Tag Archives: Leroy Eims

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – A Contented Life

Today’s Scripture: Philippians 4:11-13

But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” -Romans 9:20

The year my son Randy and his wife installed a wood-burning stove in their home, they were afraid their two-year-old boy might burn himself. So they spent a lot of time warning him about the dangers of the stove. One day Randy fired it up and let the lad feel the heat. He not only wanted his little boy to know what not to do, but also why he shouldn’t get too close to the stove.

That is what the Lord does with you and me. He not only warns us to keep away from various dangers that can hurt us spiritually and damage our daily walk of discipleship, but He also tells us why. Take, for instance, the problem of greed and covetousness. This is one of the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses: “You shall not set your desire on…anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Deuteronomy 5:21).

Why shouldn’t I covet what someone else has? The overriding reason is that when I inwardly complain that my neighbor has a new lawnmower and I have to use an old one, I am accusing God of mismanagement of His resources. He owns everything; if He has seen fit to give something to my neighbor and overlooks me in the process, that’s His business.

So it’s not only an accusation of mismanagement, it’s a lack of faith in the wisdom of God! I am actually telling the Lord that I have a better plan for my life than He does. I am proclaiming myself smarter than God and more loving than God. Let’s learn to keep things in proper perspective.

Prayer

Lord, create in me a grateful heart for my life and all it comprises. Amen.

To Ponder

How long is your list of God’s blessings?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Christ in Us

Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 4:21-24

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word… I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. – Psalm 119:9,11

The people who were instrumental in my coming to Christ didn’t find their pleasure in the usual places or the usual ways. For instance, I was a gambler, and every Sunday afternoon a few of us would gather to play poker. They didn’t gamble. When something upset me, my usual response was a string of swear words that would peel the hide off a donkey. They would pray and commit the matter to the Lord. I enjoyed hanging out in bars. They enjoyed going to church. And frankly, I was intrigued.

It was through the lives of these people that God put it in my heart to buy a Bible and investigate the person of Jesus Christ for myself. After I turned to Christ in repentance and faith, I wanted my life to reflect the life of Christ as theirs did. Fellowship with God on a daily basis was foundational, and I learned that morning prayer and Bible reading were a solid way to start the day. My wife and I began attending church services and participating in a young couples’ Sunday school class.

After a year or so, the Lord called us to serve Him on a full-time basis. We moved to Minneapolis and attended Northwestern College, where we met up with The Navigators. They reinforced my Bible reading and church attendance with practical instruction in Scripture memory, personal Bible study, and the consistent practice of meditation on the Word of God.

This combination had a profound effect on my life. Old habits began to melt away under the spotlight of God’s Word as I learned to apply the Word to my life. Sin was replaced with a desire for a holy life.

Prayer

Lord, I rejoice that the old me is gone and that You have made me a new creation, empowered to follow Your will as a true disciple. Amen.

To Ponder

The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in all His truth and beauty through yielded and caring disciples.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The War That Never Ends

Today’s Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. – Ephesians 5:3

Some years ago I became acquainted with a young man who lived on the West Coast. He had become a Christian and was showing great promise in his life of daily discipleship. Scripture memory came easy to him; he soon became consistent in his morning prayer and Bible reading; he joined a Bible study group; and he enjoyed going to church. His witness to fellow students at the university was clear and effective.

Gradually I began to notice a change. Although he continued to be involved in discipleship activities, the sparkle was gone. Then one day we happened to meet, and I asked if there was anything he wanted to talk over. He didn’t answer for a few minutes, and then finally said yes, there was. He had gotten to know a group of students on campus and had begun to hang around them so he might witness to them concerning faith in Christ.

He began to adopt their lifestyle, drinking with them, laughing at their crude jokes–all for a good purpose. Then it happened. He went with them to X-rated movies, and the war that never ends began to rage in his soul. The Bible describes it this way: “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17, KJV). It wasn’t long before his walk with God became a shambles and his witness ineffective.

