Tag Archives: holy spirit

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Can Trust God’s Timing

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My times are in Your hands . . . Psalm 31:15

One of the biggest mistakes we make as believers is failing to remember that God’s timing rarely matches our timing. We think and plan in temporal terms, and God thinks and plans in eternal terms. What this means is we want what feels good right now, what produces immediate results, but God is willing to be patient and deliberate as He invests in us over a period of time to produce results far better and longer lasting than we can imagine.

Just as our children try to talk us into giving them what they want right away, we often try to talk God into immediately giving us what we want. He loves us even more than we love our children, and He loves us too much to give in to our pleadings. He knows something born prematurely might struggle to survive, so He waits until He knows everything is properly prepared for the arrival of our dreams.

God sees and understands what we do not see and understand. He asks us to put aside our natural tendencies to want to figure out what should happen in our lives and when it should happen. He also desires us to stop being frustrated because things do not go according to our plan, and instead to relax, enjoy the ride, and trust He is working everything out according to His timing and the wisdom of His plan.

Without trusting God, we will never experience satisfaction and enjoyment in life; we will always be striving to “make things happen” within our time line. We must remember God not only has plans for our lives, He also knows the perfect timing for each aspect of those plans. Fighting and resisting the timing of God is equivalent to fighting and resisting His will for our lives. God is working, often in ways we cannot see, to bring His plans to pass in our lives in the best possible ways. We simply need to trust Him as we wait for the arrival of our dreams.

Trust in Him You can trust that God is working on His plan for your life; He is preparing it for you and you for it. His plan may not come on your timetable, but the arrival of your dream is coming. Just have a seat (trust in Him, enter His rest), and when the time is precisely right, He’ll call your name.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Worship = Serving

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Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota has been awarded for his on-the-field accomplishments. Yet it is the college football star’s godly character that is most noteworthy. In fact, Marcus’ Oregon teammates nicknamed him “St. Mark” as they watched him make weekly unannounced visits to the Boys and Girls Club and daily stops to pass out food and water to the homeless. Marcus says, “With Christ’s power, we are able to pursue and play for His glory. We want to go out and show the world that Christ lives.”

Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation.

Psalm 22:30

One of the Greek words for worship is “latreuo.” The root meaning of the word reveals that worship involves service rendered to God. Worship is not merely an attitude. It involves specific acts according to His requirements. It’s more than giving praise. The Lord’s heart is blessed when you lay aside your personal desires and ambitions and serve others with humility and love.

Remember that as you faithfully pray for America’s leaders, you are worshipping God. Thank the Lord each day for the privilege to show the world that Christ lives by praying for those who serve this country.

Recommended Reading: Romans 12:1-13

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Question of the Ages

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While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”—Matthew 22:41–42

Without question, Jesus Christ is the most controversial figure who has ever lived. He is loved, worshiped, and followed by some. He is hated, despised, and rejected by others. He is disregarded and ignored by most. But it always will come down to Jesus.

Who is Jesus? Two thousand years ago, Christ Himself asked the question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42). And to this very day, people are still confused about the answer. Maybe there has never been a time when more people profess faith in Jesus yet at the same time have no clue as to who He really is.

Many will speak with respect about Christ. They will say things like, “I believe that Jesus was a great prophet” or “I believe that Jesus was a messenger sent from God” or “I believe that Jesus was the best of all men.”

Yet the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was the unique Son of God, not a man becoming God. He was God becoming a man. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the second member of the Trinity. And it also teaches that He was supernaturally conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was not merely a good teacher but the greatest teacher—God in human form.

The Bible teaches that Christ was physically crucified and that He bodily rose from the dead. The Bible also teaches that Jesus was not one god among many but is the only God, equal with the Father and above all others. That is why the death of Jesus, and the death of Jesus alone, meets the righteous requirements of God.

Jesus never became God. He always was God. He walked among us as an ordinary looking man, yet He was God incarnate.

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – 100 Happy People

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You might not find the cure for cancer. You might not crack the code on global warming, world hunger, or tainted water. But you can do this. You can make people happy. This mission requires no Ph.D. or M.D. It demands no funding or travel. Age, ethnicity, and gender are not factors. You don’t have to change jobs or change cities or change neighborhoods.

But you can change the world.

