Tag Archives: nature

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Trusting Is God’s Gift

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“Because of His kindness you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it.” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Joe had asked Jesus to come into his life many times but was never sure of his salvation. “How can I be sure I’m a Christian and will go to heaven when I die?” he asked.

I explained that it was not enough to ask Jesus to come to live within us and forgive our sins. We must believe that He will do exactly what He promised to do. By faith, we must be able to say, “I know that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for my sins, that He was raised from the dead and that He will come into my life and change me if I ask Him to. I know that He will make me His child and never leave me because all of these are promises from God’s holy, inspired Word. Therefore, I believe the promise of Ephesians 2:8,9 – that I attain salvation through trust in Christ.”

Through the years I have seen thousands of individuals profess faith in Christ after hearing or reading John 1:12, (KJV) “But as many received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,” and Revelation 3:20, where Jesus promised, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (NAS). But not everyone with whom I have prayed has received the assurance of salvation. The reason? It is not enough to ask Christ into our lives; we must believe His promise, “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8, NAS).

Bible Reading: I Peter 1:3-9

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Have I been asking Jesus Christ into my life frequently through the years, but am not sure He is there, not sure of eternal life, or that I would go to heaven if I died today? If so, I will pray, “Right now, Lord Jesus, whatever may have taken place in my life prior to this moment, I want to declare that I believe in You as my Savior and wish to follow You as my Lord. So, for the last time, I invite You to come into my life. Forgive my sins; cleanse me; make me the kind of person You want me to be. By faith in You and in the authority of Your inspired Word, I now acknowledge that You live within me, and I believe Your promise, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’* Therefore, I will never insult You by asking You to into my life again, but will hereafter thank You daily that You indwell me, that I have eternal life and that through the enabling of Your power I can live a supernatural life. *Hebrews 13:5, NAS.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Don’t Ever Doubt

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A penny might seem very small in the grand scheme of things, but if you put it directly in front of your eye, you can block out the entire sun from your sight. This happens in many of life’s situations. People focus on the issues right in front of them instead of God’s light and it causes them to doubt His power.

Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?

Luke 8:25

The disciples did this, too. In today’s verse, they were traveling by boat across a lake when a storm arose. Focusing on the wind and waves around them, they believed they would perish. However, when they remembered Jesus was with them and called on Him, He calmed the storm. His question to the disciples prior to their incredulous response in today’s verse was, “Where’s your faith?”

Are you focusing on the turmoil going on around you? It’s easy to do – but don’t ever doubt that Jesus is with you and can calm whatever storm you may be encountering right now. Pray He will help you and the nation to focus on Him and strengthen your faith.

Recommended Reading: Matthew 14:22-33

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – One Thing

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“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

—Luke 10:42

Everyone has their one thing in life, whether they are believers or nonbelievers. It’s the one thing that makes their blood pump, the thing that gets them up in the morning, the thing they are passionate about.

David told us about his one thing in Psalm 27: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (verse 4).

When Jesus came to visit Mary and Martha, Martha was understandably whipping up a feast for Jesus while Mary sat at His feet, listening to what He had to say. But Martha got stressed out because Mary wasn’t helping her. Jesus looked at her and said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42).

A loose paraphrase might be, “Martha, I appreciate a homecooked meal, but there is a time and a place for everything. The time now is just right for Me to talk to you about what really matters in life—and Mary gets that.”

The apostle Paul said, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13).

Our greatest danger in life is permitting the urgent things to crowd out the important things. For David and for Mary, that one thing was being in God’s presence. For Paul, it was forgetting the past and pressing toward the future, toward the goal to win the race.

What is your one thing?

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Click the Save Button

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Do the teachings of the Bible change us? There’s only one way to find out. Click the “Save” button! What great satisfaction occurs when having created a document, we reach up and press the Save button. It earns its name. We curse the little monster as it gobbles up our hard work. But once we save it, it is safe.

Are you clicking the button on Scripture? We save truth when we deliberately and consciously allow what we’ve heard to become part of who we are. In John 8:32 Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Free from guilt; free from anger; and free from fear.

