Tag Archives: nature

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Our Great and Glorious God

1 Comment

Read: Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36

This reminder of the strange ways God works awakens within Paul a tremendous outburst for God’s inscrutable wisdom and his ways with men. You can see certain things that have amazed the apostle: There are the deep riches, as Paul calls them, the deep riches of God’s wisdom and of his ways. They are beyond human exploration. There is no way we can finally fathom God.

There are those who struggle to put God in a box where they can get hold of him and analyze him. But if they succeed in that, they have only reduced God to the size of a man. God is greater than man. He is beyond us. Our minds cannot grasp the greatness of God! We can understand what he tells us about himself, but even beyond that, there is much more that we cannot know. There are depths of riches. That is why we are always being surprised by God if we trust him. He is always enriching us in ways that we don’t anticipate. Then Paul speaks of God’s unsearchable judgments.

For instance, it is clear from Scripture that nothing God ever planned interferes with human responsibility. We are free to make choices. We know it. We feel ourselves free to decide to do this or that, to do good or bad. And yet the amazing thing is that nothing humans ever do can frustrate God’s sovereign plan. Isn’t that amazing? No matter what we do, whether we choose this or that with the freedom of choice we have, ultimately it all works out to accomplish what God has determined shall be done. That is the kind of God we have.

Paul is not only impressed with God’s inscrutable wisdom and ways, but he contrasts it with the impotence of man. He asks three very searching questions. His first one is, Who has known the mind of the Lord? What he is asking is, Who has ever anticipated what God is going to do? Have you? Have you ever been able to figure out how God is going to handle the situations you get into? We all try, but it never turns out quite the way we think it will. There is a little twist to it that we never could have guessed.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Our Great and Glorious God →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Therefore, Pray

Leave a comment

Read: Matthew 9:35-38

Therefore pray . . . (v. 38)

“The harvest is plentiful,” said Jesus. There’s a tremendous opportunity. But there’s also a serious problem: “the laborers are few.” What’s to be done? “Therefore pray.”

I have often wished he had said, “Therefore give (especially to Words of Hope!)” I wonder why he didn’t say, “Therefore go” (though later he would send them out to the ends of the earth). But Jesus started with prayer. What makes prayer so important for accomplishing the mission of God?

First, because prayer reminds us that it actually is his mission, not ours. We can’t bring in the harvest, only God can; and only workers called and sent by God will be effective.

Second, because whenever we pray (and mean it) we are also offering ourselves as an answer to our prayers. A 19th century minister named Bennett Tyler wrote these powerful words on prayer: “When you pray for the poor around you, that they may be warmed and filled, in what way do you expect God will answer your prayers? Will he convert the stones into bread for their sustenance . . . while you . . . have enough and to spare? And in what way do you expect that your prayers for the conversion of the heathen will be answered? Will God rain down Bibles from heaven, and commission his angels to preach to them the gospel? No; but he will put into your hearts to do what lies in your power to send them the gospel.”

—David Bast

Prayer:

God, don’t help me in my mission, use me for yours.

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Empty Net Syndrome

Leave a comment

Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.—John 21:3

It was déjà vu time for the disciples. They had been fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee and hadn’t caught anything. The Lord had risen and had already appeared to some of the disciples. There were no clear marching orders, so they thought they would go back to what they knew how to do: fish. Now it was early in the morning, probably still dark. They saw a figure standing on the shore. “He called out, ‘Fellows, have you caught any fish?'” (John 21:5).

Throughout the Bible, God often asked probing questions when He wanted a confession. In the same way, Jesus was asking His disciples, “Did you catch anything? Have you been successful? Have things gone the way you had hoped they would go? Are you satisfied?”

Why did Jesus want them to admit their failure? So He could bring them to the place where they needed to be. When they cast the net on the right side of the boat as Jesus told them to, their net became so heavy with fish that they couldn’t pull it in. The Lord was teaching the disciples an important lesson: Failure often can be the doorway to real success.

We need to come to that point in our lives as well. We need to come and say, “Lord, I am not satisfied with the way my life is going. I am tired of doing it my way. I want to do it Your way.” If you will come to God like that, He will extend His forgiveness to you. Then He will take your life and transform it in ways you couldn’t imagine.

