Tag Archives: god

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Dwelling Place

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Three times a man “whose appearance was like bronze” gave the prophet Ezekiel messages from God to give to Israel. But in Ezekiel 43, the glory of God filled the temple and the Lord Himself spoke to Ezekiel. He told him that if Israel would repent and return to Him, He would dwell in the midst of them forever.

While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple.

Ezekiel 43:6

From the beginning of time and throughout history, God desired a people to dwell among. He patiently raised up Israel, the prophets, and the priesthood to have a family to call His own. But multiple times, man’s sin and disobedience thwarted His plan. Yet this did not catch God by surprise. His ultimate goal was to provide a Savior for sin-filled humans.

Now whoever trusts in Jesus becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), thus fulfilling God’s desire to dwell among His people. As a believer in Christ, the Holy Spirit living within you helps you pray for His will to be done on Earth (Romans 8:26). Pray for yourself and the nation’s leaders to know and worship the personal, loving God who desires humans to be His children.

Recommended Reading: I John 3:1-3, 19-24

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Prayer Is Warfare

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Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. —Matthew 13:58

No doubt there have been times when we may have hindered the work of God in our lives because of unbelief. Scripture tells us that Jesus could do no mighty work in His hometown because of unbelief (see Matthew 13:58).

Clearly there is a place for faith in prayer. However, I disagree with those who say it is all about faith and that if your prayer isn’t answered, it is because you lack faith.

Sometimes I only have so much faith. I think of the man whose child needed Jesus’ healing touch. This desperate father said, “Lord, I believe.” Then he added, “Help my unbelief!” (see Mark 9:24). We read that Jesus delivered the boy from demon powers. Do you know why? It was an honest prayer: Lord I believe. Help my unbelief! Lord, I believe, but sometimes I have lapses. Sometimes I have doubts.

Sometimes there is a lack of faith in our prayers. We all have had doubts. But that is when we take the Word of God and apply it to that doubt. As Romans 10:17 tells us, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

The early church had their doubts when Herod had Peter arrested and thrown into prison. But they prayed. And even though their prayers were weak, they were still mightier than Herod. Why didn’t God answer their prayers earlier? Did He want to teach the church perseverance? Or, was it to teach Peter faith? Their story reminds us that prayer is warfare, and the battle is not won through human strength but on our knees.

It has been said that prayer is striking the winning blow; service is gathering up the results.

So let’s go. Let’s start barraging God’s throne with requests that will bring glory to His name.

 

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Confidence In Troubled Times

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Our Daily Bread

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. —Psalm 91:1

Some kids love to brag about their dads. If you eavesdrop on neighborhood conversations, you’ll hear children saying, “My dad is bigger than your dad!” or “My dad is smarter than your dad!” But the best brag of all is, “My dad is stronger than your dad!” This boast is usually in the context of a warning that if kids are threatening you, they’d better beware, because your dad can come and take them all down, including their dads!

Believing your dad is the strongest guy on the block inspires a lot of confidence in the face of danger. This is why I love the fact that God our Father is almighty. That means that no one can match His strength and power. Better still, it means that you and I “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps. 91:1). So, it’s no wonder the psalmist can confidently say that he will not “be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day” (v.5).

Regardless of what today may bring or the trouble you are now going through, don’t forget that your God is stronger than anything in your life. So, be confident! The shadow of His all-prevailing presence guarantees that His power can turn even the worst situation into something good. —Joe Stowell

Father God, in the midst of my trouble, teach

me to rest in the fact that You are almighty.

Thank You for the confidence I have that You are

stronger than anything that threatens my life.

God is greater than our greatest problem.

Bible in a year: Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Objects of Divine Satisfaction

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Alistair Begg

He has blessed us in the beloved.  Ephesians 1:6

What a state of privilege! It includes our justification before God, but the term “blessed” in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine satisfaction, even of divine delight. How marvelous that we-worms, mortals, sinners-should be made the objects of divine love!

But it is only “in the Beloved.” Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience-at least that is their apprehension. When their spirit is lively and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth! But when their souls cleave to the dust, they are the victims of the fear that they are no longer accepted. If they could only see that all their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low despondencies do not really depress them in their Father’s sight, but that they stand accepted in One who never alters. This One is always the beloved of God, always perfect, always without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. How much happier they would be, and how much more they would honor the Savior if they could grasp Him!

Rejoice then, believer, in this: You are blessed “in the Beloved.” You look within, and you say, “There is nothing acceptable here!” But look at Christ, and see if everything is not acceptable there. Your sins trouble you; but God has cast your sins behind His back, and you are accepted and blessed in the Righteous One. You have to fight with corruption and wrestle with temptation, but you are already accepted in Him who has overcome the powers of evil. The devil tempts you, but be of good cheer-he cannot destroy you, for you are accepted in Him who has broken Satan’s head.

Know by full assurance your glorious standing. Even glorified souls are not more accepted than you are. They are only blessed in heaven “in the Beloved,” and you are even now blessed in Christ after the same manner.

 

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Keep Praying!

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“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” —Luke 11:9–10

Part of the problem with our prayers is that we give up too soon. We simply assume that it must not be God’s will: “I prayed four times for an awakening to come to America, and it didn’t happen, so it must not be God’s will.”

The early church prayed—and then kept on praying. They continued to bring their need before the Lord. This is one reason their prayer for Peter’s release from prison was answered.

But what about those times when our prayers are not answered? Sometimes we will pray for something and God won’t give us what we want. We will say, “God didn’t answer my prayer.” Actually, He did. He said no. And no is an answer.

Sometimes God says no. Sometimes God says slow. Sometimes God says go. And sometimes God says grow.

The apostle Paul had what he described as a “thorn in the flesh,” some kind of a physical infirmity. He prayed three times for God to take it away. But essentially God’s answer to Paul was grow. He was saying, “I’m leaving it in your life because it will cause you to grow spiritually.”

Then there was Moses, who wanted to deliver the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt. Let’s just say he was a little early. He took matters into his own hands and made a mess of things. God said to him, in effect, slow. He sent him out to the wilderness to whip him into shape. God made him into the man He wanted him to be.

But sometimes God says go. You will pray about it, and God says yes, let’s go now. You pray, and it’s done. Sometimes that happens.

So keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep asking. That is what the Bible tells us to do.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; P.G. – Living in Righteousness

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In Isaiah 32, the prophet draws a clear distinction between living with eyes on the Lord and living in complacency. Someone once said that Christians need to live more righteousness-conscious and less sin-conscious; less by focusing on the pathetic sinner you are in your natural state, and more by knowing who you are through Jesus Christ.

Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Isaiah 32:20

Abraham lived some 400 years before the giving of the law, but he focused his life on believing in God and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Call it faith living, not fear living; a grace-focused life instead of a groveling one. Yet faith and grace are not a license to ignore God’s commands and live in disobedience. No! It is the experience of true freedom in Christ Jesus, blessings and liberty, where your desire to please Him keeps you from doing wrong.

How different America would be if more people were to, as Galatians 2:20 instructs, die to self and live by faith. Pray today for the nation’s leaders to find salvation, and then live according to the grace they are given.

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 32:9-20

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Purpose of Pain

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Charles Stanley

Matthew 16:24-27

“God, if You love me, then why must I endure pain?” This question preoccupies many believers in their darkest hours of need. While pain takes different forms and has different durations, suffering always comes with an objective greater than our comfort, pleasure, or personal goals. If we seek the Lord’s purpose for grief, we will find both His peace and His deep love for us.

Pain instructs. Christ’s sufficiency is more apparent during times of suffering than in the midst of blessing. Discovering God’s faithful provision strengthens our resolve to endure.

Pain purifies. Counterfeit faith cannot withstand hardship’s flames. Like gold in a refiner’s fire, suffering believers experience the burning away of impurities until only things of value remain. Trials bring into focus the truth about the world we live in, the nature of people we meet, and the incomparable worth of our Father.

Pain motivates. Pain drives us to God. How often do we hear testimony from people who discovered Him during their worst trial? In His wisdom, the Lord knows whether we require motivation from blessing or from distress.

Pain opens us to intimacy with God. At the end of our own resources is the Lord’s boundless strength. Running into His arms guarantees us the comfort and energy that is available only through an intimate relationship with the Father.

Living an easy life doesn’t earn rewards. Though our instinct is to sidestep pain, suffering helps us to find intimacy with God and the great purpose He sets for our life.

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – God’s Delight

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Alistair Begg

I will rejoice in doing them good. Jeremiah 32:41

How heartwarming to the believer is the delight that God takes in His saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we do not even take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened, conscious of our sinfulness and deploring our unfaithfulness. We are fearful that God’s people cannot take much encouragement from us, for they surely can see our many imperfections and our follies, and so be caused to lament our infirmities rather than admire our graces. But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery: As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so the Lord rejoices over us.

We do not read anywhere that God delights in the cloud-capped mountains or the sparkling stars, but we do read that He delights in the habitable parts of the earth, and that His delights are with the sons of men. We do not even find it written that angels give His soul delight; nor does He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, “Thou shalt be called Hephzibah . . . for the LORD delighted in thee.”1 But He does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves-debased and depraved by sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by His grace.

