Tag Archives: religion

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – Living in a World of Fools

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 “Wisdom is too high for a fool” (Proverbs 24:7).

A fool wants his own way.

There’s no question in my mind that we live in a world of fools. In fact, everyone born into this world comes in with congenital foolishness—otherwise known as the sin nature. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” Since we live in a world of fools, let’s look at a few of their characteristics.

A fool denies God. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.” I call this practical atheism. A fool lives as if there were no God—denying God with his actions.

A fool becomes his own god. Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.” No man can live without a god. It isn’t a question of, does he worship? It’s a question of, whom does he worship? If a person doesn’t worship the true God, he will worship a false god—which inevitably will be a reflection of himself. He becomes the one who determines truth and error, articulating his own standards for living.

A fool mocks sin. Proverbs 14:9 says, “Fools mock at sin.” Since a fool makes his own rules, he wants to justify his own behavior to make sure he’s going to be all right in the end. He attempts to eliminate sin along with its consequences.

A fool, then, begins by living as if there were no God, substituting himself as god and determining his own style of life. Then he denies the existence of sin because he cannot tolerate guilt.

When God saved you, you stopped your foolishness and became His wise child. Be encouraged, knowing God will continue to help you grow in wisdom through your understanding of and obedience to His Word.

Suggestions for Prayer

Pray for the salvation of a family member, friend, or neighbor who is living foolishly.

For Further Study

Read Matthew 7:24-27. What is the difference between a wise man and a foolish man?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Belong to God

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 …Fear not, for I have redeemed you…I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

— Isaiah 43:1 (AMPC)

Have you ever had a possession that is extremely valuable to you, one you cherish and admire? If you saw someone tossing it around carelessly, leaving it out in bad weather, or otherwise risking damage to it, wouldn’t you be grieved? God feels about His possessions the same way we feel about ours. People belong to God. They are His creations, and His Spirit is grieved when He sees them being mistreated. And since that same Spirit dwells in all believers, naturally those who are mistreated also feel grieved.

God has assignments for every individual. Not everyone shares the same calling in life, but every born-again person is an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Every individual has a right to peace, righteousness, and joy. Every individual has the right to have their needs met, to be used by God, and to see His anointing flow through them.

Everyone has an equal opportunity to see fruit in their ministry, but their willingness to love others has a lot to do with how much fruit they are going to see. The Holy Spirit spoke to me years ago: “One of the main reasons people don’t walk in love is that it requires effort. Anytime they walk in love, it’s going to cost them something.”

Love requires us to withhold some things we would like to say. Love demands that we not do some things we would like to do and that we give away some things we would like to keep. Love requires us to be patient with people.

Relationships are not always easy, but they are always important to God because He values people. We need to make the effort and the sacrifices needed to love people as God wants us to love them, so we do not grieve Him.

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for all creation. Help me to see things the way You see them, and to cherish what You cherish. Give me the strength I need to love selflessly, even if it hurts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Alistair Begg

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – Trouble Within

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I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

Revelation 2:14

External pressure to conform is not the only danger to our faith that we face.

The church in Pergamum had been successful in resisting the lures of Satan and of pluralism (Revelation 2:13). They had failed, however, to take care of their own internal problems. Despite the loyalty of some, these believers were guilty of tolerating a heresy that combined idolatry and sexual immorality. The reference to “the teaching of Balaam” here does not refer to some book or body of doctrine. Rather, it is intended to call to mind the activity of the false prophet Balaam in the Old Testament. He advised the Midianite women on how to seduce the Israelites and thereby infiltrate and cause destruction among God’s people (Numbers 31:16). One commentator notes that Balaam’s clever idea was to break down Israel’s power by an indirect attack on their morality: “Pagan food and pagan women were his powerful tools against the rigidity of the Mosaic Law.”[1]

Balaam therefore serves as a prototype of all the corrupt teachers who followed his example, promoting an “antinomian” approach to life. Antinomian is from the Greek anti, “against,” and nomos, “law”—“against the law”; it describes a libertine, licentious way of thinking that sets aside all that the Bible has to say about holiness, purity, and the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).

While some believers in Pergamum had fully embraced such teaching, others within the fellowship merely tolerated it—yet in allowing it, they were as culpable as the rest. John Stott writes that “the risen Christ, the Chief Shepherd of His flock, was grieved both by the waywardness of the minority and by the nonchalance of the majority.”[2] In failing to act, they made it possible for heresy to spread, to the great harm of God’s people. And so, though the majority were commended for holding fast to their right belief, they were also rebuked for failing to deal seriously with those who were guilty of wrong behavior.

If Satan cannot wreak havoc in a church as a result of external challenges, he will seek to do it by the insidious work of internal compromise. So, be on guard. It will always be easy to find a “spiritual guide” who is more than willing to tell you that it’s fine to indulge your desires and follow your heart. That is not true Christianity, which not only believes correctly but also behaves properly, exalting Christ and promoting holiness. And it will be even easier to stay quiet rather than humbly challenge those in your church who are putting their desires above their holiness. So ask yourself: What stumbling block may have been placed in my own path of obedience? And what stumbling block may the Lord be calling me to help another identify? Our church’s holiness, as well as our own, is to be our concern.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

Jude 1:17-25

Topics: Church Life Compromise Holiness

FOOTNOTES

1 E.M. Blaiklock, The Seven Churches: An Exposition of Revelation, Chapters Two and Three (The Institute Printing and Publishing Society, n.d.), p 35.

