Tag: Encouragement

Daily Promise – September 7 – You will have everlasting joy

Isaiah 61:7
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:
therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

Promise #250: I will give you a double portion of your inheritance in exchange for your shame. 

In the Hebrew tradition, the eldest son of the family would receive a double portion of the family’s inheritance. So if I understand it correctly, if there were 5 heirs, the inheritance would be divided 6 ways and the eldest son would get 2/6, or double the inheritance that his brothers and/or sisters received.

Isaiah 61 is a prophetic declaration of freedom pointing to the day when Jesus would come to the world and be the fulfillment of all the promises made in this amazing chapter of the Bible. You can read more about this in Luke 4:14-20 if you like. Isaiah declares that the coming Messiah will bring freedom to the captives, comfort for the grieving and beauty for ashes. He always declares that we will exchange our shame for a double portion of our inheritance!

Since the double portion belongs to the eldest son, we know that this promise is referring to us sharing in the inheritance of our elder brother, Jesus Christ. No longer do we need to carry the stigma of shame! God has made us heirs of inheritance and joint heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:15-17). May the reality of all that is proclaimed in Isaiah 61 become a tangible benefit in your life today. Instead of shame, you will receive a DOUBLE PORTION of your inheritance!
Photo by Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Seek the good of others

VERSE:
Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
— 1 Corinthians 10:24
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Corinthians+10:24

THOUGHT:
Isn’t it amazing how the more we try to fix things for
ourselves, the more we focus on “looking out for number 1,” and the
more we also find ourselves isolated from meaningful relationships
that make life worth living. “If you want to have a friend, then be
a friend,” the saying goes. You know what? It’s right! It’s easy to
seek what is only for our own good. That’s what most folks do as a
matter of course. But what makes Christians redemptive, what makes
them like God, is their willingness to think of others before
themselves!

PRAYER:
Father, forgive me, because I know that I am often selfish and
seldom think through the implications of my decisions based on the
needs of others. I want to have the mind of Christ and be more
selfless and sacrificial with everyone who needs your grace and the
tenderness that you have placed within me to share with them.
Please bless me as I seek to be like your Son in this area of my
life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Related articles

Jesus proves God wants intimacy with us

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. (Matthew 6:5 TEV)

— — —

“Christian prayer presupposes faith, that is, adherence to Christ. He is the one and only Mediator of our prayers. We pray at his command, and to that word Christian prayer is always bound.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

— — —

Bonhoeffer notes that Jesus is proof that God wants intimacy with us. Jesus came to create a bridge to God, and we become intimate with the Father through Jesus.

This is a problem when we pray in pride. Prideful prayers set us up to be false mediators between others and God. They slyly say, “Look at how I pray. Watch me and see how persuasive I can be with God.” They suggest we have a special connection with God independent of our connection through Christ. That encourages others to believe our prayers have more meaning before God than their prayers, when the truth of the Bible is that anyone connected to God through Jesus can approach the throne of grace boldly (Hebrews 4:16).

Bonhoeffer says, “[Jesus] is the one and only Mediator of our prayers. We pray at his command, and to that word Christian prayer is always bound.”

This is the reason we pray in the name of Jesus and why eliminating the name of Jesus from our prayers is a significant theological issue.

It is important to note, then, the distinct difference between being an intercessor for others and any arrogant attempt to be a mediator for them. We do not connect anyone to God; Jesus connects them to God. But Jesus calls us to intercede on behalf of others, standing beside them and sometimes instead of them as we fulfill the law of Christ by carrying the burdens of others to God in prayer (Galatians 6:2).

Related articles

You are the light of the world

A sermon by Davon Huss

Matthew 5:14-5:15

Evening Service for 5/31/2009

There are all kinds of theories about how to motivate people. We can do it through guilt, fear or shame. But overall these were not Jesus’ methods. Jesus motivated through positive messages of hope and encouragement.

Jesus told those at the Sermon on the Mount. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. What kind of people did he say this to? Farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, housewives, all in a tiny remote village in an obscure part of the world. Talk about a statement of faith. It must have sounded absurd at the time even to them.

But so are we. Who are we? We might see ourselves that way but this is how God sees us. (Phil 2:15 NIV) children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

Thesis: You and I are the light of the world. What does it mean?

For instances:
1. We have a responsibility for the world.
A. What does light do?
1. Light is used to signal.
2. Light is used to guide. (Psa 119:105 NIV) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
3. Light is used to penetrate the darkness and expose evil and error. (John 3:19 NIV) This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:20 NIV) Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.(John 3:21 NIV) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
4. Light is used to prevent sin (security lights in dark areas)
5. Light is used to produce growth (plants).
6. Light does not exist for its own glory but to brighten up the world.
B. There was a time when the pulpits of this nation sounded with the call for young men and women to go out as missionaries to be lights to a world of darkness. We don’t sounds that trumpet as we once did. Shaun and Mary Ann Cooper.
C. We don’t call people to really sacrifice all they have and all they are for the good of souls and the Gospel.

2. We have something that the world desperately needs.
A. Mother Teresa was speaking to persons who had come to meet her from all over the world. Among the groups to which she spoke was one of the sisters from many North American orders. After her talk she asked if there were any questions. “Yes, I have one,” a woman sitting near the front said. “As you know, most of the orders represented here have been losing members. It seems that more and more women are leaving all the time. And yet your order is attracting thousands upon thousands. What do you do?” Mother Teresa said, “I give them Jesus.” “Yes, I know,” said the woman, “but take habits, for example. Do your women object to wearing habits? And the rules of the order, how do you do it?” “I give them Jesus,” Mother Teresa replied. “Yes, I know Mother,” said the woman, “but can you be more specific?” “I give them Jesus,” Mother Teresa repeated again. “Mother,” said the woman, “we are all of us aware of your fine work. I want to know about something else.” Mother Teresa said sternly, “I give them Jesus. There is nothing else.”
B. Many times that is all that we have. Our faith like many others has rules and commandments that are to benefit society. Our faith like many others has role models to look up to. Today we are reminded that we live in a pluralistic world. Many religions here in US. Many people who do good for this cause or in that name. What do we have to offer? Give them Jesus. The greatest heresy current today is that all religions are the same. Jesus had no peer. There never has been nor ever be anyone like Jesus.

3. We are not the source of light; we are reflectors of a much greater source.
A. In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”
B. What does he mean when he says, “We are the light of the world.” We are like the moon. The moon gives off no light of its own. It just reflects the sun’s light.
C. There is One who has touched our lives and given us the power and authority to touch others.
D. Eric Butterworth once told about a college professor who had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. The students were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote, “He hasn’t got a chance.” 25 years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded about the results. The earlier study was so inaccurate. What had happened to change the futures of these young boys? Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came back, “There was this teacher…” That teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the elderly but still alert woman what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a smile. “It’s really very simple,” she said. “I loved those boys.”
E. This teacher saw possibilities in them that no one else saw. Tell someone long enough they begin to believe.
F. The love they received from Jesus they passed on to others. Today there is no place in this world that the light people have received from Jesus does not shine.

Conclusion and invitation:
A. To convince the people of Philadelphia of the advantage of street lighting, Benjamin Franklin decided to show his neighbors be placing one in front of his house. He purchased an attractive lantern, polished the glass, and placed it on an extended pole in front of his house. Each evening, he would light the wick and hang out the lantern. Before long all of his neighbors noticed the light and even those far up the street noticed the warm glow around his house. The people passing by his house were delighted because it made walking in the dark so much easier. Soon, other placed lanterns in front of their homes and eventually the city recognized the need for having well lighted streets.
B. This is what Jesus is talking about later in vs. 14- a CITY on a hill. From an airplane the first light is supported by all the others.
C. People in this world are lost in darkness and they’re looking for light to lead them to spiritual, emotional and mental safety. This next song is talking about vs. 15
D. There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings a fire
Ignites a candle and makes His home
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, confused and torn
And hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Frustrated brother, see how he’s tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she’s been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame
So Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
And hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
We are a family whose hearts are blazing
So let’s raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world

Don Sutton, Pitcher (Hall of Fame)

Don Sutton 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Sutton

(Note: I found the following story of great interest to me, personally, because I went to High School with Don. He graduated 2 years after I did. We were in Student Council together.)