Allow the truth of Scripture to be the authority in your life. Make it your goal to memorize it, to press the Save button. Join me at GloryDaysToday.com—let’s memorize Scripture together!

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples – Let’s Make a Deal

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“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap.” 1 Timothy 6:9

Some of you are old enough to remember Monty Hall and the game show Let’s Make a Deal—the one where contestants could keep what they had already won or risk trading it in for the mystery prize behind “door number one, door number two, or door number three.” Believe it or not, I once convinced Jim to go with me to one of the shows.

There we were: I had toy birds fastened everywhere on my head and blouse, and Jim (reluctantly) held a sign that said, “My wife is for the birds.” Our getup was enough to earn us seats in the contestants’ row, and before we knew it, we were in front of the cameras trying to name the correct price of four items to win a brand‐new Camaro. And believe me, we needed that car! Jim had just graduated from USC, and we had invested every available dollar in his tuition and expenses.

We guessed the first three items within the three‐dollar margin of error, but we missed on the last one—a Hoover vacuum cleaner. So we didn’t win the Camaro. Yet we walked away from that show with a new vacuum cleaner and another, much more valuable prize: a greater appreciation for how easily greed could overcome us.

Since that time we have observed that Satan appears to offer whatever a person hungers for in exchange for a spiritual compromise. In our case, a new automobile was the perfect enticement to unleash our greed. If illicit sex is your desire, it will eventually be made available. If your passion is for fame or power, the object of that lust will be promised (even if never delivered). Likewise, if you thirst for great wealth—beware! People who care passionately about money are often suckers for wild‐eyed schemes and shady deals. They are always on the verge of a bonanza that seems to slip through their fingers. Instead of getting rich, they get taken.

This is the threat posed by greed. Material comforts or money in the bank can become our first love—our greatest treasure and passion. And when that happens, God becomes almost irrelevant. But the Lord will not settle for second place (“You shall have no other gods before me”— Exodus 20:3). We encourage you to say, “Let’s make a deal” right now. Agree now that you’ll always keep money in its place and the Lord as the first love of your life.

– Shirley M Dobson

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Responding to God’s Holiness

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Isaiah 6:1-8

A stunning sunset, a rainbow, the first blooms of spring, and many other displays of nature will elicit strong reactions. In a similar way, God’s holiness is so magnificent that it causes people to respond in various ways.

Isaiah had a vision of the Lord’s moral purity and holiness. When he saw God seated on a throne in all His glorious splendor, the prophet cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (v. 5). A glimpse of divine perfection caused Isaiah to recognize the depths of his own sinful condition and to acknowledge the holiness of God. Peter had a similar reaction when he was in the presence of the Savior. After the Lord miraculously filled the fishing nets to overflowing, the disciple “fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8). However, the religious leaders of the day had a different attitude. The more they heard Jesus’ preaching and saw His work, the angrier they became.

We are Christ’s ambassadors to a hurting world, and we must always act with love toward others. But sometimes those who are not abiding in Christ will experience what I call “holy heat.” People who have rejected Jesus may act as if we are trying to force them to believe in Him. And Christians living in rebellion toward God may become uncomfortable around those who abide in Jesus; they may even ignore the advice of believers who have loved and advised them for years.

God wants us to live out our faith in love, regardless of others’ reactions. Has your faith permeated the many areas of your life?

Bible in One Year: Matthew 13-15

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Unclear Vision

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Read: Job 19:1-21

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. —Job 42:5

My friend Meaghan is an accomplished equestrian, and I’ve been learning some interesting things about horses from her. For instance, despite having the largest eyes of all land mammals, horses have poor eyesight and can see fewer colors than humans. Because of this, they can’t always identify objects on the ground. When they see a pole, they don’t know if it’s a pole they can easily step over or a large snake that might harm them. For this reason, until they are properly trained horses are easily frightened and quick to run away.

We too may want to run from alarming circumstances. We may feel like Job who misunderstood his troubles and wished he’d never been born. Since he couldn’t see that it was Satan who was trying to break him down, he feared that the Lord, in whom he had trusted, was trying to destroy him. Overwhelmed, he cried out, “God has wronged me and drawn his net around me” (Job 19:6).

