Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Throne of Grace by Charles Stanley

Almighty God is righteous and just. Romans 3:23 tells us that all people have sinned and are inadequate to be in His presence. As a result of His wrath against sin, we were doomed to eternal separation from Him.

But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. In His love and mercy, God sent His Son to walk among us. Jesus experienced the hardship and temptation common to all people, yet He never sinned. The Savior chose to die a gruesome death in our place, paying the penalty for our wrongs.

There is no deeper love, Scripture tells us, than a man who gives up his life for a friend (John 15:13). Jesus went further—dying for us while we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10). In fact, He would have sacrificed Himself even if you were the only person ever to exist.

Promising forgiveness and eternal life, Christ asks sinful man to believe and follow Him. When we trust in Jesus, we are adopted as God’s children and receive His indwelling Spirit, who blesses abundantly with joy, peace, and guidance. Always welcome before the throne of grace, believers have access to converse with the Father at any time. He promises to hear and respond to our seeking, repentant hearts. And Jesus intercedes for us, praying on our behalf.

We don’t deserve the Lord’s invitation to have an intimate relationship with Him. Yet in His grace, He’s loving and compassionate toward us. What a privilege to be able to approach the King’s throne, knowing He listens, understands, and cares. Rest in God’s love, and enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.

January 2 - Greater Intimacy

SHOW THE WAY

Appalled by the rising illiteracy rate in the United States, the government decided to launch a campaign to get people to read. One of the brainstorms of the official campaign was to place a sign on all the buses of San Francisco: "Illiterate? Write today for free help." Needless to say, the campaign did not improve matters much because those who needed help could not read the sign!

God understood from the beginning that posting signs for spiritual illiterates will not suffice. Therefore, he planned to send His own Son into the world to show men how to live. Christ then died and rose again so men could be free from the power of sin and death. No other way would work. Earthlings simply could not read and understand the signs of the Law or the prophets. They had to be shown. So Christ came.

Looking at the earthly life of our Lord, we learn so much about how to live. We learn one of the most powerful lessons from the way He handled temptation. Satan attacked Him when He was weak and hungry. Yet Christ rebuffed the attacks of Satan by skillful use of God's eternal Word. Against such testimony, Satan does not have a chance. Let us begin to look closely at every situation in the life of our Lord and learn how we, too, are to act and react.

Read Matthew 4:11

Praying Through God's Name - Jehovah El Gemuwal

Jehovah El Gemuwal

Meaning:
The LORD God of recompense.

Prayer: Confession
Jehovah El Gemuwal forgive me for when I try to take my own revenge. Forgive me for when I fear that you won’t. Forgive me for those times when I am angry and fearful because I am being bullied or wronged, and I forget to trust in your great name Jehovah El Gemuwal. You see all. You know all. You leave no stone unturned. I don’t need to go and tell everyone else when I am wronged, rather I only need to look to you because you will repay. You will not be mocked. Forgive me for forgetting this far too often. In Christ’s name, amen.

“Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the Lord God of recompences shall surely requite.”

Jeremiah‬ ‭51:56‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Starting from a Secure Position by Adrian Rogers

JANUARY 2

Starting from a Secure Position

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you are not saved, your first step in this new year must be giving your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I had a thousand lives to live, I’d give Him every one of them. I really would.

I came to Jesus Christ as a teen. If I had understood it sooner, I would have come sooner. I don’t care how young you are or how old you are, if you are reading this, you can be saved. I don’t care how good you are or how bad you are, there’s no one so good they don’t need to be saved and no one so bad they can’t be saved.

The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t mean mere intellectual belief or just accepting some facts about Him. It means trust. You can believe an airplane can fly; you don’t trust it until you get on it. Come to Jesus and I promise you, on the authority of the Word of God, He will save you instantly. He will be with you continually. He will keep your eternally.

ACTION POINT:

Commit your life to Jesus. Believe on Him. Trust Him and a transformation will take place. He will save you. He will satisfy you. He will secure you if you trust Him.

Becoming What You Are by John MacArthur

Becoming What You Are

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1).

The Christian life is simply becoming what Christ has already made you.

Suppose immediately after you were saved, the Lord stamped your forehead with the words, “Watch me. I’m a child of God.” How would that affect your lifestyle?

We may not have a physical mark like that, but we do bear the name of Christ in this world. When we first put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we became part of His family (Gal. 4:1-7). He “freely bestowed” His grace on us (Eph. 1:6). He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3). And we have a rich, glorious inheritance in heaven (1:18). As God’s children, we indeed have many rights, honors, and privileges, but He expects us to behave like His children. Just as a child honors his father by obeying him, we honor God by walking worthy of Him. Our actions must be actions He would approve. Our desires must be His desires. Our goals and objectives must be His goals and objectives.

One of my seminary professors once told me that the whole Christian life is simply becoming what you are. Because you are a child of God, you need to act like a child of God. In fact, the root of the Greek word translated “worthy” in Ephesians 4:1 speaks of equalization and balance. There ought to be perfect harmony between who you are and how you live. We lapse in our commitment to Christ when we fail to live that way.