You can do this: make a hundred people happy. Intentionally. Purposefully. Practically. You can increase the number of smiles on our planet. You can lower the anger level in your city. You, yes you, can cause a hundred people to sleep better, laugh more, hum instead of grumble, walk instead of stumble. You can lighten the load and brighten the day of one hundred human beings.

You can do that.

What if you did? Suppose you took the “Happy People Challenge.” Make one hundred people happy over a 40-day period. Here is how it works.

  • Set out to create “100 extra mile moments” between February 9 and March 20 in which you intentionally seek to make someone happy by doing something more than you would typically do.
  • Share your experience in your neighborhood group, class or family, and on social media at #100happypeople.
  • Keep a journal in which you list the names of people and ways you tried to brighten their day. Make note of the moment. What did you do? What did you learn? What was the setting?

At the end of forty days, would your world be different?

Would you be different? I think you would be.

Would you join me in the challenge? Happiness-givers are made, not born. The inertia of self-centeredness has a strong pull. That is why the Bible has so much to say about sharing joy. Heaven knows, we need all the help we can get. And God gives it! His word gives practical, applicable ways to make people happy. They are called the “one another” statements. There are 59 of them in the New Testament. It seems to me that they can be condensed into a list of nine statements. Each weekend, at the Oak Hills Church, I will be teaching on the One Another passages in the New Testament. You can join us, in person or online at http://www.oakhillschurch.com.

You can develop this wonderful skill of sharing joy. You can discover the adventure of making people happy!

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Ancient Confessions

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In hallways of antiquity, a gathering of men called the Council of Nicaea commenced at the call of Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 CE. Bishops from around the world came together to unravel the mess of conflicting schools of thought and confession: the logistics of the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the relation of Jesus to Father and Spirit. Up until this point, there were few formal means to sort through variant teachings and emerging groups, but church leaders recognized that they were at something of a theological crossroads.

Presenting the most formidable challenge to New Testament teaching was a theologian named Arius of Alexandria. Arius envisioned Christ as superior to creation yet neither fully God nor of one substance with the Father. The Council of Nicaea rejected such thinking. On grounds of Scripture, reason, and historical belief, they acknowledged Christ as the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”(1) The Council recognized in the affirmations of the earliest Christians (including baptismal creeds that spoke in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) a distinct acknowledgement of Jesus’s divinity. If Jesus was not fully God, of one being with the Father and Spirit, he was not really God at all and to worship him was idolatry. But, if Jesus’s own words were to be weighed, if the extra-biblical writings and the overwhelming affirmations of antiquity were to be taken seriously, then Jesus is indeed Lord, the very Word of God sent from the Father, illumined by the Holy Spirit.

Scriptural distinctions of each of the three Persons were thus affirmed, boldly answering variant teachings of who God is with the trinitarian affirmations of what would become the Nicene Creed, which is still confessed in community in many churches today. Each Person of the Trinity was confessed to have a unique role and relationship to one another and creation—though not without cooperation. For the work of God is not divisible; it is the work of one God who interacts with the world. Jesus was quite clear in his description of the cooperation and interrelatedness of Father, Son, and Spirit in his own life and mission. “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished” (John 5:19-20). Similarly, Jesus spoke of the interrelation of his role with that of the Spirit. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). In the words of one theologian, “[A]ll of God is involved in everything God does.”(2)

Yet what is it that Christians confess God does? Beyond ancient affirmations and long-uttered creeds, questions may still remain, and rightfully so. Who is this God? What are God’s attributes? And what does it mean for the world? Here, the divine community that exists between Father, Son, and Spirit remains, as it did for the Council of Nicaea, an illuminative source for answers. This community, bonded by love, having created humankind in God’s image, is a living illustration of God’s loving presence and action in the world, a relational reminder of God’s desire to bring all of creation into the life-giving fellowship of the Trinity. Looking into this image of unity in community, we discover more of who God is and what God does. We see qualities of God’s essential nature and action by considering the love and relationship God models in the Trinity.

The attributes of God are therefore clearest when seen as qualities arising from this divine community: grace and holiness, vulnerability and unconquerability, compassion and justness, omnipotent power and omnipotent love, omniscient wisdom and patience, omnipresence and free presence, eternality and glory. All rise from within a divine community with a unity of purpose and a diversity of actions to fulfill that purpose. For who God is is indelibly connected with what God does.

