Tag Archives: holy spirit

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Jesus Chose the Nails

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God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can’t be deciphered. The mistakes are covered. The sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by His hand; those down the list are covered by His blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says He has forgiven you all your sins. He has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.

He knew the source of those sins was you, and since He couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus Himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you!

From He Chose the Nails

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Focusing on God

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Genesis 37:5-11

“Man is born for trouble” (Job 5:7). There is absolutely no way to avoid or escape this universal condition of mankind. As we continue to look at the life of Joseph, we catch a glimpse of the anchor that held him steady while, one after another, the waves of affliction rolled over him.

When Joseph was a teenager, he was given two dreams about God’s plans for his future. They revealed that he would one day be in a place of authority and honor, and his family would bow down to him. Especially since Scripture had not yet been written in those days, it was not uncommon for the Lord to speak to men through their dreams.

Previously, God had spoken to Jacob in a dream and given him a promise (Gen. 28:10-16). Now his son was hearing from the Lord in the same way. Joseph followed his father’s example of faith and believed the message.

God knew that Joseph was going to need a promise to get him through the difficulty that would soon follow. The Lord’s word to him was his anchor. Throughout all the trials, Joseph kept on believing that God would fulfill His promise. Instead of dwelling on the circumstances, Joseph chose to focus on the Lord’s faithfulness.

When the Lord speaks to our hearts through Scripture, we can hold onto what He says, allowing it to be an anchor for our souls. He will keep His promises to us, just as He did for Joseph. When we focus on God and His Word, our fears will dwindle, our sense of need will diminish, and our doubts will be cleared away.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Hand Me The Binoculars!

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Read: Psalm 19:1-6
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 17-19; Mark 13:1-20

 

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. —Psalm 19:1

When I was in elementary school my friend Kent and I would often spend time looking at the night sky with a pair of German-made binoculars. We marveled at the stars in the sky and the mountains on the moon. All throughout the evening we took turns saying, “Hand me the binocs!”

Centuries earlier a Jewish shepherd boy looked up at the night sky and also marveled. He did not have a pair of binoculars or a telescope to aid him. But he had something even more important—a personal relationship with the living God. I imagine the sheep quietly bleating in the background as David gazed skyward. Later he would write the inspired text: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge” (Ps. 19:1-2).

In our busy schedules, we can so easily forget to stand in awe of the heavenly beauty our Creator has prepared for our enjoyment and His glory. When we set aside time to look at the night sky and marvel at what is there, we gain a deeper understanding of God and His eternal power and glory. —Dennis Fisher

We believe that this is Your world, Lord. We marvel at You and Your creativity when we look at the sky and the world around us. You, and what You have done, are amazing! We stand in awe of You.

In the wonders of God’s creation, we see His majesty and His character.

INSIGHT: Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote this about David and Psalm 19: “In his earliest days the psalmist, while keeping his father’s flock, had devoted himself to the study of God’s two great books—nature and Scripture; and he had so thoroughly entered into the spirit of these two only volumes in his library that he was able with a devout criticism to compare and contrast them, magnifying the excellency of the Author as seen in both. . . . He is wisest who reads both the world-book and the Word-book as two volumes of the same work, and feels concerning them, ‘My Father wrote them both.’”

–
Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Sibling Rivalry

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One of the most humbling moments in my life happened during a soccer match. At a critical moment in the game, I had to decide whether to go it alone or let a better positioned teammate attempt an almost guaranteed goal; a rare treat in soccer. Sadly, the split seconds available for the decision were enough for my ego to override my better judgment. Unwilling to pass on the glory of scoring the winning goal, I made the wrong decision and lost the ball, costing the team an important game in the process.

Ironically, I am inclined to believe that the consequences for me would have been much worse if I had managed to score the goal. Though quite humiliating, that terrible mistake gave me a glimpse into my own soul in a way that might have been impossible if I had actually led the team to a win. While it is hard to assert our egos in the midst of failure and hardship, the ugliness of our self-centeredness can be easily camouflaged in the motives and methods of our success, leaving us blind to our own insuperable finitude. When our pursuit for success is severed from a healthy sense of our chronic indebtedness, achieving success can instill in us a measure of entitlement foreign to our true identity. Such a pitfall is even more consequential in our spiritual lives since it is harder to distinguish between self-serving motives and genuine zeal for God. Unlike the gaping sins of the prodigal son, the dutiful son’s alienation from the father comes neatly packaged in obedience and commitment, the very treasures some of us long to lay before our heavenly Father.

In spite of the fact that Jesus prayed fervently for unity among his followers, the visible church is often a conglomeration of competing factions, each equally convinced of its solitary possession of divine favor. Those who seek signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit are usually suspicious of those who emphasize exegetical approaches to the Scriptures. Christian scholars are sometimes content just to talk to each other, and the uncanny tendency of apologists to sniff out what they deem rotten doctrine is not always appreciated.

