The Inevitable Penalty / Oswald Chambers

 

The Inevitable Penalty You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. MATTHEW 5:26 There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and]…you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26 ). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I willwrite that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.” These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart. If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.”

The Wisdom of Waiting on God / Charles Stanley

 

The Wisdom of Waiting on God

Psalm 130

During hard times, it’s easy to wonder why the Lord is taking so long to bring relief. Like the psalmist, we cry to God “out of the depths” for help (Psalm 130:1), but as time drags on, we may be tempted to take matters into our own hands. Believers, however, are not to operate as the world does, determining a course of action based on human reasoning or the example of others. Instead, our guidance is to come from God, and our hope is to be in His Word (Psalm 130:5-6). 

It’s important that we cooperate with Him so the time spent waiting will prove productive and beneficial. God can use such “holding patterns” to reveal sinful behaviors or thinking and to develop new heart attitudes. Waiting can also provide an opportunity to deepen our trust and dependence on Him. And when we follow God’s timetable, He gives us the grace to endure difficult situations with confidence and peace. It’s a blessing to know we’re where God wants us and He’s promised to take care of us.

If you’re in God’s waiting room, remember that He is your hope—and in His time He will move you forward.

Does God Want Us to Pray for Wicked Rulers? / Adrian Rogers

 Does God Want Us to Pray for Wicked Rulers?

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1

God can change a ruler, God can remove a ruler, and God can overrule a ruler. God reigns.

You ask, “Well, should I pray for my leader if he’s wicked?” You ought to pray all the more for him. Why? Because in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, the Bible says we should.

The greatest responsibility in America is not in the White House but in the church house. We’re to pray for our government and all those who are in authority.

Would you pray for America right now? You might pray, “Oh God, bless America. Lord, we deserve judgment, but we need mercy. Bring this nation, Lord, back to You. The troubles that we see in our land are tokens of Your love to bring us to our knees. Lord, it’s beyond us. God, we need You in America.”

Not Rushing Prayer / ODB

 

Not Rushing Prayer Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 READ Psalm 46 Alice Kaholusuna recounts a story of how the Hawaiian people would sit outside their temples for a lengthy amount of time preparing themselves before entering in. Even after entering, they would creep to the altar to offer their prayers. Afterward, they would sit outside again for a long time to “breathe life” into their prayers. When missionaries came to the island, the Hawaiians sometimes considered their prayers odd. The missionaries would stand up, utter a few sentences, call them “prayer,” say amen, and be done with it. The Hawaiians described these prayers as “without breath.” Alice’s story speaks of how God’s people may not always take the opportunity to “be still, and know” (Psalm 46:10). Make no mistake—God hears our prayers, whether they’re quick or slow. But often the pace of our lives mimics the pace of our hearts, and we need to allow ample time for God to speak into not only our lives but the lives of those around us. How many life-giving moments have we missed by rushing, saying amen, and being done with it? We’re often impatient with everything from slow people to the slow lane in traffic. Yet, I believe God in His kindness says, “Be still. Breathe in and out. Go slow, and remember that I am God, your refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” To do so is to know that God is God. To do so is to trust. To do so is to live. By John Blase Recall a time when you slowed down and listened to God in your prayer time. How did that feel? What actions can you put into place to still yourself in God’s presence and know Him? Father, thank You for being my ever-present help in good times and bad. Give me the grace to be still and know that You’re God. Read Praying with Confidence at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0712.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Psalm 46 has been a source of encouragement to many over the years—including reformer Martin Luther. In fact, he based the classic hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” on this psalm. During times of struggle, “when terribly discouraged, he would turn to his co-worker, Philipp Melanchthon, and say, ‘Come, Philipp, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm’ ” (Ligonier Ministries, Luther and the Psalms: His Solace and Strength). This mighty fortress describes the God of strength who’s our refuge and the God who calls us to find our rest in Him. In the New Testament, Jesus personalized that rest when He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In the midst of the cares and despairs of life, we can stop, be still, and find refuge in God. To learn how to best read the Psalms, visit ChristianUniversity.org/OT020. Bill Crowder

An Abiding Stream / Alistair Begg

 

An Abiding Stream 

It shall continue in summer as in winter. 

