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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Overflowing Blessings

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“Lord, I am overflowing with Your blessings, just as You promised” (Psalm 119:65).

As the father of Dr. Harry Ironside, famous Christian leader, pastor and author, lay dying, he seemed to have a recurring view of the descending sheet which Peter saw in a vision.

“A great sheet and wild beasts,” he mumbled, over and over, and…and…and.”

The next words would not come, so he would start over again.

“John,” a friend whispered to him, “it says, ‘creeping things.'”

“Oh, yes,” the dying man said, “that’s how I got in – just a poor, good-for-nothing creeping thing. But I got in, saved by grace.”

And considering the fact that each one of us, in ourselves, outside the Lord Jesus Christ, is but a poor creeping thing saved by grace, we must marvel anew as we overflow with His blessings.

What an exalted place we can have Children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, indwelt by His Holy Spirit, we are recipients of eternal life, given supernatural, abundant life as we yield ourselves to Him.

God has dealt well with each one of His children. He has given us work to do – to serve Him is to reign. He has given us provision. He has given us encouragement. He has given us many tokens of the pay we shall receive at the end of life’s journey. He has dealt with us according to His Word.

Even the testings and trials are for a divine purpose: to conform us to His image; to make us more Christlike. Truly, we are on the winning side; how important it is that we tell men and women, boys and girls, around us each day, that they too can be on the winning side.

Bible Reading:Psalm 119:66-72

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will make a special effort to count my blessings today, and in deep gratitude share the good news of the gospel with others.

 

http://www.cru.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – When Silence is Golden 

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Moses then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ Aaron remained silent.  Leviticus 10:3

Aaron lost two of his four sons because of their unwise decisions to disobey God. The emotions in Aaron’s heart must have been racing. Just before the death of his sons, Aaron experienced the ultimate in ecstasy by luxuriating in the glory of the Lord with his best friend, family, and friends. He went from the mountaintop of celebration to the valley of death. He knew to speak in this state of emotion was risky, unwise, and fleshly.

As anger and humiliation boil, our words become ripe to lash out at God and others. It is wise to refrain in the face of raw emotion. There are times not to speak our minds, spew our unguarded words and embarrass ourselves. Instead, by God’s grace we can remain quiet, cool, and contemplative. Smart silence sends a message of maturity. Patience waits to speak guarded words full of grace and truth—those golden to God.

“Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear” (Proverbs 25:12).

It is hard to remain silent when we feel hurt or disappointed. It is hard to harness our tongues when we see our children hurting and we feel incapacitated to help. It is hard to keep quiet and pray when we feel the Lord has let us down. Like an intravenous procedure in a fevered patient, smart silence requires extra doses of God’s grace flooding our lives. His grace refrains us from speaking until a better time and day.

There are times to speak up in the heat of the emotion, but those situations are the exception. In most cases take a deep breath, send up a prayer to your heavenly Father, and wait before you speak. Wait until you are calm, and wait for others to cool down. At the appropriate time, make sure your words are birthed from a pure and prayerful heart. Silence is smart because it allows the Lord to soothe your soul.

“But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, keep me quiet when I am tempted to speak harmful words, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Application: In what relationship do I need to trust God and be silent?

Related Readings: Psalm 4:4; Isaiah 42:14; Mark 14:61; Acts 8:32

Post/Tweet this today:  Silence in the heat of the moment is smart because it allows the Holy Spirit to soothe our soul.  #smartsilence #wisdomhunters

Worship Resource: 4-minute music video- Hillsong United: Prince of Peace

Taken from Seeking Daily the Heart of God v.2

 

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE POWER OF AN UNREPENTANT HEART

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Revelation 11:1–19

After terror attacks on September 11, church attendance spiked. “People thought this type of crisis of national significance would lead people to be more religious, and it did,” Mark Chaves, a professor of sociology at Duke University, observed. “But it was very short-lived. There was a blip in church attendance and then it went back to normal.” A single event doesn’t usually affect a society’s religious practice, and today’s passage is evidence that multiple events may not make a difference, either.

