Grace and Peace by Billy Graham

Grace and Peace

The Christian life is never spoken of in the Bible as a bed of roses. It is uphill, because society is coming one way and the Christian is going the opposite way. But Jesus said that in the midst of your problems, in the midst of your difficulties, He will be there to give you grace and peace. Underneath all the troubles, will be the “still waters” that the Great Shepherd can provide. Many people are trying to steady themselves by taking tranquilizers. Jesus is the greatest tranquilizer of all. He can straighten out your life and put you back on center. Let Him take full control. You’ll go on your way rejoicing, as did those in the New Testament who met Jesus.

Daily Prayer

I need Your calmness and strength, for there are many trials to face, Lord Jesus. By faith I reach out to You, and receive the gift of Your peace in my life.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭KJV‬‬

When couples break solemn vows… by Adrian Rogers

When couples break solemn vows… 

AUGUST 29

“Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4

When couples break solemn vows—unless they repent with every ounce of their hearts—trust is broken. Put it down big, straight, and plain: People who treat sex lightly will also treat other human beings lightly.

No society can long endure that takes a loose view of sex. It’s the sin that led to the downfall of Greece, Rome, Egypt and Babylon. Immorality is the enemy of the home and the enemy of the home is the enemy of the nation. Immorality and impurity cause us to sin against society itself. My heart was grieved to read that in Washington D.C., the capitol of the so-called greatest nation on earth, there were more children born out of wedlock than were born in wedlock. That should cause us to fall on our face and weep before Almighty God.

Are you married? Tell your spouse today of your love and faithful commitment to him or her.

The Church That Changed by Stephen Davey

The Church That Changed

Acts 11:1
Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

I can still vividly remember a change that occurred in our household years ago.  It was when I took our older daughter to her first day of kindergarten. 

If you had watched us from twenty yards away, we would have made the perfect picture.  She had on new shoes and was carrying her shiny lunchbox; I was holding her hand as we walked from the parking lot to the school.  But if you had come within earshot, you would have discovered that we were actually arguing! 

She wanted me to stay in the car, saying, "Daddy, I don't need you to take me to class; I can do this by myself!" And I was saying, "Listen, you might be feeling good about all this, young lady, but I'm not—so why don't you just allow me a little insecurity!  Okay?"

I remember that change.  She went from a dependent five-year-old to an independent kindergartener.

No change is easy. We naturally resist the rough waters; the upheaval; the emotions; the hardships—there're all cousins to change.

The most difficult changes to make are those involving lifelong traditions and heritage.

I'll be even more specific: changes are hard to accept when it comes to church; when it involves your relationship to Christ; when it affects how you worship. 

How about you? Can you do an internal audit of your deeply cherished church traditions? 

·         Are they biblically based . . . or culturally based?
·         Are they resistant to the things Christ   resists . . . or are they conformed  to your peers' opinions?
·         Are they open to the things Christ teaches . . . or are they closed by personal bias?

Let's be honest: were the Lord to have restricted salvation to the Jews only, we would be lost!

Since Israel is God's light to the nations, it was His predetermined plan that this light should shine to the Gentiles. Remember Abraham was given three promises from God in Genesis 12-17:

Paul asks in Romans 3:1, "What advantage has the Jew?" His answer was that they had the oracles [Word] of God, and Christ would be born of the natural seed of Abraham, thus fulfilling God's promise to him that he would bless the entire world. 

So, what about us? Are we to be a blessing, too? Are we to accept, and even promote, change that brings the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations? 

Are we to drop cultural barriers for the cause of Christ? Are we to welcome all who are saved into the family of God? 

These questions bear answering . . . some traditions bear changing.

Prayer Point: Ask the Lord to give you a heart for people . . . and to help you see where change is needed in your own life. Most of all, ask Him to help you love others as Christ has loved you.

Extra Refreshment: Read Acts 15:1-41, and take note of the actions of the church when God worked among the Gentiles.

