Tag Archives: holy spirit

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Who’s The Boss?

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Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  —Romans 6:14

 

Read: Romans 6:1-14
Bible in a Year: Leviticus 4-5; Matthew 24:29-51

As my wife was babysitting our two young grandsons, they began to argue over a toy. Suddenly, the younger (by 3 years) forcefully ordered his older brother, “Cameron, go to your room!” Shoulders slumped under the weight of the reprimand, the dejected older brother began to slink off to his room when my wife said, “Cameron, you don’t have to go to your room. Nathan’s not the boss of you!” That realization changed everything, and Cam, smiling, sat back down to play.

As followers of Christ, the reality of our brokenness and our inclination to sin can assume a false authority much like that younger brother. Sin noisily threatens to dominate our hearts and minds, and the joy drains from our relationship with the Savior.

But through the death and resurrection of Christ, that threat is an empty one. Sin has no authority over us. That is why Paul wrote, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

While our brokenness is very real, Christ’s grace enables us to live in a way that pleases God and expresses His transforming power to the world. Sin is no longer our boss. We now live in the grace and presence of Jesus. His dominion in our lives releases us from the bondage of sin. —Bill Crowder

Thank You for Your grace, Lord, that cleanses us inside. Your grace is greater than all our sin. We know we can’t live without it. And we’re grateful that we don’t have to.

God pursues us in our restlessness, receives us in our sinfulness, holds us in our brokenness. —Scotty Smith

INSIGHT: Previously in Romans, Paul has been teaching about our redemption and justification—how through faith in Jesus Christ, God made us right with Him (3:21–4:25). Paul now deals with another aspect of our salvation—sanctification (Rom. 6:1–8:39). Because we have been given a new life and a new relationship with God (6:4-14), He expects us to live differently and to mature in holiness.
Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Pleasant Words, Healing Words

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The mind of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning and persuasiveness to his lips. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the mind and healing to the body.- Proverbs 16:23-24

Our thoughts can either get us into trouble or elevate us above our problems. Too often, however, we allow our minds to linger over and ponder the wrong kind of thoughts. In the verse above, it says the mind (or the heart) of the wise teaches his mouth. This proverb means that the thoughts on which we dwell will eventually come out in our words. If our words are good and uplifting, they encourage others and us.

Those thoughts aren’t just about others; they are also about how we reflect on ourselves, as well. One of the smartest friends I had in school confessed one day that she felt intellectually inferior. Her words shocked me, and I told her so. I learned that her father used to call her stupid when she didn’t grasp something the first time he explained it to her. Eventually, her own thoughts said to her, You aren’t intelligent enough to understand this.

That’s a good example of how our words can tear down others. But we can also uplift others with our words. When we focus on the good we see in people and tell them, we may well be God’s messenger to them.

For example, I’ve stood in front of a crowd and spoken many times. Because I have victory, they assume I’m always in victory, and that I never have to struggle the way they do. Sometimes a person will come to me and say, “God really used you tonight. I came here discouraged and kept asking God what I should do. Right in the middle of your teaching, I heard God speak through you.”

Those are pleasant words, as sweet as a honeycomb. Those people who speak to me are often unaware of how hard I’ve fought the enemy and struggled to free my mind from his influence. When they tell me what a blessing I’ve been to them, they often don’t sense how much their words mean to me.

Everyone needs to hear pleasant and healing words. It’s too easy to assume certain people don’t have the same struggles or severe battles that we experience. All of us struggle, and for some, it’s worse than for others. I believe that the more God wants to use us, the more forcefully Satan exerts his power against us.

We can help each other. When we sincerely speak pleasant words, healing words, we are not only diffusing our enemy’s power, but we are building up one another. We need to build up others as much as we need others to encourage us.

I can remember times when I’ve wanted to say a kind word to someone, and I would think, Oh, she knows that. She’s heard that before. Then I would say to myself, Yes, maybe she knows, and perhaps she’s heard it before, but she hasn’t heard it from me. It’s not that my words are better than anyone else’s, but it is the Holy Spirit who takes our words, anoints them, and brings healing and help to others.

What if each of us decided, I am God’s servant to bring healing words to wounded and hurting hearts? What if God chose us to strengthen and build up people by speaking soothing, kind, and thoughtful words to them? Not only do we put the devil to flight, but our friends’ joy soars, and ours does, too because we’ve been used as God’s instruments of healing. I learned long ago that it takes so little to do so much good. Often it’s only a word of encouragement, a hug, or just saying the words, “I care.”

Holy Spirit of God, please remind me of the words that dwell inside me. Remind me to hold on to the good, the kind, and the uplifting thoughts, and empower me to push away those that can hurt and tear down others and myself. I ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light – Decisions, Decisions

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“The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3

Among the most controversial Scriptures are those relating to a wife’s obligation to “submit” to a husband’s leadership. This principle offends many women. Furthermore, it places power in the hands of men who sometimes misuse it. And yet, there it is, time and again: “The husband is head of the wife.” Those words can’t be brushed aside by those who rely on Scripture as their infallible guide. But what does this “headship” really mean?