An illustration for Encouragement in a sermon by Davon Huss

Matthew 5:14-5:15

Evening Service for 5/31/2009
Matthew 5:14-15

*You are the Light of the World

Introduction:
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton hadn’t won a game in 8 weeks.

The press was suggesting that he be dropped from the starting lineup. The future looked bleak, and Sutton felt terrible.

Then, before a game, Dodgers manager Walter Alston tapped him on the shoulder. “I’d like to speak with you, Don,” he said. Sutton prepared for the worst.

“Don,” said Alston, “I know how the past couple of months have been for you. Everyone’s wondering whether we can make it to the play offs. You know there’s a lot of pressure. I’ve had to make a decision.”

Sutton had visions of being taken off the mound.

Alston continued, “If the Dodgers are going to win this year,” he said, looking Sutton in the eye, “they’re going to win with Don Sutton pitching. Come what may, you’re staying in the starting lineup. That’s all I wanted to say.”
Sutton’s losing streak lasted 2 more weeks, but because of his manager’s encouragement he felt different.

Something in him was turning around.

He found himself pitching the best ball of his career.

In the National League pennant drive, he won 13 games out of 14.

* For the conclusion of the sermon by Davon Huss, see the message:

You are the light of the world.

Daily Promise – September 6 – He will carry us in His arms

Deuteronomy 1:31
31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee,
as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

Promise #249: I will carry you in My arms just like a father carries his child.

The NIV Bible says this verse this way… “There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” This is one of those very clear pictures in the Old Testament of God’s Fatherheart for the nation of Israel. I find it interesting that from God’s perspective, He saw Himself as actually carrying each Israelite just like an earthly father would carry his son.

I wonder what that would have looked like in the eyes of God? Would God have been cradling Israel in His big strong arms? Would He have been lifting up Israel over His head so that the nation could sit on top of His shoulders? Perhaps there would be many ways for God to carry Israel, depending on their situation. When they were grieving… When they were taking new territory… When they were afraid… God was always there to hold them and carry them through each season, whether they were even aware that He was holding them or not.

The truth is that no matter how difficult life gets, it is God who is carrying us through every adversity. We might not be aware of how close He is always to us, but that does not change the reality that He is holding us very close all the days of our lives. May each one of us feel the warmth of His embrace today.

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Live a quiet life

VERSE:
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own
business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that
your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you
will not be dependent on anybody.
— 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=1+Thessalonians+4:11-12

THOUGHT:
What’s your ambition? I don’t know about you, but I’m not so
sure I could say my ambition is to “live a quiet life ….” But
when I hear the reason for that directive, I understand. So many
people I meet are frazzled, run down, and exhausted with all their
“busy-ness.” So let’s make a commitment to cycle down a little,
trust God more and more each day, and seek to live a life that wins
the respect of those around us!

PRAYER:
O precious and righteous Father, I need your help to learn to
slow down and tend to my own responsibilities instead of running
around out of control and without purpose. Please grant me not only
the wisdom that I have been praying for, but also the patience and
quietude that I need for that wisdom to change my heart and mind.
In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.

Daily Promise – Your life is written in God’s special book

Psalm 139:16
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Promise #248: All the days of your life are written in My special book. 

I like this Bible verse best from the NIV Bible which says… “your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” What an amazing promise! Before our body was even formed, the eyes of God were fixed upon us. Before we even breathed one breath, God had created a special book that contained each day of our lives.

In the ministry that God has called us to, we hear often that people struggle to feel like they belong in this world. If they were born out of an unplanned pregnancy, they might feel like their life was not intentionally planned. We have heard from some dear people that they felt they were a mistake!

If you struggle with any of these feelings, it is my hope and prayer that this promise would settle once and for all the irrevocable truth that it was God Himself who planned your life before the foundation of the world. It was not your parents that ultimately planned your existence, but your loving heavenly Father.

Every one of your days was written in His special book before one of them came to be! What attention to detail! What indescribable love! You were and are wanted by the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has a plan to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a bright future (Jeremiah 29:11).

~ Barry Adams

Relationships

Relationships.

What does that word mean? For a long time, when I saw that word I thought of relationships between a husband and a wife, a girlfriend and boyfriend, a parent and a child, a friend to a friend, and so on.

As I have been posting messages recently, I have started giving more thought as to what category or tag to attach to those messages. I’m finding that my mind gravitates to the category “Relationships”.

The reason: because so many messages fit into our Relationship with our Lord and Savior, our Father.

Messages that guide us to question:

Whether we are obeying Him.

Are we loving Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind?

What about loving our neighbor as ourselves and as we love God?

Is our mind on Him constantly? or are we occupied with thoughts and priorities that allow Him to come only at the end of our day when we are too tired to think clearly?

Are we too busy with “good works” to realize that He just wants us to talk to Him?

Are we trying to be “good enough” to make Him happy?

Are we so wrapped up in the effects of the problems of the world that we forget Who is in charge?

Where does our Father, our partner in life, our first love, our All, where does He fit?

My prayer for today is that we all pause more and take an inventory of what our relationship is with the most important person in our lives and check out our motives for what, or Who, is guiding our thinking.

Blessings,

Sharon

Becoming like Jesus in Prayer

Posted: 05 Sep 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6 TEV)

“True prayer does not depend either on the individual or the whole body of the faithful, but solely upon the knowledge that our heavenly Father knows our needs. That makes God the sole object of our prayers, and frees us from a false confidence in our own prayerful efforts.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

— — —

Prayer is an intimate conversation with your Heavenly Father.

When you try to impress others with your ability to pray, you mock that intimacy. You appear to be focusing on the Father when you’re actually focusing on yourself — your needs, your wants, your ability to persuade and bully God, and your desire to impress others with your knowledge of how to get God to give you what you want when you want it.

It’s absolutely no different from standing up and saying, “Look at me so you can be impressed with how connected I am with God!”

Eugene Peterson paraphrases Jesus’ comments this way: “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need” (Matthew 6:7-8 MSG).

If your motivation in prayer is to impress people, then Jesus says you will get what you want: praise from other people. In truth, that is exactly what you are asking for when you pray to impress: “Give me the praise of others.” Since your behavior exposes your beliefs, the presumption with prayers like this must be that praise from people can be used to pay bills or get you out of a jam when you’re flat on your back in the middle of some mess.

Jesus indicates God sees no need to reward you for these self-promoting prayers. They represent worldly thinking. Why would God reward you for that when he wants you to pray like someone who is part of the kingdom of heaven?

 

Verse of the Day – Our days on earth are but a shadow

VERSE:
We were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on
earth are but a shadow.
— Job 8:9

THOUGHT:
While Job never learned why he suffered, he did learn his place
in the universe before the Almighty God (Job 38-41). When we are
young, time passes so very slowly — especially if we are waiting
for something special! But as we get older, the years fly by more
and more quickly. Yet despite all our learning, despite all our
experience, we come to two great awakenings: our knowledge compared
to what there is to know is so very small and our place in the
passage of time is so very short. Both of these awakenings prepare
us to turn our lives and future over to our God who longs to bring
us to himself.

PRAYER:
Holy and Almighty God, my Abba Father, thank you so much for
your overwhelming patience as you try to communicate your love to
people like me with my limited abilities to comprehend your
magnificence and glory. Please give me wisdom this week, to make
the decisions I need to make and to choose your way and not my own.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110905

Encouragement to Grace

You’ve got everlasting arms beneath you,
love all around you,
GRACE to see you through,
and enough strength to make it too.

