Tag Archives: Peace

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Children of God

Leave a comment

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

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

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

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Children of God →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Great Light

Leave a comment

Read: Isaiah 9:1-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

What a remarkable picture! It hardly needs any exposition. Suddenly, after a great time of trouble, the nation will realize that this glorious King, their Messiah, once came as a little child: to us a child is born. He who was for eternity the Son of God was given to them as a little Baby in Bethlehem. They recognize at last, after centuries of rejection, that this One rightly deserves divine titles. This is Immanuel, God with us.

The four titles Isaiah lists represent that: Wonderful Counselor. Did anyone ever fulfill that more fully than Jesus? He unveils to us secrets about ourselves, counsels us how to avoid the heartaches and problems that otherwise would beset us, showing the way of deliverance from the taint and pollution of sin.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Great Light →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Making All Things New

Leave a comment

Read: John 14:15-19; 16:5-16

A new spirit I will put within you. (Ezek. 36:26)

If you were ever a candidate for cataract surgery, your doctor probably promised that your dull and drab world would be bright and colorful after your surgery. Of course, you couldn’t know that your world was dull and drab until you had the surgery. You had to take that step in order to find a new world. The same is true in our spiritual lives. The Holy Spirit is the one helps us grow spiritually, but we have to open our hearts to him to obtain his help.

Continue reading Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Making All Things New →

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – A Winning Cry

Leave a comment

Visit any playground and you might find a group of kids playing “Mercy.” This popular children’s game of strength and endurance also goes by other names such as “Peanuts” and “Uncle.” In the game, each player attempts to bend back the fingers of the other player until they can no longer stand the pain or reverse the situation, at which time the “losing” player cries out for mercy. Then the “winning” person releases the fingers to stop the pain.

Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

Psalm 28:6

In the scriptures leading to today’s verse, David expresses his suffering. He anxiously prays to God asking for mercy…and the Lord immediately answers his prayer. The pain stops and he experiences peace that leads him to bless the Lord.

Continue reading Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – A Winning Cry →

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – What is an “Almost Christian”?

Leave a comment

“Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'” —Acts 26:28

I think America is filled with almost Christians—far more than outright nonbelievers.

What is an almost Christian?

It’s like a husband waiting for his wife to come out of the bedroom to leave. He asks, “Are you ready yet?” She replies, “Almost.” That is a woman’s way of saying, “Another hour, minimum!”

You cannot be an almost Christian, really. You either are or you are not. It’s like being almost pregnant! You either are or are not pregnant.

Continue reading Greg Laurie – What is an “Almost Christian”? →

The Navigators

Kids 4 Truth International – God Answers Prayer

Leave a comment

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.” (James 5:17)

Do you remember the story about Elijah and King Ahab in 1 Kings 17? Elijah told King Ahab that it would not rain. How did Elijah know that God would answer his prayer for it not to rain? Maybe because he knew Deuteronomy 11:13-17.

Deuteronomy 11:13-17 contains some of God’s promises and instructions for Israel before they enter the Promised Land. God says to them: if you listen to God’s commandments to love and serve him with all your heart and soul, He will give you rain “in his due season,” so you can gather in the crops you have planted. He will also send grass to your fields for your cattle, so you can eat and be full. He warns, however, that you need to pay attention so that you are not deceived into serving and worshipping other gods. If you serve and worship other gods, the Lord will be angry and He will “shut up the heaven, that there be no rain,” Then your crops will not grow, and you will die “quickly” in “the good land which the Lord giveth you.”

Continue reading Kids 4 Truth International – God Answers Prayer →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Growing in Love

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: Psalm 118:6

“The Lord is on my side.”

How can we develop our love for God so that our obedience is prompted by love instead of some lesser motive? The Scripture gives us our first clue, or beginning point, when it says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love to God can only be a response to his love for us. If I don’t believe God loves me, I cannot love him. To love God, I must believe that he is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31) and that he accepts me as a son or a daughter, not a slave (Galatians 4:7).

What would keep us from believing God loves us? The answer is a sense of guilt and condemnation because of our sin. The same tender conscience that enables us to become aware of sins that lie deep beneath the level of external actions can also load us down with guilt. When we’re under that burden and sense of condemnation, it is difficult to love God or believe that he loves us.

Continue reading The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Growing in Love →

The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Life Examples

Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 9-12

For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. – 1 Corinthians 4:17

When we talk about spiritual leaders who train their successors, you might be saying, “I can barely get my own work done every week. How can I train someone else?”