2 What Christ Thinks of the Church (Harold Shaw, 1990), p 44.

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg,

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – How Can We See God?

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“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Wouldn’t you like to see God? Wouldn’t you like to see with your own eyes the God Who created your eyes? Wouldn’t you like to spend time with Him in person and to know firsthand what He is really like?

The Bible says that nobody human has ever seen God, but the Bible also says that “the pure in heart…shall see God.” How can that be? Jesus preached that, through Him, it is possible to see the Father. In Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount,” He tells us how it is that we can see God. What does Matthew 5:8 say that we need to be in order to see God? We need to be “pure in heart”! But what does it mean to be “pure in heart”? What does it mean to be “pure”?

To be “pure” means you don’t have anything in you that isn’t supposed to be there. If you have a glass of pure water, that means there isn’t anything in the glass except water. No dirt, no bugs, no poison – or anything else – but water. If something else is in the water, then it is not pure water.

For a person to be pure means there is nothing in him that isn’t supposed to be there. He is just like God made him to be. In other words, there is no sin in him. The problem is, no human being is born the way God originally made him or her to be. Because Adam and Eve sinned, we are all born with sinful natures. So how can we become “pure in heart” and get back to the way God intended for us to be – pure-hearted? Through Jesus Christ! If you are believing on Jesus Christ and trusting in His righteousness to be your righteousness, then Jesus purifies your heart (makes your heart pure). His blood washes away the record of your sin and frees you from the power of sin. Not only can Jesus cleanse and purify your heart one time, but He can keep on helping you to keep on purifying your heart.

So what does a pure-hearted person look like? Well, he is someone who will not keep on sinning on purpose. Instead, he is trying to keep himself free from sin. That means keeping sin out of whatever he does, whatever he thinks, and whatever he wants. That is what it means to be pure in heart. Psalm 15 describes a pure-hearted person, if you would like to learn more about what a pure-hearted person is like. Psalm 15 clearly teaches that the only way to have fellowship with God is to be pure in heart.

What is the promise to those who are pure in heart? They shall see God! But what does it mean to “see” God?

First, to “see” God means to understand His ways. He is sinless. That is what He wants us to be, too. And when we are, we will understand Him more and love Him more, and we will be able to talk to Him in prayer with a clean conscience. This is the idea of having fellowship with God, knowing firsthand what He really is like. God is a spirit, so He is “knowable” through pure-hearted fellowship.

But there really is a way that pure-hearted believers will get to “see” God with their own eyes. “They shall see God” means just that. We who are saved by Jesus Christ will get to see God in eternity. In this earthly life, we can “see” God in the understanding sense, through Jesus Christ’s righteousness. And in the new heaven and the new earth, we will be able to be with God and to “see” Him with our own eyes, because of what Jesus Christ did for us.

God promises that the “pure in heart” will see Him!

My Response:
» Do I try not to sin?
» In my heart, am I really wanting to know and have fellowship with God?
» If I am not enjoying fellowship with God right now, what might be my problem?

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – If the economy is so good, why are Americans so pessimistic?

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This week’s economic news was unexpectedly good: inflation is down from 9.1 percent last summer to 3.2 percent now. In response, the Dow closed Wednesday at its highest level since mid-August. Observers think the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates further, freeing up capital for new investment. Unemployment is still low. According to Forbes, financial strategists largely expect the stock market to continue rising next year as well.

Why, then, are so many Americans so unhappy with America?

In a recent CNN poll, 72 percent said things in the US are going badly. In a Gallup survey, only 19 percent said they are satisfied with the way things are going in our nation. In an ABC News/Ipsos poll, only 23 percent said the country is heading in the right direction.

Economic uncertainty is one factor: the pandemic taught us that things can change seemingly overnight. Prices remain high, and many parts of the country are still struggling in this postindustrial economy.

However, as Jude Russo writes in the American Conservative, “the dysphoria may lie deeper.”

“Economic progress is beside the point”

Russo points to the fact that affiliation with civil society—churches, charities, clubs—is at an all-time low, as are marriage rates. A plurality of Americans are not associated with any organized religion. Confidence in public institutions has declined precipitously as well—Americans trust small business and the military but little else. Crime rates remain far higher than they were in the pre-Covid era.

Then Russo sardonically draws a lesson I was surprised to read in a secular news outlet: “It’s almost as if human flourishing requires more than material prosperity.”

He adds, “In the absence of something like true religion, it’s unclear what there is besides accumulation.” And he concludes, “Until we figure it out, economic progress—if even tenable in a sustained way with declining social capital—is beside the point.”

Russo’s observations are obviously true to Scripture. Paul observed, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). We might dismiss his monetary warning since he was not likely to have been a man of great wealth (read 2 Corinthians 11:23–33 the next time you feel sorry for yourself). However, King Solomon was a different story: his income has been calculated as exceeding $1.1 billion a year, and yet he observed, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

Russo’s conclusions are also true to life: no matter how much wealth we accumulate, we can always lose it today or gain more tomorrow. We can never have enough to have enough.

Why, then, don’t more people agree that “human flourishing requires more than material prosperity”? Why don’t they see that our problem is spiritual rather than material? Why don’t they respond to our “God-shaped emptiness” by turning to God?

