Tag Archives: nature

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Roses and Revolutions

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Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world. I love the artistic history in Amsterdam, the architecture, the canals and winding stone streets, the gouda cheese and meats for breakfast, the helpfulness of the people walking down the street, the color of oranges, green apples, and ripe bananas at food stands peppering my path. I love the world famous gorgeous garden, the Keukenhof, filled with over seven million tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth that I once visited with a friend. It’s a beautiful city and I have friends there that remain in my heart.

On my last trip to Amsterdam, I woke to a chilly morning in the city and the meaningful day before me. I hopped in a taxi and headed outside of the city to a secondary school for teens with special needs. I knocked on the locked double door and tried to explain why I was there to the teacher looking at me curiously, convinced I was at the wrong place. My accent needs more work than I realized as I repeated the name of my contact a few times before she was able to discern who I was looking for.

Walking into a classroom upstairs I saw my friend, Helene, a prevention worker with Scarlet Cord. She and her colleague were going to be teaching a “Beware of Loverboys” class to at-risk girls aged 14-16, discussing issues of sexuality, boundaries, and the common practices of pimps¬–termed “loverboys”–who use a lengthy and intentional process to manipulate girls into prostitution. Wellspring provides funding for this prevention program developed by Scarlet Cord and now taught in over 25 public schools annually around Amsterdam. I was there to observe, and finding a chair in an inconspicuous corner of the room I did my best create minimal intrusion.

Helene sat beside me whispering English interpretation to the Dutch instruction, but honestly it is quite amazing what can be understood through the PowerPoint imagery, written plan, and body language.

In this school of two hundred students and sixty females, there have been four known pregnancies and one abortion this year. Hesitant and shy at first, the girls began to respond, holding up a red card for boundaries they were comfortable holding, and a green card for behaviors they found acceptable. It always surprises and frightens me to hear the role of the internet—of Facebook, of Snapchat, of webcams–in a story where a young girl ultimately finds herself in prostitution; the stories that begin with meeting a charming guy who friends her on Facebook, and fast forwarding a few days later to a gang rape, physical abuse, and ending up behind a window for sale. I followed along as they showed photos of the various profiles a loverboy will set up, allowing him to tailor his approach to the vulnerabilities of each girl he targets.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Lamp and a Light

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Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.—Psalm 119:105

There is nothing more supernatural than the Word of God, which is given to us by divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit speaking through His prophets and disciples. The Bible has an answer for every question we might ever have. The Word of God is full of life principles, true stories of God’s mercy toward human behavior, and rich parables filled with important truths for every person on Earth.

The Bible is a personal letter to you and me. It tells us everything we need to know. There may be times when God speaks something to us that is not in a specific chapter or verse, but if He is truly speaking, then what we hear will always be in agreement with His Word. God will speak to us and lead us in every situation as we seek Him through His Word. When I need to hear from God about something specific, He frequently reminds me of a scripture that clearly gives me the answer I am seeking.

Hearing God’s voice (being led by the Holy Spirit) throughout each day has become a natural way of life for me since I received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. God gives the gift of His Spirit to everyone who asks (see Luke 11:13), and the Holy Spirit helps us understand God’s Word so we can apply its wisdom to our lives.

God’s Word for You Today: Read God’s Word as a personal letter, written just for you.

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 Hears Our Cries

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“Lord, You know the hopes of humble people. Surely, You will hear their cries and comfort their hearts by helping them” (Psalm 10:17).

Some time ago Nancy DeMoss, who with her beloved husband, Art (one of my dearest friends), had launched a fruitful ministry to executives, called to share an exciting experience. It had been raining all day, and a downpour was predicted for that evening. More than 1300 guests were coming to their home for a lawn dinner to hear the gospel presented by the well-known Christian leader, Charles Colson.

They prayed that the rain would stop, and – miracle of miracles – except for only a few drops of moisture, the rain was held back, though around them, they later learned, there had been a downpour. The gospel had been presented and hundreds had responded to the invitation to receive Christ, and as the guests were on their way home, the rain came – but the harvest was over. The God of nature had heard their prayers and responded.

On another occasion, during EXPLO ’74 in Seoul, Korea, as over a million people came each of five evenings to the famous Yoida Plaza, we prayed God would hold back the rain – but He chose to bless us in other ways, and the rain came. As it fell, God overruled and the people were drawn closer to each other and to the Lord.