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is the Redeemer

Leave a comment

“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” (Isaiah 43:1b)

Christopher wanted a toy sailboat. He went to his father and asked for some money. His dad told him that yes, he could buy a sailboat, but that he would have to earn the money and buy it himself. So Christopher worked hard and bought the boat.

Christopher loved his boat. He would take it to a small river nearby his house and spend hours playing with it.

One day Christopher was playing with his boat on the water. The wind was strong, and soon – the boat drifted away. He tried to go after it, but it was too late. He watched it go downstream.

Christopher was, of course, very sad about this. He had worked very hard, and now his boat was gone.

Weeks passed, and then one morning, Christopher went to town with his father. There in the window of the toy store was his boat! Someone had found it and put it up for sale. Christopher went right in to the store to get his boat back. The store owner told him he could have it, but for a price. He would first need to work and buy it back. So that’s exactly what Christopher did. He worked and bought the boat again. He redeemed (bought again) the boat!

And that’s exactly what God did for you. God made you, which means He “owns” you, fair and square. You are His because He created you. You don’t belong to anyone – not even to yourself! – like you belong to God. But if you are a believer, God owns you “times two.” After you sinned and lost fellowship with Him, He “bought you back again.” Jesus Christ is the One about Whom Paul is writing in Ephesians 1:7. Paul is talking about Jesus Christ when he says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood.” Redemption is what it is to be bought back, to be bought a second time.

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Is the Redeemer →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Saint or Sinner?

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: Philippians 1:1

“To all the saints in Christ Jesus .”

As Christians, should we view ourselves as saints or sinners? My answer is both. Paul often referred to believers as saints (Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1), and we really are—not only in our standing before God but in our essential persons as well. We really are new creations in Christ. A fundamental change has occurred in the depths of our being. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell within us, and we’ve been freed from sin’s dominion. But despite this we still sin every day, many times a day. And in that sense we’re sinners.

We should always view ourselves both in terms of what we are in Christ (saints) and what we are in ourselves (sinners). To help us understand this twofold view of ourselves, consider Jesus as an analogy. In his own person he was sinless, but as our representative he assumed our guilt. However, he never had any of the personal feelings associated with guilt. He was fully conscious of his own sinless-ness even when bearing our sins and the curse of our sins in our place.

Just as Christ could maintain a separate sense of his personal sinless-ness and his official bearing of our sin, so we must distinguish between the righteousness we have in him and the sinfulness we see in ourselves. We should always rejoice in the righteousness we have in Christ and never cease to feel deeply our own sinfulness and consequent unworthiness.

If we refuse to identify ourselves as sinners as well as saints, we risk the danger of deceiving ourselves about our sin and becoming self-righteous. Our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and we all have moral “blind spots.” We have a difficult enough time seeing our sin without someone insisting that we no longer consider ourselves as “sinners.”

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Creation of Man

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. – Colossians 1:16

Why does the theory of evolution get such a grip on people? I believe it’s because all people realize that if there is a God, and He made us and gave us life, we are accountable to Him for our actions.

If He has revealed His will to us; if He has given us the Ten Commandments; if He has given us the prophets and apostles, and even His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to teach us what is right and wrong; and if we don’t want to live the way He teaches and believe what He teaches, the simplest thing to do is deny that any of it is true. There is no God, the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales, and we owe our existence to a theory that tells us somehow, somewhere, at some time there came into existence a living cell, and from this cell man evolved by a process of natural selection.

In contrast to this theory, we have the record of the Bible, which tells us that man is a created being. Genesis 1:27 simply and eloquently says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” You would think man would be honored by such a statement. A college founded by Thomas Jefferson would be a mark of prestige. A house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is a mark of honor. But somehow man would rather have crawled out of the slime onto the muddy bank and eventually up into the trees with the monkeys.

Scripture is clear. We owe our life to God. And may our lives be lived in such a way as to please Him.

Prayer

Lord, Master Potter, Your mark is indelibly fixed in the clay that is me, and I rejoice in being created by You. Amen.

To Ponder

It is an awesome thing to contemplate being part of the family of God and to say by the Spirit, “Abba Father.”

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

BreakPoint

BreakPoint – Election Day 2016: Time to Vote

Leave a comment

Chuck Colson was a man of great passion. And long-time BreakPoint listeners heard him and read him at his most passionate when he talked about the importance of voting.