Wisdom from a second-century source

My thoughts today were spurred by a homily I read from an unknown second-century pastor. Commenting on the Lord’s lament, “All day long my name is constantly blasphemed” (Isaiah 52:5 NIV), he said:

Why is the Lord’s name blasphemed? Because we say one thing and do another. When they hear the words of God on our lips, unbelievers are amazed at their beauty and power, but when they see that these words have no effect in our lives, their admiration turns to scorn, and they dismiss such words as myths and fairy tales.

They listen, for example, when we tell them that God has said: “It is no credit to you if you love those who love you, but only if you love your enemies and those who hate you.” They are full of admiration at such extraordinary virtue, but when they observe that we not only fail to love people who hate us, but even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.

My guess is that this pastor from nineteen centuries ago would answer my question today in the same way: “We say one thing and do another.” When God’s people make the news for doing ungodly things, skeptics are justified in their skepticism.

This is not true of other messages and messengers. If a physician has a gambling problem, his medical practice can continue. If the CEO of a construction company has an affair, his company can keep building skyscrapers.

But Christians claim that our message leads people to become a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We claim that God produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” in those who live by his Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). As a result, when we “say one thing and do another,” people won’t care what we say.

In addition, sinners don’t like being told they’re sinners, so if they can reject the messenger, they think they can ignore the message. And Satan knows he cannot defeat the truth, so he seeks to undermine the truth-bearers, which puts Christians in his tempting crosshairs every day.

“Oft what we would we cannot do”

All this to say, the more secularized our culture becomes, the more Spirit-filled we must become. We must be the change we wish to see, but we cannot do this apart from the transforming Spirit of God. The English poet Francis Turner Palgrave’s prayer should therefore be ours:

Whilst Thy will we would pursue
Oft what we would we cannot do.
The sun may stand in zenith skies
But on the soul thick midnight lies.

O Lord of lights, ’tis Thou alone
Canst make our darkened hearts Thine own.

Would you surrender your day to God’s Spirit now (Ephesians 5:18)? Would you ask him to manifest the “fruit” of his Spirit so powerfully that others see Christ in you?

In short, would you ask your Lord to make your “darkened heart” his own today?

Denison Forum

John Hagee

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

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Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.

Genesis 8:1

By faith, Noah built an ark that carried him through the flood of judgment to safety. He started out before he knew how things would turn out.

The waters of the flood prevailed on the earth. Noah and his family were adrift on a three-story zoo with no rudder, no sail, and no map. They had no place to dock, to plant a seed, to see a future for themselves. Noah must have felt forgotten and forsaken by God.

But God remembered. After 150 days, He closed the windows of heaven, turned off the faucets of the deep, and the floodwaters began to recede.

You may be weeks or months into your own flood.  There is no let-up in the pouring rain. You feel alone and abandoned. The water has swamped the sunshine and drowned your dreams.

God knows when the first raindrop fell; He knows when the clouds will clear. He sees the beginning and the end, and He is right beside you in the middle.

He sees you there. No need to flounder in the floodwaters; He will never leave you. No need to feel alone; He will not turn away. No need to despair; He has given you a future and a hope. He remembers.

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. In the middle of the flood, rejoice in the Author and Finisher of your faith. He will never abandon you. He is with you until the very end. Thanks be to God!

Today’s Bible Reading: 

Old Testament

Ezekiel 35:1-36:38

New Testament 

James 1:1-18

Psalms & Proverbs

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 27:23-27

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Angels in Heaven

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Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.
Revelation 5:11

 Recommended Reading: Hebrews 2:14-16

Eschatology is the study of the last things, and the most eschatologically focused book of the Bible is Revelation. And guess what Revelation mentions more than any other book of the Bible: angels. Angels are mentioned in Revelation more than seventy times.

While there are many reasons to anticipate a future in heaven, one is often overlooked: the opportunity to witness the reality and presence of the innumerable angels who have served God and His people for eons. We may even encounter an angel that was sent to minister to us in a time of need! God through Jesus Christ has taken away the fear of death for all who belong to Him (Hebrews 2:14-15). Just as God has a fiery destination prepared for “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41), so God has prepared a wondrous destination for His angels and for those who belong to Christ (Hebrews 12:22).

If you belong to God through faith in Christ, your future is with God and His angels in heaven. Thank God today for that promise!

Why shouldest thou be afraid to die, who hopest to live by dying!
William Gurnall

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Imitation and Infiltration

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These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. 

—2 Timothy 3:8

Scripture:

2 Timothy 3:8 

God directed ten plagues against Egypt, and each one of these plagues dealt with one of their deities. The Egyptians worshipped thousands of gods. They worshipped the Nile River as a god. They worshipped the sun. And they worshipped the animals. In fact, they worshipped just about anything we could imagine.

Interestingly, the serpent, specifically the cobra, was an important symbol for the Egyptians. And what was the first miracle that God performed through Moses and Aaron? Aaron threw down his staff, and it turned into a serpent, which probably was a cobra.

Pharaoh’s magicians said they could do duplicate that, which they did. But Aaron’s staff consumed the magicians’ staffs.

From this first miracle, God was saying to Pharaoh, “I am more powerful than you. My power is greater than your gods.” Still, Pharaoh didn’t believe. His heart only became harder.

