Verse of the Day / October 31

 Quiet Time...

"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; 

and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

Romans 10:10 KJV 

*****

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.

Do You Have a Negative View of God? / Adrian Rogers

 Do You Have a Negative View of God?

Genesis 2:8-9
Sermon: 1649 Overcoming Satanic Deception

Pray Over This

“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:8-9

Ponder This

Many think of belonging to the Lord as taking bad medicine to get well. The idea of serving God is painful to them. The idea of being a Christian is negative; it's something you endure. They believe God is a cosmic killjoy. If that is you, you better get that negative idea of God out of your heart and mind. God is not some sort of a cruel, vengeful deity, sitting upon a throne somewhere hurling down thunderbolts of wrath.

The truth is, if Satan can get you to think negatively about God, he has you. Can you imagine the glories of the Garden of Eden? Can you imagine how beautiful Eden must have been? Not so long ago I was at Butchart Gardens in Canada. Those gardens are indescribably beautiful. As you walk through, you wonder what the Garden of Eden must have been like. God, with a smile on His face, said, “Adam and Eve, I made that for you. Help yourself.” But there was one tree that God said, “Don't eat of it.” That wasn't a threat; it was a warning. Every time God says, “Thou shalt not,” He's saying, “Don't hurt yourself.” And every time God says, “Thou shalt,” He's saying, “Help yourself to abundant life.” God loves you. Life with Him is good because you are with Him. The devil doesn't want you to know that.

• When have you had a negative view of God? How did that impact your relationship with Him?
• What helps you see the goodness of God?

Practice This

Write down all the reasons God is good. Remind yourself of His character traits and praise Him for those qualities.

Under God’s Wings / ODB

 

Under God’s Wings I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Psalm 61:4 READ Psalm 61  There are several Canada goose families with baby geese at the pond near our apartment complex. The little goslings are so fluffy and cute; it’s hard not to watch them when I go for a walk or run around the pond. But I’ve learned to avoid eye contact and give the geese a wide berth—otherwise, I risk a protective goose parent suspecting a threat and hissing and chasing me! The image of a bird protecting her young is one that Scripture uses to describe God’s tender, protective love for His children (Psalm 91:4). In Psalm 61, David seems to be struggling to experience God’s care in this way. He’d experienced God as his “refuge, a strong tower” (v. 3), but now he called desperately “from the ends of the earth,” pleading, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (v. 2). He longed to once more “take refuge in the shelter of [God’s] wings” (v. 4). And in bringing his pain and longing for healing to God, David took comfort in knowing that He’d heard him (v. 5). Because of God’s faithfulness, he knew he would “ever sing in praise of [His] name” (v. 8). Like the psalmist, when we feel distant from God’s love, we can run back to His arms to be assured that even in our pain, He’s with us, protecting and caring for us as fiercely as a mother bird guards her young. By Monica La Rose How does it encourage you to remember God’s protective care for you? How have you experienced His care? Dear God, thank You for Your fierce, protective love for me. Help me to rest securely in Your tender care.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT In Psalm 61, David describes his longing for God’s presence with metaphors of a “rock that is higher than I” (v. 2), a “refuge” or “strong tower” (v. 3), a “tent” and “the shelter of [God’s] wings” (v. 4). The combined reference to God’s “tent” and the “shelter of [His] wings” may allude to the cherubim wings on the tabernacle (Exodus 25:20). During God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt, He gave instructions for the building of a tabernacle through which He’d dwell with His people in a powerful and tangible way (v. 8). Later, the temple, modeled after the tabernacle, would become the centralized place to experience His presence. It also contained sculpted cherubim with wings in the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6:23–27). Today, believers in Jesus experience God’s presence through His Spirit who dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:16). Monica La Rose

The Brilliance of God / David Jeremiah

 

The Brilliance of God And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Revelation 4:3 Solomon and Jesus Christ, the world’s two greatest teachers, used a figure of speech called the simile: the comparison of two unlike things by use of the words “like” or “as” (Proverbs 26:2; Matthew 13:45).

