Tag Archives: human-rights

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Eternal Comfort

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Read: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father . . . loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. (v. 16)

Recently I kept a vigil as a hospice volunteer. The dying man hadn’t shown any signs of consciousness the entire night. Under his right hand he clasped his black leather Holy Bible. I found the tightness of his grip intriguing. It made me think of how we should hold firmly to the word of the Lord.

As I sat by this man’s side, I imagined the invisible flow of the Holy Spirit going up through his arm, into his chest spreading throughout his entire being. The eternal comfort of the Word of God and the hope of heaven can be ours even during the process of dying. God chose us, and cleanses us by our belief in the truth. We can obtain glory in heaven through his wonderful grace. How we need to stand firm and hold to what Scripture has taught us.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R.- Boot Camp Blessings

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If you decide to become one of “The Few, The Proud, The Marines,” it is not a matter of signing some forms and then shipping off for the battlefront. First, you will go to boot camp – and it’s not likely to be enjoyable. For three months, you will be subjected to all manner of physical duress, mental torment, sleep deprivation, mind games, seemingly pointless procedures and rugged routines. None of this is done out of hatred, but rather to make you a successful Marine and give you the best chance of surviving in combat.

I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.

Leviticus 26:9

Leviticus is a book of rules, many of them unfathomable to the modern mind. But the Israelites were living in a world filled with pagan, demonic practices that saturated everyday life. God wanted to reorient them to a proper worldview so that they could worship Him in holiness. In return for their obedience, He promised life and unparalleled blessings.

The key themes in Leviticus from the Lord: “be holy for I am holy,” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” Today, pray that America’s citizens and leaders will embrace those commands…so that God might pour out His unprecedented blessings on the nation.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 112:1-10

 

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Sharing His Message

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Paul replied . . . “I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”—Acts 26:29

In Acts 26, we find Paul sharing the gospel with King Herod Agrippa and others. We also find some principles that we all can use when sharing our faith:

First, find common ground and build a bridge to your listener. Paul began his defense by saying, “I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders, for I know you are an expert on Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!” This was not flattery on Paul’s part. He was telling the truth. Agrippa was steeped in the ways of the Jews. He knew all about Jewish culture and customs. He could have started by saying, “You are a wicked man, Agrippa. And everyone knows it.” But he didn’t do that. He built a bridge. He was respectful.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Comforts Those Who Mourn

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“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

God used Mandy’s friend Crystal to teach her the meaning of this verse. Mandy was talking to Crystal on the phone one day, and she told Crystal a lie. Mandy lied because she cared more about pleasing Crystal than about pleasing God, and because she wanted to make herself look better than she was. As soon as the lie was out of her mouth, Mandy was shocked and sorry. But she did not tell Crystal she had lied. “What would she think of me if she knew?” Mandy thought. “She might not want to be my friend anymore. I’ll just confess my sin to God. That will be enough.”

But for a few days after that, Mandy was still miserable. She could not stop thinking about the lie. Finally, she wrote Crystal a note. She told Crystal about the lie and asked her to forgive her.

When Crystal got Mandy’s note, she went out of her way to come and find her. Mandy was so ashamed to face her that she began to cry. She felt that she did not deserve to have Crystal’s friendship anymore.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Faith and Holiness

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 11:8

“By faith Abraham obeyed.”

Obedience to the revealed will of God is often just as much a step of faith as claiming a promise from God. In fact, one of the more intriguing thoughts from the book of Hebrews is the way the writer appears to use obedience and faith interchangeably. He spoke of the Old Testament Hebrews who would never enter God’s rest because they disobeyed (3:18). Yet they were not able to enter because of their unbelief (3:19). This interchange of unbelief and disobedience also occurs later in the book (4:2,6).