And in the same way, God’s action and identity are intimately bound up with God’s hope for the world. In the Christian view, when you experience certain virtues such as love, truth, beauty, and justice, you are experiencing a taste of God and God’s reign, the heaven for which we were intended and the one who called the heavens into existence. Attempts to explain such virtues and experiences apart from God remain unfounded. Yet for those drawn further into the restorative fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God’s action and attributes become something in which we come to participate, too.

To a creation groaning for glory, adoption, action, and redemption, the unique presence of each Person of the Trinity remains a gift of unfathomable proportions. Confessed centuries long before our own, the life-giving, redemptive relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit continues to take the groans of enslaved creatures and exchange them for the glorious freedom of the children of God.

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

(1) Excerpt from the Nicene Creed.

(2) Shirley Guthrie quoted in Donald McKim, Introducing the Reformed Faith (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2001), 32.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Sweet comfort for feeble saints

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“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” Matthew 12:20

Suggested Further Reading: 1 John 2:12-14

Man of business, toiling and striving in this world, he will not quench you when you are like smoking flax; he will not break you when you are like the bruised reed, but will deliver you from your troubles, you shall swim across the sea of life, and stand on the happy shore of heaven, and shall sing, “Victory” through him that loved you. Young people! I speak to you, and have a right to do so. You and I often know what the bruised reed is, when the hand of God blights our fair hopes. We are full of giddiness and waywardness, it is only the rod of affliction that can bring folly out of us, for we have much of it in us. Slippery paths are the paths of youth, and dangerous are the ways of the young, but God will not break or destroy us. Men, by their overcaution, bid us never tread a step lest we fall; but God bids us go, and makes our feet like hind’s feet, that we may tread upon high places. Serve God in early days; give your hearts to him, and then he will never cast you out, but will nourish and cherish you. Let me not finish without saying a word to little children. You who have heard of Jesus, he says to you, “The bruised reed I will not break; the smoking flax I will not quench.” I believe there is many a little prattler, not six years old, who knows the Saviour. I never despise youthful piety; I love it. I have heard little children talk of mysteries that grey-headed men knew not. Ah! little children who have been brought up in Sabbath-schools, and love the Saviour’s name, if others say you are too forward, do not fear, love Christ still.

For meditation: God will bring down those who are proud before him, but he will raise up those who are aware of and willing to admit to him their weakness (Luke 1:50-53).

Sermon no. 6

4 February (1855)

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Accountability

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Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that [the murmurs and excuses of] every mouth may be hushed and all the world may be held accountable to God.- Romans 3:19

Do you ever say, “I know I shouldn’t do this, but . . .”; “I know I shouldn’t say this, but . . .”; “I know I shouldn’t act like this, but . . .”; “I know I should forgive her, but . . .”? What we’re really saying is, “I know I’m making a wrong choice, but I hope I can get by with it.”

We live in a society where many people do not want to be accountable. A lot of people want to be able to make wrong choices and not have wrong results. But it doesn’t work that way. Accountable means “answerable.” Sooner or later we will have to answer for our choices. If we don’t choose to be accountable, eventually our circumstances will force us to be accountable.

Power Thought: I make right choices so I will have a right result.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie –The Divine Paradox

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“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”—Luke 14:11

If we have learned nothing else from our culture telling us what we should do to be happy, we have learned this: It is just not true. We have realized where happiness isn’t.

Prior to becoming a Christian, I already knew the answer was not in the world. I knew it wasn’t in my mother’s world of hedonism and drinking and partying. I knew it wasn’t in my world, limited as it was at seventeen years old. So I was wondering where it was. And then I became a Christian.

We have a different paradigm to follow, given to us by God in His Word. We could call it the divine paradox, because in God’s economy, if we want to be great, we must learn to be humble. If we want self-fulfillment, we should seek the fulfillment of others.

Regarding this divine paradox, Malcolm Muggeridge pointed out, “Where, then, does happiness lie? In forgetfulness, not indulgence, of self. In escape from sensual appetites, not in their satisfaction.”

The way to happiness is sadness. By that I mean we are sad over our sinful state, so we turn to God, ask for His forgiveness, and enter into a relationship with Him. Jesus gave us the beautiful beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Another way to translate this would be, “Oh how happy are the unhappy.” There is no greater example of this upside down life than Jesus Christ Himself.