You’re supported in ways you can’t see,
more than you know,
and the God whose heart beats with love for you
will never let you go.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27

-Holley Gerth

Excerpt from one of Holley’s new cards, inspired by her new devotional book God’s Heart for You.

Encouragement to Hope

You can hold on to HOPE-no matter what happens
because there’s One who’s holding on to YOU.
He’ll stop at nothing and do anything
to make sure you have everything you need.
I’m waiting in hope with you to see all God will do.

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-
how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

-Holley Gerth

Excerpt from one of Holley’s new cards, inspired by her new devotional book God’s Heart for You.

Related articles

Gaining a heart of wisdom

VERSE:
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of
wisdom.
— Psalm 90:12
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Psalm+90:12

THOUGHT:
When we lose our sense of urgency to live for God, we end up
wasting our time! God has a plan for us, for our world, and for his
church. Without God’s gift of “spiritual arithmetic” (numbering our
days aright), we will never gain a heart of wisdom. So how do we
get such a gift? Ask for it without doubting (James 1:5-7)!
Trusting the Lord for wisdom has a huge effect on us and the way we
conduct our lives. Rather than losing heart, God gives us a heart
of wisdom!

PRAYER:
Holy and Almighty God, King of the Ages, you alone live in
complete wisdom, justice, and grace. Please help me to know what
time it is in my life and the role you want me to play at this
stage of my journey. I want my life to be lived glorifying you. In
Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110904

Daily Promise – September 3 – We don’t have to be afraid any longer

Zephaniah 3:17 KJV
17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice
over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Promise #246: You can rest in My love, for I have power to save you.

I know that I say many of the promises are some of my most favorite, but this is really one of my favorite Old Testament Bible passages.
What a picture of God’s intimate heart for His kids! He says that He lives right in the midst of us, that He is mighty to save us and He rejoices over us with great joy and singing!

This is one of those amazing images in the Bible that speaks of a Father’s delight for His children. I believe that the connotation here is that God Himself is actually almost not able to contain Himself with the joy that He has for us.

My prayer today is that each and every one of us would be able to let this image go deeper into our hearts than it has ever gone before.

God is excited over your life! He is so happy that He sings His love songs over you and me.

Part of the promise of this one Bible verse is that because God really does love us and He has power to save us, we can rest in His love.
We don’t have to be afraid any longer.
He is big, He is strong and He is mighty to save us!
All we have to do is yield to His love today and rest.
~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – Using the gifts you’ve already been given

2 Timothy 1:13-14

What you heard from me,

keep as the pattern of sound teaching,

with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—

guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Read at Bible Gateway

Read all of 2 Timothy 1

Timothy had been Paul’s young helper. But, now, he was about to go out on his own to be the leader of a church. Although his responsibilities were changing, Paul is telling him to continue patterning himself with the sound teaching, faith, and love in Christ Jesus. Timothy had all of the foundational teaching and the gifts he needed. He just needed to allow the Holy Spirit to guard him and guide him.

Verse of the Day – God will tell us great and unsearchable things

VERSE:
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know.
— Jeremiah 33:3
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Jeremiah+33:3

THOUGHT:
God wants us to seek him and call out to him. He wants to answer
us and tell us about things beyond our human comprehension. He
longs to draw us close so that we can know him. Like a scared child
calls out to a loving father in the next room, we too can call on
him knowing that our Father will answer, protect, and comfort us.
Even more than that, our Father will reveal to us things that would
be impossible for us to know without his grace.

PRAYER:
Almighty God and Abba Father, I do want to know you and to be
known by you. Yes, there are things in my heart and my life that I
wish were not there. But I know your grace and I am confident that
you know my heart and its desire to reflect your glory, share your
grace, and display your character. Thank you for the gift of being
your child and having my future secured. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110902

Daily Promises – September 2 – Every heart beat and every breath comes from the goodness of our heavenly Dad

Acts 17:24-25 KJV
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

Promise #245: I give life and breath to all things.

In today’s promise, we read the Scripture passage where the Apostle Paul is speaking to some Greek philosophers on a place called Mars Hill. In this place of pagan worship, they have many false gods that they have erected statues and monuments to.

Paul, being the relevant kind of guy that he was, stopped at a simple monument created for ‘the unknown god’. It was there that Paul began to reveal some of the mysteries who the ‘unknown god’ actually was. Paul goes on to preach the good news to these philosophers and reveals that He is actually the only true God and that He does not need to be worshipped through statues and idols as He is the very one that gives life and breath to all things!

The reality is that our God and Father is not unknown and nameless. If we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is look at His Son, Jesus Christ. In John 14:9, Jesus says that anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the exact representation of the Father’s being.

The wonderful news about today’s promise is that the God and Father of all creation (Ephesians 4:6) continues to be very involved in everything He created. He is not distant and unconcerned, for every heart beat and every breath comes from the goodness of our heavenly Dad.
Photo by Carl Dyck

Verse of the Day – My hope is in You, Lord, all day long

VERSE:
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your
truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in
you all day long.
— Psalm 25:4-5
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=Psalm+25:4-5

THOUGHT:
Life can be so confusing. There are so many choices for us as we
decide the values that will govern our lives. So how are we going
to find the best way, God’s way, to live? We will ask God to show
us! Our hope is in him. Our salvation is in him. So why not ask him
to guide us and teach us his truth? Why not expect that he will
make his will known for us? If our hearts are open to his truth and
we are seeking his path, he will make his will known.

PRAYER:
O mighty God, the only true guide to life, please help me to
know your will more completely. I want to live for you and to
please you. I want others to know of my allegiance to you — not
just because of the words I speak, but also through the character
of my conduct. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110901

No matter what the day brings, rest in His love

Genesis 1:1 KJV
In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth.

Promise #244: I spoke the universe into existence.

Right at the beginning of the Book of all books, the Bible says… “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This statement alone could be enough to bring peace to any unsettled heart. God is in control. And He has always been in control.

He is the One who spoke the entire universe into existence with just the sound of His voice. He is the Almighty God. He is the All Powerful God. He is the All Knowing God. Whenever you feel that your life is spinning off its axis, be comforted in knowing that our God and Father has always been and always will be.

This is the same Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Creator who has decided to love you with all His heart (1 John 3:1). No matter what forces oppose you today, be comforted in knowing that the God who spoke the universe into existence is in your corner!

Verse of the Day – Your love has given me great joy and encouragement

VERSE:
   Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,

because you, brother,

have refreshed the hearts of the saints.    

Philemon 1:7

THOUGHT:   

Wouldn’t this description of Philemon

be a great one to have said about you!

To be loved,

supported,

and encouraged by an encourager

is to have your heart refreshed

and your attitude lifted.

Let’s make a commitment to be an “encourager”

who refreshes the hearts of those around us this week.

PRAYER:
   Tender and loving God,

thank you for leading the people into my

life who have encouraged me when I most needed it.

Please give me

the eyes to see and the heart to serve

those around me who desperately need my encouragement.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20110831

Daily Promises – August 31 – You can look forward . . .

2 Peter 3:13 KJV
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Promise #243: You can look forward to the new heaven and earth that I have promised.

We have something really big to look forward to! … A new heaven and a new earth! If that is not cause for celebration, I don’t what is! All of the reminders of a fallen world will be gone and we will have the privilege of enjoying an untainted new residence for all of eternity! No matter how difficult our circumstances become, we all can hold onto the promise of eternal life.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God promises a hope and a future to all who belong to Him. The next time you turn on the television and watch the news, don’t lose heart! There is a time coming when our God and Father will make a new heaven and a new earth for us! How amazing will that day be for all those who are in Christ!

