Tag Archives: jesus christ

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.H. – Don’t Lie Down

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Planking has become a popular subject of photos on social media. It’s actually the art of “lying down.” But true planking – holding your body straight while resting on your toes and forearms – is a genuine test of strength. It isn’t easy, but it earned 16-year-old Gabi Ury a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Gabi planked one hour, twenty minutes and five seconds.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 12:12

She had a goal of breaking a world record and raising money for the Denver Children’s Hospital where she received treatment for a disease called VATER syndrome (the presence of at least three specific birth defects). She achieved both. When asked how she got through the pain and fatigue, Gabi said being surrounded by positivity and fun helped. She also believed in herself. She had hope.

Today’s verse offers a similar life lesson. Have hope. Hang on and pray. When you want to give up, surround yourself with the positivity of other Christ followers. Don’t “lie down.” Instead, “Encourage one another and build one another up.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) As you pray continually, show patience as you wait for the Lord. Then pray for your nation’s leaders to have the same hope in Christ you do.

Recommended Reading: I Thessalonians 5:11-18

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Thinking of You   

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When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? —Psalm 8:3–4

One night, probably when David was watching over his sheep, he looked up at the incredible stars and made this statement: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).

It’s incredible to think that the Creator of the universe, the Almighty God who knows every star by name, would care about us. And not only does He care about humanity as a whole, but He also cares about us as individuals. Not only does He care about us as individuals, but He also knows about every detail of our lives. God even knows the very thoughts that we think. Jesus said, “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).

Psalm 40:5 tells us, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Psalm 115:12 says, “The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us.”

So even when family and friends have forgotten about you, know this: the Lord is thinking about you. The Lord cares about you and takes an interest in even the smallest details of your life. They might seem trivial to someone else — but not to God. If it concerns you, then it concerns Him.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Human Being

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Max Lucado

One night I was on baby duty and Jenna’s breathing slowed. I leaned my ear onto her mouth to see if she was alive. And when she burbled and panted, so did I. That’s when a tsunami of sobriety washed over me. We are in charge of a human being!

I don’t care how tough you are. You may be a Navy SEAL who skydives behind enemy lines. It doesn’t matter. Every parent melts the moment he or she feels the full force of parenthood. How did I get myself into this? Moms have thirty-six weeks of reminders elbowing around inside them. Dads, our kick in the gut comes later… but it does come. And for me it came years ago in the midnight quiet of an apartment living room—as I held a human being in my arms!

From Dad Time

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Jesus, the Perfect God-Man

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Charles Stanley

John 20:30-31

People’s attitudes toward Jesus Christ tend to fall into three categories. First, there are some who don’t believe He is God. They reject, diminish, or ignore His character and lifesaving work, claiming He was simply a good person. Second, there are some who intellectually acknowledge Jesus is God’s Son but have no personal relationship with Him. Third, true followers believe Christ is Savior (Rom. 10:9). Through genuine faith, believers are made part of His family.

Ephesians 2:1-2 says that before salvation, we all are spiritually dead and living according to our sin nature. Those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus remain in that state. But when a person places faith in Him, spiritual birth takes place; he or she is made alive in Christ and becomes a new creation who is no longer to live according to the flesh (John 3:3; Eph. 2:5; 4:24).

Our position in the Lord affects everything about us—attitudes, emotions, conversation, and conduct. The ungodliness of our culture no longer fits who we are. As believers, we are to grow in Christlikeness, embracing ideas, thought patterns, and activities that please God, while rejecting all others.

Jesus is the perfect God-man, who willingly took our sins upon Himself and experienced divine wrath in our place. God accepted His death as full payment for our sins, and He raised Jesus from the dead to a position of divine glory (Eph. 1:20). His Spirit now lives within us. So understand who Jesus Christ is, and let that knowledge strengthen your commitment to be like Him.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Reframing The Picture

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Our Daily Bread

Deuteronomy 32:7-12

As an eagle stirs up its nest, . . . spreading out its wings, . . . so the LORD alone led [Jacob]. —Deuteronomy 32:11-12

For 3 months I had a ringside seat— or should I say a bird’s-eye view—of God’s amazing handiwork. Ninety feet above the floor of Norfolk Botanical Garden, workers installed a webcam focused on the nest of a family of bald eagles, and online viewers were allowed to watch.