We want to find our happiness and our joy in the right place, or more specifically, in the right person, which is God. As we come to know and walk with Him, we will find something better than happiness, and that is joy. We will find joy in our circumstances, regardless of what they are.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – What is Worship?

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When you think of worship, what do you think of? Outdated songs poorly sung? Dramatic prayers egotistically offered? Irrelevant sermons carelessly delivered? What is worship? The essence of worship is simply this: giving God the honor he deserves; applauding the greatness of God! The definition in the book of Psalms 29:1-2 is this:

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;

Honor the Lord for his glory and strength.

Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

As Paul said in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Worship–it’s a lifestyle. It’s an Action. It’s an attitude. It’s everything!

From Max on Life

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Facing Life’s Unknowns

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Hebrews 11:23-29

Uncertain circumstances characterized Moses’ entire life. He was born in Egypt at a time when the growing Hebrew population was seen as a threat. The king enslaved the community and ordered that their male infants be killed (Ex. 1:22). To protect Moses, his family let others raise him as an Egyptian (2:1-10).

When he was grown, Moses had to flee and live far away from home (vv. 11-15). Later, in a personal encounter with the Lord, he learned that he was God’s choice to be leader of the Israelite slaves (3:10). Moses felt ill-equipped for his new role, which involved approaching Pharaoh to request his people’s release. And then imagine how he must have questioned his ability to lead more than a million Hebrews while contending with their ingratitude and rebelliousness.

Yet Moses steadfastly carried on. What enabled him to persevere was faith, which God’s Word defines as “the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen” (Heb. 11:1 NLT). Because Moses had learned how to see “Him who is unseen” (v. 27), he was able to grasp the reality of his invisible Lord’s character and promises. After encountering God at the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), he viewed life differently—from then on, his purpose was to rely on the Lord and follow His divine plan.

Though Moses did not live perfectly, the Scriptures commend him for walking by faith. From his example, we can learn how to persevere through the unknowns of life. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, we, too, can become men and women of great faith.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Chinese Proverbs

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Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. —1 Chronicles 15:58

 

Read: 2 Timothy 2:1-6
Bible in a Year: Exodus 31-33; Matthew 22:1-22

Chinese proverbs are common and often have stories behind them. The proverb “pulling up a crop to help it grow” is about an impatient man in the Song Dynasty. He was eager to see his rice seedlings grow quickly. So he thought of a solution. He would pull up each plant a few inches. After a day of tedious work, the man surveyed his paddy field. He was happy that his crop seemed to have “grown” taller. But his joy was short-lived. The next day, the plants had begun to wither because their roots were no longer deep.

In 2 Timothy 2:6, the apostle Paul compares the work of being a minister of the gospel to that of a farmer. He wrote to encourage Timothy that, like farming, making disciples can be continuous, hard labor. You plow, you sow, you wait, you pray. You desire to see the fruits of your labor quickly, but growth takes time. And as the Chinese proverb so aptly illustrates, any effort to hurry the process won’t be helpful. Commentator William Hendriksen states: “If Timothy . . . exerts himself to the full in the performance of his God-given spiritual task, he . . . will see in the lives of others . . . the beginnings of those glorious fruits that are mentioned in Galatians 5:22, 23.”

As we labor faithfully, we wait patiently on the Lord, who makes things grow (1 Cor. 3:7). —Poh Fang Chia

Dear Lord of the harvest, help us to work faithfully as we wait patiently on You for the fruit. Encourage us when we are discouraged and strengthen us when we are weary. Help us to persevere, for You are faithful.

We sow the seed—God produces the harvest.

INSIGHT: Timothy is first introduced in Acts 16:1. Paul and Silas had been working their way through the provinces of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) sharing the gospel of Christ. When Paul and Silas arrived in Lystra, they met Timothy (a follower of Christ) and Paul invited this young man to join them. Timothy became a student of Paul’s and a pastor who, according to tradition, shepherded the church at Ephesus. Eventually, he received the two letters from Paul that bear his name. Each of those letters was intended to instruct and encourage the young pastor in his work with the congregation he served.
Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – In Debt to the Attributes of God

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So then, brothers, we are debtors.  Romans 8:12

 

As God’s creatures, we are all debtors to Him: to obey Him with all our body and soul and strength. Having broken His commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to His justice, and we owe to Him a vast amount that we are not able to pay.

