“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”
Most people consider prayer to be like a drive-through window. It’s where they pull up and don’t have time to stay, but they want to make sure their order gets in and they get just what they want before they rush away. They pull up to heaven, and God says, “Welcome to McHeaven. May I take your order, please?” As sad as that sounds, that’s what a lot of people think about prayer.
The first thing they…and we…need to know about prayer is that prayer is not a monologue; prayer is a dialogue. Prayer is not where I speak and God listens. It’s where God and I have a conversation. Not only do I get the opportunity to speak to Him, but God very dearly wants to speak to me. Prayer is how we invite the supernatural presence of the Almighty to invade our life. Prayer is where we take time to learn how God effectively communicates with us! Prayer is where we get to hear exciting things when we stop talking and start listening to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We get to talk to the Commander in Chief and ask Him what He wants us to do here on this earth so we can wage spiritual warfare and overcome the enemy.
Today’s Blessing:
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. May you go from glory to glory and from strength to strength. May you go from victory to victory, and may God give to you the desires of your heart. May God give you a vision of your future and give you the strength to realize that it is His desire for you to have heaven’s best while you dwell on this earth. In Jesus’ name, we pray and release this blessing upon the righteous of God.
There’s a difference between doubt and unbelief. The latter involves the heart. Doubt is a matter of a rational mind asking good questions, often during periods of stress. John the Baptist had such a moment in Matthew 11. It didn’t upset Jesus. God isn’t scared by our doubts. He can use our doubts to draw us closer to Himself. He has solid answers for honest questions.
If your children or grandchildren are asking questions—or if you are—don’t panic. Learn to search out the answers. Josh Rasmussen is a philosopher who went from Christianity to atheism. But his honest questions led him to evidence that drove him back to God. “The biggest threat to the discovery of God, and to productive truth seeking more broadly,” Rasmussen wrote, “is blind faith…. Seek truth. Follow the evidence. Align with reason…You may come to discover that the foundation of reality is greater than you had imagined.”[1]
When people fight their way through their doubts to the conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, they have attained to a certainty that those who unthinkingly accept things can never reach. William Barclay
Show me a church that doesn’t have a flow of new believers coming in, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. New believers help older believers stay on their feet spiritually. New believers are the lifeblood of the church.
The Great Commission not only involves going out and preaching the gospel. It also includes making disciples of all nations (see Matthew 28:19–20).
This means that to the best of our ability, we seek to lead people to Christ and help them grow spiritually. New believers will ask you questions about things you’ve forgotten. They’ll motivate you to study your Bible as never before.
And, of course, newer believers need older believers to temper them, keep them strong, and help them develop a good foundation in their faith.
I have found that as I give out to others, God replenishes me. When you think of someone else, when you share the Word of God with them and encourage them, you will find that God refreshes you in the process.
The first-century church understood this. It was an evangelistic church. As people watched these believers learning, caring, worshipping, and praying, it drew them in. The Bible tells us that “each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47 NLT). And they helped young Christians grow in the faith.
There was continual evangelism in the early church, and there was no apology for it. This is the church that turned their world upside down.
Yet it seems to me that nowadays, the world is turning the church upside down. It seems to me that the world impacts us more than we impact the world because we are ashamed to be the church.
Let’s be what we are without apology: thankful that God has called us to be a part of it.
While preparing a meal, a young mother cut a pot roast in half before she put it in a large pot. Her husband asked her why she cut the meat in half. She replied, “Because that’s the way my mother does it.”
Her husband’s question, however, piqued the woman’s curiosity. So she asked her mother about the tradition. She was shocked to learn that her mother cut the meat so it would fit in the one small pot she used. And because her daughter had many large pots, the act of cutting the meat was unnecessary.
Many traditions begin out of a necessity but are carried on without question—becoming “the way we do it.” It’s natural to want to hold on to human traditions—something the Pharisees were doing in their day (Mark 7:1–2). They were distracted by what seemed like the breaking of one of their religious rules.
As Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions” (v. 8). He revealed that traditions should never replace the wisdom of Scripture. A genuine desire to follow God (vv. 6–7) will focus on the attitude of our heart rather than outward actions.