When the eggs hatched, Mama and Papa Eagle were attentive to their offspring, taking turns hunting for food and guarding the nest. But one day when the eaglets still looked like fuzzballs with beaks, both parents disappeared. I worried that harm had come to them.

My concern was unfounded. The webcam operator enlarged the camera angle, and there was Mama Eagle perched on a nearby branch.

As I pondered this “reframed” picture, I thought of times when I have feared that God had abandoned me. The view in the forest heights of Virginia reminded me that my vision is limited. I see only a small part of the entire scene.

Moses used eagle imagery to describe God. As eagles carry their young, God carries His people (Deut. 32:11-12). Despite how it may seem, the Lord “is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). This is true even when we feel abandoned. —Julie Ackerman Link

Under His wings I am safely abiding;

Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,

Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me;

He has redeemed me and I am His child. —Cushing

Because the Lord is watching over us, we don’t have to fear the dangers around us.

Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 23-24; John 15

Insight

Today’s reading provides us with a wonderful template for instructing the next generation in the provision of God. The entire “Song of Moses” extends from Deuteronomy 31:30–32:43. In it we see praise given for the God of Israel in spite of the nation’s periodic lapse into disobedience. In His good providence, God created for Himself a chosen people whom He has both redeemed and preserves. This theme of divine love that will not let go is to be reiterated to each new generation so that God’s covenant people may continue in relationship with their Creator and Sustainer. We learn from the New Testament that through Christ’s atoning work on the cross, this covenant has been extended to all who believe (Rom. 5:6-11).

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Point of Exclusion

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Ravi Z

With the numerous religions in the world, how can Christians claim exclusivity? I am often asked this question in different settings. But I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the Christian faith is the only one that seems to have this question posed. The truth is that every major religion in the world claims exclusivity, and every major religion in the world has a point of exclusion.

Hinduism, for example, is often represented as being the most tolerant and accepting of other faiths. That is just not true. All Hindus believe in two fundamental, uncompromising doctrines—the Law of Karma, and the belief in reincarnation. These will not be surrendered. In fact, Buddhism was born out of the rejection of two other very dogmatic claims of Hinduism. Buddha rejected the authority of the vedas and the caste system of Hinduism. The issue here is not who was right or wrong. The truth is that they were systemically different—both claiming rightness.

Islam, as you know, is very clearly an exclusive claim to God. A Muslim will never tell you that it doesn’t matter what you believe or that all religions are true.

But before we get upset with such claims, let us remember that it is the very nature of truth that presents us with this reality. Truth by definition is exclusive. Everything cannot be true. If everything is true, then nothing is false. And if nothing is false then it would also be true to say everything is false. We cannot have it both ways. One should not be surprised at the claims of exclusivity. The reality is that even those who deny truth’s exclusivity, in effect, exclude those who do not deny it. The truth quickly emerges. The law of non-contradiction does apply to reality: Two contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense. Thus, to deny the law of non-contradiction is to affirm it at the same time. You may as well talk about a one-ended stick as talk about truth being all-inclusive.

So where does that leave us? We must not be surprised at truth claims but we must test them before we believe them. If the test demonstrates truth then we are morally compelled to believe it. And this is precisely the point from which many are trying to run. As G.K. Chesterton said, the problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.

Christ is either the immeasurable God or one dreadfully lost. Apply the tests of truth to the person and the message of Jesus Christ. You see not only his exclusivity, but also his uniqueness.

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

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Christ Loved Me

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Alistair Begg

Anyone who does not love does not know God. 1 John 4:8

The distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in Christ’s love for him and in the offering of his love to Christ. First, faith sets her seal upon the man by enabling the soul to say with the apostle, “Christ loved me and gave himself for me.”1 Then love gives the countersign and stamps upon the heart gratitude and love to Jesus in return. “We love because he first loved us.”2

In those grand old ages, which are the heroic period of the Christian religion, this double mark was clearly seen in all believers in Jesus; they were men who knew the love of Christ and rested upon it as a man leans upon a staff whose trustiness he has proved. The love that they felt toward the Lord was not a quiet emotion that they hid within themselves in the secret place of their souls and that they only spoke about in private or when they met on the first day of the week and sang hymns in honor of Christ Jesus the crucified; it was a passion with them of such a vehement and all-consuming energy that it was visible in all their actions, evident in their conversation, and seen in their eyes, even in their casual glances. Love for Jesus was a flame that fed upon the core and heart of their being and therefore by its own force burned its way into their demeanor and shone there. Zeal for the glory of King Jesus was the seal and mark of all genuine Christians.

