, and Cam said a very quiet “Yes, ma’am, we were.”

It was mostly silent in the van until after they had dropped Joey off at his house. Cam’s mom turned to him then and said, “You do realize I’ll have to punish you for deliberate disobedience, don’t you, Cameron?”

“But, Mom, I thought you were done being mad. You didn’t say anything else to Joey!”

“Cam, I don’t have to say anything else to Joey. (Although I am thinking about talking it over with his mom later on.)”

“No fair! Joey did the same thing I did! It might’ve even been his idea! – I don’t even remember exactly, but it probably was Joey’s idea!”

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Chastens His Children →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Made Personally

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 72:18

“Blessed be the Lord . . . who alone does wondrous things.”

David said, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14, NIV). We might say, “That’s well enough for David; he was handsome, athletic, skilled in war, and a gifted musician. But look at me. I’m very ordinary physically and mentally.” In fact, some people feel they don’t even measure up to ordinary.

I understand people who feel that way. In addition to having hearing and vision disabilities, I’ve never been excited about my physical appearance. But God didn’t give his own Son handsome features in his human body: “he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2, NIV). Jesus, at best, was apparently nondescript in his physical appearance. This never bothered him nor interfered with his carrying out his Father’s will.

David praised God not because he was handsome but because God made him. Dwell on that thought: The eternal God, infinite in his wisdom and perfect in his love, personally made you and me. He gave you your body, your mental abilities, and your basic personality because that’s the way he wanted you to be—and he loves you and wants to glorify himself through you.

This is our foundation for self-acceptance. God sovereignly and directly created us to be who we are, disabilities or physical flaws and all. We need to learn to think like George Macdonald, who said, “I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.” (Excerpt taken from Trusting God)

 

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – A Leader’s Character

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 31-35

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers–not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. – 1 Peter 5:2-3

Books and articles about leadership written by secular writers often differ from biblical principles. All too often, those who teach leadership are concerned primarily with style. Should the leader simply make the decisions and carry them out, or should he consult with the people to get their input before he acts?

The most important issue in leadership is character. It has always seemed to me that leadership style depends on the circumstances. For instance, I like the idea of consulting with people and receiving their wisdom on the subject. Why do solo thinking when one has a whole group of skilled people to draw from? On the other hand, if I’m in an airplane and the cockpit is filling with smoke, the landing gear is stuck, and an engine is out, I don’t want the captain coming back to the passenger section and asking my opinion about what to do. I want him to muster all his expertise, to recall all his training, and to get that airplane safely on the ground. I want him in total control and not asking advice from anybody.

So when the Bible deals with the subject of leadership, it doesn’t dwell on the style of the leader, but on the character of the leader. Notice the words of the prophet in Isaiah 32:1: “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.” The leader’s daily walk of righteousness is fundamental. Now look at Isaiah 32:17: “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.”

Prayer

Lord, help me to walk in Your righteousness, so that when I lead, I can do it with quietness and confidence.

To Ponder

In leadership, character is the bottom line.

 

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BreakPoint

BreakPoint – Russia: Christians Face Increasing Persecution

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We all know about the dire circumstances faced by Christians in the Islamic world. Even the White House has finally called what’s happening to Christians in Iraq and Syria “genocide.”

But there’s another place where religious freedom is under assault: Russia.

This is a surprise to some. After all, post-Soviet Russia takes pride in its Christian heritage. Its president, Vladimir Putin, has positioned himself as a champion of Russian Orthodoxy. His stance on traditional marriage and opposition to homosexual activists has won him praise and admiration from many conservative Christians.

But just ask Donald Ossewaarde if he thinks that Putin and Putin’s Russia are champions of religious freedom. Ossewaarde, a Baptist missionary from the United States, was one of the first people to run afoul of the recently passed “Yarovaya Law.”

The Yarovaya Law, which purports to be a counter-terrorism and public safety measure, prohibits “religious gatherings in unregistered places,” restricts promoting religion on the internet, and makes it easier for Russian officials to deny entry into and departure from the country.

And since the Yarovaya Law places severe restrictions on evangelization (or “proselytizing” as the Russian government sees it), it’s not hard to see how a Baptist missionary might get into trouble.

The law defines “missionary work” as “the activity of a religious association, aimed at disseminating information about its beliefs among people who are not participants (members, followers) in that religious association, with the purpose of involving these people as participants (members, followers).”

Activity that falls under this definition may “only be performed ‘without hindrance’ at [designated] churches and other religious sites . . . [and it is] expressly forbidden to perform missionary activities in private residences.”

