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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – A Heart Warmed for Work

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 119:32

“I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!”

We must keep going back to his grace. Only the grace of God revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ will give us the courage to get up again and keep on going even after we have failed for the umpteenth time. Only grace will allow us to be as honest about our sin as David was about his.

The desire to engage in the discipline of mortification comes only from the gratitude and joy of knowing that, however miserably I’ve failed, God’s grace is greater than my sin.

The godly Scottish pastor Horatius Bonar expressed it this way: “It is forgiveness that sets a man working for God. He does not work in order to be forgiven, but because he has been forgiven, and the consciousness of his sin being pardoned makes him long more for its entire removal than ever he did before. An unforgiven man cannot work. He has not the will, nor the power, nor the liberty. He is in chains. a forgiven man is the true worker, the true law-keeper. He can, he will, he must work for God. He has come into contact with that part of God’s character which warms his cold heart. Forgiving love constrains him. He cannot but work for him who has removed his sins from him as far as the east is from the west. Forgiveness has made him a free man, and given him a new and most loving Master. Forgiveness, received freely from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, acts as a spring, an impulse, a stimulus of divine potency. It is more irresistible than law, or terror, or threat.”

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Christ’s Death

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Today’s Scripture: John 19:1-37

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5

I’ve always enjoyed reading the history of the Old West. The days of Custer, Doc Holliday, and Wyatt Earp hold a special fascination for me. I’ve been to the site of the O.K. Corral, but there is one tragic story in Western history that I can’t forget.

It concerns a young woman from Boston who came west in a stagecoach to teach school in a frontier town. Out on the prairie, a gang of drunken outlaws intercepted the stage, killed the drivers, and took the young woman to an abandoned shack, where they raped and beat her throughout the night.

Can you possibly imagine the revulsion, the shame, the pain and agony she went through? Here was an innocent, refined, young woman suddenly thrust into a world so horrifying it defied description. That scene has helped me imagine just a fraction of the agony of Jesus on the cross, where on a tragic day He was made sin for us as He suffered and died for you and me.

The physical agony was great, but it did not compare with the agony that was His when all the sin and moral filth of the world was laid on Him, and His spotless soul–which had known only the purity and glory of His home in heaven–was made sin on our behalf. He died that we might live.

Jesus took our sin and clothed us in the robes of His own eternal righteousness. We can echo the apostle Paul when He wrote, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

Prayer

Lord, You are my righteousness. Amen.

To Ponder

We cannot fully comprehend what it meant for Jesus Christ to be made sin for us–to be forsaken by God, when He took on all the filth of the world that ever was and ever would be. But now He is risen to His glory and is sitting at the right hand of the Father.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Enlarging Our Horizons

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Today’s Scripture: Daniel 4:35

“He does according to his will . . . among the inhabitants of the earth.”

Most Christians tend to think of the sovereignty of God only in terms of its immediate effect upon us, or our families or friends. We’re not too interested in the sovereignty of God over the nations and over history unless we’re consciously and personally affected by that history.

But we must remember that God promised to Abraham and to his seed that all nations will be blessed through Christ (see Genesis 12:3; 22:18; Galatians 3:8). Someday that promise will be fulfilled for, as recorded in Revelation 7:9, John saw “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the lamb” (NIV). God has a plan to redeem people from all nations and to bless all nations through Christ.

As we look around the world today, we see over half of the world’s population living in countries whose governments are hostile to the Gospel, where missionaries are not allowed, and where national Christians are hindered from proclaiming Christ. How do we trust God for the fulfillment of his promises when the current events and conditions of the day seem so directly contrary to their fulfillment?

We must also look at the sovereignty of God and at his promises. He has promised to redeem people from every nation, and he has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. We must trust God by praying. We must learn to trust God for the spread of the Gospel, even in those areas where it is severely restricted.

God is sovereign over the nations. He is sovereign even where every attempt is made to stamp out true Christianity. In all of these areas, we can and must trust God. (Excerpt taken from Trusting God)

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Incarnation

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Today’s Scripture: John 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. – 1 Timothy 3:16

One holiday season my wife and I were in Tokyo, Japan. We had been in that city quite a few times over the years, but traffic was never like this! Always bad, but not this bad! So I finally asked the cab driver why there was such a horrendous traffic jam. He smiled and said, “It’s the Christmas rush. Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in our country.”

