Bible in One Year: July 31

 Bible in One Year: Psalms 54-56; Romans 3

Becoming Entirely His / Oswald Chambers

Becoming Entirely His Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. JAMES 1:4 Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink. Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives. We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work….” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His. Bible in One Year: Psalms 54-56; Romans 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;…

 

A Safe Place / Charles Stanley

 

A Safe Place

God is our safe place when the storms of life rage around us.

We’re currently enjoying the warm, seemingly endless days of summer, but this season isn’t all sunshine and beauty. It’s also known for severe storms that bring lightning, thunder, and heavy rainfall. When they pop up, isn’t it wonderful to be able to run into a dry, comfortable shelter and be protected until the sun begins shining again?

Life is like that, too, sometimes. All is well until, suddenly and often without warning, difficulties arise. Our lives are full of “storms” of one kind or another. Regardless of what caused them, there’s seldom much we can do to stop them from running their course. All we can control is how we respond moving forward. Rather than face these troubles alone, we run to our heavenly Father, the One who deeply loves and cares for us—and waits with open arms. (See Proverbs 18:24; 1 Peter 5:6-7; 1 John 3:1; Revelation 3:20.)

Think about it

• How would you describe your relationship with God? Does He feel distant or is He close, like a loving friend ready to listen? Spend some time in prayer this week, asking God to help you sense just how near He is.

Unable to Be Undone / Adrian Rogers

 Unable to Be Undone

Romans 8:30

Sermon: 1093 – Blessed Assurance

Pray Over This

“Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Romans 8:30

Ponder This

There is an eternal, golden chain of redemption that cannot be broken. God predestined you, then God called you, then God justified you, and then God glorified you. You see, salvation is not your work, it is God’s work, and that’s the reason the Apostle Paul said he was “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). This should cause us to say amen. What has been decreed by Heaven cannot be annulled by Hell. What has been settled in eternity cannot be undone in time. We were in the heart and mind of God before He spun this world into space. And we are the ones He has called.

• How would you live differently today if you really believed you were this secure in God’s hand?
• What usually keeps you from believing this?

Practice This

Read Romans 8:31-38 for further reflection on God’s matchless love for His people.

“Make It Your Own, Dawg!” / ODB

 

“Make It Your Own, Dawg!” I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 READ Philippians 3:7–16 On June 11, 2002, the singing competition American Idoldebuted. Each week, hopefuls performed their own versions of popular songs, and the viewing audience voted on who advanced to the next round of the competition. As one of the panel judges on the show, Randy Jackson’s signature feedback was this zinger: “You made that song your own, dawg!” He lavished that praise when a singer took a familiar tune, learned it inside out, and then performed it in a new way that gave it a unique, personal spin. To “make it their own” was to own it completely and creatively, and then offer it to the world onstage. Paul invites us to do something similar to own our faith and our expression of it, too. In Philippians 3, he rejects attempts to earn right standing before God (vv. 7–8). Instead, he teaches us to embrace “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (v. 9). The gift of forgiveness and redemption transforms our motivation and goals: “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (v. 12). Jesus has secured our victory. Our job? To take hold of that truth, internalizing God’s gospel gift and living it out amid our broken world. In other words, we’re to make our faith our own and in so doing “live up to what we have already attained” (v. 16). By Adam R. Holz What do you think it looks like for you to “press on” in your faith? What most encourages and sustains you to keep moving forward? Jesus, thank You for Your saving gift of redemption and love on the cross. Help me to respond in gratitude each day, and to press on in my faith with thankfulness.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Tutored by Gamaliel, a leading authority in the Sanhedrin, and “thoroughly trained in the law of [Israel’s] ancestors” (Acts 22:3), Paul was a Pharisee par excellence, whose knowledge of Judaism was unrivaled by his peers (Philippians 3:4–6). Yet after knowing Jesus, Paul considered everything he’d taken pride in as garbage. For the apostle, the life of faith was simply “knowing Christ Jesus” (v. 8). Jesus Himself said that eternal life is to “know . . . the only true God, and Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). That’s why Paul persistently prayed for believers to grow in their knowledge of God and Jesus (Ephesians 1:16–18; Colossians 1:9–10). K. T. Sim

The Big Picture / Chuck Swindoll

 The Big Picture

by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Matthew 28:16–20

If you were to do a little fun research to discover the sheer quantity of activities that happen each day in America, you'd be amazed. Consider, for example, the number of cups of coffee consumed, the number of babies born, the number of people who take a taxi, bury a pet, get divorced, go to the hospital, watch prime-time television, ride on an airplane, and go to school. 

