Love Worth Finding

[Judy Harder]

June 12

Our God Holds All things Together

"And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." - Colossians 1:17

There are critics of Christianity who say that Jesus wasn't really the Messiah. All He did was arrange His life to fulfill the prophecies. And they're right! He really did. The only thing is, He arranged it centuries before He was born!

¨    He arranged to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
¨    He arranged His peasant background and the humiliation He would suffer (Isaiah 53:3).
¨    He arranged that He would be betrayed and sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13).
¨    He arranged His crucifixion with the piercing of His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16).
¨    He arranged He would be buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9).
¨    Finally, Jesus arranged that He would be followed by millions who, with no hope of material gain and at a cost of their own lives, would set out to convince others of Him.

Oh yes! He arranged it all! Glory to God!

Praise God for His power, His plan, and His control over all things! Truly, nothing is too hard for Him, and "in Him we live and move and have our being."

[Judy Harder]

June 19

You Have a Priestly Role

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." - Hebrews 10:19

Someone asked me, "Dr. Rogers, the Roman Catholics and Episcopalians have priests. Why don't the Baptists?" I responded, "We do! You're looking at one! Every believer is a priest."

R. G. Lee, a precious mentor and godly preacher, once said, "I don't walk into my collar, I back into my collar." You see, it is a great truth that we have direct access to the Father. We don't have to talk to someone else to confess our sins. We can confess directly to God.

Do you know what you and I are to be doing as priests? We are to be making God known to others so that they will learn, repent, and believe.

[Judy Harder]

June 20

Keeping Faith with the Next Generation

"Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to every one that is to come." - Psalm 71:18

The early Christians turned the world upside down. Their charge and ours today is the same—to rescue the perishing and care for the dying, to go to the helpless one and tell them Jesus saves.

I heard about a little girl who said to her mother, "Do you remember that priceless vase we all love so much that's been handed down to our family from one generation to another generation?" The mother said, "Yes." The little girl sheepishly revealed, "Well, this generation just dropped it."

Now friend, this generation cannot drop it.

The faith that we enjoy must be handed down from generation to generation. We must not drop this priceless heirloom that God has placed into our hands.

[Judy Harder]

June 21

The Five Qualities of Friendship                                                                                                                                                                       

"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous." - 1 Peter 3:8

There are five qualities of friendship.

1. Harmony. We are to be of one mind, not necessarily singing the same note, but complimenting one another.

2. Sympathy. We hurt when friends hurt. The world is looking for friends like this.

3. Fraternity. We are to love one another like brothers. There is no brotherhood like the brotherhood in Jesus Christ.

4. Pity. If you want to be a real friend, you're going to have to feel deeply. You'll need to put yourself in the place of the other person.

5. Humility. Genuine courtesy is thinking of the other person's needs before your own. You are less concerned with your rights, and more concerned about the relationship.

Begin to develop these characteristics of friendship in your life and watch God change your world!

[Judy Harder]

June 22

You Are A Wanted Child

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." - Ephesians 1:4

The Holy Trinity worked together for your salvation. God the Father thought it, God the Spirit wrought it, and God the Son bought it. Christians are God's special chosen ones. Are you a believer? Then you are a wanted child. Your salvation didn't "just happen."

Ephesians 1:4 tells you that God chose you before the foundation of the world. Before He swung the stars in space, before He planted the seeds, before He built the mountains, before all of that, you were in the heart and mind of God. How special you are to God!

God the Father sent His Spirit into the world to select and sanctify His children for His holy purpose. We are utterly dependent upon the Spirit for our salvation. And we seek Him because He first sought us!

[Judy Harder]

June 23

A Word for Students

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion." - Proverbs 28:1

Our government has tried to judicially remove God from the public school. But do you know that will never be done? Because you can't keep Christianity out of schools unless you keep Christians out.

If you are a student, let me challenge you to speak out boldly and confidently about Jesus Christ. You are His special messenger of love to teachers, fellow students, custodians, cafeteria workers, and more.

Some of these people may have gone to church on Sunday, but all they found was a cold, dead religion. They didn't find Jesus.

Will you be Jesus to them this week? Others may have never stepped into a church; will you invite them to your church?

[Judy Harder]

JUNE 24

Where Is Your Treasure?

". . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:21

There are many people who think  they are wealthy who are not. We've seen the television series "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," and many times it should be called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Foolish."

When is a rich man poor? When he tries to find satisfaction in his money. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver" (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

A man of modest income said to a man who was very rich, "I have more than you have."  The rich man said, "How is that so?"  He anwered, "Because I have all I want, and you don't."

When you set your goal to be wealthy, then money becomes your master rather than your servant. What is your goal with your finances?

[Judy Harder]

             
June 25

The Relief of a Clear Conscience

"And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." - Acts 24:16

What does it mean to have a clear conscience? As far as you know, there is nothing wrong between you and God. And there is nothing wrong between you and anybody else.

Do you jump every time the doorbell rings? Do you cringe when you see a police squad car approaching you? In Psalm 51:3, David knew the hounding of a bad conscience when he said, "My sin is ever before me." Trust me, no torture the poets name can match that fierce unutterable pain of a bad conscience. You know you've sinned and yet you have done nothing about it.

The trials of life are easier to face when you have a clear conscience. Then when something bad happens you can know that you haven't done anything wrong.

Is there something nagging at you—something you know you need to confess to your Heavenly Father? What about something between you and someone else. There is no better day than today to make it right.

[Judy Harder]

June 26

Free Love or First Love?

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." - Revelation 2:4-5

The Sixties ushered in the sexual revolution. Now tell me one more time how "free love" was to bring peace and harmony to our world?

People are being sucked into swirling sewers of sin. Homes are coming apart at the seams. Precious little unborn babies are being put to death. Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant.

The time is half past late, and we must return to our "first love." It's time to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our minds; and love our neighbors as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:36-39).

It's time to introduce people to the "free love" offered by our Savior when He died to forgive us our sins and purchase our salvation for eternity.

[Judy Harder]

June 27

Closing the Connection

"But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him." Psalm 4:3

If ever there were a reason for you and I to pray, it would be that Jesus told us to pray (see Luke 18:1b). Yet you may wonder why you need to talk to God about your needs since "your Father knows what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him" (Matthew 6:.

Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance; it is laying hold of His willingness. It is part of God's grand scheme that we have been given the privilege to cooperate with God in prayer.

Ephesians 6:18 tells us to pray "in the Spirit." Any prayer that the Holy Spirit lays upon your heart will be answered, because the prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven. We just close the circuit.