Fortunately, through the prayers and loving care of some friends, he was restored. He came back to the Lord in true repentance, and today he is walking with God. But it was a very costly lesson.

Prayer

Lord, as I live among the lost and witness to them, keep me from crossing the line into their lifestyle. Amen.

To Ponder

Never underestimate the power of the lust of the flesh.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Likeness of Christ

Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

“He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.” – John 7:18

Most things that are taken to extreme can be harmful. For example, if you read on a medicine bottle that one tablet a day will make you well in ten days, and then foolishly reason that ten pills will make you well in one day, you will harm yourself.

The same thing can be true of our application of Scripture. Now, one of the clear teachings of Scripture is that you and I should live separated unto the Lord and separated from sin. The apostle Paul’s words recorded in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 say, “‘Therefore come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” If you and I are to serve the Lord, our lives must be clean.

“Fair enough,” you say. “But how is it possible to carry to extreme such a simple teaching of Scripture as this?” Let me give you an example. When my wife became a Christian, she stopped using any sort of makeup. Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, encouraged her and other women to try using some. His reasoning? All they were accomplishing by being pale-faced was to draw attention to themselves. They stood out in a crowd.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Likeness of Christ

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – A True Disciple

Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:4

When my hair began to turn gray, and it was evident I’d been around a long time, people began asking me, “How are Christians today different from Christians when you came to Christ?” My answer is always the same: Today’s Christians are far better trained to serve the Lord. There are conferences, seminars, and workshops available today that were unheard of in my early years. There’s also one thing lacking: the intense hunger for holiness that was in the lives of Christians a few decades ago.

Paul told the Romans, “I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil” (Romans 16:19, KJV). The word translated simple also is translated guileless and innocent! The word doesn’t come from the field of religion but from the study of metal. There are pure metals–gold, iron–and there are mixed metals–steel, bronze. And that’s the word Paul uses to mean unmixed regarding evil.

To the Greeks in Corinth, he spelled it out by asking them five questions recorded in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16: What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and [Satan]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?

It’s clear, isn’t it? You can’t mix light with darkness, or Christ with Satan. And to make this point, Paul never hesitated to go head-on against the culture in which these new converts were living. He warned them that God had called them to holiness in a culture where chastity was an absolutely unknown virtue. Christian, take your stand. Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul.

Prayer

Lord, create in me a hunger for holiness in my life. Amen.

To Ponder

Is the light of Christ in you so bright that it’s like a beacon in this dark world?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Lord’s Return

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 24-25

[God’s grace] teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. – Titus 2:12-13

I remember the day I walked into a college class to take a final exam, only to discover I had studied for the wrong subject. I broke out in a clammy sweat, and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Needless to say, I did poorly on the exam. I wasn’t prepared, and it was my own fault.

Jesus told a parable recorded in Matthew 25:13 that ended with these words: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” Whenever Jesus mentioned His return, He usually ended His remarks with the admonition to be prepared.

The Bible teaches that one way we can prepare for the Lord’s return is by living a life of purity. First John 3:3 says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” We also are to be doing the work Jesus left us to do. A big part of that is telling others about Him.

I knew someone who was passing out tracts on the streets of Chicago when, much to his surprise, a man asked how he could be saved. My buddy experienced a feeling similar to mine when I sat unprepared for my exam. He didn’t know how to lead a person to Christ. He apologized to the man and left him standing there on the street with his need unmet.

What are you doing to prepare for Christ’s return? Are you living a pure life? Can you present the gospel to the lost? Are you praying for friends, that God might open the door for you to witness to them? As we pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” let us be ready.

Prayer

Lord, keep me mindful of Your imminent return, and help me to put my energies in the things that count for eternity. Amen.

To Ponder

If Jesus should return today, would He find you doing the work He’s given you to do?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Christ in You

Today’s Scripture: Mark 11-13

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” – Luke 6:46

Jesus was a man of action, and His actions never failed to communicate the great desire and heart of God toward His people.

There is no greater example of this than in Mark 11:15-17: On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, He said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Can you picture the scene? The house of God had actually become a hindrance to those seeking God. Jesus came in and started turning over tables and cash registers, and told people to get out. He took drastic action, because anything that would keep people from finding salvation in the true and living God must be dealt with.

This is true of our lives as well. God wants us to be like salt, making people thirsty for God. And He wants us to be channels through which His living water can flow and quench the spiritual thirst of others.

Christian, does your life attract others to Christ, or have you become like the temple of Jesus’ day, full of commerce and religious activity, but void of any spiritual dimension and appeal? If some major housecleaning needs to be done, why not invite the Lord of action to take over and get started on it today?

Prayer

Lord, if there’s anything in my life right now that is hindering Your witness, please sweep it away. Amen.

To Ponder

When was the last time someone sought you out to talk about spiritual things?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Focus of Life

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 8-11

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. – Ephesians 4:17

What do we do when our lives get out of focus and we’re no longer doing what God has called us to do? Too often, nothing! Sometimes the blurring occurs so gradually that we don’t even know we’re out of focus. All the more reason to keep our eyes on Jesus. You see, He was a very focused person, and He stuck with His mission.

Notice Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:12-13: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus healing, teaching, and preaching–all part of revealing His kingdom. And everything He did was focused on His goal of calling people to repent and believe.

Can you imagine everything Jesus could have talked to people about? After all, He was the eternal Son of God who knew everything about everything. He could have explained all the scientific wonders of the universe or warned against the various manmade philosophies that would arise over the years–how each of them would lead down a blind alley and leave the followers of those teachings confused and frustrated. But Jesus didn’t deal with any of those things. Instead, He focused on what people need most–the good news of salvation. Why? Because unless people hear and respond to the gospel, they are lost and going to a Christless grave.

There are hundreds of good activities you can be involved in as a Christian, but what is most important? What is worth giving your life to? Jesus’ primary objective was to help people walk in the light of God’s Word and experience the salvation He offered. Shouldn’t that be our focus, too?

Prayer

Lord, You are the way, the truth, and the life. Empower me each day, as I meet and talk with people, to point them in Your direction. Amen.

To Ponder

What goals are most important to you?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Spiritual Cruise Control

Today’s Scripture: Malachi 1-4

We love because he first loved us. – 1 John 4:19

I’ve heard it said that in the Christian life you are either moving forward or going backward. But I know people who seem to be on a kind of spiritual plateau. They aren’t in rebellion against God nor are they living in open or secret sin. But they aren’t making any progress either. They haven’t led anyone to Christ in years, and they aren’t excited about anything related to the kingdom of God. They seem to have leveled out–just cruising on some kind of spiritual automatic pilot.

During the time of the prophet Malachi, God’s people were existing on a plateau of lukewarm mediocrity. The fifty thousand Jews who returned to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon had been settled in Judah for over seventy years, but the Messiah spoken of by Haggai and Zechariah had not yet come. All excitement about a genuine and intimate relationship with God seemed to have drained away. Even the worship of God had become an empty chore.

This is the background against which Malachi speaks, calling this lukewarm community of believers to return to a living and vital relationship with God. It’s fascinating to note that in forty-seven of the fifty-five verses in this book, God speaks with first-person directness to His people. The book of Malachi is God’s call to His lukewarm people to be faithful during a time when heaven seemed silent. Notice how God begins in Malachi 1:2: “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.”

It is love that binds God to His own. And it is love that God seeks from His own. He wants to walk with you in the devotion and commitment of your first love.

Prayer

Lord, I confess that my spiritual life is often on automatic pilot. Rekindle the fervor of my first love for You and Your purposes in this world. Amen.

To Ponder

If the joy is gone from your walk with God, how hard are you looking for it?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Serving God

Today’s Scripture: Ezekiel 33-36

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. – 1 Corinthians 3:6

In 1956, Dawson Trotman asked my wife and me to move to the Midwest and begin the Navigator ministry there. We invited a young mechanical engineer named Ron Rorabaugh to join us, rented a U-Haul trailer, and moved to Omaha, Nebraska.

As I searched the Scriptures for a plan of attack, the Lord led me to Ezekiel 36:37-38 which said the Lord would fill the ruined cities with flocks of people, and they would know that He is the Lord.

Ron and I began praying every morning that God would raise up a flock of men to join us in starting a disciple-making ministry throughout those Midwestern states. God soon put us in touch with a young insurance executive in Des Moines, a veterinarian in Sioux City, and a manager of an electrical firm in Omaha. As Ron and I continued to pray, I met with these men to teach them how to have a walk of daily discipleship with Christ, and we began to see people come to Christ through their witness. Gradually, there were little flocks of people all over the place. When we had our first weekend conference about a year later, 125 people came.

Years later, when I asked a staff worker for The Navigators how many people in the Midwest were being touched by all aspects of Navigator ministries, including our publications and church training courses, he thought for a minute and said, “Oh, I suppose around 50,000.” Now, I didn’t make that happen and neither did Ron. God did it, just as He promised He would. God can do the same through you as you claim His promises by faith and make yourself available to Him.

Prayer

Lord, use me to help increase Your flock in my neighborhood and the surrounding areas. Amen.

To Ponder

If our testimony is faithful, God will take care of the multiplication.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The People God Uses

Today’s Scripture: Ezekiel 20-23

I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints–but let them not return to folly. – Psalm 85:8

Although it has been almost forty years, it seems like only yesterday that I heard Dawson Trotman preach to us about God’s search for a certain kind of person. We were at a conference at Lake Iduhapi in Minnesota.

One of Dawson’s recurring themes was the value of one person who is fully committed to God, and he always challenged us to be that person. Dawson’s text there at Lake Iduhapi, and on many other occasions, was Ezekiel 22:30: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

Here is the all-knowing, all-seeing God searching the landscape for a person He could trust to intercede and plead for the people, and He searched in vain. Something of the intensity of His search is revealed in a cross-reference to 2 Chronicles 16:9: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

As a young man, D. L. Moody once heard a preacher say, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is fully yielded to Him.” So Moody resolved in his heart, “By the grace of God, I will be that man.” In spite of all of Moody’s educational and physical limitations, God used him to bring thousands into the kingdom.

God is still looking for that man or woman with a heart to do His will and with a commitment to His work. Will you tell Him today that you’re available?

Prayer

Lord, I’m available to do Your work and Your will. Amen.

To Ponder

Who does God want you to share the gospel with today?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Beyond the Beachhead

Today’s Scripture: Judges 1-5

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. – 1 John 5:21

When the children of Israel took possession of their respective areas in the Promised Land, it was a lot like establishing a beachhead. This was not the end but the beginning. They were to move on from there and rid the land of idolatry, blasphemy, occult practices, and sin of every kind. But they didn’t. We are told Judah didn’t drive them out; neither did Manassah, Zebulun, Asher, and so on. Why? Basically, they failed to move out from their beachhead.

I recall the day our Marine outfit invaded an enemy-held island during World War II. We weren’t ten feet out of the water when a Marine right next to me had his left arm blown off, and another man had his upper lip shot off. It took a lot of work to establish that beachhead, but that was only the beginning. From there we had to move inland and capture the airfield, one of our major objectives.

The people of God had done a lot of work to possess the Promised Land, yet they failed to follow through and finish the job. Why? It seems to me there were three reasons: fear, slothfulness, and tolerance for idolatry.

These same traits–fear, sloth, idolatry–can defeat us as well. In our saner moments, we know we’re not to be controlled by fear but by the Holy Spirit of God. If we’re not careful, our sloth can keep us from our morning prayers and Bible reading. And if we don’t have a deep and abiding hatred of idolatry, we can soon find ourselves becoming idolators.

Prayer

Lord, protect me from idolizing the things I love. Amen.

To Ponder

Are you growing in the Lord, or have you been content merely to establish a spiritual beachhead?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Hasty Conclusions

Today’s Scripture: Joshua 22-24

Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.” – 1 Samuel 1:13-14

The war in the land of Canaan had ended. They had rest according to all that God had promised, and every man had a clear title to his farm. Joshua dismissed those whose inheritance was on the east side of Jordan, so they started for their homes. And then they did something that almost led to tragedy. When they came to the borders of Jordan, they built an altar.

When the children of Israel in the west heard about what they had done, they gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against their eastern brothers! But before the army marched off to battle, they did a very wise thing. They sent Phineas the priest and ten leaders to Gilead to talk to their brothers and find out why they had built an altar. They found that the eastern tribes had not built an altar for sacrifice, but as a witness to the present and future generations of their vow to worship the Lord in His sanctuary.

Here is a tremendous lesson for us today. Hasty suspicion leads to false accusation and division. It is so easy to jump to conclusions and go off half-cocked and say things or do things that we will regret later–things Satan can use to bring reproach on the cause of Christ.

Are you in the midst of making some battle plans today? Your cause may be just, and the sin you are opposing may be serious. But are you sure the fellow Christians you’re getting ready to fight have actually done what you think they did? Do you know the motive behind their apparently wrong action?

Prayer

Lord, as Your Word says in James 1:19-20, teach me to be “slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” Amen.

To Ponder

“He who answers before listening–that is his folly and his shame” (Proverbs 18:13).

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Be on Guard

Today’s Scripture: Joshua 9-12

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. – 2 Corinthians 11:13-14

A jewelry store vault in a fashionable section of London was advertised as one of the world’s safest. It had armed security guards, steel walls two feet thick, bulletproof glass, infrared detectors, and sound detectors. How could anyone rob a vault like that?

It happened when two well-dressed men came in posing as prospective customers and convinced the manager to show them around. While a third man posed as a guard and turned other customers away from the front door, the two men put a gun to the manager’s head and robbed the vault of an estimated $32 million in jewelry and cash. Where brute force would have failed, they succeeded by trickery and deception.

This was the strategy of the men of Gibeon, recorded in Joshua 9. They pretended to come from a far country, seeking a treaty of peace and mutual alliance. It certainly seemed the Gibeonites were telling the truth. It looked like they had come from a far country. Their bread was moldy, their wineskins were torn, their shoes were worn out. But it was all a hoax, and Joshua was taken in. While he was victorious in open warfare, he was defeated by trickery. We can learn an important lesson from Joshua’s failure. Did he ask counsel of God? No. Did he seek the Lord? No. Did he counsel with the priests and elders? No. He acted on his own.

We must always remember that the enemy of our souls is not only a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour, he is also a subtle serpent.

Prayer

Lord, remind me to seek Your counsel in everything, great or small. And give me the discernment to resist Satan’s subtle ploys. Amen.

To Ponder

If you made a list of the five most dangerous temptations facing you today, what would they be?

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Who Will You Follow?

Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 18-21

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. – Joshua 24:15

When a child rebels against the Lord, the parents often turn the situation inward on themselves. “Where did we go wrong? How did I fail? Why couldn’t I have done better?” While it is true that we have a great influence on our children, there’s another side to the issue.

Hezekiah was a good king who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Yet in 2 Kings 16, we read that Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, lived according to the abominations of the heathen and sacrificed and burned incense to the pagan gods. In spite of having an evil father, Hezekiah was a good king because he made the right choices.

Now let’s look ahead to Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh. Because Hezekiah was such a godly man, we would expect his children to live in the fear of God. But when Manasseh became king, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And while Manasseh’s son Amon also did evil, Amon’s son, Josiah, became a godly king.

How do we account for this strange pattern? Did the parents of those who did evil fail, or was it a problem of environment? Why did these children of godly kings turn their backs on God? Because God gives everyone a choice. He opens the way for each of us to follow Him, but He leaves the choice with us.

As Christian parents, we should love our children, set a godly example for them, pray for them, and do all we can to lead them along the path of obedience to the Lord. But if they choose another direction, even though it causes us tremendous grief, we should not spend the rest of our lives condemning ourselves for their choices.

Prayer

Lord, I want to follow You and do Your will for the rest of my life. Amen.

To Ponder

In the grace, mercy, and sovereignty of God, He has made us free to choose.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Grace in Which We Stand

Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 12-16

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. – Jude 24

The tragedy revealed in 1 Kings 12-16 is that although it took Israel many years to achieve its place of power and grandeur, it took but a little while for them to sink in the mire of sin.

So it is with our spiritual lives. Growth is slow. It takes a long time to get our spiritual roots anchored firmly into the person of Christ. But it doesn’t take long to slide back into a place of rebellion and cold-heartedness.

I have a friend who showed great promise in his Christian growth. Year by year he took steps of faith that led to his becoming an established, mature, dedicated disciple of Christ. He went on to become an equipped spiritual laborer in the harvest fields of the world and was mightily used by God to bring many others to a personal faith in Christ. Then one day it happened. He met a woman to whom he was attracted, and today he is living in sin. Compared to the time required to mature in his faith, his decline was almost overnight.

That’s the warning from today’s passage. One after the other, we learn of the decline and fall of the leaders of the people. We see it in Solomon, in his son Rehoboam, in Jeroboam, Abijah, Nadab, Baasha–the list goes on.

You might be thinking, If I’m going to hit the skids spiritually someday, why not fall into sin today and get it over with? But the warning of Scripture is that while spiritual failure is always possible, it is never inevitable. Our challenge is to stand by the grace of God, recognize that we are vulnerable, and take heed lest we fall.

Prayer

Lord, may I never take for granted the Holy Spirit’s work in my life. Amen.

To Ponder

When was the last time you chose to stand by the grace of God against temptation?

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Obeying God’s Voice

Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 33-36

So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them. – Psalm 106:15

Reading the story of the people of God is often like reading the biography of a yo-yo. Finally the string of the yo-yo breaks, and we watch the nation plunge to the bottom and stay there.

Second Chronicles 36 tells us that Zedekiah was twenty-one when he became king, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against the Lord God of Israel. And the people and the priests followed his leadership. The record says they transgressed after all the abominations of the heathen and defiled the house of the Lord. When God continued to call them back to Himself, they mocked His messengers and despised His words till there was no remedy. And so we see the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.

If Zedekiah had simply made the Lord his friend, he could have prevented the ruin and saved the land. Because he would not humble himself and make himself the servant of God, he became the slave of his enemies. Multitudes were put to the sword, even in the sanctuary where they fled for refuge. But the sanctuary was ransacked, its treasures seized and carried to Babylon. The temple was burned, the walls of Jerusalem were demolished, and the stately palaces lay in ashes. The people who survived were carried to Babylon, enslaved, impoverished, insulted, and exposed to much misery in the enemy’s land.

What a picture of the person whose heart becomes hard and unyielding toward God. By the Lord’s grace, may we respond to His voice today, break out of the yo-yo syndrome, and walk with Him in daily discipleship.

Prayer

Lord, speak to me today and I will listen to Your voice and obey it. Amen.

To Ponder

The Lord calls to us through His Word, through our conscience, and through providential circumstances. What might He be saying to you today?

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Angels in Disguise

Today’s Scripture: Genesis 18:1-19

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. – 1 Peter 4:9

Do you remember the fairy tale of the king who wanted to find out if his people really loved him? He traveled as a homeless beggar and was taken into homes and given food and lodging. But there were some who turned him away and would not show kindness and hospitality to this ragged old man. Later, when he returned to his throne, he summoned those who had shown compassion to him and publicly rewarded them for their deeds. Try to imagine the disappointment of those who suddenly realized they had been given the opportunity to entertain the king but had turned it down!

There’s a Bible verse that speaks clearly of this: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). One such person was Abraham. He was sitting in his tent door when three men approached. His immediate response was to help them–to show kindness and hospitality to them.

Water was brought to wash their feet; they were given a morsel of bread with some butter and milk to satisfy their hunger, as well as a young calf. It was soon revealed to Abraham that these were not mere men but a visitation from the Lord. Abraham had the privilege of entertaining God’s holy angels!

Friend, hospitality is becoming a lost art. Our homes today have become a hiding place instead of a sharing place. Yet thousands of people have been launched on the road to salvation when they were invited into a Christian home and saw faith in action. Open your home today, and who knows, you might entertain an angel!

Prayer

Lord, help me to show loving hospitality to others so they can see Christ in me. Amen.

To Ponder

What keeps you from opening your home–and life–to others?

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Ministry of Angels

Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 1-2

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” – Exodus 23:20

I know a young man who lives in the city of Monrovia in Liberia, West Africa. A few years ago, he was involved in a terrible accident. He fell off a truck going at high speed down a crowded road. When he hit the ground, he was struck in the head by another vehicle, and his scalp was peeled back by the force of the blow.

The emergency team at the hospital was convinced he would die in a matter of minutes. Nevertheless, they sewed his scalp back, cleaned him up as best they could, and placed him in a bed in a crowded room.

In the middle of the night, the young man regained consciousness. His relatives were sitting near his bed asleep. And in the corner stood two men in white. They glowed with a shining white brightness. They came over to his bed, and without waking his family, told him they were angels who had been given charge over him to guard him and to minister to his needs. They then left, but not before assuring him they would always be near–that he could count on their help.

To the astonishment of the hospital staff, the young man made a complete recovery and regained his full strength. Today he suffers no effects from the accident, and of course his faith in God has been greatly strengthened.

Before you conclude this young man was hallucinating, look up the word angel in a Bible concordance and do a short study on these beings. You might start with Hebrews 1:14: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” By the way, have you considered that angels are watching over you right now?

Prayer

Lord, thank You for Your Word that says the angels protect us and minister to our needs. Amen.

To Ponder

Do you believe angels really exist?

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Baptism and the Fullness of the Holy Spirit

Today’s Scripture: Galatians 3:26-29, Ephesians 5:18

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. – Acts 5:32

I was walking in downtown Colorado Springs when I saw a car going the wrong way on a one-way street. People on the sidewalk were waving and shouting; people in cars were honking their horns. But the most interesting sight of all was the look of wild panic and confusion on the driver’s face.

Many aspects of our walk as disciples can be confusing, especially if we’re heading the wrong way! For instance, there are two words relating to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. One is baptism, and the other is fullness. Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit the same as the fullness of the Holy Spirit? In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul writes, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body.” And to the Galatians, he wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (3:26-27). The teaching is clear. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a once-for-all event and occurs when a person invites Christ into his or her heart and becomes part of the body of Christ.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is another matter entirely. Paul says in Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine… Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” When a person is drunk with wine, he is under the control of that wine. Paul says to be filled with the Spirit, so we can be controlled by the Spirit. As we walk in obedience to the Word of God–submitting ourselves to the Spirit’s control and yielding our will to Him day by day–we are walking by the Spirit’s power.

Prayer

Lord, I want to honor You by walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To Ponder

Today, are you walking under your own steam or by the power of the Holy Spirit?

https://www.navigators.org/Home