Tag Archives: holy spirit

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Love Locks

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Read: Ephesians 4:29-5:2

Bible in a Year: Psalms 146-147; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. —Ephesians 5:2

“Love Locks” is a growing phenomenon. Thousands of people in love have attached these love padlocks to bridges, gates, and fences around the world, including France, China, Austria, Czech Republic, Serbia, Spain, Mexico, and Northern Ireland. Couples engrave their names on a padlock and then attach it in a public place to symbolize their everlasting love. Authorities of some landmarks frown upon them because of the danger they can cause if too many are attached. Some think they are acts of vandalism, while others view them as beautiful art and a picture of committed love.

The Lord showed us true “everlasting love” in a public place. He displayed His love on the cross when He gave His life to provide forgiveness of sin. And He continues to show us His love on a daily basis. Salvation is not only a promise that we’ll have eternity with God, but it is also a daily experience of forgiveness, assurance, provision, and grace in our relationship with Him. Jesus’ love for us is the basis of Paul’s challenge to “walk in the way of love” toward others (Eph. 5:2).

The love of our Father enables us to be patient and kind. In His Son He has given us the ultimate example and means of loving one another—forever. —Anne Cetas

In what ways have you learned to love others? What action could you take today to grow in love?

Jesus shows us how to love.

INSIGHT: The church at Ephesus was blessed with strong leadership. It was founded by the apostle Paul (Acts 18-19), who spent no less than 3 years there teaching those who came to Christ and reaching out with the gospel to those who did not know the Savior (20:20,31). He also provided direction and instruction to the elders of that church when he returned to Jerusalem following his third missionary journey (vv. 18-35). Additionally, Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to instruct them concerning false teachers and to keep them from stumbling spiritually (1 Tim. 1:3-4). Finally, tradition says that the apostle John spent his final years serving in the church at Ephesus. What a rich tradition of leadership for this church. Bill Crowder

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Being Consistent and Useful To God

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Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Psalm 120:5

As a Christian you have to live in the middle of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry, “Woe to me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of the world, and what He did not pray for, you need not desire. It is far better to meet the difficulty in the Lord’s strength and by doing so to glorify Him. The enemy is always watching for inconsistency in your conduct; therefore be very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are on you, and that more is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”1

Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a more favorable position I could serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any good where I am.” The worse the people are among whom you live, the more they need your exertions; if they are crooked, all the more need for you to set them straight; and if they are perverse, they need you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the doctor spend his time if not among the sick? Where is honor to be won by the soldier but in the center of the battle? And when you are weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on couches to heaven, and you should not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to risk their lives on the battlefield, and you will not be crowned until you also have endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong!

1) Daniel 6:5

The Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 1 Samuel 29, 30
  • 1 Corinthians 10

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

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)

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Overcoming Satanic Opposition

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“Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might . . . . For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:10, 12).

Spiritual warfare can be intense, but God’s grace enables you to prevail against Satan’s attacks.

Through the ages Satan has accused, besieged, and battered believers in an effort to prevent them from living to the glory of God. He attempts to snatch the gospel message from a person’s heart even before salvation occurs (Matt. 13:19). He bombards believers with false doctrine, trying to confuse and distract them from biblical truth (Eph. 4:14).

Martin Luther reported that his conflict with Satan became so intense that at one point it was as if he could see him. In anger over Satan’s incessant attacks, Luther picked up his inkwell and threw it at him. It hit the wall with a resounding crash, splattering ink throughout the room. The stains remained for many years, reminding all who saw them of how vivid spiritual conflict can be.

You may not have experienced anything like the intensity of Martin Luther’s conflict, but spiritual warfare is just as real for you as it was for him. You are in mortal combat with Satan and his evil forces. That’s why Paul said, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

“Struggle” in that verse speaks of life-and-death, hand-to-hand combat—the kind Jesus Himself experienced while on earth. He met opposition and persecution at every turn. The same was true of Paul and the other apostles as they dealt with Jewish religionists, heathens, sorcerers, and demon-possessed people who tried in vain to thwart their missionary efforts.

Satan’s onslaughts may seem overwhelming at times, but don’t be discouraged. See them for what they are: a defeated foe’s last-ditch efforts to inflict damage on the conquering army. The Lord will strengthen and protect you, just as He has protected all believers before you.

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise God for being your protector and the source of spiritual victory.

For Further Study

Read Acts 4:1-22.