As a result, not only do we squander valuable benefits of dedicated teamwork within the household of faith, we also lose our edge in a broken world. Despite the monumental gains made in biblical research and translation, biblical illiteracy is still a high-ranking concern, and the frequent outbursts of oft-unfounded accusations from our detractors succeed in rattling the cage for not a few followers of Christ. While outcasts and sinners braved insults to seek refuge in Jesus, they bolt from the divided efforts of Christians and reject God because they mistake us for God.

When being right becomes an end in itself, we lose sight of our own need for God’s grace—a need that would be there even if we were faultless. Instead of recognizing that orthodoxy, though indispensable, is only the map of a journey which we must travel towards God, confidence in our knowledge of the truth becomes the missing link in our quest for self-sufficiency. We partition God’s comprehensive program for his people into various segments and guard our turfs with Herculean zeal. With a little practice, we become so adept at applying our preferred standards that we can accomplish the feat with our eyes closed. Having zeroed in on what we are certain to be God’s most vexing pet peeves, we stand poised not only to pronounce the verdict on those who offend but also to pound the gavel on God’s behalf. Before long, we, like Elijah, become convinced that we are the only ones who are faithful to God while all of his other children have lost their way.

Probably the best antidote to such spiritual calluses among loyal laborers in God’s vineyard is a healthy appreciation of the all-sufficiency of the Father and our exalted status as his humble children—a theological gem that is beautifully captured by C.S. Lewis in his book, Prince Caspian. When the children are reunited with Aslan after many years, Lucy expresses surprise that Aslan looks bigger. Aslan responds, “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”(1) What a relief to remember that no amount of expertise on our part can ever diminish the glory of God or cause us to outlive God’s fatherly indulgence!

Pure, unadulterated motives may lie beyond the reach of even the most devout among us, but the intentional recognition of our humble place in deference to the majesty of our Maker is an indispensable ingredient in our service to God and others. It was neither out of false piety nor enslavement to sin that both Daniel and Nehemiah included themselves in their profound prayers of forgiveness on behalf of their sinful people (Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 1:6). While I do not subscribe to the relativistic “never judge anyone” maxim that greases the engine of the spirit of the age, I am also convinced that “The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him.”(2)

J.M. Njoroge is member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) C. S. Lewis, The Complete Chronicles of Narnia (New York: HarperCollins, 1998), 259.

(2) Oswald Chambers, as quoted by Os Guinness in The Call: Finding Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2003), 41.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Election and holiness

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“Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” Deuteronomy 10:14-16

Suggested Further Reading: Isaiah 45:1-13

Preaching a few months ago in the midst of a large congregation of Methodists, the brethren were all alive, giving all kinds of answers to my sermon, nodding their heads and crying,“Amen!” “Hallelujah!” “Glory be to God!” and the like. They completely woke me up. My spirit was stirred, and I preached away with an unusual force and vigour; and the more I preached the more they cried, “Amen!” “Hallelujah!” “Glory be to God!” At last, a part of text led me to what is styled high doctrine. So I said, this brings me to the doctrine of election. There was a deep drawing of breath. “Now, my friends, you believe it;” they seemed to say “No, we don’t.” But you do, and I will make you sing “Hallelujah!” over it. I will so preach it to you that you will acknowledge it and believe it. So I put it thus: Is there no difference between you and other men? “Yes, yes; glory be to God, glory!” There is a difference between what you were and what you are now? “Oh, yes! oh, yes!” There is sitting by your side a man who has been to the same chapel as you have, heard the same gospel, he is unconverted, and you are converted. Who has made the difference, yourself or God? “The Lord!” said they, “the Lord! Glory! Hallelujah!” Yes, cried I, and that is the doctrine of election; that is all I contend for, that if there is a difference the Lord makes the difference. Some good man came up to me and said, “Thou’rt right, lad! thou’rt right. I believe thy doctrine of election; I do not believe it as it is preached by some people, but I believe that we must give the glory to God; we must put the crown on the right head.”

For meditation: The doctrines of God give God all the glory. The doctrines of man seek to steal some of God’s glory to give to man instead (Isaiah 42:6-8).

Sermon no. 303
12 March (Preached 11 March 1860)

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Nothing Against You

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“This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies and hated him and were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now He has brought you back as His friends. He has done this through the death on the cross of His own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before Him with nothing left against you – nothing left that He could ever chide you for” (Colossians 1:21,22).

Have you ever claimed your right to holiness, not by virtue of anything you have done, but on the basis of what Christ has done and is doing for you?

This passage of Scripture explains how holiness is available to every believer. By acknowledging and receiving His gift of eternal life through Christ, we have been brought into the very presence of God. Now we are candidates for the supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit.

After we have claimed our right to holiness, we must confess all our known sins and appropriate, by faith, the fullness of the Holy Spirit, asking Him to give us spiritual insight into the true meaning of God’s Word.

“And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy – the kind He can accept. When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the fashions and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will see from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:1,2).

Bible Reading: II Corinthians 5:17-21

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  By faith I will claim my right to holiness and, on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross in our behalf, I will encourage others to do the same.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – How’s Your Appetite?