Mercy for the Believer by Alistair Begg

Mercy for the Believer

Have mercy on me, O God.
Psalm 51:1

When one of God's choice servants, William Carey, was suffering from a dangerous illness, the inquiry was made, "If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?" He replied, "Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.'" In the same spirit of humility he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone:

WILLIAM CAREY, BORN AUGUST 17th, 1761:
DIED-
"A wretched, poor, and helpless worm
On Your kind arms I fall."

Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honored of the saints approach their God. The best of men are conscious above all others that they are men at best. Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We need the Lord to have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our preaching, our offerings, and our living sacrifices. The blood was not only sprinkled on the doorposts of Israel's houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes upon our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy is needed to be exercised toward our duties, what will be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice!

The Priceless Value of the Gospel You Carry / Senior Living

The Priceless Value of the Gospel You Carry

August 29

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. - Romans 1:16

One foggy night in London many years ago, a poor man shuffled into a quaint little music shop on the edge of town. Under his right arm, he held an old violin in terrible condition. “My good sir,” the man said to the shopkeeper, “will you please buy this violin from me so I can get something to eat?”

The clerk took a quick look at the instrument and said, “I have many violins, so I can only give you 5 pounds for this one.” The man agreed, and departed with the money into the foggy night.

As the shopkeeper examined the old beat-up violin, he could hardly believe what he saw carved into the wood: “Antonio Stradivari… 1704.” He ran out into the street to find the man and give him a fair price. But he was gone.

Many Christians are a lot like that poor man. They carry with them something of unimaginable value, the gospel, yet have no idea how much it really is worth. But the truth is, for those who are spiritually dying, it’s the most important thing you could ever share with them.

Don’t go throughout your life concealing the power of God and keeping it to yourself. Understand the amazing power you have in the gospel and use it to rescue the lost from a Christless eternity!

Prayer Challenge

Pray that God would open your eyes anew to the gospel’s amazing value so that you’d be more eager to share it with others.

Questions for Thought

If the good news of Jesus has the power to save people from a Christless eternity, why do you think so many people hesitate to share it with others?

How might your life look different if you really grasped the gospel’s true value?

Invasive Threats by David Jeremiah

Invasive Threats And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Matthew 13:7 One afternoon in May 2018, a conservation biologist in the Pobitora National Park in India was riding his elephant on an inspection tour when he saw something alarming—the growth of a “bushy herb with small green leaves and creamy white flowers.” It’s called congress grass, and it’s a highly invasive plant that has damaged ecosystems in more than twenty countries around the world. Park officials worry they won’t be able to stop the plant from spreading and suffocating the natural plants that are fed on by their one-horned rhinos. It’s a constant fight against time and the invasive plant.[1]

Recommended Reading: Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus warned that the worries of life and the deceitfulness of riches are highly invasive threats to our spiritual health. When it comes to worry, we have to trust Him with our cares and keep His peace guarding our heart and mind. When it comes to the deceitfulness of wealth, we need to give generously to God’s work, which helps to keep our possessions in perspective. To keep your spiritual health strong and vibrant, avoid earthly distractions that occupy your time and obscure your vision. [Our hearts are] filled with a vast quantity, and, as I may say, a thick forest, of thorns… I do not say to root out, but even to cut down the thorns! John Calvin

August 29 / Streams in the Desert

And he went out carrying his own cross (John 19:17).

There is a poem called "The Changed Cross." It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose an other instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. "Ah, this I can wear with comfort," she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people's crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.

--Glimpses through Life's Windows

If thou, impatient, dost let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again;
Nor in another: here and here alone
Is given thee to suffer for God's sake.
In other worlds we may more perfectly
Love Him and serve Him, praise Him,
Grow nearer and nearer to Him with delight.
But then we shall not any more
Be called to suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canst thou not suffer, then, one hour or two?
If He should call thee from thy cross today,
Saying: "It is finished-that hard cross of thine
From which thou prayest for deliverance,
"Thinkest thou not some passion of regret
Would overcome thee? Thou would'st say,
"So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile
More patiently. I have not yet praised God."
Whensoe'er it comes, that summons that we look for,
It will seem soon, too soon. Let us take heed in time
That God may now be glorified in us.
--Ugo Bassi's Sermon in a Hospital

Our All-Knowing God by John MacArthur

Our All-Knowing God

“‘Do not be anxious then, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “With what shall we clothe ourselves?” For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things’” (Matthew 6:31-32).

