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Saturday, June 30, 2018
Do It Now! by Oswald Chambers
Are You a True Follower of Jesus? by Charles Stanley
When Jesus walked this earth, He was often surrounded by a multitude. Such large crowds might give the impression that the entire nation of Israel was committed to Him as their Messiah. But by the end of His ministry, there were only 120 loyal followers gathered in an upper room (Acts 1:12-15).
The majority of those who followed Jesus around were interested only in what He could do for them. They came to be healed or to see the miracles He performed. After the Lord fed about 5,000 people a supernatural meal, they came back in the morning expecting breakfast. John 6:66 tells us that when Jesus refused to work another miracle for them and declared Himself the true bread of life, “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
Temporary Christ-followers are still around today. They want the benefits Jesus can offer but are unwilling to accept hard truths or deny their own will for His. These people are like the seeds that fell on rocky soil in Jesus’ parable. (See Matt. 13:20-21.) They stick around for a while, but if He doesn’t benefit them as they expected, they fall away.
When it comes to true Christ-followers, church rosters don’t give an accurate picture. False gospels promising a better life draw those who are seeking Jesus’ benefits but who remain uninterested in Christ Himself. True followers are more like Simon Peter in John 6:68. When Jesus asked if they too wanted to leave, they replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
Draw Near / THE HUSBAND'S LOVE
THE HUSBAND'S LOVE
Christian psychologist Dr. Clyde Narramore says that your desires and talents are God's hints for your life. This is good advice when deciding on a vocation or ministry. It is also excellent advice when seeking a family. God puts the desire for a wife in a young man's heart and then provides opportunity for that desire to be fulfilled. The key to finding God's mate is to seek His will and His way. He does answer the prayers of his people.
Understanding that it is both healthy and normal to want a wife, the husband should then ask himself what God expects of him as a husband. Paul says clearly that a husband's first duty is to love his wife. The husband is to consider his mate as an extension of his own flesh. Just as the husband does not harm his own body, he must not harm or hurt his wife. Paul goes on to emphasize that one must love his wife as much as he loves himself. This strong emphasis on a husband's love certainly is not what our day and society stress, when some men wish to try marriage for a while and turn and run. Paul insists that we are to love so much that we would even be willing to lay down our lives for our mates.
Love so deep and divine has expression in some very practical ways. God's Word spells out how His love works in action. Following these divine principles will make a difference in our marriage.
Christian psychologist Dr. Clyde Narramore says that your desires and talents are God's hints for your life. This is good advice when deciding on a vocation or ministry. It is also excellent advice when seeking a family. God puts the desire for a wife in a young man's heart and then provides opportunity for that desire to be fulfilled. The key to finding God's mate is to seek His will and His way. He does answer the prayers of his people.
Understanding that it is both healthy and normal to want a wife, the husband should then ask himself what God expects of him as a husband. Paul says clearly that a husband's first duty is to love his wife. The husband is to consider his mate as an extension of his own flesh. Just as the husband does not harm his own body, he must not harm or hurt his wife. Paul goes on to emphasize that one must love his wife as much as he loves himself. This strong emphasis on a husband's love certainly is not what our day and society stress, when some men wish to try marriage for a while and turn and run. Paul insists that we are to love so much that we would even be willing to lay down our lives for our mates.
Love so deep and divine has expression in some very practical ways. God's Word spells out how His love works in action. Following these divine principles will make a difference in our marriage.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
Ephesians 5:25 KJV
Integrity Brings True Success by John MacArthur
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Are You Telling God How To Do Things? by Adrian Rogers
Are You Telling God How To Do Things?
JUNE 30
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8
The Bible is not primarily a book to be explained; it is first and foremost a book to be believed and obeyed. Whether you understand it or not, when God says it, you just simply obey it.
And don't substitute human reasoning for obedience. So many times we like to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early disciples when Saul was making havoc of the church and hauling Christians off to prison and death. I imagine there were many praying, “Oh, God, do something about Saul. Strike him dead.” But God didn't want to strike him dead. God struck him alive! And aren't you glad He did?
Isn't it strange how God works? You see, our ways and God's ways are so different. This is when we have to say, “I will trust You and obey.”
June 30 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
"There was silence, and I heard a still voice" (Job 4:16, margin).