Literally hundreds of thousands claimed to have received Christ during the week. In fact, more than a million – according to the officials – indicated that they had received Christ in just one evening. As a result, we gladly praised and thanked God for the rain.

God always knows what is best. He knows the hopes of humble people, and He will hear our cries and comfort our hearts. Sometimes He withholds the rain; other times He sends the rain and with it the outpouring of His blessings.

Bible Reading: Psalm 10:12-16

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Knowing that God is worthy of my trust, that He controls not only the affairs of men and nations but also the laws of nature, I will submit my requests to Him today and be willing to abide by His decisions, knowing also that He makes no mistakes. I shall rejoice and give thanks to Him no matter what happens.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – A Short-Term Condition

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Perhaps you need the reminder that I need— Don’t put your trust in stuff!  Paul told Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV).

The “rich in this. . .world.” That’s you. That’s me. If you have enough education to listen to this program, enough resources to own a book, you likely qualify as a prosperous person. And that’s okay. Prosperity is a common consequence of faithfulness. Paul didn’t tell the rich to feel guilty about being rich; he just urged caution. Money is just a short-term condition. The abundance or lack of it will only be felt for one life. So, if you have a lot, don’t put your trust in it. Put your trust in God.

From God is With You Every Day

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Mike Pence makes history in a divided Washington

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Yesterday, Mike Pence broke a 50–50 deadlock in the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. This was the first time in history that a vice president had to break a tie on a cabinet nomination.

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, himself a former Education Secretary, accused his Democratic colleagues of opposing Ms. DeVos because she was nominated by a Republican president. Opponents claimed that the nominee’s support for charter schools and vouchers made her unsuitable to lead the Education Department.

It’s another day in the dysfunctional life of American politics. Supporters of President Trump see the rancor of his critics as proof that he is doing what they elected him to do—change the status quo and return government to the people. Opponents of the president blame him for the bitterness of our political climate.

According to columnist Jim VandeHei, there are other factors involved as well. Consider his list:

•    There is no market today for normal politics, much less compromise. To get noticed, leaders must be extreme.
•    Centrism is nearly extinct at the national level. The Tea Party on the right and aggressive liberals on the left dominate our politics.
•    National political parties are shells of their former selves. Social media has rendered these gatekeepers of establishment order nearly obsolete.
•    Fake news fans the flames of partisanship as faith in traditional media declines.

I would add that the cultural dysfunction of our day is the logical consequence of a decades-old worldview called postmodern relativism. Since our minds interpret our senses to produce knowledge, we’re told that all truth claims must by definition be subjective and relative. According to conventional wisdom, since there can be no objective truth, we must tolerate all views (except those we consider intolerant, of course).

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –When Spiritual Passion Diminishes

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2 Timothy 1:1-11

Do you feel yourself growing cold toward the Lord? As His children, we can never lose our salvation, but it is possible for our spiritual passion to cool.

Today’s passage reveals that even Timothy experienced a decrease in his excitement for God. That’s why Paul wrote to him, encouraging the young pastor at Ephesus to fan the flame of his faith.

Spiritual “cooling” can happen to any Christian. Oftentimes it starts when tragedy or disappointment diverts our attention. Instead of crying out to the Lord and finding shelter in Him, we gradually cease reading the Bible. The Word of God is like wood in a fireplace: The flames can be kept alive only when there are logs to burn. As less time is spent in Scripture, other aspects of our relationship with God are affected. Church attendance diminishes, giving becomes sporadic, and prayer—which seems increasingly stale—is used only for emergencies.

At this point, we may find ourselves unwilling to stand up for what we once deemed important. The temptation to compromise can lead to guilt and defensiveness about how we’re living. Finally, the joy, contentment, and peace of God are replaced by worry, doubt, and fear.

A believer who allows himself to drift will miss out on the comfort and fulfillment of a close, vibrant relationship with the Lord. Think back. Is your excitement about the things of God stronger now than ever before? Or has it diminished over time? If your fire needs stoking, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how.

Bible in One Year: Leviticus 26-27

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Does It Spark Joy?

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Read: Philippians 4:4–9

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 1–3; Matthew 24:1–28

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true . . . noble . . . right . . . pure . . . lovely . . . admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.—Philippians 4:8

A young Japanese woman’s book on decluttering and organizing has sold two million copies worldwide. The heart of Marie Kondo’s message is helping people get rid of unneeded things in their homes and closets—things that weigh them down. “Hold up each item,” she says, “and ask, ‘Does it spark joy?’” If the answer is yes, keep it. If the answer is no, then give it away.