  • What kind of opposition did Peter and John face?
  • How did they respond to the Jewish Council’s order not to preach the gospel?
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.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Breath of Life

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The prophet Ezekiel was 30 years old when he began experiencing visions from God. At that time, Israel needed hope and was spiritually “dead” as a nation. So Jehovah gave Ezekiel the vision of the dry bones as a sign of restoration. Now picture Ezekiel standing in the middle of the field preaching God’s Word to piles of bones – and watching the bones reassemble into human form as the Lord breathed life into them so they’d stand on their feet as a great army!

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.

Ezekiel 36:26

America’s churches and their attendees often appear to look like a heap of dry, lifeless bones, making little impact in this broken world. Yet if God can restore dried, shrunken bodies to life, then He can enliven Christians to change the hearts of this nation’s leaders and citizens through their bold witness and persistent prayers.

Breathe in God’s presence and dare to be revived as you seek Him and read His Word every day. Let go of hopelessness and doubt. Ask Him to fill the hearts of your family, neighbors and all Americans with a new spirit – His Holy Spirit.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 51:10-19

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – What Would You Like Your Last Words to Be?

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“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

—Revelation 22:20

A person’s last words often provide a glimpse into their character. They reveal what a person valued most. Some parting comments are thoughtful; others spontaneous; others surprising.

On March 14, 1883, the day Karl Marx died, his housekeeper came to him and said, “Tell me your last words, and I will write them down!” Marx replied, “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”

  • Groucho Marx’s last words were, “Die, my dear? Why, that’s the last thing I’ll do!”
  • Nostradamus predicted the future correctly: “Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here.”
  • Pablo Picasso said, “Drink to me. Drink to my health. You know I can’t drink any more.
  • The Roman emperor Julian, having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire, gave his last words: “You have won, O’ Galilean!”

The words of men of faith are far different.

When Stephen, who was being stoned to death, was dying, his last words were, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Then Stephen said, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” Young Stephen—so like Jesus, who from Calvary said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

  • John Wesley said, “The best of all is: God is with us!”
  • D.L. Moody: “I see earth receding, and heaven is opening. God is calling me.”
  • F.B. Meyer requested, “Read me something from the Bible—something brave and triumphant!”

Here are the last recorded words of Jesus: “Surely I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22). The apostle John, overwhelmed, offers a prayer: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” The word Amen means “So be it!” Or as Saint Paul said, “Let it be.” (Saint Paul McCartney, that is.)

What would you like your last words to be?

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples – What’s Your Motive?

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“I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.” Song of Songs 7:10

Let’s face it: Sex is a topic on the mind of just about every husband and wife. (Some wives claim their husbands think of nothing else!) The physical union of man and woman is one of the most pleasurable and meaningful aspects of marriage. Yet when a couple engages in sex for the wrong reasons, intercourse quickly loses its significance and can become an empty obligation. The late Dr. David Hernandez once offered some common, “non-loving” motives for sex:

  • To fulfill one’s marital duty,
  • To repay or secure a favor,
  • As a conquest,
  • As a substitute for verbal communication,
  • To overcome feelings of inferiority,
  • As an enticement for emotional love,
  • As a defense against anxiety and tension,
  • As a form of self‐gratification without seeking to satisfy the other.

God designed sex as an intimate expression of love between husband and wife. Anything that fails to meet that standard leaves one partner feeling unsatisfied and exploited.

Just between us…

  • When was the last time you thought about making love?
  • Does your motive for sex ever fall into any of the above categories?
  • Have you ever felt sexually “used” by me?
  • How can we move from “having sex” toward “making love”?

Heavenly Father, You have blessed our union with sexual expression. Bless us with emotional and sexual intimacy as well. Thank You for the pleasure and wonder of married lovemaking. Amen.

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert for Kids – I Trust You

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Psalm 37:5

“Stop struggling,” the lifeguard yelled at the drowning victim. “I can’t help you if you try to save yourself. Relax!” The young boy finally relaxed, and in a minute the lifeguard had him ashore and to safety. There are some situations where struggling and trying to fix things ourselves only gets us in deeper trouble. God knows that, so he says, “Give me your troubles and your struggles.” That means that when we tell Jesus about our problems, we can relax and let him carry them. We don’t have to worry about them anymore. Most struggles we have in life will pass after a while, so there’s no point worrying about them. We might just as well give them to Jesus.

It might take a while to see God doing anything about what we’ve given to him. He takes time to answer our prayers in just the right way. And even when we can’t see God doing anything, he is. So if you feel like you are drowning in trouble and questions and sadness, call for the lifeguard—Jesus—to see how he comes to your rescue.