The Bible makes it clear that the husband is to be the leader in his home, yet he has no right to run roughshod over the opinions and feelings of his wife. He is to love her as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25) and to serve her unselfishly and compassionately. A man should include his wife in making mutually satisfying decisions, always working to incorporate her perspectives and seeking compromise when possible. In situations where they simply cannot find common ground, Scripture gives the man the prerogative—and responsibility—to choose and lead. Yet in this case, he must be more sensitive and considerate than ever, bearing in mind that he will ultimately answer to God not only for his choices, but for his treatment of his wife.

Just between us…

  • (husband) How would you rate my leadership as your husband?
  • Does our decision‐making process fit the biblical model? (wife)
  • How do you feel about your role as “leader in the home”?
  • (husband) Am I sensitive to your feelings regarding decisions?

Heavenly Father, in Your divine plan for marriage You have asked the husband to lead and the wife to submit, and we want so much to obey You. We come humbly now, asking for Your wisdom and help to do so. Amen.
From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg –  Our Final Journey

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Arise and go.   Micah 2:10

 

The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to all, “Arise, and leave the home in which you lived, from the city in which you have done your business, from your family, from your friends. Arise, and take your final journey.”

And what do we know of the journey? And what do we know of the country to which we are going? We have read a little about it, and part has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called Death. God bids us cross it, promising to be with us.

And after death, what comes? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveler has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons there with joy and gladness.

The journey of death may be dark, but we may face it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father’s house–to our Father’s home, where Jesus is–to that royal “city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”1 This will be our last relocation, to live forever with Him we love, in the midst of His people, in the presence of God.

Christian, meditate much on heaven; it will help you to press on and to forget the difficulty of the journey. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: This world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For Thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise, and join
The chorus of the sky.

1) Hebrews 11:10

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for February 7, 2015
* Genesis 40
* Mark 10

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

Charles Spurgeon – The prodigal’s return

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“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

Suggested Further Reading: John 3:16-21

When the light of God’s grace comes into your heart, it is something like the opening of the windows of an old cellar that has been shut up for many days. Down in that cellar, which has not been opened for many months, are all kinds of loathsome creatures, and a few sickly plants blanched by the darkness. The walls are dark and damp with the trail of slugs and snails; it is a horrid filthy place into which no one would willingly enter. You may walk there in the dark very securely, and except now and then for the touch of some slimy creature, you would not believe the place was so bad and filthy. Open those shutters, clean a pane of glass, let a little light in, and now see how a thousand noxious things have made this place their habitation. It was not the light that made this place so horrible, but it was the light that showed how horrible it was before. So let God’s grace just open a window and let the light into a man’s soul, and he will stand astonished to see at what a distance he is from God. Yes, sir, today you think yourself second to none but the Eternal; you fancy that you can approach his throne with steady step; it is but a little that you have to do to be saved; you imagine that you can accomplish it at any hour, and save yourself upon your dying bed as well as now. Ah! sir, if you could be made to be in appearance what you are in reality, then you would see that you are far enough from God even now, and so far from him that unless the arms of his grace were stretched out to bring you to himself; you must perish in your sin.

For meditation: Even the believer has sins of which he is ignorant (Psalm 19:12). God knows all about them. Thank him that he came in the person of his only-begotten Son to meet us when we were far off and to bring us back to himself (Ephesians 2:13).

Sermon no. 176

7 February (1858)

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Paraclete

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But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. – John 16:13

God knew you would need help in understanding His plan for you, so He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. He is your Guide, your Teacher of truth, your Comfort, and your Helper. He is also the Parakletos (Paraclete), which means counselor, advocate, and intercessor.

Jesus was confined to a body and could be only one place at a time. But He knew the Holy Spirit would be with you everywhere you go, all the time, leading and guiding you. Embrace the Holy Spirit in you, resting in the knowledge that in Him you are becoming everything God planned for you to be.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; G.C. – His Perfect Way

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For many baby boomers the phrase “Love Hurts” turns on the radio in their mind to that aching Nazareth hit: “Love hurts / love scars / love wounds and mars / any heart not tough or strong enough / to take a lot of pain.” For many today, loving America’s government has become painful. It’s difficult to watch those that reject God clamor for power and have success in passing laws that stifle His presence.

Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful.

Psalm 31:23

Corrie ten Boom speaks to the pain in love, recalling a conversation with her father. One day he said, “Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so it stops hurting. But then, of course, part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel…Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us His perfect way.”

Ask the Lord to help you pray for America with a renewed heart of compassion. Expand your worship of God to include petitions for the nation’s decision makers to know and follow Him.