The temple in our passage today most likely refers to a reconstructed temple. The act of measuring the temple is clearly symbolic and seems to indicate something about the nature of God’s unfolding plan. Clearly events are following a divinely set timetable.

Scholars are divided about the identity of the two witnesses. The most reasonable approach is to take the text at face value. These two unnamed prophets bear witness in Jerusalem, perform miracles, and are killed by the beast who comes up from the abyss. Their martyrdom sparks a celebration; people gloat over their deaths and send one another presents. The subsequent resurrection of these two prophets after three-and-a-half days will be accompanied by a great earthquake that will destroy a tenth of the city and kill seven thousand people. Those who survive will “give glory to the God of heaven” (v. 13).

The stage is set for the final act of this redemptive drama. It begins with the sounding of the seventh trumpet, announcing the arrival of the Messiah’s kingdom (v. 18). In an antiphonal response, the temple in heaven opens to display the Ark of the Covenant, along with flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a severe hailstorm.

APPLY THE WORD

Scripture says that one day every knee will bow before the Lord (Phil. 2:10). Will you bow out of love and praise, or will it take the power of God’s judgment to force your knee to bend? Accept His invitation to follow Him, and receive the blessing of His promise to be with you until the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Investing in Eternity

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Mark 16:15-16

Christians are to invest in the lives of others. All the material riches of this world will pass away, and only those who believe in Jesus Christ will go to heaven. As His followers, we must devote ourselves to helping people meet Him.

God offers salvation to the entire world. However, there are people in every country who have not heard that Jesus Christ loves them and died on the cross for their sins (John 3:16). We don’t always associate the word unchurched with our neighbors, coworkers, and friends, but the reality is that those closest to us may not know the gospel.

Believers have found many ways to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. In Touch Ministries, for example, reaches around the world through print, radio, television, Messengers, and the internet. But person-to-person evangelism remains one of the most effective ways of telling people about the Savior, as unbelievers can get their questions answered and their concerns addressed in a personal way. Those who trust in Christ can then be discipled, which is vital to spiritual growth. It’s not enough just to give money so missionaries can do this work in distant countries. Nearby fields are also ready to harvest, but the workers are few (Matt. 9:37).

When it comes to reaching the lost, all believers are personally responsible. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). You cannot get involved in a wiser or more everlasting venture than pouring your spiritual wealth into another person’s mind and heart. Investing in souls is a pursuit of eternal value.

Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 24-25

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Overflowing

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Read: Romans 15:4–13 | Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 4–6; John 6:1–21

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. Romans 15:13

“No! No! No! NO!” I screamed. It didn’t help. Not one bit. My brilliant solution for our plugged problem—flushing again—accomplished exactly the opposite of what I’d intended. I knew I had made a mistake the second I pushed the lever down. And I stood helplessly as water overflowed.

How many times have our kids tried to pour milk and misjudged the process, with white liquid flowing everywhere. Or maybe we failed to remember that a two-liter bottle of soda just rolled around in the trunk . . . with explosively startling results.

The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like the Son.

No, spills are almost never a good thing. But there might be one exception. The apostle Paul uses that image of overflowing to describe a people so full of God’s Spirit that what naturally spills out of them is hope (Romans 15:13). I love that picture of being filled to the brim with joy, peace, and faith because of His powerful presence in our lives. So much so, in fact, that we can’t help but exude and express winsome confidence in our heavenly Father. That might be during the beautiful, sunny seasons of our lives. Or when the proverbial cup of our lives gets jostled. Either way, what sloshes out over the top is life-giving hope to those around us who are “drenched” by it.

Lord, spills happen in life. But when they do, help us to be so full of Your Spirit that what pours out of us is the kind of hope that others can’t help but notice and be blessed by.

The Father gave us the Spirit to make us like the Son.

