Tag Archives: Joy

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Israel site I would advise Donald Trump to visit

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Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act, legislation promoted by President Trump that would repeal and replace Obamacare. Marking the National Day of Prayer, the president also issued an executive order strengthening religious liberty.

Meanwhile, a third news story involving Mr. Trump has received less notice: he is coming to Israel. A US delegation sent to prepare for an upcoming visit arrived in the Jewish homeland yesterday.

I have been to the Holy Land many times over the years and am leading a tour of Israel this week. If I were in charge of the president’s schedule, there is a surprising site I would urge him to visit.

Our group traveled yesterday to Caesarea Philippi. The area was home to the worship of Pan, the Greek half-man, half-goat. His worshipers believed that Pan was born in a massive cave at this site. A spring brought water into this cave from a depth the ancient world was never able to measure. As a result, they called it the “gates of the underworld” or the “gates of hell.”

Standing here, Jesus told his disciples, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Why did he begin his church here?

Fourteen temples to Baal worship were scattered throughout the area. A massive white marble temple for the worship of Caesar stood at the mouth of the cave. A giant temple for the worship of Zeus stood adjacent to it. Niches carved in the rock wall held every idol imaginable. Worshipers of Pan engaged in unspeakable sexual sin.

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BreakPoint

Opening Closed Minds the Chick-fil-A Way: Friendship, Not Confrontation

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BreakPoint.org

 

Some college students at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University are claiming, like Chicken Little, that the sky is falling. Sadly, given these crazy times, that’s no longer really news. We’ve seen a steady stream of reports about scholars being driven off campus by mobs of triggered students, of speakers being disinvited or losing announced awards because of their Judeo-Christian beliefs—all in the name of tolerance, diversity, and “safe spaces”!

Truly, though, the kerfuffle at Duquesne shows what we’re up against. In March the university announced that the popular fast food chain Chick-fil-A would be opening in the Catholic school’s main food court.

Instead of cheers for a company that donates generously to charity and makes a great chicken sandwich, the decision brought jeers from some students, who claimed this would put their “safe place … at risk.” One leader of a gay student group said Chick-fil-A has “a questionable history on civil rights and human rights.” A petition that says bullying is a problem on campus demands that Chick-fil-A be banned, while Niko Martini, the president of the Lambda Gay-Straight Alliance, says that the school should, at the very least, “acknowledge there is still some tension.”

So, what has Chick-fil-A done? Well, Dan Cathy, son of Chick-fil-A’s founder, Truett Cathy, has publicly stated his support for the biblical definition of marriage. And the company’s foundation in the past has supported Christian organizations such as Exodus International and Focus on the Family that have taken faith-based stances on human sexuality. By that standard, lots of people of faith are “questionable” in the eyes of some campus groups.

But of course they’re wrong, and we’re not. Dan Cathy is a case in point. A few years ago, you may recall, Chick-fil-A’s president and COO reached out to Shane Windmeyer, who was organizing a national boycott of Chick-fil-A as the executive director of Campus Pride, an organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender college students. Before they met, Windmeyer thought Dan Cathy was a fiend. What he discovered after months of discussion was that Dan had become his friend. His mind began to open.

“Dan expressed a sincere interest in my life, wanting to get to know me on a personal level,” Windmeyer wrote in an eye-opening article in The Huffington Post. “He wanted to know about where I grew up, my faith, my family, even my husband, Tommy. In return, I learned about his wife and kids and gained an appreciation for his devout belief in Jesus Christ and his commitment to being ‘a follower of Christ’ more than a ‘Christian.’”

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Power of Love

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1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Today’s verses teach that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). This means believers aren’t to dwell on the harm others cause and write them off as hopeless, despicable criminals. Love enables us to hate the evil unjustly visited upon the innocent while valuing the one who committed the act. More simply, we hate the sin but love the sinner.

In spite of everything that seems apparent about someone who’s been driven to sinful actions, God has created him or her with the potential to be made into something good. Outwardly, it may seem as if a difficult upbringing, poor treatment, or negative influence has corrupted a person’s morality and worldview beyond repair. For such individuals, the capacity to love and rise above circumstances can get buried so deep that it may seem nonexistent.

God still considers the most evil and corrupt person worth saving. How do I know this is true? Because in John 3:16—one of the very first verses we teach children—He said that whoever believes in God’s Son will have eternal life. Many of us are guilty of thinking we deserve His love because we look good compared to those we deem unlovable. But God doesn’t work that way. He loves every single person, no matter how awful his or her sin may be.

