Tag Archives: nature

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Your Name on God’s Hand

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When I see a flock of sheep I see exactly that—a flock. A rabble of wool…all alike. But not so with the shepherd. To him every sheep is different. Every face is special. Every sheep has a name, and that includes you! The Shepherd you! He knows your name and he will never forget it.

He says in Isaiah 49:16, “I have written your name on my hand.” Your name is on God’s hand. Your name is on God’s lips. Perhaps you’ve never seen your name honored, or heard it spoken with kindness. If so, it may be more difficult for you to believe that God knows your name. But he does! Written on his hand. Spoken by his mouth. Your name! Keep listening…be sure to hear when God whispers your name.

From When God Whispers Your Name

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Kicker loses scholarship because of YouTube

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The NCAA is fond of saying that most of its nearly four hundred thousand athletes “will go pro in something other than sports.” Given that a recent study found the slogan was true for more than 99 percent of student-athletes, it’s a helpful perspective for those young adults to keep in mind.

Apparently, though, it only applies once your playing career is at an end. Try to start going pro in something else while on scholarship and you’ve crossed an unforgivable line.

Donald De La Haye recently learned that lesson the hard way. As the backup kicker for a relatively unheralded program, it’s long been clear that De La Haye’s post-college career was unlikely to include football. To his credit, he made the most of his time on campus by becoming something of a YouTube star.

His channel had just over sixty thousand subscribers in June of this year—not enough to register far outside of Florida, but enough to warrant a relatively small paycheck from the video service. Unfortunately for De La Haye, the NCAA deemed his success a violation of their rules since part of the draw was that he played scholarship football at a Division 1 program.

Consequently, they told the backup kicker that if he wanted to continue doing both, he’d have to demonetize and remove any reference to his status as a student-athlete in both future videos and those he’s already made. Essentially, he can’t use his own name or status as a student-athlete to make money while under scholarship (even though the NCAA makes billions each year by doing just that). De La Haye chose YouTube and has since been kicked off the UCF football team for doing so.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Rely on the Source

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1 Kings 17:8-16

From God’s perspective, being in need can have spiritual benefits. For example, people often look to economies and markets as their basis for financial security. But if the bottom drops out, they’re in a position to discover the reality that all provision comes from God’s hand. The Lord uses various instruments to meet needs, but He alone is the source of all we have.

God can use ordinary means or remarkable methods to supply our needs. Through God’s unusual ways, Elijah had learned to live by faith—such as the time he’d been fed by ravens. Now God sent him to Zarephath, to a starving widow with no ability to feed him.

Every financial need is an opportunity to learn to walk by faith, recognizing the Lord as our source. Prosperity can lead to a sense of independence that blinds us to how inadequate we actually are to provide for ourselves. We’re totally dependent upon the Father whether we know it or not.

Believing God would provide, Elijah witnessed His miraculous intervention. We may not see the Lord perform a supernatural work in our financial situation. However, we can be sure that just as God fulfilled His promise to Elijah, He’ll likewise be faithful to His Word in our situation, supplying “all [our] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

Are you focusing on the instrument or the source of your provision? The means God uses may change, but His faithfulness endures forever. He’s infinitely more reliable than any employer or 401(k). The Lord is inviting you to trust Him and live in both the adventure and security of a life of faith.

Bible in One Year: Isaiah 46-49

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Peace and Trust

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Read: Isaiah 26:1– 9

Bible in a Year: Psalms 63–65; Romans 6

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.—John 14:27

When I was six years old I rode a roller coaster for the first time with my older brothers. As soon as we hit a turn at a high speed I started to yell: “Stop this thing right now! I want to get off!” Of course the roller coaster didn’t stop, and I had to “white knuckle” it, hanging on tight for the rest of the ride.

Sometimes life can feel like an unwanted roller coaster ride, with “downhill” drops and hairpin curves we never see coming. When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isa. 26:3).

