Bible in One Year: October 31

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 22-23; Titus 1

The Trial of Faith / Oswald Chambers

 

The Trial of Faith If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. MATTHEW 17:20 We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony. Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 22-23; Titus 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.

The Promises of God / Charles Stanley

The Promises of God

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

 

The Christian life rests on a foundation of God's promises for today and for the future. We can trust everything that our heavenly Father has said because His Word shows Him to be...

 

Truthful. The Lord knows what is true and speaks honestly in all matters. We can be assured of this because He is holy; there is no sin in Him. He is also omniscientand understands everything (Heb. 4:12-13). His promises are based on His infinite knowledge and truthfulness.

 

Faithful. Scripture compares the Lord to a shepherd who "gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart" (Isa. 40:11 niv). What He has planned for us, He will bring to fruition (Rom. 8:28). Our heavenly Father does not waver in His intentions or will.

 

Loving. God's love for us was demonstrated at the cross. He sent His Son Jesus to die by crucifixion and thereby take the punishment for our sins. The Savior experienced God's wrath against iniquity so we might know only His love. This is the ultimate proof of His devotion to us.

 

All-powerful. Divine power created the world and raised the Savior back to life, so we know God has the ability to carry out all His plans. Our omnipotent Father can keep every one of His promises.

 

A promise is valuable only if the one making it has trustworthy character and the ability to carry through. Our heavenly Father is truthful, faithful, loving, and all-powerful. We can base our entire life on His promises, secure in the knowledge that He will do just as He has said.

 

God Wants Your Burdens / Adrian Rogers

 God Wants Your Burdens 

Jeremiah 24:7 

Sermon: 1894 Burdens Part 2 

Pray Over This 

“Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” 

Jeremiah 24:7 

Ponder This I read about a man who had a very fine dog. He’d trained the dog quite well, and the dog loved to play in the water. The dog was out in the lake, and the man wanted to go, so he called the dog, but the dog wouldn’t come. He called him several times. He still wouldn’t come. So, the man said, “I know what I’ll do,” and he got a stick, and threw it out in the water. When the dog saw it, he swam over, got the stick, came back, and laid it at his master’s feet. 

It may be that God has given you a burden because He can’t get your attention. It may be that God has given you a burden so that you might come and lay it at your Master’s feet, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). If you are a broken brother, there’s hope for you; a fallen sister, there’s hope. And if you are a spiritual person, there’s a responsibility for you. If your heart is aching and breaking, there’s a Savior who loves you. Cast your burden upon the Lord. He’ll sustain you when you need it most. 

• When has a burden brought you back to remembering your need for God?
• Who do you need to share this hope with?

Practice This 

Write down some of the difficulties you have struggled with and describe how God has worked in those situations.

Opportunities to Shine / ODB

 

Opportunities to Shine Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 READ Matthew 5:13–16 In March 2020, while walking his dog in New York City’s Central Park, Whitney, a retired financial expert, saw trucks, stacks of tarps, and white tents, each bearing a cross and the name of a charity he’d never heard of before. When he discovered the group was building a field hospital for his fellow New Yorkers with COVID-19, he asked if he could help. For weeks, despite differing faiths and politics, he and his family pitched in wherever they could. Whitney stated, “Every single person I’ve met has been a genuinely nice person.” And he applauded the fact that no one was paying them to “help my city in our hour of deep, deep need.” In response to the tremendous needs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, unlikely partners in service were brought together, and believers in Jesus were given new opportunities to share Christ’s light with others. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His followers to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds” (Matthew 5:16). We shine Christ’s light by letting the Spirit guide us in loving, kind, and good words and actions (see Galatians 5:22–23). When we allow the light we’ve received from Jesus to shine clearly in our daily lives, we also “glorify [our] Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). This day and every day may we shine for Christ, as He helps us be salt and light in a world that desperately needs Him. By Alyson Kieda Where do you see an opportunity to share hope and light with others today? When has someone been light to you in a difficult time? Jesus, help me to shine Your light in all I say and do.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT The New Testament uses various metaphors to describe the responsibilities of believers in Jesus. For example, Paul says that as good soldiers of Christ, we’re to endure suffering and to “please [our] commanding officer” (2 Timothy 2:3–5). As athletes, we undergo strict training to compete according to the rules (1 Corinthians 9:25). In Matthew 5:13–16, Jesus used two everyday items—salt and a lamp—to illustrate the impact we can have on the society we live in. Salt is a preservative, a flavor enhancer, and a thirst stimulant. We’re to bring the salt of preservation and joy to a bland, tasteless, and otherwise decaying world. A lamp gives light that enables people to see and to give direction. The lamp must necessarily be placed in a conspicuous position for the light to be effective. We’re to be the light of salvation to a world darkened by sin. K. T. Sim