Continue reading BreakPoint – Russia: Christians Face Increasing Persecution →

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – FOR THE GOOD OF GOD’S PEOPLE

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Read ESTHER 10:1–3

What makes a man great? What distinguishes him from the ordinary? Ralph Waldo Emerson connected greatness to humility: “A great man is always willing to be little.” Winston Churchill observed, “Good and great are seldom in the same man.”

Mordecai, was a man who was not only great but also good. What factors contributed to Mordecai’s success? First, Mordecai was devoted. He took care of his cousin, Esther. He raised her and loved her as his own daughter (2:7). Even when she was grown and entered the king’s palace, he would visit every day to see how she was doing (2:11). He demonstrated his love toward Esther with consistent, unselfish actions.

Second, Mordecai was brave and a person of decisive and courageous action. He uncovered the conspiracy against the king and saved his life (2:23). He learned of Haman’s plot to execute the Jewish people and devised a plan to save them. Third, Mordecai was a person of integrity and humility. Even though he knew the consequences, he refused to bow down to Haman (3:2). When he learned of the fate of his people, he did not sulk privately but put on sackcloth and ashes and mourned at the king’s gate (4:2).

Mordecai earned the respect of the Jewish people and the king because he was caring, decisive, humble, and consistent. He was a man of honor. Esther 10 says King Xerxes left behind a tremendous legacy that included “his acts of power and might.” But those records also featured the “greatness of Mordecai” (v. 2).

God worked through the good lives of Mordecai and Esther for the good of His people. They would not be forgotten.

APPLY THE WORD

How is God working through your life? As we conclude the study of Esther, ask God to use you, as He did Esther and Mordecai, as His faithful servant. Ask Him to humble you, challenge you, and stretch you as you follow Him through the twists and turns of your own life story. Ask Him for the courage to be a great man or woman of God.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – ‘BLACK MOON’ FRIDAY: HAS THE APOCALYPSE BEGUN?

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Is today the “End of Days”?

Some say it is. We are witnessing a “Black Moon,” which is the second of two new moons in a single month. The phenomenon occurs roughly every thirty-two months, so it’s not all that unusual. However, the first day of September brought a “ring of fire” solar eclipse, with the moon aligned with the sun in such a way that the sun appears as a glowing ring around the moon.

Do these events herald the end of the world? Jesus told us that “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” before he returns (Matthew 24:29). However, in the same verse he also told us that “the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Neither has occurred yet.

When thinking about the Second Coming, it’s best to focus on preparing rather than predicting. Some good news in today’s news makes that point.

You may have seen the now-viral video of Tim Tebow hitting a home run on the first pitch of his first game as a professional baseball player. Meanwhile, Politico is calling two congressmen “Hill’s angels” after they resuscitated a man on Capitol Hill. They found the man lying on the floor of an elevator in the Rayburn House office building and used CPR and a defibrillator to keep him alive until paramedics arrived.

A police detective in Plano, Texas saw a man run out of a convenience store carrying a donation jar full of cash. The detective caught the man and pinned him to the roof of his car. When the man started to break away, the detective yelled for help. A bystander filming the confrontation on his cell phone and another man helped restrain the suspect until the policeman could handcuff him. The detective later treated the men to lunch at a steak restaurant. It cost him almost $100, but he said it was the least he could do.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘BLACK MOON’ FRIDAY: HAS THE APOCALYPSE BEGUN? →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Value of Obedience

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John 14:23

Despite his years of fishing experience, Peter returned from a night’s work with nothing to show for it. The Lord’s request to let the nets down one more time perhaps struck him as unreasonable—after all, Peter and his partners were the professionals. Nevertheless, he complied, and his obedience blessed many.

Scripture demonstrates that divine plans often defy human logic. For instance, who would design a battle strategy that involved only marching and shouting? God told Joshua to conquer Jericho that way, and doing so proved successful (Josh. 6:1-5).

Moses is another example. When he felt unsure about his leadership potential, the Lord gave reassurance in an unusual way—by telling him to throw down his walking stick. When Moses obeyed, God powerfully confirmed His choice of a leader (Ex. 4:1-3).

Our Father may ask us to do something that seems illogical—perhaps to accept more responsibility when we were hoping to reduce our workload, to leave a position that He provided just recently, or to take on an assignment for which we feel ill-equipped. His plan might feel unrealistic in view of our age, stage of life, or health concerns. We must press forward in obedience, regardless of how impractical the request may appear.