The peace our Savior gives us as we turn to Him “transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). I will never forget the words of a woman who was struggling with breast cancer. After a group from our church prayed for her one evening, she said, “I don’t know what will happen, but I know that I’ll be okay, because the Lord was here with us tonight.”

Life will have its difficulties, but our Savior, who loves us more than life, is greater than them all. —James Banks

Lord, help me to trust in You so that I may live in peace.

Jesus is our peace.

INSIGHT: The peace Paul referenced in Philippians 4:7 closely parallels the rest that Jesus offers us in Matthew 11:28-29. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” This gift of “soul rest” is the peace that every heart craves—a peace that comes from wholeness and rightness (Isa. 26:3). This peace is much more than the absence of conflict; it is the blessing that comes from resting in Christ and His strength. As we learn to rest in Him, we will experience the resulting peace of His presence and power.

Are there specific struggles that are wearing you down? How might you become more intentional about drawing on Christ’s strength? Bill Crowder

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Starting With a Question

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Starting with a question seems like a good idea to most people: it helps to bring a sharper focus, it’s conversational, it reveals gaps in knowledge, and it’s quite natural.(1) Kids seem to use questions instinctively to find out about the world. Of course, there are lazy questions and there are thoughtful questions. The difference is hard to explain, but anyone who has ever heard or asked a great question, asked at the right time, will immediately know why good, careful, thoughtful questions are always worth asking.

When it comes to questions about faith, Christians have often pointed to the example of God asking Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” and the way in which Jesus interacts with people in the New Testament.(2) Here are just a few of the questions of Jesus:

What are you looking for? What do you want me to do for you? Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me? If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Do you want to be well? Do you see this woman? What good is it to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Who is greater, the one seated at the table, or the one who serves? Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? Which of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I command? Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For which of these good works are you trying to stone me? Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels? Would you like some breakfast? Have you come to believe because you have seen me? I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Do you love me?

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – God’s Construction Crew

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We know that we have passed over out of death into Life by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians). He who does not love abides (remains, is held and kept continually) in [spiritual death]… – 1 John 3:14

Life in this verse is the life of God, or “life as God has it.” I don’t want to be one of what I call “the walking dead”—someone who lives and breathes, but never truly lives as God desires. Loving others is the only way to keep the God kind of life flowing through you. It has been given to us as a gift; it’s in us, but we need to release it to others through words and actions. Left dormant, it will stagnate like a pool of water with no outlet.

Are you a part of God’s construction crew, or part of Satan’s destruc¬tion crew? Do you build people up with your words and action, or tear them down? Do you strengthen or weaken them? If you ask these ques¬tions and get the wrong answers, it is easy to fix. Just simply begin today by making a plan to be a blessing to others. Use your words, facial expressions, and voice tones to lift up others. Smile at people; it will be a sign of approval to them. Live to put smiles on others’ faces, and you will always have a smile on yours.

Love Others Today: Look for the needs around you and let God use you to meet those needs. Make sure you’re part of God’s construction crew!

 

From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Authority Over the Enemy

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“And I have given you authority over all the power of the Enemy” (Luke 10:19).

By nature I am a very shy, reserved person. But I can look the world in the face and say, “I’m a child of the King. There is royal blood in my veins.”

Because of our identification with Christ, we are no longer ordinary people. The authority of God is available to those who believe in Christ. What a promise!

“Authority over all the power of the Enemy!” That is His promise, but it is something you and I must claim each time we face the enemy. We are to believe this; it is an intellectually valid fact. It is not exercising positive thinking and blindly hoping for the best; rather, it is claiming and leaning on the promises of God by faith.

Supernatural authority belongs to the believer, and there is a difference between authority and power. A policeman standing at a busy intersection has no physical power that would enable him to stop cars coming from all directions. But that little whistle he blows and the uniform he wears represent authority, and because of that authority the drivers know that they had better stop.

You and I have authority – given to us by the Lord Himself – over all the power of the enemy. He may tempt us; he may attack us; he may sorely try us. But victory is assured us as we continue to trust and obey our Lord and claim by faith His supernatural resources for our strength.

