working from the right book
The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7). READ: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 My wife recently told me about one of her students who was having problems understanding a seemingly simple math assignment. She wondered if the assignment was too difficult, but she [...]
against the wall
April 25, 2009
READ: Romans 8:31-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
On April 25, 1915, soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli peninsula expecting a quick victory. But fierce resistance by the Turkish defenders resulted in an 8-month stalemate during which thousands on both sides were wounded or killed.
Many of the ANZAC troops who were evacuated to Egypt visited the YMCA camp outside Cairo where chaplain Oswald Chambers offered hospitality and hope to these men so broken and disillusioned by war. With great insight and compassion, Chambers told them, “No man is the same after an agony; he is either better or worse, and the agony of a man’s experience is nearly always the first thing that opens his mind to understand the need of redemption worked out by Jesus Christ. At the back of the wall of the world stands God with His arms outstretched, and every man driven there is driven into the arms of God. The cross of Jesus is the supreme evidence of the love of God.”
Paul asked: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35). His confident answer was that nothing can remove us from God’s love in Christ (vv.38-39).
When we’re up against the wall, God is there with open arms. — David C. McCasland
God’s love still stands when all else has fallen.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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Loading ...why me?
The Lord gives both death and life; He brings some down to the grave but raises others up (v.6).
READ: 1 Samuel 2:1-9
I can tell if it’s good news the moment my oncologist walks through the door. Having battled cancer three times now, it’s easy to read him. When he’s all businesslike and somber, I know the results aren’t pretty.
During a recent appointment, following many rounds of radiation therapy for a mass in my abdomen, he came bounding through the door of the consultation room and bellowed, “The scans look good!”
Each time I hear good news, I praise God. But I’ve also sometimes wondered, Why me? Why weren’t others healed?
My best friend in high school died of cancer when I was just fifteen. Countless other people I’ve known have perished from the disease. Why not me?
Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 helps answer my question. She exclaimed, “The Lord gives both death and life; He brings some down to the grave but raises others” (v.6). She praised God for His sovereign ways. “All the earth is the Lord’s, and He has set the world in order” (v.8). She praised Him for being Lord of all.
Her words flowed from a heart that had been revived. For years, she longed to have a child of her own (1:5). Her husband, Elkanah, had another wife who “had children, but Hannah did not” (v.2).
Hannah prayed to God out of deep anguish and He heard her plea (v.19). God blessed her with a boy, Samuel. Later, she brought him to the Tabernacle to serve God “his whole life” (v.28). She worshiped the Sovereign One as she left Samuel to serve Him.
God hears our cries when we face difficulties. Then He reveals His will based in His good pleasure. We can respond in faith by praising Him for who He is—regardless of the outcome (Job 1:20-22).
It’s okay to wonder “why” sometimes. But we can trust God’s sovereign, loving hand all the time. —Tom Felten
How is God’s sovereignty an encouragement to you? What happens when you praise God after hearing bad news?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...the Father’s faithfulness
April 24, 2009
READ: Psalm 107:1-16
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. . . . Great is Your faithfulness. —Lamentations 3:22-23
Hudson Taylor, the humble servant of God to China, demonstrated extraordinary trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote:
“Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. . . . He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. . . . Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”
We may be faint and weary, but our heavenly Father is all-powerful. Our feelings may fluctuate, but He is unchangeable. Even creation itself is a record of His steadfastness. That’s why we can sing these words from a hymn by Thomas Chisholm: “Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.”
What an encouragement to live for Him! Our strength for the present and hope for the future are not based on the stability of our own perseverance but on the fidelity of God. No matter what our need, we can count on the Father’s faithfulness. — Paul Van Gorder
He who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...light bright
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all (v.5).
READ: How can living in darkness lead to spiritual death? What area in your life needs to be brought into the light?
As a child, I always hated walking down the long stairway to the cavernous basement of our house. Each step brought me farther from the light and deeper into darkness. With no light in the stairwell, I had to descend the entire flight and walk into the pitch-black room before finally reaching the switch. Possessing an overactive imagination, I never grew accustomed to the journey.
We were not made for the darkness. In John 12:46, Jesus explained that He came as the Light to expose the sin in our lives. When we buy into the enemy’s lies, we futilely try to live in the light while harboring dark places. Perhaps we’re afraid people would reject us if they knew the truth, or maybe we’re afraid we can’t make it without our secrets. We may have lived so long in the dark that we don’t know what light looks like anymore. Regardless of the reason, living in darkness isn’t real life.
God isn’t interested in embarrassing us, but neither can He tolerate hidden sin (Luke 12:2-3). His great love for us insists on truth, and truth requires light (John 3:21). While we know darkness and light cannot occupy the same place, there’s a big difference between a flashlight and a stadium light. To be free in Him is to be unhindered by anything.
Because transformation is a process, we continually see things in ourselves we didn’t see before (2 Cor. 4:16). We will walk in the light or in darkness depending on what we do with the hidden areas in our lives. Do we pretend they aren’t there? Try to keep them covered? Or do we drag them into the light, no matter how hard that is, in order for His light to expose what’s wrong and make it right? —Regina Franklin
How does the resurrection challenge a common assumption that our body is merely a temporary residence for our soul? What is the connection between physical and spiritual fitness?