The apostle Paul urged the Christians in Philippi to pursue joy in their relationship with Christ. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Instead of a life cluttered with anxiety, he urged them to pray about everything and let God’s peace guard their hearts and minds in Christ (vv. 6-7).

Looking at our everyday tasks and responsibilities, we see that not all of them are enjoyable. But we can ask, “How can this spark joy in God’s heart and in my own?” A change in why we do things can bring a transformation in the way we feel about them.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true . . . noble . . . right . . . pure . . . lovely . . . admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (v. 8).

Paul’s parting words are food for thought and a recipe for joy. —David McCasland

Lord, show me how You want to spark joy in the tasks I face today.

A focus on the Lord is the beginning of joy.

INSIGHT: Paul’s encouragement to rejoice in difficult situations wasn’t from the perspective of someone who did not understand suffering. On Paul’s second missionary journey (ad 50-52), he was falsely accused of disturbing the social peace of the city. Severely flogged and unjustly imprisoned (Acts 16:20-25), Paul remained a picture of calmness and peace. Luke tells us that in the midst of such adversity, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (v. 25). Paul knew what it meant to “not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6). He could write these words because he himself practiced them. Are you at peace like Paul when life is difficult? Sim Kay Tee

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – As a Fish Defines Water

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There are forces at work in our world that make basic communication more akin to communicating across cultures—even within our home countries. The continuously evolving world of technology offers just one example. With each new app or social media platform, a language and culture develops that for the uninitiated would seemingly require learning a new language. And most have had the experience of being in a conversation in which both parties speak the same language, but what is being heard and what is being communicated are worlds apart.

Sometimes, trying to talk about matters of faith can feel like walking across a broken bridge. And the one who professes to speak with clarity on issues of faith speaks into a world going deaf from a cacophony of spiritual and cultural languages. Is it any wonder, then, that blank stares are the all too often response to the particulars of a unique or particular vocabulary of faith?

Ironically, all those who speak what seems to them a clear message are also informed and shaped by their own cultures; for all language embodies a world of culture. Human vocabulary issues forth from experience, and ways of understanding that experience. In turn, the way in which individuals speak about faith is shaped both by a culture and by experience.

There are, therefore, particular difficulties inherent in translation from within one’s own culture. An ancient Chinese proverb highlights this difficult task: “If you want a definition of water, don’t ask a fish.”(1) In other words, on what platform does one stand in order to speak into one’s own culture? We are products of the very culture into which we seek to communicate, and we can never completely stand outside our own culture. We are, in the words of the proverb, like fish trying to define water.

Notably, Christians affirm that the heart of the gospel message transcends culture and language, just as surely as it was originally proclaimed within a particular culture and language. After all, the good news of the gospel is about “the Word made flesh.” Missiologist Lesslie Newbigin explains the dialogical nature of the gospel as a product of culture and yet as a trans-cultural communication when he suggests: “Every statement of the gospel in words is conditioned by the culture of which those words are part, and every style of life that claims to embody the truth of the gospel is a culturally conditioned style of life. There can never be a culture-free gospel. Yet the gospel, which is from the beginning to the end embodied in culturally conditioned forms, calls into question all cultures, including the one in which it was originally embodied.”(2)

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – The Paraclete

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But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].—John 16:13

God knew you would need help in understanding His plan for you, so He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. He is your Guide, your Teacher of truth, your Comfort, and your Helper. He is also the Parakletos (Paraclete), which means counselor, advocate, and intercessor.

Jesus was confined to a body and could be only one place at a time. But He knew the Holy Spirit would be with you everywhere you go, all the time, leading and guiding you. Embrace the Holy Spirit in you, resting in the knowledge that in Him you are becoming everything God planned for you to be.

From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Refuge for the Oppressed

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“All who are oppressed may come to Him. He is a refuge for them in their time of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).

The late evangelist Henry Moorehouse once faced a disturbing dilemma. His little paralyzed daughter greeted him as he entered the house bearing a package for his wife.

“Where is Mother?” he asked, after kissing and embracing his daughter.

“Mother is upstairs,” the girl responded.

“Well,” Moorehouse said, “I have a package for her.”

“Oh,” the girl pleaded, “let me carry the package to Mother.”

“Why, Minnie dear,” her father replied, “how can you carry the package? You can’t carry yourself.”

With a smile, the girl continued, “That is true, Papa. But you can give me the package, and I will carry the package – and you will carry me.”

