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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Overcoming Jealousy

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Psalm 37:4

Now that we have a clear picture of what jealousy is and the detrimental impact it can have, we need to examine practical ways to remove the problem from our life. If you’ve discovered that you are affected by envy, follow these steps today:

  1. Acknowledge that jealousy exists in your life. Be honest with yourself, and do not allow the envy to fester in the back of your mind.
  2. Admit you are in conflict with the Lord. This step is important because it will prevent you from dismissing jealousy as normal or acceptable behavior.
  3. Thank God for what He’s doing in the other person’s life. Perhaps He is performing a mighty work—praise Him for it!
  4. Do something nice for the person. This may seem impossible, but the act of doing a good work—even if you don’t feel like it—will start to short-circuit the negative feelings you have.
  5. Ask the Lord to show you how He views the individual. This is a most helpful step, since it causes us to look beyond our own perspective and see the other person as someone valuable to God.
  6. Refocus your attention on what God is doing in your life. His plans for you are just as big and important as His plans for the person you envy.

There’s one additional step for you to take: Adopt a Psalm 37:4 mindset. When you truly delight yourself in the Lord and trust Him to bless you according to His plans and purposes, you’ll no longer feel a need for jealousy in your life. Then deep contentment will replace the old sense of envy and dissatisfaction.

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 46-48

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Ripe for Harvest

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Read: John 4:35–38

Bible in a Year: Psalms 110–112; 1 Corinthians 5

Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.—John 4:35

In late summer, we went for a walk in the New Forest in England and had fun picking the blackberries that grew in the wild while watching the horses frolicking nearby. As I enjoyed the bounty of the sweet fruit planted by others perhaps many years before, I thought of Jesus’s words to His disciples: “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for” (John 4:38).

I love the generosity of God’s kingdom reflected in those words. He lets us enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labors, such as when we share our love for Jesus with a friend whose family—unbeknown to us—has been praying for her for years. I also love the implied limits of Jesus’s words, for we may plant seeds that we will never harvest but someone else may. Therefore, we can rest in the tasks before us, not being hoodwinked into thinking that we are responsible for the outcomes. God’s work, after all, doesn’t depend on us. He has all of the resources for a bountiful harvest, and we are privileged to play a role in it.

I wonder what fields ready for harvest are before you? Before me? May we heed Jesus’s loving instruction: “Open your eyes and look at the fields!” (v. 35). —Amy Boucher Pye

Creator God, thank You for Your great generosity in entrusting us to do Your work. May I be alert to the opportunities to share Your good news.

We can reap what others have sown.

INSIGHT: Context is significant for understanding the meaning of a passage in Scripture. The context for today’s passage gives some eye-raising information to the original reader. These verses follow the story of the woman at the well. She was a Samaritan, a people-group the Israelites hated.

Jesus’s words “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35) follow John’s statement that the people “came out of the town and made their way toward him” (v. 30). In other words, Jesus was telling the disciples that God’s harvest of people was right in front of them and from a group they would have least expected.

This is partly why Jesus says we reap what we have not worked for. The disciples had not worked for the harvest of Samaritans; indeed, they probably never would have dreamed of working for such a harvest. But our God is a great gardener and He grows fruit where we cannot.

How can you express your trust in God to bring a harvest where there doesn’t seem to be one coming? J.R. Hudberg

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Spiritual Geography

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Many years ago, I had the opportunity to travel across the country from Massachusetts to Montana. While I had often traveled across the country on family vacations, I had never driven through South Dakota. But on this trip I was able to see quite a bit of the state that makes up part of the Great Plains in the United States. Having lived near the city, I remember being struck by the vast expanses of what appeared to be uninhabited land. Rolling grasslands, without many trees, offered a view of the landscape that was as far as it was wide. I remember wondering why anyone would make a home in such a desolate place.

Several years after this trip, I read Kathleen Norris’s book Dakota and marveled at her poignant description of this land. Her memoir both enticed me and made me wary of life in the Dakotas. The opening paragraphs of her book explain why:

“The high plains, the beginning of the desert West, often act like a crucible for those who inhabit them. Like Jacob’s angel, the region requires that you wrestle with it, before it bestows a blessing… This book is an invitation to a land of little rain and few trees, dry summer winds and harsh winters, a land rich in grass, and sky and surprises.”(1)

She concludes by saying that “the land and the sky of the West often fill what Thoreau termed our ‘need to witness our limits transgressed.’ Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy.”(2)

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Powerful Compass

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And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]… – Colossians 3:15

People who do things they don’t have peace about have miserable lives and don’t succeed at anything. If you are doing something, like watching television, and you suddenly lose your peace about what you are doing, you have heard from God. He is saying to you, “Turn it off. Go the other way.” If you lose your peace when you say something unkind, God is speaking to you. It will save you a lot of trouble if you will stop talking or apologize right away.

