Tag Archives: nature

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Don’t Worry

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“So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time” (Matthew 6:34).

The taxi driver who drove me from the airport to the hotel in Virginia Beach stated several times that he was having difficulty making ends meet for his wife and 2-year-old son.

He had two jobs and worked seven days a week. Even so, he could hardly get by. The rent was high; the utility bills were extravagant, and he was trying to save enough money so that he could move to another city where the hourly wages were considerably higher. There, he would be able to achieve a better way of life.

I asked him if he went to church.

“No,” he said, “I don’t have time. I’m too busy.”

During the next 30 minutes we talked about the love of God, and God’s purpose and plan for men which was revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

“I once went to church as a young man,” he said,” and my mother is very religious. In fact, she used to preach to me all the time. But somehow I have gotten away from God and from the church.”

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Our God Reigns

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Read: Isaiah 52:1-12

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God reigns! (Isaiah 52:7)

A few years ago I was in England, preaching in some churches in the London area. I spoke one night in a crowded Methodist chapel, where many were singing the chorus, Our God Reigns. I was amused to see in the song sheet from which the congregation was singing that the typist had made an error in the title of the hymn, and it read, Our God Resigns! Many Christians act as if God has resigned. But he has not. Our God reigns! This is what we must declare. We must show it on our faces, and let it be heard in our voices. God will come and the terrible times will end. We (and Israel) will one day hear the welcome summons: Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house. (Isaiah 52:11)

That is what is required of Christians today. We are not to go along with all the mistaken ways of the world, chasing illusions, and seeking things that will not satisfy. Rather, we should cleanse ourselves, for the promise is, But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 52:12)

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

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Read: Judges 11:29-40

Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. (v. 30)

This is disturbing. I wonder if Jesus had this story in mind when he said what he did about making vows in Matthew 5:33-37. “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matt. 5:37 NIV). The results of Jephthah’s tragic vow certainly look like the work of the evil one. The downward spiral of the judges continues.

Jephthah’s name in Hebrew means “he opens,” (there is a linguistic relationship to the Aramaic word “ephphatha” Jesus uses in Mark 7:34 to open the ears of a deaf man) and both Jephthah and his daughter agree he had to keep his vow after opening his mouth to the Lord. Besides the sad result for his daughter, the problem for Jephthah came from the way he made the vow in the first place. He was trying to control God through making a promise. People do this all the time—I wonder how many “if you get me out of this I will serve you forever” prayers God hears in a day. But God does not respond to human attempts to bribe or cajole him.

Although there are parallels to the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22, what stands out are the differences between the two stories. God commanded Abraham and provided a substitute offering. God did not command Jephthah. The vow was Jephthah’s misguided attempt to control God, who stayed terribly silent through the whole ordeal.

Prayer:

Help us have a right relationship with you.

https://woh.org/

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Strange Sacrifice

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Kent Brantly, the missionary doctor who famously contracted the Ebola virus in Africa and survived against the odds, has been the subject of both praise and criticism. Some Christian leaders called him heroic and an example of Christ, who left Heaven and came to a place of suffering and trouble to do good. On the other hand, one columnist said it was “idiotic” for Brantly to go to Africa and risk his life when there is so much need in the United States. “He would have done more good [in America] than marinating himself in medieval diseases of the Third World,” the columnist wrote.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116:15

The Great Commission is a strange thing to those who do not understand the call of God. Serving Christ seldom looks like an equitable transaction by the world’s measure. But a precious few understand that any sacrifice – even life itself – is not too high a price to pay in gratitude for what He has already done.

As you pray today, thank God for those who have sacrificed for this nation and for His cause. Then say, as Isaiah the prophet said to the Lord, “Here am I! Send me!”

Recommended Reading: Luke 12:20-31

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Idols in Our Hearts

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“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?”—Ezekiel 14:3

I find it interesting that the first two of the Ten Commandments deal with the issue of other gods. The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), while the second commandment says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (verse 4).