In what strong language He expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the Eternal One bursting into a song? Yet it is written, “He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”2 As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, “It is very good”; but when He looked on those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy.

Should we not utter our grateful response to such a marvelous declaration of His love and sing, “I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation?”3

1Isaiah 62:4 KJV

2Zephaniah 3:17

3Habakkuk 3:18

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; G.C. – Epic Love

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Problems with love are as old as humanity. Those in need of it can be driven to extremes to get it, and those “in” love many times find a paradoxical misery. Most people amass a lifetime of complaints about love: it’s not enough, too much, not in the right time, or not returned. A few, however, find a rare and epic kind of love, one that stirs the heart, and satisfies, sustaining the very soul.

His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.

Song of Solomon 5:12

The Song of Solomon in the Bible is one of the most intense love poems in all of western literature. Nowhere in this book is God mentioned, but the analogy of His intense desire for relationship with mankind cannot be missed. His affections are likened to a bird sitting beside a full pool – a place where there is nothing required that is not present.

Do you know how to stand beside a nation desperately in need of God’s love today? Start with prayer, a deep and personal prayer for God’s presence to revive your love relationship with Him. And, as your heart is replenished pray for the opportunity to bring others along to sit beside the full pool of his care. America will only be revived by this epic kind of love.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 107:1-9

 

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – A New Quality of Life

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“When the Holy Spirit, who is truth, comes, He shall guide you into all truth, for He will not be presenting His own ideas, but will be passing on to you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He shall praise Me and bring Me great honor by showing you My glory. All the Father’s glory is Mine: this is what I mean when I say that He will show you My glory” (John 16:13-15).

Steve asked me the question, “What is my number 1 priority as a Christian? I want to be a man of God, so I need counsel as to what I am to do first.” This is a good question for every Christian to ask.

The answer is simply: to glorify God. Jesus tells us how we can best do this in John 15:8, “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (NASB). Or, as the Living Bible states it, “My true disciples produce bountiful harvests. This brings great glory to My Father.”

The Holy Spirit has come to be a witness to our Lord Jesus. When the Spirit controls our lives, we too will be witnesses for Him.

Witnessing for Christ with our lips is not only a natural result of being filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit, but also is a necessary act of obedience if we are to continue to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

That which is most on our hearts is most on our lips, so if we truly love Christ, we will want to share Him with others. But God does not want or need the witness of individuals whose carnal lives fail to give credibility to their testimonies.

The greatest experience that has ever happened to any believer is to know Jesus Christ personally as Savior and Lord, to be forgiven of his sins and to have assurance of eternal life.

Therefore, the most important thing we can do to help another person is to introduce him to Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can empower us to live holy lives and be fruitful witnesses for Christ.

Bible Reading: John 14:16-26

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will ask the Holy Spirit to glorify God through the quality of my life and the witness of my words, as a demonstration of the supernatural life that I have received from God.

 

 

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Beneficial Power

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Our Daily Bread

2 Chronicles 16:6-13

The eyes of the LORD run to and fro . . . , to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. —2 Chronicles 16:9

Boxing and strong-man competitions have a unique aspect to them. In the events, the athletes compete individually for the purpose of demonstrating their superior strength. It’s like arm wrestling—you do it to prove that you are the strongest person in the room.

One aspect of God’s glory is His almighty power. But how does He show His strength? He doesn’t do it by rearranging the galaxies before our very eyes, changing the color of the sun at a whim, or freezing a lightning bolt as a trophy to His strength. Instead, in His love and compassion for needy people like ourselves, God has chosen to “show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9).

The pattern is consistent throughout Scripture. From the dividing of the Red Sea, to the marvel of manna in the wilderness, to the miraculous virgin birth, and ultimately to the power of the resurrection, our Almighty God has chosen to demonstrate His strength to bless, preserve, and protect His people.

Be assured that He delights in showing Himself strong in the challenges of our life. And when He proves His power on our behalf, let’s remember to give Him the glory! —Joe Stowell

Lord, thank You for choosing to expend Your

divine power on the needs of my life. When my

strength is weak, teach me to trust that Your mighty

arm is able to guard, protect, and deliver!

All of God’s promises are backed by His wisdom, love, and power.

Bible in a year: Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — It’s All About The Love

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Our Daily Bread

1 John 4:7-19

We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. —1 John 4:16

I saw a sign in front of a church that seems to me to be a great motto for relationships: Receive love. Give love. Repeat.