Two of Satan’s most effective strategies are imitation and infiltration. He will try to stop a work altogether, but if that isn’t successful, then he will imitate. In this way, he seeks to minimize the power and glory of God and neutralize the impact of someone’s life and testimony.

For example, Jesus told a story about a farmer who sowed a field of wheat, but in the darkness of night, his neighbor came and sowed weeds among the wheat. This type of weed, also known as darnel, is almost identical to wheat in its initial stages of growth. To the undiscerning eye, it’s difficult to detect until later, when the weeds grow up and choke out the wheat.

The devil uses cheap imitations in the same way. How many times have people said the reason they aren’t Christians is because there are so many hypocrites in the church? That puts followers of Jesus Christ in the very uncomfortable position of trying to defend people who don’t live what they say they believe.

However, maybe they aren’t believers at all. Maybe they’re weeds among the wheat. See how effective that ploy could be? Someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus contradicts it by the way they live. Then a nonbeliever says that person is a hypocrite.

Yet who is to say that individual is a hypocrite—or even a Christian? Maybe the devil is using such a person for the very purpose of keeping nonbelievers from coming to faith.

The Bible tells us that Pharaoh’s’ magicians, known as Jannes and Jambres (see 2 Timothy 3:8), were imitating what God was doing, thus making it look as though it wasn’t genuine. And it was a very effective strategy.

We have to be careful. We’re living in critical times. While we read of many miracles in the Bible, no one ever claimed to have a miracle ministry. Believers in the early church answered God’s call to preach the gospel to nonbelievers and teach the truth of God’s Word.

Miracles happened when and where God wanted them to happen. This reminds us that signs and wonders should follow believers. But believers shouldn’t follow signs and wonders.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Turning from the Truth

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Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 

—Ephesians 4:18

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:18 

Moses had made a mess of things. He was a Hebrew who was raised in the house of Pharaoh, groomed to become the next leader of Egypt. Yet Moses was concerned for his fellow Hebrews and the plight they faced. And one day on an impulse, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

He looked to the right and to the left, and then he killed an Egyptian. When word reached Pharaoh, he put a contract out on Moses’ life. So, Moses fled for his life into the wilderness.

He settled down there and tended sheep until the Lord recommissioned him forty years later. God told Moses he was to go back to Egypt to the court of Pharaoh and demand the release of his people.

Understandably, Moses was reluctant. He offered some flimsy excuses as to why he wasn’t qualified, which the Lord refuted. God even performed some miracles to convince Moses of the authenticity of his calling. And ultimately, Moses and his brother, Aaron, went to do what God had called them to do.

Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh’s court and demanded the release of the Hebrews. They probably were hoping he would say, “No problem! God has been speaking to me about that. God bless you.”

But that isn’t quite how it went. Pharaoh basically said, “Are you kidding? There’s no way that is going to happen.”

This reminds us that being in the will of God doesn’t mean that it always will be green lights, blue skies, and singing birds. Sometimes we think that if God wants us to do something, it will be an easy thing to do.

It will happen, but it will be in His timing. And the devil will oppose us.

We also find an important statement in Exodus 7. God said to Moses and Aaron, “But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt” (verse 3 NLT).

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Some would think that Pharaoh had nothing to say about this, that he was simply a chess piece on the board of life. But that isn’t true. Pharaoh had a choice in the matter. He hardened his heart, and the Lord confirmed the decision he had already made.

Pharaoh hardened his heart further, the Bible tells us, when his magicians counterfeited the signs. Then he hardened his heart even more when his magicians could not counterfeit the signs.

The Lord had given Pharaoh more than enough evidence to convince him that the gods of Egypt were false and the God of Israel was the true and living God. He was giving Pharaoh the opportunity to cooperate. But Pharaoh would have none of it.

This reminds us that to turn from the truth is to become more thoroughly entrenched in darkness. If you have heard the truth, know what is right, and don’t respond, then you are in danger of getting a hardened heart.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Sins Remembered No More

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Bible in a Year:

I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Jeremiah 31:34

Today’s Scripture & Insight:

Jeremiah 31:27–34

I never saw the ice. But I felt it. The back end of the pickup I was driving—my grandfather’s—fishtailed. One swerve, two, three—and I was airborne, flying off a fifteen-foot embankment. I remember thinking, This would be awesome if I wasn’t going to die. A moment later, the truck crunched into the steep slope and rolled to the bottom. I crawled out of the crushed cab, unscathed.

The truck was utterly totaled that December morning in 1992. God had spared me. But what about my grandfather? What would he say? In fact, he never said a single word about the truck. Not one. There was no scolding, no repayment plan, nothing. Just forgiveness. And a grandfather’s smile that I was okay.

My grandfather’s grace reminds me of God’s grace in Jeremiah 31. There, despite their tremendous failings, God promises a restored relationship with His people, saying, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v. 34).

I’m sure my grandfather never forgot that I’d wrecked his truck. But he acted just like God does here, not remembering it, not shaming me, not making me work to repay the debt I rightfully owed. Just as God says He’ll do, my grandfather chose to remember it no more, as if the destructive thing I’d done had never happened.

By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

How should God’s forgiveness affect how you see your failures? How can you show others grace?

Father, thank You for Your forgiveness. When I cling to my shame, help me to recall that, in Christ, You remember my sins no more.

http://www.odb.org

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – The Motive for True Wisdom

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 “The wisdom from above is first pure” (James 3:17).

A pure life is necessary for a wise life.

A person whose life is characterized by true wisdom will seek to be pure. The Greek word translated “pure” in James 3:17 refers to spiritual integrity and moral sincerity. It is freedom from bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, and arrogant self-promotion. Christ is the perfect example of purity (1 John 3:3).

A true believer will have pure desires. The deepest part of him desires to do God’s will, serve God, and love God. In Romans 7:15-21 the apostle Paul testifies that when he sinned, he was doing what he didn’t want to do. In Psalm 51:7 David cries out, “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” The true believer hates his sin. Rising out of his innermost being is a longing for what is clean, pure, holy, and honest.

Purity of heart is the motive of someone who seeks to live a life of godly wisdom (cf. Ps. 24:3-4). God says he will “take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19); that new heart will be consumed with purity rather than self. You do still sin because your new heart is incarcerated in your old flesh. But your new heart fights against your flesh. That’s why Paul said, “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members” (Rom. 7:22-23).

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). As you persevere in battle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, be encouraged by reminding yourself that one day the fight will be finished. The apostle John said it this way: “We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).

Suggestions for Prayer

Read Psalm 51:1-17, making David’s prayer your own.

For Further Study

According to Matthew 5:48 and 1 Peter 1:15-16, what is God’s standard of purity?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Stable and Mature in Christ

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 …I will not be enslaved by anything [and brought under its power, allowing it to control me].

— 1 Corinthians 6:12 (AMP)

Many people have convinced themselves that they are overly emotional people. They say, “I can’t help it. My emotions get the best of me.” If you’ve ever felt that way, let me tell you that you can be stable and mature in Christ. You don’t have to be a victim of your emotions.

No one is “just emotional”; we may have chosen to allow ourselves to be led by our emotions until doing so became a habit, but with God’s help we can change. God has given us a spirit of discipline and self-control, but we have to use it.

God gave you emotions so you could feel good and bad things, but He never intended those feelings to rule you. With God’s help, you can discipline your mind, your will, and your emotions. You can be a stable and mature Christian who follows God and not your emotions.

Prayer of the Day: Father, I come to You today asking that you guide me toward emotional stability and spiritual maturity. I want to grow up in You, Lord Jesus, amen.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Alistair Begg

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – Rekindling Lost Love

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I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Revelation 2:4-5

It’s tragic to see a marriage in which the spouses have grown cold toward each other. Though they’re still together, loneliness and isolation abound. There’s a rigid, lifeless formality to it, seen in their eyes and understood in their expressions. The vibrancy and fresh discoveries that marked their early love are missing, having slipped away with the passing years.

The Ephesian church was a task-oriented, tough-minded, truth-telling fellowship, and for this they were commended (Revelation 2:2-3). But in His words to them, Jesus revealed their Achilles’ heel: though they were seeking to hold fast to the truth, they had abandoned love. One commentator writes, “If the price paid by the Ephesians for the preservation of true Christianity was the loss of love, the price was too high, for Christianity without love is a perverted faith.”[1]

Was it that they had lost their love for Christ? For each other? For the unbelieving community around them? It isn’t necessary to choose between those options. For when love for Christ is not as it should be, then our love for all else will be affected.

For those of us who are committed to doctrinal faithfulness, here is a challenging reminder that the ultimate measure of a church is found not in its programs, achievements, reputation, or doctrinal orthodoxy but in its love. Christianity, as the Puritan Thomas Chalmers eloquently put it, is about “the expulsive power of a new affection”—about falling in love with Christ, about a sense of the immensity of His pursuing, energizing, loving grace. If that love for Jesus begins to wane, we will begin to look a lot like the church in Ephesus: impressive from the outside but internally loveless. And Jesus warns that this is no small matter; removing the Ephesian church’s lampstand means removing His recognition of them as His church, His people. A loveless church is, in truth, not a church at all.

Perhaps you realize that you do not love God the way you once did. This can creep up on us so easily, our eyes growing dry, our prayers growing cold. What can we do?

Jesus says the remedy for lost love is first to “remember.” We need to recall what it was about Jesus that caused us to love Him in the first place and then use that as a spur for forward momentum. We need to restore our commitment to the things we did at first—which typically means going back to the basics. In short, we need to look again at Jesus, lifting our eyes from what we do—our programs, our efforts, our ministries—to the beauty and love of the one who died for us and who dwells in us. Love is rekindled by looking at that which is lovely. So if your love has grown cold, gaze at Jesus as He reveals Himself to you in His word—and joy and vibrancy will surely return.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

Hebrews 1:1-13

Topics: Jesus Christ Love of God Loving Others

FOOTNOTES

1 G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Wipf and Stock, 2010), p 75.

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids 4 Truth

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – God Corrects His Children

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“For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Proverbs 3:12)

None of us likes to be disciplined. It’s not fun at all! But if you have loving parents, you know that they do not really enjoy disciplining you, either.

A little girl named Addy was once caught stealing money out of her mom’s purse. When her dad took her aside to correct her, Addy saw that her dad was crying – even while he was punishing her. At first, Addy was just sad that she had been caught. But when she saw her dad crying, she was even sadder that she had disappointed him so much by stealing.