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As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. —1 Peter 2:2

I love gadgets, but I don’t like to read user’s manuals. So when I buy some new gadget, I will start pushing buttons and always end up doing the very thing that I wasn’t supposed to do. It is always good to consult the user’s manual.

The same is true of our lives. The Bible gives us direction, and it also warns us about things we should avoid. Second Timothy 3:16–17 tells us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God’s Word is alive. It is full of living power, exposing us for what we really are. I like what Martin Luther said about the Bible: “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.”

One way that a physician can tell whether someone is healthy or sick is by their appetite or lack thereof. When a patient doesn’t have an appetite, it is usually an indication that something is wrong. In the same way, if you are a Christian and don’t have an appetite for God’s Word, that is an indication of a spiritual breakdown. It would say that you are not where you ought to be spiritually, because hungry children are healthy children.

Success or failure in the Christian life is dependent on how much of the Bible you get into your heart and mind on a daily basis and how obedient you are to it. If you neglect the study of the Scriptures, then your spiritual life ultimately will unravel. Why? Because everything you need to know about God is taught in the Bible.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Many Gifts of the Cross

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Much has been said about Jesus’ “gift of the Cross.” But what of the other gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns? The garments taken by the soldiers? Have you taken time to open these gifts? He didn’t have to give us these gifts, you know. The only required act for our salvation was the shedding of blood, yet He did much more. So much more.

Search the scene of the Cross—and what do you find? A wine-soaked sponge. A sign. Two crosses beside Christ. Divine gifts intended to stir that moment, that split second when your face will brighten, your eyes will widen, and God will hear you whisper, “You did this for me?” Dare we think such thoughts? Let’s unwrap these gifts of grace– as if for the first time. Pause and listen. Perchance you will hear Him whisper, “I did it just for you!”

From He Chose the Nails

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Considering Lilies

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Wendell Berry has written a poem that haunts me frequently. As a creative writer, the act of paying attention is both a spiritual and professional discipline. But far too often my aspirations for paying quality attention to everything dissolves into something more like attention deficit disorder. As it turns out, it is quite possible to see and not really see, to hear and not really hear. And this is all the more ironic when my very attempts to capture what I am seeing and hearing are the thing that prevent me from truly being present. Berry’s poem is about a man on holiday, who, trying to seize the sights and sounds of his vacation by video camera, manages to miss the entire thing.

…he stood with his camera

preserving his vacation even as he was having it

so that after he had had it he would still

have it. It would be there. With a flick

of a switch, there it would be. But he

would not be in it. He would never be in it.(1)

I sometimes wonder if one of the most quoted sayings of Jesus is not often employed with a similar irony. “Consider the lilies,” Jesus said, “how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field…will he not much more clothe you? Therefore, do not worry.“(2) Typically, Jesus is quoted here as giving a helpful word against worry. And he is. But worry is not the only command he articulates. Consider the lilies, he said. We hear the first instruction peripherally, hurriedly, as mere set up for the final instruction of the saying. And in so doing, we miss something great, perhaps even something vital, both in the means and in the end. With our rationalistic sensibilities, we gloss over consideration of the lilies; ironically, in an attempt to consider the real work Jesus is asking us to do.

But what if considering the lilies is the work, the antidote to anxious, preoccupied lives? What if attending to this short-lived beauty, to the fleeting details of a distracted world is a command Jesus wants us to take seriously in and of itself?

It is with such a conviction that artist Makoto Fujimura not only paints, but elsewhere comments on Mary and her costly pouring of perfume on the feet of Jesus. The anger of Judas and the disgust of the others are all given in rational terms, the cacophony of their reaction attempting to drown out her quiet act of attention: That bottle would have cost over a year’s wages. The poor could have used that money. This sinful woman clings to a holy man’s feet. Does he not see who it is who touches him? Their response to her and her act of beauty exposes their own inattention to a world beyond the one they see—to their own peril. As Fujimura writes, “Pragmatism, legalism, and greed cannot comprehend the power of ephemeral beauty. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness; the opposite of beauty is legalism. Legalism is hard determinism that slowly strangles the soul. Legalism injures by giving pragmatic answers to our suffering.”(3) The corollary, of course, is that beauty can offer healing; that paying attention, even to fleeting glimpses of the mere suggestion of new creation, is deeply restorative.

When Jesus asks the world to consider the lilies, to consider beauty in the midst of all the ashes around us, his request is full of promise, for he is both the Source of beauty and its Subject. His own history is one that takes so seriously the goodness of the created world that he joins us within it, taking even our profound wounds upon himself, and presenting in his body the hope of a creation made new. Paying attention to the ephemeral, being willing like Mary to risk and to recognize beauty, is in and of itself restorative because it is paying attention to him. Here, both the anxiety-addicted and the attention-overloaded can find solace in a different sort of kingdom: one in which there is room for the paradox of a fleeting world with eternity in its heart.

But perhaps Jesus also instructs the world to consider the lilies because it is the very characteristic of God’s concern for us. The daily liturgy of lilies comes with unceasing care and attention for all who will see it, the gift of a God who revels in the creation of yet another flower, the details of another sunset, the discovery of even one lost soul. Consider the lilies; how they grow. They neither toil, nor spin.