~ Barry Adams

Why we must depend on God’s Grace

Romans 2:1 (New King James Version)

1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself;  for you who judge practice the same things.

No one is good enough to save himself. We must depend totally on God’s grace, regardless of whether we have done horrible things, or have been full of good deeds and rarely do anything wrong. Any sin is enough to cause us to depend on Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.

 

Note: Dictionary.com defines salvation

sal·va·tion

[sal-vey-shuhn]

noun

1.   the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2.  the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3.  a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4.  Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.

 

Daily Promises – August 30 – A Mansion for us

John 14:2 KJV
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.

Promise #242: There is a special room in My house prepared just for you.

This is part of Jesus’ last address to His disciples before He goes to the cross. It is interesting that Jesus actually assumes that the disciples already know that they have a place in His Father’s house because He says… “If it were not so, I would have told you”. The verse prior to this one, Jesus says to His disciples … “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. NIV Bible

The very foundation of believing the promise that we have a place in our Father’s house (& heart) is trust. Jesus’ heart’s cry is trust in My Father and trust in me too! It is amazing to think that each one of us who has called on the name of the Lord and received the free gift of eternal life, has a place already prepared for us in heaven.

No matter how unstable this world system gets, we already have a home prepared for us and Jesus promises to one day receive us back unto Himself so that we can be with Him where He lives for eternity (verse 3). Where is this special room located in heaven? In John 1:18 KJV, it says that Jesus declared the Father right from His bosom. If we are to be where Jesus lives, I believe that each one of the rooms in the Father’s house are located right in the center of His heart!

What a glorious promise! We will live forever with Jesus in the very bosom of the Father! May this promise bring comfort and hope to our hearts today no matter what trials we are facing.

~ Barry Adams

7 Gifts to Give a Friend

The Gift of Love

May you find love in your family and your friends. And may you share the love you have to give. When you share your love, it comes back to you in many forms.

“Love is a fruit in season at all times,

and within the reach of every hand.”

~ Mother Teresa

The Gift of Laughter

May laughter fill your home, relieve your stress, and strengthen your friendships. Do not let a day go buy without laughing; it is good for your health. “Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.”

~ Arnold Glasow

The Gift of Living Each Day to The Fullest

Every day is a gift, and may you use this gift by living life to the fullest. You will never have this day again. What will you do with it?

“Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

And today?

Today is a gift.

That’s why we call it the present.”

~ Babatunde Olatunji

The Gift of Not Worrying

May your days be worry-free.

If you find yourself worrying about something then fix it.

If it is beyond your control,

then there is no sense in worrying about it.

90% of what you worry about will never happen,

so why worry!

“I’ve seen many troubles in my time,

only half of which ever came true.”

Mark Twain

The Gift of Positive Thinking

May you find the good in all situations,

even if you have to look for it –

look because it is there.

No matter what happens in your life, find the good.

Your life will be a happier one.

“Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.”

~ Richard Bach

The Gift of Balance in Your Life

May you find the balance of life,

time for work but also time for play.

Too much of one thing ends up creating stress

that no one needs in their life.

“Live a balanced life.

Learn some and think some

and draw and paint

and sing and dance

and play and work

every day some.”

~ Robert Fulghum

The Gift of Goal Setting

May all your dreams turn into goals.

Goals will help you accomplish things

you may have thought impossible.

“If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy,

that requires a lot of work,

that incurs a great deal of interest

and that is a challenge to you,

you will always look forward to waking up

to see what the new day brings.”

~ Susan Polis Schultz

Written by: Catherine Pulsifer, © 2007

http://321greetings.com

Nobody is a Nobody

This is a true story about a boy who, the world might say, was a terrible underachiever. While in the eighth grade, he failed subjects repeatedly.
High school wasn’t much better; he flunked Latin, algebra, English, and received a grade of zero in physics. The boy managed to make the school golf team, but he lost the most important golf match of the season, and
even though there was a consolation match, he failed miserably in that too.

It’s not that his peers disliked this boy; it’s just that they never really seemed to notice him much. Even “Hellos” in the hall were a rarity.

Out of all the failures in his life, there was something that did hold great importance to this boy, his love of drawing. Although in high school, the cartoons he submitted to the yearbook were rejected, once out of school, the boy was so sure of his artistic talent that he approached Walt Disney Studios with drawing samples. I wish I could say the studio execs loved his work and immediately hired him, but such was not the case; another huge rejection.

Despite his many lack of successes, this boy did not give up. He then decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons, about a little boy who was regarded as a loser and a nobody.

The name of this boy was Charles Schulz, the creator of the famous Charlie Brown and Peanuts comic strip.

In life, it is sometimes easy to feel like a nobody. We pass hundreds of people on the street on our way to work, or walk through a faceless crowd in a mall, and no one seems to notice or care. Deep inside, we may know we are special and unique and have lots to offer, but unless someone takes the time to look our way and give us a chance, we may feel worthless and mediocre, just like Charlie Brown who couldn’t even manage to fly a kite or kick a football properly.

Just as Charles Schulz had faith in his artistic talent, so too, must we realize that nobody is a nobody…especially in God’s eyes. We all have special gifts and talents, and every human being is deserving and capable of being loved and appreciated.

Today, I invite you to look deep within yourself, and rather than see what you can do to improve yourself, as all the many self-help books suggest, find what you already “like” about yourself!

Do you have an awesome laugh or smile? Are you thoughtful and sensitive to the needs of others? Are you down-to-earth and practical? Do you enjoy your ability to dream and hope?

Our heavenly Father does not see with external eyes, but sees to the very core of our foundation. There is nothing we can hide from Him, and He alone, knows our motives and most secret desires. Learn to love yourself the way our Creator does, and learn to reach out to others the same way God is awaiting you with
open arms.

Written by: Melanie Schurr

When Speculation Replaces Faith

By Jon Walker

That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go. (Matthew 19:22 MSG)

Jesus demands we drop the distractions and become single-minded in our obedience to his commands. In the case of the rich young man, this pulls him away from the romantic fantasy that Christ’s commands are what Bonhoeffer calls a mere “opportunity for moral adventure, a thrilling way of life, but one which might easily be abandoned for another if occasion arose.”

The young man is pulled into the reality of costly grace, where our only hope to enter the kingdom of heaven lies in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus won’t allow him to see eternal life as a distant dream; he insists the young man follow him into that life now. Jesus consistently said, “The kingdom of heaven is upon you.”

Discipleship, Bonhoeffer says, is not the completion of an old life, doing that one final thing you have to do to enter the kingdom, like the capstone of a long and distinguished career ushers you into retirement. Discipleship is about irrevocably leaving your present life behind and entering a new life where Jesus is the center of significance.

It is a life in which Jesus is the only significance.

Bonhoeffer says, “Here is the sum of the commandments—to live in fellowship with Christ.” Jesus must bring us to the place where we abandon anything that holds us to the old life, anything other than Jesus to which we are attached.

The attachments may be different for different people. For the rich young man, the attachment was to his wealth. What are the attachments you have that keep you part-time in your pursuit of Christ?

When Speculation Replaces Faith is a post from: GraceCreates Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

Facebook: GraceCreates with Jon Walker. Twitter: http://twitter.com/Grace_Creates

How Do You Live Your Dash?

How Do You Live Your Dash?
by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning … to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matter not how much we own;
the cars … the house … the cash.
What matters is how we live and love …
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;
are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real …
And always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more.
And love the people in our lives …
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile …
Remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy’s being read …
With your life’s actions to rehash …
Would you be proud of the things they say …
About how you spent your dash?

Verse of the Day – How we treat others

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Read at Bible Gateway

Read all of Galatians 3

This verse calls us to check our motives,

and our true Christian actions,

or reactions to people.

One of the main gauges of our spiritual growth

is how we treat others,

whether with prejudice,

or opened arms.