Because of their dependence upon Christ’s love they dared much, and because of their love for Christ they did much, and it is the same now. The children of God are ruled in their inmost powers by love. The love of Christ constrains them; they rejoice that divine love is set upon them, they feel it shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to them, and then by force of gratitude they love the Savior with a pure and fervent heart.

My reader, do you love Him? Before you sleep, give an honest answer to this weighty question!

1Galatians 2:20 21 John 4:19

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

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The family reading plan for June 5, 2014 * Isaiah 37 * Revelation 7

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Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The believer’s challenge

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“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8:34

Suggested Further Reading: Romans 6:1-11

Christ was in his death the hostage of the people of God. He was the representative of all the elect. When Christ was bound to the tree, I see my own sin bound there; when he died every believer virtually died in him; when he was buried we were buried in him, and when he was in the tomb, he was, as it were, God’s hostage for all his church, for all that ever should believe on him. Now, as long as he was in prison, although there might be ground of hope, it was but as light sown for the righteous; but when the hostage came out, behold the first fruit of the harvest! When God said, “Let my Anointed go free, I am satisfied and content in him,” then every elect vessel went free in him; then every child of God was released from imprisonment no more to die, not to know bondage or fetter for ever. I do see ground for hope when Christ is bound, for he is bound for me; I do see reason for rejoicing when he dies, for he dies for me, and in my room and stead; I do see a theme for solid satisfaction in his burial, for he is buried for me; but when he comes out of the grave, having swallowed up death in victory, my hope bursts into joyous song. He lives , and because he lives I shall live also. He is delivered and I am delivered too. Death has no more dominion over him and no more dominion over me; his deliverance is mine, his freedom mine for ever. Again, I repeat it, the believer should take strong draughts of consolation here. Christ is risen from the dead, how can we be condemned?

For meditation: The reality of having been united with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection should be acted out in believer’s baptism; but it should also be acted out in believer’s daily living (1 Peter 3:21-4: 2).

Sermon no. 256

5 June (1859)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Be Slow to Anger

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John MacArthur

“Let everyone be . . . slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

Have you ever started reading your Bible, thinking everything was fine between you and the Lord, only to have the Word suddenly cut deep into your soul to expose some sin you had neglected or tried to hide? That commonly happens because God seeks to purge sin in His children. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to penetrate the hidden recesses of the heart to do His convicting and purifying work. How you respond to that process is an indicator of the genuineness of your faith.

“Anger” in James 1:19-20 refers to a negative response to that process. It is a deep internal resentment accompanied by an attitude of rejection. Sometimes that resentment can be subtle. Paul described those who “will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires” (2 Tim. 4:3). They’re the people who drift from church to church in search of someone who will tell them what they want to hear–or a congregation that wants a pastor who will make them feel good about themselves instead of preaching the Word and setting a high standard of holiness.

Sometimes resentment toward the Word ceases to be subtle and turns to open hostility. That happened when the crowd Stephen confronted covered their ears, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death (Acts 7:57-60). Countless others throughout history have felt the fatal blows of those whose resentment of God’s truth turned to hatred for His people.

Receiving the Word includes being quick to hear what it says and slow to anger when it disagrees with your opinions or confronts your sin. Is that your attitude? Do you welcome its reproof and heed its warnings, or do you secretly resent it? When a Christian brother or sister confronts a sin in your life, do you accept or reject their counsel?

Suggestions for Prayer:  Thank God for the power of His Word to convict you and drive you to repentance. Welcome its correction with humility and thanksgiving.

For Further Study: Read 2 Timothy 4:1-5, noting the charge Paul gave to Timothy and his reason for giving it.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Renew Your Joy

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Joyce meyer

Honor and majesty are [ found] in His presence; strength and joy are [ found] in His sanctuary. —1 Chronicles 16:27

Emotional trauma drains people of their energy. But the Word says, “Be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold” (Nehemiah 8:10). The devil wants to steal your joy because he knows that joy is your strength. He wants you to be weak so that you won’t resist the turmoil he sets against you. That is why sometimes we need each other.

Some days God will send messengers to build you up in faith and renew your joy. Some days He will send you to someone else who is in a weakened condition because Satan has been pounding on them. Be someone’s friend today. They may need a friend to stand beside them and encourage them and to lift them up and pray for them.