Our Heavenly Father is disappointed, too, when His children sin. He punishes His “sons” and “daughters” because He knows that sometimes a punishment is necessary for us to learn to obey Him. He loves us and punishes us for our good, not because He enjoys disciplining us.

When was the last time you disappointed your Heavenly Father by stealing – or coveting, or dishonoring your parents, or breaking the rules at your school, or saying unkind things about another one of His children? Can you blame Him for being disappointed in you? Can you see why He has to correct you? You can trust that, if God is punishing you for disobedience, it is because you are deserving and because He is loving. He loves you too much to leave you in your sin.

God disciplines us because He loves us.

My Response:
» Do I remember that I am disappointing my Heavenly Father when I sin?
» Do I understand that God disciplines His children because He loves them?

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Al-Shifa hospital is no longer functioning: Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?

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Israeli tanks advanced yesterday to the gates of Gaza City’s main hospital. According to the World Health Organization, al-Shifa hospital is no longer functioning after three days without power. A Gaza health ministry spokesperson said thirty-two patients had died in the last three days, including three newborn babies, as a result.

President Biden stated yesterday that Gaza’s hospitals “must be protected.” While hospitals are granted special protection under international humanitarian law, the International Committee of the Red Cross notes that they can lose such protections if combatants use them to hide fighters or store weapons.

This is just what Israel says Hamas is doing in Gaza. It claims that the terrorist group operates its command headquarters beneath the al-Shifa complex; the Israeli military has released an illustrated map of the hospital marked with locations it claims are underground military installations. A US official with knowledge of American intelligence has confirmed this claim. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also states that Israel offered “to give them enough fuel to operate the hospital, operate the incubators and so on, because we (have) no battle with patients or civilians at all,” but Hamas refused the offer.

Palestinian medical workers, by contrast, accuse Israel of mounting an all-out attack on infrastructure in Gaza to punish the population and force a surrender. Accordingly, three Palestinian human rights groups have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel, accusing it of perpetrating genocide in its war in Gaza.

This accusation that Israel is committing genocide is common in the press, on college campuses, and at other pro-Palestinian rallies these days.

But is it true?

“Any civilian loss is a tragedy”

In December 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It defines genocide as acts intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.”

By this definition, Hamas is a genocidal group. Its founding charter, published in 1988, explicitly calls for the obliteration of Israel. As Bret Stephens writes in the New York Times, “had the Hamas terrorists been able to kill one hundred or one thousand times as many [Jews] as they did on October 7, they would have done so without hesitation.” He adds that Hamas’s goal is “homicidal: to end Israel as a state by slaughtering every Jew within it.”

By contrast, Israel wants to destroy Hamas, not the Palestinians. When Hamas uses civilians as human shields, their deaths are the fault of Hamas, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu: “I think any civilian loss is a tragedy . . . and the blame should be placed squarely on Hamas.”

Cultural commentator Andrew Sullivan noted: “If Israel were interested in the ‘genocide’ of Palestinian Arabs, it has had the means to accomplish it for a very long time. And yet, for some reason, the Arab population of Israel and the occupied territories has exploded since 1948, and the Arabs in Israel proper have voting rights and a key presence in the Knesset.”

He concludes: “The only people actively and proudly engaged in genocide are Hamas.” Those who march for Hamas are not opposing genocide but “defending its perpetrators.”

Supreme Court adopts a code of conduct

In other news, the US Supreme Court issued its first-ever code of conduct yesterday. According to the Court, the fifteen-page document “largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.” However, the code provides no penalties for violations of ethical standards.

This fact highlights the problem with legislating morality: if even our nation’s highest court cannot anticipate and respond to every possible ethical violation its nine members might commit, how can a nation of laws possibly legislate for every misuse of human freedom? United Nations regulations against genocide have clearly not kept Hamas from seeking and committing it. Nor have they protected Israel’s critics from falsely claiming that it is doing the same thing.

This is why the Christian gospel is so urgently needed in our post-Christian culture. Only in Christ can we become a “new creation” for whom “the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Only Jesus can cleanse sinners so that we are “holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).

In my latest website paper, “Are the Jews still God’s chosen people?” I relate the transforming power of the gospel to the war in the Middle East. After examining in detail the theological debate regarding Israel’s status in biblical prophecy and God’s kingdom today, I close with three biblical facts:

  1. God intends all people—Jews and Gentiles—to experience his transforming love (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
  2. God wants to use all people—Jews and Gentiles—to bring the good news of his love to the world (Genesis 12:3; Acts 1:8).
  3. We should join Paul in praying earnestly for Jews who do not know Jesus to turn to him in faith (Romans 10:1).

“Faith is like a window you look through”

In light of these facts, let’s close with this truth: God’s love in Christ can change any human heart, including the terrorists of Hamas. If we think this is impossible, we just need to remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. The Bible records that he “was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3; cf. 22:4). Of course, that persecutor is known to the world today as Paul the Apostle.

If God could change his heart, he can change any heart.

Will you pause now to pray for God to bring the terrorists of Hamas into conviction of their sins and salvation in Christ? Ask Jesus to reveal himself to them in visions and dreams, something he is doing across the Muslim world today. And remember: it is always too soon to give up on God.

Br. Geoffrey Tristram of the Society of St. John the Evangelist notes: “It’s not great faith that you need, but faith in a great God. Faith is like a window you look through. It doesn’t matter if the window is six feet high or six inches, or just the tiniest peephole in a telescope. What matters is the God that your faith is looking out on.”