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

(1) Wendell Berry, “The Vacation,” Selected Poems, (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 1998), 157.

(2) Matthew 6:28-31.

(3) Makoto Fujimura, “The Beautiful Tears,” Tabletalk, September, 2010.

Restoration Arts Conference, April 17-18, 2015, Kansas City, Missouri:  Join Margaret Manning and Jill Carattini with artist Makoto Fujimura and other guest speakers for a weekend of art and conversation exploring the themes of beauty and terror, war and art.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – An Essential for Spiritual Growth

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“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”—Joshua 1:8

Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player when he accepted Christ in 1886. At the time, an older believer told Sunday that if he followed this advice, they would never write the word backslider after his name: Take fifteen minutes every day to let God talk to you. Take fifteen minutes every day to talk to God. And take fifteen minutes every day to tell others about the Savior. Sunday followed that advice and became one of the greatest evangelists in history, reaching thousands and thousands of people.

If you want to be a growing Christian, you must read, study, and love the Word of God. Why? Because one of the first things that a young Christian will face is doubt. When I became a believer, I didn’t feel anything emotionally, but I could see changes in my life. And right away I started doubting. I thought, Oh man. What if this isn’t true?

I went and told a Christian friend what was happening, and he said, “Oh, you are going through a trial.”

I said, “What? I’m on trial?”

“No,” he said. “You are going through a trial.”

He went on to explain that I was being tested by the Devil. And that was true.

When the Devil came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, what did he say? He challenged the Word of God: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). He was saying, in effect, “Did God really say what you thought He said?”

If you know the Word of God, you can defend yourself against the Enemy’s attacks. It’s nice to carry a Bible in your purse, briefcase, or on your smartphone, but the best place to carry God’s Word is in your heart.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Give God Your List!

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God not only wants the mistakes we have made—He wants the ones we are making. Are you drinking too much? Are you cheating at work or cheating at marriage? Mismanaging your life? Don’t pretend nothing’s wrong. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross.

1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins to God, He can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.”

Start with your bad moments. And while you’re there, give God your “mad” moments. There’s a story about a man bitten by a dog. When he learned the dog had rabies, he began a list. The doctor said, “there’s no need to make a will—you’ll be fine.” “Oh I’m not making a will,” he said, “I’m making a list of all the people I want to bite!” God wants that list!  He wants you to leave it at the cross.

From He Chose the Nails

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Slow Semana Santa

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The Semana Santa, or Holy Week in Spain, is a week-long series of parades and festivities that culminate on Easter Sunday. Particularly notable in Sevilla, Spain (though held throughout the country and in many other parts of the world) the entire city converges. In fact, Semana Santa week is so vibrant and extraordinary in Sevilla that tourists from around the world often come to partake in these festival days.

One of the notable aspects of these celebrations is the parade floats of Jesus and his mother, Mary. Depicting the events of the last days of Jesus’s life, the statues are the main display of every float that traverses the parade route through the city. The statues themselves are from the seventeenth century, and are housed in area churches. I was able to see two of these statues in the historic Church of the Savior on a recent visit to Spain.

Perhaps more notable than the floats themselves is the way in which they are carried through the city streets. Every afternoon during the week, these floats are paraded through the streets for hours and hours. The pace is slow and deliberate, sometimes barely moving inches at a time, even as they are gently moving to the sonorous and doleful tones of the accompanying music. The point of the slow pace, which for the uninitiated seems almost ridiculous, is out of reverence for this historic tradition and the events represented in the life of Jesus.

I couldn’t help but parallel the slowness of these parade marches to the hurried pace of my own life. Always in a hurry to get to the “next event,” I am almost uncomfortable with any form of staying still. I remember when I was a child, I couldn’t wait to be a teenager. When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to be in college. When I was in college, I couldn’t wait to be a graduate student. When I was a graduate student, I couldn’t wait to be a professional. I look back on those hurried days now and lament that I rushed through them so quickly.

Of course, a society that values efficiency above everything doesn’t help to slow us down. Ours is a world in which “instant” becomes more and more important. The increasing speed of technology only adds to our impatience when things are not achieved instantaneously. I recognize that my own propensity to hurry, coupled with a society that moves at ever-quickening speeds, can be very detrimental for any kind of intentional slowing or cultivation of a reflective life.

The lives depicted in the Bible couldn’t be more different from our hurried lives. More importantly, and perhaps to our great frustration, the God revealed in the biblical stories is rarely in a hurry. Abraham and Sarah, for example, received the promise of an heir twenty-five years before they actually laid eyes on Isaac. Joseph had a dream as a teenager that his brothers would one day bow down to him. Yet it was countless years and many difficulties later that bring his brothers to kneel before him, asking for food. Moses was approximately eighty years old—long past his prime of life—when God appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to deliver the children of Israel. David was anointed king by Samuel as a young boy tending his father’s flocks, long before he finally ascended to the throne. And Jesus spent thirty years in relative obscurity, and only three years publicly announcing the kingdom and God’s rule that had come in his life and ministry.