Like Job’s vision, ours is limited. We want to run away from the difficult situations that scare us. From God’s perspective, we are not alone. He understands what confuses and frightens us. He knows we are safe with Him by our side. This is our opportunity to trust His understanding rather than our own. —Anne Cetas

In what ways have you doubted God’s goodness? How have you seen Him working in your life during a difficult time?

Trusting God’s faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Unhindered

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It is a strange story. There were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel appeared to them, telling them not to be afraid. A baby had been born, and they could find him wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. To a peasant mother outside of Bethlehem, the Son of God was born.

If we examine the story in October, taking a step back from the familiar hum of Christmas to consider the story Christians are really waiting for, we may well be thrown off our usual Christmas kilter. This is not really the innocuous historical narrative we propagate. It’s not really a tame story. The bright lights and colors of our Christmas pageants can easily paint over the stark scenery of a story that startles all of history. Who really understands a God who comes as a child, who steps into our world through a dirty stable and the unlikely arms of an unwed mother?

Yet even long before these strange additions to the story of God among his people, the prophets were asking similar questions: “Who has understood the mind of the LORD?”(1) This God who moves unhindered among ordinary people, touching life and history, is not the tame and therapeutic being we attempt to package. Maybe God’s ways are not our ways. God’s stories are certainly not the kind of stories we would write if the telling were up to us. Maybe God’s thoughts, unlike our own, are the kind of thoughts that cannot be contained. They expose deception and shine in darkness; they shatter hearts and rewrite stories.

It is the same with the child born in a stable two thousand years ago. The infant the world remembers lying peacefully in a manger with cattle lowing nearby did not take long to fulfill the words spoken to his young parents: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”(2) This is definitely not the sort of thing a stranger typically says to a young mother holding a baby. Is this the child we anticipate as fall turns to holiday fervor?

British author Dorothy Sayers once lamented the manner in which Jesus is often remembered: he is the quiet sage full of wisdom, the safe and peaceful one of history. He is, for all practical purposes, somewhat dull, someone we might easily be interested in at a later time. Yet Sayers writes:

“The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.”(3)

The Christian remembrance of the Incarnation is a time of anticipation not for the harmless baby surrounded by lights and presents, but for the dynamic savior who is born into our midst in a way that must forever change us. “Do you want to be delivered?” asked Dietrich Bonhoeffer in an Advent sermon more than seventy years ago. “That is the only really important and decisive question which Advent poses for us. Does there burn within us some lingering longing to know what deliverance really means? If not, what would Advent then mean to us? A bit of sentimentality. A little lifting of the spirit within us? A little kinder mood? But if there is something in this word Advent which we have not yet known, that strangely warms our heart; if we suspect that it could, once more, once more, mean a turning point in our life, a turning to God, to Christ—why then are we not simply obedient, listening and hearing in our ears the clear call: Your deliverance draws nigh!”(2)

In the coming of fall and the approach of Advent, we hear a strange and drastic story. The church anticipates nothing less than the Lion of Judah wrapped in swaddling cloths; the coming of a human rescuer unhindered. Mercifully, mystery itself, draws nigh.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Isaiah 40:13.

(2) Luke 2:34-35.

(3) Dorothy Sayers, The Whimsical Christian, “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged,” (New York: Collier Books, 1978), 14.

(4) Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christmas Sermons, Edwin Robertson Ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 93.

 

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Testing Our Faith

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Why have you dealt ill with your servant? Numbers 11:11

Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to test our faith. If our faith is worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: The imitation gem dreads being touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith that can only trust God when friends are true, the body is healthy, and the business profitable; but it is true faith that rests in the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, the body is ailing, spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s face is hidden. A faith that can say, in the deepest trouble, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him”1 is heaven-born faith.

The Lord afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly glorified in the graces of His people, who are His own handiwork. When “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”2 the Lord is honored by these growing virtues. We would never know the music of the harp if the strings were left untouched, nor enjoy the juice of the grape if it were not trodden in the winepress, nor discover the sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten, nor feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not completely consumed. The wisdom and power of God are discovered by the trials through which His children are permitted to pass.

Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There must be shade in the picture to bring out the beauty of the light. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven if we had not known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Will peace not be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after labor? Will the recollection of past sufferings not serve to enhance the bliss of the glorified?

There are many other comfortable answers to the question with which we opened our brief meditation; let us think upon it all day long.

1) Job 13:15

2) Romans 5:3-4

The Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 1 Kings 10
  • Philippians 1

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Conversion

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“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:19: 20

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

The poor backslider is often the most forgotten. A member of the church has disgraced his profession; the church excommunicated him, and he was accounted “a heathen man and a publican.” I know of men of good standing in the gospel ministry, who, ten years ago, fell into sin; and that is thrown in our teeth to this very day. When you speak of them you are at once informed, “Why, ten years ago they did so-and-so.” Brethren, Christian men ought to be ashamed of themselves for taking notice of such things so long afterwards. True, we may use more caution in our dealings; but to reproach a fallen brother for what he did so long ago, is contrary to the spirit of John, who went after Peter, three days after he had denied his Master with oaths and curses. Nowadays it is the fashion, if a man falls, to have nothing to do with him. Men say, “he is a bad fellow; we will not go after him.” Beloved, suppose he is the worst; is not that the reason why you should go most after him? Suppose he never was a child of God—suppose he never knew the truth, is not that the greater reason why you should go after him? I do not understand your excessive pride, that won’t let you go after the chief of sinners. The worse the case, the more is the reason why we should go. But suppose the man is a child of God, and you have cast him off—remember, he is your brother; he is one with Christ as much as you are; he is justified, he has the same righteousness that you have; and if, when he has sinned, you despise him, in that you despise him you despise his Master. Take heed! You also may be tempted, and may one day fall.

For meditation: Discipline should not be lax or non-existent (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). But it is possible to go to the other extreme and overdo it.

Sermon no. 45

7 October (1855)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Enjoying God’s Blessings

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“Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it” (Luke 11:28).

Obeying Scripture brings spiritual blessing.

When Scripture speaks of a person’s being blessed, it usually refers to the reception of some temporal or spiritual benefit. It also includes the joy and sense of well-being that comes with knowing that God is at work on your behalf.

The psalmist wrote, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers” (Ps. 1:1-2). Those who know and obey God’s Word will be blessed. The psalmist likened them to a strong, productive, prosperous tree.

James added, “One who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty [God’s Word], and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). Again, the very act of obedience brings blessing.

John opens the book of Revelation with this promise: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it” (Rev. 1:3). Jesus closed the Revelation with the same promise: “Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7). Obedience and blessing always go hand-in-hand.

As a Christian, you’ve been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Every spiritual resource is yours. Even in times of sorrow and persecution, God’s blessing rests on you (1 Pet. 4:14). But you can forfeit His blessings by neglecting His Word or committing other sinful acts. So guard your heart carefully and continue in the Word. As you do, your joy will be boundless!

Suggestions for Prayer

Make a list of specific ways in which the Lord has blessed you in recent days. Praise Him for each one.

For Further Study

Read James 1:12, 1 Peter 3:14, and 1 Peter 4:14. How does God’s blessing apply when you’re suffering unjustly?

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Staying in Peace

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So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord.- Acts 3:19

Peace with God is maintained by never attempting to hide sin. Because hiding sin just causes condemnation and guilt, and neither of those are productive in any way. God knows everything anyway, so it is useless to think we can hide anything from Him. When we make mistakes, we shouldn’t withdraw from God, but we should come near to Him, thankful that He promises to restore us.

To repent means to turn away from sin and return to the highest place. God is not surprised by our weaknesses and failures. Actually, He knew about the mistakes we would make before we made them. All we need to do is admit them because He is faithful to forgive us continually from all sin (see 1 John 1:9). God is waiting for you with open and outstretched arms—always run to Him!