God doesn’t want anyone to mistreat others; such sinful action will bring repercussions or discipline. But the Lord does extend His care, mercy, and salvation to anybody who wants it. He keeps no record of wrongs. He loves without conditions. And He wants us to love in the same way.

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 10-12

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Five-Minute Rule

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Read: Psalm 102:1–17

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 16–18; Luke 22:47–71

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.—Psalm 102:17

I read about a five-minute rule that a mother had for her children. They had to be ready for school and gather together five minutes before it was time to leave each day.

They would gather around Mom, and she would pray for each one by name, asking for the Lord’s blessing on their day. Then she’d give them a kiss and off they’d run. Even neighborhood kids would be included in the prayer circle if they happened to stop by. One of the children said many years later that she learned from this experience how crucial prayer is to her day.

The writer of Psalm 102 knew the importance of prayer. This psalm is labeled, “A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.” He cried out, “Hear my prayer, Lord; . . . when I call, answer me quickly” (vv. 1-2). God looks down “from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he [views] the earth” (v. 19).

God cares for you and wants to hear from you. Whether you follow the five-minute rule asking for blessings on the day, or need to spend more time crying out to Him in deep distress, talk to the Lord each day. Your example may have a big impact on your family or someone close to you. —Anne Cetas

Teach me to be aware of Your presence, Lord, and to talk to You freely and often.

Prayer is an acknowledgment of our need for God.

INSIGHT: Our Father welcomes us into His presence in prayer, but we also have the encouraging record of Jesus Himself praying for us! As the Teacher moved ever closer to the cross, Jesus prayed for His followers who walked with Him and all (including us) who would later come to Him (John 17:20). And when we pray, the Holy Spirit helps us align our prayers with the Father’s purposes (Rom. 8:26-27).   Bill Crowder

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – A Time to Grieve

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Recently, a colleague sought an explanation regarding the untimely death of a friend. It was one of those questions that exposes the vulnerability of a confident apologist. How one wishes that the dots could be connected, the blanks filled, and a satisfying response proffered. But lo and behold, that is not to be. In some questions, an agnostic stance appears more honest and reasonable. It’s no wonder Job’s friends made more sense in their silence than in their speeches. In that ancient story of a life whose struggles are articulated exhaustively, Job’s pain is something we still grapple with millennia later.

In her book When Life Takes What Matters, author Susan Lenzkes suggests that this posture of grappling with uncertainty, even angered grappling, can be kindly held by the Christian God: “It’s all right—question, pain, and stabbing anger can be poured out to the Infinite One and God will not be damaged….For we beat on his chest from within the circle of his arms.”(1)

For Job, something similar is true. Somehow his own questioning appears to lose its sting when he sees how wide this circle really is. In the glimpse God offers him from the very foundations of the world, Job’s despair is somehow quieted within a story so much bigger than his pain can comprehend.

In the story of Job, questions of theodicy, as valid as they are, are shown to be premature. While God does open a new chapter in Job’s life, the recompense to Job during his later years is not to be mistaken with the final package. God’s complete solution would be unpacked on the other side of time. In an atheistic framework, by contrast, where there is no possibility of life after death, the question of suffering and injustice is hard and strong, for any hope dies at death.

Thankfully and mercifully, for Job’s sake and ours, the gospel further counters this framework in flesh and blood. The New Testament boldly tells the story of Jesus Christ as one of passion, crucifixion, and resurrection. For those who want to dismiss the Old Testament as imaging a violent God, there is death and gore in the heart of the gospel as well. But here, the question coming forth from a hurting soul like Job’s is, in fact, the cry of Jesus himself on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Help of the Holy Spirit

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For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. —Romans 8:5 KJV

Romans 8:5 teaches us that if we “mind” the flesh, we will walk in the flesh. But if we “mind” the things of the Spirit, we will walk in the Spirit. Our actions follow our thoughts!

Let me put it another way: If we think fleshly thoughts, wrong thoughts, and negative thoughts, we cannot walk in the Spirit. It seems as if renewed, godlike thinking is a vital necessity to a successful Christian life.

Your life may be in a state of chaos because of years of wrong thinking. If so, it is important for you to come to grips with the fact that your life will not get straightened out until your mind does. You should consider this area one of vital necessity.