To worry is to be like an unbeliever.

For us as believers, worry is needless because of God’s bounty, senseless because of God’s promise to provide, useless because of our inability to do anything, and faithless because by doing so we put ourselves in the same category as an unbeliever. In Matthew 6:32 the Greek term translated “Gentiles” can also be translated “pagans” or “heathen” and speaks of people without God and Christ. The Gentiles are consumed with seeking material gratification because they are ignorant of God’s supply and can’t claim His promise to provide. Instead of looking to God, they anxiously try to meet their needs on their own. But for a Christian to be preoccupied with material possessions and worry about the basics of life is a serious sin and uncharacteristic of his Christian faith.

The Christian faith says that God will supply all your needs and that you can trust Him (cf. Phil. 4:19). To worry about your food or your physical welfare or your clothing is to have a worldly mind. What about you? Do you face life like a Christian or an unbeliever? When things are difficult or the future is insecure, how do you react? Does your Christian faith affect your view of life? You should place everything in your life in the context of your faith—every trial, every anticipation of the future, and every present reality.

The Christian faith also says that “your heavenly Father knows” your needs (Matt. 6:32). If He knows your life and your needs, all you need to know is that He cares. And if He knows and cares, there’s no need for you to worry about anything. Your Heavenly Father has all the resources and love to provide for you.

Suggestions for Prayer

Praise your Father for knowing, caring, and providing for you.

For Further Study

Read and meditate on Psalm 145. Notice especially what God does in verses 14-16.

The Purpose of Prayer by Oswald Chambers

The Purpose of Prayer …one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray…"  LUKE 11:1 Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself. “Ask, and you will receive…” (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything. To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature. From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. from Shade of His Hand, 1200

Live. Pray. Love. by Xochitl Dixon

Live. Pray. Love.

Xochitl Dixon

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

Romans 12:9–21

Influenced by parents who were strong believers in Jesus, track star Jesse Owens lived as a courageous man of faith. During the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Owens, one of the few African Americans on the US team, received four gold medals in the presence of hate-filled Nazis and their leader, Hitler. He also befriended fellow athlete Luz Long, a German. Surrounded by Nazi propaganda, Owens’s simple act of living out his faith impacted Luz’s life. Later, Long wrote to Owens: “That hour in Berlin when I first spoke to you, when you had your knee upon the ground, I knew you were in prayer . . . . I think I might believe in God.”

Owens demonstrated how believers can answer the apostle Paul’s charge to “hate what is evil” and be “devoted to one another in love” (Romans 12:9–10). Though he could have responded to the evil around him with hate, Owens chose to live by faith and show love to a man who would later become his friend and eventually consider belief in God.

As God’s people commit to being “faithful in prayer” (v. 12), He empowers us to “live in harmony with one another” (v. 16).
When we depend on prayer, we can commit to living out our faith and loving all who are made in God’s image. As we cry out to God, He’ll help us break down barriers and build bridges of peace with our neighbors.

How can you build a bridge of peace between you and a neighbor? When have you seen your faithfulness in prayer bear fruit?

Heavenly Father, please strengthen us to come together in prayer, fully committed to loving others and living peacefully.

The Prayer of Faith by Charles Stanley

1 Kings 18:41-46

A committed and consistent prayer life is essential for every believer who wants to grow in his or her relationship with Christ. Yet so many Christians struggle in this area. What is hindering us? 

No Burden: Being diligent in prayer is easy when we feel passionate about our request. We will storm the gates of heaven when a loved one is sick, but once the urgency is past, so is the prayer. We drift back into apathy. 

No Time: We’re busy and can see no way to squeeze in regular prayer time without a drastic rearrangement of our schedule. 

No Apparent Answer: We’ve tried praying, but God just doesn’t seem to answer. Thinking, It’s a waste of time, we give up. 