From a human perspective, it is difficult to understand why God wasn’t more in a hurry to accomplish the plans for these individual lives as a part of the larger narrative of redemption. The Messiah was prophesied hundreds of years before he actually arrived on the scene. We cannot help but ask why God seems to move so slowly?
In Peter’s second letter, what is considered his last will and testament, he discusses the slowness of God in relation to the second coming of Christ. Many arose even in Peter’s time asking why God was so slow when it came to delivering on his promise of an eternal kingdom. They began to mock God assuming that “as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be.” Not so, Peter argues, for the slowness of God is in fact our salvation. “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance… Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.”(1)

The long, slow, journey, marked by many Christians in the season of Lent towards Easter morning, can be arduous for those of us who find ourselves constantly racing towards what’s next—even rushing to get to the resurrection without stopping to ponder at Good Friday. These forty days can serve to remind all who hurry of God’s great forbearance and patience with us, even as they issue a call to slow-down and wait with Jesus. These days intentionally slow us and create space—what theologians call liminal space—making room for those of us with a tendency to rush—to wait and rest in the “in-between” and the “not yet.” Waiting for God in this liminal space gives more opportunity to be patient, “looking” as Peter says, at the “patience of our Lord to be salvation.”

Margaret Manning Shull is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Bellingham, Washington.

(1) 2 Peter 3:9, 14-15.

 

 

 
Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Effectual calling

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“When Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” Luke 19:5

Suggested Further Reading: Ephesians 5:21—6: 4

“I will come into thy house and give thee a blessing.” Oh! what affection there was in that! Poor sinner, my Master is a very affectionate Master. He will come into your house. What kind of a house have you got? A house that you have made miserable with your drunkenness—a house you have defiled with your impurity—a house you have defiled with your cursing and swearing—a house where you are carrying on an ill-trade that you would be glad to get rid of. Christ says, “I will come into thy house.” And I know some houses now that once were dens of sin, where Christ comes every morning; the husband and wife who once could quarrel and fight, bend their knees together in prayer. Christ comes there at dinner-time, when the workman comes home for his meals. Some of my hearers can scarce come for an hour to their meals but they must have a word of prayer and reading of the Scriptures. Christ comes to them. Where the walls were once plastered up with the lascivious song and idle picture, there is a Christian calendar in one place, there is a Bible on the chest of drawers; and though it is only one room they live in, if an angel should come in, and God should say, “What hast thou seen in that house?” he would say, “I have seen good furniture, for there is a Bible there; here and there a religious book; the filthy pictures are pulled down and burned; there are no cards in the man’s cupboard now; Christ has come into his house.” Oh! what a blessing that we have our household God as well as the Romans! Our God is a household God. He comes to live with his people; he loves the tents of Jacob.

For meditation: What a difference Christ makes to a household (Acts 16:31-34). How do you regard him? As an occasional visitor or Head of the house?

Sermon no. 73
10 March (Preached 30 March 1856)

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – No More Excuses

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Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I’ve always had a bad temper. That’s just the way I am.”

l’m a straightforward person. That’s who I am, and that’s how people need to accept me.”

“I call things as I see them. I don’t sugarcoat anything.”

This list could go on endlessly, but the one thing these excuses have in common is that each is meant to justify the people being the way they are. It’s a way of resisting change.

It’s also a way for Satan to creep into our minds. The great deceiver tells us that we’re not rude we are just being honest, and people need to respect that quality in us. We think we speak the truth as we see it, and we’re not cowards or hypocrites. If the devil can convince us that we don’t have to change that we’re fine exactly the way we are he has won a serious battle in our lives.

In fact, the devil can give us a lot of excuses for not changing. That may be the problem. If he convinces us that other people are at fault because “they are just too sensitive” or “they don’t want to hear the truth and face reality,” we don’t feel responsible, and we think we’re all right.

Another thing is that no matter how negative we may be in our thinking, most of us wouldn’t call ourselves “negative.” We prefer words like logical, realistic, forthright, or candid. Not facing the truth about ourselves is part of Satan’s deceptive work.

When I went through a period of extreme negativity, I wouldn’t have thought of myself as being negative. I was just being honest. If I saw something wrong, I spoke up. I offered my counsel on ways for people to change. I could see the weaknesses and problems of others, and I was quite happy to show them how they could overcome. On my worst days, I found things wrong with all my friends and everything they did. I didn’t have to look for things to criticize-I did it without effort. I didn’t consider it negative because I thought I was merely trying to be helpful. It never occurred to me in my prideful state that people didn’t really want my help. They wanted acceptance and encouragement, not judgment and criticism.

As I said, I never thought of myself as being negative that is, until God dealt with me and convicted me.

I’m not trying to condemn anyone for being negative, frank, blunt, candid, or whatever term you may use for it, because condemning is in itself being negative. Instead, I want to help believers recognize their attitude problems and help them realize that God is able to deliver them.

