Tag Archives: religion

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Stanley – The Source of Peace

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Charles Stanley

Philippians 4:6-7

It is one of modern culture’s great tragedies: what many people seek and work so hard to achieve is, contrary to what they believe, not a product of all their accomplishments and effort. Millions of people are turning the world upside down looking for peace, while never realizing that the “genuine article” is simply not of this world. Money can’t buy it; success and fame can never guarantee it. Until you have peace with God, you will never experience inner serenity at all.

But here’s the good news: Since genuine peace is not dependent upon outward circumstances, it is possible to experience a tranquility beyond our comprehension, even in the midst of life’s most difficult trials. But this real peace isn’t possible unless there exists absolutely no impediment between us and God—and the only way the barrier of sin and self can be removed is by means of the cross of Jesus Christ.

If we’d simply bring our struggles and needs to the foot of the cross, we would find an abundant source of peace. A heart at rest is not rooted in some worldly principle or philosophy; it can be realized only through an intimate relationship with the person of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:14-16).

The Devil will take every opportunity to destroy our calm by drawing attention away from Christ to things that may seem important at the time but in reality have no purpose other than to distract. Don’t waste your life looking for peace in all the wrong places—just remember, the Prince of Peace is its only true source.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — It’s All About The Love

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Our Daily Bread

1 John 4:7-19

We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. —1 John 4:16

I saw a sign in front of a church that seems to me to be a great motto for relationships: Receive love. Give love. Repeat.

The greatest love that we receive is the love of God. He loved us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to live, die, and rise again to redeem us (1 John 4:9). We receive His love when we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

After we’ve experienced God’s love, we then can learn to give love. “Let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7).

God’s love enables us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We teach, encourage, and rebuke. We weep and rejoice. The love we give is tender and tough and supportive. We are taught by Jesus even to love our enemies: “Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Giving love to others can be challenging in some situations, but it’s possible because of the love God has first given to us.

A good plan for our lives today: Receive love. Give love. Repeat. —Anne Cetas

For Further Study

How do we experience the love of Christ? (John 15:10).

What is the evidence of God’s love in our lives? (1 John 4:16-21).

How can we show God’s love today?

Receive love. Give love. Repeat.

Bible in a year: Proverbs 10-12; 2 Corinthians 4

 

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Weight of Hope

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Ravi Z

Amid the darkness of the Thirty Years’ War, German pastor Martin Rinkart is said to have buried nearly five thousand fellow citizens and parishioners in one year, including his young wife. Conducting as many as fifty funerals a day, Rinkart’s church was absolutely ravaged by war and plague, famine and economic disaster. Yet in the midst of that dark year, he sat down with his children and wrote the following lines as a prayer for the dinner table:

 

Now thank we all our God

With heart and hands and voices;

Who wondrous things hath done,

In Whom his world rejoices.

Who, from our mother’s arms,

Hath led us on our way

With countless gifts of love

And still is ours today.

 

O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts

and blessed peace to cheer us;

And keep us still in grace,

and guide us when perplexed;

And free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

 

In the midst of such gloom, Rinkart’s expressions of thankfulness seem either incredibly foolish or mysteriously important. Standing on this Christian notion, Rinkart saw the certainty of God and the significance of thanksgiving. He saw that to be thankful was to make the bold confession that encountering the presence and glory of God far outweighs everything else we encounter, whether a matter of despair or delight. Amidst the heaviness of darkness, he saw the wisdom in fixing his gaze on what he could not see—the light of the Gospel, the life of Christ, the eternal weight of the glory of a God who is among us.

 

The Apostle Paul, who lived similarly, wrote of his own dark encounters as “momentary affliction” in which he saw nonetheless an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. “For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”(1)

 

It is interesting to note that the general Greek word for glory used in secular writing took an entirely different shape in the New Testament. The word was particularly influenced by its Hebrew counterpart meaning “weighted” or “heavy,” and hence, denoting something of honor and importance. The word doxology, referring to an expression of praise, comes from the same Greek word. The etymology is fascinating because the word itself seems to cry out for comparison. Will the things I give most honor always measure up? Under the heaviness of life, what weight does the hope I profess actually carry?