It’s a good idea to consistently evaluate traditions—anything we hold close to our heart and follow religiously. The things that God has revealed to be truly needed should always supersede traditions.
“So that you may approve the things that are excellent” (Phil. 1:10).
In a world of mediocrity and confusion, God calls you to excellence and discernment.
There’s the story of a pilot who came on the loudspeaker mid flight and said, “I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is we’ve lost all our instrumentation and don’t know where we are. The good news is we have a strong tail wind and are making great time.” That’s an accurate picture of how many people live: they have no direction in life but they’re getting there fast!
We as Christians are to be different because we have divine guidance and eternal goals. Our lives are to be marked by a confident trust in God and a pursuit of spiritual excellence.
“Excellent” in Philippians 1:10 speaks of things that are worthwhile and vital. Approving what is excellent refers to testing things as one would test a precious metal to determine its purity and value. It goes beyond knowing good from evil. It distinguishes between better and best. It involves thinking biblically and focusing your time and energy on what really counts. It involves cultivating spiritual discipline and not being controlled by your emotions, whims, moods, or circumstances.
Many organizations and businesses have adopted the motto, “Commitment to Excellence” to convey their desire to provide the finest product or service possible. If secular-minded people strive for that level of achievement, how much more should Christians pursue excellence for the glory of God!
Look at your life. Is it filled with godly love, discernment, and the pursuit of excellence—or has worldly trivia crowded out those virtues?
Suggestions for Prayer
Read Isaiah 12:1-6 as a psalm of praise to the God of excellence.
Ask God to give you a heart constantly set on pursuing excellence for His glory.
For Further Study
Daniel was a man who pursued excellence. Read Daniel 1:1—2:21.
What was Daniel’s decision regarding the king’s food and wine, and how did he handle the situation?
How did Daniel and his three friends compare in wisdom and understanding to the magicians and conjurers?
What principles do you see in those two chapters that apply to your life?
Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.
— 1 Peter 5:8-9 (AMPC)
Sometimes we unintentionally give the wrong impression about spiritual warfare. We know that our enemy is the devil and that we must fight daily to win, but that’s not everything. If the Christian life were nothing but battles, it would be discouraging to fight every hour of every day.
I would feel that I could never relax because as soon as I did, Satan would sneak back again. That’s not the picture I want to present. The Christian life is one of joy and peace. God gives us a great sense of fulfillment, and we’re at rest because we know we honor Him by the way we live.
Peter wrote to Christians about their enemy—warning them and urging them to be vigilant, which is where we often put the emphasis. Just before he wrote those words, however, he said, Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully (v. 7). As we read that verse, it tells us that we must remind ourselves of God’s love for us—God cares. Because God cares, we can trust Him to take care of us.
We need that as part of our foundation. It’s not that we don’t have faith; it’s that Satan tries to destroy our faith with lies like: “If God really cared about you, would He make you go through this trial?” “If God truly loved you, would He treat you this way?”
Those questions that the devil throws at you are full of lies. If he can make you think you’re not loved or that God doesn’t have your best interests at heart, he can plant tiny seeds of unbelief. God wants you to remain strong and true like Abraham and other believers in the Bible.
One of the things I’ve learned from ministering to thousands of people is that the terrible and negative problems striking our lives are not what cause us to turn away from God. No, it’s our reaction to those situations that makes the difference. Think of Abraham again. When God promised to give him a son, he was an old man. He could have said, “How could that possibly be? I’m old and long past being able to father a child.” Instead, he said, “That’s wonderful! I believe.”
When struggles, trials, and hardships come your way—and they always do—you have a choice. You can heed Peter’s words and give God your cares, worries, and concerns. No matter how dark the night or how evil the situation, you must remind yourself that God is not only present with you in those situations, but He also loves you and will provide for you.
Your job is to be vigilant during those difficult times. You can rejoice in God’s love and blessings when all is going well—and that’s what God wants you to do. But in the dark moments, you need to remind yourself that the devil stalks you and wants to defeat you.