By Adam Holz

INSIGHT

Hope is a central theme in Romans. Testing results in hope (5:4), we are saved in hope (8:24), we are to be joyful in hope (12:12), we draw hope from the Scriptures in the trials of life (15:4), and our lives can overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit (15:13).

Bill Crowder

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Storied Recollection

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Aldous Huxley likened a person’s memory to one’s own collection of private literature. Housed within the confines of memory are countless pages of our own stories, perspectives, and thoughts—vast libraries uniquely existing within our own heads. It is this personal nature of memory that no doubt feeds our dismay when minds begin to slip. Forgetfulness is a fearful quality particularly because it is a quality that seems to erase part of the very person it describes.

The implications of memory are made known in the earliest pages of God’s story as told in scripture. But added to the cultural adage of Aldous Huxley is the idea that this “private literature’”can be edited. In other words, what we choose to remember affects who we are. And at that, our private literature is not entirely private; there is a communal aspect to memory as well.

Surely we see this played out within the grumblings of the rescued Israelites. From the wilderness, the writer of Numbers reports:

“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’”(1)

Recollection, like resentment, is often contagious. In this moment of hunger, Israel together remembered Egypt as a place of produce instead of prison, and together they declared their longing to return to the very place from which they had been rescued. Together they wept; together they remembered; and together they remained lost in the wilderness. What we choose to remember indeed affects who we are—individually, collectively, boldly.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Storied Recollection →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – God Is Greater Than Your Mistakes

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…but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on…. — Philippians 3:13-14

Many times, before your feet even hit the floor in the mornings, the enemy begins to remind you of everything you did wrong the previous day or everything that didn’t work out well. In doing so, the enemy’s goal is to use yesterday to keep you from living today.

You don’t have to be afraid of repeating the past. If you believe God is greater than your sins, mistakes, and shortcomings, you will have the spiritual energy and the strength and the grace of God to help you press on and do better in the future. The dreams of your future have no room for the disappointments of the past. They will keep you stuck and weighed down.

Every day can be a new beginning if we make a determined decision to press on to achieve the greater things God has for us today. God’s mercy is greater than yesterday’s mistakes.

Prayer Starter: Father, I lift up every mistake and disappointment, and I give them to You right now. Help me to leave them behind, start fresh, and focus on all the good things You have for me in the future. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Best Counsel

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“The godly man is a good counselor because he is just and fair and knows right from wrong” (Psalm 37:30,31).

Mary had gone to several psychologists and psychiatrists, and even religious leaders, seeking help, but no one had been able to help her. Consequently, she had been committed to a mental institution. Now, in desperation her family had come to seek help.

It did not take long to discover the root of her problem – she was plagued with a deep sense of guilt. Mary had been sexually promiscuous as a teenager, and prior to that she had been violated by her step-father who had taken advantage of her when she was a very young girl.

All of this tormented her greatly, but no one had taken her to the Word of God to help her understand that she did not have to carry the burden of her own sin. There is forgiveness. Scripture teaches that if we confess our sins, God is waiting to forgive and cleanse us.

There are three things we need to know about confession. First, the word “confess” means, in the original Greek language, “to agree with.” If I agree with God concerning my immorality, stealing, dishonesty, whatever it may be, I am saying, “Lord, I know it is sin.” Second, we know from Scripture that Christ has paid the penalty for our sins by shedding His blood on the cross. And third, we must repent, which means we change our attitude toward that sin. This results in a change of action. When we do this, we have the promise that what we confess, God forgives, and He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

When Mary understood the truth of God’s promise, she and I knelt together and by faith she surrendered all of her guilt and frustration to Christ, who died for her, and she claimed God’s forgiveness.

Only God could liberate her from the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and bring her into kingdom of light – the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mary sensed God’s immediate liberation and began to rejoice in the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life with Christ. She became a radiant, joyful and victorious witness for our Savior.

