I know that as you pray for me, and as the Holy Spirit helps me, this is all going to turn out for my good.—Philippians 1:19
Sometimes I think that today’s “prosperity preachers” have hijacked a legitimate biblical term. After all, God does want His sons and daughters to prosper. But what does that really mean? That you’ll never get sick? Never have problems? Never run out of money? Never have strains in your relationships? No, that is not what the Bible means by “prosperity.”
Five years before making his journey to Rome, Paul wrote to the believers there and said in Romans 1:10, “Making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.” In other words, “Hey, would you guys pray for me? I’m coming your way. And pray that the Lord gives me a prosperous journey by the will of God.”
Did God answer his prayer? Yes. He did make it to Rome and had an amazing ministry there of preaching, teaching, discipleship, and writing. He just hadn’t understood that getting to Rome would mean false accusations, arrest, incarceration, and chains. He couldn’t have foreseen that it would involve hurricane-force winds at sea, shipwreck on an island, and the bite of a poisonous viper on the way.
The reality is that you can live a prosperous life in the will of God and still face fierce personal conflict and adversity. Paul went through a shipwreck on his way to Rome, but he had a prosperous journey by the will of God because of what it ultimately accomplished.
Facing storms and shipwrecks in our lives really isn’t a matter of if; it is a matter of when. So it’s time for us to get our sea legs under us. Rather than trying to avoid the storms of life, we need to learn how to get through them, how to survive them, and how to learn the lessons that we can only learn in such times and such places.
It has been said that you can’t direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails. In other words, I can’t control all the elements of my world—or even very many of them at all. But I can control my reaction to them. I can adjust my sails—and adapt.
Tag Archives: love
Max Lucado – Without God–All are Lost
Symbols are important. Some of them, like communion and baptism, illustrate the cross of Christ. They symbolize salvation, demonstrate salvation, even articulate salvation. But they do not impart salvation. Do we honestly think God would save his children based upon a symbol? What kind of God would look at a religious hypocrite and say, “You have never loved me, sought me or obeyed me, but because your name was on the roll of a church in the right denomination, I’ll save you?”
Our God is abundant in love and steadfast in mercy. He saves us, not because we trust in a symbol, but because we trust in a Savior! Without God, all are lost. God justifies the believer, not because of the worthiness of his belief, but because of Christ’s worthiness!
From In the Grip of Grace
Charles Stanley – A Barometer for Our Spiritual Growth
So you’re a Christian, but time has quickly ticked by since those first weeks following your initial fervent commitment to Christ. Do you ever wonder if you’re growing spiritually? Work demands your attention more than ever. Your old habits fight to break into your new life in Christ. Temptation continues. How can you tell if your faith is continuing to grow?
KNOW GOD
One of the first indicators that you are maturing in your Christian walk is an increasing hunger to know God. Do you cherish the time you spend alone with Him? Do you linger at the close of your prayer time, wanting to hear just a little more from the Father? Do you seek out opportunities to commune with the Lord and learn more about Him? If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, be encouraged—you are experiencing growth in your spiritual life.
KNOW HIS WORD
Another indicator of spiritual growth is an increasing desire to know God’s Word. Do you find yourself meditating on Scripture, hoping to glean more truth? Have you considered joining a Bible study or enrolling in seminary because you genuinely want to know more about the Bible? If so, God has given you a longing to understand the truths found in His Word.
KNOW HIS GRACE
Besides longing for God’s fellowship and wisdom, a true mark of spiritual development is an awareness of your sinfulness and the extent of God’s grace in your life. The more you learn about God’s nature, the more you will be able to identify His grace. The immensity of the Father’s redeeming grace is humbling. It makes you aware of your own weakness and folly. Only then, when you have become humble, can you fully accept God’s will for your life.
Related Resources
- How do I develop perfect faith in God?
- How does my focus affect my faith?
- How do I make sure I am progressing in my Christian walk?