God leads His people through peace. Anytime you lose your peace you are hearing from God. There is nothing more powerful than the compass of peace in your heart. Follow after it. Follow peace!

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Put God to the Test 

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“Oh, put God to the test and see how kind He is! See for yourself the way His mercies shower down on all who trust in Him” (Psalm 34:8).

Sam wanted to receive Christ, but he was reluctant. Somehow, he just could not bring himself to make that necessary commitment of the will to exercise his faith and receive Christ. Because of unfortunate experiences in his youth, he had a distorted view of the goodness of God.

I encouraged Him to make his commitment, but he still hesitated. Finally, I turned to that wonderful promise of our Scripture for today and asked him to read it. As he read, the Holy Spirit gave him the faith to believe that he could trust God.

Put God to the test. Taste and see how good and kind He is. Sam discovered that day, and for the rest of his life, the faithfulness and the goodness and the kindness of God.

Do you have reservations, uncertainties, fears about the trustworthiness of God? If so, I encourage you to place your trust in Him, and you will find, as millions have found, and as I have found, that God is good, faithful, and true.

Similarly, you and I can put God to the test and find a friendly haven in the midst of enemy territory. More important, perhaps, is the certainty we can have that God does hear and answer our prayers – in situations where He and He alone knows the end from the beginning and can provide deliverance.

How vital to the supernatural life to know that we have immediate access to the God of the universe, the very one who alone can guarantee victory and deliverance.

Bible Reading: I Peter 2:1-5

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Realizing that, as a believer, I am constantly in “enemy territory,” I will trust God and encourage others to trust Him moment by moment for deliverance, for I know that He is just and kind and good. He is a loving, heavenly Father whom I can trust. I will encourage others to put God to the test and see how kind He is, to discover for themselves His mercies that He showers on all who place their trust in Him.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Come to Me

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There is a correlation between the way you feel about yourself and the way you feel about others. If you are at peace with yourself you will get along with others. The converse is also true. If you don’t like yourself, if you are ashamed, embarrassed, or angry, other people are going to know it. Unless the cycle is interrupted!

Which takes us to one of the kindest verses in the Bible.  Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives” (Matthew 11:28-29).

“Come to me,” the verse reads! Let Christ be kind to you…and as you do, you’ll find it easier to be kind to others.

Read more When God Whispers Your Name

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – President announces new Afghanistan strategy

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Last night, President Trump announced a new strategy for winning America’s longest war.

Our troops have been in Afghanistan for almost sixteen years; more than two thousand American soldiers have died there. The president plans to deploy more troops to continue training Afghan forces, with the goal of defeating the Taliban and securing the country.

Meanwhile, the news has been dominated by the first total solar eclipse to be seen coast to coast in America since 1918. Millions of people watched what the Associated Press is calling “the most-observed and most-photographed eclipse in history.”

I was one of them. I was also one of the millions who watched the president’s speech live.

I could have read about either event after it happened. Viewing them personally changed neither of them. It’s not as though I had nothing else to do.

Why, then, was watching the eclipse and the president’s address as they occurred so important to me?

There is something in us that wants to witness history. We want to be part of the big events, the significant moments that will be discussed far into the future.

Continue reading Denison Forum – President announces new Afghanistan strategy →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Consequences of Jealousy

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Romans 13:13

In learning about the nature of jealousy, perhaps you realize that you do, in fact, struggle a bit with this problem. Maybe you envy a friend, neighbor, or coworker in a way you’ve never really considered. If so, it’s important to recognize this is a danger in your life that must be addressed.

As we realize how envy corrupts various aspects of our life, we can learn to identify when we have a problem. Prayerfully review this list of some consequences of jealousy:

Fear. You’re afraid of not getting what you want or of losing what you have.

Competitiveness. You aggressively strive to outperform others.

Critical spirit. Undermining the success of others becomes a goal.

Comparison. You measure your success against others’ accomplishments.

Divided mind. Someone else’s success becomes a constant distraction.

Anger. Hostility is a natural product of jealousy and bitterness.

