Tag Archives: religion

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – You Can Remove “Spiritual Roadblocks”

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It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.— Psalm 73:28

There are many examples in God’s Word of men and women who went through periods of questioning, doubting, blaming, and even criticizing God. But they realized they were being foolish. They repented and turned back to trusting God instead of being angry with Him.

This psalmist is one of those people. Here is my paraphrase of his progression from anger to trust in Psalm 73: “God, it sure seems that the wicked prosper and do better than I do. I am trying to live a godly life, but it does not seem to be doing any good. It looks as if it’s all in vain. I am having nothing but trouble, and when I try to understand it, the pain is too much for me. However, I have spent time with You, and I can understand that in the end the wicked come to ruin and destruction. My heart was grieved. I was bitter and in a state of upset. I was stupid, ignorant, and behaving like a beast. Now I see that You are continually with me. You hold my right hand. Who do I have in heaven, God, but You? Who will help me? If You don’t, there is no one on earth who can help me. You are my strength and my portion forever. It is good for me to trust in You, O Lord, and make You my refuge” (see vv. 12-28).

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – The Wisdom of Having Wise Friends

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Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

Friend to Friend

God always needs to be our go-to guy when it comes to counsel. Our first call. But the Bible also gives us the directive to connect with other Christ followers for guidance: seek godly counsel.

“The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless” (Prov. 2:6–7).

When I make an effort to seek godly counsel, I benefit from the power of the Lord that is at work in the lives of those around me. I benefit from their mistakes and from their successes. And it frees me from the pressure of having to figure everything out on my own. It frees me to move forward beyond my own limited experiences, faith, and knowledge.

Struggling with a tough work situation? Tangled up in a messy marriage knot? Are you being held captive by fear, doubt, and insecurity? Get some godly counsel. Proverbs tells us, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (15:22 ESV).

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Kingdom of Heaven

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“Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:10).

Have you ever been persecuted because of your faith in Christ? If so, how did you respond?

While Francis Xavier was preaching one day in one of the cities of Japan, a man walked up to him as if he had something to say to him privately. As the missionary leaned closer to hear what he had to say, the man spat on his face.

Without a word or the least sign of annoyance, Xavier pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face. Then he went on with his important message as if nothing had happened. The scorn of the audience was turned to admiration.

The most learned doctor of the city happened to be present.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Where to Look?

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Read: Isaiah 51:1-16

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. (Isaiah 51:1-2)

Chapters 51 and 52 give specific steps which believers can take when they feel discouraged and forsaken of God. This marvelous section is gathered around two the phrase, Listen to me which is repeated several times. These give great insight into God’s program for the discouraged.

Notice he says that if you are discouraged, look back and see from where you have come! Israel was to look back to Abraham, back to the time before he left Ur of the Chaldees. He had nothing. He was but a rock in a hard place! God called him and gave him everything. Look at Sarah. She was 90 years old before she underwent the labor of childbearing. Yet God multiplied her offspring to become the nation of Israel.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Proper Perspective

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When working in politics, entertainment or the business world, some people take all the credit for their success and feel they’re better than others. In Acts, Herod accepted the praise of the people that he was a god and did not acknowledge the true God. The Lord punished him on the spot. Herod was eaten by worms.

O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Psalm 115:1

A Christian is aware that all good things come from God. The Lord does not frown on someone taking pride in personal accomplishments (Galatians 6:4), but He does not like superior attitudes or to be disregarded Himself. When complimented on a performance, some people, in their fear of taking too much credit, say, “It wasn’t me. It was God.” Really? Was it that good?

It’s polite to say “thank you” when someone gives you credit, but it’s always best to keep personal pride in proper perspective. God is the one who gives you gifts, talents and resources. Take a few minutes now to praise Him for His love and faithfulness – then pray that the presidential candidates will do the same in humility and reverence.

Recommended Reading: Philippians 2:1-13

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/index.php

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Use a Little Faith

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But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. —Hebrews 11:6

Sometimes our prayers are not answered in the affirmative because we simply do not believe. Jesus could do no mighty works in His hometown because of unbelief (see Matthew 13:58). Scripture tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Unbelief can hinder our prayers. When we think, Well, I don’t really believe this can happen, then we have essentially canceled our own prayer. To not believe what God’s Word says is true is to effectively call God a liar. James tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:5–7).

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Heals Broken Hearts

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“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

What is a “broken heart”? Have you ever had one? We use the expression “broken heart” when we talk about the deepest kind of grief a heart can feel. Broken hearts are often caused by a hurtful change in a relationship with another person. If someone you love dies, or if you have to say good-bye to a friend, or if someone close to you does something to hurt you deeply, you might say that you have a broken heart. But those are just the surface causes for a broken heart. Do you know what really causes broken hearts? All of the grief, death, and sadness we experience came into our world as the result of human sin.