Bible Reading: Luke 10:20-24

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Because I have been given authority over the enemy, by faith I will exercise that authority on behalf of others as well as myself, believing God for ultimate victory in each situation.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Delivered from Fear

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God’s grace delivered us from fear, but how quickly we return! Grace told us we didn’t have to spend our lives looking over our shoulders…but look at us glancing backward. Look at us with guilt on our consciences. Why are we so quick to revert back to our old ways? Or, as Paul candidly wrote, “What a miserable man I am. Who will save me from this body that brings me death?” (Romans 7:24).

Simply stated: we are helpless to battle sin alone. Aren’t we glad Paul answered his own question? “I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). The same one who saved us first is there to save us still. Such is the message of grace. You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ did! And you are special because of whose you are!

From In the Grip of Grace

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – What Jeff Flake says about our nation

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Arizona until Donald Trump came to office. Since then, he has become a face for the conservative opposition to the kind of politics that have defined the president’s term to date. His recently published book, Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle, continues to cause a stir among those on both sides of the aisle.

James Hohmann of The Washington Post called it “the most courageous conservative rebuttal of Trumpism yet,” while others, like Mark Levin and Brent Bozell, have called him a “liberal” and an “impostor,” respectively. I haven’t had the chance to read Sen. Flake’s book yet and will reserve judgment on it until I get the chance to do so. I’d encourage you to do the same rather than make definitive judgments based on excerpts and secondhand statements.

Rather, my purpose today is to look at the environment in which a sitting senator of the same party as the president felt he needed to publish a book denouncing the commander in chief. Such a move is largely unparalleled, especially considering that Flake’s Senate seat is up for grabs in next year’s elections, and President Trump has already reportedly offered support to conservative candidates thinking about running against the senator. It speaks volumes about Flake’s assessment of the political climate that he felt the risk of losing his seat was worth the potential reward of bringing about what he deems to be necessary changes.

Chief among those changes appears to be the belief that the Republican party has prioritized politics over convictions, embracing the partisan belief that the other party’s “failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime.” He traces that belief back to the Republican response to Obama’s first term. Lest we make the mistake of thinking it’s solely a Republican problem, however, the now-minority Democrats have often embraced a very similar tactic since Trump came to office.

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Charles Stanley – God’s Ways: Ordinary and Miraculous

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1 Kings 17:2-7

In Isaiah 55:8, God declared, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” And in fact, one of the biggest frustrations of the Christian life stems from a lack of understanding about God’s ways. There are times when we could really use a miracle, but He does not come through for us the way we think He should. Our unmet expectations lead to confusion, disappointment, and even anger. We might think, Why did the Lord let me down?

Some people don’t believe God performs big miracles at all, while others are convinced that if He’s not doing the miraculous every day, then something is wrong with their faith. Neither belief is true. We need a balanced perspective, which we find in the Bible.

God works in both supernatural and ordinary ways, and He determines the method. Elijah ate food miraculously delivered by ravens, but his water supply from a brook was completely natural. When the water dried up, the Lord could have made more spring from the ground, but He didn’t.

Sometimes God uses ordinary means to move us in a new direction. The curtailment of Elijah’s water supply opened the door for his next assignment. When the Lord withholds miraculous intervention and lets your brook dry up, He has something else planned for you.

Seeing the work of God in the miraculous is easy. But He’s just as involved in the everyday aspects of life as He is in any supernatural event. Look for His fingerprint in the day’s mundane activities. He is there, opening and closing doors, drying up one opportunity but initiating another.

Bible in One Year: Isaiah 43-45

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Professor’s Confession

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Read: 1 John 3:11–18

Bible in a Year: Psalms 60–62; Romans 5

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.—1 John 3:16

Horrified by his students’ poor writing habits, renowned author and college professor David Foster Wallace considered how he might improve their skills. That’s when a startling question confronted him. The professor had to ask himself why a student would listen to someone “as smug, narrow, self-righteous, [and] condescending” as he was. He knew he had a problem with pride.

