Tag Archives: current-events

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R.- Experience Count

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What have you “inherited” from 2015? Maybe it was your greatest year ever. Perhaps it was a nightmare you’d rather never repeat. Either way, now is a good time to reflect upon your experiences – good and bad – so that you can learn from them. Notes author John Maxwell: “Experience is not the best teacher. Evaluated experience is the best teacher. Reflective thinking is needed to turn experience into insight. We draw lessons from the past only when we study it.”

The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.

Proverbs 3:35

In this presidential election year, you will hear endless discussion of the various candidates’ experience. Why? Because Americans want a Chief Executive who has a record of success – someone who has been an effective leader regardless of the circumstances.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is a God of Truth

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“He is the Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

Have you ever broken something like your mom’s good china or a special glass? Glass is fragile; it is easily broken. It’s the same way with trust. Trust in a friend can easily be broken. One of the quickest ways to lose a person’s trust is by lying. If a person lies to you, you never know when to believe him.

Lies are told in several different ways: telling a half-truth, sharing a story in a way that makes you look better than what actually happened, being one way with one person and another way with somebody else, or allowing a lie or rumor to continue when you know that it is not true. No matter what form it takes, a lie is a sin.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Cross and God’s Holiness

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Today’s Scripture: Nahum 1:6

“His wrath is poured out like fire.”

Many people think that God can just forgive our sins because he’s loving. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cross speaks to us not only about our sin but about God’s holiness.

We usually think of God’s holiness as his infinite moral purity, but there’s more to it than that. The basic meaning of the word holy is “separate,” and when used of God it means, among other things, that he’s eternally separate from any degree of sin. He does not sin himself, and he cannot abide or condone sin in his moral creatures.

Continue reading The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Cross and God’s Holiness →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – God’s Army

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-23

Don’t be afraid… Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. – 2 Kings 6:16

Most nations of the world have some sort of standing army–men and women whose sworn duty it is to defend the land against enemies. They stand ready to carry out the orders of the commander in chief.

The kingdom of God also has a commander in chief, and a huge standing army as well. God is the commander. He is called the Lord of hosts, and He has at His command a host of angels standing ready in battle array to carry out His orders. Angels are more than messengers of God, they are also the army of God, committed to win the battles of God.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – God’s Army →

Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Provided For      

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Read Luke 1:5-25

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

A Ugandan pastor tells the story of the day his father kicked him out of the house. The young man had grown restless and disrespectful, thinking he knew better than his father. His father told him to leave the family home and directed him to a hut at the edge of his property. He provided his son with enough goats to start his own herd. At the time, being forced from the family home felt like a punishment, but later the son was able to see how his father’s gracious provision allowed him to mature and to learn how to be a man.

God’s treatment of Adam and Eve following their rebellion was a severe but fitting punishment. Because they had not cooperated with God’s rulership, the woman’s body wouldn’t cooperate with her attempts to bear children; the ground would not cooperate with the man’s attempts to bear fruit. Even their relationship would be defined by tension and frustration (v. 16). Their lives would become a constant struggle against death, reminding them of the dust from which they were made and the low position to which they would return.

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — He Will Reply

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Read: Psalm 91

Bible in a Year: Genesis 4-6; Matthew 2

He will call on me, and I will answer him. —Psalm 91:15

I was elated when I came upon the Twitter page of my favorite Korean movie star, so I decided to drop her a note. I crafted the best message I could and waited for a reply. I knew it was unlikely I would receive a response. A celebrity like her would receive an enormous amount of fan mail every day. Still, I hoped she would reply. But I was disappointed.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Becoming What You Are

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“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1).

The Christian life is simply becoming what Christ has already made you.

Suppose immediately after you were saved, the Lord stamped your forehead with the words, “Watch me. I’m a child of God.” How would that affect your lifestyle?

We may not have a physical mark like that, but we do bear the name of Christ in this world. When we first put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we became part of His family (Gal. 4:1-7). He “freely bestowed” His grace on us (Eph. 1:6). He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3). And we have a rich, glorious inheritance in heaven (1:18). As God’s children, we indeed have many rights, honors, and privileges, but He expects us to behave like His children. Just as a child honors his father by obeying him, we honor God by walking worthy of Him. Our actions must be actions He would approve. Our desires must be His desires. Our goals and objectives must be His goals and objectives.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters, Boyd Bailey – The Great Adventure 

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By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Hebrews 11:8

God’s will is a series of discoveries. It is the transition between discoveries that tests the true nature of my faith. I can press forward by faith, or I can analyze the situation until I am paralyzed by uncertainty. Abraham continued toward the unknown because he was certain the Lord was leading him. Great adventure accompanies my obedience to God.

Believers who are bound and determined to obey Christ are not bored. We are compelled by the love for our Lord to conquer the next challenging circumstance and pioneer the unfamiliar in prayer. We become soft and satisfied when we stop seeking the next kingdom opportunity. Our Savior Jesus is our Sherpa (guide) as we traverse in trust.

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Psalm 25:9).

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Strength in Numbers: Noah

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And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth.

Genesis 8:13

Recommended Reading

Hebrews 11:1-7

Imagine 46,000 cups of tea. That’s the count for Queen Elizabeth II. That statistic came to light last fall when she became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria’s reign of 63 years, 7 months, and 2 days. Journalists calculated the number based on her two customary daily cups of tea.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Invitation

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…What I have forgiven…has been for your sakes…to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions. —2 Corinthians 2:10-11

Suppose we receive a package from an overnight carrier. After we open it, we stare at a beautiful, oversized envelope, with our name written on it in exquisite calligraphy. Inside, the invitation starts with these words:

You are invited to enjoy a life filled with misery, worry, and confusion.