So what? That's trivia, right? When you multiply all those things by 365, you get the general idea that there's a fair amount of energy, money, activity, and trauma going on in a year's time. And that's just in America—representing only a portion of the world's population. We may not be big, but we're busy. In fact, we are so busy it's easy to get selfishly swept up in the whirlwind of our own little playground sandwiched between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans . . . blessed beyond measure and rich beyond comparison. 

Every so often it's helpful to stop the annual merry-go-round, get off, look objectively, and think clearly. It's not only helpful, it's essential for the Christian. In this circus-like American lifestyle of ours, we tend to be deafened by the blare of our own band and blinded by the lights of our own spots, shining—always shining—on the ring of our own choice. 

That needs to change. We need to hear the voice of the Ringmaster as He raises His hand to stop the band: 

"We interrupt this program to bring all of you a reminder that the world in which you live is not the whole world . . . but only a very small part of the world for which I died." 

The Great Commission is still "the Great Commission," not "The Limited Agreement for My Corner of America." He still looks out across a wide world and weeps over men and women and children who do not know—have never heard—His healing, life-giving Name. 

Can you feel His pain? What could you do this week to reach farther, see wider, feel deeper? What could help you kindle a greater understanding, perspective, and compassion for this vast hurting world of ours? 

Taking a missionary out for coffee? 
Reading—really absorbing—a good missions magazine? 
Writing a letter to some battle-weary missions veteran in the trenches of a distant country? 
Making friends with a lonely international student? 
Writing a check so that a hungry third-world family finds hope for another day? 
Praying that the Lord would give you an opportunity to serve Him in a cross-cultural experience—even for one year? 

Sound risky? Maybe. But I've got a hunch that when the score is added up one day as we stand before our Lord, many of us will wish we'd played a lot more Risk . . . and a lot less Trivial Pursuit.

Stepping Out in Faith / Alistair Begg

 

Stepping Out in Faith

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called 

to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. 

And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8

If we seek to understand better what it means to put faith into action and to take God at His word, then we need look no further than the life of Abraham. He’s described in the book of Romans as the father of all who have faith (Romans 4:16). He was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (v 21), and this was the conviction that spurred him on to obedience and action.

God’s call to Abraham was costly and radical: “The LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’” (Genesis 12:1). Abraham was asked to leave his country, his friends, and his extended family—essentially, all that he knew and held dear. God did not stop at the command, though. He promised to bless Abraham in the new land, to make him “a great nation” and to make his name great (v 2). 

And Abraham obeyed and went.

Why would anybody ever do that? Abraham had nothing to go on save the command of God and the accompanying promises. But that was enough for him! That is faith in action. That is faith in every day and in every generation: taking God at His word and stepping out in obedience. 

“The callings of God,” I remember once hearing the Scottish minister Graham Scroggie say, “seldom leave a man or a woman where the calling finds them. Indeed, if we fail to go forward when God says ‘Go,’ we cannot remain stationary.” Refusing to step out and act in faith results in backward movement even as we never take a step.

Abraham, though, walked forward. He departed in obedience, “not knowing where he was going.” It was sufficient for him that God had told him to go, and so he did not need to be told where he would end up. And by stepping out in faith, Abraham stepped into the heart of God’s plan to save His people and bring blessing to His world. Abraham would discover that the only place to be is where God wants you, and the only purpose that you should ever seek to fulfill is that which God has made known to you.

Has God been speaking to you through His word about stepping out in faith and obedience to His leading? Then “today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). God’s command may run absolutely contrary to everything you have been planning and thinking about, and it may require you to leave behind everything that represents security to you—but if He is calling, you must go.

Romans 4

July 31 / Wisdom from the Psalms

 Psalms 96:6

Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Take time to be quiet and think about the good things God has done for you. Look at both the good times and the bad in proper perspective. We are loved by a God of all creation, the Master of all eternity. He has made us important by His love for us. Think of how wonderful this love is. We have no way to comprehend this kind of love and attention. It is well that we take time to contemplate all these things. All honor and glory belongs to the Lord, who loves us so much. By entering into His presence, we come to know just how very lucky we are.

 

Prayer: Who am I, Lord, that You take notice of me? I cannot believe that You love me the way You do. Though I don't understand, I do accept Your gracious love, and I am thankful from the depths of my soul. Amen.

Faith Pleases God / Billy Graham

 

Faith Pleases God

Faith pleases God more than anything else. The Christian life is dependent upon faith. We stand on faith; we live on faith. Faith is loved and honored by God more than any other single thing. The Bible teaches that faith is the only approach that we have to God. No man has sins forgiven, no man goes to heaven, no man has assurance of peace and happiness, until he has faith in Jesus Christ. You may be saying, “God, I believe you are a great person, but I do not believe your Word; I do not believe what you say.” In order to please God, you must believe Him. Perhaps your faith is small and weak. It does not matter how big your faith is, but rather, where your faith is. Is it in Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross for your sins?