Jesus’ heart was broken once too. Psalm 69:20 looks ahead to the time when Jesus died on the cross for our sins. “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness.” Jesus’ heart was not broken because of His own sin; He never sinned. It was broken because of ours. All the sins of the whole world were laid on Him when He suffered and died. During those hours on the cross, He endured the awful wrath of God the Father in our place. The precious relationship Jesus had with His Father, closer and more satisfying than anything we could know, was broken while He bore our sin.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Sin of Anxiety

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7

“He cares for you.”

When we tell someone, “don’t be anxious,” we’re simply trying to encourage or admonish that person in a helpful way. But when God in his Word tells us, “don’t be anxious,” it has the force of a moral command. It’s his moral will that we not be anxious. Or to say it more explicitly, anxiety is sin.

Anxiety is sin for two reasons. First, it’s a distrust of God. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus said that if our heavenly Father takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, will he not much more take care of our temporal needs? When I give way to anxiety, I’m in effect believing that God won’t take care of me.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Can God Be Trusted?

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 36-39

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. – Psalm 32:7

As I’ve talked with people and listened to their prayers, many of them are concerned with seemingly impossible situations: long-term unemployment, terminal illnesses, rebellious and estranged children.

These are real issues in today’s world. The international scene is filled with chaos, hate, and mistrust. There seems to be no power on earth that can turn things around to bring peace and tranquillity. It all seems overwhelming. And it is, except for God.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – REST FROM SIN

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Read Romans 7:7-8:2

Pastor Timothy Keller defines legalism as more than the conscious belief that we can be saved by works. He describes it as a web of attitudes of heart and character: “It is the thought that God’s love for us is conditioned

on something we can be or do.” The opposite but equally destructive error is to think that we can ignore God’s law, “since God loves me regardless of my record, he doesn’t mind how morally or immorally I live.”

If attempting to keep the law and ignoring the law are both equally wrong, what else can we do? The Bible speaks of a third way. It is called “the law of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:2). Our own desire is not enough when it comes to God’s law (Rom. 7:16–18). Even when we intend to keep God’s law, we fall short due to indwelling sin.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – THE MICHIGAN SHOOTING: WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

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For seven hours last Saturday night, Jason Brian Dalton drove from one target to the next across Kalamazoo County in southwest Michigan. His shooting rampage killed six and injured two others. In between the shootings, he apparently picked up passengers for Uber. According to CNN, “One question looms above all else: Why did the gunman do this?”

Here’s my question: Why do we care?

Of course I don’t mean that we should not care about the victims of this horrific tragedy. Jesus weeps for them, as should we. Or that we shouldn’t try to understand the shooter’s motives, since they are related directly to his prosecution.

But I’m focusing on a different question this morning: Why do we want to know why the gunman did what he did? Here’s my answer: Because senseless violence is the most frightening violence of all. If I don’t understand why it happened to you, I worry that it could happen to me.

Earthquakes in California are a different story where earthquakes strike than where they don’t. The tropical cyclone in Fiji is a different story for people who live on islands than for people who live inland. If what happened to you could happen to me, it matters more to me.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Obstacle to Humility

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Read | Proverbs 6:16-19

Humility is a healthy, godly sense of our merits, talents, and achievements. In the life of the believer, one thing stands as an obstacle to humility: pride. To think of oneself above others is the exact opposite of the humble mindset God calls His children to demonstrate (Phil. 2:3). Pride is deceitful in that we might not recognize it in our own hearts. Even more dangerous is the person who is proud on the inside and yet appears humble to others. But God cannot be fooled.

Our heavenly Father hates pride because He knows the destructive power it can have in our lives. When we are proud, what we’re really saying is that we know better than God. He places pride—“haughty eyes”—at the top of the list of seven abominations. That doesn’t mean that He hates the person who is prideful. God loves all of us. Because of that love, He despises anything that will bring harm to us.

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Be Still

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Read: Psalm 46

Bible in a Year: Numbers 4-6; Mark 4:1-20

Be still, and know that I am God. —Psalm 46:10

Years ago I responded to letters within a couple of weeks and kept my correspondents happy. Then came the fax machine, and they seemed content with receiving a response within a couple of days. Today, with email, instant messaging, and mobile phones, a response is expected the same day!

“Be still, and know that I am God.” In this familiar verse from Psalm 46 I read two commands of equal importance. First, we must be still, something that modern life conspires against. In this hectic, buzzing world, even a few moments of quiet do not come naturally to us. And stillness prepares us for the second command: “Know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” In the midst of a world that colludes to suppress, not exalt, God, how do I carve out time and allow Him to nourish my inner life?

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – To Be Continued

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With outstretched arms, Aaron blessed the people of Israel, putting the name of the Lord upon the people: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”(1)

These were instructions from God, who told Moses to tell Aaron to bless the people of Israel. “Benediction,” as it is now called, was to be an act of worship, a response of obedience to God’s instruction given to the priestly line. As a priest, Aaron was set apart. He and his descendants were forever “to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.”(2) The Aaronic benediction was a command, given in order that God’s name be placed upon God’s people.