Prayer of Thanks: I am grateful, Father, that You forgive my sins and You bring healing and restoration into my life. I choose to reject the condemnation of the enemy and come to You when I sin and fall short. Thank You that You forgive me and love me through it all.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Bread of Life

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“Jesus replied, ‘I am the Bread of Life. No one coming to Me will ever be hungry again. Those believing in Me shall never thirst'” (John 6:35).

What would it be like never to be hungry – never to be thirsty?

Even in affluent America, you and I – and perhaps most people – have felt pangs of hunger and thirst, if only for a brief period. Jesus is telling us here that, spiritually speaking, we need never be hungry or thirsty again.

But how is that possible?

As the bread of life – the support of spiritual life – His doctrines give life and peace to the soul.

In Eastern countries, especially, there are vast deserts and often a great lack of water. By nature, the soul is like a traveler wandering through such a desert. Thirsting for happiness, seeking it everywhere and finding it not, he looks in all directions and tries all objects – in vain.

St. Augustine expressed this hunger for God in the following prayer, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

When we drink of the water that is Christ, we become satisfied – and need never thirst again. As we continue to grow in grace, which comes only by feasting on His Word, we find a never-ending pattern of satisfaction with Him and all that concerns Him.

The principle is clear: As you and I feed on the Word of God and its rich truths, we are satisfying a spiritual hunger and thirst that could never be satisfied otherwise. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, on the other hand, is also a necessity if we are really to grow in grace. The truths are not contradictory, but are complementary.

Bible Reading: Matthew 5:1-6

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: My daily manna and drink shall come from the living Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy inspired written word, the Bible, enabling me to live the supernatural life.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Daily Strength

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Actor and director Scott Baio is best known for his role as Chachi on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi. Scott and his wife Renee have been married seven years. Recently Renee was diagnosed with a brain tumor – and this is after she underwent successful lumpectomies for breast cancer in 2010 and 2014.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

II Corinthians 12:9

“Renee has been down some rough roads in her life, yet each time with her strong faith in God, she comes through a better and stronger person,” Scott says. “During this time we ask for your prayers and support. My wife is my rock. She refuses to even shed one tear, nor will she question God’s will.” Renee adds, “God does not challenge weak people – He has laid this upon me and I’m not going to question it. If I can save one person along the way, I’m okay.”

God’s glorious power is more evident when it is displayed in weak vessels. Surrender your limitations to the Lord. As you do, your faith and your worship will be enhanced as your inadequacies fade. Remember to pray for the Baios. Intercede also for your leaders. Pray they will seek God’s strength for their daily decisions.

Recommended Reading: Philippians 4:6-14

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – The Land is Conquered

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If we are co-heirs with Christ, why do we struggle through life? Our inheritance is perfect peace, yet we feel like a perfect mess. God promises to meet every need, yet we still worry and fret. Why? Perhaps no one ever told us about what Paul describes in Ephesians 1:19– “the exceeding greatness of His (God’s) power toward us who believe.” No one told us the land is already conquered. The gift has been given. Will you trust it? Joshua 1:3 is the reminder, “I made this offer to the people of Moses’ day but they didn’t take it. They chose the wilderness.”

You are embedded with the presence of God. You can’t break the habit, but God can. You can’t control your temper, or sexual urges, but God can. You can say with confidence, “These days are Glory Days…God will get me through!”

Join me at GloryDaysToday.com.

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples – Empty Castles

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“This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Luke 12:20

The utter folly of materialism hit home dramatically for me (jcd) during a trip to Britain years ago. As I toured the museums and historical buildings, I was struck by what I called “empty castles.” Standing there in the lonely fog were edifices constructed by proud men who thought they owned them. But where are those men today? All are gone; most are forgotten. The hollow castles they left behind stand as monuments to the vulnerability and impermanence of the men who built them.

I hope to leave more than empty castles behind when I die—something more meaningful than land, machines, stocks, or fame. I will consider my earthly existence to have been wasted unless my legacy is a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people, and an earnest attempt to have served the God who made me. Nothing else really matters.

