Prayer in Times of Inadequacy / Charles Stanley

 Prayer in Times of Inadequacy

Nehemiah 2:1-10

After Nehemiah heard about the desperate condition of the Jews who had returned from exile to Jerusalem, his heart was burdened (Neh. 1:3-4). By getting his attention in this way, the Lord could reveal what He wanted Nehemiah to do. Scripture doesn't spell out the man's reaction on realizing that he was to be a part of the solution, but we can imagine a sense of inadequacy probably engulfed him. How could he possibly help? He wasn't even near Jerusalem, and as a servant of the king, he didn't have the freedom to pack up and leave.

But whenever God puts a burden on our hearts, He will open a door to accomplish His will. In this case, the Lord used Nehemiah's sad expression and desperate prayer to prepare a pagan king to send him on his mission.

How do you respond when you sense the Lord is calling you to a task that seems beyond your abilities? Do you list all the reasons you can't possibly do it? God already knows everything about you and the situation. He's not asking your permission to proceed; rather, He is calling you to move forward with faith and obedience. He didn't make an error in choosing you for the task, but you will make a huge mistake if you refuse to do it.

God will equip you for whatever He calls you to do. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within every believer, we have all we need to fulfill the Lord's mission. Instead of letting inadequacy hinder you from obeying, let it drive you to your knees so you can arise with renewed insight and power.

The Assigning of the Call / Oswald Chambers

 

The Assigning of the Call I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church… COLOSSIANS 1:24 We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us. And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being made broken bread and poured-out wine. Yet God can never make us into wine if we object to the fingers He chooses to use to crush us. We say, “If God would only use His own fingers, and make me broken bread and poured-out wine in a special way, then I wouldn’t object!” But when He uses someone we dislike, or some set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us, then we object. Yet we must never try to choose the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed. I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service. We have to be placed into God and brought into agreement with Him before we can be broken bread in His hands. Stay right with God and let Him do as He likes, and you will find that He is producing the kind of bread and wine that will benefit His other children.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. from Disciples Indeed, 386

You Won’t Believe the #1 Cause of Conflict in Marriage / Adrian Rogers

 You Won’t Believe the #1 Cause of Conflict in Marriage                

He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 5:10

I can say without a shadow of doubt that money is a root of all kinds of family problems. Many of our families are in financial bondage, and it’s the devil's plan to keep you there.

One of the most helpful things American families can learn is the difference between needs and wants. We have wants that aren’t genuine needs, and the desire for more and more things isn’t making us happy.

Surveys of married couples show that the number one problem in homes is not sex, children, or in-laws, but finances. Many young couples today think they have to get in three years what it took their parents thirty years to accumulate, and they can go out and get it with the false god of credit.

Your personal value is revealed not by money but by godliness. You don't need wealth to give you contentment, and what you do accumulate, you're not going to be able to keep. You’ll never see a hearse going along with a U-Haul attached behind it. There are certain things we cannot keep and certain things we cannot lose.

What are you leaving behind? The greatest wealth you have is not in the bank. If you have children, your greatest wealth is your children. Prosperity is posterity.

What legacy are you leaving in the hearts and lives of your children? Faithfulness to God? Love for His Word? Knowing how to pray and hear from God? Missionary statesman Jim Elliott said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

All That You Need / ODB

 