We start the Christian life as new creations of God. Our past is wiped away. The Christian life is one of change-of growth-of moving onward.

The pathway to freedom begins when we face our problems, and face them without excuses. “Yes, I’m negative, but if you had come from the kind of family, I did, you’d” Stop! No excuses. We know what we were in the past, but we also know that we don’t have to remain that way now or in the future. With the help of Jesus Christ, we can have our minds renewed according to the Word of God.

The most difficult part may be to say to God, I’m a negative person, but I want to change.” Remember that a negative mind produces a negative life. You’ve probably tried to change yourself many times in the past, but it didn’t work. Now you can begin to win the battle over Satan’s stronghold by admitting who you are and acknowledging that you must depend on God to change you.

Holy and positive God, forgive me for all my negative thinking. You want me to be loving and filled with Your joy. Help me so that Satan has no stronghold over my mind. Please destroy every negative aspect of my thinking, through Jesus my Lord. Amen.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Like a Blanket of Snow

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Today’s news reads more like a horror story than daily events. Like many others, you may wonder how people can be filled with such hate and evil. Christ’s prophecies are being fulfilled, including “nation will rise against nation.” (Matthew 24:7)

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Proverbs 10:12

At the same time, God offers love and forgiveness to all who will receive it, and even to the vilest offenders such as the apostle Paul, the former murderer of Christians. Like a blanket of snow covers the Earth to where you can’t tell a car from a bush, God’s love completely covers and changes human hearts as He washes them clean. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Aim to love and forgive like He does, while praying against hatred and evil. Ask for His love to change America and that, in these last days, many lost souls will yield to Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Recommended Reading: I Timothy 1:12-17

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – How Do you Say Lucado?

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My last name has created some awkward moments. A woman said, “Max Lu-KAH-do—I’ve been wanting to meet you.”  I let it go thinking that was the end of it.  But then a man said to me, “My wife and I’ve been trying to figure out how you say your name.  Is it Lu-KAY-doh or Lu-KAH-doh! I felt trapped…as I looked at my new friend who had been mispronouncing my name.

On an infinitely grander scale, God faces with humankind a similar issue I faced with the woman. How can He be both just and kind?  How can He redeem the sinner without endorsing the sin?  From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions. From God’s perspective, however, there is a third. It’s called the Cross of Christ!  And that is one phrase you want to say correctly!

From He Chose the Nails

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – THE BENEFITS OF WISDOM

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Learn about a few of the benefits to seeking the Lord’s wisdom.

 

Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God’s perspective and respond according to scriptural principles. What are a few of the benefits to seeking the Lord’s wisdom? Let’s look at what the Bible says.

  1. Clear Guidance From God

Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God’s perspective and respond according to scriptural principles.

Those who walk in wisdom receive the Father’s direction for their lives. While God’s children still have some painful experiences, they are spared many mistakes and false starts. Biblical principles spare believers numerous wrong decisions and hurtful relationships.

Nobody is better qualified to guide your steps or lead you to the right path than God.

  • According to Proverbs 3:5-6, what attitude best facilitates the Lord’s direction in a person’s life?
  • What benefits does Proverbs 3:21-26 promise to those who “keep sound wisdom and discretion” (v. 21)?

When we walk in divine wisdom, we can rest assured that the Lord is with us always. He won’t allow us to enter into any situation that He has not anticipated, nor will He permit a circumstance unless He intends it for our good.

  1. God’s Divine Protection

Wisdom protects us from various sources of wickedness, including:

  1. Evil in such forms as dangerous situations, harmful substances, and destructive circumstances. We are to reject evil and flee from it whenever possible.
  • What attitude gets a “fool” (unwise person) into trouble with regard to evil (Prov. 14:16)?
  1. People who entice us to do evil: Any person who tempts you to sin is not a friend. He or she wants to lead you into a situation that will ultimately cause you loss or harm (Prov. 2:10-18).
  1. Misleading emotions: Many people live according to the whims of their emotions. But “what feels good” isn’t always beneficial for us. Instead, we are called to trust the Holy Spirit for guidance rather than our desires, impulses, and feelings.
  • Why should we not trust our hearts (Prov. 28:26)?
  • Briefly describe a choice you made based on what “felt good” rather than what the Lord wanted you to do. What did you learn from that experience?
  1. A Good Self-Image

You are extremely important to God. The Father loves you, values you, and desires a close relationship with you. He has a specific plan for your life. These facts should give you confidence and a strong self-image.

At the very core of our self-image is the desire to be loved and regarded as lovable. Only God can fully satisfy that need. When we accept that He loves us unconditionally, we have the foundation for healthy, godly self-esteem.

  • Some believers feel God no longer loves them because of sin. Why is this rationale not biblical (Rom. 5:8)?
  • What should our attitude be toward ourselves (Prov. 19:8, Matt. 22:39)?

A proper, healthy love for yourself leads to generosity and selfless giving. It also fills you with confidence to move against the tide of popular opinion when necessary. Why? God loves and approves of you, and His opinion is the only one that matters.

