Love Worth Finding

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 26

What Your Heart Really Longs For

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

This verse doesn't mean you'll have every whim and fancy met—that you can have an island paradise somewhere, a pink Cadillac, or a handful of diamonds. It means when you delight yourself in the Lord, what your heart has really been seeking for, it will find. What your heart really yearns for is God. Only Jesus can meet the deepest needs of your heart.

Do you know why so often we live in fear? Because we think our needs are not going to be met. Or because we think the things we believe are meeting our needs are going to be taken away from us. This verse tells us God will never leave us nor forsake us, and godliness with contentment is great gain. We have something that can't be tampered with.

ACTION POINT:

Suppose someone were to go into your house and carry out all your material possessions. Could you still praise the Lord? If your delight is in the Lord, you could!

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 27

Anchored

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." - Isaiah 41:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I was raised in South Florida, in what you might call hurricane alley. When we knew a hurricane was coming, my dad would say, "Boys, go out there in the back yard and tie things down," patio furniture and things like that. Sometimes we would go out after a hurricane, and the thing we tied down was gone and the thing we tied it to was gone!

ACTION POINT:

Friend, you'd better be tied to Jesus. He won't blow away. Where is your hope? Where is your security?  What have you anchored your hope to? I hope it's in the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 28

The Love that Will Never Let You Go

BIBLE MEDITATION

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." - Jeremiah 31:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

George Matheson, a student at the University of Scotland, was taken with an eye disease. He was losing his eyesight. A beloved professor came to him and said, "George, the doctors told me that it's my responsibility to tell you that in three days you will be blind. If there is any face you want to look upon, do it now."  George wrote to his beloved fiancée and asked, "Would you come to my side? I want to look into your face before I go blind." She wrote back, "If you are going blind, I don't want to be married to you" and broke the engagement.

George was crushed, but he went on to graduate from the university at age 19. Out of that pain, he wrote one of the most beautiful hymns ever written: "O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.  O Light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine's glow its day may brighter, fairer be.  O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be." Though blind, he became a mighty minister of the Gospel of Christ. This crushing experience allowed him to touch the world.

ACTION POINT:

The words to this hymn came to George in a total of five minutes, and he never had to go back and edit them. We all experience painful losses in our lives. How we choose to handle them is key to what happens next.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 29

One of Our Greatest Fears

BIBLE MEDITATION

"...for He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you." - Hebrews 13:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

This is one of the most encouraging verses in all the Bible. Greek scholars tell us this sentence, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," actually has five negatives in it. Now we say a double negative is bad English, but evidently it wasn't bad Greek. In the Amplified Version it reads: "I will never, no not ever, no never leave you nor forsake you." Now friend, that will take the fear out of the future. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

A preacher was visiting a grandmother in his church, trying to comfort her in her old age. I believe she knew the Lord better than he did, however. He took out his Greek New Testament and was reading this verse to her, explaining there were five negatives there. The grandma said, "Well, God may have to say it five times for you Greek boys, but once is enough for me."

We fear because we're afraid we're going to have to face something we don't understand, and we'll have to face it alone. God wants us to walk in faith, not fear, because He is always with us—He dwells within us!

ACTION POINT:

Do you fear being forsaken, lonely? Most of us do. Yet we have the companionship of His presence. We fear our friends will leave us. Psychiatrists say the greatest need we have on earth is not material but the ability to love and be loved. The Lord has said, "I will never leave you." Do you believe that promise? God speaking to you. Are you listening? It would be a good idea to commit Hebrews 13:5 to memory this week.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 30

Window Shopping Through the Bible

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." - Psalm 119:105

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Most of us just kind of go window-shopping through the Bible. "Oh, isn't that a precious promise?" "Hmm, what a sweet promise." "Oh, that's a wonderful promise." We take verses, memorize them, and even put them on our refrigerator door, but never lay hold on them. Just kind of window-shopping. But do we believe them?

Leonard Ravenhill said, "One of these days somebody is going to pick up this book, read it and believe it, and the rest of us are going to be ashamed of ourselves." Promises are wonderful, but the Word of God was never meant to be just a grab bag of promises. It is a lamp to our feet and the light for our path.