All That You Need God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 READ Psalm 73:23–28 Seated at the dining room table, I gazed at the happy chaos around me. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews were enjoying the food and being together at our family reunion. I was enjoying it all, too. But one thought pierced my heart: You’re the only woman here with no children, with no family to call your own. Many single women like me have similar experiences. In my culture, an Asian culture where marriage and children are highly valued, not having a family of one’s own can bring a sense of incompleteness. It can feel like you’re lacking something that defines who you are and makes you whole. That’s why the truth of God being my “portion” is so comforting to me (Psalm 73:26). When the tribes of Israel were given their allotments of land, the priestly tribe of Levi was assigned none. Instead, God promised that He Himself would be their portion and inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9). They could find complete satisfaction in Him and trust Him to supply their every need. For some of us, the sense of lack may have nothing to do with family. Perhaps we yearn for a better job or higher academic achievement. Regardless of our circumstances, we can embrace God as our portion. He makes us whole. In Him, we have no lack. By Карен Хюанг What’s one thing lacking in your life that you feel would make you whole? How can you surrender it to God and find satisfaction in Him as your portion? Father, thank You for making me complete in Christ. Help me to say along with the psalmist, “As for me, it is good to be near God” (Psalm 73:28).

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Asaph, whose name means “Jehovah has gathered,” was a Levite and one of David’s three chief musicians (1 Chronicles 6:31, 39–43; 15:16–17; 16:4–5; 25:1–2). He wrote twelve psalms that now bear his name (Psalms 50, 73–83). In Psalm 73, known as a wisdom psalm—a psalm that instructs readers how to deal with life’s challenges and pain—Asaph was bitterly overwhelmed by the injustice of the prosperity of the wicked (vv. 1–14, 21). But the moment he understood the presence of God in his life (vv. 23–24), his own glorious destiny (v. 24), and the destiny of the wicked (vv. 17, 27–28), his perspective on this material world and possessions changed. Drawing near to God and certain that “earth has nothing [he] desires,” Asaph embraced the sovereign God as his strength (Hebrew rock), portion, and refuge—his permanent and eternal possession (vv. 25–28). K. T. Sim

Not an Option / Alistair Begg

 

Not an Option 

Sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise! 

Psalm 66:2

It is not left to our own option whether or not we will praise God. Praise is God’s most righteous due, and every Christian, as the recipient of His grace, is bound to praise God from day to day.

It is true that we have no authoritative text for daily praise; we have no commandment prescribing certain hours of song and thanksgiving: But the law written upon the heart teaches us that it is right to praise God; and the unwritten mandate comes to us with as much force as if it had been recorded on the tables of stone or handed to us from the top of thundering Sinai.

Yes, it is the Christian’s duty to praise God. It is not only a pleasurable exercise, but it is the absolute obligation of his life. Those of you who are always mourning should not think that you are guiltless in this respect or imagine that you can discharge your duty to God without songs of praise. You are bound by the bonds of His love to bless His name as long as you live, and His praise should continually be in your mouth, for you are blessed in order that you may bless Him—“the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise”;1 and if you do not praise God, you are not bringing forth the fruit that He has a right to expect from you.

Do not let your harp hang on the willows, but take it down and strum with a grateful heart, bringing out its loudest music. Arise and declare His praise. With every morning’s dawn, lift up your notes of thanksgiving, and let every setting sun be followed with your song. Surround the earth with your praises; circle it with an atmosphere of melody, and God Himself will listen from heaven and accept your music.

E’en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing,
Because Thou art my loving God,
And my redeeming King. 

1) Isaiah 43:21

Memorization Made Real / Chuck Swindoll

 Memorization Made Real

by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Proverbs 22:17–18

In years past, before the printing press and the Internet made information so readily available, people memorized—precisely, word for word—anything they considered helpful. With the mass production of books, memorization steadily declined. Today, with the Internet in everyone’s pocket, the discipline of memorization has all but died. Even so, the human brain is a marvelous creation, still capable of storing away significant passages of divine truth. So let me conclude this week’s discussion with three practical tips that have helped me in my own Scripture memory program.

First, it is better to learn a few verses perfectly than many poorly. Learn the location of the book (its name, the chapter, and the verse) as well as the words exactly as they appear in your Bible. Don’t go on to another verse until you can say perfectly the verse you’ve been working on—without even a glance at the Bible.