Just between us…

  • If we died tonight, would our obituaries describe empty pursuits or meaningful lives?
  • How would the Lord judge our stewardship of money, time, and belongings?
  • What has been our most foolish investment or expenditure in the past few years?
  • Do we seek satisfaction in things or in the Lord? Is a change in order?
  • How can we encourage each other to pursue what really matters?

Lord, we know that all that is of this earth will eventually turn to dust. How much we long to live like Your children every day—with eternity’s values always in mind. Grant us Your grace and wisdom as we seek to make changes that will glorify You. Amen.

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Holiness of God

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Revelation 4:1-11

God is without sin. There’s no evil in His thoughts, motives, or actions. Because of His holy character, He is against all iniquity. He truly loves the sinner, but He despises sin.

The heavenly Father’s holiness is revealed not only in His moral purity, but also in His separateness from all evil. Because of His righteous character, He cannot tolerate or ignore sin. His justice requires that wrongdoing be paid for, and the only acceptable payment is death (Rom. 6:23).

Only faith in Jesus Christ bridges the gap between holy God and sinful man. The Son of God, having lived a perfect life, died to pay our sin debt in full and provide a way for each of us to have a relationship with righteous God. The heavenly Father, having accepted Jesus’ payment for sin, invites all people to become His children.

First, we must acknowledge we cannot pay for our own sins. Then we must confess our wrongdoing and ask Him to pardon us, based on the fact that Christ fully paid the penalty for our sins after suffering God’s wrath, condemnation, and judgment in our place. God justifies us the moment we receive Jesus as our personal Savior—the Judge of all humanity declares we are no longer guilty. He accepts the transfer of our guilt to His Son, who stood as our substitute.

Pardoned of all our sin. Clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. Made a child of holy God. These are the free gifts the Father gives us once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior through faith in Him. When we give Him our lives, He gives us His. Can you think of a better trade off?

Bible in One Year: Matthew 11-12

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Playing with Fire

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Read: John 15:10-20

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 26-27; Philippians 2

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. . . . And I too will love them and show myself to them. —John 14:21

When I was a young boy, my mom warned me that I should never play with fire. Yet one day I decided to see what would happen if I did. Taking a book of matches and some paper, I went out into the backyard to experiment. With heart beating fast, I knelt on the ground, struck the match, and set the paper aflame.

Suddenly I saw my mother approaching. Not wanting to get caught, I put my legs over the flames to hide what I was doing. But Mom shouted, “Denny, move your legs! There’s a fire underneath them!” Fortunately, I moved my legs quickly enough and was not burned. I realized then that my mother’s rule about not playing with fire was not to spoil my fun but because of her concern to keep me safe.

Sometimes we don’t understand the reasons behind God’s commands. We may even think He is a cosmic killjoy, setting up rules and regulations to keep us from enjoying ourselves. But God asks us to obey Him because He has our best interests at heart. As we obey, we “remain in his love” and are filled with joy (John 15:10-11).

So when God warns us not to sin, He does it for our own good. He really wants to protect us from “playing with fire” and getting burned. —Dennis Fisher

Dear heavenly Father, may Your Holy Spirit empower us to obey Your Word. We thank You for the protection Your precepts provide and the love and joy we find in obeying You.

God gives us loving warnings in His Word to protect us.

INSIGHT: Jesus used the words servants and friends to show the level of intimacy and the great privileges and responsibilities believers have with Him (v. 15). A true friend is “one in spirit” with you (see 1 Sam. 18:1) and would sacrifice his life for you (John 15:13). A friend of Jesus does whatever He commands (v. 14), but “a friend of the world” is an enemy of God (James 4:4). Sim Kay Tee

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Love, Lover, and Beloved

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“The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason.”(1) Thus begins Augustine’s dissertation on the Trinity, written for those whose perverse love of reason prevents a heart of faith. Perhaps this is a warning for all of us who work so hard to logically make sense of something as ineffable and mysterious as the divine nature of God. Writing over a thousand years later, Leonardo Boff intoned a similar warning: “We should never forget that the New Testament never uses the expressions ‘trinity of persons’ and ‘unity of nature.’ To say God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is revelation; to say that God is ‘one substance and three Persons’ is theology, a human endeavor to fit the revelation of God within the limitations of reason.”(2)