Ask God to help you learn to think thoughts that He would have you think. You cannot overcome any problem by determination alone. It is important to be determined, but determined in the Holy Spirit, not in the effort of your own flesh. The Holy Spirit is close to you. He is your Helper—seek His help. Lean on Him. You can make it with His help.

Give the Holy Spirit control of your life. He will lead you into the perfect will of God for you, which includes exceeding, abundant blessings, peace, and joy.

From the book Closer to God Each Day by Joyce Meyer

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Ways That Are Right and Best

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“He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to Him” (Psalm 25:9).

A guide, taking some tourists through Mammoth Cave, reached a place called “The Cathedral.”

Mounting a rock called “The Pulpit,” he said he wanted to preach a sermon, and it would be short.

“Keep close to your guide,” he said.

The tourists soon found it was a good sermon. If they did not keep close to the guide, they would be lost in the midst of pits, precipices and caverns.

It is hard to find one’s way through Mammoth Cave without a guide. It is harder to find one’s way through the world without the lamp of God’s Word.

“Keep your eye on the Light of the World (Jesus) and use the Lamp of God’s Word” is a good motto for the Christian to follow.

Humbly turning to God is one of the most meaningful exercises a person can take. We come in touch with divine sovereignty, and we become instant candidates to discern God’s will for our lives.

Humbling ourselves is clearly in line with God’s formula for revival:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV).

Bible Reading: Psalm 25:1-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I will fix my heart and mind on Jesus first and others second, which is true humility.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God’s Patience

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Maybe no one has told you about God’s patience and willingness to put up with you! The Bible says, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8 NIV).

Stare at the proof of God’s patience! Those thousand sunsets you never thanked him for? Those times you used his name only when you cussed? And oh my, those promises: “Get me out of this, and I’ll never tell another lie.” If broken promises were lumber, we could build a subdivision.

Doesn’t God have ample reason to walk out on us? But he doesn’t. Why? Because “God is being patient with you” (2 Peter 3:9). Patience isn’t naïve. It doesn’t ignore misbehavior. It’s slow to boil. This is how God treats us. Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us!

From A Love Worth Giving

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Student ordered to leave class for reading Bible

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I am writing this morning from the Sea of Galilee. This small lake, only fourteen miles long by seven-and-a-half miles wide, is one of the most strategic bodies of water on Earth.

Jesus performed ten of his thirty-three miracles on this lake. He preached the most famous sermon in history on its northern shore. He performed three-quarters of his public ministry on lands I can see from my hotel balcony.

A movement that began with twelve men now comprises 2.2 billion followers. As one small example, this Daily Article is going to 112,000 subscribers in 203 countries. Christianity’s global reach was inconceivable when it began here twenty centuries ago.

God so often uses small places for big purposes. He used a bush in the wilderness to call Moses; he used a slingshot to defeat a giant and elevate a king; he used a cave on a prison island to give the world his Revelation.

First Corinthians 1 comes to mind: “Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (vv. 26–29).

As Paul later noted, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

These are challenging times for followers of Jesus. An Arizona college student was ordered by his professor to leave the classroom because he was reading the Bible before class began. A recent survey shows that most Americans have read little or none of the Bible. In the midst of genocide, 16,000 South Sudanese Christians have sought refuge at a cathedral compound. A priest explained: “People said if they were going to be killed, they preferred to be killed in the church because this is the place where Jesus is present. They wanted to die in the church rather than die in their homes.”

When our faith is challenged, it is important to remember that God measures success not by circumstances but by obedience.

The Lord said to Baruch, the servant of the prophet Jeremiah: “Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go” (Jeremiah 45:5). Rather than seeking “great things” for ourselves, we should seek God’s will for today, secure in the knowledge that his will for us is better than our dreams for ourselves.

  1. S. Lewis notes that our culture sees us as individuals of infinite value for whom God serves as a kind of employment committee working to find the best “job” for us. In fact, the reverse is true: God has a purpose for our lives, then he creates us to fulfill that purpose. Only our Creator knows why he made us and what purpose most fulfills his will for us.

I am at the Sea of Galilee today because of what Jesus did here twenty centuries ago. God is able to use your life for future purposes you cannot imagine today. Will you let him?

 

Denison Forum

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Charles Stanley –Fellowship With Jesus

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Luke 10:38-42

Two sisters were busy preparing for Jesus’ visit. Upon His arrival, Mary turned her attention to the Lord. Meanwhile, Martha was distracted by the preparations (Luke 10:40) and became agitated that her sister was no longer helping. We may be thinking Martha was right—if there was still work to be done, her sister should not have been sitting down. Then we hear Jesus’ perspective. Observing that Martha was worried and upset about many things when only one thing was needed, He said Mary had chosen what was better (Luke 10:42).