Idols in our hearts can cause God to refuse to listen to our prayers. An idol is anything (or anyone) that takes the place of God in our lives. Clearly it can be a sinful thing. But it also can be a seemingly good thing. For example, we can make an idol out of a career. There is nothing wrong with a career, but if it is more important than God, then it has become an idol. We can make an idol out of a relationship or out of a husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. If they are more important than God, then they have become idols. We can make an idol out of money. We can make an idol out of a possession. We can make an idol out of just about anything. And if we have idols in our hearts, then God will not hear us.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Created You According to His Plan

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Psalm 139:14 “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

God created you just as He wanted you, with a loving purpose in mind.

When I was in elementary school, I didn’t like the way my voice sounded. Sometimes at school we would have to read aloud and record our voices. I always hated having my recorded voice played back to me. Surely that couldn’t be the way I really talked! I had such a quiet, babyish voice. How embarrassing!

What about you? Is there anything about yourself that you wish you could change—but can’t? Let’s think for a minute about Who made you the way you are.

Psalm 139 says that God formed you and wove you together in your mother’s womb. Before anyone else even saw you, God knew all about you! He planned you; you were completely His idea. Before you were even born, God skillfully formed you exactly the way He wanted you to be.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – This Is Love

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Today’s Scripture: John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.”

Jesus’ propitiatory work was initiated by the Father because of his great love for us. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us,” the apostle John wrote, “that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

Sometimes the work of Christ is erroneously depicted as a kind and gentle Jesus placating the wrath of a vengeful God, as if Jesus needed to persuade the Father not to pour out his wrath on us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God the Father sent his Son on this great errand of mercy and grace. Though Jesus came voluntarily and gladly, he was sent by the Father.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The God of the Second Chance

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 4-8

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. – Psalm 115:3

Have you ever tried to manipulate God? For example, some people think that by tithing they can force God to bless them financially. Others believe that by doing evangelism or serving sacrificially, they can guarantee that God will give them what they want. It’s true that God blesses those who tithe, and He honors the humble service rendered for Him. But we do not manipulate God through religious ritual of any kind.

Today’s passage begins with the people of God going out to battle apart from the Lord’s command and suffering defeat. But rather than repent of their sin, they blamed the whole thing on God. When they decided to try again, they thought they would guarantee success by performing a religious ritual–taking the ark of the covenant into battle with them. They thought they had God in a box. Thirty thousand of Israel’s soldiers were killed, and the ark was captured by the Philistines.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The God of the Second Chance →

BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  Why Human Kindness Breaks Down the Theory of Evolution

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One of the biggest stumbling blocks to a purely Darwinian explanation of the world is the persistence of traits and behaviors that, strictly speaking, don’t further the purposes of what Richard Dawkins famously called “the selfish gene.”

The most obvious stumbling blocks are human altruism and cooperation. If natural selection is a “zero sum game,” that is, if your selfish gene wins, then my selfish gene loses, why should I bother to cooperate with you?

Attempts to get around this problem have amounted to little more than “just so stories”: “unverifiable and unfalsifiable narrative explanations,” often involving saber-tooth cats.

Here’s the latest case in point:  a solution that invokes, of all things, belief in God, or at least a god.

A paper recently published in the journal Nature concludes that the behaviors such as treating other people with fairness and impartiality made possible the creation of “large-scale cooperative institutions, such as trade and markets.” The paper then goes on to say that these less-selfish behaviors were the result of “the fear that a punitive God is watching.”

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE REST OF WORSHIP

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Read Acts 17:16-34

Theologian Josef Pieper believed that true leisure could be experienced only by those who knew how to worship: “Cut off from the worship of the divine, leisure becomes laziness and work inhuman.” In a world without worship, work becomes a religion, especially since our natural tendency is to try to approach God on the basis of our own effort. As Pieper says, people seem to mistrust everything that is effortless: “He can only enjoy, with a good conscience, what he has acquired with toil and trouble, he refuses to have anything as a gift.”

This mentality has infiltrated the church’s approach to worship. We like to think of worship as something that we do for God, our offering to Him. True, worship is described as an act of service in the Bible (Rom. 12:1–2), but worship is not work in the technical sense. Work serves some other purpose; it is the means to accomplish another objective. Worship is an end in itself.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – OBAMA WANTS TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO BAY: HOW DO YOU FEEL?