Second, review often. There is only one major secret to memory—and that’s repetition. The brain is designed to hardwire skills and memories as we regularly practice those skills and recall those memories. Think of a skill you acquired many years ago, such as driving a car. After years of regularly using that skill, you no longer have to think about all that you’re doing when you’re behind the wheel; driving has become a natural, almost unconscious function of your body. With consistent repetition, the ability to recite a verse will become just as natural.

Third, use the verse you memorize. The purpose of Scripture memorization is practical, not merely academic. Who cares if you can spout off a dozen verses about temptation if you fall victim to it on a regular basis? Use your verses in prayer, in conversations with people, in correspondence, and certainly in your teaching. Use your memorized verses with your children or your spouse. God will bless your life and theirs as they see His Word bringing out the best in you. Isaiah 55:10–11 promises:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

How Tension Can Be Productive / Greg Laurie

 How Tension Can Be Productive

“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5 NKJV).

Sometimes people will ask me what they can say that will make a person believe. It’s as though I have some secret that only a pastor or evangelist knows.

There’s nothing like that, however. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit. When I’m sharing my faith, I pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the heart of the person I’m speaking with. John 1:5 says, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (NKJV). The word comprehend means “understand.”

This means that nonbelievers can’t wrap their minds around what we believe unless the Holy Spirit shows them. Some people will hear the gospel and think, “Yeah, I get that. I believe that.” Meanwhile, others won’t get it at all. Only the Holy Spirit can help someone grasp it.

Sometimes, though, Christians want to act as the Holy Spirit in another person’s life. We’ll guilt-trip them into the Kingdom. We’ll argue them into the Christian faith.

But we don’t want to do that because if people can be argued into the Kingdom, they also can be argued out. Therefore, we want their conversion to be a work of the Holy Spirit.

When Christians live godly lives, it creates a tension that the Holy Spirit uses to bring about conversion. It’s the division that brings unity. Before there can be ultimate peace, there has to be some tension. (But let’s not make the tension worse by being obnoxious or mean.)

As you live as a man or woman of God, you change an environment. It will, however, create a certain tension. Yet the Holy Spirit will use that tension to show a contrast between your life and theirs that can help bring them to Jesus.

So pray that the Holy Spirit will work through your life to make people aware of their need for Christ.

Copyright © 2021 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Can you trust the mediator? / Senior Living

 Can you trust the mediator?

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. - >1 Timothy 2:5

A folk story is told of the bandit Jose Rivera who became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing banks and businesses. Finally a Texas Ranger caught up with Jose as he was taking a siesta at a local saloon.

He walked over to the sleeping bandit, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked, “Are you Jose Rivera?” The man mumbled, “No speak English.” The ranger beckoned a young barkeep to help him communicate. The ensuing conversation was tedious. Finally, the ranger warned Jose Rivera that he had two choices: let him know where all the loot was hidden, or be shot dead instantly. The young man translated the ultimatum.

Jose Rivera pulled himself together and said to the young man, “Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. If he digs on the north side of the tree, he will find all of the money I have taken.”

The young man turned to the ranger, opened his mouth, paused, and then said, “Jose Rivera says, ‘Go ahead and shoot!’”

Very often, we find ourselves reliant on an intermediary to transmit a message to us. Yet the reliability of the message we receive is only as good as the mediator. But in Christ, we have a perfect mediator, who gave us the message of eternal life that came from God. So thank God today for sending Jesus as the perfect mediator that we may know Him!

Prayer Challenge

Thank God that He sent Jesus Christ to be a mediator so that you can know Him!

Questions for Thought

What does it mean to you that God sent a mediator, Jesus Christ, so that you can have a relationship with Him?

How can you let others know that God has made Himself accessible through Christ?

September 30 / Wisdom from the Psalms

 Psalm 119:53

Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

 

No one had seen Edna for weeks. They had talked to her on the phone, and she insisted that she was all right, but she had dropped her social life altogether. A group of her friends dropped by to see her, and found her terribly distraught. Weeks before, Edna had been the victim of a purse snatcher, and ever since she was afraid to go out. Television and newspapers only fueled her fears. With the way the world was moving, Edna feared she would never leave her house again.