Insecurity. You never feel as if you have enough, because you place a higher value on what someone else has.

Lack of peace. Jealousy and peace can stand in opposition to each other; you simply can’t have both.

Illness. Emotional turmoil can take a toll on physical health.

Remember that jealousy is a land mine that maims or destroys whoever triggers it. However, recognizing its destructive consequences may encourage you to remove this issue in your life. Then, with the Lord’s help, you can begin the journey toward healing and restoration.

Bibl in One Year: Jeremiah 41-45

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread –Be Still

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Read: Psalm 46:1–11

Bible in a Year: Psalms 107–109; 1 Corinthians 4

The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress.—Psalm 46:11

“We’ve created more information in the last five years than in all of human history before it, and it’s coming at us all the time” (Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload).  “In a sense,” Levitin says, “we become addicted to the hyperstimulation.” The constant barrage of news and knowledge can dominate our minds. In today’s environment of media bombardment, it becomes increasingly difficult to find time to be quiet, to think, and to pray.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” reminding us of the necessity to take time to focus on the Lord. Many people find that a “quiet time” is an essential part of each day—a time to read the Bible, pray, and consider the goodness and greatness of God.

When we, like the writer of Psalm 46, experience the reality that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v. 1), it drives our fear away (v. 2), shifts our focus from the world’s turmoil to God’s peace, and creates a quiet confidence that our Lord is in control (v. 10).

No matter how chaotic the world may become around us, we can find quietness and strength in our heavenly Father’s love and power. —David C. McCasland

Heavenly Father, we bring our noisy lives and our cluttered minds to You so that we can learn to be still and know that You are God.

Each day we need to be still and listen to the Lord.

INSIGHT: Getting away to a quiet place can be a way to settle our thoughts. But sometimes the thought of being alone with our thoughts is uncomfortable. Psalm 46 speaks to us about being quiet in the presence of “the God of Jacob,” who is our fortress. Jacob (later named Israel) was a rascal, a liar, and a fugitive from his family.

Jacob struggled with God and God determined Jacob would know Him (see Gen. 32:22-32). It is through Jacob’s line centuries later that Jesus was born to offer us peace and forgiveness.

What could it mean to be still before God, who desired to lovingly father people like Jacob and who desires to be in intimate relationship with each of us? Mart DeHaan

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Estranged

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Traveling through the fields of her own country in the midst of a great famine, a young woman named Ruth became a widow. Yet though her family would have been nearby to help, she chose to follow her mother-in-law to another land. And thus, to her already diminished role as widow, she added the disparaging status of “foreigner.”

I have not spent much of my life as a foreigner, though my short bouts with being a cultural outsider remind me of the difficulty and frustration of always feeling on the outside of the circle. Just as the distance between outside and inside seems to be closing, something happens or something is said and you are reminded again that you don’t really belong. It can be both humbling and humiliating to always carry with you the sober thought: I am out of place.

This story from the book of Ruth scarcely neglects an opportunity to point out this reality for Ruth. Long after hearers of the story are well acquainted with who Ruth is and where she is from, long after she is living in the land of Judah, she is still referred to as “Ruth the Moabite” or even merely “the Moabite woman.” Her perpetual status as an outsider brings to mind the vision of Keats, and the “song that found a path/ through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home/ She stood in tears amid the alien corn.” She stood in strange and foreign fields and was forever being reminded that no, she was the stranger.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Estranged →

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – LIGHT, DARK, SIN, AND FORGIVENESS

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1 JOHN 1:5-10

An eighth-century Christian named Alcuin of York prayed: “Almighty and merciful God, the fountain of all goodness, who knows the thoughts of our hearts, we confess that we have sinned against you, and done what you see as evil. Wash us, we implore you, from the stains of our past sins, and give us grace and power to put away all hurtful things so that, being delivered from the bondage of sin, we may produce the good fruits of repentance.”

Today’s passage frames repentance in terms of three key truths. First, a foundational truth: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (v. 5; see 1 Tim. 6:16). What does this mean? He is holy; in Him there is no evil at all. He is truth; in Him there is no falsehood at all. He is perfect; in Him there is no flaw of any kind.

Second, an applied truth: We must walk in the light (vv. 6–7). Our lives are the evidence of our faith. If we claim to have a relationship with God but do not choose holiness and truth, we prove ourselves liars. Being God’s children means we need and want to be where He is and where fellow believers are. If we claim to have a relationship with God, it will also be seen in our unity and fellowship with one another.

Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – LIGHT, DARK, SIN, AND FORGIVENESS →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – His Ways Will Satisfy 

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“Don’t copy the behavior 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 learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:2).

“The trouble with living sacrifices,” someone has well said, “is that they keep crawling off the altar.” That may be true. We “crawl off the altar” when we sin, and the only way to put ourselves back on the altar is to breathe spiritually – confess our known sins in accordance with the promise of 1 John 1:9 and appropriate the fullness of the Holy Spirit as we are commanded to do by faith (Ephesians 5:18).

When we do this, we will be living supernaturally and our lives will produce the fruit of the Spirit in great abundance.

Only by being filled with the Spirit, and thus realizing the fruit of the Spirit, can spiritual gifts be effectively utilized in witnessing and building up the Body of Christ.

We begin by totally yielding ourselves by faith to Christ in a full irrevocable surrender to His lordship.

“He died once for all to end sin’s power, but now He lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God. So look upon your old sin-nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Do not let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God – every part of you -for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for His good purposes” (Romans 6:10-13).

Bible Reading: Romans 12:3-18

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Knowing that God’s ways will really satisfy me, I will seek first His kingdom, resist the devil at his every appearance and watch with joy as he flees.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Has Not Left You Adrift

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Spiritual life comes from the Spirit! (John 3:6). Your parents may have given you genes, but God gives you grace. Your parents may be responsible for your body, but God has taken charge of your soul. You may get your looks from your mother, but you get eternal life from your Father, your heavenly Father.

God is willing to give you what your family didn’t. Didn’t have a good dad? God will be your Father. The Scripture says, “Through God you are a son; and, if you are a son, then you are certainly an heir” (Galatians 4:7 Phillips).

Didn’t have a good role model? Try God. He has not left you adrift on a sea of heredity. The past does not have to be your prison. You have a say in your life. You have a choice in the path you take. Choose well! Choose God!

 

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Why today’s eclipse matters after today

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Fred Espenak is known as “Mr. Eclipse.” The retired NASA astrophysicist has traveled all over the world to see twenty-seven total solar eclipses.

Today, for the first time in thirty-eight years, he can stay in America.

The last total eclipse in the United States was in 1979. The last time a total eclipse was visible from coast to coast was June 8, 1918.

Today, as Newsweek explains, the moon will block the sun, casting us into “a short-lived night in the middle of the day.” The “path of totality,” where the full eclipse will be visible, crosses fourteen states from Madras, Oregon, to Columbia, South Carolina. People not on this path will see a partial eclipse if they live in North America and even parts of Africa, Europe, and South America.

Do not view the eclipse directly—you could damage your retinas permanently. You could view it through special glasses (avoid fakes), photograph it with your phone, or see it through a pinhole viewer. Or you could live stream it on NASA’s website.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why today’s eclipse matters after today →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Source of Jealousy

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Galatians 5:17-21

Most likely, you have been caught off guard by a wave of jealousy at some point in your life. Was it a spiritual attack? Did the enemy make you covetous? Was someone or something working to make you resentful?

The answer—which may surprise you—is no. Jealousy actually springs from within us, even though we might try to deflect the blame. For example, we may say, “Well, they just shouldn’t have that. They don’t deserve it, so I’m perfectly justified in feeling this way.”

Do you see what is actually going on here? We are not only feeling envious of someone, but we’re also saying that our jealousy is the other person’s fault! That’s simply not true. We are each 100 percent responsible for our own feelings of envy.

Jealousy is a product of the flesh. In the Bible, it is listed among such sins as idolatry, immorality, drunkenness, and sorcery—sins that stand against our holy God and are described as “earthly, natural, demonic” (Gal. 5:17-21; James 3:15).

Envious feelings can lead to unhealthy comparison of one’s own success to someone else’s. That pattern can grow into a competition to outperform others—and may result in fear and resentment. What a horrible way to live!

Though jealousy is a common emotion, it has no place in a believer’s life. So each of us should try to look objectively at the motives of our heart. Are you plagued with an attitude of jealousy today? If so, lay your honest feelings out before the Lord, and ask Him to cleanse you of this sinful attitude.

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 37-40

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Turn

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Read: Esther 8:11–17

Bible in a Year: Psalms 105–106; 1 Corinthians 3

For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.—Esther 8:16

As the minister spoke at a funeral for an old military veteran, he mused about where the deceased might be. But then, instead of telling the people how they could know God, he speculated about things not found anywhere in Scripture. Where is the hope? I thought.

