Devotions

The distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in the love of Christ, and the yielding of his affections to Christ in return.

Spurgeon, C. H.

When Jesus Christ utters a word, he opens his mouth so wide that it embraces all heaven and earth, even though that word be but in a whisper.

Luther, Martin

I am so Thankful for my Wife!!

(I asked myself the question; can I tell my wife that I'm thankful for her using scripture? It turned out wonderful. Please tell your wife that you are thankful for her using these thoughts; It not original to me-it's scripture!)

I am thankful that you are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; I am so thankful that you, my beloved wife is like a fruitful vine within our home; your love always satisfies me!

I rejoice in you, the wife of my youth. I am intoxicated with your love.

I rejoice that you, my wife have noble character and you have become my crown; you are a gift from the hands of God. A prudent wife is a reward from my LORD. All His gifts are good! I received favor from the LORD the day you covenanted your love to me.

I am so thankful that you have embraced my spiritual leadership; you have declared to me; “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." May I listen to the voice of God and guide my family with the sacred fear of God.

A wife of noble character who can find? I did!! You worth is far more than rubies. I have full confidence in you.

You bring me good, never harm, all the days of our marriage. My dear wife, you are clothed with strength and dignity; your faithful labor on behalf of our family causes us to never fear the future in fact we can laugh at the days to come.

You speak wisdom, and faithful instruction is on your tongue. You watch over the affairs of our household and you never eat the bread of idleness. Our children arise and call you blessed; and I also, praise you!

"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but my wife who fears the LORD is to be praised. I honor you for all that your hands have done, and let your many works bring you praise at the city gate and all places of honor.

Your love is patient, your love is kind. Your love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Your love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Your love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Your love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Your Love has never failed me.

I love you my precious wife as I love my own body and I desire to love you has Christ loves the church.

What It Means to Trust

I bet that a lot of people would say that Proverbs 3:5-6 is their life verse. Is it yours? Do you have it underlined in your Bible? You probably have it memorized:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a promise that you've just got to know. Let's take it a phrase at a time.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" is obviously an exhortation not to doubt. When you trust in the Lord with all your heart, you're making a tangible choice not to let unbelief eat away at your soul. You're confident in Jesus and jumping in with both feet.

The next phrase will help you know: "...Do not lean on your own understanding." You can't trust in the Lord with all your heart if you're leaning on your own understanding.

I'd like to think I trust the Lord like that right now, James, but how can I be sure I do?

Maybe you know some things. You've been around the block, you know how things work, you know how to get it done. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good, in fact. The problem is, are you leaning on those things when you hit a crisis? Are you confident in your own ability to get out of tight spots? Do you say anything like, "I know how to fix this. I've been through this before. I'm going to get on this right now." Yeah, that's not great. Don't lean on your own understanding.

Well, what then? "In all your ways acknowledge Him..." In every choice, acknowledge God. You might be able to handle that situation by yourself, but if you're like me, you don't just want to get out of it, you want to please God in it. So in all your ways, you're going to put Him first.

Let's put in practice. Suppose you run into financial problems. Or you lose your job. Or you lose the big account. The current price of gas and the crazy volatility on Wall Street don't look too promising, either. Your budget is so tight you don't know how you're going to pay the bills.

Humanly speaking, if you were leaning on your own understanding you'd be like, We're going to tighten the belt around here, baby. No more money to charity. We can't help our little Compassion Child anymore; she's going to have to take care of herself. We're not giving at church either; they seem to be doing fine.

Now, it's not wrong to be wise in how you spend your money, but if you think you're going to just gut it out, you're leaning on your own understanding. Instead say, we're going to keep our commitments, including our tithe, and we're going to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. We're going to believe that the 90 percent we're left with--with God's help--is more than 100 percent on our own without God. That's what we are when we leave God out: we're on our own. That might be how we got in this spot, but that's not how we're going to get out of it. We're going to put God first in our life and trust Him to keep His promises.

Don't you think God knows how much you have? Don't you think God sees your situation? Wasn't it God Himself who said through the prophet in Malachi 3:10, "Bring the full tithes into the storehouse. . . . And thereby put me to the test . . . if will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." "Just try Me on that one," God says. "Test Me and see if I'm not faithful." Here's your chance to discover the amazing promise God gives to those who totally trust Him.

A group of university graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit one of their honored professors, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of porcelain, glass, and crystal cups--with some being rather plain looking while others were expensive and exquisite looking. He then asked them to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases, it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have."

"Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have."

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy the hot chocolate in your life. ~ Author Unknown

“Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.” Pg22
“Meditate on the cross. Consider the wonders of the Savior who died for sinners and rose victorious over sin and death. Dwell where the cries of Calvary are louder than the clamor of the world.” Pg 35

See that your chief study be about hour heart; that there God's image may be planted; that there His interests be advanced; that there the world and flesh are subdued; that there the love of every sin is cast out; that there the love of holiness grows.