Dear Lord, Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in problems and sorrows. Come rescue me, and I will let you carry me and my troubles to a safe place. Amen.

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Delight Yourself in the Lord

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Isaiah 61:10-11

The word delight means “to gain great pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.” Wouldn’t you like those to be the words that describe your relationship with God—one where both you and He enjoy time spent in each other’s presence? If that sounds good to you, then I have great news. God also wants that kind of delightful friendship, which develops through commitment, trust, and patience.

  • First, a believer must commit his or her ways to God. This means that we invite the Lord to examine our desires and intentions—and change whatever does not fit His purpose or advance His plan for our life.
  • Second, a believer must trust God. Who is more worthy of our faith than the Father, who gave Jesus Christ to save wicked sinners? The One who would not spare His only Son will certainly provide all that His children need (Rom. 8:32).
  • Third, a believer must rest in God. When we fret about an issue or something that we consider necessary, we are neither committing ourselves to the Lord nor trusting in Him. Because our human viewpoint is extremely limited, waiting patiently rarely proves easy. God, however, has infinite wisdom and knows when circumstances and timing are perfectly aligned for His will to be done.

A growing relationship with the Lord is not drudgery, though it can be hard work. But the effort is a labor of love, because humans are designed to derive joy and fulfillment from being in God’s presence. The greatest pleasure we can experience in life is walking hand in hand with a Father who adores us.

Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 26-28

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — People Power

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Read: Ephesians 4:7-16

Bible in a Year: Psalms 143-145; 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

The whole body . . . grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. —Ephesians 4:16

A man was boarding a train in Perth, Australia, when he slipped and his leg got caught in the gap between the train carriage and the station platform. Dozens of passengers quickly came to his rescue. They used their sheer might to tilt the train away from the platform, and the trapped man was freed! The train service’s spokesman, David Hynes, said in an interview, “Everyone sort of pitched in. It was people power that saved someone from possibly quite serious injury.”

In Ephesians 4, we read that people power is God’s plan for building up His family. He has given each of us a special gift of His grace (v. 7) for the specific purpose that “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (v. 16).

Every person has a job to do in God’s family; there are no spectators. In God’s family we weep and laugh together. We bear each other’s burdens. We pray for and encourage one another. We challenge and help each other to turn from sin. Show us, Father, our part in helping Your family today. —Poh Fang Chia

Are you a spectator or a participant? What gifts do you have? In what ways can God use you to help others grow closer to Him?

We need each other to get to where God wants us to go.

INSIGHT: The various types of spiritual gifts are listed in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:7-30, Ephesians 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:10-11. That no two lists are identical would suggest that each list is not exhaustive. God intends that we use these grace gifts to serve, instruct, encourage, edify, equip, and empower the church so as to glorify Him (1 Cor. 14:4-5,26,31; Eph. 4:12; 1 Peter 4:10-11). In Ephesians 4, Paul highlights the teaching gifts that help build up and mature the church (vv. 11-16). Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers are gifted in proclaiming and teaching the Word of God. Sim Kay Tee

 

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – For the Weak

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After fifteen years and nearly seventeen thousand miles, an unlikely fleet was set to make port on the beaches of Britain. On January 29, 1992, three massive containers on a cargo ship from Hong Kong crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a storm. The containers were filled with brightly colored bathtub toys bound for the United States. Instead, twenty-nine thousand little plastic ducks, frogs, beavers, and turtles began a journey that would be carefully monitored by children, oceanographers, environmentalists, and newscasters alike.

After 23 years, the tiny bobbing friends have traveled past Japan and back to Alaska, drifted deliberately down the Bering Strait and past the length of Greenland, and carefully floated down the eastern coastline of the United States. They have persevered through storms that would have left boats and crews in dire straits. They patiently endured four years frozen in ice as they crossed the Arctic Ocean. They have arrived at various intervals on various shores, faded and tattered by sun and surf, some with animal bites and barnacles to show for the journey. But each smiling plastic face seems to return with an ironic confession: the smallest vessels on tumultuous seas are not necessarily the most vulnerable.

Life is certainly far more than an attempt to keep our heads above water, and yet at times it feels a suited metaphor. Like tiny rubber ducks in an oceanic bathtub, we are tossed about the rocks of fear and anger, pulled under by currents of despair and disappointment, and broken at times by the journey. Human fragility is often as startlingly obvious as the image of a bath toy in the Bering Strait. We are at times almost averse to this fragility, whether seen in ourselves or in others. Fighting to keep afloat in an unpredictable sea, we take on distracting cargo and build defensive walls—anything that makes us feel less like tiny vessels lost at sea and more like giant ships passing in the night.