There are some important lessons to be learned from this story. First, to have fellowship with Jesus, we may have to leave some things undone. Jesus knew how hard the women had been working and how much Martha longed to finish the tasks. But their greatest need was to spend time with Him. The sisters’ focus was to be on listening, learning, and interacting with Him.

The second lesson is that our choice to forgo an activity may be misunderstood. Martha certainly didn’t comprehend her sister’s decision. What’s more, if we fail to take time with the Lord, there may be unpleasant consequences. We see this in the way Martha’s distraction led to worry and agitation. Jesus invited her to choose the better way—namely, to be with Him.

Establishing a habit of communing with God is essential to our spiritual health. Even in our daily work, we can learn how to maintain an awareness of Him. So aim to choose the better way, as Mary did. Connecting with Jesus regularly will sharpen your focus on what is most important and help you distinguish what is good from what is truly the Lord’s best.

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Alone in Space

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Read: Genesis 28:10–17

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 14–15; Luke 22:21–46

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.—Genesis 28:16

Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden knew what it felt like to be on the far side of the moon. For three days back in 1971, he flew alone in his command module, Endeavor, while two crewmates worked thousands of miles below on the surface of the moon. His only companions were the stars overhead that he remembers as being so thick they seemed to wrap him in a sheet of light.

As the sun went down on the Old Testament character Jacob’s first night away from home, he too was profoundly alone, but for a different reason. He was on the run from his older brother—who wanted to kill him for stealing the family blessing normally given to the firstborn son. Yet on falling asleep, Jacob had a dream of a staircase joining heaven and earth. As he watched angels ascending and descending, he heard the voice of God promising to be with him and to bless the whole earth through his children. When Jacob woke he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Gen. 28:16).

Jacob had isolated himself because of his deceit. Yet as real as his failures, and as dark as the night, he was in the presence of the One whose plans are always better and more far-reaching than our own. Heaven is closer than we think, and the “God of Jacob” is with us. —Mart DeHaan

Father, thank You for using the story of Jacob to show us that the glory of Your unseen presence and goodness is far greater than we could imagine.

God is nearer than we think.

INSIGHT: The Scriptures teach us that saving faith must be a personal faith; the faith of our parents will not save us. But it is interesting that in today’s passage God introduces Himself to Jacob by pointing to his ancestors. It is not Jacob’s lineage that is important, but that the God he had heard about from his ancestors was the same God who would now be with him. Jacob could have confidence that God would be with him because He had been with Abraham and Isaac.What stories of God’s faithfulness from your past or from the lives of your family bring encouragement that God does not change and will always be with you?   J.R. Hudberg

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – First a Story

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Gregory Wolfe, editor of Image journal, tells a story about telling stories for his kids. He describes the memorable bedtimes when he attempts to concoct a series of original tales. “My kids are polite enough to raise their hands when they have some penetrating question to ask about plot, character, or setting,” he writes. “If I leave something out of the story, or commit the sin of inconsistency, these fierce critics won’t let me proceed until I’ve revised the narrative. Oddly enough, they never attempt to take over the storytelling. They are convinced that I have the authority to tell the tale, but they insist that I live up to the complete story that they know exists somewhere inside me.”(1) Children seem to detest a deficient story.

There is no doubt that our sense of the guiding authority of story and storyteller often dramatically lessens as we move from childhood to adulthood. And yet, regardless of age, there remains something deeply troubling about a story without a point, or an author not to be trusted.

In an interview with Skeptic magazine, Richard Dawkins was asked if his view of the world was not similar to that of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, namely, that life is but “a tale told by an idiot, filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing.”(2)

“Yes,” Dawkins replied, “at a sort of cosmic level, it is. But what I want to guard against is people therefore getting nihilistic in their personal lives. I don’t see any reason for that at all. You can have a very happy and fulfilled personal life even if you think that the universe at large is a tale told by an idiot.”(3)

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Key to Effective Prayer

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I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father.… —John 15:15

One of the most important keys to effective prayer is approaching God as His friend. When we go to God believing that He sees us as His friends, new wonders are opened to us. We experience new freedom and boldness, which are both things to be extremely grateful for.

If we do not know God as a friend, we will be reluctant to be bold in asking for what we need. But if we go to Him as our friend, without losing our awe of Him, our prayers will stay fresh, exciting, and intimate.