Your sister in Christ,

Sharon

Daily Promises – August 29 – You can Celebrate!

Luke 10:20 KJV
20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you;
but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Promise #241: You can celebrate because your name is written in heaven.

In this Scripture passage, Jesus is telling His disciples not to rejoice because the demons submit to their authority, but rather rejoice because their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I believe the core of what Jesus is saying in this passage is simply this… relationship supercedes authority.

Though signs may follow us wherever we go on this side of heaven, the very reason for this demonstration of the authority that God has entrusted to us is because we belong to Him. The very fact that our names are written in heaven means that we will live with God Himself for all eternity and that is cause for lots of celebrating!

Though we may walk in the miraculous power of God, let us never forget that the very essence of why God saved us was not for works but for relationship. In Matthew 7:22-24 Jesus warns there will be some people who walked in miraculous signs and wonders in Jesus name who never knew Him. To ‘know’ Jesus is to be intimate with Him and that is the very reason why we were saved.

So no matter what amazing works God has you do today, do not rejoice because of the works themselves, but because your name is written in the halls of heaven where you will live with God forever!

~ Barry Adams

Daily Promises – August 28 – My cup overflows

 

 

Psalm 23:5 KJV
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Promise #240: I will anoint you with oil so your cup overflows.

In today’s promise, King David declares that the Lord not only prepares a banquet for him right in the very presence of his enemies, but God anoints his head with oil so his cup overflows.

What a picture of abundance.
Right in the midst of his enemies, David says that there is overflowing blessings.

I believe that the anointing that God wants to pour out over our lives today will cause us to live a life of fullness, where others will be able to benefit from the spillover of the anointing of God in our lives.

In many Christian circles, the focus is on what we can do for God. How hard we can work, how we can demonstrate our love for Him.

While all these things can be good in themselves, if we do them to somehow earn His love, we are missing the point.

In 1 John 1:19, the Apostle Johns says, “We love because He first loved us”. God initiates, we receive.
I believe that the key to living a life from a full cup is coming to the place where we learn to be good receivers from God.

The more love we can receive from Him, the more will overflow in our lives.

The more anointing that He pours in us, the more can be spilled over to others.
My prayer today is that we would all learn to become better receivers of the goodness and graciousness of our God and Father so that we might live our lives from a full cup that is continually overflowing.
~ Barry Adams

A still and quiet soul

By Jon Walker

My heart is not proud . . .

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother. . . .

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord

both now and forevermore.

(Psalm 131:1–3 NIV)

Psalm 131 teaches us to:

 

  • Keep our hearts humble. A humble heart means we know our position in Christ and stop being responsible for the things for which we were never responsible. This frees us to live like God intended and allows us to make uncluttered choices that will move us closer to God.

 

  • Show the maturity of a weaned child. We quietly center ourselves on God, peacefully, without agitation and anxiety, and trust God is actively supporting us. We trust God even when the answer to our prayers seems a long way off. The nursing child demands attention now, but the weaned child trusts and is content to wait.

 

  • Hope in the Lord with confident expectation. God’s Word says God will answer our prayers; he will respond to our needs; he will pave the path before us now and forever (Psalm 18:36).

Fruit that will last

“I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last.” 

John 15:16

A good gardener will do what it takes to help a vine bear fruit.

What fruit does God want?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

These are fruits of the Spirit.

And this is what God longs to see in us.

And like a careful gardener,

he will clip and cut away anything that interferes.

~ Max Lucado

God Can, Even Though I Can’t


By Jon Walker

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves,

but our competence comes from God.

(2 Corinthians 3:5 NIV)

The only way you will fulfill God’s destiny for you is to rely on God’s strength. And that means you have to confess, “I can’t,” before you can agree, “God can.”

Otherwise, we’ll just keep thinking there’s still some ability (competency, sufficiency) in us that will allow us — independent of God — to do the things he expects of us.

We’ll continue to believe, wrongly, that we can do some things, perhaps all things, apart from God. We’ll keep applying the pretzel logic that we can make decisions disconnected from God that somehow keep us connected to God’s plans for us.

And when we make choices disconnected and independent from God, there is little difference between the way we live our lives and the way non-believers live their lives.

“But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT)

You have the Holy Spirit inside you. You have the ability to understand when God is telling you to take steps toward his goals for your life. Ask him to teach you to hear his still small voice and to help you take the steps he tells you to take. Then, look for the ways he guides you through the decisions and details of your life.

For the next few weeks, keep a list of all the times you sense God giving you direction. This will help you to see that he is at work in your life and that he has a constant interest in the details of your life.

Olly, Olly Oxen Free! « Two Minutes of Grace

Olly, Olly Oxen Free! « Two Minutes of Grace.

Debbie and I are kindred souls for sure. Lightning bugs, memories, hide and seek, learning to feel loved by God, so we feel love for ourselves. We can live and dwell in the Room of Grace rather than in the Room of Good Intentions. We are accepted for Who we are by God. After all, we are HIS handiwork, specially made for His good pleasure. Thanks, Debbie for sharing from your heart, as always.

Daily Promises – August 27 – He will shield us with His favor

Psalm 5:12 KJV
12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous;
with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Promise #239: I will bless My righteous ones and shield them with My favor.

When someone has favor from the king, everyone in the kingdom knows it! Wherever they go, all of the royal subjects would recognize that this special person lives under the blessing of the king.

What do you think it would feel like to be shielded with favor from a king?

The truth is that we already have that kind of favor on our lives right now!

The King of kings is not only our king, but He is our elder brother too! We are part of His family and co-heirs with Him in His Father’s kingdom.
We are called to live a life where we look on the unseen and the eternal,
not the seen and the temporal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

If we could see into the reality of the kingdom,

we would see the favor that God has already placed on us,
that encompasses us wherever we go!
Angels who are ministering servants to the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14), going before us and behind us…
Just because we are God’s kids and part of His amazing family.

May our God and Father open up our eyes today to begin to see into the unseen realm so that we can experience the tangible sense of His blessings and favor that surround us like a shield.

~ Barry Adams

Chew on Scripture

“You thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.” 

Psalm 1:2 The Message

The Bible is not a newspaper to be skimmed

but rather a mine to be quarried.

Here is a practical point.

Study the Bible a little at a time.

God seems to send messages as did his manna:

one day’s portion at a time.

He provides ” a command here, a command there.

A rule here, a rule there.

A little lesson here, a little lesson there” (Isa. 28:10).

Choose depth over quantity.

~ Max Lucado

Hurricane Irene

Irene is of particular interest to us, because we lived on the North Carolina coast for 1 1/2 years. We can empathize with those along the entire coast and those inland who are going through this storm and its effects. The floods and tornadoes are of great concern.

We are praying that you will all be safe and ready for any emergency.

God is our strength. Lean into Him.

Blessings,

Sharon & Erick

Daily Promises – August 26 – You shall obtain mercy if . . .

Matthew 5:7 KJV
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Promise #238: I will show mercy to those who are merciful to others.Even in secular surroundings, there is an often quoted verse from Jesus that we call the ‘golden rule’.

Do unto others as you would like others to do unto you.
Even the world recognizes that this is a universal principle.
Mercy works the same way. There is a promise for mercy for those who are merciful to others.

It is that simple.
How much mercy do I need in my life?
Do I need just a little, or a lot? 
And of course my answer is always…
“I need as much mercy as I can get!”The way that I can walk in mercy (for myself) every day is by simply extending mercy to those around me.

The person who cuts me off when I am driving,
the miserable store clerk,
the friend who might have offended me in some way.
If I forget that I need mercy myself,
I may forget that I need to extend mercy to others. Think of the areas that you need mercy in your own life.

For your shortcomings, for your failures, etc.
Do you want mercy to cover every area where you fall short?
Then shower mercy on others on every occasion
because mercy is receiving something we don’t deserve.We know that God’s love for us is unconditional and we can’t do anything to earn or deserve it.

