August 2 / Daily Blessings

 Daily Blessings

“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” - Deut 33:27

How Moses brought before the people the eternity of God! He will have nothing to do with time. What is time? A fragment, merely like the foam of the sea compared with the mighty ocean. The ocean is eternity; time is merely the foam upon the wave. “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” And depend upon it, if the everlasting arms are underneath the saints of God, for it is of and to those who the words are spoken, they are there for some purpose. God puts affliction upon affliction to bring the soul down, that it may fall into and upon the everlasting arms, and find how firm and strong they are. And have you not often found it so? Do not lie against your right. How many trials in providence you have been brought through. How conspicuously the Lord has appeared in this and that instance, so that your unbelief and infidelity were, for the time at least, thoroughly silenced, and faith saw the hand of God so clearly that you felt as if you could never doubt again. Have you not had many sweet supports on your bed of languishing, many precious seasons when you could bless God for laying upon you his afflicting hand? And have you not found that strength was always given to you according to your day, that with every trial power was given you to bear it, and that out of your deepest afflictions came your greatest blessings? Why are you not in hell? Do you not deserve to be there? Why still upon praying ground, with a good hope through grace, and your soul waiting for the Lord to appear, more than those that watch for the morning? If these arms have once supported you, will they not support you again? Would they be everlasting if they could part asunder and let you fall through? Rest upon them and you will find how strong they are.

Make a Way / Streams

 Make a Way

I will make all my mountains a way - Isa 49:11

God will make obstacles serve His purpose. We all have mountains in our lives. There are people and things that threaten to bar our progress in the Divine life. Those heavy claims, that uncongenial occupation, that thorn in the flesh, that daily cross—we think that if only these were removed we might live purer, tenderer, holier lives; and often we pray for their removal.

“Oh, fools, and slow of heart!” These are the very conditions of achievement; they have been put into our lives as the means to the very graces and virtues for which we have been praying so long. Thou hast prayed for patience through long years, but there is something that tries thee beyond endurance; thou hast fled from it, evaded it, accounted it an unsurmountable obstacle to the desired attainment, and supposed that its removal would secure thy immediate deliverance and victory.

Not so! Thou wouldest gain only the cessation of temptations to impatience. But this would not be patience. Patience can be acquired only through just such trials as now seem unbearable. Go back; submit thyself. Claim to be a partaker in the patience of Jesus. Meet thy trials in Him. There is nothing in life which harasses and annoys that may not become subservient to the highest ends. They are His mountains. He puts them there. We know that God will not fail to keep His promise. “God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven”; and when we come to the foot of the mountains, we shall find the way.—Christ in Isaiah, by Meyer

The Wonderful Gift of … Suffering? by John UpChurch / Crosswalk

 The Wonderful Gift of … Suffering?

by John UpChurch

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.” (Philippians 1:29-30)

Philippians 1:29 is one of those verses that makes me stop and shake my head in disbelief. Paul tells the readers of this letter that suffering has been granted to them. Granted? Really? As in, "Here you go. Here's a big ol' heaping helping of suffering"?

If you dig into the Greek behind that phrase, you’ll uncover the word charizomai. This word usually implies something that’s freely given for someone else’s benefit. In fact, Paul uses this same word to talk about how God forgave our sins (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 4:32); how we are to forgive others freely (2 Corinthians 2:7, 10); and how God bestows gifts or titles because of His love and power (as in Philippians 2:9). In Luke 7:21, the same word shows how Jesus gave sight to the blind. Free, beneficial gifts.

All those are well and good. So, why would Paul add something crazy like suffering to these other good things? Surely, he has to see that suffering doesn’t fit in the same category as healing the blind and forgiving sin. They don’t even share the same zip code. Right?

Well, Paul’s example shows us that they do. Right near the end of Acts (chapter 27), Paul gets stuck with a stubborn centurion who can’t wait to get to Rome and a ship’s pilot who’s happy to oblige. Paul warns that such a trip will end badly. They ignore him (word to the wise: never ignore Paul). When they run into a storm, things look really, really bad. People are throwing supplies overboard, faces are green, and hope goes buh-bye.

About that time, Paul gets to give his “I told you so” speech, and in that speech, he uses our old friend charizomai. An angel had appeared to Paul and told him, “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you” (Acts 27:24). God had granted him seasick sailors (who wanted to kill the prisoners, mind you) and a stubborn centurion who refused to listen to sense. What kind of gift is that? God could have granted him a miraculous trip to a nearby island—perhaps somewhere warm and not so stormy.