But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God’s justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt His people owed; for this reason the believer is in debt to love. I am a debtor to God’s grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, “It is finished!” and by that He meant that whatever His people owed was wiped away forever from the book of remembrance. Christ has completely satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are no longer in debt to God’s justice. But then it follows that since we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and consider for a moment.

  • What a debtor you are to divine sovereignty! How much you owe to His disinterested love, for He gave His own Son that He might die for you
  • Consider how much you owe to His forgiving grace, that even after ten thousand offenses He loves you as infinitely as ever.
  • Consider what you owe to His power; how He has raised you from your death in sin; how He has preserved your spiritual life; how He has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have surrounded your path, you have been able to hold on your way.
  • Consider what you owe to His immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once.

You are as deep in debt as you can be to every attribute of God. To God you owe yourself and all you have: Offer yourself as a living sacrifice; it is but your reasonable service.

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for February 3, 2015
* Genesis 35, 36
* Mark 6

 

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

Charles Spurgeon – The earnest of heaven

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“That holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.” Ephesians 1:13-14

Suggested Further Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

You remember the day, some of you, when you first learned the doctrines of grace. When we were first converted, we did not know much about them, we did not know whether God had converted us, or we had converted ourselves; but we heard a discourse one day in which some sentences were used, which gave us the clue to the whole system, and we began at once to see how God the Father planned, and God the Son carried out, and God the Holy Spirit applied, and we found ourselves suddenly brought into the midst of a system of truths, which we might perhaps have believed before, but which we could not have clearly stated, and did not understand. Well, the joy of that advance in knowledge was exceeding great. I know it was to me. I can remember well the day and hour, when first I received those truths in my own soul—when they were burnt into me, as John Bunyan says—burnt as with a hot iron into my soul; and I can recollect how I felt I had grown suddenly from a babe into a man—that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, from having got a hold once and for all of the clue to the truth of God. Well, now, in that moment when God the Holy Spirit increased your knowledge, and opened the eyes of your understanding, you had the earnest, that you shall one day see, not through a glass darkly, but face to face, and then you shall know the whole truth, even as you are known.

For meditation: The best teacher and interpreter of Scripture is God the Holy Spirit who moved chosen men to record his Word (2 Peter 1:20-21). Do you always seek his help when you are reading or studying God’s Word?

Sermon no. 358

3 February (1861)

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Attitude Change

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Charles Stanley, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, once talked about making a road map of your life – documenting the significant crossroads in your life and seeing how God carried you through and guided your steps.

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 13:6

David recognized the Lord’s help and direction, and it gave him the strength to go on. Pursued by King Saul for years, the young shepherd felt he could not endure any further and cried out in Psalm 13, “How long, O Lord?” He supposed God to be indifferent to him, but realized that the Lord does not forget His own. David’s lament shifted from despair to a song of praise and confidence that his enemy would be defeated. His circumstance wasn’t changed, but his attitude was. He began to worship the Lord, trusting in God’s steadfast love and rejoicing in His salvation.

Bible commentator E.C. Olsen believes that sorrows in your life train you for future glory. Even more, “the Christian is driven to his knees in order that God may reveal Himself strong on behalf of those who trust Him.” Intercede for America’s leaders. God can work wonders through your prayers. Then rejoice – for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Recommended Reading: Romans 8:18-30

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Our Example to Follow

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Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.—Mark 9:2–3

The miracle of the Transfiguration wasn’t that Jesus shined like the sun; the miracle was that He didn’t shine like the sun all the time. When Jesus came to Earth, He never gave up His deity. But we might say that He shrouded His glory and laid aside the privileges of His deity.

Jesus Christ is God. He is a member of the Trinity, coequal and coeternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was God before He was born, and He remained God after He became man. His deity was prehuman, pre-Mary, and pre-Bethlehem.

Jesus laid aside not His deity, but the privileges of deity, to model what it is to be a servant. Paul told the believers in Philippi, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5–7).

We are to follow His example. If Jesus could lay aside the privileges of divinity, then how much more should we, as human beings with sinful hearts, be willing to put the needs of others above ourselves?