The right reaction to unfair criticism / Senior Living

The right reaction to unfair criticism

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” - Matthew 5:11

The famous English evangelist George Whitefield learned that it was more important to please God than men. With full confidence that he was honoring the Lord, Whitefield endured scathing letters accusing him of wrongdoing. However, there was one particular letter he felt warranted a response.

His reply was brief and courteous, “I thank you heartily for your letter. As for what you and my other enemies are saying against me, I know worse things about myself than you will ever say about me. With love in Christ, George Whitefield.”

George Whitefield wasn’t concerned about pleasing people or defending himself. He was unapologetically sold out to the cause of Christ and knew he would receive criticism for it.

Serving the Lord wholeheartedly will often lead to criticism. One reason for this is that when people see God using others in a powerful way, they’ll often feel convicted, and perhaps even threatened, about their own relationship with God. This spirit of jealously causes many to react negatively.

So what’s the right reaction? It’s to respond in a loving way to any criticism you receive. Hear it out and be willing to admit if you’re wrong. Handle criticism with a humble and gracious spirit and trust God to bring the truth to light!

Prayer Challenge

Ask God to give you a spirit of grace and humility when dealing with others who criticize you unfairly.

Questions for Thought

Have you even been unfairly criticized for doing what’s right? What happened? How did you respond?

What does a grace-focused and Spirit-led response look like in situations like that? 

The Hope You Need / Chuck Swindoll

 The Hope You Need

by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Hebrews 6:19

Somewhere along the many miles of southern California shoreline walked a young, 20-year-old woman with a terminal disease in her body and a revolver in her hand. 

She had called me late one evening. We talked for a long time. A troubled young woman, her mind was filled with doubts. She had advanced leukemia. The doctors told her she would not live much longer. She checked herself out of a hospital because, as she put it, she "couldn't take another day of that terrible isolation." 

Her husband had left her. 
Her two-month-old daughter had recently died. 
Her best friend had been killed in an auto accident. 
Her life was broken. She'd run out of hope. 

She and I spoke calmly and quietly about what was happening. I did a lot of listening. There were periods when there was silence on the phone for thirty to forty-five seconds. I didn't know where she was. I still don't know her full name. She spoke of taking her husband's revolver and going out on the beach to finish it all. She asked me a lot of questions about suicide. 

In what seemed an inappropriate moment . . . I felt peace, a total absence of panic. I had no fear that she would hang up and take her life. I simply spoke very, very quietly about her future. I made no special promise that she would immediately be healed. I knew that she might not live much longer, as her doctors were talking to her in terms of a very few weeks—perhaps days. I spoke to her about Christ and the hope He could provide. After a sigh and with an ache that was obvious, she hung up. 

Thirty minutes later my phone rang again. It was the same young woman. She had a friend who was a nurse, who used to come to our church. The nurse had given her a New Testament in which she had written my name and phone number and had said, "If you really are in deep need, I think he will understand." By the way, the nurse—her closest friend—was the one who had been killed in the auto accident. She had nothing to cling to from that friendship but memories and this Testament. She read from it. 

I said, "What does that little Book say to you?" 

"Well, I think the first part of it is biography and the last part is a group of letters that explain how to do what's in that biography." (That's a good analysis of the New Testament.) 

I said, "Have you done that?" And she had called back to say, "Yes, I've done that. I decided, Chuck, that I would, without reservation, give myself to Jesus Christ. I'm still afraid; I still have doubts. I still don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but I want you to know that I have turned my life over to Jesus, and I'm trusting Him through this. He has given me new hope . . . the one thing I really needed." 

It's very possible that someone reading these words right now feels the very same way. You're thinking thoughts that you have never entertained before, and you're thinking them more often and more seriously. Without trying to use any of the clichés on you, I would say that this hope Christ can bring is the only way through. I have no answer other than Jesus Christ. I can't promise you healing, nor can I predict that your world will come back right side up. But I can promise you He will receive you as you come in faith to Him. And He will bring back the hope you need so desperately. The good news is this: That hope will not only get you through this particular trial, it will ultimately take you into God's presence when you die because you have received the gift of eternal life through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ your Lord. 