- How do my beliefs affect my ability to succeed?
Related Audio
A Barometer for Our Spiritual Growth
If we are maturing in our Christian walk, then we will certainly have a growing hunger to know God. We will not be satisfied with how much we know Him or understand His ways; instead, we will yearn to know Him more and more. (Listen to A Barometer for Our Spiritual Growth now.)
Our Daily Bread — Gentle Jesus
Matthew 18:1-10
Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 18:3
Charles Wesley (1707–1788) was a Methodist evangelist who wrote more than 9,000 hymns and sacred poems. Some, like “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” are great, soaring hymns of praise. But his poem “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild,” first published in 1742, is a child’s quiet prayer that captures the essence of how all of us should seek the Lord in sincere, simple faith.
Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb,
In Thy gracious hands I am;
Make me, Savior, what Thou art,
Live Thyself within my heart.
When some followers of Jesus were jockeying for position in His kingdom, the Lord “called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 18:2-3).
Not many children seek position or power. Instead, they want acceptance and security. They cling to the adults who love and care for them. Jesus never turned children away.
The last stanza of Wesley’s poem shows a childlike desire to be just like Jesus: “I shall then show forth Thy praise / Serve Thee all my happy days; / Then the world shall always see / Christ, the holy Child, in me.” —David McCasland
Father, give me the faith of a little child. I want
to know Your love and care, and to rest in Your
embrace. Grant my desire to be like You in all
my ways that I might live for Your honor.
Faith shines brightest in a childlike heart.
Bible in a year: Proverbs 19-21; 2 Corinthians 7
Insight
Jesus’ warning in Matthew 18:6 would have been received with the weight it deserved. The ancient Hebrews viewed the sea as a place of danger and chaos. As a result, there were few things more feared than death by drowning, the picture Jesus painted here.
Alistair Begg – Grieving Sin
I acknowledge my sin unto you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:5
David’s grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible on his outward frame: His bones wasted away; his strength dried up like the drought of summer. He was unable to find a remedy until he made a full confession before the throne of heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silent, and his heart was filled with grief and his lips with groaning: Like a mountain stream that is blocked, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow. He created excuses, he tried to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and, unwilling to use the scalpel of confession, his spirit was tormented and knew no peace.
At last it came to this, that he must return to God in humble penitence or die outright; so he hurried to the mercy-seat and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the all-seeing God, acknowledging all the evil of his ways in the terms of the Fifty-first and other penitential Psalms. Having confessed, a task so simple and yet so hard for the proud, he immediately received the token of divine forgiveness; the bones that had been wasted were made to rejoice, and he emerged from his prayers to sing the joyful songs of the one whose transgression is forgiven.
Do you see the value of this grace-led confession of sin? It is to be prized above everything, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession, mercy is freely given—not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ’s sake. May God be praised, there is always healing for the broken heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins. Truly, O Lord, You are a God “ready to forgive.”1 Therefore will we humbly acknowledge our iniquities.
1) Nehemiah 9:17
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The family reading plan for September 14, 2014 * Ezekiel 17 * Psalm 60, 61
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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.
Charles Spurgeon – An appeal to sinners
“This man receiveth sinners.” Luke 15:2
Suggested Further Reading: Ephesians 1:3-8
Allow us just to amplify that word: “this man receiveth sinners.” Now, by that we understand that he receives sinners to all the benefits which he has purchased for them. If there be a fountain, he receives sinners to wash them in it; if there be medicine for the soul, he receives sinners to heal their diseases; if there be a house for the sick, an hospital, a home for the dying, he receives such into that retreat of mercy. All that he has of love, all that he has of mercy, all that he has of atonement, all that he has of sanctification, all that he has of righteousness—to all these he receives the sinner. Yea, more; not content with taking him to his house, he receives him to his heart. He takes the black and filthy sinner, and having washed him—“There,” he says, “thou art my beloved; my desire is towards thee.” And to consummate the whole, at last he receives the saints to heaven. Saints, I said, but I meant those who were sinners, for none can be saints truly, but those who once were sinners, and have been washed in the blood of Christ, and made white through the sacrifice of the lamb. Observe it then, beloved, that in receiving sinners we mean the whole of salvation; and this word in my text, “Christ receiveth sinners,” grasps in the whole of the covenant. He receives them to the joys of paradise, to the bliss of the beatified, to the songs of the glorified, to an eternity of happiness for ever. “This man receiveth sinners;” and I dwell with special emphasis on this point,—he receives none else. He will have none else to be saved but those who know themselves to be sinners.