One more thing. Sometimes you may wonder why you have so many trials and problems. Is it possible that the devil may have singled you out because of God’s great plan for your life? The more faithful you are, the more you have to resist him and his lies of unbelief.
Prayer of the Day: Dear heavenly Father, the enemy often tries to fill me with unbelief and make me deny Your powerful love for me. But like Abraham, I stand firm on Your promises. Thank You for the comfort I find in Your assurance that You’re always with me, amen.
When it comes to crises in life, it is not a matter of whether they will come but when. And when they do, our response will be to flee to a refuge—somewhere or something or someone we trust will keep us safe and protect us from the storms. So the question then will not be whether we flee but where we flee.
Some of us will take the advice of David’s friends in Psalm 11. These advisors urged him to “flee like a bird to your mountain.” Difficulty had come for David, seemingly in the form of threats to his life, with wicked people preparing to aim their arrows at him (Psalm 11:2). The counsel he received was essentially to head for the hills, to get away, to go somewhere that removed him from adversity.
David did not heed this advice. But what about you? While you likely will not face armed foes threatening you with violence, crisis will come to you someday, in one form or another. It could be social pressure to compromise biblical convictions, an unwanted diagnosis, or intense relational strife. Where will you flee? Will you head for the hills, finding some form of escapism, be it numbing yourself with endless media consumption or abusing a substance, or throwing yourself into frenetic activity in another part of your life? Or will you be able to say with David, “In the LORD I take refuge”?
David had seen God deliver him from bears, lions, and a Philistine giant. The Lord had proven Himself to be a trustworthy refuge, and David took that to heart. David knew the Lord was a mighty refuge; that had been borne out again and again in his life. His trust in God was grounded in experience, making it sturdy enough to withstand life’s darkness and the Evil One’s darts.
Have your eyes been opened to God’s trustworthiness? Have you trusted Him in response? If you are a Christian, remember that your new life began by taking refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. You were facing the wrath of an eternal God, with no hope to be found. The only hope you had was to cast yourself on God’s mercy and embrace the salvation offered in Christ. And so you fled to Him and found eternal refuge.
God desires for you to seek refuge in Him not only at the beginning of the journey but until Christ returns or calls you home, and not only for eternal salvation but in the storms of this life. Trouble will come—and when it does, you can either head for the hills or you can lift up your eyes beyond the hills and to the Lord “who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2), facing the crisis with confidence and, yes, even joy.
“And let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.” (Zech 7:10b)
It seems that brothers and sisters are naturally good at annoying their siblings. It is natural to love our family members, but sometimes it is hard to like them. Brothers and sisters seem to know just the right buttons to push in order to annoy one another. Our God is not like that. Think about it. What would we think of God if He were the kind of God Who would say “devise evil against your brother”? Our God does not say that. No way! He says, “let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart”! God is holy, and He has an opinion about the secret thoughts you have toward your brothers and sisters.
Right now, you may have no desire to be “pals” with your brother or sister. When they grow older, though, brothers and sisters often become the closest of friends. You might never dream that you could be good friends as grown-ups, even if your family ends up spread out all over the country. In fact, you might think, “No way! Impossible!” When you are in the middle of an argument, you can think only of ways to get back at that brother or sister. You might even feel tempted to think of him or her as your enemy!
In His sovereign wisdom, God has placed us in the families and neighborhoods and churches where we live. We may not have perfect families. We may not even like some of our family members! But to spend time dreaming up ways to make them miserable–that is the opposite of God’s command. When we do these things to the people God has put in our lives, it is like we are telling God that He made a mistake and that He should have given us better people to live with.
In our natural sinfulness, we react against people–especially if we believe they have hurt us or wronged us. If we think people deserve punishment, we want to deal it out to them. And we cannot change our minds about people on our own. Where does that kind of heart change come from? What helps brothers and sisters change from enemies into friends? It is not what, but Who: God changes our hearts. God shows us how much He loves us, and then He shows us how much we should love the people He has given us. God tells us in I John 4:20, ” If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
When we refuse to think evil toward others, we honor God for His wisdom and goodness. And He can help us think rightly toward one another. When God changes your heart, you will not want to spend your time thinking of ways to hurt people. Ask God to forgive you of sinful thoughts toward Him and others. God will change your heart and help you obey His word!