Bible Reading:Psalm 37:22-40

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Not only will I seek the counsel of godly men and women, but I will, with God’s help, become a godly person myself. I will saturate my mind with the truth of His holy Scripture, so that I will know what is right and wrong according to the Word of God, and I will then be able to give wise counsel to others.

 

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Courteous Conduct

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

Paul says in Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every opportunity. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.” Courteous conduct honors Christ. Those who don’t believe in Jesus note what we do. They make decisions about Christ by watching us. When we are kind, they assume Christ is kind.

Courteous conduct also honors God’s child. When you surrender a parking place to someone, you honor them. When you make an effort to greet everyone in the room, especially the ones others may have overlooked, you honor God’s children. Romans 12:18 says, “Do your best to live in peace with everyone!” You can’t control their attitude, but you can manage yours!

Read more A Love Worth Giving

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Who will walk Meghan Markle down the aisle?

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Today is Meghan Markle’s last day before she becomes royalty.

It was announced this morning that she has asked Prince Charles to walk her down the aisle in tomorrow’s wedding. She has already had her final dress fitting. (It is rumored to cost $135,000 and will be paid for by Prince Harry and his family.)

She booked her manicurist to come to Kensington Palace, ensuring her nails are ready for the moment when she and Harry exchange rings. And she has reportedly been doing regular workouts at home and jogging around the park to relieve stress.

In addition to preparing to marry Prince Harry, she’s also been preparing to join his family.

According to reports, Meghan has been required to master the silver service and learn how to handle seafood, drink soup, and so on. She has been taught to curtsy, something required when she meets Duchess Kate Middleton and every royal who ranks above her.

(The perfect curtsy, in case you were wondering, is “back straight, head up, with a bent front knee and your back leg behind you.”)

Continue reading Denison Forum – Who will walk Meghan Markle down the aisle? →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – When Our Faith Wavers

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James 1:2-8

We all experience variation in the strength of our faith. If all is well, we feel confident that the Lord is trustworthy, because we see His blessings all around us. But when troubles increase, so do our doubts about God’s faithfulness. We start to wonder whether He will ever answer our prayers for deliverance. As hard as we try, we can’t see Him working in the situation. And as our trials drag on, we begin to lose hope in God and may start looking for more reasonable ways to resolve the matter ourselves.

James points us to a different perspective. Instead of thinking that the Lord has forgotten about us, he reminds us of God’s divine purposes for our hardships. They test our faith in order to produce endurance and maturity. Our Father isn’t trying to break us; rather, He wants to grow us and provide what is lacking in our spiritual life.

What we really need in our trials is wisdom, and that is exactly what James 1:5 tells us to request from Him. Instead of focusing on the circumstances and letting feelings overcome our faith, we must shift our thoughts to the Lord and confidently believe He’ll give us the wisdom we need, both to handle the situation and to grow from it.

Giving in to doubts is dangerous, as it could develop into a lifestyle of spiritual uncertainty in which we’re “driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). When we handle our misgivings in this way, we’ll often make wrong decisions that are costly. How much better it would be to anchor ourselves to the Lord and His Word and ride out the storm in peaceful assurance.

Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 21-23

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Praising God’s Goodness

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Read: Psalm 136:1-15 | Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 1–3; John 5:25–47

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1

Someone in our Bible-study group suggested, “Let’s write our own psalms!” Initially, some protested that they didn’t have the flair for writing, but after some encouragement everyone wrote a moving poetic song narrating how God had been working in their lives. Out of trials, protection, provision, and even pain and tears came enduring messages that gave our psalms fascinating themes. Like Psalm 136, each psalm revealed the truth that God’s love endures forever. 

We all have a story to tell about God’s love—whether we write or sing or tell it. For some, our experiences may be dramatic or intense—like the writer of Psalm 136 who recounted how God delivered His people from captivity and conquered His enemies (vv. 10–15). Others may simply describe God’s marvelous creation: “who by his understanding made the heavens . . . spread out the earth upon the waters . . . made the great lights— . . . the sun to govern the day . . . the moon and stars to govern the night” (vv. 5–9).