However, there is a principle in God’s kingdom that is at work
everytime we sow something…
because what we sow, we will eventually reap.
I know that I need mercy today,
so I pray that I will have the wisdom to sow mercy wherever I go!

The Whole Basket « Two Minutes of Grace

The Whole Basket « Two Minutes of Grace.

As usual, Debbie is in tune with the Holy Spirit to offer a new perspective of  how to interpret the scripture. I, for one, really look forward to her messages because they make me think through a lot of my own “misunderstood meanings within the scripture that has haunted me all of my Christian life”. It’s time to open up to a more positive, loving meaning from our Lord. Thanks, Debbie, for your dependence on God to give all of us new insight.

. . . Change Your Life


Posted: 23 Aug 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again. (John 8:11 TEV)

Grace is meant to justify the sinner — “Go and sin no more.” Grace is never meant to justify our sins — “Everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are.”

In other words, the grace of God is not a cosmic “get out of jail free” card.

Grace is given freely, but it cost Jesus a bloody price to offer it to us: “Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13 NLT).

Grace is given freely, but to walk in grace with Jesus will cost us everything as we join Jesus in “the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing” (Ephesians 2:10 MSG).

Jesus rescued the woman caught in adultery from certain death, but his expectation was that her life would change immediately. To return to her old life would have mocked the very grace that Jesus offered her that day.

His expectation of a changed life is no different for us: “Go in my grace, and sin no more.”

IRANIAN AUTHOR: “WHY I RENOUNCE ISLAM AND CHOOSE CHRIST”

 

By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C, August 25, 2011) — Today, my friend Reza Kahlili, the former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officer, has posted an article on his blog telling the world that he has renounced Shia Islam and become a follower of Jesus Christ. The article is also running today on the WorldNet Daily website.

An excerpt: “Jesus came to me when I needed guidance. He came to me at a time when my faith in man and religion was totally shaken. His words and His love became the guiding light to set me free from sin and hopelessness. I found myself knowing there is goodness and kindness and that it comes from within us – that it is only through His love that we will find peace and eternal life….After a long journey, I have finally found my God. I feel at home now. And as I continue my fight against the evil in Iran, I know in my heart that the Lord will guide me in that fight because He loves the people of Iran even more than I do. The Iranian people are desperate for their freedom, and Jesus says, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32).”

Publicly professing one’s faith in Jesus Christ is a big step for anyone from Shia or Sunni Islam. This is no less true for Reza today. Please pray for him to be strong. Please pray for him to walk with Jesus every day. Please pray that the Lord would protect him and his family spiritually, emotionally and physically as Reza takes this important step in the life of all Christ followers. Pray, too, that many will be moved to read the New Testament and consider the claims of Jesus of Nazareth and come to realize that Jesus truly is the Messiah. Feel free to share Reza’s article with family, friends and colleagues who would

Daily Promises – August 25 – God will keep us safe from the evil one

1 John 5:18 KJV

18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not;
but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.


Promise #237: I will keep you safe from the evil one.I really like the second part of the NIV Bible translation for this verse – the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. The NLT translation says it this way – for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

When we are born of God, we are safe. We have no reason to fear because Jesus Himself is our protector. This Bible verse says that the evil one cannot touch us. What a promise! In the world we live in, there is much to be afraid of, so much uncertainty that can keep people living in a state of fear. But we are not of this world, we are born of God. In John 3:9, the Apostle John says that God’s seed remains in us, His very DNA.

So be of good courage today because you have nothing to fear. For God has promised to keep you safe and secure in His loving embrace.

~ Barry Adams

Hatch or Go Bad (revised) « Two Minutes of Grace

Hatch or Go Bad (revised) « Two Minutes of Grace.

Thought-provoking. Many times I just want to stay in my shell. It’s easier than breaking out of it, huh? And it feels safer at the time. I think that’s why we restarted our “site”. It’s safer, while still breaking through the shell, at least a little bit.

It’s hard to not “Hide our light under a bushel”.

Are you a strong woman who has made it through the rain?

This is for all the strong ladies,

who have made it through so much in life:

             I am strong, because I know my weaknesses.   

             I’m compassionate because I have known suffering.

             I am alive, because I am a fighter.

             I am wise because I’ve been foolish.

             And I can laugh, because I have known sadness.  

Do You Have a Teachable Spirit?

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

Paul replied, ‘Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: “Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.”’ (Acts 23:5 NIV)

We have a teachable spirit when we can quickly respond to the truth, bringing our beliefs, thoughts, and behavior into line with what is true.

In a rather extreme example of being teachable, the apostle Paul stands before the Sanhedrin with a bloody lip. Someone had just ordered that Paul be slapped.

Immediately, Paul rebukes the man who gave the command: “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” (Acts 23:3 HCSB).

Paul is immediately rebuked by the men standing next to him. They tell him that the man who gave the order to slap him was “God’s high priest,” and even though Paul has disagreements with the man, he respects him as God’s anointed leader in that place and for that time (Acts 23:4).

Paul immediately takes the correction and, with the taste of blood still in his mouth, says, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people’” (Acts 23:5 NIV).

The Bible says it is wise to be open to instruction, even rebuke:

“… Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still;

teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning”

(Proverbs 9:8b–9 NIV).

Can You Do Everything in Christ?


Posted: 22 Aug 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13 NIV)

We’re not as strong as we think we are, but God is stronger than we think.

You become strong through God’s strength. His strength enters your life, delivered by the Holy Spirit—Jesus within—and the more dependent you are on God, the stronger in him you become. In our weakness, he is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

“I can do everything . . .” doesn’t mean, “Now that I’m a believer, I’m strong enough to do everything and anything for God.” Your own testimony can attest to the fears and failures related to such thinking.

The strength of “I can do everything . . .” comes through God, who gives you the strength you need for each day. Your ability to “do everything” is wholly dependent upon him, because your strength is dependent upon him. It’s not a strength you work up by pumping iron with emotional or mental barbells.

Strength comes from submission. The thing you do that may require the greatest strength is to submit yourself completely to God! But God is “working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 NLT).

Strength is linked to faith. You believe in faith that God is giving you his strength, so in faith you can act in confidence, knowing the strength is there: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength” (2 Timothy 4:17 NIV).

Daily Promises – God is pleased when we share with others

Hebrews 13:16 KJV

16 But to do good and to communicate forget not:
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.


Promise #236: I am pleased when you share with others.

I really like the NIV Bible translation of this verse – And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. When our children were younger, it always grieved my heart when they didn’t get along. I didn’t like having to be a referee at the dinner table or to break up arguments in the backyard.

As a father, I wanted my children to love each other, to live in harmony, share nicely and be kind to one another. I really don’t think our heavenly Father is any different. In this passage of Scripture, especially in the NIV passage, the writer of Hebrews reminds us not to forget to do good and share with others, because these are the things that make God happy.

In a world with thousands of Christian denominations, I think God’s kids have a tendency to major on the minors in our Christian walk rather than focusing on the things that really touch His heart. The sacrifices in every day life that make Him smile are simply the good things we do for others. I want to keep this in mind today as I go about my daily routine, because I want to make my Dad smile.

~ Barry Adams

Verse of the Day – After three days He will rise

Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”

— Mark 9:30-31 (NIV)

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

We often seek to attract large crowds to our churches, crusades, and rallies. Jesus also ministered to large crowds. But his strongest teaching on discipleship occurs away from the crowds, when he is alone with his disciples. What the crowds are able to accept is not enough to call mature disciples to that next level in their walk with the Savior. So Jesus withdrew for intensive teaching with a small group of committed disciples so he could mature them and make them ready for future challenges.