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On February 24, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area surrounding Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. On February 24, 2016, standing before a portrait of Mr. Roosevelt, President Obama announced plans to close the military prison there.

I watched the president’s speech and the debate that ensued. Both sides center on national security. Mr. Obama claims that the prison hardens international resentment against the U.S. and makes Americans less safe. Opponents dispute this claim and counter that the president’s plan does not account for the most dangerous current detainees or future terrorists. (For more on the Guantánamo Bay debate, see Nick Pitts’s How does Guantanamo undermine our values?.)

Do you worry about national security? If so, you’re not alone. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, only eighteen percent of Americans think we are winning the war on terrorism. That’s the lowest percentage, by far, in ten years. The number of Americans who believe terrorists are winning has doubled in the same time span. According to surveys, national security and terrorism now ranks as the top priority for the federal government.

Continue reading Denison Forum – OBAMA WANTS TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO BAY: HOW DO YOU FEEL? →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Purging Pride

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Read | 1 Peter 5:1-7

To humble ourselves, we must first be willing to detect pride in our heart. But recognizing it isn’t the same as getting rid of it. Here are several common areas of pride and some solutions for dealing with them.

Possessions. Start giving things away. We can begin by honoring God with our tithe. He promises that our nine-tenths will go farther than ten-tenths. The next step is to give to someone in need who can give nothing in return. But don’t parade your generosity around; keep it as secret as you can (Matt. 6:1-4).

Position. Acknowledge that whatever you have accomplished, God has done it for you (Isa. 26:12). Then ask Him to show you an area of service that has no rank or credit. Knowing that the Lord values every kind of service, we shouldn’t hesitate to request a place that is lower than we’re accustomed to. Our position in this world matters only to the extent that we use it to glorify God (James 1:9-11).

Privilege. Realize that many things you may take pride in come through privilege. None of us is truly “self-made”; no matter how hard you’ve worked, others have made sacrifices to allow you the opportunities and freedoms you enjoy. Remember, it is actually God’s grace that has blessed you with whatever knowledge you may credit yourself for having. Continue reading Charles Stanley – Purging Pride →

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Better View

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Read: Luke 19:1-10

Bible in a Year: Numbers 7-8; Mark 4:21-41

Because he was short he could not see over the crowd. —Luke 19:3

As a child, I loved to climb trees. The higher I climbed, the more I could see. Occasionally, in search of a better view, I might inch out along a branch until I felt it bend under my weight. Not surprisingly, my tree-climbing days are over. I suppose it isn’t very safe—or dignified.

Zacchaeus, a wealthy man, set aside his dignity (and perhaps ignored his safety) when he climbed a tree one day in Jericho. Jesus was traveling through the city, and Zacchaeus wanted to get a look at Him. However, “because he was short he could not see over the crowd” (Luke 19:3). Fortunately, those things did not stop him from seeing and even talking with Christ. Zacchaeus’s plan worked! And when he met Jesus, his life was changed forever. “Salvation has come to this house,” Jesus said (v. 9).

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Ray Stedman

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In Defiance, Hope?

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For many Jewish people living after the Holocaust, God’s absence is an ever-present reality. It is as tangible as the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau, and as haunting as the empty chair at a table once occupied with a loved one long-silenced by the gas chambers. In his tragic account of the horror and loss in the camps at Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel intones the cries of many who likewise experienced God’s absence: “It is the end. God is no longer with us….I know that Man is too small, too humble, and inconsiderable to seek to understand the mysterious ways of God. But what can I do? Where is the divine Mercy? Where is God? How can I believe? How can anyone believe in this merciful God?”(1)

This experience of absence, dramatic in its implications for the victims of the Holocaust, has repeated itself over and over again in the ravaged stories of those who struggle to hold on to faith, or those who have lost faith altogether in the face of personal holocaust. In a world where tragedy and suffering are daily realities seemingly unchecked by divine government, the absence of God seems a cruel abdication.

