Tag Archives: theology

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Praying Husband 

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Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. Genesis 25:21

A praying husband appeals to the Lord for the sake of his wife. He bombards heaven on behalf of his bride with big things like having babies, and he is consistent in praying for his wife every day for important matters such as peace and security. Prayer is one of God’s select weapons that a husband can wield in defense of his woman. God has called you to be the spiritual warrior of your home, and prayer is your first line of defense. If prayer is compromised, then you have no air support from your heavenly Father.

Without prayer covering your home and wife, you and your family are open to blistering assaults from the devil and his demons. So pray for God’s hedge of protection (Job 1:10). The strategy of the stealth enemy is to keep you busy with only a token of prayer on your breath. An overly active man is probably a prayerless man; a man consumed with his own deal is probably a prayerless man; a man absorbed by pride is probably a prayerless man; a man who serves a small God is probably a prayerless man; a man angry at his wife is probably a prayerless man. A husband whose prayers are hindered is a man who knows he needs to pray for his wife but doesn’t. He is a man powerless as a spiritual leader (1 Peter 3:7).

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Love Languages: Give Your Love

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Recommended Reading

2 Corinthians 8:7-9

First John 4:8 says, “God is love.” And John 3:16 says, “God gave.” God’s loving nature was the reason for more than just giving—He created, He redeems, He provides, He forgives, He restores, and more. Yet almost everything God does can be put under the heading of giving.

Everything we have comes from God and comes to us because He has given. As David noted in his prayer, “For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14, italics added). David’s response to God’s giving was to give back to Him as an act of worship. In fact, the apostle Paul said that giving (to others) is a test of the sincerity of our love (2 Corinthians 8:8). And what example of giving did he cite? The fact that Christ gave (became poor) to us so we might receive (become spiritually rich), (2 Corinthians 8:9).

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Fellowship with the Lord

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Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.—Jeremiah 29:13

No matter how many principles and formulas you and I learn, we will never have lasting victory in our Christian life without spending time in personal, private fellowship with the Lord. The victory is not in methods; it is in God. If we are to live victoriously, we are going to have to look beyond ways to eliminate our problems and find the Lord in the midst of our problems.

The good news is that when we set aside time with God, He meets with us. We can be grateful, knowing that when we seek Him, we will find Him. God has a personalized plan for each of us, a plan that will lead us to victory. That is why principles, formulas, and methods are not the ultimate answer, because they do not allow for the individual differences in people. As good as all these things may be as general guidelines, they are not substitutes for personal fellowship with the Living God.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The End Will Come

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“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it, and then, finally, the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

I applaud every effort to warn Christians and nonbelievers to be ready for our Lord’s return, as Scripture clearly teaches that He will come again and has delayed His return in order that more people might have a chance to hear the gospel. To this end, we must give priority to taking the gospel to all men everywhere throughout the world.

However, we dare not wrongly interpret the Scriptures, as so many in previous generations have done, resulting in a lack of concern for the souls of men and a failure to correct the evils of society.

God expects us as His children to be His representatives here on earth. We are to love with His love, sharing the message of salvation with all who will listen and helping to meet the needs of widows, orphans and prisoners in His name.

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Silent Witness

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Read: Isaiah 53:7-9

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

Scripture preserves carefully the sinlessness of Jesus himself. He was without sin, but he bore the sins of others. That is why he did it in silence. He had no interest in defending himself, so he never spoke in his own defense. It is a striking thing that in the gospel accounts of the trials of Jesus he never spoke up on his own behalf or tried to escape the penalty. This amazed both Pilate and Caiaphas. When our Lord stood before the High Priest, he was silent until the High Priest put him on oath to tell them who he was. When he stood before Pilate, he was silent until to remain silent was to deny his very Kingship. Then he spoke briefly, acknowledging who he was. When he was with the soldiers, they smote him and spat him and put the crown of thorns on his head, yet he said not a word. Peter says, When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. (1 Peter 2:23). When he went before contemptuous, sneering Herod, he stood absolutely silent. He would not say one word to him. He was returned at last to Pilate because Herod could find nothing wrong with him.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Sin and Evil and the Levite’s Concubine

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Read: Judges 19:1-30

Such a thing has never happened. (v. 30)

Sin and evil are not the same thing. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), but not all sinners practice evil. The world is full of good and decent people, sinners one and all. Sin is directed at God. It is being out of right relationship with God and violating his law. Evil is directed at God’s creation, harming or destroying what God has made.

The story of the Levite’s concubine is pure evil. It is an illustration of how low Israel has sunk. There are parallels in the story of Sodom, found in Genesis 19. But Sodom was not Israel. This is. The exodus and giving of the law have happened, but Israel has no moral compass.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Take Hold

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Dr. Mitch Land and his wife were on their way to the airport to pick up his son’s family joining them at their home for a delayed Christmas celebration. Suddenly he got a startling text from his daughter back at the house. It read, “Tornadoes have taken our house.” A terrible feeling gripped Land’s heart, similar to the one he had several years earlier when his son was killed by a drunk driver. Over 20 family members were waiting at the house, including his 82-year-old mother. The tornado ripped off part of the roof and shattered windows while four generations of family crammed themselves into a 15-foot-long hallway between the kitchen and the garage.

Hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 131:3

“Driving in the car I didn’t know how many were going to be alive, or how many were going to be dead or injured,” Land said. “When we got to the house, we wept with joy that God had spared them.”

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Unconventional Evangelism

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“I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.”—Revelation 3:8

Know this: it’s not always easy to bring people to Jesus.

Don’t expect a standing ovation in hell when you bring your friends and family to Jesus. Expect and prepare for radical satanic opposition! You must be prepared for the difficulties, and be ready to overcome them. No half-hearted attempts will succeed. No “spiritual wimps” need apply!

There was a man who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus in Mark 9. “When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth” (verse 20 NIV). In the same way, the devil will throw a fit when we try to bring our friends to Jesus!

That man got his son to Jesus and Jesus delivered that boy. The takeaway truth for us is we must do all we can to get others to Jesus. The business of bringing others to Jesus is so important, that when it seems you can’t find a way, you can often make one! Seize the moment!

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Trust Him

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“And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” (John 10: 4-5)

Mary had a little lamb, her fleece was white as snow, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. This nursery rhyme meant quite a bit to Mary, because she really did have a lamb that wanted to follow her everywhere. Her father wasn’t exactly a “shepherd,” but he was in charge of a ranch that raised sheep. Mary loved to go with her father whenever he would check on the flocks. One day, he asked Mary if she would like to help him take care of a special little lamb.

This little lamb’s mother had died, and the lamb had also been born blind. Mary’s job was to feed the lamb with a bottle every day. She also checked his coat too make sure it was not scratched or dirty. Mary named the lamb “Fluffy.” Soon, Fluffy learned to recognize Mary’s voice. Even though Fluffy was blind, as long as he could hear Mary, he would follow her anywhere she went.

Some of the ranch workers would try calling to Fluffy, to see if he would follow them, but he never did. He listened only to Mary, and he really did follow her voice anywhere. Once, Mary and Fluffy even got in trouble with Mary’s mom, because they came walking into the living room where Mary’s mom was having a meeting with some other ladies in the neighborhood!

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Scapegoat

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Today’s Scripture: Leviticus 16:22

“The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area.”

The greatest scapegoat in all of history is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word is never used of him in the Bible, but it is used of a male goat in the Old Testament sacrificial system which pictured the one great sacrifice of Jesus in his death. Each year this elaborate system of sacrifices reached its climax on the great day of atonement, when two male goats were selected.

One was to be killed and its blood sprinkled on and before the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place where God symbolically dwelt (Leviticus 16:15-19). This goat’s death as a sacrifice to God symbolized our Lord’s propitiatory sacrifice for us on the cross.

The priest would lay his hands on the head of the second goat “and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.” Then the goat would be led “away into the wilderness,” never to be seen again. This goat was called the scapegoat because all the guilt of the people was symbolically transferred to it, and their sins carried away into the desert (verses 20-22).

The death of the first goat symbolized the means of propitiating the wrath of God through the death of an innocent victim substituted in the sinner’s place. The sending away of the second goat set forth the effect of this propitiation, the complete removal of the sins from the presence of the holy God and from his people.

Since both goats represented Christ, we may say Christ became our scapegoat, bearing the guilt of our sins in his propitiatory sacrifice and by that act bearing them away from the presence of his holy Father. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – God’s Unfailing Love

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-11

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! – 1 John 3:1

Bible scholars and theologians usually list the attributes of God under two headings: His natural attributes and His moral attributes.

His natural attributes tell us of a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, eternal. His moral attributes tell us of a God who is holy, righteous, faithful, full of mercy and kindness, and who is love. To contemplate any one of these attributes by itself staggers us. But it is His undying love for us that thrills our hearts.

Some years ago my wife and I were visiting the home of friends who live in Oklahoma City. We arrived midafternoon, and my wife went into the living room to join a ladies’ Bible study. I went into the back bedroom to prepare a message I was to give that night at a church banquet.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE DISCIPLES’ FOOLISH REST

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Read Matthew 26:36-46

Many churches observe an Easter vigil. This service is usually held at night after sunset on Holy Saturday and before sunrise on Easter Sunday. In some, the mood is somber as believers reflect on Christ’s death and burial. In others, the mood is celebratory as they serve communion and practice baptism.

In today’s text the disciples observed a different kind of vigil. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus asked the disciples to “keep watch” with Him as He prayed in Gethsemane (v. 38). The mood just prior to this was unsettling, as Jesus celebrated His last Passover with them. The disciples bickered amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest (see Luke 22:24). Peter argued with Jesus when He washed his feet (John 13:8). They were deeply disturbed when Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him (Matt. 26:22). It must also have unnerved them when Jesus changed the traditional Passover liturgy and instituted the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:26–29).

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley –Overcoming Habitual Sin

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Read | Titus 2:11-14

Sin does not play favorites. It works its way into everyone’s life without regard to age, race, or economic status. Regardless of the form it takes, sin always tempts us to choose our own way over God’s way. Rebellion is harmful and addictive, and repetitions of sinful behavior lead to more of the same, until the action is so ingrained in our lives that we cannot stop. We become enslaved to it.

The descent into a pattern of disobedience begins in our minds. Once our thinking is involved, the influence extends to our behavior, eventually progressing until we are more entrenched than we ever imagined. Deception permeates the whole process. We tell ourselves there is no harm in what we’re doing—after all, other people behave the same way.

Sin’s demands keep increasing, and yet its benefits are only short-term. Eventually, we experience emptiness instead of satisfaction, pain in place of comfort, and loss rather than gain. Habitual sin splits our mind and emotions. Then we spend less time meeting our responsibilities and more time satisfying cravings. Our care and concern for others diminish, too. Over time, feelings of guilt and entrapment can take their toll and lead toward self-destruction.

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — How to Grow Old

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Read: Isaiah 46:4-13

Bible in a Year: Numbers 15-16; Mark 6:1-29

I will sustain you and I will rescue you. —Isaiah 46:4

“How are you today, Mama?” I asked casually. My 84-year-old friend, pointing to aches and pains in her joints, whispered, “Old age is tough!” Then she added earnestly, “But God has been good to me.”

“Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life,” says Billy Graham in his book Nearing Home. “I am an old man now, and believe me, it’s not easy.” However, Graham notes, “While the Bible doesn’t gloss over the problems we face as we grow older, neither does it paint old age as a time to be despised or a burden to be endured with gritted teeth.” He then mentions some of the questions he has been forced to deal with as he has aged, such as, “How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but also actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?”

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Reflecting Humanity

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French playwright Moliere once uttered this curious line: “Nearly all men die of their medicines, and not of their maladies.”(1) Musician Tori Amos asserts something similar in the chorus of one of her songs: “She’s addicted to nicotine patches/she’s afraid of a light in the dark.” Both of these artists are perhaps known for exposing the hypocrisies of society in biting verse. Through satire, Moliere sought to amuse but also to instruct his audience with the peculiarities of human behavior, while Amos croons of life as she sees it, through blunt, often angry, lyrics.

Certainly, artistic observation of humanity can rouse insight and inspire an inward look at our own lives. Do these artists communicate a common truth about the human condition? I think they might. We have all known people who seem blind to their own maladies, people who would prefer their pain to change. But I also believe there is something that communicates the complexities of human behavior even more accurately.

Abraham Heschel referred to Scripture not as humanity’s theology, as it is often received, but as God’s anthropology. In these ancient Scriptures, human behavior, human emotion, human duplicity is all depicted with curious accuracy. And often, in these pages, that God knows us far better than we know ourselves is displayed in the form of a question. To study the great questions posed in Scripture is a remarkably convicting study in human nature and behavior. But even more remarkable, the New Testament scriptures offer an answer to these questions of what it means to be human. In the person of Jesus Christ, we are shown one in whom the Triune God’s purposes of creation are fulfilled, the future of creation embodied, and humanity is given the invitation of one who is making us more human.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Enjoying a Bountiful Harvest

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“Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).

Your fruitfulness is directly related to your knowledge of divine truth.

Every farmer who enjoys a plentiful harvest does so only after diligent effort on his part. He must cultivate the soil, plant the seed, then nurture it to maturity. Each step is thoughtful, disciplined, and orderly.

Similarly, bearing spiritual fruit is not an unthinking or haphazard process. It requires us to be diligent in pursuing the knowledge of God’s will, which is revealed in His Word. That is Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9, which he reiterates in verse 10.

The phrase “increasing in the knowledge of God” (v. 10) can be translated, “increasing by the knowledge of God.” Both renderings are acceptable. The first emphasizes the need to grow; the second emphasizes the role that knowledge plays in your spiritual growth.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Commended by Christ 

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Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. Revelation 3:10

My high school studies were not my best effort. Many times I would wait to the last minute and spend late nights memorizing information. Yes, I could repeat a lot of facts, but I comprehended very little. My college undergraduate and graduate days were much different. Rita and I married after our freshman year—now I felt very responsible to excel at my education. Some professors rewarded those who patiently worked throughout the semester: who took to heart the lectures and completed the homework exercises. The disciplined learners were exempt from the final exam.

Christ commended the church at Philadelphia for keeping His commands and for their patient endurance. Yes, only one of the seven Asian churches rose above the world’s expectations, yet imperfectly but wholeheartedly followed Jesus. This local body of believers hid God’s word in their heart, so they would not be ashamed and feel the need to hide from their compassionate Creator. Their persistence to patiently follow the Lord gave them endurance from the Lord. God provides a way out of temptation or grace to carry on through trials. He commends perseverance.

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – As Time Draws Near

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And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Romans 13:11

Recommended Reading

Psalm 91

The morning headlines hit us with alarm as we realize we’re drawing closer to the season of our Lord’s return. One of our great comforts is what the Bible says about the Lord shielding His people in times like these.

  • Psalm 17 says we are hidden under the shadow of His wings.
  • Psalm 27 says we are hidden in the shelter of His tabernacle.
  • Isaiah 49 says we are hidden in the shadow of His hand.
  • Psalm 32 says that God is our hiding place.
  • And Colossians 3 says our lives are hidden with Christ in God.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – No Condemnation

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Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.—Romans 8:1

I should have known better,” Cindy cried out to me. “All the signs were there that he wasn’t the man for me.” She had gone through two years of a painful marriage, of verbal and finally physical abuse. Then her husband left her for another woman. Now she felt doubly condemned—condemned for marrying him in the first place and condemned that she couldn’t hold the marriage together.

“If I had been a good Christian, I could have changed him,” she moaned.

I could have confronted her and said, “Yes, you did see the signs and you ignored them. You opened yourself up to this kind of treatment.” I didn’t say those words and wouldn’t. They would not have helped Cindy.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Stop Doubting Your Value, Part One

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Who is man that you are mindful of him?

Psalm 8:3-4

Friend to Friend

I may look confident and put together on the outside (when I’m not in my yoga pants and a ponytail) but on the inside I often wander back to that little girl who questions her value and wants to make a difference.

There are lots of ways this inner struggle presents itself in me …

  • I tether my value to how I look.
  • I tether my value to how my jeans fit.
  • I tether my value to how I perform.
  • I want my husband and kids to love me perfectly,
even though they can’t.
  • I want to love others perfectly, but I don’t, so I
juggle guilt like a hot potato.
  • I get distracted and waste time, so I feel unproductive.
  • I want to make a difference, but I try to do too
much.

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – Stop Doubting Your Value, Part One →