At last he asked us to turn to a closing hymn. And as we rose to sing “How Great Thou Art,” people began to praise God from the depths of their souls. Within moments, the spirit of the entire room had changed. Suddenly, surprisingly, in the middle of the third verse my emotions overwhelmed my voice.

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Until we sang that great hymn, I had wondered if God was going to show up at that funeral. In reality, He never leaves. A look at the book of Esther reveals this truth. The Jews were in exile, and powerful people wanted to kill them. Yet at the darkest moment, a godless king granted the right to the enslaved Israelites to defend themselves against those who sought their demise (Est. 8:11–13). A successful defense and a celebration ensued (9:17–19).

It should be no surprise when God shows up in the words of a hymn at a funeral. After all, He turned an attempted genocide into a celebration and a crucifixion into resurrection and salvation! —Tim Gustafson

Our surprising God often shows His presence when we least expect Him.

INSIGHT: Esther is the only book in the Bible in which God’s name is never mentioned. Yet our surprising God often shows His presence when we least expect Him. Haman, who had tried to curry favor with the king to exterminate the Jews, found his plans overturned when God enabled Esther to expose Haman’s sinister plot. Even to this day Jewish people around the world celebrate the Feast of Purim to commemorate God’s intervention to preserve them as His chosen people.

Have you experienced a time when God surprised you by His divine intervention? Dennis Fisher

 

http://www.odb.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – God’s Leaders Have a Higher Standard 

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Priests… must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the LORD by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.   Leviticus 21:6

Ministers of the Gospel submit to a higher standard and answer to a holy authority. There is something special and fearful about being a vocational servant of Jesus Christ. This is not a role to be undertaken lightly or to be chosen casually, as some secular career paths. God places eternal expectations on priests, pastors, and ministry leaders. Leaders in the church have the Lord as their baseline for behavior. Deviant behavior is unacceptable for those who lead on behalf of the Lord.

The leader’s character is his greatest asset. Someone cannot determine acceptable behavior based on what he wants when the Bible and church history have already defined the standard. How hypocritical and foolish to think leaders can flaunt immoral behavior when church members are disciplined for the same sin. Double standards may be for the uninformed and the unaccountable, but not for faithful and educated followers of Christ. How surreal to need to declare that character in the church matters! A church or ministry leader cannot practice immoral living and still lead the Bride of Christ. They cannot practice homosexuality, adultery, stealing, or lying. They cannot practice unfaithfulness in any of its destructive forms.

“An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly o the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:6-9).

There is a holy obligation for leaders to model and teach holy living as defined in God’s Word. Holiness is not a creation of culture but defined by God. Leaders of God’s church and ministry are to be holy as He is holy. Therefore, you can’t say you are a leader on behalf of Jesus Christ if you embrace and endorse the very sin for which He died on the cross. It would be the epitome of hypocrisy to do so.

If someone is bent on breaking 2,000 years of church tradition and 4,000 years of Biblical teaching, then he should do it in the name of another religion, not on behalf of Christianity. Do not use the Bible to defend your lame living in the name of the Lord, or the church as a crutch for crude behavior. Wake up to the fact that you have a heavenly Father to whom you will one day answer. Yes, He loves. Yes, He forgives. But above all else, He is holy. If anyone is hell-bent on hellish living, the church cannot condone it.

Where does the church draw the line for unholy living? The closer the line moves toward compromise, the deeper the church is absorbed into the culture. We lose our saltiness and dim our light. We become good for nothing and are trampled under the feet of fools. It must be laughable to the Lord that deviant behavior in church members, much less church leaders, is even up for debate.

Holy leaders do make people thirsty for God. They shine their light of holy living on the Lord. Embrace His higher standard, and expect the same of your church and ministry leaders. Elect men and women of the cloth who behave biblically, whose character aligns with Christ’s, and who model faithfulness, not perfection. They are not conformed to this world but transformed by God’s truth.

The Bible is clear: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, by faith I will follow You, so I can become a leader worth following, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Application: What area of my life does the Lord want me to grow my leadership?

Related Readings: 1 Kings 9:4; Proverbs 10:9; Nehemiah 7:2; Mark 12:14; 2 Corinthians 1:12

 

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Reminders

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That is why I would remind you to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you. . . . For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:6-7

It doesn’t matter what kind of problem we have in our lives, we need self-control and discipline to gain and maintain the victory. I believe this is especially true with regard to our thought life and the battle for our mind. What begins in the mind eventually comes out of the mouth, and before we know it, we’re telling anyone who will listen how we feel. We have to discipline our mind, our mouth, our feelings, and our actions so that they are all in agreement with what the Word of God says.