Let me offer a couple of suggestions. First, involve someone in your ministry, whatever it is. If you teach Sunday school, ask someone to assist in what you’re doing. That gives him or her a chance to observe you in action–and to help.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Life Examples →

Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – HOW JESUS KEPT THE SABBATH

Leave a comment

Read John 5:1-17

“Blue laws” prohibit certain activities on Sunday, usually things like shopping or the sale of liquor. Some of the strictest blue laws outlawed working, traveling, or engaging in recreation. Blue laws were originally instituted for religious purposes and have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As we saw in yesterday’s study, the Jews of Jesus’ day also had many blue laws focused on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The religious leaders used these rules to find fault with Jesus when He performed a miracle of healing on the Sabbath.

The healing in today’s passage took place at a pool in Jerusalem located near the sheep gate. This pool had five porticoes or covered colonnades. It was believed to have healing properties and was probably associated with worship of Asclepius, the Roman god of healing. Jesus healed a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years; he was so weak that he could not step down into the water without assistance. The healed man was later charged with violating the Sabbath—for carrying the mat on which he had suffered for so many decades!

Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – HOW JESUS KEPT THE SABBATH →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Key to Surviving Tough Times

Leave a comment

Hebrews 11:23-29

Today’s passage tells us how Moses endured arduous times: by faith. Every believer will face trying moments. The key is to remember that tough times are …

Inescapable. “For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). Every one of us will experience periods when life is hard. Financial pressure, family trouble, health issues, business difficulties, opposition within the church—the list of potential problems that we could face is endless. It is, therefore, essential that we learn to respond in the way God desires.

Able to destroy or develop us. Have you ever noticed how people respond differently to the same difficult situation? Some grow more focused while others fall apart or are even destroyed by the trial. How we respond depends on our perspective: Are we God-centered or trouble-centered?

Survivable. The key is to learn how to walk in continual awareness of God’s presence. Moses demonstrated this in seeking to free the Israelite people from Egyptian slavery. He had learned to “see” our invisible God walking by his side and to be constantly mindful of His presence. Moses didn’t focus on the Egyptians, Pharaoh’s power, or even the Israelites he was leading. His focus was on God. Continue reading Charles Stanley – The Key to Surviving Tough Times →

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Serving Leader

Leave a comment

Read: 1 Kings 12:1-15

Bible in a Year: Exodus 36-38; Matthew 23:1-22

Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. —Matthew 20:26

In traditional African societies, leadership succession is a serious decision. After a king’s demise, great care is taken selecting the next ruler. Besides being from a royal family, the successor must be strong, fearless, and sensible. Candidates are questioned to determine if they will serve the people or rule with a heavy hand. The king’s successor needs to be someone who leads but also serves.

Continue reading Our Daily Bread — A Serving Leader →

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Daniel and the Civil Rights Movement

Leave a comment

In his famed “I have a Dream speech,” Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed: “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” At these words, Dr. King painted for a troubled nation powerful images of hope and human equality, and forever rooted the civil rights movement in images of justice and the image of God.

The images presented in the book of Daniel are similarly rooted in images of justice and God. In fact, it is for this reason that the sixth chapter of Daniel was a favorite Scripture passage among civil rights preachers in the early 1960s. The story told in Daniel 6 presents a king who loses sight of his purpose as king and the purpose of the law, creating a system void of justice and a law that only hinders and traps its makers. But against the images of lawlessness and corruption, the story portrays a silent but active Daniel clinging to a higher law, bowing before the King of Kings in the midst of persecution, in the hands of his oppressors, and the shadows of the lions’ den. Living within the hopelessness of exile, sweltering under the heat of injustice, Daniel unflinchingly declares the sovereignty and kindness of God, and with faithfulness and perseverance refuses to believe otherwise. “When our most tireless efforts fail to stop the surging sweep of some monster of oppression, we need to know that there is a God in this universe whose matchless strength is a fit contrast to the sordid weakness of man,” writes King. “When we are staggered by the chilly winds of adversity and battered by the raging storms of disappointment… we need to know that there is Someone who loves us, who really cares, who understands.”(1)

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Daniel and the Civil Rights Movement →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – God Is Three

Leave a comment

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Though there is only one God, He exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

God is one, but He exists in three distinct Persons. We call this the Trinity, a contraction of “tri-unity,” meaning “three in one.” The word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, but God’s existence as three Persons in one God is clear from Scripture.