A score of years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace. It was an old mediaeval message, and it had but one thought--that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice.
I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din. Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers. Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil.
In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said, "Be still, and know that I am God." Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, "Be still."
And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort.
As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard; but that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God's prayer in my secret soul, was God's answer to all my questions, was God's life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.
It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go forth to life's conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew. But as dew never falls on a stormy night, go the dews of His grace never come to the restless soul.
--A. B. Simpson
--A. B. Simpson
Father Figures: Joseph by David Jeremiah
Father Figures: Joseph
JUNE 30, 2018
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife [Mary].
Matthew 1:24
Matthew 1:24
Recommended Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
When one’s spouse does something that seems wrong or out of the ordinary, it takes faith to love anyway, to love unconditionally. It takes faith to say, “I’m going to assume the best; I’m going to wait to discuss this until the right time; I’m going to give my spouse the benefit of the doubt.” Loving unconditionally means seeking the best for another person even when feelings might dictate otherwise.
Think about Joseph of Nazareth and the difficult situation he found himself in when he discovered his beloved Mary was pregnant—before they were married. His first inclination was to do what was best for Mary which meant ending their relationship privately to avoid any public shame or embarrassment for Mary and her family. Then, when he discovered the reason for Mary’s pregnancy, he stood by her completely during her pregnancy and after. Joseph stood by Mary in every way, even when he didn’t understand completely.
Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).
We are called upon to reflect the love of God as much in trial as in tranquility.
John Blanchard
John Blanchard
Light of the World / Our Daily Bread
Light of the World
June 30, 2018
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Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.—Revelation 3:20
One of my favorite pieces of art hangs in the Keble College chapel in Oxford, England. The painting, The Light of the World by English artist William Holman Hunt, shows Jesus holding a lantern in His hand and knocking on a door to a home.
One of the intriguing aspects of the painting is that the door doesn’t have a handle. When questioned about the lack of a way to open the door, Hunt explained that he wanted to represent the imagery of Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”
The apostle John’s words and the painting illustrate the kindness of Jesus. He gently knocks on the door of our souls with His offer of peace. Jesus stands and patiently waits for us to respond. He does not open the door Himself and force His way into our lives. He does not impose His will on ours. Instead, He offers to all people the gift of salvation and light to guide us.
To anyone who opens the door, He promises to enter. There are no other requirements or prerequisites.
If you hear the voice of Jesus and His gentle knock on the door of your soul, be encouraged that He patiently waits for you and will enter if you welcome Him in. —Lisa Samra
Lord, thank You for the gift of salvation and Your promise to enter when we open the door. Please help me to respond to this gift and open the door for You today.
Open the door to Jesus; He is patiently waiting for you.
INSIGHT: Why does Jesus, like Moses and the prophets before Him, remind us that it’s possible to see without seeing, to hear without hearing, and to think without understanding? (Matthew 13:15; Deuteronomy 29:4).
Seven times in His letters to the seven churches, the resurrected Lord of the church offers counsel to those who have an ear to hear. Seven times He repeats to people who already thought of themselves as believers, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Why such repetition? What are the distractions He mentions in these letters? (Revelation 2-3). What could possibly turn us away from the One who is waiting for us to realize we still need Him more than the air we breathe? Mart DeHaan
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Friday, June 29, 2018
The Strictest Discipline by Oswald Chambers
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The Believer’s Security System by Charles Stanley
Spiritual dangers are all around, but God has given believers a “spiritual security system.” He’s also provided godly shepherds in the church to protect the flock from spiritual predators.
These predators are false teachers who exploit the ignorance of immature believers. They also hunt down people with unresolved guilt and use phony remedies in an attempt to soothe consciences.
Churchgoers who fail to confess and forsake sin according to Scripture are highly susceptible to such trickery. Also at risk are those who know about Jesus and religious practices but are not genuinely saved—they might even be baptized church members, but unless they have the Holy Spirit, they cannot discern truth or live holy lives.
Thankfully, God has provided a way for believers to avoid these dangerous spiritual potholes. First and foremost, we have to saturate our mind continually with God’s Word. In so doing, we will eventually develop a mental filter that reacts in alarm when something false comes our way. In this manner, we become rooted and grounded in the truth.