This isn’t easy. In fact, we could say that it’s virtually impossible—apart from the power of the Spirit. This is not so much about imitation as much as it is about impartation—Christ Himself living in us and giving us His love and power. It’s the only way we can put the needs of another person above our own, love people whom we really don’t like all that much, or effectively die to ourselves. It seems impossible. But this is the way God has called us to live.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s No-Tolerance Policy

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Hypocrisy turns people against God, so he has a no-tolerance policy. Let’s take hypocrisy as seriously as God does. For starters, expect no credit for good deeds. None! If no one notices, you aren’t disappointed. If someone does, you give the credit to God. If no one knew of the good you do, would you still do it? If not, you’re doing it to be seen by people.

Give financial gifts in secret. We like to be seen earning money. And we like to be seen giving it. Matthew 6:3 says, “So when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

Don’t fake spirituality. Nothing nauseates more than a fake, “Praise the Lord,” or a shallow “Hallelujah” or an insincere “Glory be to God.”

Bottom line: Don’t make a theater production out of your faith!

From Max on Life

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Desires of Your Heart

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 Psalm 37:1-8

You may have read God’s promise to give you “the desires of your heart,” but too quick a glance at verse 4 of today’s reading will lead only to frustration and disappointment. To understand the scope of the Lord’s awesome promise, it’s important to explore the conditions He set in this passage.

First, Psalm 37:1 instructs us not to fret about “evildoers” or envy them. That is, we’re not to be consumed with the success of unrighteous people. God will deal with them; our responsibility is to watch our own actions.

Next, verse 3 instructs us to “trust in the Lord,” “do good,” and “cultivate faithfulness.” God is interested in our maturity. He wants us to be responsible with the big things in life, which relate to our deepest desires.

In verse 4, we are clearly told to “delight . . . in the Lord.” This is another way of saying we are to seek His desires. If we truly pursue God’s good pleasure, our own desires will fall right into place.

Then, verse 5 commands that we “commit [our] way to the Lord” and trust Him. When we focus our steps on His path, we know we’re heading in the right direction. God will not bless our sinful missteps; our duty is to keep to His purposeful plan.

Finally, verse 7 calls us to “rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” God’s timing is perfect. If we see no immediate response to a faithful prayer, we must trust Him for His flawless timing.

When it comes to your desires, are you frustrated by God’s seeming lack of response? Pray through Psalm 37:1-8 and ask Him to bring your will in line with His.

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Creation Story

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Someone once told me that the most comforting premise of the Christian imagination was, for her, the assurance of a beginning. Her Hindu upbringing had been far less clear. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” These very first words of Scripture boldly proclaim that we are not lost and wandering in a cosmic circle of time and accident, isolated from any meaning beyond the name or reputation we manage to carve for ourselves. At the heart of the Christian imagination is one who stood at the foundation of the world, and with love, beauty, and wisdom, caused life and history to begin.

For the Christian, this comforting premise is deepened by the image of creation as the cooperative work of a relational, trinitarian God. The account of creation in the Gospel of John runs parallel to the creation accounts of the book of Genesis, except that John makes it clear that the Father was not acting alone. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”(1) Paul similarly describes the Son’s vital role in creation to the Colossians, referring to Jesus Christ as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”(2)

The New Testament writers unapologetically affirm the Old Testament understanding of creation’s dependence upon the maker of heaven and earth. But they add to this affirmation the admission that all creation—from the beginning until now—is further seen through the light of Jesus Christ. Christ is the Word of God, existing with God at the beginning. He is the one who called forth the heavens, the one who holds all things together, the one who sustains the universe by his word even now. Here also, like the Son, the Spirit is affirmed in Scripture as present at the beginning and sustaining of all creation: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.”(3) In the words of Jürgen Moltmann, creation remains a beautiful, collaborative gift: “Creation exists in the Spirit, is molded by the Son, and is created by the Father. It is therefore from God, through God, and in God.”(4)

For someone like my friend, this rightly signals so much more than simply another religion’s means of dealing with the philosophical question of origin. We are given the world via the hands of a good, imaginative, relational creator. In fact, the work of creation is the very overflowing of the divine relationship. Out of an image of the fullness of life in the Trinity, creation is affirmed not as emerging from any lack or need in God, but from God’s loving, good abundance. It is for this reason that creation is affirmed as good throughout Scripture: as the creative overflow of a divine fellowship, creation bears the very image of its creator. It is why Augustine argued that there is a trace of the Trinity in every creature.