 

Our world is filled with horrors. Sometimes the answer seems to be to lock the doors and wait for all that is wrong to just go away. Unfortunately, that is no way to live. In such a horrifying time, we need to draw upon the courage of the Lord to meet the world head-on. God will instill in us the power to conquer our fears and enjoy this life as the gift it was meant to be. He will also lead us in ways that we can work together to change this world for the better.

 

Prayer: I cannot believe the things I see and hear in the world today. Everything is so crazy. Be the source of sanity in this mixed-up world, Lord. Se my feet upon the solid rock of Your salvation. Amen.

Wondrous Things / David Jeremiah

 

Wondrous Things Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. Psalm 119:18    Scholars call Psalm 119 a devotional acrostic. Psalm 119 has 176 verses extoling the beauty and merits of God’s Word. The 176 verses are grouped into 22 stanzas following the order of the Hebrew alphabet. Each verse in a stanza begins with the same Hebrew letter. Verse 18 expresses the psalmist’s heart as a prayer: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.”

Recommended Reading: Psalm 119: 17 – 24

What are these wondrous things? The psalmist may have used Psalm 19:7-11 as motivation. This passage groups God’s Word into six categories: law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear (one’s response to the Word), and judgments. They are perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. They revive, make wise, give joy, give light, endure forever, and are most precious. “And in keeping them there is great reward” (verse 11). No wonder the author of Psalm 119 called them “wondrous things.”. Use Psalm 119:18 as a prayer each time you open God’s Word. Then look for the wondrous things it contains. The Bible is God’s book, not man’s book. J. Gresham Machen

Who Determines Your Identity? by Kelly Givens

Who Determines Your Identity?
by Kelly Givens

One year, in between jobs, I worked as a temporary administrative assistant at a financial planning firm... during tax season. It was as challenging as you might imagine. I had no experience in taxes but suddenly found myself surrounded by tax forms, calculators and clients who expected me to have the answers to all of their tax issues. I might as well have been in a foreign country trying to communicate in a language I barely understood.

I started with grand ambitions: I told myself that I would learn all about taxes; I took an incredibly challenging online tax course, learned a ton about deductions and exemptions, and strove to be cheerful and helpful to my colleagues and our clients. Things were going great - I was exhausted but felt helpful, felt like my boss appreciated me and thought my coworkers were glad to have me around. Until the worst imaginable thing happened.

A customer claimed to have dropped off his taxes to be done, but his paperwork was nowhere to be found. All of the most important documents he owned and had trusted to us had somehow vanished. Worst of all, I had been the person handling the coming and going of most of the client’s paperwork the day it went missing, so the blame fell on me.

I was nauseous with anxiety. I felt the cold condemnation of my coworkers as they repeatedly asked me what I had done with this man’s documents. All I could say over and over was, "I don’t know. I don’t remember taking his paperwork. I am so sorry." I listened as they whispered accusations behind my back. I felt them watching me like a hawk, seeing if I would make any more careless mistakes. Worst of all, my boss was totally stressed out and I felt the weight of everything on me.

I went home that night and cried my eyes out. I prayed fervently that God would somehow miraculously make the documents appear. I prayed for the strength I needed to face work the next day. I truly felt as David did in Psalms 55 when he prayed,

Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
Oh, that I had wings of a dove!
 I would flee far away and stay in the desert.

All I wanted was to run away and never face my coworkers again. And I couldn’t even think about what the client would say when he found out that all of his tax information was gone.

My husband and I went to Bible study that night, and together our small group prayed over the situation, prayed that the missing documents would be recovered, and prayed for my peace. One person’s prayer in particular stuck out to me:

Father, I pray that Kelly knows her identity is not in what she does or doesn't do, but in what you have done for her. I pray she knows that no amount of mistakes could make her any less your daughter.