Recommended Reading: I Corinthians 13:1-7

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.H. – Added Protection

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In ancient Greece, a hoplite, or citizen-soldier, carried a shield and sword for protection. The shield was considered personal armor used to deflect any weapons of battle. These Greek soldiers carried a type of shield called an aspis. The Spartans used the aspis to create the Greek Phalanx formation, where shields were locked together to create one large barrier – providing protection for comrades on the right and left of the holder.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Psalm 28:7

When David wrote today’s passage, he praised the Lord for being his shield. David knew God was his personal protection. He trusted his Heavenly Father to keep him and the people of Israel safe. God sheltered David, and He will shelter you. He “is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Praise the Lord for the many times He has kept you safe. With your song of praise, give Him thanks. Ask Him for your continued protection, and don’t forget to add in prayer for those citizens on your right and left. Finally, pray for President Obama and his family to recognize God’s protection in their own lives.

Recommended Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – God with Us

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We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.—1 John 1:3

I’ve seen a number of celebrities in person over the years, and they always seem a little smaller or different than what I expected. It’s funny how certain people actually look better in pictures than they do in real life—or look better in real life than they do in pictures. It’s strange the way the camera reads people.

Imagine the disciples walking and talking with Jesus Himself. I wonder if Jesus sometimes woke up in the morning to find all the disciples standing there staring at Him. The apostle John, who spent a lot of time with Christ, said, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). The phrase John used for “saw . . . with our own eyes” means “to view with attention, to contemplate, to gaze upon as a spectacle.”

John was saying, “We still see Him in our mind’s eye. We still hear the sound of His voice in our ears.” What a privilege! It’s an amazing thing to realize that God incarnate walked among us.

You might think, Oh man, I wish I could have been one of them! But John went on to say, “We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy” (verses 3–4).

John was saying, “This isn’t a privilege only for us. Yes, we walked and talked with Him, but you can know God in an intimate way as well.”

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Love Sought

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How do you know that God exists? How do you know that God loves you? These questions, upon the hearts of so many, have answers as real as the formative moments in your life.

As I have aged I seem to grow more and more prone to nostalgia. Many of us do this instinctively, clinging to memories past, perhaps looking backwards with the hope of seeing a purpose for our lives. When I travel to India, I make it a point to revisit time and again those significant marking points of my own life. As I recall these moments past but not forgotten, I hear the gentle voice of the God very much in the present. And God says: I was there. When on you were on your bike contemplating suicide, I was there. When you were but nine years old and your grandmother died, I arranged for her gravestone to hold in time the very verse that would lead you to conversion. I was there.

It is often in these harrowing moments—your parents’ divorce, your child’s birth, the death of a loved one—where God leaves a defining mark. There is reason you remember such moments so vividly. We have a choice to hear or to ignore, but regardless his voice cries out in our memories, I was there. God has been in our past. God is here today. God will be there in our future.

God exists, as Lewis worded it so well, in the “eternal now.” And the psalmist, always writing with feet firmly planted in time, but arms ever reaching for the eternal, beautifully explains, “Thou art God from age to age the same.” And while hindsight is often God’s means of gently revealing his presence all along, we can be comforted in the peril of the moment nonetheless. As we encounter these markers in time, our sorrow is held in the beautiful mystery of one who wept with a friend, who answered her question “Where were you?” with tears of his own. Beside Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus offered Mary a glimpse of the present love of God, though he knew a greater future. God was with you then. God is there with you now. And He loves you.

William Shakespeare once reasoned, “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” How do you know that God loves you? While you and I were yet wandering, Christ was wandering after us, by way of the cross. Love seeking the lost. And this sacrifice stands as the greatest marker in all time.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – The Father’s Role

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The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  1 John 4:14

It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not appear without His Father’s permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent by the Father, that He might be the Savior of men.

We are too apt to forget that while there are distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, there are no distinctions of honor. We are prone to ascribe the honor of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than to the Father. This is a very great mistake. Yes, Jesus came, but didn’t His Father send Him? He spoke powerfully, but didn’t His Father pour grace into His lips, that He might be an able minister of the new covenant? Whoever knows the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as they should know them never sets one before another in his love; he sees them together at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of salvation.

O Christian, have you put your confidence in the Man Christ Jesus? Have you placed your trust solely on Him? And are you united with Him? Then believe that you are united with the God of heaven. Since to the Man Christ Jesus you are brother and live in close fellowship, you are in this way linked with God the Eternal, and “the Ancient of days” is your Father and your friend.

Did you ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped His Son for the great enterprise of mercy? If not, meditate today on this: The Father sent Him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the Father wills. In the wounds of the dying Savior view the love of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be also connected with the Eternal, ever-blessed God, for “It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.”1

1) Isaiah 53:10

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for February 5, 2015
* Genesis 38
* Mark 8

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

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