Remember, though, that our obedience to God must not be a conformity to rules and regulations out of fear or legalistic pride. It is instead a conformity to righteousness out of gratitude and a deep love for Christ. Our desire to be worthy children is a result of understanding and appreciating all He has done for us.

Philippians 1:27 says, “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” In other words, match your conduct to the gospel. The exalted reality of the gospel demands an exalted lifestyle.

Suggestions for Prayer

Ask the Lord to help you act like His child.

For Further Study

Read 1 John 2:6. Christ is our supreme example of the worthy walk.

Find examples in the Gospels where He demonstrates His commitment to the Father.
How can you follow His example today?

January 2 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst (Ezekiel 41:7).

Still upward be thine onward course:
For this I pray today;
Still upward as the years go by,
And seasons pass away.
Still upward in this coming year,
Thy path is all untried;
Still upward may'st thou journey on,
Close by thy Saviors side.
Still upward e'en though sorrow come,
And trials crush thine heart;
Still upward may they draw thy soul,
With Christ to walk apart.
Still upward till the day shall break,
And shadows all have flown;
Still upward till in Heaven you wake,
And stand before the throne.

We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun. Tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!
--Spurgeon

I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I'll pray, till heaven I've found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground!

Not many of us are living at our best. We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills. We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence, what glory awaits us if only we had courage for the mountain climb, what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God.
--J. R. M

Too low they build who build beneath the stars.

Always There by David Jeremiah

Tuesday, January 2

Always There

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Matthew 1:23

Almost forty years ago, a well-known credit card company popularized their slogan: “Don’t Leave Home Without It.” The company wanted consumers never to be without their credit card. Today, without a slogan, the smartphone has become the indispensable extension of human life and activity. Most people rarely (never?) leave home without their phone. And yet even the phone is not immune to forgetfulness or to being lost. It is possible to go through a day without our phone.

Pressing On / Our Daily Bread

Pressing On

January 2, 2018

Read: Philippians 3:7–14
Bible in a Year: Genesis 4–6; Matthew 2

I press on toward the goal to win the prize.—Philippians 3:14

As I walked past an outside wall of the office building where I work, I was amazed to see a beautiful flower growing up through a crack between concrete slabs covering the ground. Despite its deprived circumstance, the plant had found a foothold, rooted itself in the dry crevice, and was flourishing. Later, I noticed that an air-conditioning unit located directly above the plant dropped water on it throughout the day. While its surroundings were hostile, the plant received the help it needed from the water above.

Growing in the Christian life can sometimes be difficult, but when we persevere with Christ, barriers are surmountable. Our circumstances may be unfavorable and discouragement may seem like an obstacle. Yet if we press on in our relationship with the Lord, we can flourish like that lone plant. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. Despite the severe hardships and challenges he faced (2 Corinthians 11:23-27), he wouldn’t give up. “I . . . take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me,” he wrote. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3:12, 14).

Paul realized he could do all things through the Lord who strengthened him (4:13), and so can we as we press on with the help of One who gives us strength. —Lawrence Darmani

This is a day that You have made, Father. Thank You that You’ll be near me in whatever I face today.

God provides the strength we need to persevere and grow.

INSIGHT: Today’s reading contains the most personal statement Paul makes in his letters. In the preceding verses (vv. 4-6), he unpacks his Jewish heritage, religious training, and great zeal for Judaism. The startling candor comes in verse 8 when, reflecting on what had defined his life prior to encountering Christ on the Damascus Road, he writes, “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Garbage—that’s strong! All the things that had driven him to persecute and kill were now counted worthless compared to the value of Christ. This speaks to the extraordinary value of relationship and rescue over religion and ritual. And that relationship with God through Christ is the strength that fuels our hearts in all the seasons of life—whether good or bad.

For more, check out the Discovery Series booklet Following Jesus: Relationship or Religion? at discoveryseries.org/q0215. Bill Crowder

Monday, January 1, 2018

Let Us Keep to the Point by Oswald Chambers

Let Us Keep to the Point

"…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." PHILIPPIANS 1:20

My Utmost for His Highest. “…my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed….” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably. From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

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.

from The Place of Help, 1005 R

January 1 / Adrian Rogers

“...for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews 13:5-6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I heard of some men years ago who were on a leaky old ship in the middle of a rough and stormy sea, fearful for their lives. They didn't know whether they were going to sink or not. So one of them went to see the captain and said, "Captain, are we safe?" He answered, "Well, I'll put it to you this way. The boilers on this ship are very weak and may explode at any moment. Also, the ship is very old and she's taking on water. To be honest with you, we may have an explosion or we may sink. “We may go up or we may go down. But,” he continued, “at any rate, we’re going on.”

And that's the way we are, as we face this new year. Jesus may come--we may go up. We may die--we’ll go down and then go up. But at any rate, we’re going on...even though we don't know what it's going to bring.