Those words were a balm to my wounded spirit. I pictured Jesus holding me, reminding me of his great love for me and that even though I had messed up, my mistakes didn’t define me, he did.

I am a daughter of the King. Being reminded that my identity rests not in my success but in Christ’s sacrifice gave me the courage I needed to face another work day. I realized I had been finding my identity in what other people thought of me and in a job well done, instead of resting in the knowledge that no matter what, I am a beloved, redeemed child of God.

The next day at work, the missing files were found. The client had dropped them off in our overnight drop-off box, and the documents were wedged at the top of the chute. While having my name cleared was a relief, I look back and am more thankful for the lesson God taught me. When it comes to my identity, it’s not what I do or don’t do that defines me, it’s what Christ has done for me.

“He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me.”  -Psalm 55:18

Intersecting Faith and Life: Where do you find your identity, in the knowledge that you’re a child of God, or in the things you do or don’t do? Remember, the thing that separates Christianity from all other world religions is that it’s not what we do that saves us, it’s what Christ has done for us. You’re a child of God! Celebrate this today instead of focusing on your successes and failures.

Further Reading:

Psalm 55
John 15

Romans 8:1 

Job: Choosing to Trust / NKJV 365

 

Job: Choosing to Trust

Job was a good and righteous man who walked in the ways of the Lord. In fact, his righteousness prompted God to say of him, “There is none like him on the earth” (Job 1:8). God blessed Job for his righteousness and so Job earned the title, “the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3).

Yet Job endured unspeakable suffering. Though he had done nothing wrong, he lost everything – his family, his wealth, his reputation, even his health. If that weren’t enough, his wife and his friends offered him no real comfort. Job’s friends told him that he had suffered because of some hidden sin in his life.

Job is a stark biblical example of a fact we need to understand: Even those who are right before God suffer adversity. Will we allow the suffering to tear down our faith or build it up? These are our only choices.

In Job 13:15, Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job chose to place his complete faith in God, his Redeemer, throughout all of his difficult circumstances (see Job. 19:25, 26).

Taken from The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible

“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.”

‭‭Job‬ ‭13:15‬

Don't Compromise / Billy Graham

 

Don't Compromise

Horace Pitkin, the son of a wealthy merchant, was converted and went to China as a missionary. He wrote to his friends in America, saying, “It will be but a short time till we know definitely whether we can serve Him better above or here.” Shortly afterward, a mob stormed the gate of the compound where Pitkin defended the women and children. He was beheaded and his head was offered at the shrine of a heathen god, while his body was thrown into a pit with the bodies of nine Chinese Christians. 

Sherwood Eddy, writing about him, said, “Pitkin won more men by his death than he ever could have won by his life.” Christ needs people today who are made of martyr stuff! Dare to take a strong, uncompromising stand for Him.

Daily Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for the examples of those who have gone before us. Help me to take hold of Your unlimited strength, too.

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:16

It’s Not Over Until It’s Over / Max Lucado

 

It’s Not Over Until It’s Over

Click below to listen to today's devotional

IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER - September 29, 2021

In Jeremiah 32:27 God says, “I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth, nothing is impossible for me.” We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so. We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out.

Corrie ten Boom used to say, “When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.” The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep. You aren’t the first person to be helped. Read the story, and remember the story is yours.

September 30 / Daily Blessings

Daily Blessings

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness—for they shall be filled.” - Matt 5:6

Hunger is a painful sensation. It is not merely an appetite for food; but an appetite for food attended with pain. So spiritually. It is not merely a desire after Christ that constitutes spiritual hunger. “The sluggard desires, and has nothing.” But it is a desire attended with pain; not merely a wish for spiritual food, but also with such painful sensations, that unless this appetite is satisfied, the soul must perish and die. Nothing short of this constitutes spiritual hunger. There are many who say, “I have a desire.” If it be a spiritual desire, it will be granted. But spiritual desire is always attended with painful sensations which many are completely ignorant of who profess to have a desire. “The desire of the slothful kills him.” Why? Because he rests satisfied with a desire, and never takes the kingdom of heaven by violence.