Later I thought about what he’d said. Had the Asians begun to honor and worship Jesus Christ? No, Christ had very little to do with it. This was simply a nice time to give gifts to people you like. It was good for business and made a happy, festive occasion.

If that’s why Jesus Christ came, He could have done it much more easily without going to the cross. You and I both know He didn’t come just to create a happy holiday. The only begotten Son of God was given by His loving Father to a world lost in sin and spiritual darkness, that we might have everlasting life in Him.

The Asian culture hadn’t caught it, and friend, our culture has almost lost it. Although America grew out of deep, religious roots, there’s no question that today the majority of our population knows little or nothing about the Bible or Christianity. In some areas, Christians have even had to defend the use of manger scenes and sacred carols in the celebration of Christ’s birthday.

Why not resolve that this year someone in your family, someone in your neighborhood, someone where you work will hear the truth of why Jesus came…from your mouth. The message is simple: God gives eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let’s tell it.

Prayer

Lord, until You return, help us in our homes and in our churches to proclaim and teach why You came. Amen.

To Ponder

How can you be a light in this dark world?

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – A Precious Sight

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 50:5

“Gather to me my faithful ones.”

Sometimes when I focus too much on my own shortcomings—how often I’ve sinned, how little I’ve availed myself of all the blessings of God and opportunities that have come my way—I think I would like to somehow just slip in heaven’s side door unnoticed. But that’s because I focus too much on myself and try to anticipate my welcome on the basis of my performance.

There will be no slipping in the side door of heaven with our head hanging down and our tail between our legs. No, no, a thousand times no! Everyone who has been the object of God’s calling and election will receive a rich welcome into Christ’s eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:10-11)—not because we deserve it, but because we’ve been clothed with the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness. Because we are united to him who is the object of the Father’s everlasting love and delight, we also will be received as objects of his love and delight.

We see something of God’s perspective on our entrance into his eternal kingdom in Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Why is this true? We think of death as a parting. We think of “losing a loved one” through death. But from God’s perspective, the death of a believer is just the opposite. It’s a homecoming. It is precious in his sight.

Think of a World War II ship steaming into the harbor at war’s end with servicemen lining the rails. That sight was precious in the eyes of the relatives eagerly watching. And this is just a pale picture of how God anticipates the arrival “home” of his sons and daughters from our own spiritual war of this life.

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – A New Standing

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 5:1-11

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. – Romans 3:28

On June 21, 1947, my wife and I were married in the Presbyterian Church in Neola, Iowa. Population: 900.

Virginia and her bridesmaids were all decked out in their long flowing gowns, and I was at the front of the church with the best man and the attendants. We repeated our vows, the preacher preached a little sermon, and then he pronounced us man and wife. With that pronouncement, my legal standing was changed. Up until that declaration I had been a single man. But with that declaration, I was now legally married.

In a sense, that is a clear picture of what the apostle Paul said in Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word justification is not from the field of religion but from the field of law. Justification can best be defined as the legal act of God by which God declares the sinner righteous on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

We are made righteous by a declaration of God. And with that declaration, our legal standing is changed. Before God declared me justified in His sight, and I became clothed in the righteousness of Christ, I was a sinner separated from God. But when I came to Christ, who had died on the cross to pay the penalty for all my sins, I was pronounced righteous in His sight.

Forgiveness is negative–the removal of condemnation. Justification is positive–the bestowing of righteousness based on our standing in Christ.

Prayer

Lord, I rejoice in Your declaration of my right standing with You through Jesus Christ. Amen.

To Ponder

Forgiveness and justification are like two sides of a coin. Forgiveness is the cancellation of sin; justification is the transmittal of righteousness.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Grace That Works Harder

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:5

“Our sufficiency is from God.”