We honor and obey God when we think rightly toward others.
My Response: » Do I think of ways to get back at people? » Do I ask for God’s help to change my mind about others?
President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv today ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Pictures emerged this morning of the president walking alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as they inspected a memorial wall dedicated to those killed fighting Russian troops since 2014.
Mr. Biden’s visit to Ukraine comes on Presidents’ Day and highlights the power of his office to make global headlines.
Today’s federal holiday was established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington (whose birthday is on February 22) and was later expanded to include Abraham Lincoln (whose birthday is on February 12) and eventually all presidents. However, presidential historian Alexis Coe claims in the New York Times that our first president “would hate Presidents’ Day.” I will summarize her argument into three assertions.
The first is ironic: while we celebrate our presidents today, no president was actually born on February 20. The second is more practical: several states don’t recognize this day at all and many do so only sparingly, with Southern states typically omitting Lincoln from their observances. A third assertion is especially relevant, however: “The president, senators and representatives . . . serve at the American electorate’s pleasure, and not the other way around.”
In other words, the more we depend on a single person to lead and protect our nation, the more we slide from democracy into demagoguery. As we will see, this is a principle of special relevance to evangelical Christians today.
Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care
On one level, we all know that our presidents are mortal.
As a recent example, the Carter Center announced on Saturday that former President Jimmy Carter, at ninety-eight years old the longest-lived American president, has entered hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia. The news followed reports that a small lesion was removed from President Biden’s chest during his latest physical exam, though he otherwise was pronounced “healthy” and “vigorous.”
On another level, however, it is human nature to seek and then trust those who can do things for us we cannot do for ourselves. This starts as children who depend on our parents and older siblings. As we grow older, we come to appreciate soldiers who defend us abroad and police who defend us at home. We become grateful for doctors whose medical expertise exceeds our own and supports our health. We learn to trust counselors who can advise us in areas of finance and relationships and mentors whose wisdom can guide our path.
This tendency to trust our leaders is especially central to evangelical Christianity. Unlike those whose faith story began with the collective sacraments and catechisms of the church, many of us came to Christ through the influence of a pastor, youth minister, or Bible teacher. Unlike churches whose worship centers on the collective liturgies of church tradition, ours focuses on the “preaching of the word” and thus the preacher who delivers that word to us.
Many of our churches place the pulpit or lectern at the center of the platform and thus the preacher at the center of the service. In many evangelical churches, the pastor announces our faith to the congregation, baptizes us, marries us, and buries us.
This is all well and good unless we forget the example set by our first president.
“The greatest man in the world”
After leading America to victory in our Revolutionary War, George Washington voluntarily chose to resign his military commission. When King George III of England was told of Washington’s intent to step down from power, he said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” Over the years, Washington refused numerous attempts to make him more a monarch who would rule the people than a president who would serve them.
His popularity could have made him president for life, but he feared that if he died in office, Americans would view the presidency as a lifetime appointment. Accordingly, he chose to step down following his second term.
His example is especially relevant for evangelicals at this cultural moment.
In Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church, Katelyn Beaty defines “celebrity” as “social power without proximity.” She means that in large churches and ministries, leaders wield enormous influence but without the restraints and accountability of smaller churches in which pastors are known much more personally by those they serve.
Beaty wisely warns: “To have immense social power and little proximity is a spiritually dangerous place for any of us to be.” Many of the clergy scandals she discusses in her book have their origin in this fact.
“Attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric”
Two conclusions follow.
One: We must daily surrender our lives and influence to the Holy Spirit so he can manifest his servant love for our Lord and our neighbor in and through us (Galatians 5:22; Matthew 22:37–39).
Jesus set the example when he washed the feet of his followers and commanded us to do the same (John 13:14). I heard a preacher say: “When you stand before the Lord, he will not examine your title but your towel.”
Two: We must pray for our leaders to live and lead by biblical truth and morality (1 Timothy 2:1–2). The more they deviate from God’s word, the more they need the intercession of God’s people.