The greatest love that we receive is the love of God. He loved us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to live, die, and rise again to redeem us (1 John 4:9). We receive His love when we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

After we’ve experienced God’s love, we then can learn to give love. “Let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7).

God’s love enables us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We teach, encourage, and rebuke. We weep and rejoice. The love we give is tender and tough and supportive. We are taught by Jesus even to love our enemies: “Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Giving love to others can be challenging in some situations, but it’s possible because of the love God has first given to us.

A good plan for our lives today: Receive love. Give love. Repeat. —Anne Cetas

For Further Study

How do we experience the love of Christ? (John 15:10).

What is the evidence of God’s love in our lives? (1 John 4:16-21).

How can we show God’s love today?

Receive love. Give love. Repeat.

Bible in a year: Proverbs 10-12; 2 Corinthians 4

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Preparation for Heaven

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Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. —Hebrews 11:10

We think so much about the here and now, but God thinks more about the by and by. We need to remember that heaven is being prepared for us, and we are being prepared for heaven.

As Randy Alcorn wrote, “We live between Eden and the new earth, pulled toward what we once were and what we yet will be.”

Heaven is not some mysterious, atmospheric realm of smoke and mirrors. Heaven is a real place for real people, where we will do real things. Hebrews 11:9 says that Abraham, “even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”

Abraham did this because he “was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God (verse 10). Abraham recognized that this world was not really his home and that his real home was eternal, built by God.

Deep down inside, I hope we realize that too. Our real home is heaven and the new earth that is to come. Heaven is the real place that Abraham was searching for, and it is the place we are all searching for, really. The Bible says that God has placed eternity in our hearts (see Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Putting it in context, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” That is what God wants in our lives. He wants eternal weight.

The things that we go through in life are not just preparing us for the opportunities God will reveal during our time on this earth. God is also preparing us for heaven.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Rest at His Feet

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A very powerful man inviting a lowly foreigner to sit with him and his workers for meals each day was the most generous of invitations. Ruth was to eat beside the reapers – a sign of acceptance into Boaz’ family, the inner circle.

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers.   Ruth 2:14

The meal provided a time of rest from the day’s work and renewed strength for the remaining hours of labor. Boaz offered her protection from any ill treatment and provisions as she gathered grain from anywhere in the fields. Later he offered her rest at his feet.

Can you see the parallel in Christ’s invitation? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) God’s Son, your Savior, invites you to have rest in Him as a member of His family. His forgiveness relieves your load of sin. His provision supplies your every need, and His protection allows you to be free from fear.

Come alongside the Lord. Rest at His feet and learn from Him. Pray, as Jesus did, with boldness…for your families, your neighbors and this nation’s leaders.

Recommended Reading: Lamentations 3:21-26, 55-57

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The new heart

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“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

Suggested Further Reading: Matthew 9:10-17

The promise is that he will give us new hearts and right spirits. Human nature is too far gone ever to be mended. It is not a house that is a little out of repair, with here and there a slate blown from the roof, and here and there a piece of plaster broken down from the ceiling. No, it is rotten throughout, the very foundations have been eroded; there is not a single timber in it which has not been eaten by the worm, from its uppermost roof to its lowest foundation; there is no soundness in it; it is all rottenness and ready to fall. God does not attempt to mend; he does not shore up the walls, and repaint the door; he does not garnish and beautify, but he determines that the old house shall be entirely swept away, and that he will build a new one. It is too far gone, I say, to be mended. If it were only a little out of repair, it might be mended. If only a wheel or two of that great thing called “manhood” were out of repair, then he who made man might put the whole to rights; he might put a new cog where it had been broken off, and another wheel where it had gone to ruin and the machine might work anew. But no, the whole of it is out of repair; there is not one lever which is not broken; not one axle which is not disturbed; not one of the wheels which act upon the others. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot, to the crown of the head, it is all wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. The Lord, therefore, does not attempt the repairing of this thing.

For meditation: The only cure for man’s sinful condition is a heart transplant carried out by the Great Physician (Romans 2:28,29).

Sermon no. 212

5 September (1858)

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Mind of Christ

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“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we must have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16, KJV).

The first thing I do when I awaken each morning is to kneel before my Lord in humility, meditate upon His attributes, and praise, worship and adore Him.

The last thing I do before I go to bed at night is to kneel in prayer, to praise, worship and give thanks to Him. Thus, my first thoughts are automatically of Him when I awaken, because all night long my subconscious mind has been meditating on Him.