For meditation: Contrast whom Christ receives with all that they receive in him in return (Luke 15:20-24). Are you one of them?
Sermon no. 219
14 September (1856)
Joyce Meyer – My Normal Mind
I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones). —Ephesians 1:16–18
This section in Ephesians is difficult for many of us to understand. What does Paul mean by “the eyes of your heart flooded with light” (v. 18)? I believe he is referring to the mind, because that’s what needs enlightenment. It is with the mind that we grasp God’s truths and hold to them.
Too many of us have difficulty being “flooded with light” because we are distracted with too many other things. The apostle prays for us to have what I call a normal mind—a mind that’s open to the Holy Spirit’s work—so that we may follow God’s plan and live enriched lives.
One way to think about the idea of a normal mind is to look at two of Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha. Most people know the story of the sisters and the visit Jesus made to their home in Bethany. Martha scurried around, making certain that everything in their home was exactly right, while Mary sat down to listen to Jesus. Luke says Martha “was distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40), and she complained to Jesus that she needed her sister’s help.
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things” (v. 41), Jesus told her, and then He commended Mary for having chosen the “good portion.”
As I thought about that incident, I realized it was more than Martha being distracted. I’m sure her mind jumped around, making certain that everything was exactly right. The implication is that even if there had been nothing more to do, Martha wouldn’t have stopped to sit at Jesus’ feet. She was so caught up in busyness that her mind would have searched for something else to do.
The Marthas seem to be in control of our world, don’t they? They are the ones who get things done. When they’re not accomplishing their own goals, they seem to be telling others what they should do. In today’s world of “multi-tasking” the Marthas seem to get the awards and the accolades. Some people are busy all the time. They wear their busyness like a badge, as if that makes them more important. Their busyness can easily distract them from developing a solid relationship with God. They’re the ones who often lack depth of peace and rarely know spiritual contentment. That is, they don’t have what God considers a normal mind. It is not in the condition He would like it to be in.
People who are excessively busy cannot even sleep when they lie down at night. They are either mentally going over the day’s activities or making mental lists of the tasks for the next day.
This isn’t the lifestyle Jesus calls us to. As believers, we are spiritual beings, but we’re also natural. The natural doesn’t understand the spiritual and constantly fights that part of our nature. The Bible makes it clear that the mind and the spirit work together. That’s the principle I call “the mind aiding the spirit.”
For the mind to aid the spirit, we must learn to pull back from all the distractions around us. There will always be demands on our time and energy, and we can always find plenty to do. But if we want to live with the mind of Christ, the one that should be normal for Christians, it means we must learn to imitate Mary. Despite all the clamor and activities going on around her, she was able to sit, relax, and listen to the voice of the Master. That’s how the mind is supposed to work. It should be quiet and under the control of the Spirit. However, we often find that our minds are so set in a wrong direction that they actually hinder the Spirit from helping us, as they should be free to do.
If you realize from this devotion that your mind has been behaving abnormally, ask God to forgive you and teach you what a normal mind is in His kingdom.
Dear God in heaven, distractions constantly come at me. When I try to pause and focus on You, my mind seems to be filled with dozens of things I need to do. I realize that I truly need only one thing—to focus on You. Please help me push away every distraction and noise so I can hear only Your voice that says, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” Amen.