Prayer…

Holy God, please bless the people in my Bible study group and all those everywhere that are seeking to follow you no matter the cost. Please lead me to a small group of believers with whom I can share my life and through whom you will challenge me to grow in my surrender to the Lordship of Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

~ Phil Ware

Heartlight

Daily Promises – August 23 – Joy comes in the morning

Psalm 30:5 KJV

5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life:
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.


Promise #235: Your sadness may last for a night but joy will come in the morning.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that there is a season for all things. There is a time to weep and there is a time to rejoice. There are times of intense hardship and there are times of rest and peace. Today’s promise from Psalm 30:5 is really speaking to those who are struggling right now. When I read this passage of Scripture, in my heart, I hear God saying “Dont’ give up! Keep on going! Joy is coming soon!”

In the midst of any trials you may face today, be encouraged in knowing that they are only temporary. Joy is coming, so don’t lose heart! It is in these dark times that we learn just how close God is to us. A good friend of mine once said that the Gardener (Father God) is never closer to the branch than when He is pruning it (John 15:1-2).

My prayer for each one of us today is that even in the midst of our trials and tribulations, we will feel close to our Papa and His promise that our sadness will be gone before we know it.  May each one of us will cling to the hope that joy is indeed coming in the morning!
Photo by Glen Bylsma

REdeemed, REstored, REnewed

Meet Me in the Meadow by Roy Lessin

There are many “RE” words that are packed with hope and encouragement. The word REpurpose is often used today to remind us that many things once discarded, considered useless, and put aside for the trash heap, can be brought back, become useful once again, have value, and take on new meaning.

In the Scriptures we find some wonderful “RE” words that can keep hope and encouragement alive and thriving in our hearts.

REdeemed
I am the LORD…I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments. Exodus 6:6
REstored
‘For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord. Jeremiah 30:17
REnewed
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles… Isaiah 40:31

– Roy Lessin, DaySpring co-founder and writer

Read the entire “RE” Words series from Roy on his blog, Meet Me in the Meadow.
LIKE Roy’s page to receive his devotions on Facebook

Daily Promises – August 22 – God’s love for you is so vast that it far surpasses every love that you have ever known

Isaiah 66:13 KJV

13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you;
and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.


Promise #234: I will comfort you just like a mother would.

We all need comfort. There are times when we need a father’s reassurance and there are times when we need a mother’s comfort. When our children were little, if they got hurt playing in the backyard, they would look for their mother first before they would look for me. That is because there is something in a mother’s heart that provides a reassuring comfort that is quite different from a father. Fathers tend to try and fix the situation, whether mothers bring comfort.

In the same way that there are many Scriptures that compare God’s heart to the heart of a natural father (Psalm 103:13-14), there are also other verses that speak of a feminine expression of His love. This is one of those passages of Scripture where God is speaking to His people and telling them of His mother’s heart for them.

While we know that God is our Father, we also know that He is the complete expression of love. He does not just express masculine love, but feminine love as well for He is the very essence of all love (1 John 4:16). There are times when we need the strength and exhortation that comes from a father, and there are other times when we need comfort that comes from a mother’s heart.

God’s love for you is so vast that it far surpasses every love that you have ever known. Mother. Father. Sister. Brother. Son. Daughter. Spouse. Friend. The next time that you need the comforting embrace of God, be encouraged to know that He has promised to comfort you just like a mother would… but only a millions time better!

~ Barry Adams
Photo by Barry Adams

Ask for More

“Lord, teach me what you want me to do,

and I will live by your truth.” 

Psalm 86:11

When kindness comes through grudgingly, we’ll remember God’s kindness to us and ask Him to make us more kind.

When patience is scarce, we’ll thank Him for His and ask Him to make us more patient.

When it’s hard to forgive, we won’t list all the times we’ve been given grief.

Rather, we’ll list all the times we’ve been given grace

and pray to become more forgiving.

~ Max Lucado

He binds up the brokenhearted

 

Isaiah 61:1-2 KJV

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;


Promise #233: I bind up the brokenhearted and I will comfort all who mourn.

This is the Bible passage that Jesus read in the temple that affirmed His calling at the start of His public ministry. (Luke 4:14-21) When you read the whole Isaiah 61 chapter in the context of Luke 4, we can read that it was actually God the Father who sent His own Son into the world to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

The message of the kingdom is simply this… Good news for the poor. Healing for the broken hearted. Freedom for the captives. Wide open spaces to those imprisoned. Comfort for the grieving. And so much more.  This is why Jesus came 2,000 years ago and it is the same reason why the Holy Spirit is with us today.

If you are hurting, just open up your heart to the Holy Spirit and let the love of God bind up your broken heart. If you are grieving, let the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort bring His everlasting comfort to your mourning. If you are imprisoned, let the Lion of Judah set you free from all that keeps you in chains!
Photo by Jeff Epp

 

Faith in the Game – Crossing Over – by Brian Wilson

Faith In The Game – Crossing Over — by Brian Wilson.

You may wonder why I’m posting two messages today about Brian Wilson.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area and following the SF Giants this year, Brian Wilson’s faith has been a topic I was interested in.

It wasn’t until today that I researched the reasons for his “crossing over” at the end of the games that he pitches.

Today Brian went on the DL (disabled list), along with many other players from the Giants team.

I have been reflecting lately, and praying for, the Giants.

I found it interesting that the Holy Spirit would put a baseball team on my heart to pray for. I had asked myself, “Sharon, why is praying for a baseball team important? After all, it’s JUST a game”. And then I thought, “No, it isn’t about the game. It’s about the players. Why is this team going through so much turmoil?”

It came to me.

They are one of the few teams I’m aware of who collectively honor the Lord. They aren’t ashamed of their faith. They believe strongly in showing that faith in small ways and big ways. And Brian Wilson is one who demonstrates his strength comes from the Lord by “crossing over”.

So, we pray for them. All of them. They’re up against the wall with injuries daily.

They are going to be held up to God for prayer by us daily, that their faith will remain strong and that they will come out of this rough spot spiritually stronger than ever.

GIANTS – Brian Wilson – Why he crosses his arms at the end of a game

At long last:

Brian Wilson reveals the meaning behind his crossed arms gesture after he saves a game

Posted by on July 14th, 2008 at 8:48 pm | Categorized as Uncategorized

One of the features I hoped to make semi-regular on this blog is an offer to take your questions for Giants players. If it’s an intriguing one, I’ll go and ask it for you. (See the Ask a Giant! tab at the top of this page.)

At the end of May, reader Bruce Chiang wanted to know why Brian Wilson crosses his arms after he records the save. One hand makes a fist (inside his glove) and he points his index finger with the other hand.

Wilson was evasive. He wasn’t ready to let it be publicly known what it meant. He pledged to tell me, but only on his terms and only when he was a little more confident that his season was going the right way.

Well, now he’s an All-Star and is likely to pitch an inning today at Yankee Stadium. So he promised to sit down with me on this last road trip and divulge the whole story.

One problem: He works out like a madman. Every time I tried to track him down at Shea Stadium or Wrigley Field, he was running stairs, lifting weights, running the warning track or perspiring on the exercise bike.

I got to the park massively early to track him down Sunday…and walked in the press box to see one player running on the track. Wilson, of course.

He took the loss in Saturday afternoon’s game and was doing his penance.

“I’m punishing myself,” he said.

When he switched to a stationary bike in a dank little storage space off the clubhouse, he finally agreed to talk to me.

(Some of you figured out it’s a mixed-martial arts reference and there’s a clothing company called One More Round that uses the slogan. Others thought it was a symbol of his devout Christian faith.)

Short answer: You’re both right. It goes a little deeper than that, though.

I promised Wilson that I would allow him to describe the personal significance of the gesture in his own words. That’s what follows, straight out of my tape recorder:

“One More Round is a clothing line. It has to do with the drive and determination that certain fighters have when their backs are against the wall. It’s, `No matter how deep I am in this fight, no matter how badly burned I am, I’ve got one more round in me.’ That’s basically the motto, the creed, of One More Round. No matter what it takes, I’ve got one more in me.