Christians also have the indwelling Holy Spirit, who gives understanding of God’s Word, directs our way, and enables us to distinguish truth from error. He educates our conscience to provide timely warnings when we start down the wrong path.
The Lord has provided everything we need to avoid deception, but our spiritual security system will protect us only if it is well tuned with the Word of God and obedient to His Spirit.
Draw Near / GIVING PARENTS
GIVING PARENTS
There is no financial reward in being a parent. Rather parents are made to give. One parent complained he now knew what "C.O.D." meant: Collect On DAD. Fatherhood cost God His only begotten Son, and it will cost earthly parents nearly everything. The Bible says: For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children (2 Corinthians 12:14). That is why when one chooses to be a parent, he must be ready to give his all. To do any less is inadequate.
This does not mean parents should give the child everything he wants. Sometimes the best course is to withhold something from the child. The maxim is still true: "Give a hungry man a fish, and he will hunger again. Teach him how to fish, and he will never hunger." Thus, when we say parents are to give, we mean they are to be selfless. Their children come before their own pleasure and prestige. The children are not trophies in the parents' showcases but individuals to love and cherish. Even in discipline, a parent must be giving, taking care that he is correcting the child and not merely punishing him for getting on the parent's nerves.
Releasing a child into the world takes a good deal of faith. Parents may have provided the best of homes and still see a son or daughter rebel. Jesus told of such a family, that of the prodigal son. Children still have a free choice either to accept or reject Jesus Christ. However, we can do much to prepare the soil for the seed of the Gospel. Loving children come from giving homes.
There is no financial reward in being a parent. Rather parents are made to give. One parent complained he now knew what "C.O.D." meant: Collect On DAD. Fatherhood cost God His only begotten Son, and it will cost earthly parents nearly everything. The Bible says: For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children (2 Corinthians 12:14). That is why when one chooses to be a parent, he must be ready to give his all. To do any less is inadequate.
This does not mean parents should give the child everything he wants. Sometimes the best course is to withhold something from the child. The maxim is still true: "Give a hungry man a fish, and he will hunger again. Teach him how to fish, and he will never hunger." Thus, when we say parents are to give, we mean they are to be selfless. Their children come before their own pleasure and prestige. The children are not trophies in the parents' showcases but individuals to love and cherish. Even in discipline, a parent must be giving, taking care that he is correcting the child and not merely punishing him for getting on the parent's nerves.
Releasing a child into the world takes a good deal of faith. Parents may have provided the best of homes and still see a son or daughter rebel. Jesus told of such a family, that of the prodigal son. Children still have a free choice either to accept or reject Jesus Christ. However, we can do much to prepare the soil for the seed of the Gospel. Loving children come from giving homes.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 KJV
Integrity Draws Men to God by John MacArthur
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The Mistake That Could Cost You Your Future by Adrian Rogers
The Mistake That Could Cost You Your Future
JUNE 29
“... for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.” Exodus 16:8
The Israelites had just come through the Red Sea, and they were dancing with joy and praising the Lord.
But just three days later they were murmuring and complaining! Moses said to them, "Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord."
One of the greatest lessons you can ever learn is, when you complain and whine, it’s against God. And murmuring is no little sin. God lists it with idolatry and fornication (1 Corinthians 10)!
Murmuring is a lack of faith, but it is also a lack of reason. Would God have brought them through the Red Sea just to let them die? Their murmuring ultimately cost them dearly. An entire generation never entered the Promised Land. Are you willing to pay that price just so you can continue murmuring? If Jesus Christ died for you on that cross, do you think He saved you to abandon you?
We murmur and don’t even realize it. Put a loose rubber band around your wrist today. Each time you catch yourself thinking or expressing a complaint or whine, snap the rubber band. By the end of the day, you may be surprised by your murmuring. Now take steps to counter it with praise for all you do have.
June 29 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman
"There we saw the Giants" (Num. 13:33).
Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, "We be not able to go up." Those who believe say, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able."
Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan. The men of faith said, "They are bread for us; we will eat them up." In other words, "We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome."
Now the fact is, unless we have the overcoming faith we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties.
--Selected
--Selected
It is when we are in the way of duty that we find giants. It was when Israel was going forward that the, giants appeared. When they turned back into the wilderness they found none.