But if that had been the case, Paul wouldn’t have done the other part of this verse: “you must stand before Caesar.” If Paul had been whisked away, in fact, we wouldn’t have the books of Acts or Luke (that chapter is filled with “we” from our good doctor friend who also survived the storm); the sailors and centurion wouldn’t have seen God’s mighty act to save every single one of them; and Paul wouldn’t have taken the gospel to the most important city in the Roman Empire. God gave Paul the gift of their lives so that the gospel would bulldoze on.

And that brings up back to Paul’s suggestion that suffering is granted—a gift. Quite likely, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians not long after being smashed into the rocks. Despite the messy trip (or perhaps precisely because of it), the message of Christ spread throughout the royal guard and people all over Rome. Other Christians got some backbone to speak more boldly (Philippians 1:13-14). Things went boom all over.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The gift of suffering, for Paul and for us, doesn’t seem much like a gift—at first. But the vantage point makes all the difference. Suffering that comes for the sake of Christ always produces a harvest of awesome. That’s because, in addition to the suffering, God also grants us the strength to endureand the chance to see the gospel take root.

And that’s why Paul can truthfully say, “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things” (Philippians 3:8). That’s not empty boasting from a beaten down man. That’s the triumphant cry of someone who sees what lies ahead.

For Further Reading
Acts 27-28
Philippians 1 (Read the whole thing; it’s short and concentrated.)

Learning About His Ways / Oswald Chambers

 

Learning About His Ways When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples…He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. MATTHEW 11:1 He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, “I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here,” it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says. He teaches where He instructs us not to teach. “Master…let us make three tabernacles…” (Luke 9:33). Are we playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God’s role in the lives of others? Are we so noisy in our instruction of other people that God cannot get near them? We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct us regarding His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration. When we become certain that God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again. He works where He sends us to wait. “…tarry…until…” (Luke 24:49). “Wait on the Lord” and He will work (Psalm 37:34). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to “wait patiently for Him”? ( Psalm 37:7). Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told. These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.

Sunday Reflection: Truth That Nourishes / Charles Stanley

 

Sunday Reflection: Truth That Nourishes

To get the most out of this devotion, set aside time to read the Scripture referenced throughout.

The Good Life. For each one of us, this phrase conjures up something different. What is it for you? Vast wealth? Sunny days free from responsibility? Perfect health? A powerful position? We all long for whatever we think will make everything just right.

But that joy is ersatz—a word that means “synthetic” or “artificial.” Think of a child’s kitchen playset, the kind with plastic pork chops and foam bread. When little ones bring us a heaping plate of “food,” we only pretend to eat. The same is true of our misplaced desires—they look enticing but will leave us empty. Instead, we must seek out the life Christ presents and feast on His truth. 

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul tells his pupil, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). Only through Him can we “take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:19).

Think about it
• Consider the ways you may have settled for ersatz joy. How can you begin to let those things go and take hold of God’s best?

The Blessing of Abiding Hope / Chuck Swindoll

 The Blessing of Abiding Hope

by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Lamentations 3:21–23

This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21–23)

Father, show us again the hope that is in the Savior. Calm the minds of those who are anxious, lest they fear that which they have no reason to fear. But for those who live in a false kind of security and with a smug sophistication, for those who think, someday I'll deal with this, may misery dog their steps. Offer them no relief and no peace, as You, Spirit of God, bring them to their knees . . . so they might be brought to faith. Direct their hope to the only true source of hope in this world: Jesus Christ.

Thank You for the hope that Your people have because of the Savior. May it not make us indifferent and distant from the lost, but—on the contrary—may we be sensitive, available, in touch, aware, in step with today. Keep us clearheaded, compassionate, and willing to help. Allow Your hope to penetrate to the deepest recesses of the soul. And as the knowledge of the soon return of Jesus grows within us, prompt us to be people who live out that hope—for ourselves, for others, and for You. We're grateful for truth and how it delivers us from error and needless fear. May we not become indifferent to the desperation of those around us, as we become acutely aware of the many needs throughout our world. In the compassionate name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

See also Psalm 31:24; 42:5; Proverbs 24:14; Romans 5:4-5.

Are Good Works Enough to Get Me Into Heaven? / Adrian Rogers

Are Good Works Enough to Get Me Into Heaven?

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

If you were to ask me, “Adrian Rogers, are you saved?” I'd say, “Yes, praise God! I know I am saved!”

But if works have anything to do with my salvation, and you were to ask me, “Adrian Rogers, are you saved?” I'd have to say, “Well, now, let me think. Yes, I believe I'm saved. I prayed today and I studied the Bible. I didn't curse today, and I didn't steal. But …uh-oh…I did lose my temper today. Well, let me see. I hope I'm saved.”