Yes, Chuck was a political animal. You don’t become the President’s special counsel if you’re not. But Chuck was also a man who believed in Christian responsibility. And for him, voting was a duty for Christians as citizens.

Back in 2010, Chuck recorded what was to be his last commentary on the need for Christians to vote. I want to play it for you now. If you’re seriously considering not voting—please, hear what Chuck has to say.

Today is Election Day. What will the outcome be? Well, thankfully, because we live in a free society, it all depends on you and me. So, have you voted yet? If so, well done. If not, as soon as this broadcast is over—or as soon as you’re off work—I want you to go and fulfill your Christian duty to be a good citizen and go vote.

And while you’re at it, call a few of your Christian friends. Find out if they’ve voted yet. If not, tell them you’re going, and you’ll be glad to stop by and pick them up.

Now is not the time to buy into the lie that your vote doesn’t really matter. As a result of my Watergate felony conviction, I lost the right to vote for 28 years. When my right was restored, I was able to vote in the 2000 presidential election. That year, the national election—the presidency—was determined by just 500 votes in Florida. Mine was one of those votes. So your vote does matter.

And let me say this. The next time you hear someone tell you that Christians ought to take a vacation from politics, tell them to go fly a kite.  Listen, it’s our duty as citizens of the kingdom of God to be the best citizens of the society we live in.

If your pastor no longer has the energy or courage to motivate his flock to speak out on public issues, maybe you can lovingly “buck him up.” Remind him—or her—that God’s people are to love their neighbors, to desire the best for them, to pursue the common good. And we can’t do that on the political sidelines.

When a rabid secularist tells you to stop forcing your religion down his throat—simply correct him. You might say, “Excuse me, but who is suing the government to remove crosses from cemeteries? Who has filed lawsuits to remove ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance? Who’s trying to tell doctors and nurses and pharmacists that they have to participate in medical procedures that violate their religious conscience? Who’s banning Bibles from schools?

Continue reading BreakPoint – Election Day 2016: Time to Vote →

Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – LOVE OF MONEY DESTROYS GODLY CONTENTMENT

Leave a comment

Read 1 TIMOTHY 6:3–10

John the Baptist preached a message of repentance in preparation for the coming of God’s kingdom and Messiah. He clearly called people to repent from the sins of greed or the love of money. For example, he told tax collectors not to use their positions of power for personal gain. And soldiers were told not to extort money but instead to be content with their pay (Luke 3:7–14).

The truth is that the love of money destroys godly contentment. It is the ally of worry and anxiety, turning it into a habit or lifestyle. People can be governed by the love of money at any financial level when they are consumed by what they own or don’t own and obsessed with what they want.

This describes the false teachers in today’s reading (vv. 3–5). Their aim was “financial gain” (cf. 2 Cor. 2:17). They were also marked by pride, a tendency toward quarrels and controversies, and a lack of faithfulness to Christ’s and the apostles’ teaching.

By contrast, godly contentment is rooted in a proper balancing of the temporal and material with the eternal and spiritual (vv. 6–8). As they say, you can’t take it with you—therefore, all we should need for contentment is to have our basic material needs met. In light of what we’ve already studied this month, this is clearly a call to faith in God as our Provider.

Paul’s warning here is a strong one (vv. 9–10; cf. Luke 16:13). The desire to get rich is a temptation and a trap. The inevitable result is spiritual destruction; such people wander from the faith. As we’ve seen, the “love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” a doorway to many other sins (v. 10). It is the enemy not only of contentment but also of righteousness and fruitfulness.

APPLY THE WORD

On this Election Day, let’s pray for our nation! Remember state and local elections as well as the national one. Prayer is a far better option than worry or anxiety, for it acknowledges God as the Sovereign of the universe and Lord over all human leaders, including the new president of the United States (Prov. 21:1)!

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – It’s finally here: 3 responses to Election Day

Leave a comment

Today’s election will be historic. All presidential elections are, of course, but today’s outcome will set remarkable precedents. If the Democratic candidate prevails, our nation will have its first female chief executive. If the Republican candidate prevails, we will have our first president whose credentials for service come from his business success rather than governmental or military experience.

In most elections, the historical nature of either outcome would be celebrated by many. But this is anything but a typical election. The Jerusalem Post calls this campaign “the most vicious presidential race in modern American history.”