How great is your God?

Denison Forum

John Hagee

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

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Wild Horse Emotions

OUR EMOTIONS ARE POWERFUL. We all have them. These emotions bring flavor to our lives. But sometimes these emotions get away from us and become like wild horses—untamed and running free.

“Wild horse” emotions, if unbridled, can run roughshod through our souls, lives, and relationships. They have the power to destroy us. Yet these same “wild horse” emotions, if brought under control, can carry us to new levels of success.

Consider feral stallions—ones that have not had any human contact. They can be fiery and reactive. When  they are threatened by a rival horse, they will assert their dominance—bucking, sparring and biting to gain control. They become incredibly dangerous creatures. But introduce a predator to their domain and these strong horses become fearful and  flee. Nevertheless, even the wildest  of these horses can be tamed. Through patient training, it can grow to be calm and collected, displaying graceful strength and power. The same is true of our emotions.

As a follower of Christ, we must learn to tame our “wild horse” emotions, bringing them under submission to God. To overcome these emotions, we must learn to walk in the Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul states, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” 5:16-17, emphasis added.

“Wild horse” emotions are what Paul refers to in this passage as “the lust of the flesh.” They are the emotions that wage war against what we know we ought to do.

Think about a time that you have been really angry at someone. The kind of anger that has you red-faced, eye-popping, foaming-at-the-mouth, fist-waving, foot-stomping angry. Suddenly, your anger takes control and you lash out with no thought of the repercussions of your decision. That’s a “wild horse” emotion.

Each of us has our triggers that cause us to get angry, to worry, to be fearful or feel other strong emotions. There are times that these emotions are good, even godly, if for the right reason. Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge…” The fear of the Lord is a healthy kind of fear. But there is also a spirit of fearfulness that does not come from the Lord. We may fear an economic collapse, relational discord, or for a wayward child. The fear of such things can lead us to a place that is unhealthy spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Therefore, it is important that we examine what the motivation for these emotions is before we react.

This is also why it’s so important for us to walk in the Spirit. What is the result when we are fully submitted to the Holy Spirit? We receive the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Bible tells us that “Against such [things] there is no law” Galatians 5:23.

Walking in the Spirit takes discipline. Discipline is the ability to complete with excellence that which must be done when it must be done.

So, how do we discipline our “wild horse” emotions? James, the brother of Jesus, had a thought on that when he wrote, “Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body” James 3:3. In other words, we make them obey us through discipline.

Being disciplined to live a Christian life will save you a lot of heartache and headache in this life. In the battle for self-control, the enemy is you. The war of the soul is a civil war. God gave us freedom to choose for ourselves whom we will serve. Will we bow down to the altar of “wild horse” emotions that will lead to destruction, or will we instead walk in the Spirit and choose life?

God’s Word calls us to discipline ourselves in our appetites, in our passions, in our affections, in our thoughts, in our attitudes, in our moods, in our speech, in our conduct, in our habits, in our companionships, in our amusement, in our purpose and in our marriage.

In John 8:31, Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you must abide in the Word of God. When you do what’s in the Word, when you discipline yourself to live by the words of the Bible, and when you abide in the Word of God, then you are living the life of a disciple. It is not enough to just believe; we also have to do. Jesus said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46. It is not enough to call Jesus “Lord.” We are His disciples when we do what He asks of us. Until you are doing what Jesus asks of you, you are not disciplined. You’re a wild horse doing your own thing, not advancing the Kingdom of God.

To abide in the Lord, we must be consuming the Word of God. Daily consumption leads to great spiritual health. Are you reading the Word daily? Are you building a healthy relationship with God? We need this communion with God in order to tame our “wild horse” emotions.

Paul said, “I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, ESV. There is a call of God on your life because you are God’s handiwork. You do not need to run through life aimlessly. He created you in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for you to do. That means there are specific things out there that will bless the Kingdom of God and fill you with contentment, and they have your name on them.

LET GO OF YOUR “WILD HORSE” EMOTIONS.

Let go of the pain in your past. Rather, be filled with the fruit of the Spirit as you abide in Christ’s calling over your life. Forgive those who have hurt you. Don’t become their prisoner, allowing them to take control of your thoughts and emotions. Rather, bring your emotions under submission to the Holy Spirit and live a life filled with peace and joy.

God wants His children to have the best of things in the worst of times. He wants you to live in peace, even when life is hectic and things aren’t going your way. God can use circumstances to build your faith, to move you into a position where you can be used mightily for the Kingdom. Trust in Him, knowing that He loves you so very much and is working all things together for your good.

WE BELIEVE THAT GREAT THINGS ARE ON THE WAY!

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Father of Lies

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Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9

 Recommended Reading: James 4:7

While lions no longer roam the plains of the Middle East, they did in biblical days. And Peter used the lion as a picture of Satan. Lions roar to intimidate their prey and competitors, but Satan intimidates in other, more subtle ways.

The apostle Paul pointed out that spiritual warfare is not a matter of physical armaments and conflicts, but a battle over truth—the realm of thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). That’s how Satan attacked and intimidated Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He replaced God’s truth—“You shall not eat…lest you die”—with a lie: “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:3-4). He intimidated Adam and Eve into believing a lie, and they died spiritually. Jesus said that Satan is “the father of lies” (John 8:44, NIV). His primary weapon against Christians is to persuade us to believe lies about God—that He is not good, forgiving, loving, or faithful.