Every quality of God that is in you and me, God Himself planted in us in the form of a seed the day we accepted Christ (see Colossians 2:10). Over time and through life’s experiences, the seeds of Christ’s character begin to grow and produce the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). I have found that it is virtually impossible to operate in any of the other eight fruit of the Spirit unless we are exercising self-control. How can you and I remain patient, for example, in the midst of an upsetting situation unless we exercise restraint? Or how can we walk in love and believe the best of someone after they have repeatedly hurt us unless we use the fruit of self-control?

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Reminders →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – A New Creature 

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“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12, KJV).

At the conclusion of one of my messages at a pastor’s conference, a pastor stood to take issue with me concerning a statement that I had made. I had said that there is a great hunger for God throughout the world, and that more people are now hearing the gospel and receiving Christ than at any time since the Great Commission was given almost 2,000 years ago.

“How can you say that,” he objected, “when the Scripture clearly teaches that no man seeketh after God?”

“That is exactly what the Bible teaches,” I responded, “and I agree with the Word of God 100 percent, but do not forget that – though in his natural inclination man does not have a hunger for God – the Holy Spirit sends conviction and creates within the human heart a desire for the Savior.”

As Jesus put it, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me, draws him” (John 6:44, NAS). There are three things that we can learn about the human race from this passage. First, no one is righteous. Second, no one understands the things of God; and third, no one seeks God. What a contrast between what man is like in his natural state and what man becomes at spiritual birth when he is liberated from the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and ushered into the light of God’s glorious kingdom through Jesus Christ. That man becomes a new creature. Old things are passed away and behold all things become new.

What a contrast between the natural and the supernatural. The natural man must depend upon his own resources, his own wisdom, to find meaning and purpose in his life, inevitably resulting in a life of conflict, discord and frustration. But the one who trusts in God has the privilege of drawing upon the supernatural resources of God daily; resources of joy, peace, love; resources that provide meaning and purpose, assurance of eternal life.

Most people live lives of quiet desperation in self- imposed poverty because those of us who know the truth of the supernatural are strangely silent. God forgive us.

Bible Reading: Romans 3:13-20

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With God’s help I refuse to remain silent any longer, but will seek to proclaim “the most joyful news ever announced” (Luke 2:10-11), to all who will listen in order that others may join me in living the supernatural life.

 

http://www.cru.org

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE BRILLIANCE OF CHRIST

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REVELATION 1:9-18

Charles Wesley wrote “Morning Hymn”: “Christ, whose glory fills the skies, / Christ, the true, the only light, / Sun of Righteousness, arise, / Triumph o’er the shades of night: / Day-spring from on high, be near: / Day-star, in my heart appear. . . . Visit then this soul of mine, / Pierce the gloom of sin, and grief, / Fill me, Radiancy Divine, / Scatter all my unbelief, / More and more thyself display, / Shining to the perfect day.”

The light and glory of God the Father is displayed as well by God the Son! Today’s reading from Revelation contains echoes from the prophet Ezekiel’s vision that we saw yesterday. We have explored light in the Bible as it relates to the Father; next, we’ll consider passages about light relating to the Son.

The island of Patmos was a Roman penal colony, about 50 miles southwest of Ephesus. John was in exile there, but as with the Jewish exiles in Ezekiel’s day, God remained very present. One Sunday, the Holy Spirit gave John a vision of the risen and exalted Christ.

Light is a key metaphor and visual feature in the description (vv. 12–16). There are seven lampstands and seven stars, representing seven churches and their angels. Christ’s hair is white like snow, indicating wisdom and dignity. His eyes are like blazing fire, meaning He sees all. His feet are like glowing bronze, representing strength. His “face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (v. 16), signifying not only glory and power but also love and favor (see Num. 6:24–26).

In the vision’s climax, Christ announced His identity as the Living One, the Alpha and the Omega, and the conqueror of death and hell (vv. 17–18).

APPLY THE WORD

Did you know that Christ has over 300 names or titles in Scripture? Two good books on this topic are Names of Christ, by T. C. Horton and Charles E. Hurlburt, and Names of Jesus, by A. B. Simpson (from a classic nineteenth-century sermon series). Both are available from Moody Publishers and can be found online or at your Christian bookstore.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org