Our Daily Bread — Think Of Them No More
Isaiah 43:22-28
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. —Isaiah 43:25
My early years as a believer in Christ were laden with foreboding. I had the impression that when Jesus comes back, all my sins will be portrayed on a giant screen for everyone to see.
I know now that God chooses not to remember against me a single one of my transgressions. Every sin has been buried in the deepest sea, never to be exhumed and examined again.
Amy Carmichael wrote, “A day or two ago I was thinking rather sadly of the past—so many sins and failures and lapses of every kind. I was reading Isaiah 43, and in verse 24 I saw myself: ‘You have wearied me with your iniquities.’ And then for the first time I noticed that there is no space between verse 24 and verse 25: ‘I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.’”
Indeed, when our Lord comes back He will “bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God” (1 Cor. 4:5). On that day our works will be tried and we may suffer loss, but we will not be judged for sin (3:11-15). God will see what Christ has done for us. He “will not remember [our] sins.” —David Roper
Where no far-reaching tide with its powerful sweep
May stir the dark waves of forgetfulness deep,
I have buried them there where no mortal can see!
I’ve cast all thy sins in the depths of the sea. —Anon.
When God saves us, our sins are forgiven forever.
Bible in a year: Proverbs 16-18; 2 Corinthians 6
Insight
God’s people had been unfaithful and had stubbornly refused to repent and return to God (Isa. 43:22-24). Yet despite their sins and guilt, God in His mercy said He would forgive them (v.25), even though they were undeserving of His favor (v.26). From the time of “your first father and your mediators”—perhaps referring to Abraham and other covenantal leaders such as Moses—they were all sinners (v.27). Although their sins would be forgiven, they would still face the consequences of their actions and be disciplined through the exile (v.28).
Charles Stanley – Avoiding Shipwreck
1 Timothy 1:18-20
The apostle Paul wanted his young charge Timothy to grasp the basics of keeping the faith. So he wrote about two men who ignored their conscience at great peril. Their example shows that without an understanding of what this gift from God is, we run the risk of capsizing our faith.
Many people mistakenly think of the conscience as God’s voice instead of God’s gift. We were created with an “inner monitor” that acts as a moral compass for life; it points to a standard of right and wrong that can guide our decisions. But the conscience, like everything else in us, is fallen and in need of redemption. Depending on how it has been programmed, our conscience can nudge us in the wrong direction.
Paul himself is an illustration of this. His formal education as a Pharisee had taught him that Christians were a threat to God and the Jewish faith. His conscience had been programmed to see killing them as service to the Lord. So he passionately hunted down believers without tripping an alarm on his moral compass. Only after the risen Christ met him on the way to Damascus was his conscience transformed and his life altered.
Unless we let the Lord redeem us fully, our decisions can prove as destructive as if we ignored our “monitoring system” altogether. By understanding the divine gift of conscience, we stand a better chance of staying on course and away from trouble. What’s more, if we submit our conscience to the Holy Spirit, we will find safe harbor when storms threaten our faith or future.
Charles Spurgeon – The condescension of Christ
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9
Suggested Further Reading: Mark 15:16-39
Our Lord Jesus might have said in all his sorrows, “I have known better days than these.” When he was tempted of the devil in the wilderness, it must have been hard for him to have restrained himself from dashing the devil into pieces. If I had been the Son of God, feeling as I do now, if that devil had tempted me I should have dashed him into the nethermost hell, in the twinkling of an eye! And then conceive the patience our Lord must have had, standing on the pinnacle of the temple, when the devil said, “Fall down and worship me.” He would not touch him, the vile deceiver, but let him do what he pleased.Oh! What might of misery and love there must have been in the Saviour’s heart when he was spat upon by the men he had created; when the eyes he himself had filled with vision, looked on him with scorn, and when the tongues, to which he himself had given utterance, hissed and blasphemed him! Oh, my friends, if the Saviour had felt as we do, and I doubt not he did feel in some measure as we do—only by great patience he curbed himself—he might have swept them all away; and, as they said, he might have come down from the cross, and delivered himself, and destroyed them utterly. It was mighty patience that could bear to tread this world beneath his feet, and not to crush it, when it so ill-treated its Redeemer.You marvel at the patience which restrained him; you marvel also at the poverty he must have felt, the poverty of spirit, when they rebuked him and he reviled them not again; when they scoffed at him, and yet he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He had seen brighter days; that made his misery more bitter, and his poverty more poor.
