Love Worth Finding

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 6

Our Security Is In the Lord Jesus Christ

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound." - Philippians 4:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

As we face the coming year, if the stock market goes down, what we have in Jesus Christ—eternal security, salvation, a relationship with the King of kings— is worth multiplied billions and more.  Today some of you find that you are abased. You're saying, "I can hardly make it until the next paycheck." Some of you are abounding. You have more than you ever thought or dreamed you'd have. If you have that, I'm happy for you. See it as a gift from God and enjoy it, for the Bible says, "God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants."  It is the Lord who gives you the ability to get wealth. Thank God for it. Don't be ashamed of it.

From his prison cell Paul says. "In Christ, I have a self-contained life. All that I need is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have to go outside of Him for contentment."

ACTION POINT:

If you have Jesus, friend, you have something wonderful. You are rich, regardless of what you may or may not have in the bank.  Now say "amen."

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 7

Finding Contentment in Him

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have." - Hebrews 13:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you would face a new year without fear, know the contentment of His provision. You say, "That's just preacher-talk." Well, I'll tell you this much. I would not sell the contentment I have in Jesus Christ for any price you could name. I am content in the Lord Jesus. That doesn't mean I'm satisfied with myself, but that along with the Apostle Paul I can say it gladly and surely: "I can do all things through Christ who is pouring His life into me," and "I have learned that whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

ACTION POINT:

If you want the source of your satisfaction, your sufficiency and your security to be steadfast, then you must find it in the Lord Jesus Christ. "All other ground is sinking sand."

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 8

Charting and Reaching Your Goals

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." - 1 Corinthians 9:24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many years ago a Yale University study found that 3% of the students had written down specific goals. Twenty-two years later, a follow-up with those students revealed that the goal-writing 3% had achieved more than the other 97% put together. They were not drifters. They had goals in their life. Sociologists find that 95% of people never have any written goals, but of the 5% that do have written goals, 95% of that 5% have reached their goals.

ACTION POINT:

Write down today some goals for yourself in the coming year. We are body, soul, and spirit, so make 3 divisions: On one page write "Spiritual Goals." On the second write "Physical Goals." And on the third write "Personal Goals." Do you have a goal? Do you have a vision? Be one of the 5%, not the 95%.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 9

Would You Like To Make Your Life Over?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it." - Jeremiah 18:3-4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The making of pottery is one the oldest arts known to men. A potter takes clay and molds it and squeezes it until it is soft and pliable. It is a beautiful thing to watch: a vessel of beauty or a vessel of service, or both, emerge from that ugly clay.

God is the potter. We are His workmanship. God is the Master Workman, working on us. Think of yourself as the clay and see what God can do with you, for He is at work in your life.

ACTION POINT:

Though you may not understand it now, every turn of the wheel has been a part of God's plan. If He does not rule, God overrules. He's going to turn every Calvary to an Easter, every midnight to a sunrise. He is going to turn every tear to a pearl and make a diadem for you.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 10

He Is the Potter, I Am the Clay

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord.  Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel." - Jeremiah 18:5-6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God the Potter has the clay upon His wheel—but something happens. It's marred. It's ruined. Did God make a mistake? The problem is not in the hands of the Potter. The problem is in the clay.

Now what could be the problem in the clay? First there might be some rock, some hidden impurity keeping the vessel from becoming what it ought to be. There may be some hidden impurity in your life, marring what God wants to do. Or it may just be that the clay is not broken enough. The clay is too stiff. The clay does not yield to the hand of the Potter. What is clay to do in the hand of the potter? We are to yield.

ACTION POINT:

Are you yielded? Can God form and shape you and make out of you what He wants?  We must be willing to say, "Lord You are the Potter, I'm the clay; mold me, make me after Thy will."  Have you said, "Lord, here I am, make of me what you wish, do with me what you will"?  Most of us dare not dream what we could be if we would allow God to have His way in our lives.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 11

The Promise of a Life that Repents 

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." - Jeremiah 18:7-8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God is saying here, "If you will repent of your sin, I will repent of the judgment I had planned." That is a promise to every one of us today. Just because you may have failed in the past doesn't mean that God is finished with you. Are you ready for some good news on the threshold of a new year?  You can have a brand new start!  There's hope for you. Our God is the God of the second chance. Your life may be marred. Your life may have gotten off track because of some hidden sin or some stubbornness when you refused to yield to God.  But He is saying , "I don't hold grudges. I am the God of the second chance."