Taking her up in his arms, Moorehouse carried his daughter upstairs – little Minnie and the package, too. Then he saw his own position before the Lord; he had been carrying a heavy burden in recent days, but was not God carrying Him?

In similar fashion, you and I often feel the weight of heavy burdens – sometimes forgetting that even as we carry them we are being carried by our heavenly Father, who is a “refuge for them in their time of trouble.”

Bible Reading: Psalm 9:10-14

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: As I carry my burdens today – large or small – I will recognize that my heavenly Father is carrying me, and I will pass this wonderful truth on to others who are weighted down with the loads and cares of daily living.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Who’s Coming to Dinner?

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The Greek word for hospitality compounds two terms: love and stranger. All of us can welcome a guest we know and love. But can we welcome a stranger?

In one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, he accompanied two disciples as they walked from Jerusalem to their village of Emmaus. It had been a long day. They had much on their minds. But their fellow traveler stirred a fire in their hearts. So they welcomed him in. They pulled out an extra chair, poured some water in the soup, and offered bread. Jesus blessed the bread, and when he did, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31 NIV).

We still encounter people on the road. And sometimes we detect an urge to open our doors to them. In these moments let’s heed the inner voice. We never know whom we may be hosting for dinner.

From God Is With You Every Day

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

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Denison Forum – What happens in America every 80 years

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Last night, the Denison Forum was honored to partner with Dallas Baptist University in hosting ABC News political commentator Matthew Dowd. He spoke on campus as part of the Leadership Lecture Series of the Institute for Global Engagement. We asked him to reflect on the recent election and describe our country as he sees it.

Matthew’s remarks were both profound and timely. He noted that significant change comes to our country every seventy to eighty years. Eighty years ago, we were coming out of the Great Depression and into World War II. Eighty years before, we were coming into the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. Eighty years before, we were coming out of the War for Independence and into the agricultural revolution.

We are now in another time of significant cultural change. From politics to technology to industry to medicine to moral standards, everything seems to be in transition. Matthew believes that in such a chaotic time, we desperately need leaders who serve those they lead, who care for people more than politics or party, who know that souls are what matter most.

Earlier in the day, I took part in celebrating a man who personified Matthew’s thesis.

Friends from across the nation gathered at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas to celebrate the life and legacy of Vester T. Hughes, Jr. His death on January 29 brought to an earthly end one of the most amazing lives I’ve ever known. And it marked the heavenly transition of a man who was my mentor and spiritual father.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Preparation Through Prayer

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Acts 1:9-14

The book of Acts is an amazing record of how God worked in and through the early church, and one of their most important activities was prayer. While Jesus was with His disciples, little was recorded of them praying because they could talk directly to Christ. But after His ascension, they immediately gathered in the upper room and “devot[ed] themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).

Talking to God was their means of preparing for the work He had for them. Jesus had told them the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13). Then after the resurrection, He instructed them to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Without the Spirit, they were not adequate for the Great Commission even though they’d spent time with Jesus. And if they needed the Spirit’s power, so do we.

To the degree we’re willing to admit our absolute helplessness to do God’s work, the Holy Spirit will empower us as we pray. When we are devoted to prayer, the Lord begins to work in our heart, preparing us for service. He gives us the Spirit’s boldness to speak God’s Word (Acts 4:31) and the courage to face any persecutions that might result (Acts 4:29).

God is looking for believers who understand the importance of prayer and realize the only way to fulfill His calling for the church is through His supernatural power. Christ’s church is not grown through programs, seminars, and conferences, but through the humble prayers of saints who gather together in utter dependence upon Him. That’s when God’s power is released and His will is accomplished.

Bible in One Year: Leviticus 24-25

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Tried and Purified

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Read: Job 23:1–12

Bible in a Year: Exodus 39–40; Matthew 23:23–39

When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.—Job 23:10

During an interview, singer and songwriter Meredith Andrews spoke about being overwhelmed as she tried to balance outreach, creative work, marital issues, and motherhood. Reflecting on her distress, she said, “I felt like God was taking me through a refining season, almost through a crushing process.”

Job was overwhelmed after losing his livelihood, his health, and his family. Worse still, although Job had been a daily worshiper of God, he felt that the Lord was ignoring his pleas for help. God seemed absent from the landscape of his life. Job claimed he could not see God whether he looked to the north, south, east, or west (Job 23:2-9).