That professor could and did change, but he could never become one of his students. Yet when Jesus came to Earth, He showed us what humility looks like by becoming one of us. Stepping across all kinds of boundaries, Jesus made Himself at home everywhere by serving, teaching, and doing the will of His Father.

Even as He was being crucified, Jesus prayed for forgiveness for His executioners (Luke 23:34). Straining for every anguished breath, He still granted eternal life to a criminal dying with Him (vv. 42–43).

Why would Jesus do that? Why would He serve people like us to the very end? The apostle John gets to the point. Out of love! He writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” Then he drives that point home. “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16).

Jesus showed us that His love eradicates our pride, our smugness, our condescension. And He did it in the most powerful way possible. He gave His life. —Tim Gustafson

Father, we are so prone to look down on each other. Please forgive us. Give us the heart of love Your Son showed to us.

Jesus loved us by serving.

INSIGHT: In today’s reading, John uses the word love six times. He begins his teaching on love by stating the disastrous consequences of not loving each other. It is interesting that John correlates death with hate. His argument seems to go like this: If you don’t love, you hate (and here John means continuing to hate, not just an angry response); if you hate, you’re a murderer; no murderers have eternal life; therefore, if you love, you have life.

What does love look like? Verse 16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” But it’s the practical examples that drive the point home: If we don’t take care of those in need, love is not in us.

People around us have many needs—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. How can you show Christ’s love by serving someone today?

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Imagination Reborn

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Nicodemus was confused. He had come to Jesus under the secrecy of the night professing what he thought he knew: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”(1) Nicodemus was a Pharisee in the time of Jesus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was highly regarded, which most likely explains the veil of night by which he sought to meet the controversial rabbi. He did not want to draw unnecessary attention to his consideration of Jesus. Even so, it was perhaps an act of faith to seek out the divisive young man from Galilee, an act of humility to grapple with a message that thoroughly confused him, a message that seemed to call the very basis of his faith into question.

In reply to Nicodemus’s admission that night, Jesus offered one of his own: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” The ensuing conversation is one of mystery and semantics.

“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb.”

Again Jesus answered curiously, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”(2)

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – How to Gain Wisdom

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If you will turn (repent) and give heed to my reproof, behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you. – Proverbs 1:23

We need to pray and obey God’s leading when He speaks to us. Obedience is not to be an occasional event for us; it is to be our way of life. There’s a big difference between people who are willing to obey God daily and those who are only willing to obey to get out of trouble. God certainly shows people how to get out of trouble, but He bestows abundant blessings on those who decide to live wholeheartedly for Him and who make obedience to Him their lifestyle. The only pathway to true peace is obedience to God.

Many people obey God in the big issues, but they aren’t aware that obedience in the little things makes a difference in His plan for their lives. The Bible says plainly that if we are not faithful in the little things, we will never be made rulers over much (see Luke 16:10). There is no reason for God to trust us with a major responsibility if we are not going to be faithful to do the little things He has asked us to do. I strongly urge you to be obedient to God even in the smallest of things. A sixteenth-century monk called Brother Lawrence was well known for walking continually in the presence of God. He said that He was pleased to pick up a piece of trash from the ground in obedience to God and because He loved Him.

In the verse for today, God says He will make known His words to us if we listen to Him when He corrects us. If we follow His guidance and are pleased to do each little thing He asks of us then He will open His wisdom to us, and we will have more revelation than we could ever imagine.

From the book Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Can Help!

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“O my people, trust Him all the time. Pour out your longings before Him, for He can help!” (Psalm 62:8).

“I have no faith in this matter,” a minister said to an evangelist, “but I see it is in the Word of God and I am going to act on God’s Word no matter how I feel.”

The evangelist smiled. “Why, that is faith!” he said.

The Word of God is the secret of faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” We do not attain or achieve faith, we simply receive it as we read God’s Word.