If you depend upon works, either a little or a lot, to get you to heaven, then you'll never be able to say, “Praise God, I know that I know that I'm saved.” But you’re not saved by works. You’re saved by grace through faith. It is the gift of God. 

Who Needs Your Support? / ODB

 

Who Needs Your Support? Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death. Jeremiah 26:24 READ Jeremiah 26:12–15, 20–24 Clifford Williams was sentenced to die for a murder he didn’t commit. From death row he vainly filed motions to reconsider the evidence against him. Each petition was denied—for forty-two years. Then attorney Shelley Thibodeau learned of his case. She found that not only was there no evidence to convict Williams, but that another man had confessed to the crime. At the age of seventy-six, Williams was finally exonerated and released. The prophets Jeremiah and Uriah were also in deep trouble. They had told Judah that God promised to judge His people if they didn’t repent (Jeremiah 26:12–13, 20). This message angered the people and officials of Judah, who sought to kill both prophets. They succeeded with Uriah. He fled to Egypt, but was brought back to face the king, who “had him struck down with a sword” (v. 23). Why didn’t they kill Jeremiah? In part because Ahikam “stood up for Jeremiah” (nlt), “and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death” (v. 24). We may not know anyone facing death, but we probably know someone who could use our support. Whose rights are trampled? Whose talents are dismissed? Whose voice isn’t heard? It may be risky to step out like Thibodeau or Ahikam, but it’s so right. Who needs us to stand up for them as God guides us? By Mike Wittmer Whom can you stand with? If you voice your support, what do you think might happen to them, to you, and to others? Loving God, help me to love others as You’ve loved me. Learn more at DiscoverTheWord.org/series/the-mercy-prayer/.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Jeremiah, a truly tormented soul, was born the son of Hilkiah, of the priestly line, and grew up in the village of Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1), to the northeast of Jerusalem. Often referred to as “the weeping prophet,” his season of ministry came at one of the darkest hours in the history of the people of God. Jeremiah prophesied and then witnessed the devastation of Jerusalem and the taking of much of its citizenry into captivity. Historians speak of the savagery of the conquest; Jeremiah’s reaction to those atrocities forms the substance of his second Old Testament book, Lamentations. Bill Crowder

Sovereignty / Billy Graham

 

Sovereignty

Expressions of hospitality make me feel loved. I grew up in a large family with more people than rooms, more tummies to fill than chairs at the table, and more company than you can imagine. Somehow my mother provided everything everyone needed. She stretched meals, created space, and served us well. She made places for people she loved.

I think of that when I read Genesis 1. God made a place for us. It was only going to be a few days before He crafted His most special creation of all—the one He loved more than anything else He made ... humankind, created in His own image. But first, God, in His sovereignty, made a place for us: earth, a place of great beauty to enjoy and one that provided for our every need, and heaven, where we can live with Him forever. In the beginning, He was preparing for us.

Mary Graham

Taken from Women of Faith Devotional Bible

“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬ ‭

Molding You / NKJV 365

 

Molding You

I have a friend who during the Depression lost his job, a fortune, a wife, and a home. But he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone. “What are you going to do with that?” asked my friend. The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here, so it will fit in up there.” Tears filled the eyes of my friend as he walked away, for it seemed that God had spoken through the workman to explain his ordeal through which he was passing, “I’m shaping you down here, so you’ll fit in up there.”

Daily Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for all the “shaping” in my life, which brings me closer to You.

“It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:11

The Broad Field of Promise / Alistair Begg

 

The Broad Field of Promise 

Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain. 

Ruth 2:2

Downcast and troubled Christian, come and glean today in the broad field of promise. Here is an abundance of precious promises, which meet your needs exactly. Take this one: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.”1 Is that not helpful to you? A reed, helpless, insignificant, and weak, a bruised reed, out of which no music can come, weaker than weakness itself—yet He will not break you, but on the contrary, will restore and strengthen you.

You are like the smoking wick: No light, no warmth, can come from you, but He will not extinguish you; He will blow with His sweet breath of mercy until He fans you into a flame. Would you glean another ear? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”2 What gentle words! Your heart is tender, and the Master knows it, and therefore He speaks so softly to you. Will you not obey Him and come to Him even now? Take another ear of corn: “Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”3 How can you fear with such a wonderful assurance as this?

You may gather ten thousand golden ears such as this: “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist.”4 Or this: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”5 Or this: “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”6 Our Master’s field is very rich, as you can see. Plenty of promises lie before you, believer! Gather them up, make them your own, for Jesus wants you to have them. Do not be afraid; only believe! Grasp these sweet promises, thresh them out by meditation, and feed on them with joy.