Daily Prayer

Lord Jesus, may my faith in You and Your abundant promises be ever increasing each day.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Praise the Lord/ Spurgeon

 

Praise the Lord

Now these, the singers … were on duty day and night.

1 Chronicles 9:33

It was so well organized in the temple that the sacred refrain never ceased, for the singers constantly praised the Lord, whose mercy endures forever. As mercy did not cease to rule either by day or by night, so neither did music hush its holy sound. My heart, there is a lesson sweetly taught to you in the ceaseless song of Zion’s temple. You are a constant debtor; therefore see to it that your gratitude, like charity, never fails. God’s praise is constant in heaven, which is to be your final dwelling-place; so learn to practice the eternal hallelujah. Around the earth as the sun scatters its light, its beams awaken grateful believers to tune their morning hymn, so that by the priesthood of the saints perpetual praise is kept up at all hours; they surround our globe in a mantle of thanksgiving and girdle it with a golden belt of song.

The Lord always deserves to be praised for what He is in Himself, for His works of creation and providence, for His goodness toward His creatures, and especially for the transcendent act of redemption and all the marvelous blessings that flow from it. It is always beneficial to praise the Lord; such praise cheers the day and brightens the night; it lightens toil and softens sorrow; and over earthly gladness it sheds a sanctifying radiance that makes it less liable to blind us with its glare. Do we not have something to sing about at this moment? Can we not weave a song out of our present joys or our past deliverances or our future hopes? Earth yields her summer fruits: The hay is baled, the golden grain invites the scythe, and the sun tarries to shine upon a fruitful earth and shorten the interval of shade, that we may extend the hours of devoted worship. By the love of Jesus, let us be stirred up to close the day with a psalm of sanctified gladness.

Daily Blessings / July 31

 Daily Blessings

“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.” - Ps 107:6

Oh what a mercy it is that there is a God to go lo! a God who hears and answers prayer! And what a blessing it is to be able to unbosom before him the burdened spirit! Observe the words—“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble.” If you have trouble it is a sufficient warrant for you to go to God with it. Do not trouble yourself with the question, whether you are elect or non-elect. God does not put it in that shape, and you need not. The answer will best show on which side of the line you stand. Does he not say—“Call upon me in the day of trouble—I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me?” If you have a day of trouble, you have here a sufficient warrant to call upon God. Write not, then, bitter things against yourself. If you are enabled to sigh and cry unto the Lord there is life in your soul. God has quickened you by his blessed Spirit if he has put a sigh and cry into your bosom. Remember the men in Ezekiel on whom the Lord put the approving seal. It was those who sighed and cried for the abominations which they saw and felt in themselves and others (Ezekiel 9:4). If, then, the Lord has put a sigh and cry into your bosom on account of your felt inward abominations, you are one of those on whom he has set his seal.

Sanctified troubles are some of our greatest blessings; and one of their blessed fruits is that they keep us from settling on our lees and being at ease in Zion. Careless, worldly-minded, proud, covetous professors, sunk in carnality and death, where is there ever a cry in their soul? They may have a formal prayer—a morning prayer, an evening prayer, a family prayer, and all as round as a ball, and as cold as ice. Stiff and frozen in carnality they are ice themselves, and they bring their ice with them wherever they come. But God does not allow his people to go on in this cold, lifeless, frozen, icy way, with mere formal devotion, lip service, and prayers worn out like an old shoe with long and continual treading. He sends afflictions, trials, and troubles upon them, takes them into the wilderness, exercises them well in the path of tribulation, and supporting them under it, raises up a cry which he is sure to hear.

Skillful Guidance / July 31

 Skillful Guidance

He guided them by the skillfulness of his hands - Ps 78:72

When you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one…Meanwhile keep on as you are, and consider the absence of indication to be the indication of God’s will that you are on His track…As you go down the long corridor, you will find that He has preceded you, and locked many doors which you would fain have entered; but be sure that beyond these there is one which He has left unlocked. Open it and enter, and you will find yourself face to face with a bend of the river of opportunity, broader and deeper than anything you had dared to imagine in your sunniest dreams. Launch forth upon it; it conducts to the open sea.

God guides us, often by circumstances. At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked; and then shortly afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others, but which to the keen eye of faith speaks volumes. Sometimes these things are repeated in various ways, in answer to prayer. They are not haphazard results of chance, but the opening up of circumstances in the direction in which we would walk. And they begin to multiply as we advance toward our goal, just as the lights do as we near a populous town, when darting through the land by night express. —F. B. Meyer

If you go to Him to be guided, He will guide you; but He will not comfort your distrust or half-trust of Him by showing you the chart of all His purposes concerning you. He will show you only into a way where, if you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, He will show you on still farther. —Horace Bushnell

As moves my fragile bark across the storm-swept sea,  

Great waves beat o’er her side, as north wind blows;  

Deep in the darkness hid lie threat’ning rocks and shoals;  

But all of these, and more, my Pilot knows.  