The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 were said to be “still living by faith when they died” (11:13, NIV). But the element of obedience—responding to the will of God—was just as prominent in their lives as was claiming the promises of God. They obeyed by faith. And since obedience is the pathway to holiness—a holy life being essentially an obedient life—we may say that no one will become holy apart from a life of faith. Faith enables us to claim the promises of God, but it also enables us to obey the commands of God.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Watchmen on the Wall

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 21-23

“When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” – Ezekiel 3:18

In Isaiah’s time, watchmen were posted on the city walls or on the hilltops near the city. Their purpose was to stay awake, stay alert, and warn the people of danger. In Isaiah 21:11, we read of a man approaching a watchman and inquiring about the current state of things, “Watchman,” he asks, “what of the night?” And the watchman gives him an answer.

As Christians, this may happen to us. In 1 Peter 3:15, the apostle Peter said, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (KJV). If you are walking in fellowship with Christ each day, you’ll find people coming to you wanting to know why you can cope with things that are dragging them down.

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BreakPoint

BreakPoint – New Discovery of Light at Conception Should Direct Focus to God’s Creation, Not Ours

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God’s active act of creation, as described in Genesis 1, begins with those familiar words “Let there be light,” or, as my Latin-loving colleagues prefer, “fiat lux.”

Throughout the Scriptures, God’s presence and power is associated with light. This is most obviously true in all of the writings the Apostle John. In fact, as 1 John tells us, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

But this is more than history and metaphor. As it turns out, it’s observable in the microscopic realm as well.

The lead to a recent article in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper sums up a remarkable discovery by researchers at Northwestern University near Chicago: “Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film. An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.”

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE CHURCH MUST FOLLOW CHRIST AS ITS TRUE LEADER

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Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sports fans love to show their devotion. They buy overpriced jerseys, sit on hard bleacher seats, and shout at the top of their lungs to show their support for their favorite team and their disdain for opponents. Even watching at home, they might share enthusiastic opinions about the game with the television set or friends on social media.

In the right context, pursued with sportsmanship and in good fun, it’s fine to be a fan. But the Corinthians were acting like sports fans in church! They had divided into fan clubs, each supporting a different leader, and in forming these factions they had lost sight of the true nature and purpose of the church. The church belongs to Christ alone. He alone is its Head (see Col. 1:18). In unity, we must follow Him alone as our true leader (v. 10).

The Corinthians were guilty of disunity due to their quarreling over who among Paul, Apollos, or Peter was the best (vv. 11–12). They had somehow forgotten that these men were all on the same side—Christ’s side. Neither Paul nor any of the others had tried to recruit personal disciples at one another’s expense, as a pagan orator in Corinth might have done. Instead, they were dedicated to the cause of the gospel— Christ’s gospel (v. 13).

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – TEACHER SICKOUT SHUTS DOWN DETROIT SCHOOLS

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A massive teacher sickout shut down ninety-four Detroit public schools yesterday. The teachers have been told that unless the state Legislature approves more money for their district, there are not enough funds to pay the teachers their salaries past June 30.

The teachers’ union clearly believes their action will motivate legislators to approve an education reform package being debated in the Michigan House of Representatives. The state’s governor disagrees: “That’s not a constructive act with respect to getting legislation through.”

If you were a teacher in Detroit, what would you do?

This is not an isolated situation. According to New York Times columnist David Brooks, the popularity of the Trump and Sanders campaigns “has reminded us how much pain there is in this country.” He notes that the suicide rate has surged to a thirty-year high. A record number of Americans believe the American dream is out of reach, while social trust for millennials is at historic lows.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Peace in Troubled Times

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2 Chronicles 20:1-25

Faced with His nation’s certain demise, King Jehoshaphat responded with worship. Read his prayer in today’s passage, and you may find it difficult to separate the petition from the praise. Going deeper than familiar expressions like “hallelujah” and “praise the Lord,” he celebrates God’s personhood and extols His virtues.

Furthermore, the king led the people in glorifying God for their past redemption. As they focused on the Lord (instead of the incoming armies), the Israelites recalled anew how their heavenly Father had intervened, sometimes dramatically. This was exactly what God had told them to do—to instruct their children about His ways so they could daily honor Him. (See Deut. 6:7.) Doing so builds courage and strengthens faith.