 

Here, Paul proclaims the eternal weightiness of his hope in Jesus Christ. “[F]or it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The peculiar message of hope in the midst of darkness originates for the Christian with the God who first spoke light into darkness, the God who made light to shine in the darkness of Christ’s grave, and the inextinguishable light of Christ given to shine upon us today. It is this God of intrinsic glory in whom we know light and life itself.

 

Martin Rinkart’s simple table grace was later made into a powerful hymn and sung at a celebration service at the war’s end. Adding a third stanza, Rinkart’s words continue with thanksgiving, concluding fittingly with words of doxology, words proclaiming the weightiness of the glory of God.

 

All praise and thanks to God

the Father now be given;

The Son and Him Who reigns

with Them in highest heaven;

The one eternal God,

Whom earth and heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now,

and shall be evermore.

 

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

 

(1) See 2 Corinthians 4:16.

(2) 2 Corinthians 4:6.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Not of the World

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Alistair Begg

Be separate from them.

2 Corinthians 6:17

The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life. To him, “to live” should be “Christ.”1 Whether he eats or drinks or whatever he does, he should do it all to God’s glory. You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. You may work to be rich; but make it your ambition to be “rich in faith”2 and good works. You may pursue pleasure; but when you are happy, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord.

In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always conscious of His presence, delighting in fellowship with Him, and seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are a citizen of heaven. And you should be separate from the world in your actions. If a thing is right, though you lose by doing it, it must be done; if it is wrong, though you would gain from it, you must reject the sin for your Master’s sake. You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity. Remember, Christian, that you are a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep yourself unstained from the world. Do not soil the fingers that are to serve the King. Do not let your eyes become the windows of lust, eyes that will soon see the King in His beauty. Do not let your feet, which are soon to walk the golden streets, be defiled in dirty places. Do not allow your heart to be filled with pride and bitterness, but prepare it to be filled with heaven and to overflow with ecstatic joy.

Then rise my soul! and soar away,

Above the thoughtless crowd;

Above the pleasures of the day,

And splendors of the proud;

Up where eternal beauties bloom,

And pleasures all divine;

Where wealth, that never can consume,

And endless glories shine.

1 Philippians 1:21

2 James 2:5

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Paul’s desire to depart

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“Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Philippians 1:23

Suggested Further Reading: Romans 8:14-30

Here we are like Israel in the wilderness, who had but one cluster from Eschol. There we shall be in the vineyard. Here we have the manna falling small, like coriander seed, but there shall we eat the bread of heaven and the old corn of the kingdom. We have sometimes on earth, lusts, ungratified desires, that lack satisfaction; but there the lust shall be slain and the desire shall be satisfied. There shall be nothing we can want; every power shall find the sweetest employment in that eternal world of joy.There will be a full and lasting fruition of Christ, and last of all upon this point there shall be a sharing with Christ in his glory, and that for ever.“We shall see him,” yes, and let us have the next sentence, and “shall be like him when we shall see him as he is.” Oh Christian, anticipate heaven for within a very short time thou shalt be rid of all thy trials and thy troubles; thine aching head shall be encircled with a crown of glory; thy poor panting heart shall find its rest and shall be satisfied with fulness as it beats upon the breast of Christ. Thy hands that now toil shall know no harder labour than harp-strings can afford. Thine eyes now filled with tears shall weep no longer. Thou shalt gaze in ineffable rapture upon the splendour of him who sits upon the throne. Nay, more, upon his throne shalt thou sit. He is King of kings, but thou shalt reign with him. He is a priest after the order of Melchisedec, but thou shalt be a priest with him. Oh rejoice! The triumph of his glory shall be shared by thee; his crown, his joy, his paradise, these shall be thine, and thou shalt be co-heir with him who is the heir of all things.

For meditation: Being with Christ must be far better, because we will then be with Christ who is far better. God has prepared something far better for the believer (Hebrews 11:40).

Sermon no. 274

11 September (1859)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Identifying the Real Enemy

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John MacArthur

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

Sometimes in the heat of battle we might lose perspective on who the real enemy is. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle isn’t against sinful people, but against the evil system and the supernatural forces that influence their attitudes and actions.