Sales of emergency survival food have tripled in anticipation of today’s vote. World financial markets have seen their longest string of declines in thirty-six years and banks are bracing for tumult after today’s election. Security experts worry about terrorists attacking our cities and foreign nations infiltrating our voting system. Schools in several states across the US have canceled classes, fearing violence in their hallways as people vote.

Many are worried for our country. But let’s take a longer view.

You have probably not heard of a king named Omri, but that’s because you weren’t alive nine centuries before Christ. Omri’s descendants held the throne of Israel for more than a hundred years, so that Assyrian records referred to the kingdom as “the land of Omri.” Imagine being such a notable leader in the eyes of other nations that your entire country is known for you.

However, that’s not how the Bible remembers Omri: Scripture gives him a total of eight verses before the story moves on (1 Kings 16:21–28). That’s because Omri “was evil in the sight of the Lord” (v. 25) and his reign did nothing to glorify God or advance his Kingdom.

Continue reading Denison Forum – It’s finally here: 3 responses to Election Day →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – A Burden or a Bridge

Leave a comment

 

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

What word would you use to describe adversity in your life? To most people, it is a heavy, inescapable burden that wears them down, saps their joy, and hinders them from truly living. Christians, however, have the opportunity to see adversity as a bridge leading to a glorious eternal future.

The determining factor in how we view hardship is our perspective. If we focus only on the negative aspects of our earthly life, we’ll be drawn into despair and desperation. But if we look at problems from an eternal standpoint, our thinking and attitudes will be transformed in the following ways:

  1. Instead of letting difficulties wear us down, we won’t lose heart, because we know we’re being renewed from within. As we respond in submission to whatever God allows in our life and trust in His good purposes, our character is shaped into Christlikeness and our hope is restored.
  2. The despair of feeling that our adversity is inescapable and never-ending will be replaced with strength to endure. Paul said he was afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and constantly threatened with death, yet he called it all “light and momentary” compared to eternity (2 Cor. 4:8-11, 2 Cor. 4:17 NIV).
  3. Rather than seeing adversity as a thief of all joy and a hindrance to a good life, we should look beyond the present to what the trial is producing for us in heaven— “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Viewing troubles through an eternal lens is an act of faith, which pleases God. It increases our trust in Him, gives us greater passion for our heavenly inheritance, and strengthens us to victoriously cross the bridge of adversity.

Bible in One Year: John 17-19

 

http://www.intouch.org

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Difficult Hill

Leave a comment

Read: Psalm 110

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 40–42; Hebrews 4

He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.—Psalm 110:7

High in a fold of Jughandle Peak in the mountains north of our home in Idaho lies a glacial lake. The route to the lake goes up a steep, exposed ridge through boulders and loose stones. It’s a strenuous ascent.

At the beginning of the climb, however, there is a brook—a spring that seeps out of soft, mossy earth and flows through a lush meadow. It’s a quiet place to drink deeply and prepare for the hard climb ahead.

In John Bunyan’s classic allegory of the Christian life, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian arrives at the foot of a steep ascent called the Hill Difficulty, “at the bottom of which was a spring . . . Christian now went to the spring and drank to refresh himself, and then began to go up the hill.”

Perhaps the difficult mountain you face is a rebellious child or a serious medical diagnosis. The challenge seems more than you can endure.

Before you face your next major task, visit the spring of refreshment that is God Himself. Come to Him with all your weakness, weariness, helplessness, fear, and doubt. Then drink deeply of His power, strength, and wisdom. God knows all your circumstances and will supply a store of comfort, of spiritual strengthening and consolation. He will lift up your head and give you strength to go on. —David Roper

Father, at this moment I turn to You for strength in my weakness, energy for my weariness, and faith in my doubt.

To help strengthen your trust in God, read Hope: Choosing Faith Instead of Fear at discoveryseries.org/q0733

He who overrules all things . . . enabled Christian to . . . continue on his way. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

INSIGHT: Psalm 110 is one of many Messianic psalms. These prophetic Hebrew hymns are called Messianic because they predict the coming of God’s anointed king or Christ (Messiah means Christ) which is Jesus. This particular psalm reaches both back and forward in the biblical text to teach us something about who Jesus is and the role He plays in bridging the gap between God and humanity. Dennis Moles

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Reflecting Significance

Leave a comment

English author Owen Barfield, who was a longtime friend of C.S. Lewis, once stated that what Lewis thought about everything was secretly present in what he said about anything.