Battle of the Spirit / Billy Graham

 

Battle of the Spirit

When we examine the problems that confront us in our world today, we find that every one of them resolves into a problem of “inner space,” a problem of the dark side of the human spirit. From thousands of letters we receive, it is evident that a large proportion of the population is facing deep personal problems. They vary from person to person, but they do exist, and they are all problems of “inner space.” 

Yes, we are the people who have been conquering outer space, but are in danger of losing the battle of the spirit. But there is a solution—for millions it has already been reached—and that solution is in Jesus Christ. He said, “My peace”—my liberty, my freedom—“I give unto you” (John 14:27). 

Today if we will turn the searchlight of truth on the dark side of our human spirits and let Jesus Christ become the Master Control of our lives, a new day will dawn for us. Submit the “inner space” of your life to Him.

Daily Prayer

How often I hurt deep down inside me, Lord, but the knowledge of Your love and compassion brings me hope and peace.

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wisdom from the Psalms / October 31

 Psalm 130:5

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

 

Elizabeth sat by her nightstand, reading from her Bible. Each night before bed, she read from the Scriptures. She always claimed that the key to a long and happy life was to keep in contact with God. Each night as she turned out the light, Elizabeth smiled to herself. She wondered how much longer she would live, but not with any fear or dread. She knew that her heavenly home was waiting for her, and that thought held only comfort. As she drifted off to sleep, she prayed for God's will to be done, and she knew in her heart that it would be.

 

Prayer: Lord, do Your will in my life. If I live but one more day, help me make it the best day of my life. If I live for years, help me to fill them with peace, joy, contentment, and service. Amen.

A Rare Virtue / Greg Laurie

 A Rare Virtue

“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NLT)

Meekness is a quality that is lacking in many people today. It’s the opposite of being proud and arrogant.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5NKJV).

But what does it mean to be meek? A literal translation of the word is “power under control.” In the original language, it means riding a stallion but having control over it. It isn’t that the stallion no longer has the ability to do what it wants to do, but it has surrendered its will to the rider. That is strength under control.

We once had a German shepherd we adopted from a program that trained guide dogs for the blind. He had some slight hip dysplasia, which prevented him from staying in the program, but he was a very loving, intelligent animal.

One day, I took him to an outdoor mall where a lot of people walked their dogs. My dog was friendly and always approached people, but they moved out of the way. They thought he wanted to attack them, but he probably wanted to lick them. He had been trained since he was a puppy to be a companion.

He still had power. He still had teeth and could inflict harm. But he wasn’t trained to attack. He was in love with the world. That is power under control. That is meekness.

And who is a better example of meekness than Jesus, God in human form, who took the abuse and suffering of the Crucifixion? With one word, He could have wiped everyone out. But He embraced the abuse and suffering for us.

Meekness results from having a correct assessment of one’s self before God. It leads one to approach others in a new way. A blessed, or happy, person will be a meek person.

Out of the Waiting Room / Alistair Begg

 

Out of the Waiting Room

Then [Ruth] came softly and uncovered [Boaz’s] feet 

and lay down. At midnight the man was startled 

and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!

Ruth 3:7-8

The Christian life is not lived in a comfort zone.

In Ruth 3 we find Ruth taking a great risk as she approached Boaz to request that he care for her as his wife. She, a single woman, went in the middle of the night to a barn filled with men after they had finished celebrating the completed harvest. Once Boaz fell asleep, she went to him under the cover of darkness and uncovered his feet. If she had made a mistake or had been discovered, there is no telling what these men would have done to her or what people might have said regarding her motives.

These events look strange to our 21st-century eyes, but Ruth’s unusual actions demonstrate a sincere trust in God’s care and protection. God had laid down in His law that Boaz could act as a kinsman-redeemer—a protector and provider—for Ruth. God had providentially led Ruth to Boaz’s field, where he had extended favor to her. Her story shows us again and again how God providentially rules over all unforseeable circumstances for His glory and the well-being of His people. 

Like Ruth, we will sometimes face occasions in life when we cannot see much beyond our next step. Many of us are tempted to remain in the waiting room until all of the details are seemingly clear and known. We want to feel safe and in control. Yet if we insist on never moving until we do feel like that, our lives will speak little of spiritual progress and witness little of God’s miraculous work. The fear of going in the wrong direction leaves us going nowhere at all. 