A friendship involves loving and being loved. It means knowing that God is on your side, wanting to help you, cheering you on, and always keeping your best interest in mind. God loves you and desires your friendship!

Prayer of Thanks: Father, I am thankful that You have promised to be my friend. Help me to come to You in prayer, knowing that You love me and You are for me. Thank You, God, that I am never alone. You are my friend, and You are with me.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Perfect Harmony

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“Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14).

Martha had a very poor self-image. The distress she felt because of her physical appearance was compounded by the guilt of being grossly overweight. She hated herself and was despondent to the point of seriously considering suicide.

I counsel many students and older adults who are not able to accept themselves. Some are weighted down with guilt because of unconfessed sins. Others are not reconciled to their physical handicaps or deformities. Still others feel inferior mentally or socially.

My counsel to such people is this: God loves you and accepts you as you are. The love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit enables us to love ourselves as God made us. We can be thankful for ourselves, loving ourselves unconditionally as God does, and we can love others unconditionally, too.

It is Satan who is the great accuser, causing us to hate ourselves and others. God, having commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, and our enemies, will enable us to do what He commands us to do as we claim His promise.

The great tragedy of many families is that resentment, bitterness and hate overtake their members like an all-consuming cancer, ultimately destroying the unity among husband, wife and children. Love of the husband and wife for each other, and of parents and children for one another, is so basic that it should not need to be mentioned. Yet, sadly and alarmingly, children are alienated from their parents, and even many Christian marriages are ending in divorce – in fact, in greater numbers today than at any other time in history.

God’s kind of love is a unifying force. Paul admonishes us to “put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:18-25

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Since God commands us to love Him, our neighbors, our enemies and ourselves, today I will claim that supernatural love by faith on the basis of God’s command to love and the promise that if I ask anything according to His will, He will hear and answer me.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Mount Everest of Love Writings

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1 Corinthians 13 is the Mount Everest of love writings. And no words get to the heart of loving people like verses 4-8:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Someone challenged me to replace the word love in this passage with my name. I did and became a liar. The passage set a standard I could not meet. No one can meet it…except Jesus. So rather than let this scripture remind us of a love we cannot produce, let it remind us of a love we cannot resist—God’s love!

From A Love Worth Giving

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Fear and faith at war in Israel

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I am writing this week from the Holy Land, where I spent yesterday watching Israelis celebrate their independence. Huge crowds gathered on the Tel Aviv beach to watch an air show performed by their nation’s military. Families filled every park I saw. The mood was upbeat and energetic.

I was especially moved by our visit to Independence Hall, the building where David ben Gurion read a statement in 1948 declaring the existence of the State of Israel. At the time, he and those who met with him knew that the nations surrounding their tiny sliver of land were likely to respond by declaring war. The country they created could be annihilated before it began. Meeting just a few years after the Holocaust, the people in the hall that day knew that their future was tenuous at best.

But they acted with courage and faith, believing in their cause and willing to sacrifice their lives in its service. Sixty-nine years later, the nation they birthed continues to thrive.

It can be hard to believe in ideals the world rejects. When fear and faith are at war, how do we choose faith?

One: Remember what matters most.

It is tempting to value the material over the spiritual. But as Alfred Lord Tennyson so famously noted, “Nothing worth proving can be proven.” Paul succinctly described the Christian’s response to our visible world: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). While we live in the present, it is hard to envision eternity. But one day soon, eternity will be all there is and we will be forever grateful that we chose faith.

Two: Refuse to quit.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Developing a Godly Lifestyle

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Romans 12:2

Today’s verse outlines the commitment and steps necessary in developing a godly lifestyle. Paul was urgently warning believers not to be conformed to the patterns of the world. Our susceptibility to compromise is one of the greatest dangers in the church today.

Through ungodly relationships and the impact of media, we’re being influenced by people who are not following God’s ways. Our society tells us to put self first, take what we want, protect our rights, and promote our own interests above others’. In contrast, Jesus said that our heavenly Father will provide what we truly need (Phil. 4:19), we are to deny ourselves and follow Him (Luke 9:23), and the humble—not the proud—shall receive honor (James 4:10). Conformity to the world’s ideals will lead us away from God.

At the same time, Paul urged us to pursue godly transformation of our mind, to set our thoughts on things above (Col. 3:2) and to focus on what is true, right, pure, and lovely (Phil. 4:8). Adopting a Christian worldview will lead to Christlike actions. It requires making adjustments in how we look at life, until our thoughts line up with Scripture. We must also protect our mind with biblical truth and surround ourselves with mature believers who can warn us when we start to stray.

Ask yourself, Am I focusing on what is important to the Lord? Avoiding compromise? Making a conscious effort to adhere to biblical truth? Demonstrating a pattern of godly transformation? Let the Holy Spirit empower you to make the changes necessary to be more like Christ.

Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 4-6

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Just a Touch

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Read: Matthew 8:1–4

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

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.—Matthew 8:3

Kiley leaped at the chance to go to a remote area of East Africa to assist a medical mission, yet she felt uneasy. She didn’t have any medical experience. Still, she could provide basic care.

While there, she met a woman with a horrible but treatable disease. The woman’s distorted leg repulsed her, but Kiley knew she had to do something. As she cleaned and bandaged the leg, her patient began crying. Concerned, Kiley asked if she was hurting her. “No,” she replied. “It’s the first time anyone has touched me in nine years.”

Leprosy is another disease that can render its victims repulsive to others, and ancient Jewish culture had strict guidelines to prevent its spread: “They must live alone,” the law declared. “They must live outside the camp” (Lev. 13:46).

That’s why it’s so remarkable that a leper approached Jesus to say, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” (Matt. 8:2). “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ ” (v. 3).

In touching a lonely woman’s diseased leg, Kiley began to show the fearless, bridge-building love of Jesus. A single touch made a difference. —Tim Gustafson

Lord, we want to show the fearless love You showed when You walked this earth.

INSIGHT: Do you wonder what it would feel like to be an “untouchable”? Or do you know all too well what it means to be avoided like the plague, either from your own experience or through the pain of someone you love? If you’ve felt the sting of exclusion, then you probably can feel empathy for the leper who reached out to Jesus. Until that day, this man would have had to live on the outside of normal relationships and society. According to ancient ceremonial rules, “Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must . . . cover their mouth and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as the serious disease lasts, they . . . must live in isolation in their place outside the camp” (Lev. 13:45-46 nlt).Such social isolation, however, wasn’t the worst part. In first-century Israel, lepers were regarded as rejected by God. So imagine what it must have meant when Jesus reached out to a desperate person who probably hadn’t felt a human touch for years. Every time Jesus performed a miracle of healing, He gave credibility to His words and showed hopeless, suffering, and even untouchable people that God knew and loved them. Mart DeHaan Mart DeHaan

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Easter Skeptics

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As it happens every Easter season, various scholars and skeptics weigh in on whether or not Jesus was actually raised from the dead. Bart Ehrman’s latest book, How Jesus Became God, is a case in point. Writing as a historian, he questions many of the gospel remembrances of the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. His conclusion is that the gospels are not reliable, historical witnesses. But is this really the case?

A careful reading of the four evangelists’ remembrances of the resurrection does indeed reveal many different emphases and details. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, tells us that a great earthquake occurred as an angel of the Lord descended and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. The Gospel of Mark, on the other hand, tells us that a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe was inside the tomb to announce Jesus’s resurrection. The Gospel of Luke tells us that two men suddenly stood near the women in dazzling apparel and John’s Gospel reports the discovery of the linen wrappings abandoned in the empty tomb.(1)

There are many other differences in the retelling of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, and this should be expected from different testimony. No two people report exactly the same details about any event or happening! But there is one feature that is the same in all four gospel testimonies: the resurrection announcement is made first to the women who followed Jesus (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 23:55-24:5; John 20:1). Many reasons have been offered as to why women serve as the immediate witnesses to the resurrection: the women stayed with him through the crucifixion, so he appeared first to those who stuck with him to the last; women traditionally carried out the burial rituals in first century Judaism, so they were witnesses by default. Others suggest that the first women witnesses represent Jesus’s elevation of the status for women of the first century and for women in general.

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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.

Many Christians have trouble in this area because they haven’t learned to control their thoughts. A lady once told me, “It simply didn’t occur to me that I needed to direct my mind and keep it healthy and positive. If ministers preached or taught about the control of our thoughts, I never heard it. One day, however, I read an article about the power of thoughts, and God convicted me. That’s when I knew I needed to change my thinking.”

This lady said she drove down the street of a busy city and she spotted a sign, a cartoon of a car with big eyes for the front lights and tears flowing, and the words, “Please help me! I need an oil change.”

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