Zechariah 14:8

The streams of living water that flow from Jerusalem are not dried up by the parching heats of sultry midsummer any more than they are frozen by the cold winds of blustering winter.

Rejoice, O my soul, that you are spared to testify of the faithfulness of the Lord. The seasons change, and you change, but your Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of His love are as deep, as broad, and as full as ever. The heats of business cares and scorching trials make me need the cooling influences of the river of His grace; I may go at once and drink to the full from the inexhaustible fountain, for in summer and in winter it pours forth its flood. The upper springs are never scanty, and blessed be the name of the Lord, the lower springs cannot fail either.

Elijah found Cherith dried up, but Jehovah was still the same God of providence. Job said his brethren were like deceitful brooks, but he found his God an overflowing river of consolation. The Nile is the great confidence of Egypt, but its floods are variable; our Lord is evermore the same. By turning the course of the Euphrates, Cyrus took the city of Babylon; but no power, human or infernal, can divert the current of divine grace.

The tracks of ancient rivers have been found all dry and desolate, but the streams that take their rise on the mountains of divine sovereignty and infinite love shall ever be full to the brim. Generations melt away, but the course of grace is unaltered. The river of God may sing with greater truth than the brook in the poem—

Men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever. 

How happy you are, my soul, to be led beside such still waters! Never wander to other streams, lest you hear the Lord’s rebuke, “What do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?”1

1) Jeremiah 2:18

Prayer Is a Conversation / Billy Graham

 

Prayer Is a Conversation

Prayer is a two-way conversation; it is our talking to God, and His talking to us. As a Christian, you have a heavenly Father who hears and answers prayer. Jesus said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Every man or woman whose life has counted for the church and the Kingdom of God has been a person of prayer. You cannot afford to be too busy to pray. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Jesus Christ spent many hours in prayer. Sometimes He spent the night on a mountaintop in solitary communion with God the Father. If He felt that He had to pray, how much more do we need to pray!

Daily Prayer

There is inexpressible joy as I come to You in prayer, my heavenly Father.

“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:22‬ ‭

Growing in Faith / Greg Laurie

 Growing in Faith

“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:3-4 NLT).

I’ve come to expect that whenever we are living in the will of God, the devil will try to trip us up. The devil may be there to challenge or tempt us after a church service. Or he may be there to challenge and tempt us after God has done a great work in our lives.

After the Spirit, like a dove, came upon Jesus following His baptism, the Bible says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil” (Matthew 4:1 NLT). After the dove came the devil.

And after Elijah’s experience on Mount Carmel where God sent fire down from Heaven, King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, put out a contract on his life.

While it’s true that we’re going have mountaintop experiences in life, we cannot live off those alone. At the bottom of every mountain, there’s always a valley. There’s always a test. And perhaps there’s even the devil seeking to challenge what God has done. But don’t dread it. Just keep moving. Keep growing. And keep learning.

Maybe you’re on a mountaintop with God right now. Everything is going great for you. All the lights are green, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the flowers are growing.

Then again, maybe you’re at the foot of the mountain today. Everywhere you look, you see problems and difficulties, and you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just remember that God has not abandoned you. He wants your faith to develop. You’re going to come through this, and you’ll become stronger as a result.

For our little faith to become great faith, we must apply it. We must use it. We must stretch it. And we must avoid the temptation of spiritual slumber and laziness so that we don’t miss out on what God is doing.

Copyright © 2021 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

The Purpose of Angels / David Jeremiah

 

The Purpose of Angels And one [angel] cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah 6:3    Early in the history of Christianity, “catechesis” became the norm for instructing new believers in the faith. Catechisms were written in question-and-answer formats—teachers would ask a question and converts would repeat the memorized answer. The most famous catechism used for children and young believers was written between 1646 and 1647, the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The first question has become famous: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Recommended Reading: Revelation 5: 11 – 12