In his assault on the kingdom of God, Satan has assembled a highly organized army of fallen angels. Paul categorized them as “rulers . . . powers . . . world forces of this darkness . . . spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

That isn’t a detailed description of Satan’s hierarchy but simply a general indication of its power and sophistication. Apparently “rulers” and “powers” are high- ranking demons. “World forces of this darkness” are possibly demons who infiltrate various political systems of the world, attempting to direct human leaders to oppose God’s plans. An example is a demon called “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” in Daniel 10:13. He withstood God’s angelic messenger to Daniel until Michael the archangel came to the rescue.

“Spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” perhaps refers to demons involved in the most vile and perverted kinds of sins: gross immorality, occultic practices, Satan worship, and the like.

Those who reject Christ and God are unwitting prisoners of war–captured and mobilized by the enemy to accomplish his purposes. Tragically, when he’s finished with them he’ll abandon them to an eternal hell.

You probably know unbelievers who enjoy ridiculing your faith and making life difficult for you. Although that is hard to take, be patient and don’t become embittered toward them. Ask God to make you an instrument of His love as you reach out to them. Also pray that God will remove their spiritual blindness so they can see beyond Satan’s lies and recognize their need for a Savior.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Praise God for delivering you from the domain of darkness and transferring you into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

Ask Him to use you today to break through Satan’s deception in someone’s life.

For Further Study:

Read 2 Corinthians 4:3-7, noting why people reject the gospel.

 

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Good Kind of Burden

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Joyce meyer

Graciously consider the prayer and supplication of Your servant, O Lord my God, to hearken to the [loud] cry and prayer which he prays before You today.—1 Kings 8:28

Sometimes, as you are praying for others, you will get what some call a prayer burden, or an intercessory burden. A burden is something that comes to your heart and feels weighty and important; it is something God is asking you to carry in prayer; it is something you cannot shake. Sometimes God may speak to you and explain the burden to you. At other times you do not even know what the burden is or you do not fully understand it; you only know that you have to pray.

Some people are called to pray a lot for certain things. My husband prays a lot for America. I know people who pray for Israel all the time. One woman told me she prayed for veterans returning from war. I believe God has every need in the world covered. We don’t all need to pray for the same thing because, if we did, all the needs would not be taken care of. Pay attention to what God is placing on your heart and pray for that.

One of the ways God speaks to us is through giving us burdens for others. He does this often without words, but by a sense of weightiness and concern for people in our hearts. When this happens, He is asking us to pray for them. Pay attention to the burdens He gives you and be faithful to pray when He is asking you to do so.

God’s word for you today: As you pray for others, remember that God also has someone praying for you.

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – How to Test Your Experience: I

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dr_bright

“Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing sacred songs, making music in your hearts to the Lord. Always giving thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by submitting to each other” (Ephesians 5:19,20).

Mary was one of those ardent, faithful church members – a Sunday school teacher, choir member and active participant in a home Bible study – who just assume they are filled with the Holy Spirit because they do everything their pastor or Christian leader asks of them.

“Why has no one, up to now, ever told me that I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit?” she asked me just after I had publicly suggested that very thing.

To help Mary better understand her own spiritual condition, I read to her the above passage from Ephesians. Then I asked her several questions relating to that portion of Scripture.

“Are you talking about Christ to others? Is your heart filled with melody to the Lord? Do you spend time in God’s Word daily? Do you have a thankful spirit? Do you submit to others in the Lord?”

Mary hesitated only a moment. “If these are evidence of a Spirit-filled life, I must not be controlled by the Holy Spirit. But I would like to be. What should I do?”

With great delight and joy I shared appropriate Scriptures with her, and together we bowed in prayer as she claimed by faith the fullness and control of the Holy Spirit in her life. Surrendering to the lordship of Christ, turning from all known sin, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, she now knew with certainty that she was filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a once-and-for-all-decision, but a way of life in which we claim the fullness of the Spirit moment by moment, day by day, by faith.

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:12-17

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will honestly compare myself with the evidences of the supernatural, Spirit-filled life listed in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. If these are not true in my life, I will claim by faith the fullness and control of God’s Holy Spirit, and ask Him to make these qualities a reality in my daily relationships with the Lord, with my loved ones and with others.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Unexpected Answer

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In the passages surrounding today’s verse, Eli was going about his business, most likely oblivious to the change about to take place in his life.

Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.  I Samuel 1:9

He watched a woman move her mouth with no audible speech. He said, “How long will you go on being drunk?” (v.14) She told him she was not drunk, but deeply distressed and pouring her heart out to the Lord. He said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” (v. 17)

Eli probably didn’t give the woman’s prayer a second thought – but years later, she showed up with a toddler to lend to the Lord. The Bible doesn’t say how Eli felt about this unexpected gift, only that he trained the child. Unlike with his two “worthless” sons, Eli must have done a good job raising this child: Samuel became a great prophet of God.

As this nation remembers September 11, 2001 and as you pray for yourself and your country, it may seem like little good is happening. God’s answer may not be a toddler on your doorstep, but be assured the Lord is creating change in your life and in the nation through your prayers.

Recommended Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

*****

Open Letter – A Call to Prayer on 9-11.

       Dear Prayer Team:

Today, the United States has marked the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC. The nation has also paused to remember the one year anniversary of the September 11, 2012 attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.

THE NEED…

       Leading up to these somber milestones, the eyes of the nation and indeed the world have been focused on Washington, DC as the U.S. Congress considered whether to authorize the use of American force to strike Syria over that government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against its citizens.

While the world awaits the U.S. decision on Syria, believers in Christ should keep in mind what is written in Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” And, God often turns the heart of the king in response to prayer.

WHAT IS NEEDED?

This truth was recently echoed by Leith Anderson, President of the National Association of  Evangelicals, which represents 40 Christian denominations and more than 45,000 local churches in the U.S. Anderson said that while the political issues regarding Syria are complicated, one thing is crystal clear: now is the time for Christians to pray.

“The Bible teaches us to pray for our leaders,” Anderson said. “This is a week for extra prayers as our Congress and President Obama decide what to do about Syria. And, let’s add Syrian leaders to our prayer list. Our request is that God will give wisdom to make choices for a lasting peace in the region.”

Anderson’s call to prayer is pertinent and timely. The Apostle Paul also admonishes believers to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) and Jesus reminded his followers – in regards to temptation – to “watch and pray.” That latter admonition also holds true as you see current events unfolding and the world’s desperate need for Christ.

WHAT YOU CAN DO…PRAY NOW

As you remember the events of 9-11 and Benghazi and pray about the unfolding drama in Syria, focus your hope on heaven. “You will hear of wars and rumors of war,” Jesus said, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:5-7). And remember, above all, God is in control of this seemingly out-of-control world.

PRAY FOR:

1) Comfort for those who were personally affected by the 9/11 terror events and the Benghazi attack

2) For a spirit of revival to sweep across America

3) For wisdom for America’s leaders in dealing with the Syria crisis and other world trouble spots

An excerpt of the “Inside Washington” article by Dave Ficere
featured in this upcoming Thursday’s Weekly Update.

       Your Prayer Team

If you would like to sign-up to receive our
Weekly Update free by email  – Click Here

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL ARTICLE TO YOUR
FRIENDS, CHURCH AND FAMILY MEMBERS. LET’S PRAY!

      “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.“–James 5:16

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Preparation for Heaven

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Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. —Hebrews 11:10

We think so much about the here and now, but God thinks more about the by and by. We need to remember that heaven is being prepared for us, and we are being prepared for heaven.

As Randy Alcorn wrote, “We live between Eden and the new earth, pulled toward what we once were and what we yet will be.”

Heaven is not some mysterious, atmospheric realm of smoke and mirrors. Heaven is a real place for real people, where we will do real things. Hebrews 11:9 says that Abraham, “even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.”

Abraham did this because he “was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God (verse 10). Abraham recognized that this world was not really his home and that his real home was eternal, built by God.

Deep down inside, I hope we realize that too. Our real home is heaven and the new earth that is to come. Heaven is the real place that Abraham was searching for, and it is the place we are all searching for, really. The Bible says that God has placed eternity in our hearts (see Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Putting it in context, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” That is what God wants in our lives. He wants eternal weight.

