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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Our Ultimate Prayer Partner          

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Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. —Romans 8:34

If you found yourself in a difficult passage in life, would it bring you some measure of comfort if Billy Graham called you? “This is Billy Graham. I wanted to talk to you. I heard you were going through a hard time. I would like to pray for you.” And of course you answer, “Please do!”

So Billy Graham prays for you, with that unforgettable voice of his, bringing your name and needs before God. Wouldn’t you feel good about that? When it was over, wouldn’t you hang up the phone and say, “Wow. That was unreal. I feel so much better now.”

Then let’s say the phone rings again. “This is Pastor Chuck Smith. I heard you were experiencing some difficulties. May I pray for you?” So Chuck Smith prays for you. And then Chuck Swindoll calls, and he prays for you too! How would you feel? You would feel good. Three great men of God have personally called you on the phone and prayed for your needs by name.

Yet the Bible teaches that Someone much greater than these is already doing that very thing. Jesus Christ is praying for you. The Son of God is interceding for you. What’s more, He’s not just calling you on the phone, praying, and then leaving you alone again. Hebrews 7:25 tells us, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

He always lives to make intercession for you. He always prays for you. In fact, He’s praying for you right now, at the right hand of His Father in heaven. Hebrews 9:24 says, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Jesus is interceding for you at this very moment.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – What Do You Know?      

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Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. —Job 1:21

Think about the way Job responded to devastating circumstances. Talk about having your life fall apart! Job lost seven sons and three daughters in one unimaginable day. And that was in addition to losing all his possessions and his health. But what did Job do? The Bible says he did not charge God foolishly (see Job 1:22, KJV). Instead, he cried out to the Lord.

In fairness, Job did go on to question God in the days to come, in effect asking, “Lord, why?” There’s nothing wrong with asking God why, as long as you don’t get the idea that He somehow owes you an answer. Frankly, God doesn’t owe you or me an explanation.

Concerning our recent tragedy I, too, have asked why? Why did this happen? Why couldn’t it have been me instead of Christopher? Why did the Lord take him? I have many such questions roiling in my heart.

Not long after Christopher’s passing, Pastor Chuck Smith made this statement to me: “Never trade what you don’t know for what you do know.” Those words stopped me in my tracks a little. I asked myself, Well, what do I know for sure?

I know that God loves me.

I know that God loved and loves my son.

I know that God loves my family that remains with me.

I know that Christopher is well and alive in the best place he could ever be. I know that God can make good things come out of bad.

I know that we’ll all be together again—not so very long from now—on the Other Side.

I know those things. I’m as sure as I can be. So I’m making the choice to stand on what I know instead of what I don’t know.

So if you were to ask me, “Greg, why did this happen?” my answer would be, “I don’t know. And I don’t know that I will ever know. I just know that I need God more than I have ever needed Him in my life.”

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Make it Count  

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Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

I remember when, as a young Christian, I would sit in the pews at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and listen to Senior Pastor Chuck Smith speak. I would think to myself, I wonder if God would ever use me? I wonder if the Lord would ever speak through me? Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that God would allow me to be a pastor and someone who has the privilege of proclaiming the gospel. It was beyond my own dreams, beyond my own aspirations, even.

If you are planning your future right now, if you are thinking about what course you want to follow in life, ask God for His direction. Say, “Lord, I want to be the person that You want me to be. I want to marry the person You want me to marry. I want to be in the center of Your will. I don’t want to go out there and blow it. Help me to do Your will.” God’s plans for you are better than anything you have ever planned for yourself.

God has given each of us certain abilities, talents, and resources. The question is, what are you doing with them? Are you seeking to use them for His glory? Are you offering your resources and future to Him?

I’m not saying that you have to be a pastor. But whatever you do, whether you are a doctor, an architect, a secretary, a computer programmer, a builder, a musician, or something else, you should want to serve the Lord and do it for the glory of God. That is what matters. Your life can be a testimony and a witness for Jesus.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Faithful in the Little Things

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If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. —Luke 16:10

When I was a young Christian attending Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, I would listen to Pastor Chuck Smith and some of the other pastors and think, That is what I want to do. I want to serve the Lord like that. I want to speak.

I had been a believer for about three or four months when I went to see Pastor Chuck one afternoon. I sat down in his office and said, “I’ve been listening to you speak. I want you to know that I want to be used by God. Whatever you want me to do around here, I would be happy to do it.”

I was kind of hoping he might say, “Greg, why don’t you teach for me Sunday morning?” or something like that. Instead, he suggested that I talk to Romaine, another pastor at Calvary Chapel. (Romaine was a former drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.) So I went to Romaine’s office and told him, “I want to be used by God.”

“You do?”

I said, “Yes, I do. I want to serve the Lord.”

“That’s great,” he said. “See that broom? See that tree? Start sweeping.”

There was a pepper tree on the church property, which I believed had only one function: to drop leaves. I would sweep under this tree, and one minute later, there would be two hundred more leaves. I would sweep it up. Two hundred more leaves. That was all I did for weeks, even months. I just swept that tree and did little things around the church. But that was good. They were testing my faithfulness. Do you want to be used by God? Then be faithful in the little things.

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Greg Laurie – In Their Image

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“You shall have no other gods before Me.” —Exodus 20:3

Pastor Chuck Smith once told a story about a Papua New Guinea tribe that had a widespread birth defect. Everyone had one leg shorter than the other. Interestingly, the idol they worshipped also had one leg shorter than the other. They had created a god in their own image.

I believe this is the same direction America is going. When people say, “I am spiritual, I am just not religious,” it is code for “I’m making it up as I go.”

People effectively make a god in their own image when they say things like, “My god would never judge a person” and “My god would never condemn two people of the same sex living together in a committed relationship.” But they just made up their own god. And their god, essentially, is them.

What is the first of the Ten Commandments? “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). What is the second commandment? It is related to the first: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (verse 4). Idol worship is putting anyone or anything in the place of God.

I read an article in USA Today about the fastest growing spiritual group in America, which claims no affiliation with any faith. The article states, “This group, called ‘Nones,’ is now the nation’s second-largest category only to Catholics, and outnumbers the top Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptists. The shift is a significant cultural, religious and even political change.”

It has been said, “When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes in anything.”

We can’t edit the Bible. We can’t say, “I like this part of the Bible and not that part.” If we do, then we will end up with a god that is not the God of the Bible.