September 3 / Wisdom from the Psalms

Psalms 109:29
Let mine adversaries be clothe d with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

The executive was beginning to sweat. He thought he'd covered his tracks fairly well, but now the tangled web he had woven was collapsing around him as his double dealings were uncovered. The questions came at him fast and furious, and he had little time to make sure he wasn't contradicting himself. By the time the hearing ended, all his dealings were in ruin, and he had no one to blame but himself.

 

Let the conniving and deceitful people be warned: The time will come when you will be called to account before God. He is watching each of us, to see how we handle our lives. Those of us who entangle ourselves in less than honest practices will one day have to pay. The Lord wants us to deal with our earthly affairs with the purity and honesty we use in our relationship with Him. Anything less is not good enough. If we will deal with others as if they are our Lord Jesus Christ, then we will never suffer through the confusion of the deceitful.

 

Prayer: The only way to avoid the traps of subterfuge is to avoid evil dealings altogether. Make me to walk in the way of righteousness, always acting toward others as I try to act toward You. Amen.

God Is Shining on You by David Jeremiah

God Is Shining on You The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14 The earliest archaeological discovery of God’s covenant name—Yahweh—was found on two silver amulets near Jerusalem. Amulets were small pieces of jewelry, typically thought to be protective of evil or harm. What did the amulets have inscribed on them? The “Aaronic blessing” found in Numbers 6:24-26, in which God’s name, Yahweh—“the Lord”—occurs three times.

Recommended Reading: Numbers 6:22-27

The blessing is well known to church-goers as it is often used as a benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” It is perhaps the most beautiful benediction known to Jews and Christians alike. Paul gives a New Testament equivalent in 2 Corinthians 13:14. It’s not hard to see why amulets would have the Aaronic blessing inscribed on them. What harm could come to one who is so cared for by Yahweh? God is blessing you and making His face shine upon you at this very moment, and giving you peace. Walk in His blessing today. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace.  Robert Robinson

The Power of God’s Word By R.A. Torrey

The Power of God’s Word By R.A. Torrey “Power belongs to God” (Psalm 62:11). The great reservoir of the power that belongs to God is His own Word—the Bible. If we wish to make it ours, we must go to that book. Yet people abound in the church who are praying for power and neglecting the Bible. They long to have power to melt the cold heart and break the stubborn will, but they forget that God has said: “Is not My word like a fire? … And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29). If we are to obtain fullness of power in life and service, we must feed upon the Word of God. There is no other food so strengthening. If we will not take time to study the Bible, we cannot have power, any more than we can have physical power if we will not take time to eat nutritious food.

TODAY’S PRAYER God, thank You for Your amazing power and work in our lives. We know Your Word brings hope in the midst of desperation and peace in times of unrest. Calm our hearts and renew our spirit, Lord, as we study Your truths. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice by Oswald Chambers

A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow…  JOHN 7:38 Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all. When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask…of very costly oil…and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “…there were some who…said, ‘Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “…wherever this gospel is preached…what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him? “He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him? From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. from Biblical Ethics, 99 R

Freedom’s Responsibility by Charles Stanley

1 Corinthians 9

Our rights are among the most difficult things for us to relinquish, and that’s because letting go of them often feels unjust. After all, they are by definition a claim that we are morally or legally entitled to have something or to act in a certain way. Yet in order to serve Christ more effectively, the apostle Paul chose not to insist on certain rights and privileges.

Godly freedom carries responsibility and therefore shouldn’t be a selfish means of making others treat us as we desire. As 1 Peter 2:16says, our freedom is not to be a covering for evil, but we’re to “use it as bondslaves of God.” Jesus set us free from the power of sin so we could obey the Lord, and part of obedience is serving one another unselfishly. God also wants His followers to share the good news of salvation and forgiveness of sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we believe that God has liberated us only for ourselves, then we have missed the point and are abusing our freedom. Paul likened the Christian life to competition at Olympic-style games. In the world’s system, a person wins by demanding his or her rights. But in God’s race, we’re victorious when we discipline ourselves to obey Him and fulfill His purpose.

The Whispering Gallery by Elisa Morgan

The Whispering Gallery

Elisa Morgan

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. Psalm 18:6

Psalm 18:1–6, 16–19

In the towering dome of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, visitors can climb 259 steps to access The Whispering Gallery. There you can whisper and be heard by another person anywhere along the circular walkway, even across the enormous abyss nearly one hundred feet away. Engineers explain this anomaly as a result of the spherical shape of the dome and the low intensity sound waves of a whisper.

How we long to be confident that God hears our agonized whispers! The Psalms are filled with testimonies that He hears us—our cries, prayers, and whispers. David writes, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help” (Psalm 18:6). Over and over again, he and other psalmists plead, “Hear my prayer” (4:1), my voice (5:3), my groans (102:20). Sometimes the expression is more of a whispered, “Hear me” (77:1), where the “heart meditated and [the] spirit asked” (77:6).

In answer to these pleas, the psalmists—like David in Psalm 18:6—reveal that God is listening: “From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Since the actual temple wasn’t yet built, might David have been referring to God listening in His heavenly dwelling?

