May 2 / Wisdom from the Psalms

Psalms 53:2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. The Lord shook His head. He gazed upon His creation, the one he had called good. It had been spoiled beyond recognition. He looked for some of His precious birds and beasts and fish, but they were missing. He called out to His children, but they were busy. He longed to gaze at the beauty of the jewel He had set in the skies, but it was dull and faded. The Lord shook His head, then He wept. What are we doing to the world of the Lord? How does our righteousness measure up with where it should be? If the Lord looked upon the earth to find a righteous man or woman, would He find him or her in us? Live for Jesus, trying always to follow in His blessed footsteps. Prayer: Make me righteous, Lord. Gaze upon me and be pleased with what You see. Help me to change from what I am now, to what You see I can be. Amen.

May I? Ask and It Will Be Given by David Jeremiah

May I? Ask and It Will Be Given

MAY 2, 2020

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7

 Recommended Reading: Matthew 7:7-11

Wayne Baker, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, wrote a book titled All You Have to Do Is Ask. He believes most of us struggle with asking for help, but we often underestimate how willing people are to help us. According to Baker, learning how to ask for help is an important skill for success. He pointed to a study that sent participants to approach strangers on the streets of New York City asking, “Can I use your cellphone to make a call?” Surprisingly, many strangers were willing to oblige. On average, it took only two tries to get a New Yorker to lend them a phone.[1]

In Matthew 7:7, Jesus invited us to liberally ask God for help in meeting our needs. The New Living Translation says: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

Don’t be afraid to ask God for His help, and don’t be reluctant to keep on asking.

God is more willing to give than we are to ask.

Andrew Murray

Faith— Not Emotion by Oswald Chambers

Faith— Not Emotion We walk by faith, not by sight.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above. If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard. From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life. from Disciples Indeed, 387 R

Right Relationships by Charles Stanley

Proverbs 27:17

Becoming a godly person is a worthy goal for every believer. We know prayer and Bible study are essential in achieving this objective, but did you know that having right relationships is also a critical element in our journey toward godliness? 

Since this world is filled with people who don’t share our values, we need relationships that inspire and challenge us to become the people God wants us to be. We’d like to think that all our Christian acquaintances help us achieve this goal, but sadly, many believers interact with each other only on a trivial level. 

We need friends who give wise counsel based on God’s Word. Even when their advice isn’t comfortable, it’s always beneficial. They’re not afraid to speak the truth, even if it is painful to hear. When we’ve gotten off track, they lovingly confront us and point us in the right direction. And if we encounter times of suffering, they are by our side, encouraging us as we walk through fiery trials. 

What kinds of relationships do you have? Can you name someone who helped you become more like Jesus? If you don’t have anyone like this in your life, ask the Lord to provide someone. We were not created to walk alone.

God’s Love Redeems You by Adrian Rogers

God’s Love Redeems You

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people. Luke 1:68

Hymn writer Fanny Crosby wrote, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am.” Do you love to proclaim it? Oh, how I pray you do.

Isaac Watts wrote, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small: Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Have you given your soul, your life, your all to this Amazing Love?

Jesus did not bathe this planet with His blood to have you serve the world, the flesh, and the devil. He died to make you holy. You are not your own. First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Living in the Branches by Monica La Rose

Living in the Branches

Monica La Rose

Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. Ephesians 3:17 nlt

Ephesians 4:14–24

As I shared with my counselor my roller-coaster of emotions after a stress-filled week, she listened thoughtfully. Then she invited me to look out the window at the trees, lush with autumnal oranges and golds, the branches swaying in the wind.
Pointing out that the trunks weren’t moving at all in the wind, my counselor explained, “We’re a bit like that. When life is blowing at us from every direction, of course our emotions will go up and down and all around. But sometimes we live as if we only have branches. Our goal is to help you find your own trunk. That way, even when life is pulling from all sides, you won’t be living in your branches. You’ll still be secure and stable.”

It’s an image that’s stuck with me, and it’s similar to the image Paul offered new believers in Ephesians. Reminding them of God’s incredible gift—a new life of tremendous purpose and value (Ephesians 2:6–10), Paul shared his longing that they’d become deeply “rooted and established” in Christ’s love (3:17), no longer “blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (4:14).

On our own, it’s easy to feel insecure and fragile, pummeled by our fears and insecurities. But as we grow in our true identity in Christ (vv. 22–24), we can experience deep peace with God and each other (v. 3), nourished and sustained by Christ’s power and beauty (vv. 15–16).