ACTION POINT:

Don't wait another day to commit to making this a year of being devoted to reading the Bible and to prayer. Plan to read through the Bible this year, cover to cover.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY 31

Jesus, our Shepherd

BIBLE MEDITATION:

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." - Psalm 23:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Lord Jesus Christ is described as a Shepherd three times in the New Testament. He is called the Good Shepherd in John 10:11: "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." That's the past — Mount Calvary.

He is called the Chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4: "And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall re­ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." In the future He will return.

Finally, He is called the Great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20-21: "... our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will..." That's the present. He perfects us.

The Good Shepherd—He died for me. The Chief Shepherd—He's coming for me. The Great Shepherd—He lives for me.

ACTION POINT:

The Good Shepherd cares for you, past, present and future. Praise Him today—thank Him for making provision for you...before you were even born.

[Judy Harder]

FEBRUARY 1

Dressed in Rags

"...We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ..." - Isaiah 64:6

What a beautiful, wonderful life Adam and Eve lived in the Garden. But when they disobeyed the Lord, immediately they were stricken with guilt. They tried to cover their guilt by making suits of fig leaves. But when God came walking through the Garden, they hid themselves from His presence. What had looked good to them could not stand under the gaze of a holy God. He demanded something else, so He shed innocent blood to make them coats of skin—which is the picture of the covering of righteousness that we receive in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.

So many of us have tried to dress ourselves in the rags of our self righteousness. We need the blood of Jesus.

Examine your heart. What fruitless efforts are you making to sew a fig leaf covering for yourself? What is the only thing that will wash away sin and bring you purity, cleansing and righteousness? Apply that to your heart today.

[Judy Harder]

FEBRUARY 2

Between Two Mountains

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..." - Psalm 23:4

"... I lift up mine eyesunto the hills, from whence cometh my help." - Psalm 121:1

In Psalm 23, David speaks of walking in "the valley." But there can be no valley without moun­tains, true? Psalm 23 is the "valley psalm" between two "mountain psalms," Psalm 22 and 24. Psalm 22 deals with the crucifixion of the Messiah. Psalm 24 deals with the coronation of the Messiah and the Second Coming. So, in the valley of Psalm 23, on one side are the blood-drenched slopes of Mount Calvary and on the other are the sunlit peaks of Mount Zion.

Are you down in the valley? Then look to the mountains. Praise Him for dying for you and rejoice in the hope of His coming again! Thank God we can say with David, "...I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills...."

[Judy Harder]

FEBRUARY 4

Beautiful Garbage

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven." - Matthew 6:19-20

Years ago I read about a man who had a rather ingenious way of getting rid of his garbage. He would gift-wrap it, put it out on the curb in front of his house, and invariably someone driving by would see that wrapped box, stop, and pick it up. And the man would be behind the curtains, watching those people drive away with their gift-wrapped garbage!

So many times that's what the devil does. He just takes the things of this world and wraps them up so beautifully. But what we get is not treasure...it turns out to be trash.

Don't let the devil cheat you—don't cling to the worthless things of this world, but use your resources and energies wisely to invest in souls and store up eternal treasuresin Heaven!

Add up everything you have that money can't buy and death can't take away. The sum will reveal to you how rich you really are.

[Judy Harder]

FEBRUARY 5

You Can't Spoil a Baby

"But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way...." - Acts 9:27

I've heard that in the first year of his life, it is virtually impossible to spoil a baby. You can't give one too much love. Now you can spoil kids, but it is virtually impossible to spoil a newborn baby. All of the love, all of the attention, all of the hugging, all of the kissing, all of the coddling you want to do; just do it.

And I want to say, correspondingly, it is virtually impossible to spoil a newborn Christian. He needs to be loved. Barnabas took Saul to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord. While the apostles were scared of Saul, Barnabas introduced him, made him feel a part, and encouraged him in this way. Thank God for Barnabas!

Some of us have known firsthand what it's like to have a Barnabas in our lives. Others, new believers, may be wishing they had one—or not even realize how much they need one. Keep your eyes and ears open. Let the Holy Spirit show you if there is someone you can befriend and help to grow, as Barnabas did Saul/Paul.