But metaphors of strength can be misleading, and vulnerability is often fearfully misunderstood. Though we may be reluctant to hear it, there is one tradition that clearly puts forth the story of a fragile and fleeting humanity. Jesus spoke readily of his own death and wept at the grave of a friend. The apostle Paul wrote of our bodies as “jars of clay,” words hastening back the image of David who lamented that he had become like “broken pottery.” Yet even well beyond the fragile images of humanity given in Scripture, the vulnerability of a God-man comes into focus and redefines all of our terms. The image of Jesus on the cross further turns our understanding of fragility on its head, challenges every discomfort with brokenness, and redirects our associations of weak and strong. In these images of Christ we discover a vulnerability of God that makes our greatest images of strength seem somehow childish. In his cruciform journey, God uses the weak to shame the strong, a suffering Son to meet the wounds of creation, and the vulnerable image of a broken savior who comes near.

The Christian profession is that it is by the Cross which we live, by a seemingly weak vessel, that we are brought home. Christ is not promised as a religious escape raft for the hard realities of this world. On the contrary, he calls to us in our weakness and reminds us that it is not unfamiliar to him. Through tumultuous waters, he beckons us to see there is potential in fragility, mercy in affliction, life beyond and within the journey that currently consumes us. Something like the image of tiny ducks arriving after an unlikely voyage, the journey of a soul to the cross is one in which Christ redirects our thoughts on vulnerability, the weak and the strong. And along the way, God is aware of every last and fragile vessel, going after even one that is lost, longing to gather us unto himself like a hen bringing together thousands of chicks under her wings.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Sick with Sin

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“I will; be clean.” Mark 1:41

The primeval darkness heard God say, “Let there be light,” and immediately there was light. The word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption, like creation, has its word of might. Jesus speaks, and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord’s “I will.” The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery; nature contributed nothing to its own healing. But the unaided word effected the entire work on the spot and forever. The sinner is in a more miserable plight than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus, “imploring him and kneeling [say] to him . . .” Let him exercise what little faith he has, even though it should go no further than “If you will, you can make me clean.”

There need be no doubt as to the result of the application. Jesus heals all who come and casts out none. In reading the narrative in which our morning’s text occurs, it is worthy of careful consideration that Jesus touched the leper. This unclean person had broken through the regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house, but Jesus, far from chiding him, broke through the law Himself in order to meet him. He made an interchange with the leper, for while He cleansed him, He contracted by that touch a Levitical defilement.

Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us, although in Himself He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If only poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of His blessed substitutionary work, they would soon learn the power of His gracious touch. The hand that multiplied the loaves, that saved sinking Peter, that upholds afflicted saints, that crowns believers-that same hand will touch every seeking sinner and in a moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation. He loves, He looks, He touches us, and we live.

The Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 1 Samuel 28
  • 1 Corinthians 9

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

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Christ triumphant

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“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15

Suggested Further Reading: Isaiah 63:1-6

I might describe the mighty pictures at the end of the procession; for in the old Roman triumph, the deeds of the conqueror were all depicted in paintings. The towns he had taken, the rivers he had passed, the provinces he had subdued, the battles he had fought, were represented in pictures and exposed to the view of the people, who with great festivity and rejoicing, accompanied him in throngs, or beheld from the windows of their houses, and filled the air with their acclamations and applauses. I might present to you first of all the picture of hell’s dungeons blown to atoms. Satan had prepared deep in the depths of darkness a prison-house for God’s elect; but Christ has not left one stone upon another. On the picture I see the chains broken in pieces, the prison doors burnt with fire, and all the depths shaken to their foundations. On another picture I see heaven open to all believers; I see the gates that were fast shut heaved open by the golden lever of Christ’s atonement. I see another picture, the grave despoiled; I behold Jesus in it, slumbering for awhile, and then rolling away the stone and rising to immortality and glory. But we cannot stay to describe these mighty pictures of the victories of his love. We know that the time shall come when the triumphant procession shall cease, when the last of his redeemed shall have entered into the city of happiness and of joy, and when with the shout of a trumpet heard for the last time, he shall ascend to heaven, and take his people up to reign with God, even our Father, for ever and ever, world without end.

For meditation: The victory and triumph (or victory parade) are Christ’s alone; if you are a Christian, your part in his victory procession is to be found in 2 Corinthians 2:14.