The things that we go through in life are not just preparing us for the opportunities God will reveal during our time on this earth. God is also preparing us for heaven.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Vengeance is God’s

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Max Lucado

The Bible says vengeance is God’s.  He will repay.  (Romans 12:19)  What a great reminder!  Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God. We tend to give too much or too little. But the God of justice has the precise prescription.

God can discipline your abusive boss. He can soften your angry parent.  He can bring your ex to his knees or her senses. Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God. Unlike us, God never gives up on a person.  Never. Long after we’ve moved on, God is still there, probing the conscience, stirring conviction, always orchestrating redemption. Fix your enemies?  That’s God’s job.

When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. No one owns a secret formula. As long as you’re trying to forgive, you are forgiving. Stay the course and you’ll find a way to be strong even when you’ve been hurt. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Blessed are the Merciful

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dr_bright

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7, KJV).

If you and I have a desire to imitate God, seldom do we accomplish that purpose more than in the practice of showing mercy.

God delights in nothing more than in the exercise of showing mercy. One of the clear prerequisites to real happiness is this display of genuine mercy. Surely God has given us the supreme example, by giving His only Son to die in our place. That is mercy beyond comprehension, beyond description.

The world speaks often of having someone at its mercy. In a very real sense, God has us at His mercy – but He chose to be merciful and make a way of escape for us. The decision to take that way is ours.

To the degree that we show mercy to the poor, the wretched, the guilty – to that degree we are like God. And if He keeps us here on earth to be conformed more and more to His image, how important it is that we trust Him – by His indwelling Holy Spirit – to make us merciful.

When we do something to glorify God, like giving a cup of cold water in His name, in obedience to His commandments, and with a desire that He should be honored, He will consider it as done unto Him and reward us accordingly.

The lesson is clear: the merciful shall obtain mercy. And who among us is not a candidate for more of God’s mercy?

Bible Reading: Luke 6:31-36

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: “Dear Lord, with Your great mercy as the supreme example, I resolve to allow your Holy Spirit to show mercy through me.”

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Rest at His Feet

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A very powerful man inviting a lowly foreigner to sit with him and his workers for meals each day was the most generous of invitations. Ruth was to eat beside the reapers – a sign of acceptance into Boaz’ family, the inner circle.

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers.   Ruth 2:14

The meal provided a time of rest from the day’s work and renewed strength for the remaining hours of labor. Boaz offered her protection from any ill treatment and provisions as she gathered grain from anywhere in the fields. Later he offered her rest at his feet.

Can you see the parallel in Christ’s invitation? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) God’s Son, your Savior, invites you to have rest in Him as a member of His family. His forgiveness relieves your load of sin. His provision supplies your every need, and His protection allows you to be free from fear.

Come alongside the Lord. Rest at His feet and learn from Him. Pray, as Jesus did, with boldness…for your families, your neighbors and this nation’s leaders.

Recommended Reading: Lamentations 3:21-26, 55-57

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Appointment with a Stranger

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greglaurie

Not a Default Destination

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” — John 7:37-38

Years ago there was a woman who went to draw water from a well. She had been married and divorced five times and was living with a man. This was not culturally acceptable, and as a result, she was an outcast. She would go to the well at the hottest time of the day when she most likely would be alone. On one such day, she was surprised to find a stranger sitting there, a Jew. And then the stranger asked her for some water.

This woman was a Samaritan, and Jews and Samaritans didn’t speak to each other. She asked, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”

As they talked, this stranger, who happened to be Jesus, told her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13–14).

Jesus was talking about the well as a metaphor for life. If you drink from the well of success, you will thirst again. If you drink from the well of accomplishments, you will thirst again. If you drink from the well of experiences, you will thirst again. Whatever it is, it will leave you empty.

Maybe you have tried to satisfy your spiritual thirst with the things this world has to offer and haven’t found the satisfaction you are looking for. You didn’t find it in that relationship. You didn’t find it in that object. You didn’t even find it in religious activities. The only place you will find it is in Jesus Christ.

Are you spiritually thirsty today? Christ can satisfy your deepest thirst.