1) Isaiah 42:3
2) Matthew 11:28
3) Isaiah 41:14
4) Isaiah 44:22
5) Isaiah 1:18
6) Revelation 22:17

August 1 / Wisdom from the Psalms

Psalms 96:10
Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

The concrete mixers rolled in and out of the lot throughout the day. Each deposited its load into the foundation of the new office building, then departed. Dozens of men worked to shape and structure the foundation. Finally, the huge concrete slab was in place. Tons of concrete provided the base for what would become a huge office complex. With a firm foundation in place, construction could begin.

We need to have a firm foundation before we structure our lives. If we set our hearts and minds upon God, He will give us His strength; a strength which cannot be moved. God is the only real foundation. Anything else is a poor substitute.

Prayer: Lord, be my anchor and support. When the day gets roughest, help me to remember that I am firmly established on Your Spirit and in Your love. Amen.

 

August 1 / Daily Blessings

 Daily Blessings

“Let your work appear unto your servants, and your glory unto their children.” - Ps 90:16

“Let your work appear unto your servants.” Creature works we here read nothing of. They had been long ago cut to the very ground. And what had been their deathblow? What had driven the dagger into their very heart? “Days of affliction, and years of evil.” These had been their destruction; creature righteousness they had stabbed to the very heart, and let out the life-blood of human merit. There is no petition, then, “Let our works appear!” No. These were buried in the grave of corruption; these were swallowed up and lost in “days of affliction, and years of evil.” But, “Let your work,” the finished work of the Son of God; the obedience of Jesus to the law; the atoning blood which he shed upon Calvary’s tree; the work which he undertook, went through, and completed—“Oh,” breathes forth the man of God in earnest cry (and our hearts if they have been taught by the same Spirit will unite in the same strain), “let your work appear unto your servants!”

What! can we not see that work in the word of God? is not that sufficient? Can we not hear that work set forth by good men? is not that sufficient? Can we not read it as opened up by the pen of ready writers? is not that sufficient? Yes; for those who have never seen “days of affliction, and years of evil,” amply sufficient; but not for God’s exercised children; they have other thoughts and other feelings upon these matters. They know what darkness of mind is, the power of unbelief, and creature helplessness; and they know that nothing short of the light of God’s countenance, the manifestation of God’s mercy, and the teaching and witness of God the Spirit, can make the work of Jesus appear in all its beauty, suitability, and glory; and therefore they can say,

“Let your work appear unto your servants. Give me, Lord, a sight by living faith of the atonement of Jesus. Show me” (the soul would cry in the language of Moses), “show me your glory; reveal in my heart the finished work of Jesus; sprinkle my conscience with his atoning blood; discover him to me, and thus give me a sweet manifestation of his Person, love, blood, and complete salvation. Let it, Lord, appear before my eyes, and in my heart, and seal it with divine power upon my conscience.”

You Can Trust / Streams

 You Can Trust

Surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead - Rom 6:13

I went one night to hear an address on consecration. No special message came to me from it, but as the speaker kneeled to pray, he dropped this sentence: “O Lord, Thou knowest we can trust the Man that died for us.” And that was my message. I rose and walked down the street to the train; and as I walked, I pondered deeply all that consecration might mean to my life and—I was afraid. And then, above the noise and clatter of the street traffic came to me the message: “You can trust the Man that died for you.”

I got into the train to ride homeward; and as I rode, I thought of the changes, the sacrifices, the disappointments which consecration might mean to me and—I was afraid.

I reached home and sought my room, and there upon my knees I saw my past life. I had been a Christian, an officer in the church, a Sunday-school superintendent, but had never definitely yielded my life to God.

Yet as I thought of the darling plans which might be baffled, of the cherished hopes to be surrendered, and the chosen profession which I might be called upon to abandon—I was afraid.

I did not see the better things God had for me, so my soul was shrinking back; and then for the last time, with a swift rush of convicting power, came to my innermost heart that searching message:

“My child, you can trust the Man that died for you. If you cannot trust Him whom can you trust?”

That settled it for me, for in a flash I saw that the Man who so loved me as to die for me could be absolutely trusted with all the concerns of the life He had saved.

Friend, you can trust the Man that died for you. You can trust Him to baffle no plan which is not best to be foiled, and to carry out every one which is for God’s glory and your highest good. You can trust Him to lead you in the path which is the very best in this world for you.—J H. McC

“Just as I am, thy love unknown,  

Has broken every barrier down,  

Now to be Thine, yea, Thine ALONE,  

O Lamb of God, I come!”  

“Life is not salvage to be saved out of the world, but an investment to be used in the world.”