Recommended Reading: Revelation 4:1-11

The apostle John also used the simile with great effect in Revelation. Because he saw so many sights in his vision that he couldn’t describe, he continually used “like” to paint a picture his readers could understand: “The first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking” (Revelation 4:1). When John saw God in His glory seated upon His throne, all he could write was that He was “like a jasper and a sardius stone.” And the rainbow circling His throne was “like an emerald.” The reflected brilliance of the “unapproachable light” in which God dwells (1 Timothy 6:16) can only be pictured by the brilliance of beautiful and precious stones. The next time your eye is caught by the light of a precious stone, let your heart be caught by the glory of God.   Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory. Jonathan Edwards

Will We Be Ready? / Greg Laurie

 Will We Be Ready?

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. (1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 NLT)

God can see the future with complete certainty. He knows it as well as we might know our past. God looks at the future, the past, and the present as one. He can see them all.

Therefore, it is no reach for God to say that something will happen exactly as He predicted it would, because He lives in the supernatural realm.

In my understanding of Bible prophecy, Jesus could come back at any time. I do not see any piece in the prophetic puzzle that needs to be put in place before He could come for His church.

This means that Christ could come for us today. Hebrews 9:28 tells us, “He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him” (nlt). The question is, will we be ready?

The Rapture will be an instantaneous event. That is why, in speaking of Christ’s return, the Bible tells us to be ready. It tells us to be alert. Be watching. Pay attention. We must be ready now.

Writing about the return of Christ, Paul warned, “So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 NLT).

The Bible tells Christians to wake up. Don’t be asleep in the light. That’s because a lot of us can simply lie around enjoying a prolonged nap while the rest of the world faces an imminent judgment. Yet God is saying, “You need to wake up. Be alert and live in the light. Put on the armor of faith and love.”

We are living in the last days, and it will get tough at times. We had better have our spiritual weapons ready and close by. We had better realize the devil will try to trip us up and bring us down.

Tragically, one of the signs of the last days is that some will fall away from the faith (see 1 Timothy 4:1). Don’t let that cause you to worry, because God will keep you if you want to be kept. He will protect you. But you have to take practical steps to be protected.

So, stay close to Him. Avoid the pitfalls and the things that can drag you down, and be alert. Be awake. Be on guard. And be available to serve the Lord and share the life-changing message of the gospel with others.

Jesus said, “We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5 NLT).

Wake up from spiritual lethargy, laziness, and apathy. Wake up to the urgency of the hour. We must seize the opportunities God gives us, because they won’t be around forever.

Fixing What’s Wrong / Ann Graham Lotz

 Fixing What’s Wrong

By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible, and invisible.

Colossian 1:16, nkjv

It can be mind boggling to contemplate the vastness of the universe, from the greatest star to the smallest particle. It is so vast that astronomers are now saying that it stretches beyond what we are capable of penetrating, even with sophisticated telescopes like the Hubble. And every bit of it was created by the Living Word of God, Who, even as He hung the stars in space, counted them and called them each by name!

Not only did He create objects of massive size, but He also created such minute, delicate, intricate things as snowflakes, no two of which are the same.

Jesus Christ is the One by Whom, for Whom, through Whom everything was made. Therefore, He knows what’s wrong in your life and how to  fix it. Let Him take charge. Give Him the authority to put it right.

God is Wooing You / Max Lucado

 

God is Wooing You

Click below to listen to today's devotional

GOD IS WOOING YOU

In 1890 Francis Thompson, a Roman Catholic poet, described God as “The Hound of Heaven.” He wrote:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him,…”

Thompson speaks of Jesus as “this tremendous Lover” who pursues us “with un-hurrying chase, an unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, and majestic instancy.”

Would you open your heart to this possibility? God is wooing you, pursuing you, romancing you. Refuse him if you wish. Ignore him if you desire. But he will not give up. Did he not promise to lead you home? And has he ever broken a promise? Not on your life.