He did not mean that Lewis went about giving the same tired message every time he opened his mouth. On the contrary, he was paying this prolific thinker one of the greatest compliments. What Lewis said about Christ with the utmost of passion was somehow present in the way he discussed his love for long walks or medieval literature, or in the way he stated his distaste for helping with the dishes. (Lewis once acknowledged that he found it was easier to pray for his wife than to help her with the dishes.) What Lewis thought about everything was that mere Christianity—the truth of the person of Christ—is something that no reasonable or responsible mind can ignore.

Today it seems that such singleness of mind is a rarity. In a world where we have carefully drawn lines around religious thought, it has become easier to accept the categories: Thinking about God and thinking about work are conducted from two separate frames of mind; loving God and loving your spouse are two different kinds of love. But is this true? Is it possible?

One of the most vocalized reasons for rejecting Christianity is the hypocrisy of its followers. And where it is not sound reasoning to reject a religion by its abuse, the thought is perhaps a legitimate expression of confusion. When what we think about God does not inform what we think about people or child rearing, business or pleasure, how can we proclaim the eternal importance of the message? Doesn’t it follow that something of eternal significance is significant enough to permeate every moment of time? It is like operating as if the underpinnings of a house have nothing to do with the shape or characteristics of any of the rooms. When the wind blows would we feel the same?

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Reflecting Significance →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Knowing God

1 Comment

“‘“The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom”’” (Job 28:28).

Being wise begins with knowing God.

The fear of the Lord is the most basic idea related to wisdom and is the key to understanding it. The Book of Proverbs especially teaches us that the fear of the Lord is inextricably linked to wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). Knowledge, wisdom, instruction, and understanding are often used as synonyms in Proverbs. The link between fear of the Lord and wisdom is also evident in Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Since wisdom and understanding are parallel, so are the fear of the Lord and knowledge of the Holy One. To know God and to fear God are one and the same.

What does it mean to fear God? It’s a reverential trust, or simply another way of describing saving faith. We begin to be wise when we revere God and trust in Him. When an Old Testament saint wanted to evangelize, he might have said, “Fear God!”

When you read in the Bible of people fearing God or that fearing God is linked to wisdom, that means a person can’t even begin to be wise until he is first converted. Fearing God is the initiation of a life of faith. As long as a person has only human wisdom, he can’t know God or true wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is your entrance to wisdom. It will prolong your life, fulfill your life, enrich your life—it is your life (cf. Prov. 10:27; 14:27). It will open the continual flow of God’s wisdom to you. The significance of everything is tied to the wisdom of God, which alone will give you proper values, guidance, instruction, and perspective in life. Apply His wisdom to your life daily, and enjoy all the benefits that wisdom has to offer.

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise God for His wisdom by which you are so abundantly blessed.

For Further Study

God’s wisdom enriches our life and gives us proper values and instruction. Read Proverbs 10:1-12, and notice how that is so.

 

http://www.gty.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – God is Able 

1 Comment

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  2 Corinthians 9:8

God is able. He is able to abundantly bless in all things at all times.  God is able to provide what is needed for every good work. He is able when I am unable. He is able to soften my heart when I am unable to listen.  He is able to illumine my thoughts when I am unable to understand the truth. He is able to love me when I am unable to love myself. God is able. Yes! His Spirit is able to intercede on my behalf when I am unable to pray. My Lord Jesus is ready, willing and able.

God is able to supply the needs of His people through His people. He is able to make us rich in every way so we can be generous on all occasions. Thus, we have emotional, physical, spiritual and financial capacity to give to others. Yes, margin (extra) gives us space in our brain to be creative, room in our heart to be compassionate, and surplus money with which to be generous. Indeed, we have more to give to others when we steward our resources for the sake of service.

“Spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10).

So, what are we to do when God is able, but unwilling? What if His help seems delayed or unresponsive? First, we are reassured knowing the character of our Heavenly Father is 100% trustworthy. He is good and He desires what’s best for His children. Furthermore, our will does not always align with the Lord’s will. Free will is freedom to chose badly. Thus, we require the Spirit’s ‘will alignment’ by renewing our mind and purifying our heart. Clarity comes from cleansing and repentance. God is able, but we may not be ready, so we remain steady in prayer.

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – God is Able  →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – The Name of Christ

Leave a comment

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

1 Peter 4:14

Recommended Reading

1 Peter 4:12-19

A Turning Points reader recently posted an interesting question on social media: “What is it about the Name of Christ? Why does the world so hate it?” Russian history books are stained with the blood of believers, savagely tortured and killed by the thousands in Soviet days. Those days changed with the fall of the Iron Curtain, or so we thought. But earlier this year, Vladimir Putin turned back the clock, passing a new law forbidding Christians from sharing their faith anywhere but within the walls of official church buildings. Even speaking of Christ in private homes is forbidden. Online sharing of the Gospel is forbidden.

In America, secularists seek to restrict freedom of Christian expression in public life, but it’s far worse now in Russia and in many other parts of the world. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron was correct when he called Christians the “most persecuted group in the world today.”

Why do skeptics fear the Name of Jesus? What is it about that Name? As Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote, “Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that Name.”

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall; / Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.

Edward Perronet

Read-Thru-the-Bible

John 13 – 15

 

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Are Responsible for Your Own Life

Leave a comment

Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. —James 1:22 KJV

One of the biggest problems in society today is that people don’t want to take responsibility for their lives. They want quick fixes. Society has trained them to believe that if they have problems, somebody else is responsible. Their parents are responsible. Their spouses are responsible. Their schools or employers are responsible. The company that made the cigarettes or vehicle or junk food is responsible.

I’m not saying you are responsible for the current state of your life. Lots of uncontrollable events occur in our lives. Sometimes we do get very bad messages in childhood. Sometimes we have bad people in our lives who hurt us. The situation you find yourself in may or may not be your fault. But it is your fault if you take it lying down! You do not have to stay in that bad situation. You get to make a choice. And that choice is 100 percent yours.

No matter how you got to where you find yourself today, don’t let it be an excuse to stay there. I had many excuses and reasons for my poor health, bad attitude, and unbalanced life. As long as I offered excuses, I never made progress.

The time has come to be very honest with yourself and with God. When you have a moment of privacy, take a deep breath, clear your head, and repeat this phrase: “I am responsible for my own life. No one can take charge of it but me. If I am unhappy or unhealthy, I know I have the power to change that. I have all the help and knowledge I need; and with God’s hand today, I start becoming the person of excellence I have always known I could be.”

From the book New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Why I’m Not Worried About the Election

Leave a comment

Today’s Truth

The LORD has made the heavens His throne; from there He rules over everything

Psalm 103:19

Friend to Friend

I don’t know about you, but my emotions have been all over the board about this upcoming Presidential election. It is so easy to fall into the ravine of worry, anxiety, and outright fear. So let’s just talk about it a minute.

During one of my “less than trusting” days, God reminded me that He is still in control. Yes, God does give us the risky gift of choice, but He is still sovereign and sitting on His throne.

God reminded me of King Cyrus. Jeremiah prophesied that the Babylonians would take the rebellious Israelites captive for seventy years. Years later, that’s exactly what happened. Jerusalem was destroyed and the Israelites were taken captive for seventy years.

Jeremiah also prophesied that God would raise up a Persian King named Cyrus who would conquer the Babylonians and set the Israelites free. One hundred and fifty years later, that’s exactly what happened. The prophet even called him by name … Cyrus. Amazing! In 539 B.C. King Cyrus decreed that the Israelites could return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.

Stay with me.

Here’s the prophesy: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him . . . ‘I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me’” (Isaiah 45:1, 4; see also 41:2-25; 42:6). About His sovereignty over all nations, God says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please” (Isaiah 44:28).

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Why I’m Not Worried About the Election →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – No Other Savior

Leave a comment

“There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them” (Acts 4:12).

As a young sceptic, I had difficulty believing in the resurrection, for I could not believe in the supernatural. But as I became aware of the uniqueness of Jesus and of the different quality of life that was His, I was forced to reconsider the biblical claim to His resurrection.

Since it is a matter of historical fact that the tomb in which His dead body was placed was empty three days later, I set out to discover if the tomb could have been empty on any other basis than the biblical claim that He had been raised from the dead. In my research, I learned that there were three different theories explaining the empty tomb.

First, it was proposed that He was not really dead but had fainted from the loss of blood on the cross, and that He recovered in the cool of the tomb (this notion is today expounded by certain skeptics under the name of the “swoon theory”). Second, it was conceivable that Jesus’ body was stolen by His enemies; or third, that it was stolen by the disciples.

Experience and logic have forced me to discount all three of these theories as impossibilities. First, Jesus could never have moved the stone or escaped from the guards in His weakened condition. Second, Jesus’ enemies had no reason to steal His body since they did not want to give credence to a belief in His resurrection. Even if they had stolen the body, they could simply have produced it to discount the resurrection.

Third, the disciples who deserted Jesus at His trial and crucifixion were the same men who, having seen Him after His resurrection, spent the rest of their lives telling everyone who would listen, even at the cost of their own lives, that Jesus was alive. Ask yourself this question, “Would the disciples be willing to die as martyrs propagating a lie?”

Christianity alone has a living Savior; in Him alone is salvation.

Bible Reading: Romans 10:9-13

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Several times today, as the Holy Spirit prompts me, I will remember to thank God for the gift of His Son as my personal Savior and will tell someone else that Jesus is alive and wants to be his Savior, too

 

http://www.cru.org

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Mystery of the Jewish People

Leave a comment

Read: Romans 11:25-32

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. Romans 11:25-26

Perhaps the striking thing about this passage is that Paul calls the Jews’ present resistance to the gospel a mystery. He doesn’t mean that it is obscure and difficult to understand. When Paul calls this a mystery he means that it is a supernatural phenomenon that has to be revealed to us. You can’t explain it by the normal reasons for resistance to the gospel. I do not know if you have had any occasion to try to witness to a Jewish person. If you have, perhaps you have run up against what seemed to be a rock wall of indifference and resistance to what you were trying to say. If so, you may well have been experiencing what Paul is talking about here, a strange hardening toward the gospel by Jewish people. It is not because the Jews are inferior in intelligence — they are among the most intelligent of people. It is not because they don’t want God; they are among the most religious of all people. Ordinarily you would think they would be open to hearing the good news of how God, in grace, is ready to reach men and change them and indwell them and enrich their lives. And yet those who go among the Jews often find this strange resistance, this anger that is awakened because of the preaching of the gospel.

Paul says three things about this hardness: First, it is a hardening in part. That is, not all Jews are afflicted this way. We are not told here what portion of Israel is going to be hardened — whether 10% or 90%. All we are told is that there are going to be some Jews who simply will not hear, who will not receive the gospel. I have been to Israel five times, and I am always amazed at how resistant the Jews there seem to be to the claims of the Lord Jesus. And Paul tells us that this hardening is not only in part, but it is also limited in time. It is not going to go on forever. A hardening of the heart has happened until the full number of the Gentiles come in. So this is not something that they are bound to experience forever. What does the full number of the Gentiles mean?

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Mystery of the Jewish People →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Christ’s Ambassadors

Leave a comment

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We are ambassadors for Christ. (v. 20)

Arriving in India in the middle of the night after a long journey, I shuffled zombie like through a huge jam of people in front of the Immigration Control desks, looking with envy at the empty line marked “Diplomatic Passports Only.” Ambassadors enjoy VIP perks because they really are important people. Their job is to speak authoritatively on behalf of the government they represent. In order to do this, ambassadors must be sure they know what their leaders want them to say.

Who are we as servants of Jesus Christ? Here is another answer given by Paul to the church in Corinth: We are Christ’s ambassadors. And we know what our King wants us to say. It’s “the message of reconciliation,” namely, that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (v. 19 NIV). Notice that God is the subject here, the one doing the work of reconciling. It’s not just that we must be reconciled to God; God also must be reconciled to us. Sin has caused problems on both sides of a broken relationship, and only God can accomplish the great act of reconciliation–Christ’s death on the cross–which clears the way to restored fellowship with him.

But there are some things for us to do: we must first believe the gospel ourselves and accept what God has done for us. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (v. 20). And then we must proclaim this message as ambassadors to the whole world.

Prayer:

Thank God for the work and message of reconciliation.