There is a prevalent idea that the power of God in a human life should lift us above all trials and conflicts. The fact is, the power of God always brings a conflict and a struggle. One would have thought that on his great missionary journey to Rome, Paul would have been carried by some mighty providence above the power of storms and tempests and enemies. But, on the contrary, it was one long, hard fight with persecuting Jews, with wild tempests, with venomous vipers and all the powers of earth and hell, and at last he was saved, as it seemed, by the narrowest margin, and had to swim ashore at Malta on a piece of wreckage and barely escape a watery grave.
Was that like a God of infinite power? Yes, just like Him. And so Paul tells us that when he took the Lord Jesus Christ as the life of his body, a severe conflict immediately came; indeed, a conflict that never ended, a pressure that was persistent, but out of which he always emerged victorious through the strength of Jesus Christ.
The language in which he describes this is most graphic. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body."
What a ceaseless, strenuous struggle! It is impossible to express in English the forcible language of the original. There are five pictures in succession. In the first, the idea is crowding enemies pressing in from every side, and yet not crushing him because the police of heaven cleared the way just wide enough for him to get through. The literal translation would be, "We are crowded on every side, but not crushed."
The second picture is that of one whose way seems utterly closed and yet he has pressed through; there is light enough to show him the next step. The Revised Version translates it, "Perplexed but not unto despair." Rotherham still more literally renders it, "Without a way, but not without a by-way."
The third figure is that of an enemy in hot pursuit while the divine Defender still stands by, and he is not left alone. Again we adopt the fine rendering of Rotherham, "Pursued but not abandoned."
The fourth figure is still more vivid and dramatic. The enemy has overtaken him, has struck him, has knocked him down. But it is not a fatal blow; he is able to rise again. It might be translated, "Overthrown but not overcome."
Once more the figure advances, and now it seems to be even death itself, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." But he does not die, for "the life also of Jesus" now comes to his aid and he lives in the life of another until his life work is done.
The reason so many fail in this experience of divine healing is because they expect to have it all without a struggle, and when the conflict comes and the battle wages long, they become discouraged and surrender. God has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that God had to give, and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character, and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the birth travail of a new life. It is the old figure of the bush that burned, but was not consumed, or of the Vision in the house of the Interpreter of the flame that would not expire, notwithstanding the fact that the demon ceaselessly poured water on it, because in the background stood an angel ever pouring oil and keeping the flame aglow.
No, dear suffering child of God, you cannot fail if only you dare to believe, to stand fast and refuse to be overcome.
--Tract
--Tract
Prayer Changes Nothing by Stephen Davey
Prayer Changes Nothing
I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant . . . we have sinned against You."
Prayer that gets past the living room ceiling is prayer that recognizes, first and foremost, that God is sovereign and man is nothing more than a servant. Proper praying places God on His throne and mankind at His feet.
Prayer is not having our way with God--it is God having His way with us. Prayer is not our manipulating and controlling God--it is God influencing and controlling us. It is not our putting pressure on God--it is God putting the pressure on us!
If you are not willing to change, to submit, to work, then whatever you do--do not pray!
The great preacher, Donald Grey Barnhouse, once shocked his congregation by beginning a sermon with these words, "Prayer changes nothing." You could have heard a pin drop. His comment was designed to make Christians think about the sovereignty of God--that God is seated in the heavens and nothing ever surprises Him or falls outside His control.
We're due a good reminder as well. Prayer isn't our attempt to bribe, cajole, or convince God to change. In the scriptural accounts that seem to indicate that God changed His mind, the broader context reveals that it was actually part of His sovereign plan. He is unchangeable.
I think Barnhouse's statement is correct but incomplete. When Nehemiah fell on his knees before God, begging God to show grace to His people, something did change. Was it God's will? No! It was Nehemiah's heart. To Barnhouse's statement I would add that prayer changes nothing about God . . . but everything about us.
Powerful prayer does not change God's heart . . . it radically changes ours.
Prayer Point: Pray and commit your plans to the authority and will of God, rather than asking Him to make certain things happen. Thank Him for His unchangeable character and faithfulness.
Extra Refreshment: Read Psalm 51 and Nehemiah 1.
Take Seven Times Daily by David Jeremiah
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