(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...agreeing with God
April 23, 2009
READ: Matthew 15:1-9
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. —Matthew 15:8
The caller to the radio program mentioned religion, so the radio talk show host began to rant about hypocrites. “I can’t stand religious hypocrites,” he said. “They talk about religion, but they’re no better than I am. That’s why I don’t like all this religious stuff.”
This man didn’t realize it, but he was agreeing with God. God has made it clear that He can’t stand hypocrisy either. It’s ironic, though, that something God opposes is used by some people as an excuse not to seek Him.
Jesus said this about hypocrisy: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8-9).
Notice what Jesus said to perhaps the biggest hypocrites of His day, the Pharisees. In Matthew 23, He called them hypocrites—not once, not twice, but seven times! They were religious people who were putting on a big show, but God knew their hearts. He knew they were far from Him.
Non-Christians who point out hypocrisy in us when they see it are right in doing so. They are agreeing with God, who also despises it. Our task is to make sure our lives honor the One who deserves our total dedication. — Dave Branon
The devil is content to let us profess Christianity as long as we do not practice it.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...too old?
April 22, 2009
READ: Genesis 17:15-22
My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. —Genesis 17:4
When God promised Abraham and his wife Sarah that they would have a son, Abraham laughed in unbelief and replied, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Gen. 17:17).
Later, Sarah laughed for the same reason: “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (18:12).
We too grow old and wonder if the Lord can fulfill His promises to us. We no longer have prominence or status. Our minds are not as nimble as they once were. We’re hampered by physical problems that limit our mobility and keep us close to home. Every day we seem to lose more of the things we have spent a lifetime acquiring. Robert Frost underscores something that we sometimes ask ourselves: “The question . . . is what to make of a diminished thing.”
Not much—if we are left to ourselves. But God is able to do more with us than we can imagine. He asks us, as He asked Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:14). Of course not!
We’re never too old to be useful if we make ourselves available to God for His purposes. — David H. Roper
As God adds years to your life, ask Him to add life to your years.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...thunderstorm thoughts
April 21, 2009
READ: Matthew 8:23-27
The God of peace will be with you. —Philippians 4:9
I laugh every time I hear the radio commercial that has a woman shouting to her friend in conversation. She’s trying to talk above the sounds of the thunderstorm in her own head. Ever since a storm damaged part of her home, that’s all she hears because her insurance company isn’t taking care of her claims.
I’ve heard thunderstorms in my head, and maybe you have too. It happens when a tragedy occurs—to us, to someone close to us, or to someone we hear about in the news. Our minds become a tempest of “what if” questions. We focus on all the possible bad outcomes. Our fear, worry, and trust in God fluctuate as we wait, we pray, we grieve, and we wonder what the Lord will do.
It’s natural for us to be fearful in a storm (literal or figurative). The disciples had Jesus right there in the boat with them, yet they were afraid (Matt. 8:23-27). He used the calming of the storm as a lesson to show them who He was—a powerful God who also cares for them.
We wish that Jesus would always calm the storms of our life as He calmed the storm for the disciples that day. But we can find moments of peace when we’re anchored to the truth that He’s in the boat with us and He cares. — Anne Cetas
To realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...faithful gaius
April 20, 2009
READ: 3 John
Beloved [Gaius], you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers. —3 John 1:5
Third John presents a sharp contrast between the way two members of the church welcomed believers who visited them. The letter is addressed to “the beloved” Gaius, whom John loved “in truth” (v.1). The truth was in him as he walked with God (v.3). Whatever he did for his “brethren”—itinerant missionaries and teachers such as Paul—he did it faithfully and with love (vv.5-6).
Diotrephes was another story. He was proud and domineering (v.9), and he spoke against those who came in the name of Christ (v.10), probably even Paul. In addition, he drove out of the church anyone who wanted to accept them. No doubt he did this to protect his position and self-interests and to keep the focus on himself.
My wife, Shirley, and I, along with our granddaughter Bree, recently visited a country once closed to the gospel. The believers welcomed us with trust, openness, hospitality, and genuine love. Though they had little, their generosity was astounding. What an encouragement to us! They truly followed the example of faithful Gaius.
May God give us a loving and faithful spirit that enables us to treat our fellow believers in “a manner worthy of God” (v.6). — David C. Egner
Christlike hospitality is an open heart and an open home.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...the best eraser
April 19, 2009
READ: Luke 16:19-31
I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions. —Isaiah 44:22
What is memory? What is this faculty that enables us to recall past feelings, sights, sounds, and experiences? By what process are events recorded, stored, and preserved in our brain to be brought back again and again? Much is still mystery.
We do know that memories can be blessings—full of comfort, assurance, and joy. Old age can be happy and satisfying if we have stored up memories of purity, faith, fellowship, and love. If a saint looks back on a life of Christian service and remembers the faithfulness of Him who promised: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5), his or her sunset years can be the sweetest of all.
But memory can also be a curse and a tormentor. Many people as they approach the end of life would give all they possess to erase from their minds the past sins that haunt them. What can a person do who is plagued by such remembrances? Just one thing. He can take them to the One who is able to forgive them and blot them out forever. He’s the One who said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:17).
You may not be able to forget your past. But the Lord offers to blot out, “like a thick cloud, your transgressions” (Isa. 44:22). — M.R. De Haan
The best eraser is honest confession to God.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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