From His very own “whispering gallery” in the dome of the heavens above the earth, God bends to our deepest murmurs, even our whispers . . . and listens.

What do you long to whisper to God today? How can you know that He hears?

Dear God, give me courage to whisper to You today, trusting You to hear and respond.

Are you standing on the edge? by Adrian Rogers

Are you standing on the edge?

“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10

Sometimes the grandest revelations come through confrontation. Why did God bring the Israelites to the Red Sea? You might think it was solely to escape Pharaoh’s horsemen, hot on their trail. In a practical sense, yes. But more so, it was for the Israelites to have a confrontation with Him and discover His greatness and deliverance.

Many times the things we think are tragedies and problems are God’s way of drawing us to Himself. God shuts this door; God shuts that door…it seems that there’s no way out.

That’s when we must cling to the fact that God makes Himself known to us in the storm and He plants His footsteps in the sea.

Are you standing at the edge of your “Red Sea”? Have you stopped to consider that this could be your Father drawing you to Himself by the only way He knew He could get your attention? The God who parted the Red Sea and stilled the surface of Galilee is the One Who is your Shepherd.

September 2 / Streams in the Desert

Unto you it is given... to suffer (Philippians 1:29).

God keeps a costly school. Many of its lessons are spelled out through tears. Richard Baxter said, "O God, I thank Thee for a bodily discipline of eight and fifty years"; and he is not the only man who has turned a trouble into triumph.

This school of our Heavenly Father will soon close for us; the term time is shortening every day. Let us not shrink from a hard lesson or wince under any rod of chastisement. The richer will be the crown, and the sweeter will be Heaven, if we endure cheerfully to the end and graduate in glory.
--Theodore L. Cuyler

The finest china in the world is burned at least three times, some of it more than three times. Dresden china is always burned three times. Why does it go through that intense fire? Once ought to be enough; twice ought to be enough. No, three times are necessary to burn that china so that the gold and the crimson are brought out more beautiful and then fastened there to stay.

We are fashioned after the same principle in human life. Our trials are burned into us once, twice, thrice; and by God's grace these beautiful colors are there and they are there to stay forever.
--Cortland Myers

Earth's fairest flowers grow not on sunny plain,
But where some vast upheaval rent in twain
The smiling land.
After the whirlwinds devastating blast,
After the molten fire and ashen pall,
God's still small voice breathes healing over all. 
From riven rocks and fern-clad chasms deep,
Flow living waters as from hearts that weep,
There in the afterglow soft dews distill
And angels tend God's plants when night falls still,
And the Beloved passing by that way
Will gather lilies at the break of day.
--J.H.D.

Real Christianity by Greg Laurie

Real Christianity

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1 nkjv).

Do you consider yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ? Every Christian should be able to say that he or she is a disciple—not a perfect disciple, but a growing disciple of Jesus. Every believer should be one. Discipleship is living the Christian life as Jesus taught it and as the early church understood it. It’s real Christianity.

I think some are reluctant to live that way because it seems, well, radical. Discipleship is the road less taken, and some don’t want hardship. They don’t want a challenge. They don’t want difficulty, so they will take the path of least resistance instead of the discipleship road.

Yes, discipleship is challenging, but it is fulfilling. It’s difficult, but it’s more than worth it, because it is living the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Here is what it comes down to: Every believer should be a disciple. Then as disciples, we either should be discipled by someone more mature than we are, or we should be discipling someone less mature than we are.

Right after I accepted Christ on my high school campus, I could have fallen through the cracks so easily. But someone I had never met before walked up to me and introduced himself. His name was Mark, and he said, “Greg, I’m taking you to church.” And he did. He helped me get through that rough spot. And soon I found myself doing the same thing for others.

Can you be there for someone else? When you take a new believer under your wing, you are helping that person grow spiritually as you model what a Christian looks like.

Are you willing to step out from the multitude and be a real disciple? Are you willing to be more than a fair-weather follower of Jesus?

HEALTHY AFFLICTION / Draw Near Bible App

HEALTHY AFFLICTION

After a trying illness, a dedicated believer testified that God had helped her during those days. In the deepest hours of her depression, she sought some sense to her problem and stumbled across this scripture: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. Although her affliction was unpleasant, she said this was exactly what happened to her and she appreciated her experience.

A homey philosopher says, "Often we are made to lie down, because sometimes it is only when we are lying down that we look up." David expresses the same thought in Psalm 23: He makes me to lie down. God often permits His children to be sidelined that they may depend more deeply on Him and appreciate His Word. There is a strange alchemy in human tears that washes away all our pretensions and helps us see eternal values.

When we face affliction and sorrow, it is wise to keep this thought in mind. Rather than becoming bitter because of our battle, we can view it as an opportunity for spiritual growth and a deepening of our knowledge of God and His Word. During these times, we are drawn to the Word for sense and direction. Like the great apostle Paul, we can say: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

“My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:71‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Christ's Greatest Work by Billy Graham

Christ's Greatest Work

Jesus worked all His life. But the greatest work that Jesus did was not in the carpenter’s shop, nor even at the marriage feast of Cana where He turned the water into wine. The greatest work that Jesus did was not when He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, nor even the dead to rise. The greatest work that Jesus did was not when He taught as One having authority, or when He scathingly denounced the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The greatest work that Jesus did was not in the great ethical program He presented to mankind—that program which has become the foundation for Western culture. What, then, was His greatest work? His greatest work was achieved in those three dark hours on Calvary. Christ’s greatest work was His dying for us.