When we cannot see beyond our next step or when times of uncertainty come in life—and they willcome!—we have to trust God and act on the basis of the truth of His word and trust in His Spirit’s guidance. Ruth’s plan was not fail-safe and certain, but she proceeded because she trusted God, who had proven His faithfulness to her time and time again. 

Do you need to start thinking this way? Do you need to look above and beyond the borders of your comfort zone to that to which God may be calling you? If Ruth was motivated by trust and obedience, what are you motivated by? What is there about your life right at this moment that speaks of faith? There may be a decision to make, a place to go, a venture to undertake, or a conversation to have about which you don’t know all the implications, and all you can say is “I don’t have a clue how this is going to go, but it’s what God is calling me to do.” In these situations, God’s word calls you to use wisdom and then proceed in faith, step by step, trusting in the one who died for you and who promises to be “with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Entrust your life not to the safety of your comfort zone but to the guidance of His providential hand.

Ruth 3

In My Fallen State / Spurgeon

 

In My Fallen State

It was I who knew you in the wilderness, 

in the land of drought.

Hosea 13:5

Yes, Lord, You did indeed know me in my fallen state, and You did even then choose me for Yourself. When I was loathsome and self-abhorred, You received me as Your child, and You satisfied my longings. Blessed forever be Your name for this free, rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my inward experience has often been a wilderness; but You have kept me still as Your beloved and poured streams of love and grace into me to gladden me and make me fruitful. When my outward circumstances have been at the worst, and I have wandered in a land of drought, Your sweet presence has comforted me. Men have ignored me, and I have been scorned; but You have known my soul in adversities, for no affliction dims the luster of Your love. Most gracious Lord, I magnify You for all Your faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I deplore the fact that I have at times forgotten You and been proud of heart when I have owed everything to Your gentleness and love. Have mercy upon Your servant in this matter!

My soul, if Jesus acknowledged you in your lowly condition, be sure that you own both Himself and His cause now that you are in prosperity. Do not be puffed up by worldly successes, and do not be ashamed of the truth or of the poor church with which you have been associated. Follow Jesus into the wilderness: Bear the cross with Him when the persecution heats up. He owned you, O my soul, in your poverty and shame—never be so treacherous as to be ashamed of Him. Let me know more shame at the thought of being ashamed of my best Beloved! Jesus, my soul cleaves to You.

I'll turn to Thee in days of light,
As well as nights of care,
Thou brightest amid all that's bright!
Thou fairest of the fair!

Daily Blessings / October 31

 Daily Blessings

“By grace you are saved.” - Eph 2:5

Oh! the volumes of blessed truth that are couched in these few words; thrown in out of the Apostle’s full heart as if to give a moment’s vent to his love of salvation by grace! Mercy, love, and grace are all in the bosom of God toward his saints; and yet they differ from each other. But how? Mercy regards the criminal; love regards the object; grace, perhaps, is a blending of the two—the union of mercy and love. God loves the holy unfallen angels; there is an object of love in which there is no mixture of mercy; for having never sinned, mercy they do not need. Again, God showed no mercy to the fallen angels; there we have justice and wrath, without mercy; but in the case of the saints of God, the election of grace, we have not only mercy and love, but we have the joint attribute, that uniting mercy and love in one stream flows onward to the Church, as the river of the water of life; the pure crystal river of grace.

Grace means, as you well know, the pure favor of God, and, as such, is sovereign, distinguishing, free, and super-abounding. Every attribute of Jehovah is distinct, and yet so blended that the whole shine forth in one glorious effulgence. The rays of the sun united form one complete body of pure, bright light; but the prism or the rainbow separates these rays into distinct colors. So the attributes of God are not confused though blended, and all shine forth in one pure bright glory. But this is the peculiar character of grace, that any intermixture of worth or worthiness in the object would destroy it. For if the gospel require merit, we are damned by it as inevitably as by the law. This Luther felt when, racked and torn by the words “the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,” he cried out in the agony of his soul, “What! am I damned not only by the law, but damned by the gospel also!”