James 5:16-18 tells us about someone whose prayer accomplished much: Elijah was passionate and persistent in his petitions because he knew God intimately and believed He would answer. Past answers to prayer and time spent in God’s presence had solidified the prophet’s trust. 

When Elijah first began to pray on the mountain, there was no apparent answer, and yet he continued to seek the Lord. God is always working around us whether we perceive it or not. Eyes of faith can see His presence and involvement even when there’s no tangible evidence. 

God did not design prayer as simply an avenue for requests; spending time in conversation with our heavenly Father is meant to help us know and love Him. Then, as we grow in passion for the Lord, spending time with Him will be a delight, and life turns into an adventure of faith.

The Secret of Surrender by Billy Graham

The Secret of Surrender

We have heard the modern expression, “Don’t fight it—it’s bigger than both of us.” Those who are meek do not fight back at life. They learn the secret of surrender, or yielding to God. He then fights for us! Instead of filling your mind with resentments, abusing your body by sinful diversion, and damaging your soul by willfulness, humbly give all over to God. Your conflicts will disappear and your inner tensions will vanish into thin air. Then your life will begin to count for something. You will have the feeling of belonging to life. Boredom will melt away, and you will become vibrant with hope and expectation. Because you are meekly yielded, you will begin to “inherit the earth” of good things, which God holds in store for all who trust Him with their all.

Daily Prayer

Let me yield to You this day, Father, all my innermost thoughts. I cannot hide from You.

“I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:19‬ ‭KJV‬‬

August 28 / Streams in the Desert

There he proved them (Exod. 15:25).

I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in the great ship, building, or bridge. He knew this because his testing room revealed it.

It is often so with God's children. God does not want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain. He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel, able to bear twisting and crushing to the uttermost without collapse.

He wants us to be, not hothouse plants, but storm-beaten oaks; not sand dunes driven with every gust of wind, but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us such He must needs bring us into His testing room of suffering. Many of us need no other argument than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed God's testing room of faith.
--J. H. McC

It is very easy for us to speak and theorize about faith, but God often casts us into crucibles to try our gold, and to separate it from the dross and alloy. Oh, happy are we if the hurricanes that ripple life's unquiet sea have the effect of making Jesus more precious. Better the storm with Christ than smooth waters without Him.
--Macduff

What if God could not manage to ripen your life without suffering? 

Revival Starts with You by Stephen Davey

Revival Starts with You

Matthew 5:16

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

How does the church gain the world's attention? How will the local church catch the ears of those who so desperately need to hear the gospel? It will only happen when Christians begin to get real with their faith and start living it out before men.

People are watching you. So, when you say you will do something, do it. When you fail at something, admit it. Don't claw and scrape and climb over others like everyone else. Trust that God is at work and settle for nothing less than the holiness and purity that He requires of you. Let this so establish itself in your character that it emanates from you before a needy and watchful world. If our gospel will change the world, it must first change us.

These words are from an Anglican bishop who lived a few generations ago. They were found among his last effects: 

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older, I discovered the world would not change. So, I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But, it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family—those closest to me. But, alas, they would have none of it. Now, as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize, if I had only been changed, then by example, perhaps I could have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country, and who knows, I may have even changed the world. 

This is where we must begin. It must start with the person staring back at you from the mirror, the one willing to make any changes necessary—not for your own glory, but for the glory of God. Christ reminds us in Matthew 5 that "they [will] see your good works and glorify [the] Father in heaven." Your ultimate purpose and joy will be in seeing others come to know the Savior as you have, for it is God who changes lives, and we are living testimonies of that. 

For that reason, we are to be like mirrors in the world, reflecting His character. If the world is ever going to see God, they must first see Him . . . in us.

Prayer Point: Pray that you will be a living reflection of Jesus Christ to the world, as well as to your church. Then, pray that God will work in the hearts of Christians in your church, calling them to dedicate themselves in living holy lives, breaching the gap between the church and the world.

Extra Refreshment: Read Ephesians 2—reminding the Church how we were called out, and what we have been called to do.