For meditation: In the garden Jesus could have used his power to call twelve legions of angels to his rescue (Matthew 26:53), but instead he employed it to heal the ear of one of his enemies (Luke 22:51). On the cross he could have used his power to save himself, but instead he continued to employ it to save others—his enemies, including us (Romans 5:10).
Sermon no. 151
13 September (1857)
Joyce Meyer – Speak Words of Wisdom
For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.
—Matthew 12:34
It is challenging to say right things when you feel totally wrong. When your emotions are running high or low, you are tempted to speak emotionally rather than sensibly. But you must allow wisdom to rise above emotion.
God spoke about nonexistent things as if they already existed, and He created the world with faith-filled words. You are created in His image, and you can also call things that are not as though they are. You can speak positive things about yourself into the atmosphere and thereby “prophesy your future.”
Think about the words you speak and you will learn a lot about yourself. As a Christian, you are God’s representative, and your words should reflect His character. Meditating on the goodness of God will fill your heart with joy, and the words you speak will glorify Him and be a testimony to others.
Campus Crusade – Happy are the Pure in Heart
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8, KJV).
Jesus had a flashpoint against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They professed to be something they were not. Externally they did everything right, adhering meticulously to all the details of the law, yet He referred to them as being “whitewashed tombs” internally, and being “full of dead men’s bones.” Thus, obviously, the “pure in heart” did not apply to the Pharisees, according to His view of them.
In John 14:21, Jesus says, “The one who obeys Me is the one who loves Me and because he loves Me My Father will love him and I will too and I will reveal Myself to him.” That is another way of saying what He said in the verse in Matthew above. The pure in heart shall see God because He will reveal Himself to those who obey, and only the pure in heart obey.
If God seems impersonal to you, far off and unreachable, you may want to look into the mirror of your heart to see if anything there would grieve or quench the Spirit, short- circuiting His communication with you.
You may be sure of this promise of God: The pure in heart will experience the reality of His presence within.
If for some reason this is not your experience, God has made provision whereby you can have vital fellowship with Him. Breathe spiritually. Exhale by confessing yours sins, and inhale by appropriating the fullness of God’s Spirit. Begin to delight yourself in the Lord and in His Word, asking God to give you a pure heart, and you may be assured that God will become a reality to you.
Bible Reading: Psalm 18:20-26
TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Because I desire to have a close personal relationship with God and to live a supernatural life, I will keep my heart pure before Him.
Presidential Paryer Team – G.C. – Out to Sea
Four-year-old Jemima Chambers was rescued recently off the Jersey shore after drifting half a mile out to sea on a body board. Her mother says she had a false sense of security while watching over Jemima because everyone was just paddling around in shallow water. But when she checked again, her daughter was a speck in the distance. Rescuers jumped on a jet ski and approached the little girl, finding her relaxed and unaware she was in great danger.
You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
II Corinthians 1:11
In II Corinthians, Paul exhorts his fellow Christians to pray for him and his mission to spread the gospel. As with little Jemima, Paul knows it’s easy to drift. Anyone might be pulled out into a sea of error without the watchful prayers of God’s people.
Today, pray for believers working in governmental leadership in Washington D.C. and in your community. Be a watcher in the water for those proclaiming the name of Christ on the public platform. Ask God to protect their character, keeping them safely close to His shore and away from the dangers of the deep.