If reason is conscribed by logic, then at our best, we must speak of the Trinity in analogical terms. In other words, we look for analogies from our human experience, analogical images, pictures, or descriptions that offer an analogous explanation for that which is unexplainable. For Augustine, love best illustrated the nature of the Trinity. “Now when I, who am asking about this, love anything, there are three things present: I myself, what I love, and love itself. For I cannot love love unless I love a lover; for there is no love where nothing is loved. So there are three things: the lover, the loved and the love.”(3) From this analogy, Augustine argues that God’s nature is indeed relational and personal as it is expressed in a divine community of love. It cannot be said that God is love (1 John 4:8) if God is alone and monadic. Instead, love resides both in God’s nature as a personal being and in relationship to the beloved (Jesus Christ) by love (Holy Spirit).

While at best an analogy, Augustine’s definition communicates two key scriptural truths about God: God is both personal and relational in God’s very nature. God is not a distant being, removed from Creation, but God is personally involved in creation. Indeed, God is so personally involved that God even participated in our humanity through Jesus Christ. This is what the theological doctrine of the Incarnation communicates. As a personal God, therefore, God is relational. God is love, as the Epistle of John tells us, and that love is shared in the divine community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Indeed, through love God reaches out to the creation and calls it back into relationship through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ by the transformational work of the Holy Spirit.

While this analogy isn’t intended to answer all of our logical reasoning concerning the nature of God as Trinity, it does lead us to a vital application for the Christian life. We too, as image-bearers of God, do not reflect that image solely in our own persons by ourselves. Instead, to bear the image of God as personal, relational Trinity is to be in community with one another. Relationships, as they image God, are intended to reflect the divine community of love, redemptive and reflective of the very love of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, we might ask, as a redeemed community of love, how ought we to reflect the reality of the Trinity in our world? How might we draw others into redeemed community and away from loneliness, isolation, and self-destruction?

To understand the Trinity is not simply to analyze it logically “through a crude and perverse love of reason.” Rather, to understand the Trinity is to live in the light of its implications for human communities. Far more than a logical construct of a paradoxical nature, the Trinity is to be the way in which we image God in this world through the community of believers—and not as isolated individuals. We are to call others into that community enfolded in the life of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—love, lover, and beloved in divine community.

Margaret Manning Shull is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Bellingham, Washington.

(1) St. Augustine, “On the Trinity,” Basic Writings of St. Augustine, Volume 2, Ed. Whitney J. Oates (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992), 687.

(2) Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988), 156.

(3) St. Augustine, “On the Trinity,” Basic Writings of St. Augustine, Volume 2, Ed. Whitney J. Oates (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992), 790.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Never Be Thirsty

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But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. John 4:14

The person who believes in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now and to content him forevermore. The believer is not the man whose days are weary for lack of comfort and whose nights are long on account of the absence of heart-cheering thought. The believer finds in faith such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation that he is content and happy. Put him in a dungeon, and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, and he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, and he will meet the “friend who sticks closer than a brother.”1 Destroy all his shade, and he will find shadow beneath the Rock of Ages; erode the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord.

The heart is as insatiable as the grave until Jesus enters it, and then it becomes a cup full to overflowing. There is such a fullness in Christ that He alone is the believer’s sufficiency. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the provision of Jesus that he no longer thirsts-except perhaps to drink more deeply at the living fountain.

In that sweet manner, believer, you will thirst; it will not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; you will find it a sweet thing to be longing for a deeper enjoyment of Jesus’ love. An old saint once declared, “I have been lowering my bucket into the well so often, but now my thirst for Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well itself to my lips and drink right out of it.”

Is this the feeling of your heart now, believer? Do you feel that all your desires are satisfied in Jesus and that you have no need now except to know more of Him and to have closer fellowship with Him? Then come continually to the fountain, and take the water of life freely. Jesus will never think you take too much but will always welcome you, saying, “Drink; yes, drink abundantly, loved one.”

1) Proverbs 18:24

The Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 1 Kings 9
  • Ephesians 6

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg