Tag Archives: theology

Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Just a Little Talk with Jesus?

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Read: Mark 4:1-20

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. (v. 10 NIV)

Sometimes we miss important lessons because they are so obvious. Like the lesson in our text for today. Jesus is talking and his disciples are listening. When he is done talking, they ask him a hard question. And he answers. Here’s the great lesson for us. In order to know Jesus better, we must have an ongoing conversation with him in which we talk and listen.

Prayer is often an occasional thing for us. We pray upon arising, or upon retiring. We do it at meals, or at a sickbed. We talk to God once in a while. We seldom think of prayer as listening to Christ all the time. We’re afraid of ignoring the inspired Word of God in favor of some imagined communication from God.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – More Than a Trace

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A minister preached a sermon on the topic of the Day of Judgment. The congregation, struck by the devastating truths of Scripture, was greatly alarmed, but the preacher told them there was something even more alarming; in two hours, he said, they would likely be little affected with these things, almost as if they had never heard them at all.

Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 23:12

It is one thing to hear God’s Word, but if there is no action that follows – no application to how you live – nothing comes of it. You must receive His words with meekness, delight in them, and bow your will to the authority of them. Be determined to pursue wisdom. Commentator Matthew Henry says, “The heart is then applied to the instruction when the instruction is applied to the heart.”

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – What is Revival?

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Some have defined revival as a community saturated with God or an invasion from heaven.

Richard Owen Roberts said, “Revival is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results.” And A.W. Tozer defined revival as “that which changes the moral climate of a community.”

Listen, revival is nothing more or less than a new beginning of obedience to God.

It’s a church word, revival. It is not for the nonbeliever. Revival starts with the church and then affects the world. The world does not need revival; the church does. The world needs evangelism.

Evangelism does not bring revival, but revival always brings evangelism.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Generosity Beyond Compare

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:32

“How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

The fact that God deals with his children on the basis of grace without regard to merit or demerit is a staggering concept. It’s opposed to almost everything we’ve been taught about life. We’ve been generally conditioned to think that if we work hard and “pay our dues,” we’ll be rewarded in proportion to our work: “you do so much, you deserve so much.”

But God’s grace doesn’t operate on a reward-for-works basis. It’s much better than that. God is generous beyond all measure or comparison. The Scripture says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son”; and Paul spoke of this as God’s “inexpressible gift” (John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 9:15).

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Words of Welfare

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Today’s Scripture: Job 35-37

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. – James 3:10

Years ago, my cousins Eva and Dean raised large hunting dogs. Most nights these dogs would bark at the moon, protesting its appearance. I suppose dogs were doing the same around the world. Quite possibly, the moon was being barked at twenty-four hours a day. But I noticed something about the moon. It was totally unaffected by it all.

That is what Elihu is saying about God in Job 35:5: “Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?” Our good deeds and our bad deeds have no effect on our unchanging God. He is not added to or diminished by our successes or failures.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – CRIPPLED BEGGAR: RAISED FROM SHAME

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Today in the Word – Read Acts 3:1-10

Asking for help is difficult. Whether we need driving directions or a financial loan, we have to admit some degree of inadequacy to the person we’re asking.

Imagine the difficulty—even shame—involved in always having to ask for help. The crippled man had been asking for forty years. He had to ask for transport, money, and food to make it through each day. He was not a drain on society by his own choice, but people treated him as inferior. Ignored by some, condescended to by others, day after day he sat in the dust outside the temple while they went to worship God inside. The irony of the location where he sat should catch our attention: the temple was beautiful; his disfigured form was not. He was so close to the community of worship, but he couldn’t enter or participate. He needed the charity of pious people; he often received their condescension instead.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – God’s Greatness—A Source of Comfort

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Psalms 89:1-10

David’s cries for help fill the pages of the Psalms. His prayers are a blend of requests and worship recalling God’s greatness, love, power, and protection. Praying with recognition of God’s amazing attributes reminds us He has the wisdom, strength, and compassion to meet all our needs. Here are examples of this type of prayer:

  • “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Ps. 139:7). God is everywhere. He’s not limited by time or space—we are never away from His awareness for a single moment. So, even when we feel isolated or friendless, we’re not alone.
  • “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite” (Ps. 147:5). God knows everything. When we bend our knees to pray to Him, He’s already aware of the feelings and needs we’re about to mention. So we can be certain that when we ask for direction, He’ll provide clear guidance if we’re submitted to His will.
  • “As for me, I shall call upon God … the one who sits enthroned from of old … with whom there is no change” (Ps. 55:16, 19). God’s character is constant. Since we can always trust He’ll be faithful, reliable, and merciful, we can place our confidence in Him no matter the situation.

When believers recall an attribute of God that meets their needs, they place the focus of their prayers on the Lord rather than on the request. By mixing praise into our prayers, we end up asking for less, worshipping better, and receiving more because our emphasis is in the right place.

Bible in One Year: Exodus 19-21

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Prisoner No More

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Read: Romans 7:15-25

Bible in a Year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. —Romans 7:15

A middle-aged man approached me after I led a workshop at his place of employment and asked this question: “I’ve been a Christian nearly my whole life, but I’m constantly disappointed in myself. Why is it that I always seem to keep doing the things I wish I didn’t do and never seem to do the things I know I should? Isn’t God getting tired of me?” Two men standing next to me also seemed eager to hear the response.

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Undeception of the Story

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The well-read collection of essays written by C.S. Lewis and compiled posthumously in the book God in the Dock was originally published in England under a different title. The book was titled Undeceptions.

“Undeception” was the word Lewis used to describe a startling experience of awareness—moments when deception is uncovered and the cause is seen clearly from within, moments when blind spots are replaced with reality. He was taken with these awakenings or undeceptions in many of the characters of Jane Austen. In much of Austen’s work, he observes, “[T]he undeception…is the very pivot or watershed of the story.”(1)

Lewis would unquestionably state the same of our own stories. “Undeception” was no doubt a word that fittingly described his startling experience of being brought into the kingdom of God kicking and screaming, making him “the most reluctant convert in all England.” It was this experience through which he saw himself, the world, and its creator for the rest of his life.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Christ’s Patient Example

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“Walk . . . with patience” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

Jesus is our greatest example of patience in all that He endured to purchase our redemption.

Paul tells us here that the worthy walk is one of patience, and once again we see that Jesus modeled it for us. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly demonstrated the three aspects of patience we explored in the last lesson.

First, He endured negative circumstances. Before He came into the world, He was with the Father in the glory of Heaven, where the angels praised and worshiped Him continually. He left a place of total perfection and love and went to a place where He was mocked, hated, rejected, blasphemed, and crucified. He “endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2) even though He had the power to escape it.

Jesus also coped with difficult people. The night before His crucifixion, after three years of teaching about love and servanthood, His disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus didn’t give up on them, however. More than that, He prayed for those who spit on Him and mocked Him at the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (23:34). He wanted His murderers to be forgiven so they could be with Him in Heaven forever.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Emotional Intimacy 

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That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24

Growing relationships require regular investments of emotional energy. Because humans have the capacity for emotional engagement, there is a level of feeling and understanding that machines or animals can never attain. God’s creation—created in His image—is able to engage in intimate encounters. Emotions are meant to move people toward the eternal.

Marriage especially demands growing emotional intelligence to thrive and not merely survive. The Lord has created an emotional vacuum within a husband and within a wife that only their spouse can fill. It is folly to seek to meet this very real need with work or the children, for false substitutes only stunt emotional maturity in marriage. One flesh means to forge an alliance and an allegiance between our mind, our will and our emotions.

“It [love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Joy in Jesus

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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

3 John 4

Recommended Reading

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

Every Christian parent knows this: Nothing brings the kind of joy that comes when parents see their children walking faithfully with Christ. Why does that knowledge bring joy to a parent? Because it means everything that a parent wants for a child is happening—progress toward maturity, deep-seated contentment and joy, and a decreasing attachment to the things of this world.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Be a Blessing

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So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers].—Galatians 6:10

Our daughter Sandra shared that she was dreading seeing a certain individual because in the past that person had not been very pleasant to her. As she struggled with negative thoughts about the upcoming encounter, God spoke to her heart and said, You don’t need to be concerned about how others treat you; your concern should be how you treat them. This message had a strong impact on Sandra’s life as well as on mine. How true it is.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Be My Portion, Part 1

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“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:24

Friend to Friend

I am a lot of things, but low maintenance is not necessarily one of them. Straight up, I am a girl with some constant cravings. Though I try to savor life moments with gratitude, I fail all the time.