Recommended Reading: Isaiah 43:1-7
Greg Laurie – Break the Glass!
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.—Psalm 56:8
When you’re hurting and no one else seems to understand, God understands. You can bring a burden before the Lord that may seem insignificant to someone else. Whatever weighs on your heart is a concern to Him, and He wants you to talk to Him about it. As it says in the J. B. Phillips version of 1 Peter 5:7, “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.”
David understood this when he wrote, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book,” (Psalm 56:8, NLT). That is a wonderful insight into the personal compassion that God has for each and every one of us.
We are prone to only pray about the “big things.” We tend to think of prayer as a last resort, like the fire alarms that say, “In case of emergency, break this glass.” If it’s a little fire, so to speak, we think, I can handle this, and we’ll put the fire out. But if half the building is burning, then we go ahead and break the glass.
What is God telling us?
Break the glass.
No matter what it may be, run to Him in prayer. Don’t wait for a small thing to become a big thing. Your heavenly Father is interested in every detail of your life. Don’t reduce the infinite to the finite by placing a limit on God, because He says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).
Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything” (NLT). Note the word everything. It doesn’t say, “Pray about some things.” Nor does it say, “Pray about really big things.” I checked the original language, and guess what? It says “everything” in Greek and “everything” in English. And that is just what God intended. Pray about everything.
Our Daily Bread — The Small Giant
1 Samuel 17:32-37
The LORD . . . will deliver me. —1 Samuel 17:37
The towering enemy strides into the Valley of Elah. He stands 9 feet tall, and his coat of armor, made of many small bronze plates, glimmers in the sunlight. The shaft of his spear is wrapped with cords so it can spin through the air and be thrown with greater distance and accuracy. Goliath looks invincible.
But David knows better. While Goliath may look like a giant and act like a giant, in contrast to the living God he is small. David has a right view of God and therefore a right view of the circumstances. He sees Goliath as one who is defying the armies of the living God (1 Sam. 17:26). He confidently appears before Goliath in his shepherd’s clothes, armed with only his staff, five stones, and a sling. His confidence is not in what he has but in who is with him (v.45).
What “Goliath” are you facing right now? It may be an impossible situation at work, a financial difficulty, or a broken relationship. With God all things are small in comparison. Nothing is too big for Him. The words of the hymnwriter Charles Wesley remind us: “Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and looks to that alone; laughs at impossibilities, and cries it shall be done.” God is able to deliver you if that’s His desire, and He may do so in ways you don’t expect. —Poh Fang Chia
Not to the strong is the battle,
Not to the swift is the race;
Yet to the true and the faithful
Victory is promised through grace. —Crosby
Don’t tell God how big your giants are. Tell your giants how big your God is.
Bible in a year: Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5
Insight
David was young at the time he faced Goliath, so his courage in confronting the giant is impressive. His confidence was in God and was based on His actions in the past. David considered the heroic actions of his shepherding days (17:34-35) as victories of the Lord (v.37). His boldness was encouraged by the faithful strength of God.
Charles Stanley – Jesus—God’s Perfect Gift
Romans 5:6-21
Jesus is God’s precious and perfect gift to us. Heaven sent, the present was willingly given at great cost because we were in desperate need. This remarkable gift from God is . . .
Universal and Personal. Through Jesus, the Father offers salvation to the entire world, one person at a time (John 3:16). Whoever receives the Son discovers His unlimited worth.
Preventive. When Jesus becomes our personal Savior, we are granted forgiveness and are set free from condemnation for our sin (Rom. 8:1). This divine gift prevents us from having to face eternal death, which would mean permanent separation from God.
Eternal. What Jesus brings us lasts forever. From the day of salvation, Christ’s Spirit indwells us and remains with us. As permanent members of God’s family, we have an inheritance in heaven that can neither spoil nor perish (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
Full of Love. Unconditional love is what motivated the Father to sacrifice His Son in our place. None of us deserved it. At some point, we’ve all sinned (Rom. 3:10)—we have turned away from God to follow our own desires. In spite of who we are, God set His affection on us and proved it through the life and death of His Son. By His love, we’ve been rescued from bondage to sin and are being transformed into the people He designed us to be.