This pure, free, unadulterated grace is the joy of every soul that is able to receive it; for it comes as a blessed cordial when sinking and swooning under a sight and sense of the deserved wrath of God. When, then, the pure gospel of the grace of God comes as a cordial from the Most High, it lifts up his drooping head, revives his sinking soul, and pours oil and wine into his bleeding wounds. By this grace we are justified, pardoned, accepted, sanctified, and saved with an everlasting salvation. Oh! glad tidings to perishing sinners! Oh! blessed news to those who are sinking under a sense of guilt and misery, in whom the law of God is discharging its dreadful curse!

When we get a view by faith, and a sweet taste of the pure grace of God, what a balm, what a cordial, what a sweet reviving draught it is. It is this which makes us prize so highly, and exalt so gladly the free grace of God; because it is so pure, so free, and so super-abounding over all the aboundings of sin, guilt, filth, and folly. It never can be laid down too clearly, it never can be too much insisted on that “by grace,” and grace alone, “you are saved.” If free grace has reached your soul, it has saved your soul; if free grace has come into your heart, it has blessed you with an everlasting salvation, and you will live to prove it, when your happy soul joins the throng of the blessed.

If anything can lift up a drooping sinner, restore a backslider, break a hard, or soften a stony heart; draw forth songs of praise, and tears of contrition; produce repentance and godly sorrow for sin; a humble mind and a tender conscience; it is a sweet experience of the super-abounding grace of God. Can we then exalt it too much? Can we prize it too highly? Can we cleave to it too closely? No; in proportion as we feel our ruin and misery, we shall cleave to it with every desire of our soul; for it is all our salvation, as it is all our desire.

What Cannot Be Uttered / Streams

What Cannot Be Uttered

Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God - Rom 8:26-27

This is the deep mystery of prayer. This is the delicate divine mechanism which words cannot interpret, and which theology cannot explain, but which the humblest believer knows even when he does not understand.

Oh, the burdens that we love to bear and cannot understand! Oh, the inarticulate out-reachings of our hearts for things we cannot comprehend! And yet we know they are an echo from the throne and a whisper from the heart of God. It is often a groan rather than a song, a burden rather than a buoyant wing. But it is a blessed burden, and it is a groan whose undertone is praise and unutterable joy. It is “a groaning which cannot be uttered.” We could not ourselves express it always, and sometimes we do not understand any more than that God is praying in us, for something that needs His touch and that He understands.

And so we can just pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is imperfect, ignorant and wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great High Priest, before the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted and answered in His name. —A. B. Simpson

It is not necessary to be always speaking to God or always hearing from God, to have communion with Him; there is an inarticulate fellowship more sweet than words. The little child can sit all day long beside its busy mother and, although few words are spoken on either side, and both are busy, the one at his absorbing play, the other at her engrossing work, yet both are in perfect fellowship. He knows that she is there, and she knows that he is all right. So the saint and the Saviour can go on for hours in the silent fellowship of love, and he be busy about the most common things, and yet conscious that every little thing he does is touched with the complexion of His presence, and the sense of His approval and blessing.

And then, when pressed with burdens and troubles too complicated to put into words and too mysterious to tell or understand, how sweet it is to fall back into His blessed arms, and just sob out the sorrow that we cannot speak! —Selected 

Bible in One Year: October 30

 Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 20-21; 2 Timothy 4

Faith / Oswald Chambers

 

Faith Without faith it is impossible to please Him… HEBREWS 11:6 Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28 ) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children. For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 20-21; 2 Timothy 4

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6).

Sunday Reflection: Be Brave, Be Loved / Charles Stanley

 

Sunday Reflection: Be Brave, Be Loved

Healing is possible after we have been hurt by others.

This month, we explored what it means to be members of a community—along with the blessings and requirements that come with such involvement. God made us to serve and live alongside one another, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Nor does it mean we’ll avoid getting hurt along the way. At some point, we’re likely to fail each other.

When that happens, we might find it helpful to limit—for a time—the people we allow into our life. Doing so can help us recover from past pain and find a way forward, but we can’t remain in that state forever. The Lord calls us to love and forgive one another, just as He has done with us (Ephesians 4:32). 

If we can give ourselves to this process, we’ll eventually be willing to take risks again—to open up and share our true self. That can be scary at times, but when we choose to be vulnerable, we experience the deeper, more fulfilling relationships God wants us to enjoy.

Think about it

• If you’ve been hurt in the past, ask a trusted friend to help you process what happened. If you have hurt another person, be brave and offer him or her an honest apology. Both actions can bring about great healing and joy.