Lord, thank You for the world You made and for the blessings on my life.

Remembering who God is and what He has done brings out praise and thanksgiving that glorifies Him. We can then “[speak] to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:19) about the goodness of the Lord whose love endures forever! Turn your experience of God’s love into a praise song of your own and enjoy an overflow of His never-ending goodness.

Lord, thank You for the world You made and for the blessings on my life. Fill my heart with gratitude and put words in my mouth to acknowledge and appreciate You.

For all eternity, God’s love endures forever.

By Lawrence Darmani

INSIGHT

As with Psalm 136, many of the psalms encourage us to remember and praise God’s goodness. In Psalm 42, when the writer’s soul is “downcast” (v. 5), he remembers “by day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me” (v. 8). He puts his “hope in God,” and praises his Savior and God (v. 11). The psalmist David remembers God in the desert and is comforted: “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings” (63:6–7). And in his distress the psalmist Asaph “[seeks] the Lord” and is prompted to “remember the deeds of the Lord; . . . [His] miracles of long ago . . . and meditate on all [His] mighty deeds” (77:2, 10–12).

What would you include in your psalm of remembrance?

Alyson Kieda

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – God’s Two Poems

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Typically, people think science and miracles are at odds. That’s what I once thought. But in fact, it’s only within the regularity of science that God can reveal Himself to us mirac¬ulously. It is science that makes miracles possible. It’s only because scientifically virgins don’t get pregnant that God can reveal Him¬self in a virgin birth. It’s only because scientifically people don’t rise from the dead that God can reveal Himself through a resurrection. And likewise, God can reveal Himself in each of our lives.

The more I talk with people, the more convinced I am that the experience of miracles is universal. I like asking people, even the most scientific of people, “Have you ever had an experience that made you think there might be a God?” Usually there is an awkward lull and then some nervous laughter, but, if you wait long enough, almost without fail the person will say, “Well, there was this one time when…” And then they will tell you a remarkable story that has God’s signature all over it!

Most of the people I speak to have amazing stories, but they’re worried that they are the only one. They’re worried that others will think they’re weird. They start to wonder if maybe it’s all just in their heads. We need to share our stories, and we need to invite others to share their stories as well.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – God’s Two Poems →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Seek God First and He Will Add Everything Else

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But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of being and doing right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also. — Matthew 6:33

Matthew 6:33 tells us that when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He will give us everything we need. It is a matter of putting God first in our lives. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not necessarily!

Even though we want God to help us, it is sometimes difficult to consistently put Him first. It may seem easy to trust Him with your life when you’re in church on Sunday morning, but on Monday you may be tempted to take control again. Seeking God and putting Him first requires building an intimate relationship with Him that will sustain you every day of the week. God knows what we need better than we do, and He longs to provide it, but He requires that we make Him top priority in our lives.

Many years ago, when I began my relationship with God, I wasn’t really serious about it. Like many other Christians, I put in my church time on Sunday. I was even on the church board, and my husband, Dave, was an elder. The problem was, when I was at home or at work, it was hard to tell the difference between an unbeliever and me. I had accepted Christ, I was on my way to heaven, and I loved God. But I didn’t love Him with my whole heart—there were many areas of my life that I had not yet surrendered to Him. As a result, I was frustrated, and my life lacked victory and joy.

Finally, I cried out to God for help, and thankfully, He heard and answered my prayer. He began to show me that I needed to let Him out of my “Sunday Morning Box” and allow Him to be first in every area of my life. Since I did that, I am continually amazed at the ways that God provides for everything else I need.

Prayer Starter: Father, I know my relationship with You is the key to having peace, joy, fulfillment and a great life. Help me to put You first and love You with my whole heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Freedom From Fear

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“He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him” (Psalm 112:7).