If you haven’t accepted God’s offer of salvation, today can become your spiritual birthday. If you already belong to God’s family, you know the value of the gift. Won’t you tell someone today about this marvelous present.
Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Sounds of Hope
Not long ago, I was listening to a collection of interviews and commentaries on the subject of spirituality in the West. Some of those interviewed were authors of best-selling books on various topics of religion and spirituality; others were interviewed simply as passersby on the street. “Who is God?” the interviewers asked repeatedly. “What does it mean to be a spiritual person?” The answers were as diverse as the notes in a concerto, but the composition was at best one of chaos and contradiction, perhaps more accurately described as a “symphony” in which everyone is encouraged to play privately, but in the same place, at the same time, the sounds or noise of their own choosing. I came to the end and could only sigh: “How can anyone muddle through such a racket?”
The current state and practice of popular spirituality in West at times brings to mind words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. It is a “discipline of delusion” to chase after spiritually as if it were a matter of preference and not a matter pertaining to what is real. “They are altogether stupid and foolish,” writes Jeremiah, “In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood” (10:8).
Millions and millions of people confess to believe in God, to know God, to consider God in some way. But does our confession of God in these moments pertain to what is real or true? Can the starting point of such knowledge begin anywhere else? In the book of Romans, Paul writes of those who follow God not as God but as something less—something corrupted at their own hands—and so end up chasing darkness. He writes, “For even though they knew God… they became futile in their speculations… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.”(1)
Who is it we say that we know? Do our speculations lead us astray or lead us closer to the truth of God? Are they the sort of speculations we can hold before scenes of life and death? The apostle Paul describes the God he knows as one “who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). This is not his way of relegating our knowledge of God as something important only for the next life. On the contrary, the apostle wants us to see the resounding hope of a God who can hold life and death in a way that our delusional speculations of God cannot.
Death indeed has a way of questioning our knowledge of God. In death we are reminded—or startled to the memory—of God’s status in life. Is it sovereignty or simply therapeutic? We are reminded similarly of life’s most significant answers. Why do I believe this? Who is this I say I believe in and what does that mean? In the midst of such questions we are alert to the richest sounds of belief: Do I believe because I have encountered the goodness of God or because I want God to bring me good things? “God is convenient,” or “God wants me to be happy” are very different songs than “God has come near” or “God has become one of us.” As good theology is the best answer to life’s crises, death is a plea to the importance of sound hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you” (Isaiah 26:3). When life is shaken, when the misleading sounds of our own preferences fall flat, we find that our knowledge of God is either a resounding consolation or a blaring delusion.
I attended an Easter morning service more than a decade ago that continues to resonate in mind. It was held in a cemetery. Surrounded by silent stones, each one marking a life put to rest, with the sting of a loved one’s death still fresh in my mind, we sang:
Lives again our glorious King,
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Once He died our souls to save,
Where thy victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ hath led,
Following our exalted Head,
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
In the vicarious humanity of the risen Christ, death and is swallowed up in victory for life. Our human mediator has won, and humanity shall win. The resounding consolation of knowing Christ is one that can hold the world in hope and make us long for the kingdom to come.
Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Alistair Begg – Big with Mercy
I will sing of steadfast love and justice. Psalm 101:1
Faith is triumphant in trial. When reason has her feet fastened in the stocks of the inner prison, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her happy notes as she cries, “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music.” Faith pulls the dark mask from the face of trouble and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud and sees that
“It is big with mercy and will break
In blessings on her head.”