The people’s praise paved the way for their complete and total dependence upon the Lord. The odds of the small Israelite army beating the united force of three enemies were slim. However, in their worshipful state of mind, the people could admit their weakness and await divine intervention. God gave them an outrageous solution to the problem: to do nothing. Even so, Israel was spiritually prepared to go against human reason and obey His commands. God loves it when we throw ourselves upon His mercy, because then His power can be released in its fullness.

God is also willing to lead you to victory in troubled times. The Israelites’ story is recorded in His Word so that all believers may apply its principles to their life. Bend your heart and mind toward the Lord, and He will enlarge your vision of who He is and what He can do on your behalf.

Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 4-6

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Shine Through

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Read: Matthew 5:13-16

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 12-13; Luke 22:1-20

Let your light shine before others. —Matthew 5:16

A little girl wondered what a saint might be. One day her mother took her to a great cathedral to see the gorgeous stained-glass windows with scenes from the Bible. When she saw the beauty of it all she cried out loud, “Now I know what saints are. They are people who let the light shine through!”

Some of us might think that saints are people of the past who lived perfect lives and did Jesus-like miracles. But when a translation of Scripture uses the word saint, it is actually referring to anyone who belongs to God through faith in Christ. In other words, saints are people like us who have the high calling of serving God while reflecting our relationship with Him wherever we are and in whatever we do. That is why the apostle Paul prayed that the eyes and understanding of his readers would be opened to think of themselves as the treasured inheritance of Christ and saints of God (Eph. 1:18).

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Shaming Kings

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The passion narrative of John, the writer’s witness to the events leading up to the cross, often seems like something of a game of push and shove. The push and pull of an honor and shame culture, where all behavior and interaction either furthers one’s vital position of shame or honor in society, is unquestionably at work here: both in the various characters of stories Jesus tells and in the minds of the audience John is addressing. John offers repeated scenes in his narrative that comparably seem to suggest the coming reversal of honor and shame, with Jesus hinting among the poor and the powerful that power may not be all they believe it to be.

Yet Jesus himself is still clearly shamed, and shamed profoundly. Shame in such a culture included public rejection, abandonment, humiliation, and victimization—all of which factor heavily in the passion narrative, and John doesn’t want us to miss it. Shaming also occurs when blood is intentionally spilled, when one is beaten, especially in public, there being no higher shame than being killed; and the shame of death on a Roman cross is the vilest of all. All of this is the passion of Jesus. While there are undoubtedly scenes where he seems to take himself out of these systems of honor and shame, suggesting a different system entirely, Jesus is just as often, and profoundly so, on the losing end when the theme is in play.

In something of a parabolic push and shove of words, there always seems much going on under the surface of John’s passion narrative. Consider, for instance:

“Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. And Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Here is your King!’”

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Opposition to the World Brings Hatred

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“‘If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’” (John 15:18-19).

Because they are not part of the world’s system, Christians should expect it to hate and oppose them.

If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you doubtless remember how soon you realized that you were no longer in step with the world’s culture. You were no longer comfortable with its philosophy. You no longer had the world’s desires and yearnings. You no longer felt good about doing some of the things the world takes for granted. In fact, you even felt constrained to speak out against such things and urge unbelievers to turn from their sins and embrace Christ. All that opposition to worldliness, when added up, can and will result in hatred toward us from people in the world.

In John 15, the Greek word translated “world” (kosmos) refers to the world’s system of sin, which is devised by Satan and acted out by sinful people. The Devil and his angels sometimes make it even more difficult for us by subtly presenting their “religion” as if it were true. Such deception can lull us into complacency and leave us spiritually weak when persecution comes.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Uncertainty is God’s Opportunity

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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

God knows the plans He has for His children—and His plans are good, because God is good.

But a child does not always understand the overall plan, it’s more a realtime experience, enjoyed in the moment—where memories are made. Just as godly parents can be trusted to nurture and care for their child, so our heavenly Father is 100% trustworthy to plan ahead for His children. Especially during uncertain days, we can lean into Christ’s certainty. God opportunities are all around waiting patiently for eyes of faith to lock in on and see the Spirit’s delightful work.