So Aaron spoke the benediction over a people frustrated and wandering, and his words reached beyond him. Today the church continues to believe that there are moments often unknown to us with which God does the same. Like a river whose source does not know the far places it reaches, God’s name moves before the world; we don’t always know where it has come or where it is going. Yet we know that God’s hand is not too short to save. In the desert, on the mountaintop, at the invitation of Christ to the Table, God’s blessing reaches those who will receive and be filled. It is this God “who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land.”(3)

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Being Merciful

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“‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’” (Luke 6:36).

Since we have received mercy from God, we are obligated to show mercy to those with physical or spiritual needs.

Jesus demonstrated His mercy many times as He went about healing people and casting out demons. Two blind men cried out, “‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ . . . And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight, and followed Him” (Matt. 20:30, 34). He was also deeply moved in spirit and wept when He saw the sorrow that Lazarus’s death caused (John 11:33-36).

His greatest mercy was shown, though, to those with spiritual needs. Not only did He heal a paralytic, but He forgave his sins (Luke 5:18-25). He also prayed for His executioners, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Can Those Redeemed by God be Blotted out of the Book of Life?

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The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Revelation 3:5

No, the redeemed of God cannot be blotted out of the Book of Life. Those who place their trust in Jesus for their salvation have their names permanently written in the Lord’s book of life—since the foundations of the world. In Christ alone, we are more than conquerors and victorious over sin, Satan and death. Because we have conquered we are guaranteed not to be erased from the book (see John Piper).  Being erased is not an option for those eternally secured by faith in Jesus. And being in the book of life means you will not fall away—but remain faithful.

With the same logic and expression of love, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, NKJV), so the Lord says, “I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life.” God will never forsake or forget His faithful followers—it is impossible because of His faithful character. There are some who would say they were saved, but as life happened their disingenuous faith led them to stray from the flock of God. True followers return to the fold.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Realistic Expectations

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Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. —2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT

How we treat ourselves is often how we treat others. For example, if you receive God’s mercy, then you will be able to give mercy to others, but if you are demanding and never satisfied with yourself, you will be the same way with others.

We need to learn to be good to ourselves and yet not be self-centered. You should respect and value yourself; you should know what you are good at and what you are not good at and realize God’s strength is perfected in your weaknesses. We stress over our faults and yet everyone has them. If you had no faults, you would not need Jesus, and that is never going to happen!

Power Thought: I have realistic expectations of myself and others.

From the book the book Power Thoughts Devotional by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Let’s Get This Straight

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For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Friend to Friend

“Dear Sharon,” the letter began, “I found your e-mail on your website. I was searching for some information on what the Bible says about affairs. Somehow I came upon your site. I feel like I am on the verge of destroying my life. My life with my husband had never been good—marginal at best. I find myself working hard on my appearance so other men will notice and desire me. We have four children, and I’m miserable. My husband is in the military and away at boot camp. I’m glad he’s gone.

“I am on the verge of having an affair with just about anyone to escape my marriage. I don’t want to look back on my life and think I could have been happy with someone else. I feel like I am trapped in a loveless marriage. I want a divorce.”

Friend, can’t you just see the enemy rubbing his hands together like an anxious fly? I bet he shuddered when she clicked the SEND button on her computer screen and sent this e-mail to me. “Oh no,” I imagine him saying. “This could ruin everything.” He knew that I would help her recognize the lie.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman -God’s Servant

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Read: Isaiah 50

Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. (Isaiah 50:4-6)

Two remarkable things are described here by the servant. He says, first that morning by morning God has taught him truth because he listened to his Father. Remember the many times Jesus said in his ministry, The things that I say unto you I have heard from my Father. Again and again he made that claim. He had the ear of a learner. He pored over the Scriptures. He saw himself in them. He understood what his work would be. There came dawning into his heart the revelation that he was to endure anguish, pain and rejection. But, as he says, I was not rebellious. I was willing to go ahead. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – A Downward Spiral

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Read: Judges 8:4-28

It became a snare to Gideon. (v. 27)

The pattern of Judges is disobedience, followed by punishment, followed by a cry for mercy, followed by deliverance through a judge, followed by peace, followed by the pattern starting all over again. But another pattern is made clear beginning when Gideon crossed the Jordan in verse 4: Israel wasn’t simply going around in circles; they actually were in a downward spiral.

The story of Gideon starts with humility and obedience and ends with unnecessary violence and idolatry. In chapters 6 and 7 Gideon is called by God and then wins an amazing victory over a much stronger foe. (There are many parallels to the stories of Moses found in Exodus.) But in our text today Gideon is more like Aaron, taking gold from those he conquered and shaping an idol from it. To his credit, he refused to accept the people’s desire to make him king, but, as we shall see, one of his sons does assert his right to rule Israel.

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