If you feel incompetent in God’s service you are in good company. Paul felt that way also: “not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

If there’s anyone in the history of the church who could have relied on his own God-given endowments, surely it would have been Paul. He was a brilliant theologian, a gifted evangelist, a tireless church planter, and a sound missionary strategist. He was also adept at cross-cultural ministry—”To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law” (1 Corinthians 9:20-21). Yet Paul, with all his abilities, acknowledged that we aren’t competent in ourselves.

We are not competent, but God makes us competent. That’s what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 15:10: “his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them.” God’s grace in its concrete expression of divine power was effective in Paul—so effective that Paul could say he worked harder than all the other apostles. At first glance, that statement seems to put Paul in a position of unconscionable boasting, and I used to be troubled by it. It seemed quite out of character with Paul’s obviously genuine humility. But I’ve come to realize Paul wasn’t boasting. He was exalting the grace of God. He was saying that God’s grace at work in him was so effective it caused him to work harder than all of them. The grace of God motivated him, enabled him, and then blessed the fruits of his labors. (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Great Deliverance

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 6:13-14

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. – Psalm 107:6

During the height of the Vietnam War, a young man named Larry Bleeker spent an evening in our home in Colorado Springs. He was on his way to Travis Air Force Base the next day. He’d stopped in the Springs to talk to me about what he should do after the war was over and he was discharged from the Marines.

I had known Larry for a number of years. He’d been involved in the ministry of The Navigators at Iowa State University and had become an outstanding young man of God. I asked him what he would like to do when he got out of the service. He told me he would like to spend more time with me and get some further training in the Christian life.

I assured him I would look forward to that, and he left for Travis the next morning and off to Vietnam. Very soon I received a letter from him lamenting the ungodly surroundings in which he was living. He looked forward to being in our home where he could draw closer to Jesus and enjoy a godly atmosphere.

He had already experienced God’s salvation from the penalty of sin and deliverance from the power of sin, but he longed to be delivered from the presence of sin. The next news I received was that he had been killed in action, and I knew he was now delivered from the very presence of sin itself.

Christian, you have been delivered from the penalty of sin, and you look forward to deliverance from the presence of sin, in heaven. But are you experiencing God’s deliverance from the power of sin right now?

Prayer

Lord, thank You for Your great salvation that delivers me from the penalty and power of sin in this life and from the presence of sin in eternity. Amen.

To Ponder

“For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – A Rich Welcome

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

“I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, . . . says the Lord Almighty.”

What will it be like when we enter the presence of the Lord? The apostle Peter gave us an inspired perspective on this in 2 Peter 1:11, where he said, “There will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.” This is a picture of a grand and glorious homecoming.

At the end of World War II thousands of servicemen returned home from Europe and the Far East. As the various ships on which they returned arrived in ports here in the United States, they were greeted by cheering crowds and lively bands. And if relatives were able to be present, there was the added excitement of tearful hugs and joyful kisses. These servicemen received a rich welcome back home. This is the way it will be with us, only on a much grander scale.

Peter prefaced his words about this rich welcome with this instruction: “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10). It might appear, upon a casual reading of this Scripture, that our rich welcome is actually dependent on our practicing these “qualities” mentioned in verses 5 through 7. However, the practice of these qualities—that is, pursuing the particular Christian virtues presented in verses 5 through 7 —is not the basis of the rich welcome. Rather, it’s one of the means whereby we make our calling and election sure. It’s a way we assure ourselves that we’ve been made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and that we do indeed have the hope of eternal life.

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Claims of Christ

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Today’s Scripture: John 17:1-5

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. – Colossians 1:15

What would you do if your dad began to say outlandish things about himself? Like one morning he came to breakfast wearing his hat sideways and claiming to be Napoleon? Or he packed his bags to leave for Carnegie Hall, saying he was going to launch a singing career, and you knew the poor guy couldn’t sing a note!

You would probably try to stop him and quickly call a family pow-wow to figure out what to do. But for a person to say he’s Napoleon or Pavarotti is nothing compared to what Jesus claimed for Himself.

In His great high priestly prayer to His Father, He said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5). Jesus Christ claimed He was alive and present with God before the creation of the world! That’s either one of the most outlandish claims ever made or it is a simple statement by the eternal Son of God.

Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Now where does that leave those people who claim we’re all heading for the same place and there are many ways to God? Obviously it leaves them in conflict with what Jesus said.

Yes, there are other men in history who have been labeled “divine” by their followers. But none of them ever died for the sins of the whole world. None of them rose again from the grave. Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies given many years before His birth. The extreme claims of Jesus sound unbelievable…unless they are true.

Prayer

Lord, I believe every claim You ever made about Yourself, and I worship You as my God and Savior. Amen.

To Ponder

Jesus is God, yet His sacrifice was necessary to satisfy His holiness.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Inadequate Apostle

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:10

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

Paul was conscious throughout his entire ministry of his utter unworthiness to be a servant of Christ. We see him expressing it again to the Corinthians: “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

Paul freely admitted he didn’t deserve his ministry; he was an apostle only by the grace of God—by God’s unmerited favor. However, in the expression “by the grace of God I am what I am,” the word grace can be taken in the context to mean either God’s unmerited favor or God’s enabling power. Considering his prior acknowledgment of unworthiness, his statement would appear to mean, “I am unworthy to be an apostle, but by God’s unmerited favor I am one.” But looking forward in this passage, to where Paul speaks about the effects of God’s grace on his ministry, it would appear to mean, “By God’s enabling power I am an effective apostle.”

I believe both these meanings of grace are incorporated in Paul’s statement. He wasn’t giving us a technical treatise on grace and distinguishing its finer shades of meaning. Rather, Paul was speaking from his heart, saying that God’s grace was sufficient for both his unworthiness and his inadequacy. He was saying, “I’m an apostle as a result of God’s unmerited favor shown to me and as a result of God’s enabling power at work in me.” (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Harvest Time

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 11-13

We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. – Acts 13:32

I remember sitting along a river that flowed quietly through a missionary jungle base in South America. A man was telling me about the many opportunities all around his mission that they could not pursue because the laborers were few. It broke his heart. He was a man with a burden for the lost, but with an inadequate labor force to fully reap the harvest.

A few months later I was with two pastors in downtown London. They were surrounded by some of the most powerful corporations in the world, businesses with global influence. These men echoed the lament of the missionary in South America–a lack of laborers to reach out to the spiritually hungry people in these great corporations.

Jesus said, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38). This is also what the writer of Hebrews prayed: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (13:20-21).

God calls on us to co-labor with Him to fulfill the Great Commission through evangelism and teaching new Christians how to grow in faith. And He’s looking for people who will go to the fields early, work hard, and stay late because they are committed to Christ and to the task at hand. This kind of person cannot be produced by human endeavor alone. Will you make the need for spiritual laborers a matter of prayer today?

Prayer

Lord, I want to be a spiritual laborer for You. Show me where You’re working and how I can join You there. Amen.

To Ponder

The fields are ripe, the laborers are few; the solution begins with prayer.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Far Better

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 16:11

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The period between our death and the still-future resurrection of our bodies is usually called the intermediate state. The Bible actually tells us little about this period, but what it does say is very encouraging. In 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul said that he “would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (NIV), and in Philippians 1:23 he said, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

Taking Paul’s statements along with Hebrews 12:22-24, we can say that in the intermediate state we’ll be with Christ; we’ll be in the presence of thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly (perhaps still hearing those seraphs of Isaiah 6:1-3 who call out antiphonally, “holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty”); we’ll be with all believers of all ages; we’ll be perfectly conformed to Christ in our spirits; and we’ll be in a state that is far better than anything we can imagine.

It’s difficult for us to visualize an existence in heaven without the benefit of our physical senses; or, for that matter, a physical brain. Yet we need to remember that God has existed eternally without a physical body. And even the angels apparently exist only in spirit (though some have assumed a physical body at times for specific purposes). Though we cannot understand how these things will be, we need to submit our minds to the teaching of Scripture and look forward to the time when we also will be with Christ, when our spirits will be made perfect, and when we’ll be in a state that’s far better than our best conditions on earth.

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Maintaining Life Support

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5

Pray continually. – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Years ago the only means of going to the bottom of the ocean was in a diving suit. It was made of thick canvas and was complete with weighted shoes, a heavy metal headpiece with a window to look out, a long rope to jerk if something went wrong, and most important of all, an air hose that supplied oxygen.