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Most Vital Food

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“Your words are what sustain me; they are food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me. How proud I am to bear Your name, O Lord” (Jeremiah 15:16).

In my earlier years – as perhaps was true of yours – one thing that seemed to sustain me more than anything else was food: three square meals a day, and sometimes something in between. Food is still vital – I would not understate its value – but I have found something far more vital to my happiness and success as a believer in Christ.

Now, I can truly say with the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, that the very words of God are what really sustain me. They are food to my hungry soul. And they accomplish immeasurable good in my life, and thus in the lives of thousands of people whom I am privileged to meet throughout the world.

God’s Word brings joy to my sorrowing heart. Why? Because it has an answer – the answer – to every need, every burden, every problem I will face this day, and in the days to come. Furthermore, it will provide the answers for others whom I contact.

God’s Word truly delights me, as it did Jeremiah. When I need encouragement, I turn to the Psalms. When I need practical wisdom for daily decisions, I turn to the Proverbs of Solomon. And so on with every kind of need I face.

All of this being true – God’s Word sustaining me, being food to my hungry soul, bringing joy to my sorrowing heart, and delighting me – “How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord!”

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 15:15-21

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: My spiritual food must take priority over all other considerations in my life.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Focus on God

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Derek Rabelo’s father prayed that his unborn son would become a professional surfer. Yet when Derek was born blind, that didn’t end the dream. As a teenager, Derek embarked on a three-year journey of rigorous spiritual, physical and mental training. Then 20-year-old Derek surfed some of the world’s most dangerous waves on the Pipeline on Hawaii’s North Shore.

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

II Corinthians 7:4

Despite his physical blindness, Derek experiences a life of joy through his relationship with Jesus Christ. “If I surf, it’s because He gave me this gift and I’m really grateful.” Derek says. Recently Derek’s story was made into a documentary based on the theme: “We are to live by faith, not by sight.” The Christian band Audio Adrenaline also says their song “Believer” was inspired by Derek’s faith.

James 1:2-3 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” When the waves of life crash around you, focus on the Lord instead of your circumstances. Then you will experience joy knowing that God is working in and through you! Remember also to pray that the nation’s leaders would find their joy in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Recommended Reading: Philippians 1:20-26

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – A Great Reunion

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He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. —Hebrews 11:25

A Christian father who was terminally ill called his three sons to his bedside. To his two sons who were believers, he said, “Good-bye, my sons. I will see you in the morning.” Turning to his third son, he simply and sadly said, “Good-bye, my son.”

The young man was deeply disturbed. He said, “Father, why is it you said to my brothers,

‘I will see you in the morning,’ and you only said to me, ‘Good-bye, my son’? Why didn’t you say you would see me in the morning, too?”

His father replied, “Son, you have never asked Jesus Christ into your heart to be your Savior and Lord. And that is what breaks my heart the most. I will never see you again.” That son began to ask his father how he could be saved, how he could see his father again. His father told him how. And so he prayed and received Christ into his life. Then his father said, “Now our family will be together in eternity.”

That can happen for everyone who has put their faith in Christ. It will be a great reunion one day in the future. But what does the unbeliever have to look forward to? Judgment after death and a miserable, empty life on earth. There might be some fun in sin — for a while. But payday comes. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

If you do not commit your life to Christ, ultimately you will look back on your life and realize that you wasted it. But don’t wait until the end of your life to figure that out. Figure it out now.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – It’s the Father

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Max Lucado

One of my favorite childhood memories is greeting my father as he came home from work. My brother and I would take our positions on the couch and watch cartoons, always keeping one ear alert to the driveway. Even the best “Daffy Duck” would be abandoned when we heard his car. I’d run to meet Dad and get swept up in his big arms. He’d put his big-brimmed saw hat on my head, and for a moment I’d be a cowboy. When we went indoors and opened his lunch pail, any leftover snacks (which he always seemed to have) were for my brother and me to split. What more could a five-year-old want?

But suppose my dad, rather than coming home, just sent some things home. No deal. That wouldn’t work. Even a five-year-old knows it’s the person, not the presents.  It’s not the frills, it’s the father!

From Dad Time

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – What Does It Mean to Be “Born Again”?