Which one of us would say yes to such an outrageous invitation? Don’t we seek the kind of life that keeps us free from such pain and distractions? Yet many of us choose such a life. Not that we blatantly make that choice, but we sometimes surrender—even temporarily—to Satan’s invitation. His attack is ongoing and relentless—the devil is persistent! Our enemy bombards our minds with every weapon at his disposal every day of our lives.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Sharon Jaynes – God Sees You

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Today’s Truth

She [Hagar] gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.

Genesis 16:13

Friend to Friend

Let’s face it. People let us down. They disappoint us. And so does God. Often our experiences fall short of our expectations for God to meet all our needs the way we think He should, and like a lover who has been wronged, we tend to guard our hearts against future disappointment by lowering our expectations and trust. But make no mistake about it, God sees. God understands. He is not aloof.

One day I was sitting on the patio with my friend Beth and her stepfather, Sam, waiting for the grill to heat up before placing steaks on to cook. Beth’s mom opened the door and gave Sam his orders — telling him what to do and how to do it. When she went back inside, Sam made a hand signal, pointing in one ear and out the other. We all three laughed. Then he placed his ruddy hand on Beth’s arm, a hand worn by years of working under the hood of cars of every make and model.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – You Can Know the Spirit’s Fullness

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“Be filled…with the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him” (Ephesians 5:18).

An enthusiastic, attractive couple traveled from their home in Chicago to Arrowhead Springs to share with me an idea about which they were very excited.

“We heard one of your filmed lectures on ‘How to Be Filled With the Holy Spirit.’ Our lives have been dramatically changed as a result of what you shared,” they said. “We have come all this way to encourage you to go on nationwide television and tell Christians how they can know the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit and experience His revolutionary impact in and through their lives.”

I am humbly grateful to God for the privilege of sharing these great truths concerning the Holy Spirit with tens of millions of people throughout the world, often with the same dramatic results experienced by this remarkable couple.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman -Born of God

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Read: John 1:5-13

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

John’s gospel, in chapter 1, immediately confronts us with the world’s darkness, and with men’s blindness that cannot see the Creator’s power when demonstrated in their midst, and cannot see the Messiah when he fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies. But John never calls this a failure, and we must never read it as such. God did what he set out to do—some believed and some received, as we read in verses 12 and 13.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team;  J.K. – Spirit-filled Consequences

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Men feverishly rushed to California in the l840s looking for gold and silver. They sacrificed their lives to search for the precious metals. Miners discovered copper in the mountains of Arizona, and today companies run 24-7 to bring it out of the ground.

Seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures.

Proverbs 2:4

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Don’t Blame the Paper Boy When You Don’t Like the News

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“How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” —Romans 10:15

When I was a boy, I used to deliver newspapers for the Orange County Daily Pilot in Southern California.

I had the bags mounted on my cool Schwinn Stingray bicycle. (I still remember that bike well: large slick tire in the back, smaller tire up front, banana seat, and best of all—a stick shift! Sort of a chopper-style bicycle.)

I got pretty good at hitting my targets with those papers. There were often obstacles in the way—a hedge here, a wall there. The goal was to get that paper as close to the front porch as I could.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is Forgiving

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“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

How far is the east from the west? Let’s suppose you decide you want to measure the distance between east and west. If you were to get into an airplane and start traveling east, you could circle the earth for the rest of your life and never find the end of east. You could fly west around our planet a zillion times and never find a point where west meets east. The fact is, neither east nor west has an end, and the space between east and west is infinite.

When you trust in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on Calvary, He forgives your sins and removes them from you as far as the east is from west. In other words, God will not judge you for the sins you have committed. He erases the penalty of those sins completely.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Going Our Own Way

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Peter 2:25

“You were straying like sheep.”

One of the most damning indictments of mankind is found in Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (NIV). Going our own way is the very essence, the very core, of sin. Your way may be to give money to charity; another person’s way may be to rob a bank. But neither is done with reference to God; both of you have gone your own way. And in a world governed by a sovereign Creator, that is rebellion.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional –  Called-Out Ones

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Today’s Scripture: Exodus 19:1-6

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. – Acts 2:42

Shortly after I became a Christian, I heard a famous preacher speak on “churchianity.” He said, “Don’t confuse churchianity with Christianity. They are not the same. Churchianity will not save you, because the church can’t save. Only Christ can save. And Christianity is Christ.”

Of course, I knew what he was saying. All the same, I grew a bit suspicious of the value of the church and the place of the church in daily life. After that night the church intrigued me, and I wanted to find its proper place in my Christian life.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional –  Called-Out Ones →

Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Uncovered

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Read Genesis 3:1-13

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17

A child playing hide-and-seek will often cover her eyes with her hands, thinking that the rest of her body is then also hidden. An adult learns to hide his secrets more effectively, avoiding eye contact in order to disguise his thoughts and feelings.

As we saw yesterday, Adam and Eve were created by God, and they were innocent and guileless in the way they related to God and to others. When Eve encountered the serpent, she was not guarded or discreet in her interaction with him. Like a child, she took his questions at face value. She did not have knowledge of good and evil—though she did know God’s command (see Gen. 2:17).

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley -The Greater Purpose of Blessings

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Psalms 67

It is God’s nature to bless. However, we need to understand that His purpose is greater than we may realize. His ultimate goal encompasses far more than simply making us happy, peaceful, protected, and prosperous. In fact, it’s never the Lord’s intention for His blessings to end with us. Rather, He wants them to flow out to others as part of His plan for the whole earth.

As we see in today’s psalm, the Lord blesses us so that His salvation, His ways, and His justice may be known by every nation and people group around the globe (Ps. 67:3-4, Ps. 67:7). He’s always acting with this larger picture in mind—even while working personally in each believer’s life.

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