Old Testament evidence of God’s plurality can be found in the very first verse: “In the beginning God . . .” (Gen. 1:1). The Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which is a plural noun. Isaiah 42:1 speaks of the Messiah: “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” The Messiah says in Isaiah 48:16, “The Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

Continue reading John MacArthur – Strength for Today – God Is Three →

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Grace Based Living 

Leave a comment

You have been severed from Christ, if you seek to be justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] through the Law; you have fallen from grace [for you have lost your grasp on God’s unmerited favor and blessing]. For we [not relying on the Law but] through the [strength and power of the Holy] Spirit, by faith, are waiting [confidently] for the hope of righteousness [the completion of our salvation]. Galatians 5:4-5, AMP

As a young Christian my sincere zeal grew into an unhealthy drive based on my discipline and motivated by my pride to be morally superior. I knew I was saved by grace through faith, but I attempted to live out my Christianity in my own strength. My heart silently judged others who didn’t meet my standards of behavior. My moralizing fed my ego and pride, while giving lip service to God’s grace. Fear based living starved my soul. My heart hungered for acceptance. Thankfully, I began to learn how to be truly loved by Jesus. Love motivates grace based living.

Paul addressed Jewish Christians who attempted to add circumcision as part of salvation in Jesus. They had fallen from their total dependence on God’s grace for their forgiveness of sin by adding a condition. Grace based living does not depend on doing deeds to fulfill a moral code, but solely on the Spirit’s power. The Holy Spirit grows beautiful holiness in the heart of believers in Jesus Christ. Just as a vine gives a branch life and fruitfulness, so attractive virtues are the outcome of Spirit-filled living. We receive Christ by grace so we might follow Christ with grace!

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Grace Based Living  →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Closer Than a Brother

Leave a comment

But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

Recommended Reading

1 Samuel 18:1-4; 20:1-4

The story of Jonathan and David in the Old Testament is well known. It is the story of two friends who illustrate the principle of Proverbs 18:24: friends who are closer than brothers. David and Jonathan weren’t related, yet they committed their lives and resources to one another—something brothers might not do. The basis for their friendship was the covenant they made with one another. In their day, a covenant was the strongest form of commitment. The parties would do whatever one another needed.

Continue reading Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Closer Than a Brother →

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Waiting Well

Leave a comment

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.—James 1:4

Patience is extremely important for people who want to glorify God and enjoy their lives. If we are impatient, the situations we encounter in life will certainly cause us to react emotionally.

The next time you have to wait on something or someone, instead of just reacting, try reminding yourself, Getting upset will not make this go any faster, so I might as well enjoy the wait. Then perhaps say out loud, “I am developing patience as I wait, so I am thankful in this situation.” If you do that, you will be acting on the Word of God rather than reacting to the unpleasant circumstance.

Continue reading Joyce Meyer – Waiting Well →

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Heart Wide Open

Leave a comment

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Luke 10:2

We hope you are enjoying the Girlfriends in God daily devotions. We (Mary, Sharon, and Gwen) would like to introduce you to some of our special friends. From time-to-time, the Friday devotions will be written by one of our friends in ministry. We call them our “Friday Friends.” So grab your Bible and a fresh cup of coffee and drink in the words from our “Friday Friend,” Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Friend To Friend

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Heart Wide Open →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Maintains the Seasons

Leave a comment

“As long as the earth remains there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night” (Genesis 8:22).

On his way to a country church one Sunday morning, a preacher was overtaken by one of his deacons.

“What a bitterly cold morning,” the deacon remarked. “I am sorry the weather is so wintry.”

Smiling, the minister replied, “I was just thanking God for keeping His Word.”

“What do you mean?” the man asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Maintains the Seasons →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – A Place of Cleansing

Leave a comment

Read: Isaiah 7:1-14

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him, Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. (Isaiah 7:3-4)

We are told the precise spot on which God directed the prophet to stand when he made this announcement to the king. You probably read this thinking that it was nothing more than a casual direction God gave to him. But it is very significant. Isaiah was told to go to the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the Launderer’s Field; to stand at that very spot and give this announcement to King Ahaz. What is the meaning of that? There at that spot, and only there, the prophet was to inform King Ahaz that he had nothing to fear from these two armies that were threatening the city of Jerusalem. They were only smoldering stubs and were no real threat at all. The account declares that within sixty-five years this deliverance would happen. All this came true, as predicted.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – A Place of Cleansing →

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Intimacy with God

Leave a comment

Read: Genesis 3:1-12

But the Lord God called to the man . . . “Where are you?” (v. 9)

Many years ago, I was a fan of Guideposts, a magazine full of heartwarming, personal stories of relationships with God. One day I decided to try to write for this magazine, so I read back issues and the editor’s guidelines for stories. Finally, I had to face the truth. I didn’t have the personal connection with God that these stories described. My connection with God was purely intellectual.

I was not bothered by that truth until I understood the meaning of collaborating with the Spirit in the process of spiritual transformation—“being conformed into the image of Christ through a relationship of intimacy with God” (emphasis added). After decades of being a Christian, I learned that God is eager to journey through life with me. I understood that because I am created to have intimacy with God, I am also able to have feelings of rapport, affection, trust, and love with others.

Continue reading Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Intimacy with God →