In his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington made this clear and prophetic pronouncement: “Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”
My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
We live in a world that is suffering with a tremendous lack of peace. Perhaps you’re concerned about the chaos you see happening all around you. You’re wondering about the indecision of leaders and what direction our future holds. Today, God’s Word promises if you remember His commandments and do what He asks you to do, you are going to have length of days, long life, and peace. You can be supremely convinced that if you do God’s will in your life, you can have perfect peace that God is a problem solver, and everything is going to be alright.
His Word also says you will have “long life,” which is God’s promise that you will get to enjoy your years of living, not just live long. But what does it mean to have “length of days?” A life is made up of decades and years, but days are made up of hours. When you have a “length of day,” God is saying that whatever you put your hands to in a day’s work, God will pour His anointing upon it, and He will give you progress. Rather than struggle in your own strength, when you submit yourself to God’s Word, whatever you put your hands to is going to prosper.
Today’s Blessing:
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you. And may the Lord be gracious unto you and give you His peace. May you walk in the confidence that you are victorious in Jesus’ name; that the precious blood of the cross has forever forgiven you of your sins. For if we confess our sins, God is faithful and forgives us of our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Walk in the confidence that you are a member of the church triumphant, and everything that’s in the future, God Almighty is in sovereign control. And we are soon to see the King in all of His glory. In Jesus’ name, receive this blessing.
Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Hebrews 12:15
Many Southern home gardeners have made the mistake of planting mint to enjoy in their iced tea in the summer. After a few years they dig up the mint and then discover a year later that they didn’t dig up the mint. It’s still growing and spreading. Mint is one of many decorative yard species that are hard to eradicate once they gain a foothold—especially those that spread by extending their roots (rhizomes) underground. Leaving even a sliver of root in the ground will guarantee that your yard will be continually “defiled.”
Speaking of roots that defile—the writer to the Hebrews warned about a “root of bitterness” that can spring up and defile many. In other words, bitterness is an invasive spiritual species that can spread quickly throughout a group of people. Moses warned the Israelites about letting their hearts turn away from God in pursuit of idols, becoming a “root among you that produces such bitter poison” (Deuteronomy 29:18, NIV).
Don’t be bitter. Rip up bitterness by the root! Stay focused on God’s love, grace, and forgiveness—and extend the same to everyone you are around.
Difficulties make us either better or bitter. Unknown
I came to Christ initially because I saw a bunch of Christians worshipping the Lord on my high school campus. I was just a kid who was into drugs, and I had no direction in life. But one day as I was walking across my high school campus, I noticed a group of Christians sitting on the front lawn and singing songs.
The very weirdness of it interested me. Why were they singing songs about God at lunchtime on the front lawn? I sat down far enough away to avoid looking like I was one of them. But I made sure that I was close enough to eavesdrop on what they were doing. And as I watched them sing their simple songs about God, I was moved by it.
Something extraordinary happens when God’s people get together and sing His praises. Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV).
Jesus wasn’t saying that God only shows up when people worship. God is omnipresent; He is everywhere. But God manifests His presence in a special way when His people lift up His name in praise and worship.
The first-century church was a worshipping church. Acts 2 tells us “they worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people” (verses 46–47 NLT).
It is a powerful testimony to the world when a Christian can praise God despite hardship. Christians face the same hardships that nonbelievers face. But when they see us praising God despite adverse circumstances, when they see us honoring the Lord, that is a powerful testimony. Our worship can be a witness.
Aurukun is a small town in northern Australia—its Aboriginal population drawn from seven clans. While the gospel came to Aurukun a century ago, eye-for-eye retribution sometimes remained. In 2015, clan tensions grew, and when a murder happened, payback required someone from the offender’s family to die in return.
But something remarkable happened in early 2016. The people of Aurukun started seeking God in prayer. Repentance followed, then mass baptisms, as revival began sweeping the town. People were so joyful they danced in the streets, and instead of enacting payback, the family of the murdered man forgave the offending clan. Soon 1,000 people were in church each Sunday—in a town of just 1,300!
We see revivals like this in Scripture, as in Hezekiah’s day when crowds joyfully returned to God (2 Chronicles 30), and on the day of Pentecost when thousands repented (Acts 2:38–47). While revival is God’s work, done in His time, history shows prayer precedes it. “If my people . . . will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,” God told Solomon, “I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
As the people of Aurukun found, revival brings joy and reconciliation to a town. How our own cities need such transformation! Father, bring revival to us too.
“‘The Lord, the Lord God, [is] compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth’” (Exodus 34:6).
God’s grace is His undeserved favor shown to sinners.
God’s grace has always been a focus of praise for believers. Today’s verse is quoted several times in the Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture (for example, Neh. 9:17, 31; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8). Paul is grateful for God’s abundant grace in 1 Timothy 1:14, and John writes, “For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Today some of our favorite hymns are “Amazing Grace,” “Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord,” and “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.”
What exactly is grace? It is simply God’s free, undeserved, and unearned favor. It is a gift given by God not because we are worthy of it, but only because God, out of His great love, wants to give it.
Grace is evident to Christians in two main ways. The first is electing, or saving, grace. God “has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). “By grace [we] have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). This is God’s grace to sinners, for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).
Another grace in our lives is enabling, or sustaining, grace. We didn’t just receive grace to be saved; we now live in grace. It is the grace of God that enables us to live the Christian life. When Paul asked that some debilitating “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) be removed, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). Paul elsewhere says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).
Remember, we have earned neither saving nor sustaining grace. Nothing we can do can make us worthy of one more bit of grace. God says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Ex. 33:19). This truth should make us all more grateful because He saved us and sustains us despite our sin. It should also make us humble because we have no worthiness to boast about (Eph. 2:9).
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God for His grace in saving and sustaining you.
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
— Psalm 9:1 (NIV)
Often throughout the Book of Psalms, we find David giving thanks to God. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons that God calls David a man after His own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). David was humble, and he revered and respected God. He was repentant, he trusted God, he loved Him, and he was devoted to Him. He was faithful and obedient, and he gave God the glory and recognition He deserved. Yet David was not perfect; we know from Scripture that in a time of weakness he committed adultery and murder. He did repent of his sins (see 2 Samuel 11:3–5, 14–17; 12:9, 13), and God still calls him a man after His own heart.
This should be encouraging to all of us. I think the fact that David was thankful was one of his best character traits, for when a person has a grateful heart, it tells us a lot about them. One can easily complain, because we usually have plenty of unpleasant circumstances and people in our lives to irritate us, but at the same time we have much more to be thankful for than we have to complain about.
I recommend beginning each day with thanksgiving and developing the habit of thanking God throughout the day for the many things He does for you. Thanksgiving is part of praise, and in Psalm 9:3, after David declares praise to God in verses 1–2, he says that his enemies turned back; they stumbled and perished before God. He gave thanks with all his heart and his enemies were defeated.
Prayer of the Day: Father, I repent for all the times I have complained when I should have been giving You thanks for all Your goodness. Help me develop the habit of being thankful at all times, in all things.
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision … Then the Lord called Samuel.
The chaos at the end of Judges, when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) and there was an absence of effective leadership, indicated the spiritual darkness at that time among God’s people. And what caused this darkness? Faithful proclamation of the word of God was becoming increasingly rare. Yet such silence is not reserved to that one era. Throughout the generations, the people of God have experienced periods of this silence and darkness.
But God is a God of clarity and of grace—and so He has never left people without His word. So it was that, despite the faithlessness of the people during the time of the judges, God was preparing to bring His words to them through “the boy Samuel.”
God always ensures that, one way or another, His people can hear His word; and today in the West we can never claim that His word is “rare.” It is our privilege to have easy access to God’s word in the Scriptures. Only in the last few centuries has a minister been able to say to the congregation, “Please take your Bible and turn to…” because prior to the printing press, few people had a Bible to turn to, nor could they have read it themselves if they had had one. In the 18th century, when John Newton was addressing his congregation, he noted, “I account it my honour and happiness that I preach to a free people, who have the Bible in their hands.”[1] And there are still many places in the world where Bibles are removed and destroyed and must be smuggled in. To receive even a portion of the Scriptures means a tremendous amount to many of our brothers and sisters in such countries.