When do you feel most “blown here and there” by life’s challenges? How might remembering your identity in Jesus encourage and strengthen you?

Jesus, thank You for the overwhelmingly good news that the strength needed to withstand life’s challenges isn’t our own. Help us to grow ever-deeper roots in Your love and our place in Your family.

The Beauty of Christ by Alistair Begg

The Beauty of Christ 

I am a rose of Sharon.

Song of Solomon 2:1

Whatever beauty there may be in the material world, Jesus Christ possesses all of that in the spiritual world to the nth degree. Among flowers the rose is regarded as the sweetest, but Jesus is infinitely more beautiful in the garden of the soul than a rose in the gardens of earth. He takes the first place as the fairest among ten thousand. He is the sun, and all others are the stars; the heavens and the day are dark in comparison with Him, for the King in His beauty transcends all.

"I am a rose of Sharon." This was the best and rarest of roses. Jesus simply is not "a rose"; He is "a rose of Sharon," just as He calls His righteousness "gold," and then adds, "the gold of Ophir"1—the best of the best. He is positively lovely, and superlatively the loveliest.

There is variety in His beauty. The rose is delightful to the eye, and its scent is pleasant and refreshing; so each of the senses of the soul, whether it be the taste or feeling, the hearing, the sight, or the spiritual smell, finds appropriate gratification in Jesus. Even the recollection of His love is sweet. Take a rose of Sharon, pull it leaf from leaf, and place the leaves in the jar of memory, and you will find each leaf retains its fragrance, filling the house with perfume. Christ satisfies the highest taste of the most educated spirit to the full. The greatest amateur in perfumes is quite satisfied with a rose: And when the soul has arrived at her highest pitch of true taste, she will still be content with Christ; indeed, she shall be more able to appreciate Him.

Heaven itself possesses nothing that excels a rose of Sharon. What emblem can fully set forth His beauty? Human speech and earthborn things fail to tell of Him. Earth's choicest beauties combine to provide ultimately a feeble picture of His glory. Blessed rose, bloom in my heart forever!

1) 1 Chronicles 29:4

May 1 / Wisdom from the Psalms

Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness (Psalm 52:7)

Lee couldn't understand any person who would put their faith in something you couldn't get your hands on. Spirits and angels and super beings in the sky were all fantasy. Now, money, there was something that was real. You could measure the benefits of money, not like God. You never knew what you would come up with, With God. Till his dying day, Lee believed that only fools followed God.

The wise man understands that the wealth of this age is inferior to the wealth God grants us through eternal life in His Kingdom. Money has its uses, but as a god it is a poor substitute for the real thing.

Prayer: Do not let me be distracted by lesser gods, O Lord. There is nothing in this world that can take Your place. You are the greatest riches I can ever hope to find. Amen.

God, the Peacekeeper by Billy Graham

God, the Peacekeeper

You have an ego—a consciousness of being an individual. Of course, you do. But that doesn’t mean that you are to worship yourself, to think constantly of yourself, and to live entirely for yourself. Common sense tells you that your life would be miserable if you followed that course. God is infinitely more concerned about your happiness than you could possibly be. He says, “Deny yourself, and follow me.” There is many a person in the insane asylum today who thought excessively about himself, to the exclusion of God and others. Hypochondriacs who have a fanciful anxiety about their health will never be well, regardless of their physical condition.

Daily Prayer

Keep my mind on You, Lord, and help me to discipline the thoughts of self which crowd out Your peace.

“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:3‬ ‭NASB‬‬

HIS OWN ANSWER / Draw Near Bible App

HIS OWN ANSWER

A wealthy farmer prayed each day for the wants of the needy. However, when anyone asked him for a little corn from his barns, he never seemed to feel he had enough to spare. One day the farmer's little son said, "Daddy, I wish I had all your corn." "Why, son? What would you do with it?" asked the father. "I would answer your prayers," the boy innocently replied.

Often, we have the power to answer our own prayers but fail to see the opportunity. When Nehemiah prayed, he placed himself squarely in a position where he could help answer his own prayer (Nehemiah 1:4-11). "Prosper, I pray thee, my servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." Nehemiah had every intention of taking advantage of his high position with the king to seek help for his depressed people.

People who are the real pray-ers have learned to offer themselves in service as they pray. They are not merely willing to mouth high-sounding words for the needs of mankind. Instead, they place themselves in the position to help. This does not take the edge off divine intervention. Rather, it gives God channels to work through for His blessings to mankind. Let us make ourselves available for God's use today.