Sarah was a hypochondriac, a bundle of nerves, plagued by all kinds of fears – fears that she would become ill, fears that she would have an accident, fears that something would happen to her husband or children or that they would experience financial reverses. Her every conversation was negative. And of course, her attitude alienated her from others, and the more isolated she found herself, the more fearful she became.

Completely absorbed with her own problems, she was seriously thinking of committing suicide when a Christian couple moved in next door to her. They began to demonstrate the love of God and share the good news of His forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Few people had taken an interest in Sarah, but this godly, Christian couple, especially Mary, the wife, embraced her with understanding compassion and a loving heart.

Together they began to study the Bible and after a brief time, Sarah received Christ and began to grow as a Christian. She began to memorize Scripture and took great delight in hiding large quantities of the Word in her heart. Now her mind and her conversation were saturated with the things of God – His attributes, His holiness, His love – and His promises became a joyful reality to her.

A year had passed when one day she remarked to me with great enthusiasm, “I have been liberated. Christ has set me free. I seldom think of my own problems anymore, but find my mind absorbed with God and His truth, and how I might reach out in love and compassion to others as Mary reached out to me in my deepest need.”

Sarah was no longer afraid. The fears that had plagued her were gone, because it was settled in her mind that Jehovah would take care of her and her family. No matter what happened, she knew that she could trust a loving, gracious, holy, righteous God, who had become her very real heavenly Father. Jesus Christ had become more real to her than her own flesh and blood.

Bible Reading:Psalm 112:1-6

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will seek to know more and more about my Lord by hiding His Word in my heart and meditating upon His many attributes. For I am convinced that He will watch over me, protect and care for me so that nothing can happen to me that He does not allow for my good.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – What Love is Not

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Listen to Today’s Devotion

When Paul defined what love is not, he put rudeness on the list. Love is “not rude” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Some years ago an example of rudeness was taken before the courts in Minnesota. A man fell out of his canoe and lost his temper. Though the river was lined with vacationing families, he polluted the air with obscenities. Some of those families sued him. He said, “I have my rights!”

God calls us to a higher, more noble concern. Not, “What are my rights?” but “What is loving?” Do you have the right to pretend you don’t hear your wife speaking? Perhaps so, but is it loving?

Jesus always knocks before entering. He doesn’t have to. If anyone has the right to barge in, Christ does. But he doesn’t. That gentle tap you hear? It’s Christ…“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). And when you answer, he awaits your invitation to cross the threshold!

Read more A Love Worth Giving

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – “Heroic” officer thwarts mass shooting at Illinois school

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“I could not be more proud of the police officer and the way he responded to the situation. With shots ringing out through the hallways of the school, he charged toward the suspect and confronted him head on. Because of his heroic action, countless lives were saved.”

This is how Steve Howell Jr., police chief of Dixon, Illinois, described the actions of Mark Dallas, a school resource officer who stopped a shooting yesterday. The suspect, a nineteen-year-old former student named Matthew Milby, opened fire inside Dixon High School. The officer then confronted him near the school gym, where seniors were gathering for a graduation rehearsal.

The gunman ran out of the building after Dallas approached him. When the officer gave chase, the suspect fired several rounds at him. The officer returned fire at the gunman, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries and is now in custody.

Mark Dallas is truly a hero. However, real heroes don’t generally see themselves that way. They say they were just doing their job or doing what anyone would do. The fact that they believe they’re not heroes is one of the reasons they are.

Continue reading Denison Forum – “Heroic” officer thwarts mass shooting at Illinois school →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – God’s Ultimate Purpose for Our Trials

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Romans 8:29-30

Difficult situations are easier to bear if we know that something good is going to result from them. The problem is that our idea of good may not be the same as God’s. Since His ways and thoughts are much higher than ours, we must trust Him to know what is best, even if it causes us pain, frustration, or hardship (Isa. 55:9). The ultimate good the Lord is working to accomplish is our conformation to the image of His Son, and trials are one of the tools He uses in the process.

However, we should never think that God sends affliction into our lives and then sits back to see what will happen. Our loving heavenly Father oversees every aspect of the situation.