Many a child of God is failing to enjoy God’s richest blessings in Christ because he fails to receive the gift of faith. He looks within himself for some quality that will enable him to believe, instead of “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

In the words of an anonymous poem published by War Cry:

He does not even watch the way.
His father’s hand, he knows,
Will guide his tiny feet along
The pathway as he goes
A childlike faith! A perfect trust!
God grant us today,
A faith that grasps our Father’s hand
And trusts Him all the way.

Bible Reading: Psalm 62:1-7

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will be wise in the ways of God today by looking for help from the One whom I know I can trust.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – His Grace is Sufficient

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You wonder why God doesn’t remove temptation from your life? If he did, you might lean on your strength instead of his grace. A few stumbles might be what you need to convince you: his grace is sufficient for your sin. You wonder why God doesn’t remove the enemies in your life? Perhaps he wants you to love like he loves. Anyone can love a friend, but only a few can love an enemy. You wonder why God doesn’t heal you? He has healed you. If you are in Christ, you have a perfected soul and will have a perfected body.

His grace is sufficient for gratitude. We can be sure of this: God would prefer we have an occasional limp than a perpetual strut. God has every right to say no to us. We have every reason to say thanks to him. His grace is sufficient.

From In the Grip of Grace

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Can North Korea be “handled”?

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Following North Korea’s successful launch of its longest-range missile to date, tensions are once again running high over the volatile nation’s plans to join the list of global nuclear powers. In a recent meeting, President Trump stated, “We will handle North Korea. We are gonna be able to handle them. It will be handled. We handle everything.” This assurance has left many ill at ease regarding the president’s plans for the region.

Sen. Lindsey Graham clarified that the president assured him part of that plan could ultimately include military intervention: “There is a military option to destroy North Korea’s [missile] program and North Korea itself.” Graham then stated his belief that such actions are “inevitable if North Korea continues.”

Kim Jong Un and the North Korean government seem undeterred by the president’s position and the recent increase in sanctions against the country. North Korea’s most recent demonstration was coupled with increased submarine activity, including a test of their ability to launch a missile from a submersed submarine. Taken together, the tests represent two-thirds of the so-called “Strategic Triad,” a military theory arguing that a nation must possess land-, air-, and sea-based nuclear capabilities to prevent an outside attack.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Authority of Our Message

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1 Kings 17:1

After encountering the prophet Elijah, King Ahab may well have thought, Of all the nerve! Just who does this guy think he is? Bursting onto the scene as if out of nowhere, Elijah confronted Israel’s wicked king with a message that would soon disrupt life throughout the region.

The validity of the prophecy rested with the Source, not the mouthpiece. Elijah was a man of great faith who spent time alone with the Lord and listened to Him carefully. The prophet could pass the message on with boldness and authority because he knew and trusted the One from whom it came.

We can’t expect our Father to communicate with us in exactly the same way that He spoke to the Old Testament prophets, but the process of receiving His message hasn’t changed. It starts with being alone in His presence and listening as He speaks through His Word. But it shouldn’t end there.

Prophets had the responsibility of telling the people what the Lord revealed to them. Similarly, we’re to share with others what we learn from God’s Word. Devotional time with the Lord is not just about our own interests and needs. The Father reveals His truths to us so we can share them with others.

Begin each day alone with God in His Word and in prayer, listening as He speaks to your heart. Believe what He says in Scripture, apply it to your life, and then share with someone else what He has revealed. Be bold and remember that the authority of your message comes from Him.

Bible in One Year: Isaiah 40-42

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Nozomi Hope

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Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7–18

Bible in a Year: Psalms 57–59; Romans 4

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.—2 Corinthians 4:7

In 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and a resulting tsunami took nearly 19,000 lives and destroyed 230,000 homes in the region northeast of Tokyo. In its aftermath, The Nozomi Project, named for the Japanese word for “hope,” was born to provide sustainable income, community, dignity, and hope in a God who provides.