The expression “thirst” conveys a still larger meaning. Hunger is more supportable than thirst. People die sooner when left without water than without food. Intense thirst is perhaps the most painful of all bodily sensations that a human being can know. The Spirit has therefore made use of this figure in order to convey the intense desire of a living soul—that he must have Christ, or perish—must feel his blood sprinkled upon the conscience, or die in his sins—must “know him, and the power of his resurrection,” or pass into the gloomy chambers of eternal woe—must have the presence of Jesus sensibly realized, and the love of God shed abroad, or else of all men be the most miserable.

 

Grow in His Strength / Streams

 Grow in His Strength

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him - Deut 32:11-12

Our Almighty Parent delights to conduct the tender nestlings of His care to the very edge of the precipice, and even to thrust them off into the steeps of air, that they may learn their possession of unrealized power of flight, to be forever a luxury; and if, in the attempt, they be exposed to unwonted peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them, and to bear them upward on His mighty pinions. When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count upon Him to deliver them. —The Song of Victory

“When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath.”

There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for this little plant.

Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his sharp axe he fells the oak. The plant weeps and cries, “My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!”

“No, no,” saith the angel of that flower; “now will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious abundance than before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, ’How greatly hath that plant increased! How glorious hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!’”

See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians? Why, the Lord always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. This is the way in which He makes them soldiers—not by dressing them up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. God knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not to be grown in peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. Well, Christian, may not this account for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out thy graces and making them grow? Is He not developing in you the qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off conqueror? —Spurgeon.

The Awareness of the Call / Oswald Chambers

 

The Awareness of the Call …for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 1 CORINTHIANS 9:16 We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16 ). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him. If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength. If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him.

September 29 / Wisdom from the Psalms

Psalm 119:51

The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet I have not declined from thy law.

 

Umpiring had its good points and its bad points. Being a part of the game of baseball had always been exciting to Harry, but sometimes it wasn't worth all the abuse. Harry always gave his best effort to be fair to everyone. Still, there was no pleasing some people. All he knew was that he was going to go by the rules, and if others didn't like it, that was their tough luck. At least Harry could sleep well at night knowing that he never compromised the game due to pressure. He might make an occasional bad call, but every call he made was done with integrity.

 

Sometimes standing for what is right is the hardest thing we can do. Others will mock us for doing things by the book, but that should only confirm that we are on the right track. God rejoices when we do what we know is right, and He will strengthen us so we can rise above the derision.

 

Prayer: I find that I am too weak to stand up for what is right all the time. When I am weakest, Lord, fill me with your divine strength. Do not let me shrink from doing what I know is right. Amen.

  

You’re Free to Sin, but That’s Not Freedom / Adrian Rogers

 You’re Free to Sin, but That’s Not Freedom   

Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36

You may say, “I don't want to belong to Jesus; I want to be free.” Well, you will only become free when you belong to Jesus Christ.

If a train says, “I don't want to run on these tracks; I want to be free,” how far do you think it will go? Here's a kite tied to a string. It says, “I don't want to be tied to a string, I want to be free.” The string breaks and down it goes. If a tree planted in the earth says, “I don't want to be planted in the earth; I want to be free,” and it's jerked up from the earth, will it live? Freedom is found in Jesus Christ.

Everything that is truly free is functioning as God made it to function. Just as a train was made to run on rails, God made you to serve the Lord Jesus Christ — to know Him, love Him, and keep His laws. Freedom is found in Jesus Christ, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

You are free to sin, but that's not freedom. It's only freedom to die and go to Hell. Real freedom comes from Jesus Christ. Yield your life to Jesus Christ. Then you will know the true freedom only He can give you.