Daily Prayer

When I consider the work of Jesus on this earth—which led to His supreme sacrifice—I pray all my labor this day will glorify You, my beloved Savior.

“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A Craving for Miracles by Alistair Begg

A Craving for Miracles 

Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.

John 4:48

A craving for miracles was a symptom of the sickly condition of men's minds in our Lord's day; they refused solid nourishment and longed for mere wonders. The Gospel that they so greatly needed they would not have; the miracles that Jesus did not always choose to give they eagerly demanded. Even today there are many who must see signs and wonders or they will not believe. Some have said in their heart, “I must feel deep horror of soul or I never will believe in Jesus.” But what if you never should feel it, as probably you never will? Will you go to hell out of spite against God because He did not treat you like someone else?

One has said to himself, “If I had a dream, or if I could feel a sudden jolt of something, then I would believe.” You undeserving mortals dream that my Lord is to be dictated to by you! You are beggars at His gate, asking for mercy, and you are drawing up rules and regulations as to how He will give that mercy. Do you think that He will submit to this? My Master has a generous spirit, but He also has a royal heart. He rejects all orders and maintains His sovereignty of action. Why, dear reader, if this is your case, do you crave signs and wonders? Isn't the Gospel its own sign and wonder? Isn't this the miracle of miracles, that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish”? Surely that precious word, “Let the one who desires take the water of life without price”1 and that solemn promise, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out”2 are better than signs and wonders! A truthful Savior ought to be believed. He is truth itself. Why will you ask the One who cannot lie for proof? The devils themselves declared Him to be the Son of God; will you mistrust Him?

1) Revelation 22:17
2) John 6:37

The Fear of Not Protecting My Kids by Max Lucado

The Fear of Not Protecting My Kids
by Max Lucado

Parents, we can’t protect children from every threat in life, but we can take them to the Source of life. We can entrust our kids to Christ. Even then, however, our shoreline appeals may be followed by a difficult choice.

As Jairus and Jesus were going to Jairus’s home, “a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, ‘Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.’ But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed’ ” (Luke 8:49–50 NLT).

Jairus was whipsawed between the contrasting messages. The first, from the servants: “Your daughter is dead.” The second, from Jesus: “Don’t be afraid.” Horror called from one side. Hope compelled from the other. Tragedy, then trust. Jairus heard two voices and had to choose which one he would heed.

Don’t we all?

The hard reality of parenting reads something like this: you can do your best and still stand where Jairus stood. You can protect, pray, and keep all the bogeymen at bay and still find yourself in an ER at midnight or a drug rehab clinic on visitors’ Sunday, choosing between two voices: despair and belief. Jairus could have chosen despair. Who would
have faulted him for deciding “Enough is enough”? He had no guarantee that Jesus could help. His daughter was dead. Jairus could have walked away. As parents, we’re so glad he didn’t.

Some of you find the story of Jairus difficult to hear. You prayed the same prayer he did, yet you found yourself in a cemetery facing every parent’s darkest night: the death of your child. No pain compares. What hope does the story of Jairus offer to you? Jesus resurrected Jairus’s child. Why didn’t he save yours?

God understands your question. He buried a child too. He hates death more than you do. That’s why he killed it. He “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” (2 Tim. 1:10). For those who trust God, death is nothing more than a transition to heaven. Your child may not be in your arms, but your child is safely in his.

Others of you have been standing for a long time where Jairus stood. You’ve long since left the water’s edge of offered prayer but haven’t yet arrived at the household of answered prayer. You’ve wept a monsoon of tears for your child, enough to summon the attention of every angel and their neighbor to your cause. At times you’ve felt that a breakthrough was nearing, that Christ was following you to your house. But you’re
not so sure anymore. You find yourself alone on the path, wondering if Christ has forgotten you and your child.

He hasn’t. He never dismisses a parent’s prayer. Keep giving your child to God, and in the right time and the right way, God will give your child back to you.

From Fearless
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2009) Max Lucado

The Great Reward of Servanthood / Senior Living

The Great Reward of Servanthood

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. - Philippians 2:3-4

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But because this was America, there were no hall servants.

Walking the halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and was determined not to embarrass his European brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but was met with only silence or excuses. So Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.

When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret.

D. L. Moody was a man with a servant’s heart, which was the basis of his true greatness. And while many might consider his act of service as that of someone who was “super spiritual”, all it took was humility to do what he did. In the same way, God calls us to humility each and every day—to live out the love and life of Christ to a watching world around us!

Prayer Challenge

Ask God to give you the humility it takes to show Christ’s love to a watching world.

Questions for Thought

Think of a time when you truly served others with a humble heart. How did it make you feel?

What specifically can you do today to look out for others’ interests and serve them with a humble heart?