This is the message of God, the aggressive promise of grace. Trust it.

Verse of the Day / October 30

 Quiet Time...

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, 

the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 

fainteth not, neither is weary? 

there is no searching of His understanding." 

Isaiah 40:28 KJV

*****

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).

The Nature of Conviction / Charles Stanley

 The Nature of Conviction

John 16:7-11

 

Jesus assured His disciples that it was to their advantage that He go away so that the Helper could come (John 16:7)--God sends Him to convict people of their sin. Since the Holy Spirit is unlimited by time or space, He can reach out to every individual on the planet. However, His work differs with regard to believers and unbelievers.

 

With regard to unbelievers, God's Spirit penetrates the heart and brings awareness of wrongdoing. He reveals that according to God's holy standard, they have sinned and stand condemned by their transgression. Unbelief is the greatest sin against God, so every prick of the heart is meant to point out their need for the Savior.

 

As for believers, the Holy Spirit deals with them on the basis of their relationship with Jesus Christ and convicts us of disobedience to Him. In other words, He makes us aware of specific sins and the Lord's attitude about them. But He also prompts us to be accountable before Christ for our wrongdoing by confessing it and repenting.

 

Convicting believers of sin is an important part of the Holy Spirit's job, but He is equally delighted to make them aware of the Lord's approval. God commends righteous living, obedient actions, and loving acts done in His name.

 

While conviction is often uncomfortable for unbelievers and believers alike, it's a beautiful demonstration of God's love. He desires to bring us into the center of His will and keep us there for our good and His glory. The Holy Spirit's work makes that possible, if we choose to follow His promptings.

Smartphone Compassion / ODB

 

Smartphone Compassion The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6 READ Exodus 34:1–8 Was the driver late with your food? You can use your phone to give him a one-star rating. Did the shopkeeper treat you curtly? You can write her a critical review. While smartphones enable us to shop, keep up with friends, and more, they have also given us the power to publicly rate each other. And this can be a problem. Rating each other this way is problematic because judgments can be made without context. The driver gets rated poorly for a late delivery due to circumstances out of his control. The shopkeeper gets a negative review when she’d been up all night with a sick child. How can we avoid rating others unfairly like this? By imitating God’s character. In Exodus 34:6–7, God describes Himself as “compassionate and gracious”—meaning He wouldn’t judge our failures without context; “slow to anger”—meaning He wouldn’t post a negative review after one bad experience; “abounding in love”—meaning His correctives are for our good, not to get revenge; and “forgiving [of] sin”—meaning our lives don’t have to be defined by our one-star days. Since God’s character is to be the basis of ours (Matthew 6:33), we can avoid the harshness smartphones enable by using ours as He would. In the online age, we can all rate others harshly. May the Holy Spirit empower us to bring a little compassion today. By Sheridan Voysey How can you show more compassion to others? What characteristic of God do you most need to imitate when online? Holy Spirit, please grow the fruit of godly character in me today, especially when I’m online.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT God’s revelation of Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6–7 takes place soon after the rebellion of His people through worshiping a golden calf, an act which so angered Moses that he broke the tablets containing God’s law (32:19). Chapters 33–34 describe a gradual process of restoring God’s rebellion-prone people. In chapter 33, after threatening not to accompany the people to the promised land (vv. 3–5), He promises once more to be faithful to them despite their sin (vv. 14, 17). Not only that, but He promises to reveal His character to Moses once more (v. 19) and to restore the tablets of the law that Moses broke (34:1). Despite their sin, God’s people would have a future because of who He is—“compassionate and gracious,” “slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (vv. 6–7). Monica La Rose

Are Any Rooms in Your Heart Off-Limits to God? / Adrien Rogers

 Are Any Rooms in Your Heart Off-Limits to God?