Out of this loving abundance, Father, Son, and Spirit have bound themselves to the world from the very beginning. Leaving this mark, making humanity in their image, the divine communion of Father, Son, and Spirit presents an image of the very community God intended for the world, a communion God continues to call us further into, even as Christ works to restore the way.

This is indeed a comforting premise. It is a creation story that reaches from the beginning of time and continues in even the smallest moment of our present day. The goodness of God can be seen in the daily activities of an immense and amazing world. Into this picture of God’s creation, the Christian imagination sees a world called to participate in its origin story, to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” to delight in God as maker of all things, and so join in the fellowship of a creative Trinity. Today and from the beginning, we are neither alone nor without purpose; we were made and we are being remade by the Father, Son, and Spirit, the maker of heaven and earth.

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

(1) John 1:1-4.

(2) Colossians 1:15-17.

(3) Psalm 33:6.

(4) Jürgen Moltmann as quoted in Donald McKim, Introducing the Reformed Faith (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2001), 40.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Joy Versus Happiness

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“Rejoice in the Lord” (Phil. 3:1).

Happiness is related to circumstances; joy is a gift from God.

Not long ago it was common to see bumper stickers proclaiming every conceivable source for happiness. One said, “Happiness is being married.” Another countered, “Happiness is being single.” One cynical sticker read, “Happiness is impossible!”

For most people happiness is possible but it’s also fickle, shallow, and fleeting. As the word itself implies, happiness is associated with happenings, happenstance, luck, and fortune. If circumstances are favorable, you’re happy. If not, you’re unhappy.

Christian joy, however, is directly related to God and is the firm confidence that all is well, regardless of your circumstances.

In Philippians 3:1 Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord” (emphasis added). The Lord is both the source and object of Christian joy. Knowing Him brings joy that transcends temporal circumstances. Obeying Him brings peace and assurance.

Joy is God’s gift to every believer. It is the fruit that His Spirit produces within you (Gal. 5:22) from the moment you receive the gospel (John 15:11). It increases as you study and obey God’s Word (1 John 1:4).

Even severe trials needn’t rob your joy. James 1:2 says you should be joyful when you encounter various trials because trials produce spiritual endurance and maturity. They also prove that your faith is genuine, and a proven faith is the source of great joy (1 Pet. 1:6-8).

You live in a world corrupted by sin. But your hope is in a living God, not a dying world. He is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy (Jude 24). That’s your assurance of future glory and eternal joy! Until that time, don’t neglect His Word, despise trials, or lose sight of your eternal reward. They are key ingredients of your present joy.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank the Lord for any difficult circumstances you might be facing. Ask Him for continued grace to see them through His perspective and not lose heart (Gal. 6:9).
  • Be aware of any sinful attitudes or actions on your part that might diminish your joy. Confess them immediately.

For Further Study

Read Acts 16:11-40.

  • What difficulties did Paul and Silas face in founding the Philippian church?
  • How did God use their difficulties for His glory?
Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Crispi’s Catastrophe

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Francesco Crispi is not a name associated with greatness. Crispi was the Prime Minister of Italy in 1896 and the cause of one of the worst military defeats in history, the long-forgotten Battle of Adwa. Fighting in Africa, an Italian army of 14,500 was facing a force of 100,000 Ethiopians. The sensible thing, Italian military observers advised, was to wait. The Ethiopians had overextended their supply lines and were beginning to starve. Within a few days, they would likely disband and scatter. But Crispi wanted a quick victory for political purposes. Believing his troops were superior in every way – including racially – he ordered his commander to attack at once. The Italians were slaughtered.

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:5

The psalmist wrote that God has granted many wonderful freedoms and privileges to earth’s inhabitants: “glory and honor” is upon man, he said. But there is a limit to what you can do, and pride and arrogance can be lethal shortcomings. If you forget this, God will inevitably find a way to remind you that you are, indeed, a “little lower than the heavenly beings.”

Today, pray that America’s leaders will serve in humility and recognize that greatness belongs to God alone.

Recommended Reading: James 4:1-10