Many days, I find myself looking beyond my now to my next, longing in discontent. I seek God’s blessings instead of seeking God. I seek His hand instead of His heart. This frazzles my peace and messes with my joy. It tangles my heart in knots until I begin to dance through my days to the tune of, “I can’t get no satisfaction!”

Why do we desire God’s presents in our lives more than His presence?

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – When You Open the Door

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“Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking. If anyone hears Me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

“One morning I wanted to feed the birds,” a saint once said. “It was gray and cold, and the ground was covered with snow. I stepped out on the porch and flung them handfuls of crumbs and called to them. But there they sat, cold and hungry and afraid. They did not trust me.

“As I sat and watched and waited, it seemed to me I could get God’s view-point more clearly than ever before. He offers, plans, waits, hopes, longs for all things for our good. But He has to watch and wait as I did for my timid friends.”

What a simple thing it is to open a door!

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – Breaking the Power of Sin

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Read: John 8:1-11

Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. (John 8:11b)

In this passage, a woman caught in adultery was brought by the church leaders to Jesus. I do not know if we can accurately picture what was going on when this woman was brought before Jesus. I can see her being dragged in, red faced, her hair in disarray. She is angry, upset, rebellious, and bitter, perhaps striking out against her accusers. But when she sees how Jesus handles this crowd of hypocritical judges, and feels that his sympathies are with her, somewhere the mercy and love that was in his face and voice began to touch her. She realized how wrong she was, that she had sinned, and she repented. When she did, Jesus forgave her, obviously anticipating his death upon the cross for her.

The cross is always an eternal event in the mind of God. The sins of the people who lived in Old Testament days were also forgiven on the basis of the death of Jesus on the cross. There is no other way that God can forgive sin. In anticipation of that cross, Jesus forgave her sin. The proof of it is in the words he said, Go, and do not sin again.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – A Quiet Place

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Read: Mark 6:30-44

Then, because so many people were coming and going that [Jesus’ disciples] did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (v. 31 NIV)

In this part of the story of Jesus and his disciples, we find a simple but important practice that will help us focus on Jesus so we can know him better. A famous psychologist hinted at it when he said, “The three great enemies of spirituality are crowds, noise, and busyness.”

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; G.C. – Doggies and Dilemmas

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Have you ever wondered why your dog has floppy ears? With the exception of the elephant, only domesticated animals have floppy ears. When an animal is bred selectively for one trait – like compatibility with people – often something unexpected happens; for instance, floppy ears.

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise.

Proverbs 22:17

Genetic engineering can’t predict or control every result. Should the lessons of history cause one to pause for a moment of consideration before eagerly tinkering with the blueprints of human life? Many scientists are shouting – yes! But others don’t want to wait and are using the courts to move forward. The world has yet to see the results of these moral dilemmas being played out daily in genetic laboratories and universities.

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Courage to Try

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We all have talents and gifts that God has given us. For Esther, a young Jewish woman living in the capital of the Persian empire, that gift was extraordinary beauty. Sometimes those who are the most beautiful or the most handsome also are the shallowest. But that certainly was not the case with Esther. She had a great inner life as well. She had inner character. She took what God had given her, and she used it. She also demonstrated great courage and intelligence in the face of adversity.

Some people are talented musically (and some people think they are talented musically). Some people are talented artists. Some people are good at crunching numbers. Other people are good at building things. Some are great visionaries but may not be so adept at the practical, while others are detail-oriented but not really big on vision.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God’s Way Is Perfect

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“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler [shield] to all those that trust in him.” (Psalm 18:30)

“Sometimes I pray for things that the Lord doesn’t give me,” Shannon told her Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Collins.

“I understand,” Mrs. Collins said. “Sometimes when I pray, I feel sure that what I’m asking for is going to be good for me. God knows better, though, and we can be sure that God’s plan for us is the perfect plan for us.”

The Bible says that the word of the Lord – everything God says – is “tried.” That means that God’s words have stood the test of time. The place where God’s words for us are recorded is the Bible. The Bible has been in men’s hands for thousands of years, but not once has it ever been wrong. There’s not one place in God’s Word where God said something that wasn’t quite true.

We, on the other hand, are wrong about things all the time. We can’t see the big picture, and so sometimes we don’t understand how God’s ways fit into the grand scheme of our whole life or for eternity. Only God knows how everything fits together. His way is perfect.

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