Everything about the environment into which the diver went was hostile–there were a thousand things that could go wrong and cost the diver his life. For that reason, the crews constantly monitored the air hose to make sure everything was okay.

Friend, that’s an exact picture of your situation every day. The environment in which you and I live is hostile to our Christian growth and development. The world is always trying to squeeze us into its mold, the Devil is trying to lure us off track, and the inner corruptions of our own fleshly desires are constantly trying to sap our spiritual strength.

How do you get through this hostile environment? You keep the connection with your life-support system above. I guess you could say, “You keep your air hose connected with heaven”–a strong avenue of prayer by which you keep in constant touch and receive strength and wisdom from God.

The apostle Paul understood this key to an effective Christian life. When he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians, he ended with an exhortation to pray without ceasing. Why? Because he knew prayer would help these people maintain a daily fellowship with God, and thus, a powerful Christian witness in a hostile world.

Prayer

Lord, teach me the discipline of praying continually. Amen.

To Ponder

The Christian who fails to keep his prayer connection intact runs the danger of spiritual disaster.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Serving by Grace

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Peter 4:10

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

We’re so accustomed to thinking of spiritual gifts as ministry abilities that we lose sight of the ordinary meaning of the word. A gift is something given to us; something we don’t earn. But even that fails to adequately convey the biblical sense. We tend to give gifts to people who in some sense deserve them because of their relationship to us or because they’ve done us a favor of some kind. But God gives spiritual gifts to people who don’t deserve them. None of us deserves to be in God’s service, whether teaching a children’s Sunday school class or serving on some faraway mission field.

It’s an awesome thing to attempt to speak on behalf of God. Yet that’s exactly what we do when we teach or preach or write. It matters not whether our audience is one person or fifty thousand, whether they are kindergarten pupils or graduate theological students. Any time we say or write something that we hold out to be biblical truth, we’re putting ourselves in the position of being God’s spokesman.

Peter said, “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11, NIV). When we teach the Scriptures, do we appreciate the awesomeness of our responsibility, to be speaking on God’s behalf? Do we consider the accountability that comes with being entrusted with the divine message?

Paul himself was keenly conscious of his immense responsibility: “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:17). He knew God not only sent him, but observed him. (Excerpt taken from Transforming Grace)

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Our Heart’s Desire

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 9-11

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. – Psalm 126:5-6

Years ago, Lorne Sanny, then president of The Navigators, was teaching a seminar on prayer. He told us, “Prayer is not preparation for doing the work of God; prayer is the work of God.” I wrote it down at the time and have given it a good deal of thought since. I believe he was right.

The apostle Paul prayed, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1). Paul’s heart desire led him to pray.

Perhaps you know someone you would like to see come to salvation in Christ. One of the first steps you can take in bringing that desire to reality is to pray. However, there’s more to prayer than walking into God’s office and dropping a memo into His in-basket. The context of Paul’s prayer is that it grew out of a deep inner longing. In Romans 9:2, Paul said of his desire for his people’s salvation: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”

Most of us don’t have much trouble coming to God with a heart full of deep personal concerns–work, finances, relationships. But are we just as burdened for others? Does their salvation weigh as heavily on our minds and hearts as the material things we think we need?

How can we get the same kind of heart as the apostle Paul? The only way I know is to spend time with Jesus Christ, who was moved with compassion toward people. When Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem, He wept. The closer we walk with Christ in our life of daily discipleship, the deeper our desires will grow in prayer for others.

Prayer

Lord, as I spend time with You in prayer, give me a heart like Yours for the lost. Amen.

To Ponder

Prayer is sharing our hearts with God, not just reciting a list of people and things for Him to bless.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – From Repentance to Blessing

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 4:7

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

David’s experience is very helpful to us in the relationship of repentance and grace: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:1-5).

Here David first stated his conclusion, as he spoke of the blessedness of being forgiven. Then he explained that blessedness by acknowledging his own guilt and his miserable condition before he repented. But with genuine repentance came the deep assurance that he was forgiven. In sequence of time, the blessedness actually came after his repentance and assurance of forgiveness. But just as we often do, David gave the “bottom line” before explaining how he got there.