Edwards, Jonathan

Faith in the Night
"After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." - Matthew 14:24-27

Why is it that problems always seem bigger in the middle of the night? In the hours between the days, our fears loom larger and burdens grow heavier.

It was between three and four o'clock in the morning when the disciples fought the storm on the Sea of Galilee. In Matthew 14 we hear about how their imaginations whipped around like a wild wind. And just when the storm was taking them under for the last time, Jesus walked by on the water! Crazy!

Just look at their response.

"And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."

Why do you doubt? He asked him. I'm right here.

We painfully identify with the disciples' fear. When we're out here on our own, our hearts become filled with fear. Overwhelmed by circumstances, we forget who You are. You're God. You're in control.

The Christian life is a life of faith. In faith you can say, God has made some promises and I believe Him. I don't always understand His ways, but I trust Him. He's in charge.

God has given you some assurances so that you can walk by faith while you're waiting for Him to work. You don't have to take your view your life from what you see happening right in front of you. Living by faith and holding onto God's promises gives stability and strength to life.

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life but impossible. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today.

Tozer, A. W.

PAUL HARVEY'S ON- AIR PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, Woe to those who call evil good, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics we have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition; we have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, “The Rest of the Story,” and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called “One nation under God.”

I rejoice in the hope of that glory to be revealed, for it is no uncertain glory that we look for. Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as, "I imagine so," or "It is likely," but the cable, the strong tow of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with God's own hand, and with Christ's own strength, to the strong stake of God's unchangeable nature.

Rutherford, Samuel

To place ourselves in range of God's choicest gifts, we have to walk with God, work with God, lean on God, cling to God, come to have the sense and feel of God, refer all things to God.

Plantinga, Cornelius

I Choose to Surrender My Will

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. - 1 Corinthians 16:13

The closing thought in our Weekly Walk survey of 10 Choices: A Proven Plan to Change Your Life Forever is this you choose to make these choices that we've explored over the last several months with a surrendered will. You don't choose with your mind, although you have to understand. You don't choose with your emotions, though ultimately it helps to want to make the choices. Ultimately you choose with your will. So you have to have a surrendered will. Every one of these choices has been presented from God's Word to your will. Without the surrender of your will, I can predict you have not really made any of these choices. The choices you have made have come about, whether you fully realized in or not, by the surrender of your will. Each of these choices has presented a decision between God's will and your own way. The surrender of our will always comes down to saying, "Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done."

First Corinthians 16:13 breaks down into four great challenges to help us in our choices: "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

1: Be watchful. Pay attention. Take a stand. Don't compromise. Engage. Participate. When he made these challenges, the apostle Paul was wrapping up his first letter to the Corinthian church with what it takes to following Jesus over your lifetime a long obedience in the same direction.

2: Stand firm in the faith. Be determined. Certain. Resolute in your commitment. There are many ways to fall; one way to stand. Root yourself in Christ.

3: Act like men. The equivalent today might be something like, Don't whine or waver or wallow with excessive emotion. Choose your course and stick to it. Don't let your feelings rule your actions.

4: Be strong. Don't be weak or passive. Engage your will. Step up. Don't be indifferent. There's a lot on the line here. Life is short. Take a stand. Fly the flag. Live for Jesus.

The conclusion for us all in this study of 10 Choices is to make this one choice: I will stand for Jesus Christ.

Finally, it is good to know--especially when facing the next world--that for every time we have failed to conform to God's will in thought, word, and deed, by actively sinning or failing to conform to his revealed will, his Son has fulfilled the obedience that we owe. By never once giving in to the lust, pride, sloth, greed, selfishness, and malice that are so often allowed space in our overcrowded hearts, Jesus Christ becomes our Savior not only in his atoning death but throughout his life. In this way, every day of his life was as necessary for our salvation as that dark afternoon on Golgotha. He was the only "fully surrendered, victorious, sold-out," Christian who ever lived! Our surrender is halfhearted and partial; our victories seem always to be sullied by pride. Even if we could live the "higher life," could God not smell our smugness? Wouldn't our best works be sabotaged by our own depravity? These good works would be corrupt enough to condemn us on the last day, so what we require is the obedience of someone else to stand in for us. It is not only Christ's atoning death, but his saving life during the thirty-three years of his conformity to the Father's will that shelters us from God's just sentence. "This is why," wrote Charles Hodge, "the believer, when arrayed in this righteousness, need fear neither death nor hell. This is the reason why Paul challenges the universe to lay anything to the charge of God's elect." (4)

May we proclaim this hope while we have breath, and then may it find its way to the center of our vision when God calls us home. For it is the only reason we will hear those welcome words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Michael Horton

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.

Edwards, Jonathan

"Resisting the devil" does not mean "rebuking" him by shouting at him. It refers to a godly lifestyle of submission to God, a break with the friendship of the world, and a spirit of personal humility.

Retief, Frank

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

Luther, Martin