ACTION POINT:

Face this new year by squaring your shoulders, lifting your head, and saying “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear.” The greatest thing you could do to begin, if you have not done it yet, would be to give your heart to Jesus Christ. This would be the beginning of a brand new life. This can be the first day of an eternal life. Are you willing to openly and publicly acknowledge Christ as your personal Savior?

January 1 / Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

The land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. (Deuteronomy 11:11-12)

Today, dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes shall come, what new needs shall arise? But here is the cheering, comforting, gladdening message from our Heavenly Father, "The Lord thy God careth for it."

All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, "the streams whereof make glad the city of God."

The land is a land of hills and valleys. It is not all smooth nor all down hill. If life were all one dead level the dull sameness would oppress us; we want the hills and the valleys. The hills collect the rain for a hundred fruitful valleys. Ah, so it is grace and brings down the shower of blessing; the hills, the bleak hills of life that we wonder at and perhaps grumble at, bring down showers. How many have perished in the wilderness, buried under its golden sands, who would have lived and thriven in the hill-country; how many would have been killed by the frost, blighted with winds, swept desolate of tree and fruit but for the hill- stern, hard, rugged, so steep to climb. God's hills are a gracious protection for His people against their foes!

We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!

He leads us on by paths we did not know;
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow,
Though oft we faint and falter on the way,
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day;
Yet when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.
He leads us on through all the unquiet years;
Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts and fears,
He guides our steps, through all the tangled maze
Of losses, sorrows, and o’er clouded days;
We know His will is done;
And still He leads us on.
--Nicholaus Ludwig Zinzendorf

Commitment to God's Standards by John MacArthur

Commitment to God's Standards

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1).

Just as organizations have rules their members must follow, God has standards Christians must live by.

When someone is part of a group, he or she is obligated to follow its laws or standards. American citizens are required to obey the laws of the United States. Employees must conform to the rules of their company. Athletic teams are expected to listen to their coach.

Most of us want to be part of a group because with belonging comes acceptance. This desire to conform can be quite strong, sometimes dangerously so. During Jesus’ time, “many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42-43). Those rulers were so committed to their religious system that they damned their souls by rigidly adhering to its code.

Some people think belonging to the church is different though. They want the blessings, rights, and privileges of being a child of God, but they’re unwilling to conform to biblical standards. But God expects Christians to live a certain way. Paul told the Corinthian believers to remove from their midst all who live immorally (1 Cor. 5:1-2). In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 he says, “Keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”

Since people can join athletic teams and businesses and follow the rules, since people can be so fearful of being cast out of their society that they forfeit their souls, since people can be so devoted to things that don’t matter, shouldn’t Christians make an even greater commitment to what matters most? In Ephesians 4:1-6 Paul tells us how we can “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” (v. 1). Let’s commit ourselves to obey God as we learn what He requires of us.

Suggestions for Prayer

Ask God to show you areas where your commitment to Him is lacking, and for help in strengthening those areas.

For Further Study

Read John 9.

What were the parents of the man born blind most committed to?
What effect did that commitment have on them?

If I Believed Like That by David Jeremiah

Monday, January 1

If I Believed Like That

But the end of all things is at hand.

1 Peter 4:7

When D. L. Moody preached in Brooklyn in 1875, thousands were converted. Pastor Henry Ward Beecher struggled to understand this phenomenon until he met Moody personally. “I saw the secret of his working and plans,” wrote Beecher. “He is a believer in the second advent of Christ, and in our own time…. He thinks that Christ may come even to-morrow.”

Beginning Again / Our Daily Bread

Beginning Again

January 1, 2018

Read: Ezra 1:1–11
Bible in a Year: Genesis 1–3; Matthew 1

Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.—Ezra 1:5

After Christmas festivities conclude at the end of December, my thoughts often turn to the coming year. While my children are out of school and our daily rhythms are slow, I reflect on where the last year has brought me and where I hope the next will take me. Those reflections sometimes come with pain and regret over the mistakes I’ve made. Yet the prospect of starting a new year fills me with hope and expectancy. I feel I have the opportunity to begin again with a fresh start, no matter what the last year held.

My anticipation of a fresh start pales in comparison to the sense of hope the Israelites must have felt when Cyrus, the king of Persia, released them to return to their homeland in Judah after seventy long years of captivity in Babylon. The previous king, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the Israelites from their homeland. But the Lord prompted Cyrus to send the captives home to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple (Ezra 1:2–3). Cyrus also returned to them treasures that had been taken from the temple. Their lives as God’s chosen people, in the land God had appointed to them, began afresh after a long season of hardship in Babylon as a consequence for their sin.

No matter what lies in our past, when we confess our sin, God forgives us and gives us a fresh start. What great cause for hope! —Kirsten Holmberg

What can you do to grow closer to God this year? Share your thoughts with us at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.

God’s grace offers us fresh starts.