We must do as David did if we want to experience God’s grace in our failures at mortifying sin. It’s not that repentance earns God’s forgiveness. Only the blood of Christ does that. God, however, does deal with us as a loving but firm father deals with his children. He accepts us unconditionally because we are his sons and daughters in Christ, but he disciplines us for our good. And in the administering of his discipline he withholds the assurance of his forgiveness until we, through repentance, are ready to receive it.

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Praying with God’s People

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Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. – Acts 4:24

There is a great amount of space given in the Bible regarding the fact that individuals should pray. We read of the prayers of Abraham, David, Jacob, Daniel, Solomon, Paul, and others–even Jesus Himself. But there is also a lot of instruction that we should pray together.

When Peter was thrown unjustly into prison, the church was not led to organize a protest but to organize a prayer meeting. The Bible says, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5).

What makes group prayer meaningful and profitable? Here are a few tips that might add new life and spark to your prayer meeting. First, pray loud enough for others to hear so they can pray along with you. Second, don’t spend half the time discussing what to pray about. I know it’s helpful to list some specific needs, but don’t take the bulk of the time doing it. Third, pray about common needs. As a general rule, people get their hearts into those petitions that affect them as well–a missionary the church supports, a need in the Sunday school, a sickness suffered by a member of the class, and so on.

This next “don’t” is very important. Don’t hang your dirty linen out for all to see. If it involves someone else, go to the individual involved and get right with that person. Jesus taught, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you…first go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

Praying with others is a part of worship we must exercise faithfully.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for the privilege I enjoy of lifting my voice freely in corporate prayer. Amen.

To Ponder

God delights to see His children gather for prayer.

 

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Made Perfect

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 12:22-23

“You have come . . . to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”

Although the Spirit is at work in us to transform us, our sinful nature opposes him every step of the way. We find we still struggle with indwelling sin. “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17, NIV). A continuous conflict wages between two opposing forces in our hearts. When we want to do good, evil is right there with us (Romans 7:21). We struggle with pride, selfishness, impatience, a critical spirit, a sharp tongue, a lack of love, and countless expressions of our sinful natures.

We’ll have this struggle as long as we live in these bodies. It’s painful because we’re at war within ourselves, and continually we have to say no to sinful desires. It’s sometimes humiliating as sinful traits reveal themselves to our consciousness. Sometimes we soar into the heavenlies with Christ in our morning devotions, only to come crashing down with a thud before nine o’clock through some conflict with another person.

We long to be released from this warfare, and one day we will be. In Hebrews 12:22-24, a quick preview of heaven as it is now, we read of “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (verse 23). This is a reference to believers of all ages whose spirits are now with Christ in heaven, and who are now “made perfect.” The sinful nature that now clings to our spirits like dirty, wet clothes will be done away with, and our spirits will be completely conformed to the likeness of Christ. This happens immediately at death when we go directly into the presence of the Lord. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

 

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – True Religion

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Today’s Scripture: Zechariah 7-8

They would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. – Psalm 78:36-37

In Zechariah 7:4-6, we read: “Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ‘Ask all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?’”

God questioned the heart motive behind their religious practices. And then in verse 9: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’” You see, the real issue is not fasting or feasting, but a commitment to live in a way that pleases the Lord.

As I studied this passage, I thought of a man I knew in high school and served with in the Marines during World War II. After the war, we returned to our hometown in Iowa and continued to pal around. We were pretty wild in those days. But this guy had a practice I thought was strange. After a wild week of rough living, he went to church on Sunday and made his confessions. Then it was back to another week of drunken brawls and wild parties. Even though I wasn’t a Christian at the time, I wondered if his confession was genuine, and I questioned in my heart if it was doing him any good.

The end result of our fasting, confession, Bible study, church attendance, and every other religious practice should be a life that brings honor and glory to God.

Prayer

Lord, keep me from empty religious ritual, and help me to live in close relationship with You. Amen.

To Ponder

How has last Sunday’s church service affected your life this week?

 

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