Sermon no. 273

4 September (1859)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Balanced Approach to Spiritual Victory

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“Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6:10-11).

Spiritual victory is not passive; it involves the discipline of daily obedience to Christ and His Word.

When I was a child, my father and I watched a boxing match on television. After going through the ritual of punching the air, kicking his feet, and putting rosin on his shoes, one of the fighters knelt in the corner and crossed himself. I asked my dad if that helped. He said, “It does if he can punch. If he can’t punch, it doesn’t help at all.”

That illustrates a point we touched on yesterday and will explore further today: God’s part and our part in spiritual warfare. Many Christians believe that spiritual victory comes simply by surrendering more completely to God. They quote verses like 2 Chronicles 20:15 to support their view: “The battle is not yours but God’s.” “Stop struggling and striving,” they say. “Instead, yield and completely surrender yourself to God. He alone does the fighting and gives the victory.”

Such people are often called “Quietists” because they view the Christian’s role in spiritual warfare as passive or quiet. Their anthem is “Let go and let God.”

But Scripture gives a very different view of the believer’s role. It pictures the Christian life as a war, a race, and a fight. We depend on God’s energy, power, and strength, but are by no means passive. We’re commanded to apply ourselves to good deeds, resist the devil, bring our bodies under subjection, walk in wisdom, press toward the prize, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Those are calls to fervent action.

In Ephesians 6:10-11 Paul says, “Be strong in the . . . strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God.” That’s the balance. God supplies the resources; we supply the effort.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God for the strength He gives for spiritual victory.
  • Ask for His wisdom in living a balanced Christian life.

For Further Study

Read 2 Peter 1:3-7.

  • What does God supply for Christian living?
  • What must you as a believer supply?

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Stay Out of Strife

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He who is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife, but he who puts his trust in the Lord shall be enriched and blessed.- Proverbs 28:25

Probably 80 percent of the places we visit in our ministry have church members who are riddled with strife. Strife is the devil’s tool against us. It takes personal self-control to stay out of strife.

If you want to keep peace, you can’t always say everything you want to say. Sometimes you have to control yourself and apologize even when there is nothing in you that wants to do so. But if you sow the godly principle of harmony and unity today, a time will come when you will reap the blessings of all it can bring to you.

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Blessed are the Humble

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“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

A young Christian leader, who was probably more impressed with himself than he should have been, shared with me one day how he had difficulty in being humble about all of his talent. He was a better than average speaker and a reasonably gifted singer, he had a good mind and personality, and in his heart of hearts he knew that as a Christian he should be humble.

He said, “I spend many hours on my knees asking God to make me humble.” I responded, “I can save you a lot of prayer time in that regard if you are interested.” He assured me that he was. Whereupon I explained to him that every gift he possessed – personality, good mind, his ability to sing, speak, and other qualities – were all gifts of God and could be taken from him at any moment by a brain tumor or a car accident or plane crash or any of a thousand different things. Furthermore I reminded him that Scripture admonishes us to humble ourselves.

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart,” Andrew Murray said. “It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed hope in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble.”

Few Christians achieve such high standards, nevertheless it is an objective toward which we all should strive as long as we live, following the example of our Lord recorded in Philippians, chapter 2.

To be poor in spirit implies not only that we have a humble opinion of ourselves, but also that we recognize that we are sinners and have no righteousness of our own; that we are willing to be saved only by the grace and mercy of God; that we are willing to serve where God places us, to bear the burdens He allows and to stay in His hands and admit that we deserve no favor from Him.

As commonly interpreted, the word “blessed” means “happy.” You and I are assured of happiness when we are making conscious strides toward humility. All of this becomes possible as we yield to God’s indwelling Holy Spirit.

Bible Reading: Matthew 5:17-20

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With the help of the Holy Spirit I will consciously humble myself, asking Him to enable me to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and my neighbor as myself as an act of humility and as a major factor in achieving the supernatural life.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Watching and Working

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Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.—1 John 3:2–3

  1. H. Spurgeon said, “It is a very blessed thing to be on the watch for Christ, it is a blessing to us now. How it detaches you from the world! You can be poor without murmuring; you can be rich without worldliness. . . . untold blessings are wrapped up in the glorious hope.”

The Bible says that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). If watching for the Lord’s return is the evidence of faith, then working is the evidence of faith in action. We are not only to be anxiously awaiting Christ’s return, but we are to be working. Watching will help us prepare our own lives, but working will assure that we bring others with us.