“O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” N ow I was the cupbearer to the king.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭1:11‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Are You a Betweener? by Greg Laurie

Are You a Betweener?

“But in spite of this, the people kept sinning. Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.” (Psalm 78:32 nlt).

Commentator Warren Wiersbe has pointed out that “many of God’s people are betweeners... They believe that Jesus died on the cross, but they are not living in the power of His resurrection.”

Some people believe that Jesus has saved them and justified them, but they enter into a lifestyle of sin. They don’t live like they’re saved; they live like they’re spiritually dead.

Are you a betweener? Do you believe in Jesus but find yourself still bound to a certain sin, a certain vice that has a hold on you?

God can break that pattern of sin in your life. You can live a sanctified life as a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that you’ll be sinless, because we all sin. But I am saying you can sin less.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t stop sinning. It’s just human nature. I can’t control it.”

Yes, you can. You make choices. Remember, Jesus warned a man that He healed, “Now you are well; so, stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you” (John 5:14 nlt).

For every temptation in life that you faced and gave into, if you think back, you will remember there always was a way out. And there was power from God to give you the resolve to take that way out. So, if you didn’t take it, that isn’t God’s fault. Rather, you made a bad choice.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (nlt).

There’s always a way out. We make our choices and then our choices make us.

May 1 / Streams in the Desert

God that cannot lie promised (Titus 1:2).

Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting because God has said it.

Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is contingent upon our cooperation. But when faith claims it, it becomes a prophecy, and we go forth feeling that it is something that must be done because God cannot lie.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth

I hear men praying everywhere for more faith, but when I listen to them carefully, and get at the real heart of their prayer, very often it is not more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change from faith to sight.

Faith says not, "I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it," but, "God sent it, and so it must be good for me."

Faith, walking in the dark with God, only prays Him to clasp its hand more closely.
--Phillips Brooks

The Shepherd does not ask of thee
Faith in thy faith, but only faith in Him;
And this He meant in saying, 'Come to me.'
In light or darkness seek to do His will,
And leave the. work of faith to Jesus still.

The right way to battle envy / Senior Living

The right way to battle envy

Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? - Proverbs 27:4

The famous preacher F.B. Meyer was known for gathering very large crowds to hear him preach in the area around Northfield, Massachusetts, in the early 1900s. He became very prominent in his day, and was a household name among many Christians in the northeastern United States.

But it wasn’t long before another great preacher, G. Campbell Morgan, crossed the Atlantic from Britain and began doing ministry in the same area. People then flocked to hear Morgan’s brilliant preaching, thinning out Meyer’s crowds.

Meyer confessed at first he was envious. Then he said, “The only way I can conquer my feelings is to pray for Morgan daily, which I do.”

William Penn once said, “The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.” Nothing can ruin a relationship or a person like feelings of envy. F.B. Meyer realized that, and performed the best remedy possible: prayer.

So when you have feelings of jealousy, give it to God. Pray words of blessing over the person who’s causing you jealousy. Pray that your own heart would be transformed. Let God be King over your envy and you’ll be able to live with a clear conscience.

Prayer Challenge

Pray and give God any feelings of envy you’re having today. Ask Him to reveal where you are jealous of others and ask Him to bless them.

Questions for Thought

What issues of envy are you dealing with today?

How might giving your envy over to God allow you to be a better instrument for His Kingdom?

Words of Life by David Jeremiah

Words of Life Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. Acts 5:20 The Oxford English Dictionary is the primary source for the words of the English language. The first full edition was published in ten volumes in 1928. The second edition was published in twenty large volumes in 1989 and contains entries for 171,476 English words (and 47,156 words that are now obsolete). Currently, there are 355,000 entries in the Revised Second Edition. Among modern languages, English is considered to have more words in use than any other.

Recommended Reading: Proverbs 4:20-23

We live in a world of words. Yet, how many of the words in the OED are words of life and hope? It all depends on who speaks them and for what purpose. What the world needs is for familiar words to be cast in an eternal, life-giving context. That’s what the early apostles did in Jerusalem. When an angel of the Lord released the apostles from jail, he told them to go and “speak to the people all the words of this life.” We have those very words recorded in the Bible. Make sure you get a daily portion of life and hope from the Scriptures. I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood, I see the mighty sacrifice, and I have peace with God. Horatius Bonar