ACTION POINT:

This condition holds true for a life that is still pliable and gives God all the pieces.  If your life is broken, give Him all the pieces, but do it while it is still pliable, and He can make another vessel out of you.  Are you willing to do that?

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 12

The Peril of a Life That Rebels

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Thus saith the Lord, "Go and get a potter's earthen bottle... Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that are with thee, and shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again...." "Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words." - Jeremiah 19:1, 10-11, 15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

You can say, "Well, I'm not going to yield to God." Then you are clay that is going to be hardened. There is peril in a life that rebels against God. Some vessels when they hear about hidden impurities and stubborn resistance will be broken and say, "Here I am Lord, I yield myself to you. I repent. Take me, make me, mold me. Give me a new start."

Or you can say, "It's my life. I'm going to live it the way I want to live it. I'm not going to yield." That is your privilege. But if you do that, you're going to be hardened in that position, and once the clay is hardened, the Potter cannot remold it. He cannot remake it.

ACTION POINT:

God gives a second chance. When you read the Bible, you find it is full of people to whom God gave a second chance. But always, always they were pliable. Search your heart. Are you pliable?

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 13

The Hidden Cupboard

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Search me O God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." - Psalm 139:23-24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

F. B. Meyer was one of the greatest Christian writers of the centuries. As a pastor, Meyer was successful, but not as he ought to have been. He had two friends, Charles Studd and Hudson Taylor, great men in the history of the church. They seemed to have victory day by day—joy and power in their lives. Meyer watched them. One day he went to Studd and said, "You have joy in your life that I don't have." Studd said, "There is nothing I have that you can't have. Have you given everything to God?"

Meyer went back to his room that night and began to pray. In his heart there had been something he did not want to yield to the Lord. It seemed like a small thing, but it was standing between him and victory. He wrestled with God that night until finally he came to the place where he had to do something. He took a bunch of keys out of his pocket and said, "Lord here it is. This key ring represents my life. I give it over to you." And he said, "It seemed as if the Lord said to me, 'Are all the keys there?' 'Yes Lord, they're all there except one small key, a key to a little cupboard. But it's just one little key.' The Lord handed the keys back and started to walk out the door. I said, 'Wait Lord. Don't go. Here's that key. I don't believe I can give it to you, but I will hold it out. Please take it.' The Lord took those keys, every one of them, and went into that cupboard and began to do a work, and my life was transformed.'"

ACTION POINT:

Is there some little key like that in your life? Some little cupboard where you say, "Lord, you can be Lord of all—except this." Have you yielded?

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 14

"Lo, I Am With You"

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." - Matthew 28:18-20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you know what worry is? Worry is a mild form of atheism. It's acting like God doesn't exist. The great missionary David Livingstone took the Gospel to Africa and actually discovered and unlocked much of Africa. He lived a life of loneliness and danger. On January 14, 1856, surrounded by hostile people beating war drums like they were going to attack the next morning, he wrote in his journal: "Felt much turmoil of spirit in prospect of having all of my plans for the welfare of this great region and this teaming population knocked on the head by savages tomorrow."

Sitting at his campfire, he knows what's out there in the dark. Then he writes, "But I read that Jesus said, 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world.' This is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor. I will not cross furtively as I had intended. Why should such a man as I flee? I shall take observations for latitude and longitude tonight. Though it may be the last, I feel quite calm now. Thank God."

ACTION POINT:

Follow Livingstone's example. Practice the presence of the Lord this coming year. You're going to be tempted. Know that Jesus Christ never leaves us, never forsakes us. When the devil comes and knocks at your heart's door, simply say, "Jesus, please go answer the door."

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 15

The Changed Life

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." - 2 Peter 2:22

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

An unsaved person can sit in church, sing in the choir, and sound holy and righteous. But as soon as he's back in the world, he'll return to the sordid, old sin he enjoyed before.

Peter likens the unsaved religious person to a dog and a pig. You can scrub him clean, brush his teeth, and dress him in a pink ribbon; but he will go right back into the mire. A scrubbing on the outside doesn't change his inner nature. The dog may feel better, and the pig may look better; but neither has been changed.

But a person who comes to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior is changed. He does not want the same things anymore. He does not live the same way anymore. He has been born again into a new life.

ACTION POINT:

What has changed in your life since you came to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you different? The Bible says when we are "in Christ," we become new creatures—for the old has passed away, and all things have become new. Have you experienced that? Then thank Him today!