Sometimes when dark the night, and every light gone out,  

I wonder to what port my frail ship goes;  

Still though the night be long, and restless all my hours,  

My distant goal, I’m sure, my Pilot knows.  

—Thomas Curtis Clark

Bible in One Year: July 30

 Bible in One Year: Psalms 51-53; Romans 2

The Teaching of Disillusionment / Oswald Chambers

 

The Teaching of Disillusionment Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. JOHN 2:24-25 Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly. Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone. Bible in One Year: Psalms 51-53; Romans 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him.

Failing to Listen to God / Charles Stanley

 Failing to Listen to God

Genesis 3

Listening to God is not a onetime event. We must continually keep His Word before us, or we'll begin to listen to the wrong voices.

In Genesis 2:16-17, the Lord gave a command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve began to listen to another voice and did not hold firmly to her Creator's words. All that Satan had to do was plant a single doubt about God's integrity and offer Eve one appealing advantage of doing things her own way—and she fell for it. He mentioned wisdom, but using her own reasoning, Eve added two more benefits to the temptation: the fruit is good for food and a delight to the eyes.

The schemes of the Enemy have not changed. He still whispers lies and twists truth to convince us that a) God cannot be trusted and b) His ways are not the best. In every temptation, there is a deception about the character and motive of God, plus an attractive promise of a better way.

The world is filled with voices that vie for our attention and influence our thoughts and actions. Throughout the day, consider the messages that are sent your way through the media and people. Consciously begin to compare them to what Scripture says about God and His ways.

Remembering what God says in the Bible is our safeguard against deception and temptation. Daily devotions won't protect us if they're quickly forgotten during the day. Follow Christ's example: be ready with truth in your mind and on your tongue whenever temptation strikes (Matt. 4:1-11).

Do You Believe God Loves You? / Adrian Rogers

 Do You Believe God Loves You?

John 17:23

Sermon: 1093 – Blessed Assurance

Pray Over This

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

John 17:23

Ponder This

How much does God love you? God loves you as much as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s hard for me to take in. When the Apostle John was speaking about this love he said, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1)! Do you know why John said, “What manner of love”? It seems like he was grasping for an adjective suitable to use. What colossal love, what stupendous love, what … I just can’t even think of a word. He just finally had to say, “what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.” God loves you dear friend, and you are secure in God’s sovereign love.

• How hard is it for you to believe God loves you as a father loves a child?
• What makes this difficult? What helps you believe this?

Practice This

Make a list of various passages that describe the love of God for His people, starting with the two verses in today’s devotion.

Puddles of Sunshine / ODB

Puddles of Sunshine On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Matthew 4:16 READ John 1:1–5 It was a warm summer day and my four-year-old granddaughter Mollie and I were taking a break from playing ball. As we sat on the porch with our glasses of water, Mollie looked out at the yard and said, “Look at the puddles of sunshine.” The sunlight was filtering through the thick foliage to create a pattern of light amid the dark shadows. Puddles of sunshine. Isn’t this a beautiful image for finding hope in dark days? In the midst of what can often be challenging times—when good news seems in short supply—instead of concentrating on the shadows, we can focus on the light. The Light has a name—Jesus. Matthew quoted Isaiah to describe the brightness that came into the world when Jesus arrived: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16; see also Isaiah 9:2). The effects of sin are all around us as we live in the “land of the shadow of death.” But shining through that shadow is Jesus, the grand and glorious light of the world (John 1:4–5). The sunshine of Jesus’ love and compassion breaks through the shadow—giving us “puddles of sunshine” to illuminate our day and brighten our hearts with hope. By Dave Branon What darkness is clouding your day? How can you allow the light of Jesus’ presence and love to bring you joy and hope? Jesus, while we struggle through a world full of trouble, I need Your presence. I need Your uplifting love to take me out of the shadows and help me stand in the light of Your magnificence.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT The first eighteen verses of John, known as the Prologue, are theologically rich and weighty. Verses 1–5 focus on the existence and activity of the Word before His entrance into the world as a human being (v. 14). Verse 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In a very succinct way, John noted that before anything came into being, the Word existed with God and as God. Verses 3–5 shift from the preexistence of the Word to the activity of the Word before the incarnation: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (v. 3). The Word of God (see Genesis 1) is the source of life and light (John 1:4) and is credited with the creation of all things. Arthur Jackson