To grasp the importance of obeying, think about children receiving instructions from parents or teachers. Careful listening is needed for the task to be done safely and properly. Some steps may seem pointless, but the rationale often becomes clear later. Always make obeying God your priority.

Bible in One Year: Zechariah 1-5

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Within a Stone’s Throw

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Read: John 7:53-8:11

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2

Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.—John 8:7

As a group of religious leaders herded an adulterous woman toward Jesus, they couldn’t know they were carrying her within a stone’s throw of grace. Their hope was to discredit Him. If He told them to let the woman go, they could claim He was breaking Mosaic law. But if He condemned her to death, the crowds following Him would have dismissed His words of mercy and grace.

But Jesus turned the tables on the accusers. Scripture says that rather than answering them directly, He started writing on the ground. When the leaders continued to question Him, He invited any of them who had never sinned to throw the first stone, and then He started writing on the ground again. The next time He looked up, all the accusers were gone.

Now the only person who could have thrown a stone—the only sinless one—looked at the woman and gave her mercy. “ ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ ” (John 8:11).

Whether today finds you needing forgiveness for judging others or desiring assurance that no sin is beyond His grace, be encouraged by this: No one is throwing stones today; go and be changed by God’s mercy. —Randy Kilgore

Father, cleanse me of my judging nature and free me from the bonds of sin. Let me taste Your mercy and then help me to live a changed life.

Tell us your story of how the Lord has shown grace to you at odb.org/story.

We serve a Savior who is eager to forgive.

INSIGHT: In today’s reading, a dramatic scene unfolds. As Jesus taught in the temple courts a woman caught in the act of adultery was brought to Him. The legalists wanted to test His response to this flagrant act of sin. They knew the law demanded the death penalty and wanted to place Christ in a double bind between merciful forgiveness and literal obedience to the law. When confronted with this guilty woman, Jesus did the unexpected: He knelt and wrote something in the sand. His statement—“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7)—turned the tide of public opinion. The sinful heart of the accusers caused them to leave one by one.

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Portrait of a Soul

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In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde describes an exceptionally handsome young man so captivating that he drew the awe-stricken adulation of a great artist. The artist asked him to be the subject of a portrait for he had never seen a face so attractive and so pure. When the painting was completed, young Dorian became so enraptured by his own looks that he wistfully intoned how wonderful it would be if he could live any way he pleased but that no disfigurement of a lawless lifestyle would mar the picture of his own countenance. If only the portrait would grow old and he himself could remain unscathed by time and way of life. In Faustian style he was willing to trade his soul for that wish.

One day, alone and pensive, Dorian went up to the attic and uncovered the portrait that he had kept hidden for so many years, only to be shocked by what he saw. Horror, hideousness, and blood marred the portrait.

The charade came to an end when the artist himself saw the picture. It told the story. He pled with Dorian to come clean, saying, “Does it not say somewhere, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’?” But in a fit of rage to silence this voice of conscience, Dorian grabbed a knife and killed the artist.

There was now only one thing left for him to do; he took the knife to remove the only visible reminder of his wicked life. But the moment he thrust the blade into the canvas, the portrait returned to its pristine beauty, while Dorian lay stabbed to death on the floor. The ravages that had marred the picture now so disfigured him that even his servants could no longer recognize him.

What a brilliant illustration of how a soul, though invisible, can nonetheless be tarnished. I wonder, if there were to be a portrait of my soul or your soul, how would it best be depicted? Does not the conscience sting, when we think in these terms? Though we have engineered many ways of avoiding physical consequences, how does one cleanse the soul?

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Portrait of a Soul →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Spiritual Gifts

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“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

God wants every Christian to understand spiritual gifts and use his or hers wisely.

A spiritual gift is a channel through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:11). The day we were born again into God’s family, His Spirit distributed to us a spiritual gift. Therefore, having a spiritual gift does not mean a believer is “spiritual.” What we really must ask is, “Is the channel clear?” Hypothetically, someone could have all the recorded spiritual gifts and not be using any of them. Or that believer could be greatly abusing some gifts. In either case, such a person would not be spiritual.

It is also incorrect to equate a natural ability with a spiritual gift. Someone might say, “My gift is baking pies”; another might say, “I’m good at playing the piano.” Those are wonderful and useful abilities, but they are natural abilities, not spiritual gifts.

Paul illustrates the difference between abilities and gifts. He could have used his knowledge of philosophy and literature to write and deliver great orations. However, this is what he said to the Corinthians: “I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2). The Holy Spirit uses the abilities of people like Paul and speaks through them, but He expresses Himself in a supernatural way, which is not necessarily related to the person’s natural skills.