The Lord designs our trials. God considers every adversity necessary to achieve a specific purpose in our life (1 Peter 1:6-7). He knows each of us intimately and sees where we need correction or spiritual growth to become more Christlike.

God determines the length of our trials. From our perspective, any suffering lasts too long. But when we depend on the Lord, He gives us grace and strength to endure until His purpose is accomplished (Phil. 4:13).

The Lord limits the intensity of our trials. He knows what we can handle and will not give us more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Nothing in our life is random or meaningless. Even when we don’t understand what the Lord is doing, we can trust that He will use our trials to make us more like His Son in character, conduct, and conversation.

Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 18-20

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Free to Follow

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Read: Matthew 11:25–30 | Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 24–25; John 5:1–24

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

My high school cross-country coach once advised me before a race, “Don’t try to be in the lead. The leaders almost always burn out too quickly.” Instead, he suggested I stay close behind the fastest runners. By letting them set the pace, I could conserve the mental and physical strength I’d need to finish the race well.

Leading can be exhausting; following can be freeing. Knowing this improved my running, but it took me a lot longer to realize how this applies to Christian discipleship. In my own life, I was prone to think being a believer in Jesus meant trying really hard. By pursuing my own exhausting expectations for what a Christian should be, I was inadvertently missing the joy and freedom found in simply following Him (John 8:32, 36).

Lord, I’m so thankful I don’t have to be in charge of my own life. Help me rest in You.

But we weren’t meant to direct our own lives, and Jesus didn’t start a self-improvement program. Instead, He promised that in seeking Him we will find the rest we long for (Matthew 11:25–28). Unlike many other religious teachers’ emphasis on rigorous study of Scripture or an elaborate set of rules, Jesus taught that it’s simply through knowing Him that we know God (v. 27). In seeking Him, we find our heavy burdens lifted (vv. 28–30) and our lives transformed.

Because following Him, our gentle and humble Leader (v. 29), is never burdensome—it’s the way of hope and healing. Resting in His love, we are free.

Lord, I’m so thankful I don’t have to be in charge of my own life. Help me rest in You.

True freedom is found in following Christ.

By Monica Brands

INSIGHT

“Following Jesus” may be the best way to describe the essence of the Christian life. Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 nkjv), which means He is both the starting point and the culmination of our rescue—a reality secured by the cross. His resurrection is part of this as well. Paul said, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The term firstfruits reminds us that Jesus secured our restoration to the Father through His death and subsequent victory over death. This victory is at the heart of His call to us: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Peter added of the Savior’s sufferings, “You have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21 nasb).

What better response to His sacrifice could we ever give than to simply and wholeheartedly follow Him?

Bill Crowder

 

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – God of Hope and Body

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The question at the time caught me off guard. As a student of theology and religion, I was used to being asked to defend and explain my theology, but this was something different. I had been talking to someone about some old fears, a battle with disordered eating and a hauntingly skewed image of body. I was explaining that what had helped me to move past some of these fears was a faith that gave me hope in a world far beyond them, where wounds would be healed and tears would be no more. His response pulled me down from my seemingly hopeful, ascended place: “What is your theology of the body?” he asked. “How does God speak to your physical existence right now?” I didn’t know how to respond. How had my body accompanied me in life and in faith? I wasn’t quite sure that it had.

The physical isn’t a matter the spiritual always consider. But for the Christian, they are severely and mercifully united, and there is a world of hope in considering this. What does it mean that Christ came in the flesh, with sinew and marrow? What does it mean that the Incarnation, the crucifixion, and the ascension were each historical events enacted in a body? Perhaps more importantly, what does it mean for us today that Jesus is vicariously human, the risen Son of God a corporal being who now sits at the right hand of the Father? What does Christ’s wounded body have to do with our own? These are the questions the church holds physically and attentively close, though the modern divorce of the spiritual and the physical, heaven and earth, what is now and what will be, has made them difficult questions to consider.

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