Every morning of every day, I acknowledge His lordship. I gladly surrender control of my life to Him acknowledging my dependence upon Him. Then, by faith, I claim His mind and His wisdom for direction in every detail of my life. I trust Him to influence and control my attitudes, my motives, my desires, my thoughts and my actions.

In different words and ways, I remind Him that I am a suit of clothes for Him and that He can do anything He wants in and through me. I invite Him to walk around in my body. I ask Him to think with my mind, to love with my heart, to speak with my lips, to lead me wherever He wants me to go, to seek and save the lost through me.

We should study the Word of God daily and diligently, determining as an act of the will to pattern our lives according to His commands and His example. We begin to experience the reality and the availability of the mind of Christ when we literally saturate our minds with His thoughts and spend much time meditating upon His Word.

Bible Reading: I Corinthians 2:9-15

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Consciously and deliberately I will begin each day by inviting Christ to walk around in my body, think with my mind, love with my heart, speak with my lips and continue to “seek and save the lost” through me.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – His Child Forever

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Max Lucado

I’m entering my fourth decade as a pastor and I’ve learned the question to ask. If we were having this talk over coffee and you were telling me about your tough times, I’d lean across the table and say, “What do you still have that you cannot lose?” The difficulties have taken much away.  I get that. But there’s one gift your troubles cannot touch.  Your destiny. Can we talk about it?

You are God’s child.  He saw you, picked you, and placed you. Jesus said,  “You did not choose Me.  I chose you.” (John 15:16).

I remember a young groom once leaned over, just minutes before the ceremony and said to me, “You weren’t my first choice.”  “I wasn’t, I responded?”  “No, the preacher I wanted couldn’t make it.”  “Oh, I said.”  He responded, “But thanks for filling in.”

You’ll never hear such words from God. He chose you. Replacement or fill-in?  Hardly.  You’re His first choice. His open, willful, voluntary choice.  Hear him say, “This child is mine!”  His child forever.  That’s who you are!

From You’ll Get Through This

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Cupbearer To The King

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Our Daily Bread

Nehemiah 2:1-8

Why is your face sad? . . . What do you request? —Nehemiah 2:2,4

One of my favorite Bible passages that applies to work is Nehemiah 1–2. King Artaxerxes’ employee Nehemiah had been such an exemplary worker that the king wanted to honor him by helping him when he was sad that Jerusalem was still in ruins. He asked Nehemiah, “Why is your face sad? . . . What do you request?” (2:2,4). He wasn’t just any worker for the king, he was the cupbearer, the man who tasted the king’s drink to protect him from being poisoned. In order to have earned such a position, he apparently worked hard and honored God in everything he did. And the king granted his requests.

God cares about the way we work. Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” We can follow Nehemiah’s example in these ways: Be such a competent and trusted worker that God is honored (Neh. 1:11–2:6). Care passionately about others and what’s important to them. Take action, occasionally even risky action, to honor what’s important to God and to fellow believers (2:3-6).

When we honor God in work, our employers may notice. But even if they don’t, our heart’s desire and purpose should be to honor the One we really serve—the Lord our God (Col. 3:17,23). —Randy Kilgore

O Lord, may the way I serve tell Your story!

I want to bring You all the glory in my work,

at home, and everywhere I go. Fill me and use

me to bless others and honor You today.

God honors faith because faith honors God.

Bible in a year: Psalms 137-139; 1 Corinthians 13

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Patience in Affliction

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Alistair Begg

Wait for the Lord.   Psalms 27:14

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures that a Christian soldier cannot learn without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier for God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desiring to serve the Lord, does not know what role to play. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Retreat back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the matter before Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of help.

In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is best to be humble as a child and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly and are genuinely willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting is just an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keeps you waiting even until midnight, He will still come at the right time; the vision will come and not delay. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because things are difficult, but blessing your God for the privilege of affliction.

Never grumble against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the circumstance as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any selfish agenda, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but Yours be done. I do not know what to do. I am at an end of myself, but I will wait until You part the floods or drive back my enemies. I will wait, even if You test me for a while, for my heart is fixed upon You alone, O God, and my spirit waits for You in the deep conviction that You will still be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Don’t Waste Time

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Joyce meyer

Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity]. —Ephesians 5:15–16

We need to be so self-controlled that we don’t waste time. That doesn’t mean that we can never do anything fun. It doesn’t mean we can’t do things that we enjoy.

We don’t need to be rigid, stiff, or boring. But we do need to use our time wisely, choosing to give the best part of our day to spend time with God.

The Word encourages us to be prepared, saying, “Hear counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction, that you may be wise in the time to come” (Proverbs 19:20). Starting your day with God’s instruction will keep you walking in wisdom, making the most of your time.