If we rely on our own ability to produce spiritual fruit, we hinder what the Spirit wants to do in us. Instead, ponder what Peter says about using your gift: “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11).

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank the Lord for the special spiritual gift He has given you. Ask that He would help you use it faithfully, to its full potential.

For Further Study

Read Romans 12:4-8 and list the spiritual gifts mentioned there. What does 1 Corinthians 12, especially verses 12-31, emphasize regarding the use of the various gifts within the church?

 

http://www.gty.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Keep Short Accounts 

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In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Ephesians 4:26

Few things in this world eat away at you like unconfessed sin and unresolved conflict. Like a cancer deep in your bones, the longer it is left ignored and untreated the more it grows and spreads, infecting all parts of your body and soul. Though we have a remarkable ability to suppress and ignore our emotions, they never simply go away. The hurt and pain often rests just below the surface, ready at the most unexpected times to resurface in the form of angry outbursts, unexplained anxiety, and paralyzing fear.

The good news of God’s kingdom is that Jesus enters into the brokenness of our world and speaks life into all the places where death once reigned. And yet, so often due to our shame or lack of trust, we keep our wounds hidden, telling ourselves that they aren’t that bad or that we can heal them on our own.

When we see the goodness of God shown to us in Jesus, we encounter a purity and intensity of love that lets us lay down our weapons and the walls that we work so hard to keep up. We learn that his consuming fire isn’t a fire of anger or rage but is a purifying fire that desires to burn away all that is impure in our lives. He wants us to come out of the shadows, not so our shame and hurt can be exposed and ridiculed, but so that in the light of his love the darkness of our hearts can be driven out by his light.

If we do not trust that God is good and loving and able to heal the sickest parts of our souls, we will always struggle to freely and frequently confess our sins to him and to one another. When we let the sickness of sin grow untreated in our souls, we turn away from the healing balm of God’s Spirit and instead inflict wounds upon ourselves and upon others, often upon the people in our lives that are the dearest and most loved.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Keep Short Accounts  →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Streams in the Desert

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He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Deuteronomy 32:10

Recommended Reading

Deuteronomy 32:7-12

Earlier this year, a television crew from Animal Planet was filming a scene on a deserted island in the South Pacific. Suddenly the crew spotted a man yelling and waving his arms. He was a genuine castaway, a stranded fisherman, suffering dehydration and sunstroke. The man had given up hope, said his prayers, and was prepared to die. The crew rescued him—and made a television program about the adventure.

None of us like to be cast into a desert place in life, but the Lord knows how to rescue us. He finds us where we are. He encircles us. He instructs us, and He keeps us as the apple of His eye.

If you’re in a desert place, don’t give up your hope. Desert places can become places of deliverance, and God can even turn spiritual deserts into times of refreshment. Isaiah 35 says, “…the desert shall rejoice and blossom… for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (verses 1, 6).

Jesus often meets us in the desert places of life.

If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.

Mrs. Lettie B. Cowman

Read-Thru-the-Bible

Zechariah 6 – 10

 

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – We Don’t Have to Pay for Our Mistakes

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My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father—[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action].- 1 John 2:1

Obviously our goal should be to not sin. But if we do sin, God has already provided Jesus—Who is perfect—to take our place and atone for our sin. We may feel we are earning God’s forgiveness by feeling guilty. But that is our fleshly way of trying to “pay” for our mistakes. Jesus did not die for us so we could feel guilty; He died for us so we could have an intimate relationship with God through Him. He died so our sins could be forgiven and we could have right standing with God. He wants us to come boldly to the throne of grace in prayer and have our needs met.

Power Thought: Jesus died for my sins so I don’t have to pay for them.

From the book the book Power Thoughts Devotional by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – How Resistance Can Lead to Strength

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Today’s Truth

The testing of your faith produces perseverance.

James 1:3

Friend to Friend

My daughter plays competitive volleyball and recently began a specialized resistance plyometric workout called Vertimax training. The actual Vertimax equipment looks rather unimpressive. It’s a sturdy platform that hosts a complicated series of industrial-sized rubber bands. The results of training with this system, however, are anything but unimpressive. This advanced resistance-training helps to increase vertical jump, strengthen and protect muscles, and accelerate an athlete’s reaction time. Everything a volleyball player wants!

But let me tell you, it is hard work.