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – His Unchanging Character

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Max Lucado

We pass much of life at mid-altitude. Most of life is Monday-ish obligations of carpools, expense reports and recipes. Occasionally we summit a peak:  our wedding, a promotion, the birth of a child. But when the housing market crashes, or test reports come back negative, before we know it, we discover what the bottom looks like!

In Psalm 139:7 David asks, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Where can I flee from Your presence?”  You’ll never go where God is not.  Acts 17:27 reminds us, “He is not far from each of us.” The Psalmist determined, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

I’m reminded of the words of an old but familiar hymn, “When all around my soul gives way, He then is still my hope and stay!” Cling to His unchanging character. God is faithful. He is not caught off guard. He uses everything for His glory and your ultimate good. You will get through this.

From You’ll Get Through This

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Favorable Hand of the Lord

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Charles Stanley

Proverbs 8

It is hard to think of Jesus as ever needing improvement or growth of any kind, but the Word of God tells us that He “kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). As God, He was complete and had everything, but as a human being, He had to grow in wisdom and favor. So do we.

When we become children of God by placing our faith in Jesus, we are fully accepted and deeply loved, regardless of our behavior. It’s not possible for the Lord to love us more at some times than at others, because He is love (1 John 4:16) and cannot stop loving.

But favor is a different story: it can be conferred or withdrawn by our Father. The believer’s responsibility is to choose a path that leads to His favor, according to guidelines laid out in the Word of God.

Some of the Lord’s preferred paths are specifically described in Proverbs 8, in which wisdom is personified: she is calling in the streets and inviting the simple to come. She finishes her discourse by saying that “he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord” (v. 35).

From this passage, we learn that obtaining wisdom and favor is not a one-time event but, rather, a growing process that includes specific steps. First, we must listen and keep wisdom’s ways. Then we are advised to heed instruction and not neglect it. Finally, we are exhorted to watch daily and wait at her doorposts. (vv. 32-34). God is pleased when His children act wisely.

 

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All Through This Hour

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Our Daily Bread

Psalm 25:1-11

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day. —Psalm 25:5

The majestic chime of London’s Great Clock of Westminster, commonly known as Big Ben, is familiar to many. In fact, some of us may have clocks in our homes that sound the same hourly chime. It is traditionally thought that the melody was taken from Handel’s Messiah. And the lyrics inscribed in the Big Ben clock room have a time significance:

All through this hour,

Lord, be my guide;

And by Thy power,

No foot shall slide.

These lyrics are a good reminder of our constant need for God’s guidance. King David recognized that he needed guidance all through the day as he faced the challenges of life. In Psalm 25 he says: “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day” (v.5). Wanting to be a teachable follower of God, David looked to his Redeemer for direction. His heart’s desire was to wait on God with dependent faith throughout the entire day.

May this be our desire as well. Our requests for God’s help often begin the day, but then competing distractions can pull our attention away from Him. Lord, remind us to pray: “All through this hour, Lord, be my guide.” —Dennis Fisher

There’s never a day nor a season

That prayer may not bless every hour,

And never a prayer need be helpless

When linked with God’s infinite power. —Morton

Let Christ be first in your thoughts in the morning, and last in your thoughts at night.

Bible in a year: Proverbs 6-7; 2 Corinthians 2

 

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Cross of the Moment

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Ravi Z

The Bret Easton Ellis novel Less Than Zero offers an unsettling depiction of the moral and spiritual poverty behind the contemporary façade of wealth, success, and fame. The author describes the vacuous life of sex, drugs, and violence among the teen-age children of wealthy entertainers. Though fictitious, the book captures a scene that for some feels tragically all too accurate. Ellis depicts the bankruptcy and the cries of the human soul, which are by no means unique to any one particular lifestyle. The cries are clear and can be heard throughout the story, and may well be ours as well: Is there anybody who really loves me? Is there anyone anywhere who can help me?

The apostle John tells a story with similar undertones. There was in the city of Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, which had five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—the blind, lame, and paralyzed. For it was commonly thought that when the waters of the pool stirred, the Spirit of the Lord was near and the sick who touched the waters would be healed. At this pool was a paralytic man who had been ill for 38 years. It is unclear whether the man dragged himself to the pool everyday or remained there year after year at the water he believed had the power to heal him. John only reports that Jesus saw the man there as he approached the pool and “knew that he had been there a long time” (John 5:6). Yet even knowing this, Jesus asked the seemingly needless question: “Do you want to get well?”