Yet while many of us have the honor and privilege of owning a Bible, we nevertheless live in effective silence, allowing the word of God to become increasingly rare in our lives. Is the Bible truly present in your daily life and in your place of worship—that is, not only physically present but also audibly proclaimed and intently listened to? What matters is not simply owning a Bible, or even merely reading and knowing it, but living by it and loving the one to whom it points: the Lord Jesus.
Alec Motyer writes, “Have we got a Bible still in our hands? Let us prize it, read it and commit precious truths to heart and mind. It is not an inalienable possession; it may not be ours forever.”[2] Let these words challenge you to seek out God’s word and treasure it so that you may walk in the light of hearing from God, about His Son, by the work of His Spirit.
“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is…. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.” (Psalm 63:1, 5)
If you look up Psalm 63 in your Bible, you will probably see this title: “A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” Have you ever wondered what “the wilderness” was like in Bible times?
One summer, Erika’s family went on vacation to the Holy Land. They spent some time in the wilderness area where David was when he wrote this psalm. Erika’s dad had a water bottle with him, and she was really glad. It was hot, dry, and dusty, and she began to understand what David the psalm-writer must have meant when he described being thirsty and longing for God “in a dry and thirsty land.” She could not see any rivers. There were not many trees or plants. What a barren, lonely desert it was!
Then, the group Erika was with visited the Dead Sea. Water! At last! But it was not the kind of water you could drink. The Dead Sea is saltier than any other ocean in the world. Erika could hardly wait to get back on the bus and grab another water bottle from Dad’s cooler. But when she opened it and reached inside, she saw that they were out of water.
Have you ever been thirsty? Really thirsty? So thirsty that water is all you want, all you can think about? That’s how Erika felt. And that is the kind of feeling David was using to describe his desire for God. He longed for God. He longed to know Him, to see His power and His glory. He knew that God was the only thing that could satisfy the empty, dry feeling deep inside–the thirst in his soul.
When their bus finally stopped at a little shop that day, Erika and her family were willing to pay any price for water. Erika hurried inside the shop and saw that there were two choices in the refrigerator—water and orange pop. Erika made a dumb decision. She looked at the bright orange pop cans and suddenly thought she’d like something sweeter and fizzier than plain old water. That can of orange pop was gone in about twenty minutes. But it didn’t refresh her. When the can was empty, she was still thirsty. Why? Because what she really needed was water.
How often do we reach out for other things to satisfy our souls when God is what we really need? Everything else is like orange pop in a dry and dusty wilderness where no water is. It might look good, but it doesn’t refresh and satisfy us deep down in our souls. Only God can do that.
Only God satisfies the thirst in our souls.
My Response: » Am I looking for satisfaction in something other than God?
Trusted Ministry leader Jack Hibbs, the senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, called attention this week to a denomination-linked stumbling block plaguing countless church pews.
During his Wednesday night service, the California Pastor warned about the biblical illiteracy that arises from relying upon denominations rather than personal study of God’s Word.
Pastor Hibbs pointed to the apostle Paul’s rebuke in 1 Corinthians 3 against dividing into different sects, following men rather than Christ:
1 Corinthians3:3-5KJV– “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?”
“Some people will say, Well, I’m of Calvin, or I’m of… fill in the blank. That’s sad. I’m sure that if John Calvin was here today, he would slap you and say that you should say you’re of Christ,” Hibbs explained. “The Bible is one, but the views of men have divided things up… When you get carnal, you begin to follow the teachings and traditions of men instead of the Bible.”
“Too many of you who have been trained—if you know it or not in your previous denominational experience—to approach the Bible in what I call a pre-emptive or a pre-loaded manner, reading into Scripture the doctrinal influences of the denomination that you’ve come out of,” he stressed. “I want to tell you, every one of us should always let the Bible do the teaching.”
Many in the church are quick to confer with their “denominational manual” to interpret the Bible for them, Hibbs asserted, adding that this mistaken thinking is “why people have no unction, no passion, and no power about God’s truth—they don’t own it for themselves.”