Jeremiah writes much needed encouragement to the community of God’s people held captive by the Babylonians—for exile breeds people desperate for help from heaven—and perseverance grows stronger where a future hope abides. Living in a culture counter to a people’s values and beliefs becomes a test of trust and obedience. Is the Lord still at work when a small group of His followers are surrounded by a mostly secular society? Maybe more so, because the futility of the faithless grows darker in contrast to the loving light of felicity found in faithful living. Like an innovative entrepreneur God capitalizes on uncertain times with the certainty of Christ’s love.

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – The Golden River

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In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:10-11

Recommended Reading

1 John 4:7-19

Love is an emotion that’s hard to describe. It’s an emotional longing for another person and a deep satisfaction when that love is reciprocated. It suffers intense anguish when it isn’t.

Love is an attitude that operates more deeply than feelings. Attitudes are dispositions of the heart that anchor our emotions, just as the unshakable mountains support the trees on its slopes.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – “I Want a Mind Change”

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And you [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins in which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].—Ephesians 2:1-2

I find a great deal of comfort in thinking about who I used to be and who I have become. It helps me not to be discouraged when I make mistakes or find that I still struggle over some issues. I’m greatly encouraged when I consider where I started and where I am now.

In Ephesians 2, Paul described those outside of Christ. He wrote that unbelievers follow the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan, and they follow the way their master leads. In verse 1, he pointed out that all were once dead through their sins, but believers are now alive in Jesus Christ. He tells us we’re not governed or led by our lower nature—the impulses of the flesh.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Resting in the Here-ness and Near-ness of God

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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38–39

Friend to Friend

Have you ever been in a situation when you felt God calling your name to a particular task, and at the same time you felt that He had the wrong person for the job? That’ exactly how Moses felt when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. He cried out, “Who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh?”

I’ve been there. I wonder if you have too. I’ve thought, God, You’ve got to be kidding? Me? You’ve got the wrong girl for the job! I’m a nobody!

But look at how God answered Moses.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Right Priorities

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“Constantly remind the people about these laws, and you yourself must think about them every day and every night so that you will be sure to obey all of them. For only then will you succeed” (Joshua 1:8).

Jim was a driven man. He loved his wife and his four children. But the thing that consumed almost every waking thought was, “How can I be a greater success? How can I earn the praise of men?”

Through neglect his family began to disintegrate, and he came to me for counsel. His wife was interested in another man; he was alienated from his children. Three were involved in drugs and one had attempted suicide twice.

“Where have I gone wrong?” Jim asked.

I reminded him of the Scripture, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Birthday of the Church

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Read: Acts 1:15-2:4

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1

Here is the story of the birth of the body of Jesus Christ, the church. Notice the day on which this occurred — the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a Greek word that means fifty. The day was called that because it was fifty days after the Passover feast. Pentecost was a Jewish feast which is given to us in the Old Testament under the title, the Feast of Weeks. It is called also the Feast of the Wave Loaves because it consisted of two loaves of bread that were baked of grain from the new harvest. Pentecost came at the end of the wheat harvest in Palestine, and they were to take this new wheat, the first fruits of the harvest, and bake of it two loaves.

All of this shows how the New Testament has its roots in the Old. These two loaves were symbols of the two bodies from which the church was to be formed: the Jews and the Gentiles. Jesus said he came first to the lost sheep of the house of the Israel, the Jews. But he said, I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen, (John 10:16). He was referring to the Gentiles. Here, on the day of Pentecost, God took the Jews and the Gentiles and brought them together and baptized them into one.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Be Strong and Courageous

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May 2, 2016

Read: Joshua 1:5-9

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (v. 9 NIV)

Does fear constrain you from what the Lord calls you to do? It’s not easy to follow God when we feel pressures on all sides. We all have fears that seem to loom so large—fears for our children, work pressures, and violence in the world.

In this passage, the Lord affirmed to Joshua that he would be with him to lead the Israelites and help him overcome his fears. He would be facing armies, fierce opposition, and treacherous territory without his trusted mentor, Moses. Now it was his responsibility to lead the people. Several times the Lord commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous, gracious encouragements to trust God. The Lord also told him to meditate on Scripture day and night and to obey its instruction so he would have good success wherever he went (v. 7).

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