“And to me, that relates to what I do on the mound. In the ninth inning, your back is against the wall and you’re probably facing the meat of the order. Whether it’s bases loaded, no outs, you’re only up by one, whatever, you’ve got one more round left in you. You can’t back down, you can’t give in, and that’s exactly how I portray my inning — as a war, as a battle. So when I go out there, I’m fighting for my team. I don’t care about any personal statistics, giving up runs or whatever. As long as I preserve the win, everything’s OK.

“Now, one of the main things I do after a game is the crossing of the arms. That’s on a T-shirt I wear underneath my jersey when I pitch. (He wore that T-shirt in an ESPN interview last month.) That’s just respecting the fighters and their commitment and determination and the hard work they put in.

“And also it’s taking into consideration my own walks in life. For instance, when I cross my arms, I have my left hand in the fist and my right hand goes underneath pointing with my (index) finger. What I’ve taken into my own belief is that this finger represents one man. I’m that one person. And I can only go so far in life leaning on my own understandings and my own strength. The fist represents the power of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The fist is symbolic of a circle. It’s never-ending. This strength will only continue to grow. So here’s the strength of God and the strength of man. And without him, I am nothing. I can only go so far in this life. But when I cross, I now have this one person with the strength of Christ, and I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. I can get over any battles in life.

“So I basically give respect to the ultimate fighting world and I also give respect to Christ, the audience of one that I play for. I don’t play for anything else. I play to impress Him and only Him and I must honor Him through defeat and also successes because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the strength that He gives me. Talent only goes so far. But faith gets you a little farther. So that’s what it is. It just represents my faith and trust in him, and letting him know and the world know that any believer that walks with Christ, or any walk of life you have, no matter where you are, I’m showing respect to you for your hard work, too. Because it’s not easy living in this world.”

I asked him why he decided to make the gesture at the end of a game.

“I just thought it would be a good time. It shows no disrespect toward anybody. It’s all positive praise. It’s not for showboating. It’s not to start an epidemic. It’s just me getting a quick message out to the world and to Christ and that’s it. I just thought, `What more perfect time to display my faith than at the end of a game?’”

I knew that Wilson came to Christianity later in life. His father died of kidney cancer when he was 17, and for a long time, he was disillusioned.

“I had to go through my struggles in life. My alienation towards Christianity was very prominent through my adolescence. One day it hit me. I felt I needed to start correcting my life. This happened when I was 23 years old. I was in Augusta, Ga. (playing for the Giants’ low-A club), and I was just playing cards, going about my business, and every Sunday a group of guys would go with the team chaplain. I didn’t even know what `chaplain’ meant.

“Well, my father passed away when I was 17 and you know, I was praying he wouldn’t die. And he was taken away from me. I didn’t understand. It had nothing to do with your prayers not being answered. It was just his time to go. But me being 17 years old, not a very mature kid, I just took that as Him turning his back on me, so I turned my back on Him. When I put my cards down and went in the dugout to speak to the team chaplain, I soon learned that wasn’t the way it worked. No matter how many times I turn my back on God, He’ll always be in front of me. I could stray away from Him for 90 years but as long as I know Him for one day, He’ll honor me in heaven. So I thought that would be one heck of a life-altering change that I should make.”

I asked him about teammates dropping the X, including Omar Vizquel who does it every time. (Omar doesn’t know what it means. “I just like him because he’s crazy,” Vizquel said.)

“Yeah, we’ve got the first baseman doing it, too. Usually you cross your arms when you’re playing behind the runner, every once in awhile they’ll throw it up for me just to ease my mind. (Rich) Aurilia does it jokingly, but I take it as a reminder of why I’m out here. It’s, `Remember what kind of gift you have, and most of all, don’t let your team down.’”

Related articles

https://sharinhislove.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/faith-in-the-game-crossing-over-%E2%80%94-by-brian-wilson/

It’s just not right

“I lay down my life . . . No one takes it from Me.”

John 10:17-18, NKJV

Jesus knows the meaning of the phrase, “It’s just not right.”

For it wasn’t right that people spit into the eyes that had wept for them.

It wasn’t right that soldiers ripped chunks of flesh out of the back of their God.

It wasn’t right that spikes pierced the hands that formed the earth . . .

Was it right?

No . . .

Was it love?

Yes.

~ Max Lucado

“Others can; you cannot.”

 

By Jon Walker

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25 NIV)

I’d been involved in a debate all day. There was something I wanted to do that I knew other Christians were involved with, but I felt a check from the Holy Spirit telling me I shouldn’t.

And as it happened, late in the day, I was working on a project with Rick Warren. He pulled some papers from his printer and handed them to me to read.

When I came to the last page, God ended the day-long debate. It was a page Rick must have printed for another project but then forgot to get from the printer. When he scooped up the pages intended for me, it ended up in my stack.

But I don’t believe in coincidence and so I think the page was intended for me as a message from God. There were four words on the paper: “Others can; you cannot.”

Sometimes the Spirit leads us to greater restriction than the law requires: “Where others can, we cannot.”

At other times, the Spirit may direct us to do more than the law requires, as foreshadowed by Jesus: “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles” (Matthew 5:41 NLT).

If we’re led by the Spirit, we’re no longer under the law (Galatians 5:18). Yet this doesn’t mean we have a license to sin (Romans 6); instead, we’re compelled to live by love instead of by law. Jesus calls us to live by faith instead of by fear. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23 NIV, italics added).

Can you see, then, that it takes more faith to walk by the Spirit than to walk by the law? The law is meant to drive us to dependence on the Father as he guides us by the Spirit he’s placed within us.

This is not a downgrading of the law, which Jesus said he came to fulfill; rather, he gives us the objective to grow up in Christ, accepting the responsibility to stay intimate with the Law-giver who is teaching us the rhythms of grace.

Stay in Step With the Spirit Dance is a post from: GraceCreates Jon Walker is the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ and Growing with Purpose. He has served on staff at Saddleback Church and Purpose Driven Ministries and is currently the managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Devotionals and the Ministry Toolbox. Contact him at questions@gracecreates.com. This article is copyrighted 2011 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

Daily Promises – August 20 – In time, God will heal our wounds

Job 5:17-18 KJV

17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:
therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up:
he woundeth, and his hands make whole.


Promise #232: Do not despise My discipline, for in time I will heal your wounds.

You may be reading today’s promise and wonder why I would have ever chosen a Bible passage about discipline and wounding to be part of 365 Promises. We don’t hear too many sermons preached about the discipline of the Lord and if we do, they may be skewed from the perspective of the punishment from an angry God.

When many of us think of the word ‘discipline’, we think of our own life experiences with our parents, teachers, authority figures, etc. This does not usually bring up warm feelings of love and tenderness but feelings of guilt, shame and pain. In Hebrews 12:4-11, the writer encourages us not to despise the Lord’s discipline for God is treating us like His sons. God does not discipline us in anger but in absolute unconditional love.

Every son (or daughter) receives discipline. Receiving discipline is part of the evidence that we do indeed belong to God. The root word of discipline is disciple, which at its heart, is training. God is training us to become like Jesus and walk in His ways. In this Hebrews passage, the writer does acknowledge that no discipline is pleasant at the time, but it results in a harvest of righteousness.

In today’s promise, we have an assurance that though we may be enduring hardship now, there is a promise of healing for all our wounds to come. My prayer is that we would not see God’s discipline through the lens of how we were disciplined by authority figures in our lives. I pray that we would actually value the loving discipline from God and gladly submit to the Father of our spirits so that we can live a full life. (Hebrews 12:9)

~ Barry Adams
Photo by Steve Taylor