Man’s purpose, along with all creation—including the angels—is to glorify God. Isaiah saw angels glorifying God in his vision (Isaiah 6:1-3), and John saw angels doing the same in his vision of heaven (Revelation 5:11-12). John reckoned the number of angels he saw as “ten thousand times ten thousand” or one hundred million. It was probably not meant to be an exact number, but it was John’s way of saying “too many to count”—the number of angels praising God in heaven. Mankind and angels have the same eternal purpose: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Let earth and heaven combine, angels and men agree, to praise in songs divine the incarnate Deity. Charles Wesley

July 1 / Wisdom from the Psalms

 Psalms 81:9

There shall no str ange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

Chrissy was a smart girl. It was hard to understand why she would want to run off to some strange communal religious group. She had been active at church all her young life. Then, out of the blue, she started hanging around with a bunch of college students who belonged to a commune called Light of Life. One day her parents came home to find a note. All Chrissy's things were gone; she was now a member of Light of Life. 

Thousands of people turn to cults and sects, hoping to find something Christianity can't give them. Usually, they don't want to take the responsibility Christ gives to live a holy and upright life. It is easier to run away to somewhere where the self doesn't matter so much, then to face the problems right in front of us. Sadly, there is no place to run. Jesus is the only true answer to a life that is empty and void. Strange gods come and go. They have no staying power. They may be attractive for awhile, but only God endures forever. 

Prayer: When I get discouraged in my faith, Lord, turn me back to You, that I might know Your truth. Do not let me be swayed by false teachings that sound so appealing. Protect me with Your love. Amen.

How to steer clear of the enemy’s trap / Senior Living

 How to steer clear of the enemy’s trap

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us… - Hebrews 12:1

Perhaps you’ve heard of the clever way African Bushmen used to trap monkeys for food. They’d use a box or some other container and put a hole in it just big enough for the monkey to stick in his hand. In the box was a banana to serve as bait for the unsuspecting monkey.

The monkey would stick his hand in the box to grab the banana, only to discover that the hole wasn’t big enough to pull the banana out. But instead of letting go, the monkey would pull and pull, hopelessly stuck, until the hunter would come and kill the monkey.

It can be easy, from our perspective, to wonder why the monkey wouldn’t simply let the banana go. But when it comes to sin, many people behave the same way. They hold on relentlessly to the bait of the enemy – the sin that entangles them – until it ultimately leads to their destruction.

Let go of the banana. Don’t let the sin in your life ensnare you and put you in danger. Release the things that drag you down and make you susceptible to Satan’s influence. Steer clear of sin and stay free from being entangled in the enemy’s trap!

Prayer Challenge

Pray and ask God to give you the strength to resist the enemy’s trap by steering clear of the sinful temptations in your life.

Questions for Thought

How have you seen yourself or others harmed in the past by falling into the trap of sin?

What are some of the traps the enemy has placed in your life today that are important for you to avoid?

Dependence Day by Shawn McEvoy

 Dependence Day

by Shawn McEvoy

So now, come back to your God! Act with love and justice, and always depend on him. ~ Hosea 12:6, NLT

The 'Fourth of July' devotional.

It fell to me this year.

And whoa if I didn't have a firecracker of a time coming up with what to write.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not riding on the trendy bandwagon of American self-loathing. I love my country. I dig personal and religious freedom. Without a free press I'd be out of a job, and without free speech I'd be locked up somewhere. But not here!

So why the long face on red-white-and-blue, take-a-day-off, fire-up-the-grill day?

Because Christianity has so little yet too much to do with the American Dream.

Because I get sad when I consider the evolution 'Freedom' has undertaken just in my lifetime – from "allowed to act responsibly" to "if it feels good do it" to "absolutely anything goes and don't even try to suggest otherwise, or we might just take away your freedom."

Because "Independence Day" is a disconnect for me, devotionally speaking, from things I know to be true: that independence has never served me well where family or friends or work colleagues or society or the Church or the Lord are concerned.

And so, left without the trite and tried-but-true for today's devotional, I settled on the short, bittersweet, and eternal…

Neither politics nor religion nor any mixing of the two will save me.

Some things really are messed up. Many valuable things are really not mess-up-able. A few things that are require only repentance or the granting of forgiveness to restore.

It's never wrong or out-of-style to be thankful, to express gratitude.

You can pledge your allegiance to the flag every day and admit your own and your country's independence, but "when you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor" (James 4:10, NLT).