  • Where are you in your journey to healthy self-esteem?
  1. Whole-Person Prosperity

The heavenly Father blesses us—and that involves our spirits, minds, and bodies (3 John 1:2). Prosperity from God’s perspective includes material goods as well as our relationships, health, and happiness, plus fruitfulness in His kingdom.

  • Proverbs 8:17-21 talks about “enduring riches and righteousness”—in other words, eternal wealth, such as knowing the Lord. What phrases in this passage indicate that earthly prosperity is included?
  • What characterizes God-given riches (Prov. 10:22)?

God provides for those of us who are His children—not simply for our own enjoyment, but also to enable our generosity to people in need.

  • This week, how could you bless another person with your spiritual, physical, or material riches?
  1. Good Health and a Long Life

Wisdom saves us from many difficulties in this life. It equips us to handle difficult circumstances and positions us to receive eternal rewards.

No one can promise another person a long life or healing from a particular disease. But in general, godly living is characterized by healthier living and length of days.

  • How does walking wisely affect your body (Prov. 3:7-8)?

Individuals who walk in wisdom utilize their time carefully because they view each day as valuable. They seek to use their gifts, talents, and other resources for God’s glory and His purposes. They take care of their bodies by getting physical exercise, adequate sleep, nutritious food, and sufficient relaxation.

  • In what way does the paragraph above not describe your life? What can you do this week to change that?

Closing: Wisdom saves us from many difficulties in this life. It equips us to handle difficult circumstances and positions us to receive eternal rewards. So discover and apply God’s wisdom for every situation—you won’t regret it.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word, which reveals how I am to live. Enable me to listen closely to Your voice, apply the principles of Scripture, and experience all the benefits of making wise choices. Amen.

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Pursuing Holiness

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Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. —Hebrews 12:14

 

Read: Romans 6:14-23
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 5-7; Mark 11:1-18

We often see surveys that ask people if they are happy, satisfied with their work, or enjoying life. But I’ve never seen an opinion poll that asked, “Are you holy?” How would you answer that question?

One Bible dictionary defines holiness as “separation to God and conduct fitting for those separated.” Author Frederick Buechner said that when writing about a person’s character, “nothing is harder to make real than holiness.” He adds that “holiness is not a human quality at all, like virtue. Holiness is . . . not something that people do, but something that God does in them.”

Romans 6 presents the stunning gift that God gives us through faith in Christ: “We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (v.4). The pursuit of holiness occurs daily as we yield ourselves in obedience to the Lord instead of following our old ways of self-gratification. “Now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life” (v.22 nlt).

Are you becoming more holy? By God’s grace and power, the answer can be a resounding “Yes! More and more each day.” —David McCasland

Father, I want to cooperate with You in Your work of changing me to become more like Jesus. Help me to walk in Your ways. Without Your work in me, nothing of lasting value will occur in my growth in holiness.

The choice to pursue holiness is a matter of life or death.
Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry –  Think Again – Light in the Darkness 

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The story is told of a cynic sitting under a nut tree, carrying on a jesting monologue with God. His grounds for complaint lay in what he considered to be an obvious failure on the part of God to go by the book on structural design. “Lord,” he said, “How is it that you made such a large and sturdy tree to hold such tiny, almost weightless nuts? And yet, you made small, tender plants to hold such large and weighty watermelons!”

As he chuckled at the folly of such disproportion in God’s mindless universe, a nut suddenly fell on his head. After a stunned pause, he muttered, “Thank God that wasn’t a watermelon!”

Even atheist Aldous Huxley acknowledged years ago, “Science has ‘explained’ nothing; the more we know, the more fantastic the world becomes, and the profounder the surrounding darkness.”

Justifiable worldviews must have explanatory power of the undeniable realities of life. As Christians who affirm the existence of a loving and all wise God, we long to push back the darkness in our world and to see the light of God’s Word soften the cynic and atheist alike. Yet if we are honest, sometimes we, too, struggle to come to terms with God’s world and his sovereign design; this is especially true in seasons of suffering and confusion.

Remember Job? He had become weary of his pain and sought a just answer for it. He built his argument to God on the fact that he needed to know what was going on, because only on the basis of that knowledge could his confusion and suffering be dissipated. But God then broke his silence, challenging Job’s very assumptions and reminding him that there was an awful lot he did not know but had just accepted and believed by inference. Notwithstanding the proverbial cynic under a nut tree, the argument from design is the very approach God used with Job. He reminded Job as a first step, and only that, that there were a thousand and one things he did not fully understand but had just taken for granted. In the light of God’s presence, Job was dumbfounded and confessed, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? … Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 40:4; 42:3).

Gaining a small glimpse of the majesty and holiness of God is light in a dark world. The prophet Isaiah described his awe-stricken state when God revealed Himself to him. Isaiah, a morally good man, nevertheless fell on his face and immediately sensed that he was unfit to be in God’s presence. He was not just in the presence of someone better than he was. He was in the presence of the One by whom and because of whom all purity finds its point of reference. That is why he was speechless.