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Charles Stanley

John 3:1-16

In today’s passage, the Lord instructs Nicodemus that no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless he is first “born again.” Jesus gave the term a spiritual meaning that may be familiar to us today, but Nicodemus didn’t understand. “How can a man be born when he is old?” he asked. “He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (John 3:4).

Though he was a Pharisee and a teacher, Nicodemus found it hard to grasp what Jesus was describing. And I suspect many people—including believers as well as unbelievers—don’t truly comprehend the concept any better today. So let’s take the time to understand this important idea.

“Born again” is an apt description of what it means to trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Our lives are not changed when we enter into a relationship with Christ; rather, our old lives are effectively ended, and we are completely reborn in the Spirit.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense to say that we are “born again.” It means that we are no longer who we once were in sin. Rather, we are a new creation that exists to glorify God (2 Cor. 5:17).

Does your life in Christ reflect the glory of God, or are you still clinging to your old ways of living? It is important to understand that the Lord does not simply want to change you; instead, He wants to remake you—there’s a big difference. As you pray today, ask for the courage to surrender to God and to live a life that proclaims your old self has died. He desires to make you new!

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Room and Board

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Our Daily Bread

John 14:1-11

I go to prepare a place for you. —John 14:2

On a recent trip to England, my wife and I visited Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon. The house is more than 400 years old, and it was the childhood and family home of William Shakespeare’s wife.

The tour guide drew our attention to a table made with wide boards. One side was used for eating meals and the other for chopping food. In English life, different expressions grew from this usage as the word board became associated with food, housing, honesty, and authority. An inn would offer “room and board”—that is, sleeping and eating accommodations. In taverns where customers played cards, they were told to keep their hands “above board” to make sure they weren’t cheating. And in the home, the father was given a special chair at the head of the table where he was called “chairman of the board.”

As I reflected on this, I thought about how Jesus is our “room and board.” He is our source of spiritual nourishment (John 6:35,54); He empowers us to live a life of integrity (14:21); He is our loving Master (Phil. 2:11); and He is even now preparing our eternal home. He promised: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2; see also 14:1-4,23). His grace has provided our everlasting room and board. —Dennis Fisher

Christ meets our needs now and for eternity.

Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 21-22; John 14

Insight

John 13–17 records Jesus’ “farewell” speech, His last words to His disciples just hours before His crucifixion. Jesus spoke of humble and loving service (ch.13), of heaven (ch.14), of what it takes to be His disciple (ch.15), and of the Holy Spirit (chs.14,16). His speech culminated in a prayer for His disciples (ch.17).

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Christ’s Glory

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Alistair Begg

. . . Taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16

We have seen the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, humiliated and scorned: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”1 He whose brightness is as the morning wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress: Shame was His belt, and reproach was His cloak. Yet now that He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith sees Him returning, robed in the splendor of victory.

How glorious He must have been in the eyes of seraphs, when a cloud received Him out of sight and He ascended to heaven! Now He wears the glory that He had with God before creation, and yet another glory above all—that which He has earned in the fight against sin, death, and hell. As victor He wears the illustrious crown. Listen to the swelling song! It is a new and sweeter song: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, for by Your blood You ransomed people for God!” He wears the glory of an Intercessor who can never fail, of a Prince who can never be defeated, of a Conqueror who has defeated every foe, of a Lord who has the allegiance of every subject.

Jesus wears all the glory that heaven can bestow upon Him, all that ten thousand times ten thousand angels can minister to Him. You cannot with the utmost stretch of imagination conceive of His exceeding greatness; yet there will be a further revelation of it when He shall descend from heaven in great power, with all the holy angels—”Then he will sit on his glorious throne.”2 The splendor of that glory seen will ravish the hearts of His people. This isn’t the end, for eternity will sound His praise. “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever!”3 Reader, if you would rejoice in Christ’s glory then, He must be glorious in your sight now. So, is He?