Ephesians 5:17-21
Sermon: 1213 How to Break Satan's Strongholds in Your Life

Pray Over This

“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
Ephesians 5:17-21

Ponder This

Be filled with the Spirit. There’s no place for the devil when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not some sort of a liquid with you as the jug, that’s not the idea. To be filled with the Spirit of God means there’s not one room in your life where God is off-limits. There’s not one closet He doesn’t have a key to. You are filled with the Spirit in your sex life, in your business life, in your political life, in your church life, in your social life, in the big things and the little things, in your money, in your exercise, in your sleep, in your eating, in your lying down, in your waking up. This is the heart we need to have: “Jesus, I give you the keys to it all; I am filled with Your Spirit.” When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit there’s no more room for Satan.

If there’s room for Satan, the Spirit is grieved, and you are not filled with the Spirit. Don’t try to repent until you’re honest and face your sin, don’t try to resist until you’ve repented, and don’t try to be filled until you resist Satan and yield to God’s blessed Holy Spirit.

• What areas of life have you submitted to God’s authority?
• In what areas of life have you struggled to give God authority? What needs to change?

Practice This

Pray and surrender to God the areas of life over which you have not given Him full control.

Exaggeration / David Jeremiah

 

Exaggeration Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21:1 In 1897, the obituary of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was published in a New York newspaper. The only problem was that Mark Twain was very much alive! He cleared up the confusion in a note written in May of that year: “James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

Recommended Reading: Revelation 21:14-27

Sometimes an exaggeration doesn’t tell the whole story. That happened when the queen of Sheba heard what she considered to be outlandish reports of King Solomon’s glory in Jerusalem. When she visited the king, however, she found that Solomon’s kingdom exceeded what she had been told (1 Kings 10). Some people think what the Bible says about the new heavens and new earth is an exaggeration (for example, the lavish ornamentation described in Revelation 21:18-21). You may think God is exaggerating at times (Ephesians 3:20), but He’s not. Heaven will be like nothing you’ve ever seen. There are no exaggerations in heaven, only truth beyond our earthly ability to comprehend.   Scripture repeatedly makes clear that heaven is a realm of unsurpassed joy, unfading glory, undiminished bliss, unlimited delights, and unending pleasures. John MacArthur

The Great Cry of Humanity / Greg Laurie

 The Great Cry of Humanity

When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3 NLT)

Everyone wants peace today, and in some cases, they want peace more than they want justice. They want peace more than they want what is right. They just want peace and safety.

It’s the great cry of humanity that we hear so much about today. There is talk about the global family and how the world is one, big village. The assertion is that we all just need to learn to get along and set aside our differences.

It seems as though the only thing lacking now is a charismatic leader to tell us what to do next. With the incredible advances in technology and the ability to communicate globally in an instant, the world is just waiting for that leader. And that leader is coming.

Some will think he is the Messiah, but he won’t be. He will be the Antichrist.

The prefix anti- not only means “against”; it also means “instead of.” And when this world leader emerges on the scene, he will be a false messiah, the devil’s version of the real thing.

Many people will follow him because he will temporarily usher in a three-and-a-half-year reign of global peace, something no one else has been able to do. He will bring about an end, temporarily, to the conflict in Israel as he helps them build their temple in Jerusalem.

Yet those who believe we can get along as one global family and live together in peace are those who believe humanity is essentially good. And they are not dealing with reality.

That is why the Bible tells us to be sober. In 1 Peter 5:8 we read, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (NLT).

And writing to the believers in Ephesus, the apostle Paul said, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:15-16 NLT).

Nonbelievers claim that Christians are not realists, that we’re living in an altered state of reality. But we are realists, more than anyone else today. A Christian is someone who simply believes what the Bible is saying. And the Bible tells us that humanity is not basically good; it’s wicked.

That explains a lot of the horrid, perverse, and unthinkable things that people do today. When the Bible says that at the core, our hearts are “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9), everything makes sense.

On the other hand, if someone believes that we are all essentially good, that is hard to explain.

Not only are Christians realistic about our problems, but we’re also realistic about the solution. We know that government will not solve our problems and there is no system on earth that can solve the social ills of today.

We know the only real hope is a change in the human heart. And the only One who can change a human heart is God.