At first sound, the question seems redundant, unjustified—maybe even cruel. Was there any doubt that the deepest longing of this man’s heart was to get well? And yet, he fails to really answer the question. “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me” (5:7). The cries of the human heart can be heard throughout history, generation after generation. Does anyone care? Is there anyone who really loves me? Is there anyone anywhere who can help? Sometimes it is the bitter cry of loneliness, many times it is the wearisome cry of emptiness, but it is always a call for help. Yet, how often we find that our actions and attitudes contradict the cries closest to our hearts? How often is our deepest hope overlooked while we focus on the technicalities, justifying the question that calls us back: “Do you want to get well?” In the words of poet W. H. Auden,

We would rather be ruined than changed;

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.(1)

Where Jesus asks “Do you want to be well?” it is possible he may also be asking, Do you prefer your pain to the possibility of change? Do you want more to see the miracle accomplished your way then to see it accomplished at all? Indeed, do you really even want the thing you say you long for most? His questions gently pierce the heart of the human condition we all share, bidding us to receive the very thing we ask from the only one capable of giving it.

Where we seek meaning, are we willing to be changed by that meaning? Where we seek help, we will receive instruction? Where we seek healing, are we willing to be transformed? Where we seek true community, are we willing to relinquish autonomy? Where we seek understanding, are we wiling to climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die?

To every cry of every heart, Christ calls out, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The question he asks as we walk forward is “Do you really want to be well?”

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

(1) As quoted in Risvolti (Mars Hill Review, Issue 19), 158.

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Prevailing Prayer

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Alistair Begg

I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jeremiah 33:3

There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, “I will show you great and fortified things.” Another, “great and reserved things.” Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: Every development in the spiritual life does not take place in the same way or in the same time frame. There are the common benefits and feelings of repentance and faith and joy and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of delight, communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the routine enjoyment of believers.

We do not all have the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus’ bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental [experiential] knowledge of the things of God that the eagle’s eye has never seen and the philosopher’s mind has never grasped. God alone can take us there; but the chariot in which He transports us, and the horses with which that chariot is pulled, are prevailing prayers.

Prevailing prayer is victorious with the God of mercy, “In his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us.”1 Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to the mountain and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer lifts the Christian and shows him his inheritance and transfigures him into the likeness of his Lord. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of consistent prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.

1Hosea 12:3-4

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The death of the Christian

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CharlesSpurgeon

“Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.” Job 5:26

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8

Wait a little, beloved. In a few more years you and I shall be carried through the heavens on the wings of angels. When I die, the angels approach. I am on the wings of cherubs. Oh, how they bear me up—how swiftly and yet how softly. I have left mortality with all its pains. Oh, how rapid is my flight! Just now I passed the morning star. Far behind me now the planets shine. Oh, how swiftly do I fly, and how sweetly! Cherubs! What sweet flight is yours, and what kind arms are these I lean upon. And on my way you kiss me with the kisses of love and affection.You call me brother. Cherubs; am I your brother? I who just now was captive in a tenement of clay—am I your brother? “Yes!” they say. Oh, hark, I hear music strangely harmonious! What sweet sounds come to my ears! I am nearing Paradise. Do not spirits approach with songs of joy? “Yes!” they say. And before they can answer, behold they come—a glorious convoy! I catch a sight of them as they are holding a great review at the gates of Paradise. And there is the golden gate. I enter in; and I see my blessed Lord. I can tell you no more. All else were things unlawful for flesh to utter. My Lord! I am with thee—plunged into thee—lost in thee just as a drop is swallowed in the ocean—as one single tint is lost in the glorious rainbow! Am I lost in thee, thou glorious Jesus? And is my bliss consummated? Is the wedding-day come at last? Have I really put on the marriage garments? And am I thine? Yes! I am.

For meditation: Are you looking forward to this time (Philippians 1:23)? You can if you are a Christian.The unbeliever has another prospect ahead (Hebrews 10:27). See the contrast in Luke 16:22,23.

Sermon no. 43

9 September (1855)