The words of Job, ancient in origin, speak of this same kind of experience:

Behold, I go forward, but He is not there,

And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;

He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.(2)

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – In Defiance, Hope? →

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Purging Pride

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Read | 1 Peter 5:1-7

To humble ourselves, we must first be willing to detect pride in our heart. But recognizing it isn’t the same as getting rid of it. Here are several common areas of pride and some solutions for dealing with them.

Possessions. Start giving things away. We can begin by honoring God with our tithe. He promises that our nine-tenths will go farther than ten-tenths. The next step is to give to someone in need who can give nothing in return. But don’t parade your generosity around; keep it as secret as you can (Matt. 6:1-4).

Position. Acknowledge that whatever you have accomplished, God has done it for you (Isa. 26:12). Then ask Him to show you an area of service that has no rank or credit. Knowing that the Lord values every kind of service, we shouldn’t hesitate to request a place that is lower than we’re accustomed to. Our position in this world matters only to the extent that we use it to glorify God (James 1:9-11).

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Purging Pride →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Tut-tut…

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I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 89:1

Recommended Reading

Psalm 78:1-4

Speaking a generation ago, evangelist Vance Havner said, “We are suffering today from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut. We are suffering not from a lack of correct heads but of consumed hearts.”

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Can Remove “Spiritual Roadblocks”

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It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.— Psalm 73:28

There are many examples in God’s Word of men and women who went through periods of questioning, doubting, blaming, and even criticizing God. But they realized they were being foolish. They repented and turned back to trusting God instead of being angry with Him.

This psalmist is one of those people. Here is my paraphrase of his progression from anger to trust in Psalm 73: “God, it sure seems that the wicked prosper and do better than I do. I am trying to live a godly life, but it does not seem to be doing any good. It looks as if it’s all in vain. I am having nothing but trouble, and when I try to understand it, the pain is too much for me. However, I have spent time with You, and I can understand that in the end the wicked come to ruin and destruction. My heart was grieved. I was bitter and in a state of upset. I was stupid, ignorant, and behaving like a beast. Now I see that You are continually with me. You hold my right hand. Who do I have in heaven, God, but You? Who will help me? If You don’t, there is no one on earth who can help me. You are my strength and my portion forever. It is good for me to trust in You, O Lord, and make You my refuge” (see vv. 12-28).

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – You Can Remove “Spiritual Roadblocks” →

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – The Wisdom of Having Wise Friends

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Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

Friend to Friend

God always needs to be our go-to guy when it comes to counsel. Our first call. But the Bible also gives us the directive to connect with other Christ followers for guidance: seek godly counsel.

“The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless” (Prov. 2:6–7).

When I make an effort to seek godly counsel, I benefit from the power of the Lord that is at work in the lives of those around me. I benefit from their mistakes and from their successes. And it frees me from the pressure of having to figure everything out on my own. It frees me to move forward beyond my own limited experiences, faith, and knowledge.

Struggling with a tough work situation? Tangled up in a messy marriage knot? Are you being held captive by fear, doubt, and insecurity? Get some godly counsel. Proverbs tells us, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (15:22 ESV).

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Kingdom of Heaven

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“Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:10).

Have you ever been persecuted because of your faith in Christ? If so, how did you respond?

While Francis Xavier was preaching one day in one of the cities of Japan, a man walked up to him as if he had something to say to him privately. As the missionary leaned closer to hear what he had to say, the man spat on his face.

Without a word or the least sign of annoyance, Xavier pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face. Then he went on with his important message as if nothing had happened. The scorn of the audience was turned to admiration.

The most learned doctor of the city happened to be present.

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Kingdom of Heaven →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Where to Look?

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Read: Isaiah 51:1-16

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. (Isaiah 51:1-2)

Chapters 51 and 52 give specific steps which believers can take when they feel discouraged and forsaken of God. This marvelous section is gathered around two the phrase, Listen to me which is repeated several times. These give great insight into God’s program for the discouraged.

Notice he says that if you are discouraged, look back and see from where you have come! Israel was to look back to Abraham, back to the time before he left Ur of the Chaldees. He had nothing. He was but a rock in a hard place! God called him and gave him everything. Look at Sarah. She was 90 years old before she underwent the labor of childbearing. Yet God multiplied her offspring to become the nation of Israel.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Where to Look? →