1Isaiah 53:3 2Matthew 25:31 3Psalm 45:6

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

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The family reading plan for June 4, 2014 * Isaiah 36 * Revelation 6

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Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Constraining love

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CharlesSpurgeon

“Oh love the Lord, all ye his saints.” Psalm 31:23

Suggested Further Reading: 1 John 4:7-12

Christ’s love to us we sometimes guess at, but, ah, it is so far beyond our thoughts, our reasonings, our praises, and our apprehension too, in the sweetest moments of our most spiritual ecstasy,—who can tell it? “Oh, how he loved us!” When Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, the Jews exclaimed with surprise—“Behold how he loved him.” Verily, you might say the like with deeper emphasis. There was nothing in you to make him love you, but he left heaven’s throne for you. As he came down the celestial hills, methinks the angels said “Oh, how he loved them.” When he lay in the manger an infant, they gathered round and said, “Oh how he loves.” But when they saw him sweating in the garden, when he was put into the crucible, and began to be melted in the furnace, then indeed, the spirits above began to know how much he loved us. Oh Jesus! When I see thee mocked and spat upon—when I see thy dear cheeks become a reservoir for all the filth and spittle of unholy mouths—when I see thy back rent with knotted whips—when I behold thy honour and thy life both trailing in the dust—when I see thee charged with madness, with treason, with blasphemy—when I behold thy hands and feet pierced, thy body stripped naked and exposed—when I see thee hanging on the cross between heaven and earth, in torments dire and excruciating—when I hear thee cry “I thirst,” and see the vinegar thrust to thy lips—when I hear thy direful cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” my spirit is compelled to say, “Oh how he loves!”

For meditation: How cold and hardhearted we must be to ever question the Lord’s love towards us (Malachi 1:2).

Sermon no. 325

4 June (Preached 3 June 1860)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Be Slow to Speak

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John MacArthur

“Let everyone be . . . slow to speak” (James 1:19).

It is reported that when the Scottish Reformer John Knox was called to preach, he shed many tears and withdrew himself to the privacy of his room. He was grieved and greatly troubled at the prospect of such an awesome responsibility. Only the compelling grace of the Holy Spirit Himself enabled Knox to fulfill his calling.

John Knox understood the importance of being slow to speak. He knew that God holds teachers of the Word accountable for what they say, and will dispense a stricter judgment to them if they violate their ministry (James 3:1- 2).

In one sense, God holds everyone accountable for what they say. You are to “let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29). But being slow to speak doesn’t refer to vocabulary or opinions. It refers to teaching the Word. You are to pursue every opportunity to hear God’s Word, but exercise reluctance in assuming the role of a teacher. Why? Because the tongue reveals the subtle sins of one’s heart and easily offends others (James 2:2).

Does that mean you should never teach the Bible? No, because God commands every believer to “make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all” that Jesus taught (Matt. 28:19-20, emphasis added). And the Spirit gifts many believers to be preachers and teachers of the Word. Paul said, “I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16).

You must take every opportunity to share the gospel with others, and if God has called and gifted you to teach the Word, be faithful to do so. But remember, those are serious and sacred responsibilities. Be sure your motives are pure and your teaching accurate. If someone is offended, let it be by the convicting power of the Word, not by something you said at an unguarded moment.

Suggestions for Prayer: Ask the Lord to teach you to guard your tongue and to speak only what is edifying to others.

For Further Study: Read Proverbs 10:19, 13:3, 17:28, and 29:20, noting what each teaches about wise speech.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Manage Your Emotions

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Joyce meyer

In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. —Colossians 2:3 NLT

We all have emotions, but we must learn to manage them. Emotions can be positive or negative. They can make us feel wonderful or awful. They are a central part of being human, and that is fine. Unfortunately, most people do what they feel like doing, say what they feel like saying, buy what they feel like buying, and eat what they feel like eating. And that is not fine, because feelings are not wisdom.

Feelings are fickle; they change frequently and without notification. Since feelings are unreliable, we must not direct our lives according to how we feel. You can be aware of your feelings and acknowledge their legitimacy without necessarily acting on them. God has given us wisdom, and we should walk in it, not our emotions.

Healthy emotions are very important. They help us recognize how we truly feel and what we value. Good emotional health is vital for a good life. But a good life also means being able to manage our emotions and not be managed by them. Negative emotions such as anger, unforgiveness, worry, anxiety, fear, resentment, and bitterness cause many physical illnesses by raising our stress levels.

It seems to me that most people in our society today are mad, and the ones who aren’t are sad. Thank God we no longer have to be like “most people.” God doesn’t want anyone to be a slave to their feelings. To manage your emotions and your life, you need to ask God for His wisdom instead of trusting your feelings.

The more stable our emotions are, the healthier we will be, and we all want to enjoy good health. I strongly encourage you to trust God to help you learn to manage your emotions so they don’t manage you.

Trust in Him: Trust God to lead you by wisdom, and don’t merely follow your emotions. God will always lead you to a good place.