In the middle of his despair, Job had a moment of clarity. His faith flickered to life like a candle in a dark room. He said, “[God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (v. 10). Christians are tried and purified when God uses difficulty to burn away our self-reliance, pride, and earthly wisdom. If it seems as if God is silent during this process and He is not answering our cries for help, He may be giving us an opportunity to grow stronger in our faith.

Pain and problems can produce the shining, rock-solid character that comes from trusting God when life is hard. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear Lord, help me to believe that You are with me, even when I can’t see You working in my life. I surrender myself to Your purpose for any suffering I may endure.

Faith-testing times can be faith-strengthening times.

INSIGHT: In today’s passage, Job responds to the accusations brought by his friend Eliphaz, who sarcastically asks whether Job thinks God is judging him because of his reverence for Him (22:4). Eliphaz insists that Job is suffering for a hidden scandal (v. 5). With assumptions but no evidence, he explains Job’s troubles by accusing him of being a self-centered rich man who has mistreated weak people for his own material gain. And so Job expresses his desire to be able to argue his case before God (ch. 23). The wrong assumptions of his friends have become part of the fire that is testing and refining him (v. 10). Do we have the courage to express our honest questions and true feelings to the Lord? Mart DeHaan

 

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Scene of Miracle

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The 1748 essay “Of Miracles” by David Hume was influential in leading the charge against the miraculous, thoughts that were later sharpened (though also later recanted) by Antony Flew. Insisting the laws of a natural world incompatible with the supernatural, the new atheists continue to weigh in on the subject today. With them, many Christian philosophers and scientists, who are less willing to define miracle as something that must break the laws of nature, join the conversation with an opposing gusto. Physicist and Anglican priest John Polkinghorne, for instance, suggests that miracles are not violations of the laws of nature but rather “exploration of a new regime of physical experience.”(1)

The possibility or impossibility of the miraculous fills books, debates, and lectures. What it does not fill is that moment when a person finds herself—rationally or otherwise—crying out for intervention, for help and assurance, indeed, for the miraculous. “For most of us” writes C.S. Lewis, “the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. Removing mountains can wait.”(2) To this I would simply add that often prayer is both: both the anguished cry of Gethsemane—”please, take this from me”—prayed at the foot of an impossible mountain.

Whether this moment comes beside a hospital bed, a dying marriage, a grave injustice, or debilitating fear, we seem almost naturally inclined in some way to cry out for an intervening factor, something or someone beyond the known laws of A + B that sit defiantly in front of us. For my own family that moment came with cancer, complicated by well-intentioned commands to believe without doubt that God was going to take it away. When death took it away instead, like many others in our situation, our faith in miracles—and the God who gives them—were equally defeated.

In the throes of that heart-wrenching scene, every time I closed my eyes to pray, the vision of an empty throne filled my mind. It was something like the vision of Isaiah in the temple, only there was no robe and no body filling anything.(3) My prayers seemed to be given not a resounding “no,” but a non-answer, a cold, agonizing silence, which was also very much an answer. It was only years after the scene of my failed prayers for the miraculous that I was physically startled, again like Isaiah, at the thought that the throne was empty because the one who fills it had stepped down to sit beside us as we cried.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Waiting on God

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Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.—Psalm 27:14

When we “wait” on God, we are not being lazy or passive, but we are actually being very active spiritually. We may not be “doing” anything, but we are trusting God to do what needs to be done. In effect, we are saying, “Lord, I will not try to do this in my own strength. I will wait on You to deliver me. And I’m going to enjoy my life while I wait for You.”

Satan wants us to be frustrated from trying to solve our own problems. He hates our joy. He wants to see anything but joy, because the joy of the Lord is our strength (see Nehemiah 8:10). Worry robs us of strength, but joy energizes us.

We are tempted to think we are not doing our part if we don’t worry or try to figure out an answer to our problems, but this will prevent our deliverance rather than aid it. It is not irresponsible to enjoy life while we wait on God and expect Him to do what we don’t know how to do!

Do not fear because the battle is not yours, but the Lord’s.

From the book Closer to God Each Day by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Children of God

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“But to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust Him to save them” (John 1:12).

My wife, Vonette, had been active in the church since she was a little girl, and I assumed that she was a Christian. However, after my proposal and during our engagement, I realized she had never received Christ, though she was a very moral, religious person.

Because of the emotional involvement, I hesitated to press her to receive Christ because I was afraid she would go through the motions of receiving Him to please me, which certainly would not be pleasing to our Lord. So I asked the Lord to send someone who could introduce her to Christ. He clearly led me to call upon a dear friend, the late Dr. Henrietta Mears, who had played such a vital role in my own spiritual growth.

One day at Forest Home, a Christian conference center in California, Dr. Mears took time to talk with Vonette. “Receiving Christ,” she explained, “is simply a matter of turning your life – your will, your emotions, your intellect – completely over to Him.” With that, the great transaction took place and Vonette became a new creature in Christ.

Similarly, in India, a convert from Hinduism could neither read nor write, so he asked others to read the Bible to him. His favorite verse was John 1:12.

“I have received Him,” he said, “so I have become a son of God.”

Radiantly happy, he returned to his village.

“I have become a son of God,”he proclaimed. And his life was so transformed and his simple witness so effective that the other villagers all wanted to become “sons of God,” too.

That radiant convert led the whole village to Christ – and hundreds of others besides. A poor, illiterate, former Hindu, he realized that he had indeed become a son of God and he longed for others to become sons as well.

Bible Reading: John 1:6-11

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will make certain first of all that I have truly received Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord by faith – with the intellect, the emotions, the will. Then I will seek to be God’s instrument in helping to introduce others to Him as well.

 

http://www.cru.org

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Set Your Mind on a Holy Cause

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If your problems are great, then your cause is too small. When your cause is great, your problems begin to shrink. Do you have a holy cause? A faith worth preserving? A mission worth living for? Ask God to give you a cause to claim to his glory: an orphanage to serve…a neighbor to encourage…a class to teach. It really is better to give than to receive.

Want to see your troubles evaporate? Help others with theirs. You’ll always face troubles, but you don’t have to face them in the same way. Instead, immerse your mind in God thoughts. Turn a deaf ear to doubters and set your mind on a holy cause. Once you find your mountain, no giant will stop you; no age will disqualify you; and no problems will defeat you.

From God is With You Every Day

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Patriots victory ‘a comeback for the ages’

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“We saw the greatest game in NFL history. Greatest comeback. Greatest coach. And greatest quarterback. What an extraordinary sporting event.” That’s what columnist Peter Wehner tweeted after yesterday’s Super Bowl. Everyone who saw the game agrees with him today.

Why are we so enthralled with New England’s win in yesterday’s Super Bowl? On one hand, we ought not be surprised. The Patriots were favored to win the contest. Their quarterback had more Super Bowl experience than the entire Atlanta Falcons team combined. Their leader was coaching in his seventh Super Bowl.

What makes the Patriots’ 34–28 victory over the Falcons so memorable is the fact that it was so historic. Never before had a Super Bowl gone to overtime. Never before had a coach or quarterback won five Super Bowls. Never before had we seen a four-time Super Bowl MVP. Never before had a team come back from more than ten points down to win. All that changed last night in what The New York Times is calling “a comeback for the ages.”

When the Patriots made history, we felt that we made history. If we cannot win championships, we want to watch others win them. If we cannot be president of the United States, we want to watch as the president is inaugurated. If we cannot create great art, we want to see great art.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –The Passion to Serve Him

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2 Corinthians 11:22-31

In today’s passage, Paul’s description of his suffering is remarkable in two ways. First of all, he had obviously faced considerable torment for his faith. Second, he refused to whine or seek pity—if this was the price for passionately serving Christ, Paul was willing to pay. In our own faith walk, we can learn from the apostle’s commitment.

We serve according to God’s will, not our own. On the road to Damascus, Jesus said to Paul, “It will be told you what you must do” (Acts 9:6). We are to seek the Lord’s direction and timing instead of choosing the ministry that seems best to us. Committing to do whatever He asks requires courage, but anything less amounts to putting limitations on our obedience.

We serve according to our gifts, not our talents. A spiritual gift is the special endowment God gives us to serve where He calls. Talents may be useful in His work, but His gifts equip us for success. Natural skill wasn’t what made Paul a powerful preacher. In fact, he spoke of the uselessness of his abilities and pedigree in comparison with knowing and serving Christ (Phil. 3:4-9).

We are to serve with a focus on God, not on the work. Paul excelled at remaining Christ-centered, but this is where many people fall short. We get caught up in scheduling, responsibility, and accolades, which can make us lose sight of the true purpose: reaching the needy and those who need Christ.

Doing “church work” can stroke the ego but drain the body. If we keep focused and serve out of our gifts, service will be satisfying, even when it is hard or painful.

Bible in One Year: Leviticus 18-20

 

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