“Growing up, there was a commercial on TV. Granted, it was, I think, black and white TV in those days. But there was a pair of fingers walking, and it said, ‘let your fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages.’ That’s how you found stuff. A good thing to keep in mind is this: Let your fingers do the walking through the Bible,” the Pastor underscored. “What is the correct view? Can we know? Oh, yes, we can know if we let our fingers do the walking through the Bible.”
“Every Christian is to know how to use their Bible,” Hibbs implored. “Not Google, not denominations, not pastors, popes, or priests. You being directly connected to your Bible is the will of God.”
“It’s so important that when a pastor, pope, or priest is teaching from the Bible, Acts 17:11 says that you are to be judging those who teach the Word of God, against/by the Word of God. Did you know that?” he stated. “How are we going to know if we’re being led astray? You won’t know unless you know your Bible. Thus, a lot of people are being led astray today. Because they’re not reading the Word.”
A 2022 survey conducted by George Barna found that a mere 37% of Pastors hold to a Biblical Worldview. However, as noted by Lee Weeks for Decision Magazine, “pastors of nondenominational and independent Protestant churches scored the highest for upholding Biblical beliefs” among the 1,000 pastors surveyed.
“Calvary Chapel is not a denomination,” Pastor Hibbs highlighted. “Some people want to say it is, but it’s actually not. [In] a denomination, you pay fees and dues to the hierarchy, [and] there’s a governing body that tells you what to do, what not to do.”
“You didn’t walk into a pre-loaded service whereby we must maintain a denominational foundation. We don’t have to come from a Catholic approach of this verse. We don’t have to come from a Baptist approach. We don’t have to come from an Anglican approach. We don’t have to come from a Lutheran approach, a Presbyterian approach, none of that,” he maintained. “Let the Bible interpret the Bible.”
Hibbs then pointed to Second Timothy 3:16-17, which states, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
“No denomination needed. No need to add water. It’s all there, right here in the Bible,” Pastor Hibbs declared.
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
When you look back at what God has done historically, you can build expectation about what He can do for you. When you see how He consistently blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you know that if He blessed a father, son and grandson, He will bless you, your children and your grandchildren, too. When you look back at how He delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh and brought them miraculously from their past into the full potential of their future, you recognize that He can destroy every shackle of sin and set you free from every bondage and addiction that binds you. And you can, with comfort, declare that whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
When you read about the manna and the water from a rock in the wilderness, about Jericho’s walls that came down with a shout, and how a giant was defeated with David’s stone, you can trust God enough to declare in faith believing,“Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” When you read how Jesus Christ touched multitudes of the sick and healed them all and how He fed the masses with a sack lunch, you know that our God is full of power and able to provide more than you could ask, think or imagine.
Today’s Blessing:
Father, bless us and keep us. Make Your face to shine upon us. Be gracious unto us. That which You’ve done in the past, in faith believing, we claim You’ll do it again. We receive a new dawn and a new direction knowing, heavenly Father, that You have made a way where there seems to be no way. We know Your loving kindness will shine upon us, and the newness of life will be the glorious shining Face of God that goes before us. We receive Your blessing. We receive Your presence, and we thank You for Your touch. Amen.
During a writing conference where I served as a faculty member, Tamy handed me a postcard with a handwritten prayer on the back. She explained that she read the faculty biographies, wrote specific prayers on each card, and prayed as she delivered them to us. In awe over the details in her personal message to me, I thanked God for encouraging me through Tamy’s gesture. Then I prayed for her in return. When I struggled with pain and fatigue during the conference, I pulled out the postcard. God refreshed my spirit as I reread Tamy’s note.
The apostle Paul recognized the life-affirming impact of prayer for others. He urged believers to prepare for battle “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). He encouraged ongoing and specific prayers, while emphasizing the need to intervene for one another in what we call intercessory prayer. Paul also requested bold prayers on his behalf. “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains” (vv. 19–20).
As we pray for one another, the Holy Spirit comforts us and strengthens our resolve. He affirms that we need Him and one another, assuring us that He hears every prayer—silent, spoken, or scribbled on a prayer card—and He answers according to His perfect will.
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