Jesus said there is a blessedness in living this way: “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching” (Luke 12:37). Another way to translate the word blessed as it’s used in this verse is “happy.” In other words, “Happy are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.”

In contrast to the servant who watches and works, there is the unprepared servant. Jesus continued, “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers” (verses 45–46).

Watching and waiting for the return of Christ isn’t a miserable, repressive, or confining way to live. Rather, it is a happy, joyful, and purposeful way of life.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Vision in God’s Land

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Joshua 21:45 says, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”  Joshua and his men went from dry land to the Promised Land, from manna to feasts, from arid deserts to fertile fields. They inherited their inheritance: the glory days of Israel. This is God’s vision for your life. You, at full throttle. You, as victor over the Jerichos and giants.

Paul describes it as a life in which “Christ’s love has the first and last word in everything we do” (2 Corinthians 5:14).  A life in which Paul says, “we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:16). A life defined by grace, refined by challenge, and aligned with a heavenly call. In God’s plan, in God’s land…God’s promises outweigh personal problems. Victory becomes a way of life! Your glory days await you!

From Glory Days

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples – A Gentle Caress

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by Daphna Renan

Michael and I hardly noticed when the waitress came and placed the plates on our table. We were seated in a small deli tucked away from the bustle of Third Street in New York City. Even the smell of our recently arrived blintzes was no challenge to our excited chatter. In fact, the blintzes remained slumped in their sour cream for quite some time. We were enjoying ourselves too much to eat.

Our exchange was lively, if not profound. We laughed about the movie that we had seen the night before and disagreed about the meaning behind the text we had just finished for our literature seminar. He told me about the moment he had taken a drastic step into maturity by becoming Michael and refusing to respond to “Mikey.” Had he been twelve or fourteen? He couldn’t remember, but he did recall that his mother had cried and said he was growing up too quickly. As we finally bit into our blueberry blintzes, I told him about the blueberries that my sister and I used to pick when we went to visit our cousins in the country. I recalled that I always finished mine before we got back to the house, and my aunt would warn me that I was going to get a bad stomachache. Of course, I never did.

As our sweet conversation continued, my eyes glanced across the restaurant, stopping at the small corner booth where an elderly couple sat. The woman’s floral‐print dress seemed as faded as the cushion on which she had rested her worn handbag. The top of the man’s head was as shiny as the soft‐boiled egg he slowly nibbled. She also ate her oatmeal at a slow, almost tedious pace.

But what drew my thoughts to them was their undisturbed silence. It seemed to me that a melancholy emptiness permeated their little corner. As the exchange between Michael and me fluctuated from laughs to whispers, confessions to assessments, this couple’s poignant stillness called to me. How sad, I thought, not to have anything left to say. Wasn’t there any page that they hadn’t yet turned in each other’s stories? What if that happened to us?

Michael and I paid our small tab and got up to leave the restaurant. As we walked by the corner where the old couple sat, I accidentally dropped my wallet. Bending over to pick it up, I noticed that under the table, each of their free hands was gently cradled in the other’s. They had been holding hands all this time!

I stood up feeling humbled by the simple yet profound act of connection I had just been privileged to witness. This man’s gentle caress of his wife’s tired fingers filled not only what I had previously perceived as an emotionally empty corner, but also my heart. Theirs was not the uncomfortable silence that threatens to fill the space after the punch line or at the end of an anecdote on a first date. No, theirs was a comfortable, relaxed ease, a gentle love that did not always need words to express itself. They had probably shared this hour of the morning with each other for a long time, and maybe today wasn’t that different from yesterday, but they were at peace with that—and with each other.

Maybe, I thought as Michael and I walked out, it wouldn’t be so bad if someday that was us. Maybe it would be kind of nice.

Looking ahead…

When husband and wife have achieved true intimacy, like the elderly couple holding hands in tonight’s story, they can enjoy and appreciate each other at the deepest level. That’s true at the corner deli and in the bedroom.

Some would say that “having sex” and “making love” are one and the same, but there’s an important distinction between the two. The physical act of intercourse can be accomplished by any appropriately matched mammals, as well as most other members of the animal kingdom. But the art of making love, as designed by God, is a much more meaningful and complex experience—it’s physical, emotional, and spiritual. In marriage we should settle for nothing less than a sexual relationship that is expressed not only body-to-body, but heart to heart and soul to soul.

As we discuss this subject in the days ahead, you and your partner may want to ask each other: Is our physical intimacy all that it could be?

– James C Dobson

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson