Tag Archives: living god

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Your Giant in Perspective

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Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” —1 Samuel 17:26

This is a joke. He can’t be serious!

David was on an errand for his father, who had sent him to the front lines to deliver food to his brothers. He arrived to find Goliath bellowing from the valley, mocking the God of Israel, blaspheming his Lord that he loved so deeply.

Goliath was a gigantic Philistine—nine feet and six inches of solid muscle, covered in armor. Every day he would taunt the Israelites, shouting, ” I will make you a deal. Send someone out to fight me. If he wins, we’ll be your servants. But if I win, you will be our servants. Any takers?”

No one wanted to go near him.

Meanwhile, there stood David. Though David was a musician, a poet, and a tenderhearted guy, he also was as tough as nails. When there were threats against his sheep, he took them on. He had killed a lion and a bear. He wasn’t afraid. And he wanted to know why someone wasn’t responding to Goliath’s challenge.

David wasn’t intimidated by his giant because he looked at things differently than everyone else. Everyone else saw a giant of a man and, apparently, a small God. David, however, saw a big God. That giant wasn’t as threatening to him as he was to the others.

Maybe you have a giant in your life that is taunting you right now. Maybe it is some kind of threat. Maybe it is an unsaved spouse or a prodigal son or daughter. This giant, so to speak, seeks to control you. It seeks to hurt you. It seeks to torment you.

So what should you do? Like David, see God for who He is and your giant for what it is. Call on God and pray for His power. Then attack your giant.

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Alistair Begg – Why Are We Here?

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We live to the Lord. Romans 14:8

If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should linger here. It is possible for a man to be taken to heaven and to be found fit to partake in the inheritance of the saints in light, even though he has only just believed in Jesus. It is true that our sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not be perfected until we lay aside our bodies and enter within the veil; but nevertheless, if the Lord had wanted to, He could have changed us from imperfection to perfection and have taken us to heaven at once.

Why then are we here? Would God keep His children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battlefield when one charge might give them the victory? Why are His children still wandering here and there through a maze when a single word from His lips would bring them into the center of their hopes in heaven?

The answer is–they are here that they may “live to the Lord” and may bring others to know His love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good seed, as plowmen to break up the fallow ground, as heralds publishing salvation. We are here as “the salt of the earth,”1 to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our daily life. We are here as workers for Him, and as workers together with Him. Let us see that our life fulfills this purpose. Let us live zealous, useful, holy lives, to “the praise of his glorious grace.”2

Meanwhile we long to be with Him and daily sing– My heart is with Him on His throne,

And ill can brook delay;

Each moment listening for the voice,

“Rise up, and come away.”

1 – Matthew 5:13

2 – Ephesians 1:6

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Our Daily Bread — Money Talk

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1 Timothy 6:6-12

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God. —1 Timothy 6:17

Marilyn and Steven had been married just a few years, and money was tight. But as she looked at their threadbare bedspread, she wanted to replace it. So she decided she would buy a new one with a credit card—hoping to somehow find the money to pay it off.

Her devotional reading for the day surprised her when it pointed her to Proverbs 22:27, “If you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you” (NIV). Marilyn decided not to go into debt for a new bedspread that day.

Decisions about the way we spend our money are a personal matter between us and the Lord and can be difficult to make. But God hasn’t left us without help. He tells us: “Honor the LORD with your possessions” (Prov. 3:9), and “You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt. 6:24 NIV).

With such truths in mind, we look further in His Word for help to use money wisely. We find this: “Beware of covetousness” (Luke 12:15). Another says, “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7). And in 1 Timothy we read, be “ready to give, willing to share” (6:18).

Money is a big issue. God, who provides for all our needs, can show us how to use it to bring Him honor. —Dave Branon

Lord, sometimes money and finances are

overwhelming. It’s hard to know what decisions

to make, so please lead me and give the wisdom

to use my finances in a way that pleases You.

Never let gold become your god.

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Greg Laurie – Misplaced Priorities

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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols—Acts 17:16

To be able to reach our culture, to be able to reach our unbelieving friends and family, to be able to reach someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus, we must first have a genuine concern for them.

While the apostle Paul was in Athens, “his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). Another translation of this verse says that Paul “was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city” (NLT).

Have you been angered by something in a spiritual way? I am talking about righteous indignation where you see how the devil is ripping people off, and you actually get a little angry about it.

In Athens, Paul was grieved to see the absolute absence of the living God, with every conceivable substitute in His place.

Do you ever feel that way as you look at our confused culture? It seems as though anything goes—except for Christianity.

Paul could have cursed the darkness in Athens. But he instead turned on the light.

Today we can wring our hands and talk about the state of affairs in our world. Or we can do something about it. All too often, we Christians are known for what we are against and not what we are for. We are for Jesus. And that is who we want to talk about. That is who we want to point people to. That is the primary message we need to give to our culture today. They need to hear the gospel.

If we dwell on other issues and forget the message of Jesus, then we have misplaced our priorities.

 

 

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.” / Genesis 25:11

Hagar had once found deliverance there and Ishmael had drank from the water so graciously revealed by the God who liveth and seeth the sons of men; but this was a merely casual visit, such as worldlings pay to the Lord in times of need, when it serves their turn. They cry to him in trouble, but forsake him in prosperity. Isaac dwelt there, and made the well of the living and all-seeing God his constant source of supply. The usual tenor of a man’s life, the dwelling of his soul, is the true test of his state. Perhaps the providential visitation experienced by Hagar struck Isaac’s mind, and led him to revere the place; its mystical name endeared it to him; his frequent musings by its brim at eventide made him familiar with the well; his meeting Rebecca there had made his spirit feel at home near the spot; but best of all, the fact that he there enjoyed fellowship with the living God, had made him select that hallowed ground for his dwelling. Let us learn to live in the presence of the living God; let us pray the Holy Spirit that this day, and every other day, we may feel, “Thou God seest me.” May the Lord Jehovah be as a well to us, delightful, comforting, unfailing, springing up unto eternal life. The bottle of the creature cracks and dries up, but the well of the Creator never fails; happy is he who dwells at the well, and so has abundant and constant supplies near at hand. The Lord has been a sure helper to others: his name is Shaddai, God All-sufficient; our hearts have often had most delightful intercourse with him; through him our soul has found her glorious Husband, the Lord Jesus; and in him this day we live, and move, and have our being; let us, then, dwell in closest fellowship with him. Glorious Lord, constrain us that we may never leave thee, but dwell by the well of the living God.

 

Evening  “Whereas the Lord was there.” / Ezekiel 35:10

Edom’s princes saw the whole country left desolate, and counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great difficulty in their way–quite unknown to them–“The Lord was there;” and in his presence lay the special security of the chosen land. Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the enemies of God’s people, there is still the same effectual barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God’s heritage, and he is in the midst of them, and will protect his own. What comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our faith, but our faith defies the power of hell’s fiery darts; they are not only turned aside, but they are quenched upon its shield, for “the Lord is there.” Our good works are the subjects of Satan’s attacks. A saint never yet had a virtue or a grace which was not the target for hellish bullets: whether it was hope bright and sparkling, or love warm and fervent, or patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming like coals of fire, the old enemy of everything that is good has tried to destroy it. The only reason why anything virtuous or lovely survives in us is this, “the Lord is there.”

If the Lord be with us through life, we need not fear for our dying confidence; for when we come to die, we shall find that “the Lord is there;” where the billows are most tempestuous, and the water is most chill, we shall feel the bottom, and know that it is good: our feet shall stand upon the Rock of Ages when time is passing away. Beloved, from the first of a Christian’s life to the last, the only reason why he does not perish is because “the Lord is there.” When the God of everlasting love shall change and leave his elect to perish, then may the Church of God be destroyed; but not till then, because it is written, Jehovah Shammah, “The Lord is there.”

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “I have much people in this city.” / Acts 18:10

This should be a great encouragement to try to do good, since God has among

the vilest of the vile, the most reprobate, the most debauched and drunken, an

elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so

because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and

they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as

much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are

Christ’s property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of the ale-house, and

haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them he will have them. God

is not unfaithful to forget the price which his Son has paid. He will not

suffer his substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of

thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must

be; and this is our comfort when we go forth to them with the quickening Word

of God.

Nay, more, these ungodly ones are prayed for by Christ before the throne.

“Neither pray I for these alone,” saith the great Intercessor, “but for them

also which shall believe on me through their word.” Poor, ignorant souls, they

know nothing about prayer for themselves, but Jesus prays for them. Their

names are on his breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee,

breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace. “The time of figs

is not yet.” The predestinated moment has not struck; but, when it comes, they

shall obey, for God will have his own; they must, for the Spirit is not to be

withstood when he cometh forth with fulness of power–they must become the

willing servants of the living God. “My people shall be willing in the day of

my power.” “He shall justify many.” “He shall see of the travail of his soul.”

“I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil

with the strong.”

 

Evening  “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit,

the redemption of our body.” / Romans 8:23

This groaning is universal among the saints: to a greater or less extent we

all feel it. It is not the groan of murmuring or complaint: it is rather the

note of desire than of distress. Having received an earnest, we desire the

whole of our portion; we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity

of spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of the fall;

we long to put off corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and to wrap ourselves

in incorruption, in immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the

Lord Jesus will bestow upon his people. We long for the manifestation of our

adoption as the children of God. “We groan,” but it is “within ourselves.” It

is not the hypocrite’s groan, by which he would make men believe that he is a

saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things, too hallowed for us

to tell abroad. We keep our longings to our Lord alone. Then the apostle says

we are “waiting,” by which we learn that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah

or Elijah, when they said, “Let me die”; nor are we to whimper and sigh for

the end of life because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape from our

present sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to groan for

glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord

appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door

expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to himself. This “groaning”

is a test. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan

after wealth–they worship Mammon; some groan continually under the troubles

of life–they are merely impatient; but the man who sighs after God, who is

uneasy till he is made like Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us

to groan for the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which he will bring

to us.