Have a safe and blessed holiday, everyone

Promises Fulfilled / Streams

 Promises Fulfilled

There shall be a performance - Luke 1:45

“My words shall be fulfilled in their season” (their fixed appointed time) (Greek, Luke 1:20).

There shall be a performance of those things  

That loving heart hath waited long to see;  

Those words shall be fulfilled to which she clings,  

Because her God hath promised faithfully;  

And, knowing Him, she ne’er can doubt His Word;  

“He speaks and it is done.” The mighty Lord!  

There shall be a performance of those things,  

O burdened heart, rest ever in His care;  

In quietness beneath His shadowing wings  

Await the answer to thy longing prayer.  

When thou hast “cast thy care,” the heart then sings,  

There shall be a performance of those things.  

There shall be a performance of those things,  

O tired heart, believe and wait and pray;  

At eventide the peaceful vesper rings,  

Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.  

Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars  

The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.  

There shall be a performance of those things,  

O trusting heart, the Lord to thee hath told;  

Let Faith and Hope arise, and plume their wings,  

And soar towards the sunrise clouds of gold;  

The portals of the rosy dawn swing wide,  

Revealing joys the darkening night did hide.  

—Bessie Porter

Matthew Henry says: "We must depend upon the performance of the promise, when all the ways leading up to it are shut up. ’For all the promises of God in him are yea (yes), and in him Amen (so be it), unto the glory of God by us.’ (2 Cor. 1:20).

July 1 / Daily Blessings

 Daily Blessings

“As the deer pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, O God.” - Ps 42:1

What a striking figure has David made use of in these words. Conceive a wounded stag, with the arrow in his flank or pursued by a crowd of hunters and hounds, all eager to pull him down; conceive him to have run for some space of time under a burning sun and over heaps of sand; and conceive that at a distance this poor wounded or hunted animal sees water gently flowing along. Oh, how it pants! How its heaving sides gasp, and how it longs for the cooling stream, not only that it may drink large draughts of the fresh waters and lave its panting flanks and weary, parched limbs—but, by swimming across, may haply escape the dogs and hunters at its heels. How strong, how striking the figure.

And yet strong as it is, how earnestly does David employ it to set forth the panting of his soul after God. We cannot, perhaps, rise up into the fullness of this figure; we cannot, we dare not lay our feelings stretched fully out side by side with his, or use the same burning, vehement, ardent expressions. But we may at least see from them what the saints of God have experienced in times of temptation and trial in days of old; and we may in some measure compare the feelings of our soul with theirs—sometimes to fill us with shame and confusion at our short-comings, sometimes to stimulate and encourage us so far as we experience a degree of similar teachings; for these things are written for our instruction, “upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Thus in various ways and to various ends we may, with God’s help and blessing, look at and into such expressions as we find in the words of David, and in the fear of God search our hearts to see if we can find anything there corresponding to the work of grace that the Holy Spirit describes as existing in his soul. Nor be utterly cast down nor wholly discouraged if you cannot find a full or close similarity. Can you find any? If so, take encouragement, for the Lord despises not the day of small things. It is his own work upon the heart and his own work alone to which he has regard, as David felt when he said, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me—your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; forsake not the works of your own hands” (Psalm 138:8). And that work will ever be a copy in full or in miniature, a complete or reduced photograph, of the work of grace described in the Scripture as carried on by the Spirit in the hearts of God’s saints of old.

Bring Out the Best / Max Lucado

 

Bring Out the Best

Click below to listen to today's devotional

BRING OUT THE BEST - June 30, 2021

Keep in mind, we’re all works in progress. God isn’t finished, and some of his works—well, some of us—need extra attention. Be the cheerleader who brings out the best, not the critic who points out the rest. You have a tool chest: encouraging words, a phrase of admonition, a warm greeting, genuine forgiveness, patience, kindness, and unselfishness. Do whatever it takes to bring out the best in others.

Why? Because God is bringing out the best in you. Little by little, God is making a new you out of you. Your Father is following you, my friend. And on this journey of life and love when you find it difficult to love the people who are hard to love, just pause and call out God’s name. He’s not about to let you walk this path without his help. This is how happiness happens.