Nozomi women sift through the rubble of homes and furnishings to discover broken china shards that they sand and insert into fittings to form jewelry. The jewelry is sold around the world, providing a livelihood for the women while sharing symbols of their faith in Christ.

In New Testament times, it was customary to hide valuables in the unlikely vessels of simple clay pots. Paul describes how the treasure of the gospel is contained in the human frailty of followers of Christ: jars of clay (2 Cor. 4:7). He suggests that the meager—and even at times broken—vessels of our lives actually can reveal God’s power in contrast to our imperfections.

When God inhabits the imperfect and broken pieces in our lives, the healing hope of His power is often more visible to others. Yes, His repair work in our hearts often leaves the scars of cracks. But perhaps those lines from our learning are the etchings in our beings that make His character more visible to others. —Elisa Morgan

Dear God, please show others Your power as I share the treasure of Your gospel in my broken, but beautiful life.

Brokenness can lead to wholeness.

INSIGHT: Paul declared, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30) because he had found strength through reliance upon God. While lamenting his “thorn in [the] flesh” (12:6-9), Paul affirmed, “I delight in weaknesses . . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong” (v. 10).

What areas of brokenness in your life can become pathways for Christ’s strength? Bill Crowder

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Upending Fair

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I do not know of many races or sporting competitions in which the last person across the finish line comes in first place. Certainly, getting the lowest time often means the winning performance. But to come in last place means to come in last. For all of us who were picked last for various athletic events in school, how whimsical it would have been if being chosen last was a position of honor! Of course, I could very easily see how unfair it would seem if those with the best athletic ability, those who had trained the longest, worked the hardest, and had come in first place did not receive the honor due that effort. The last being first can be very bad or very good depending upon where one stands.

Jesus once told a story that upends expectations for those who perennially find themselves as last or first. A landowner hires laborers to work in his vineyard. They are hired throughout the work day and all the workers agree to the wage of a denarius for a day’s work. The enigmatic and exceptional punch line to this story occurs when those who are hired at the very end of the day—in the last hour—are paid the same wage as those who worked all day long. The long-suffering laborers cry out, “These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.” Those workers that were hired first are not paid any additional wage. The first are not first, in this story. Instead, the landowner replies with a radical reversal: The last shall be first, and the first last.

Not only is the conclusion to this story exceptional and enigmatic, it also seems wholly unfair. For how could those who worked so little be paid the full day’s wage? Yet, this upending of any sense of fairness is a recurring theme in other stories of Jesus as well. Indeed, the familiar parable of the prodigal son functions in a similar manner and upsets our sense of what is fair and right, just as in the parable of the laborers. A careful reading presents an extravagant display of grace towards all wayward sons and daughters, even as it illuminates a human frugality with grace.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Transformation

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So that they [even] kept carrying out the sick into the streets and placing them on couches and sleeping pads, [in the hope] that as Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. And the people gathered also from the towns and hamlets around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those troubled with foul spirits, and they were all cured. – Acts 5:15–16

Peter was a man with a past. He was bold and not afraid of change, but he also had many faults. In Matthew 16:22–23, we see Peter trying to correct Jesus. In Matthew 26:31–35, we see that Peter thought more highly of himself than he should have. In Matthew 26:69–75, it is recorded that Peter denied even knowing Jesus.

Once Peter realized the depth of his sin, he wept bitterly, which showed that he had a repentant heart (v. 75). God is merciful and understands our weaknesses. In John 21, we see Jesus lovingly restore Peter. Peter had been included in God’s plans for the future even though he had a past record of foolishness and failure. Peter had denied Christ, and yet he became one of the best-known apostles. Peter could have spent his entire life feeling bad about his denial of Jesus, but he pressed past that failure and became valuable to God’s kingdom.

Lord, You are a God of transformation. Help me to press past my failures and become a valuable servant of Yours today. Thank You for including me in Your plans for the future. Amen.

From the book The Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Devotions by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org