When you are tempted to doubt God or His truth, you are being tempted by Satan. Resist him and stand firm in the faith.

It is the oldest stratagem of Satan to disfigure the truth by misrepresentation.
Iain Murray

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Greg Laurie

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – The Cover-Up

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But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 

—Numbers 32:23

Scripture:

Numbers 32:23 

Some years ago, I read a humorous article about someone who decided to rob a Baptist church in North Carolina. But he was more than six feet tall and weighed 235 pounds. And when he tried to escape with his loot through a bathroom window, he got stuck. It took four police officers pushing and pulling him to get him out of the window.

His sin found him out.

Moses warned the children of Israel, “But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 NLT).

He knew this from firsthand experience.

After Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating one of his fellow Hebrews, he probably thought the Hebrew people would applaud him. He may have been hoping they’d say, “That Moses is something! He’s the grandson of Pharaoh, but he risked everything to help us. He’s our new hero.”

However, things didn’t go as Moses had hoped.

The next day when he saw a couple of Hebrews fighting, he walked up and tried to settle the dispute. But one of them said, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” (Exodus 2:14 NLT).

Moses thought he had hidden his sin, but he suddenly realized that everyone knew. He also realized that he was in trouble. When Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses. So, Moses fled for his life into the wilderness.

Moses lost everything: his position, his people, and his reputation. But he hadn’t lost God. He did the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time. His timing was horribly off—by about forty years. Though Moses was gifted to be a leader, he wasn’t quite ready yet.

His heart was in the right place, but he went about it the wrong way. He made a huge mess for himself, and it seemed as though everyone had turned against him. But God had not turned against Moses. And what looked like the end of his life actually was the beginning of a new one.

He found a family that befriended them. He married one of the daughters in the family and ended up watching her father’s sheep. He probably thought that was where he would die.

But God had other plans. Moses was a leader in training.

It has been said that Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court finding out he was a somebody. He spent forty years in the wilderness finding out he was a nobody. And then he spent forty years finding out what God can do with a somebody who realizes they are a nobody.

Are you trying to cover up something right now? Is there some secret sin in your life? If so, then just come out with it and confess it, because sooner or later, it will be exposed. Nothing is hidden from God.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Card and Prayer

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Bible in a Year:

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.

2 Kings 20:2

Today’s Scripture & Insight:

2 Kings 20:1–7

The recently widowed woman was growing concerned. To collect some vital funds from an insurance policy, she needed key information about the accident that had taken her husband’s life. She had talked to a police officer who said he’d help her, but then she lost his business card. So she prayed, pleading with God for help. A short time later, she was at her church when she walked by a window and saw a card—the policeman’s card—on a windowsill. She had no idea how it got there, but she knew why.

She took prayer seriously. And why not? Scripture says that God is listening for our requests. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,” Peter wrote, “and his ears are attentive to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Bible gives us examples of how God responded to prayer. One is Hezekiah, the king of Judah, who became ill. He’d even received word from Isaiah, a prophet, saying he was going to die. The king knew what to do: he “prayed to the Lord” (2 Kings 20:2). Immediately, God told Isaiah to give the king this message from Him: “I have heard your prayer” (v. 5). Hezekiah was granted fifteen more years of life.

God doesn’t always answer prayers with things like a card on a windowsill, but He assures us that when difficult situations arise, we don’t face them alone. God sees us, and He’s with us—attentive to our prayers.

By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray

What tops your list of concerns? How can you give them to God, asking for His guidance and help?

Father, thank You for being there and hearing my prayers.

http://www.odb.org

John MacArthur

Grace to You; John MacArthur – Obeying Faith

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“By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Heb. 11:7).

True faith works.

When James said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26), he stated a principle that’s consistent throughout Scripture: True faith always produces righteous works.

The people described in Hebrews 11 made their genuine faith known in the things they did. The same applies to us today. Paul said, “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

Perhaps better than anyone else in history, Noah illustrates the obedience of faith. Scripture characterizes him as “a righteous man, blameless in his time . . . [who] walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).

I remember a sportscaster interviewing a professional football player and asking him what he thought of his team’s chances of winning the Super Bowl. The player replied, “We believe that if we just do what the coach says, we’ll win.” The team had absolute confidence in their coach, but they realized they had to do their part as well.

That illustrates the quality of faith Noah had in God, whom he trusted absolutely as he pursued a task that seemed utterly foolish and useless from a human perspective. Imagine instantly surrendering all your time and effort to devote 120 years to building something you’d never seen (a vessel the size of an ocean liner or battleship) to protect you from something you’d never experienced (rain and flooding). Yet Noah did it without question.

Noah’s faith is unique in the sheer magnitude and time span of the task God gave him to do. He didn’t argue with God or deviate from his assignment. Is that true of you? Are you pursuing your ministry as faithfully and persistently as Noah did his? Is your faith a faith that works?

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for the ministry He’s called you to. If you sense there’s more you could be doing, ask Him for guidance. Pray for added faithfulness and tenacity in serving Him.

For Further Study

Read the account of Noah in Genesis 6:1—9:17.

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur

http://www.gty.org/