There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God toward us. For, first, the trial is not as difficult as it might have been; next, the trouble is not as severe as we deserved; and our affliction is not as crushing as the burden that others have to carry. Faith sees that in her deepest sorrow there is no punishment. There is not a drop of God’s wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith finds love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith wears her grief “like a badge of honor” and sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work for her spiritual good. Faith says, “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”1 So faith rides out in victory, trampling down earthly wisdom and carnal knowledge, and singing songs of triumph where the battle rages.
All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy
Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I’ll not forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Savior’s seat.
1) 2 Corinthians 4:17
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The family reading plan for September 12, 2014 * Ezekiel 15 * Psalm 56, 57
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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.
Charles Spurgeon – The fatherhood of God
“Our Father which art in heaven.” Matthew 6:9
Suggested Further Reading: Luke 11:1-13
A child, even though he is erring, always expects his father will hear what he has to say. “Lord, if I call thee King thou wilt say, “Thou art a rebellious subject; get thee gone.” If I call thee Judge thou wilt say, “Be still, or out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee.” If I call thee Creator thou wilt say unto me, “It repenteth me that I made man upon the earth.” If I call thee my Preserver thou wilt say unto me, “I have preserved thee, but thou hast rebelled against me.” But if I call thee Father, all my sinfulness doth not invalidate my claim. If thou be my Father, then thou lovest me; if I be thy child, then thou wilt regard me, and poor though my language be, thou wilt not despise it.” If a child were called upon to speak in the presence of a number of persons, how very much alarmed he would be lest he should not use right language. I may sometimes feel concerned when I have to address a mighty audience, lest I should not select choice words, full well knowing that if I were to preach as I never shall, like the mightiest of orators, I should always have enough of carping critics to rail at me. But if I had my Father here, and if you could all stand in the relationship of father to me, I should not be very particular what language I used. When I talk to my Father I am not afraid he will misunderstand me; if I put my words a little out of place he understands my meaning somehow. When we are little children we only prattle; still our father understands us.
For meditation: The Father always heard the Lord Jesus Christ (John 11:41,42); by the working of the Holy Spirit he can understand us even when we cannot understand ourselves (Romans 8:26,27). Never be afraid to go to him in prayer because words fail you.
Sermon no. 213
12 September (1858)
John MacArthur – Resisting the Devil
“Take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph. 6:13).
Spiritual warfare isn’t as much a frontal attack on Satan’s domain as it is the ability to resist his advances.
Spiritual warfare has become a popular topic in recent years. Books, tapes, and seminars on the subject abound, but there is still much confusion. Some say we must rebuke and bind Satan to thwart his power and influence. Others say we must expel demonic spirits through “deliverance ministries.” Still others encourage us to band together to aggressively assault the strongholds of supposed territorial demons.
But spiritual warfare isn’t an outright frontal attack on the forces of darkness. Scripture says, “Submit . . . to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7); “Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Pet. 5:8-9). The idea that Christians have the authority to rebuke or bind Satan is foreign to Scripture. Even Michael the archangel treated him with more respect than that (Jude 9).
Spiritual victory involves submitting to God, pursuing His will, keeping your spiritual armor on, being on the alert for Satan’s attacks, and then standing firm and resisting him “in the evil day” (Eph. 6:13).
“Evil day” is a general reference to the sin that exists in this world. As the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), Satan will continue to produce evil until he and his forces are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10-15). Then the evil day will give way to an eternal age of righteousness.
Countless people have pastored churches, taught Sunday School classes, led Bible studies, sung in choirs, and been involved in every conceivable area of ministry only to one day abandon their ministries and embrace the world. Somehow they stopped resisting the devil and lost the courage to stand firm.
How about you? Is your commitment strong? Are you willing to stand firm for the Lord today?
Suggestions for Prayer
Ask God for the grace to boldly resist whatever might challenge your faith today.
For Further Study
Read 1 Corinthians 9:23-27.
- What was Paul’s great fear?
- What measures did he take to insure spiritual victory?
- Are you taking the same measures?
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