God is not merely good. God is holy. He is the transcendent source of goodness: not merely “better” in a hierarchy of choices but rather the very basis from which all differences are made. He dwells in ineffable light. Moral categories, for us, often move in comparisons and hierarchies. We talk in terms of judging or feeling that one thing is better than another. Our culture is more advanced morally than someone else’s culture, at least so we may think. However, God’s existence changes those categories and moves us to recognize the very essence of what the word “goodness” is based upon.

This difference is what makes the argument almost impossible for a skeptic to grasp. Holiness is not merely goodness. “Why did God not create us to choose only good?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The reality is that the opposite of evil, in degree, may be goodness. But the opposite of absolute evil, in kind, is absolute holiness. In the biblical context, the idea of holiness is the tremendous “otherness” of God Himself. God does not just reveal Himself as good; He reveals Himself as holy.

There is no contradiction in Him. He can never self-destruct. He can never “not be.” He exists eternally and in a sublime purity that transcends a hierarchy of categories. As human beings we love the concept of holiness when we are in the right, but we are often reticent to apply it when we are wrong and brought under the stark scrutiny of its light. I recall talking to a very successful businessman who throughout our conversation repeatedly asked, “But what about all the evil in this world?” Finally, a friend sitting next to me said to him, “I hear you constantly expressing a desire to see a solution to the problem of evil around you. Are you as troubled by the problem of evil within you?” In the pin-drop silence that followed, the man’s face showed his duplicity.

The longer I have encountered this question about evil, the more convinced I am of the disingenuousness of many a questioner. The darkness of evil is more than an exterior reality that engenders suffering in our world; it is, at its core, an internal reality that systemically builds us for autonomy and destruction, blinds us, and from which only God is big enough to rescue us. You see, the problem of evil begins with me. The darkness is within.

Yet Jesus’s answer to the question of the blind man in John 9 brings us extraordinary power and hope. There is an illustration and explanation for us in his story. Here was a man living in physical darkness. There was no light that he could see. People wanted to know, why was he born this way? They were the ones who could see, so they asked about the one who could not. Jesus responded that the man’s blindness was due neither to the sin of the man nor of his parents, but so that the glory of God might be displayed. The lesson is drastic; the message profound.

Physical darkness has physical consequences and leaves a person bereft of seeing physical reality. It is a tragedy—but nowhere near the tragic devastation of spiritual blindness. The healing of that man’s blindness by Jesus was intended to draw those spiritually blind to seek his healing of their souls. When Beethoven, though deaf, could see the exhilarating response of the people to his composition, he outwardly resonated with what his inner being prompted. He could not hear his music but he sensed the harmony for which he longed in expression. So it is with us. We know on the inside how impoverished we are and for what we long. That ought to prompt us to the riches that only God in Christ is able to give to us.

Only when we surrender to the light of God’s truth in our own lives are we enabled to truly seeand then be a beacon of hope and healing in our dark world. Truthfulness in the heart, said Jesus, precedes truth in the objective realm. The problem of evil has ultimately one source: it is the resistance to God’s holiness that enshrouds all of creation. And there is ultimately only one hope for life: that is through the glorious display of God at work within a human soul, bringing about his work of pushing away the darkness. That transformation tenderizes the heart to become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Such a transformation begins at the Cross.

The day when Christ was crucified and darkness engulfed the scene was symbolic of the soul in rebellion. Then came the possibility of hope when the Son rose, with life made possible for all of us. The simple verse, John 3:16, says it all: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “For God”: the starting point is filial. “So loved”: his reach is relational. “That he gave his only begotten Son”: sacrificial. “That whosoever believes in Him”: confessional. “Should not perish”: judicial. “But have everlasting life”: eternal.

There is a law unto death. The violation of law brings that within us. Our holy God deals with evil in us to transform us and draw us into his life and embrace. What a glorious gospel this is.

The songwriter Tim Hughes says it beautifully:

Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness

opened my eyes, let me see.

Beauty that made this heart adore you

hope of a life spent with you.

 

Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down,

here I am to say that you’re my God.

You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy,

altogether wonderful to me.

 

In a unique way, seeing is believing. Believing in God is surrendering. Surrendering to God is worshiping. To worship opens up vistas to see even more. Darkness is then vanquished.

In a dark world, we have the offer of Light through Jesus Christ.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – His Superlative Beauty

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Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.  Acts 14:22

 God’s people have their trials. It was never God’s plan, when He chose His people, that they should be untested. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen for worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised to them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included chastisements among the things to which they should inevitably be heirs.

Trials are a part of our experience; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. As surely as the stars are fashioned by His hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are our trials allotted to us. He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.

Consider the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and facing them with faith, he became the father of the faithful. Review the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you will find that each of those whom God made vessels of mercy were made to pass through the fire of affliction.

God has ordained that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal insignia distinguishing the King’s vessels of honor. But even though tribulation is the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has walked it before them. They have His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them, and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “many tribulations” through which they passed to enter it.

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for March 8, 2015
* Exodus 19
* Luke 22

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