Kennedy trains under the careful watch of a guide who knows just how much tension to add and to allow on the platform. And she works through a rapid series of reps to the point of fatigue, and sometimes to failure.

The resistance of the bands increases her strength, but not until her muscles are worn down. After fatigue sets in and the muscles break down, healing begins, and she grows stronger as a result.

Just like in life.

Trials and tension can lead to stress or to strength. Often both! Challenges can tear us down, but they also hold the power to build us up. It’s important for us to realize that we get to choose our responses when resistance wears us thin.

I want to honor God in both good and bad times. Don’t you? I honestly do, but it’s not easy. I tend to get upset about the breakdowns and strains I have to deal with. The Bible shows me, however, that if I didn’t have any resistance I wouldn’t grow.

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – How Resistance Can Lead to Strength →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Holy Spirit Will Speak

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“But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry about what to say in your defense. Just say what God tells you to. Then you will not be speaking, but the Holy Spirit will” (Mark 13:11).

Have you even had the experience of trying to say a word for the Lord, just sharing your faith, and breathing a prayer for guidance – then marveling as the Lord Himself, by His indwelling Holy Spirit, put the very words in your mouth that needed to be said?

Such has been my experience – many times. And I marvel and rejoice each time. On some occasions, I have addressed crowds of varying sizes, often not only feeling totally inadequate but also concluding my message of the evening with the feeling that I had been a poor ambassador of Christ. Then, someone had approached me after the service and thanked my for saying just the word he needed at that moment.

We serve a faithful God. That neighbor who needs a word of encouragement – ask the Lord to give you the right words to say to him or her. That correspondent hundreds of miles away – trust God for His message to him or her through you.

Certain conditions must prevail, of course, before the Holy Spirit can speak through us. But they are easily met. I must come with a clean heart, surrendered to the Holy Spirit, with my sins forgiven, having forgiven other people, holding no resentment or ill feeling against anyone. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18, KJV).

Let us trust God and His indwelling Holy Spirit for the very words of counsel we should say to a loved one or friend today.

Bible Reading: Acts 2:1-4

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will trust God and His Holy Spirit to put the very words in my mouth this day that need to be said to others whose lives I touch.

 

 

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Who Condemns You Now?

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Read: Romans 8:31-34

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:33-34

This is a reminder of the work that God has done. We love God when we trust in the full effect of his work on our behalf. Paul is looking back over the letter, and sees two great works that God has done. The first is justification. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Who can? It is God who justifies. Justification means that nothing and no one anywhere can accuse us successfully before God.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren. He will try to accuse us constantly. This verse tells us that we must not listen to his voice. We must not listen to these thoughts that condemn us, that put us down, that make us feel that there is no hope for us. These thoughts will come — they cannot be stopped — but we do not have to listen to them. We know God is not listening to these accusations. Who can condemn us when God justifies us? Therefore we refuse to be condemned. We don’t do this by ignoring our sin or trying to cover it over, or pretending that it isn’t there; we do it by admitting that we fully deserve to be condemned, but that God, through Christ, has already borne our guilt. That is the only way out. That is why Christians should not hesitate to admit their failure and their sin. You will never be justified until you admit it. But when you admit it, then you also can face the full glory of the fact that God justifies the ungodly, and therefore there is no condemnation.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – The Land of Spices

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Read: 1 Kings 10:1-10

An abundance of spices . . . that the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. (v. 10)

Was this “land of spices” a legendary country, remote and mysterious? No, not exactly. Remote, certainly, even more so than the Queen of Sheba’s homeland; but a real place. For hundreds of years after Bible times, the spices that made food worth eating—cloves and nutmeg, mace and pepper—came chiefly (like the bird of paradise!) from today’s Indonesia, by a long and expensive route, most of it overland, with dues to be paid each time the merchants passed from one country to another. But by George Herbert’s time, a century of exploration by sea had enabled the countries of Europe to cut out the middleman and bring these good things directly from “the land of spices.”

When we pray, we are well aware that there is just one unavoidable middleman, the Lord Jesus. But he is not the kind that requires payment of duty at the customs posts on goods being traded internationally. Rather, he is himself the bringer of the goods. All dues paid, all costs covered.

Robert Leighton, a younger contemporary of Herbert’s and a leading light in the Church of Scotland, wrote of prayer as “our very traffic with heaven,” which “fetches the most precious commodities thence. He who sends oftenest out these ships of desire . . . to that land of spices . . . shall . . . have most of heaven upon earth.”

Here is the poem in its entirety:

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