Turning Point with David Jeremiah

[Judy Harder]

Friday, May 6

Saved by Garbage

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
Psalm 27:6

Recommended Reading
Psalm 27


Last winter when a blizzard struck New York City, it became impossible for sanitation engineers to collect the garbage. Piles of trash accumulated in Manhattan. Though unpleasant for most residents, it saved the life of one man. A 26-year-old New Yorker, distraught over fears he would be evicted from his apartment, jumped from the ninth floor of his building. He landed in a huge heap of trash bags and escaped with only minor injuries.

There's a lot of sadness, despair, and depression in life; and we can't depend on the world's garbage to save us. We need the joy of the Lord and the uplifting power of His Word! To find true happiness, it's important to separate from bad company and other negative influences, and to daily renew our minds in the Scriptures. By living for Christ and meditating on His Word, our heads will be lifted above our enemies; and we can sing our praises to the Lord with joy.

Joy is not jolliness. Joy is perfect acquiescence in God's will because the soul delights itself in God Himself.
H. W. Webb-Peploe

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 12:1-16:14

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, May 7 & 8

Places of Greatness: Seaside Shores

Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today... The LORD will fight for you....
Exodus 14:13-14a

Recommended Reading
Exodus 14:21-31


Who can imagine the terror that gripped the families of Israel in Exodus 14? The joy of their emancipation was overwhelmed by sudden crisis. Before them was the Red Sea; behind them was the flash of Pharaoh's swords. With no way out, they seemed to be facing annihilation. Yet the Lord said, "Don't be afraid. See what I will do. Stand still and watch while I fight for you." As Moses raised his rod over the waters, the winds of heaven blew and the sea parted before them.

God can make a way where there seems to be no way. Isaiah 43:19b (KJV) says, "I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." The apostle Paul promised God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability but will with the temptation make a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).

If you're facing a challenging problem, don't be afraid. Stand still and see what God will do. He will make a way.

The Lord will make a way for you where no foot has been before. That which, like a sea, threatens to drown you, shall be a highway for your escape.
Charles H. Spurgeon

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 17:1-24:27

[Judy Harder]

Monday, May 9

There Is a War

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.
Genesis 3:15

Recommended Reading
Romans 16:20


The United States' first law prohibiting illegal drugs was passed in 1914, but it wasn't until June 17, 1971, that the term "War on Drugs" was officially used. It took almost 60 years to realize that the nation was, in fact, fighting a war against the proliferation of substances deemed harmful and therefore, illegal.

Sometimes we can be in the middle of a war and not know it. That's how it is with many Christians and spiritual warfare. Not that this war has lacked for formal identification. It began in the Garden of Eden and was so noted (Genesis 3:15). But because it can be an invisible war, out of sight can result in out of mind--out of awareness--for Christians. Satan has authority to influence the world system (1 John 5:19) and Jesus came to destroy Satan's influence (1 John 3:8; Acts 10:38). So the war is ongoing, and it is dangerous for Christians to believe otherwise.

The outcome of the war between God and Satan has been decided but not finished. Assume today that you are in the enemy's sights and be prepared (Ephesians 6:10-18).

The reason some succeed in battle is because they gain the victory on their knees before the fight begins.
Unknown

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 25:1-28:27

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, May 10

The Battlefield of the Mind

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
2 Corinthians 10:3

Recommended Reading
Romans 7:23-25


The American Heritage Dictionary defines battleground as "an area where a battle is fought; a sphere of contention." But the pictures in the daily news make us think otherwise--that battlegrounds are places where guns are fired, bombs are dropped, people are physically killed and wounded, and landscapes are destroyed. The danger is that, if we look around us and don't see those things happening, we think we are not living in a battlefield.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that our battle is not like the world's battles. Rather, it is a battle of ideas, fought on the battlefield of the mind. Our enemy's strategy is to tempt us to deny God's truth and deceive and discourage God's people so they lose faith and hope in the goodness and providence of God. Yes, Satan stirs up physical wars between nations and peoples, but even those wars begin with ideas.

Follow Paul's admonition to take every thought captive, submissive to the will of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5). Thoughts must be tested by the Word of God.

How sad our state by nature is! Our sin how deep it stains! And Satan binds our captive minds fast in his slavish chains.
Isaac Watts

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 29:1-31:21

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, May 11

Like Father, Like Son

[Paul] said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?"
Acts 13:10

Recommended Reading
John 8:42-47


More than one mother could confess to having looked (likely more than once) at her young male child and thought, "Like father, like son"--always in a positive sense, of course! It is not surprising--indeed, it is to be expected--that children bear the traits of those who birth and raise them.

And that is true in the spiritual realm as well from both a positive and negative perspective. Positively, Christians are given the Holy Spirit to become more like the Father (Galatians 5:22-23). Negatively, those who still belong to the devil manifest his traits. Jesus said to those who oppose Him that their opposition was like that of their father, the devil (John 8:43-44). And when Paul confronted a sorcerer, he declared him to be a "son of the devil." Elymas was "full of all deceit and all fraud, . . . [an] enemy of all righteousness, . . . perverting the straight ways of the Lord" (Acts 13:10). That is a perfect description of Satan: deceiver, liar, enemy of righteousness, maligner of God's ways.

To see the devil's children is to see their father and be on guard against him.

A young sinner will be an old devil.
William Gurnall

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 32:1-34:33

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, May 12

Defense Against Deceit

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3

Recommended Reading
Genesis 3:1-7


When a Wall Street investment manager defrauded investors out of billions of dollars, the guilty financier himself described it as "one big lie." He caused his investors to believe something that was not true.

That's a good way to describe the devil's primary strategy against the children of God: tempting them, influencing them to believe something that is not true. While Satan will attack truth wherever it is found--anything to promote discord and confusion on earth--it is the truth of God's Word that Satan most wants to negate. The first time we see him on earth, he is in the Garden of Eden convincing Eve that she will not die if she disobeys God's explicit instruction. Satan deceived Eve causing her to believe what was not true. And Eve died spiritually on the spot and physically in due course.

The best way for a Christian to defend against Satan's deceit is with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17b). Confidently correcting Satan's lies with God's own words will cause the devil to flee (Matthew 4:11; James 4:7).

No wickedness on earth is more common than the various forms of deceit.
William S. Plumer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Chronicles 35:1-Ezra 2:70

[Judy Harder]

Friday, May 13

Tired or Attired?

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.
Ephesians 6:14a

Recommended Reading
1 Peter 1:13-16


Our English word "gird" reminds us of a "girdle," but that conjures up the wrong image. Though older translations used the word "girdle," they were referring to the belt or sash worn in biblical times around the waist or chest. Weapons were sometimes attached, for the Bible speaks of girding on one's sword. When running, people tucked their robes into their belts to race more freely (1 Peter 1:13). The girdle was the sash that held the rest of the clothing together.

Paul likened it to truth. In a day when many people believe truth is relative, the Bible teaches that God's truth is absolute and that His truth is inscribed and encapsulated in His Word. It's the truth that holds the rest of our armor together and enables us to fight with mental freedom. When we're convinced that all the Bible is altogether true, we're outfitted for victory. Our minds are composed; our weapons ready. Without a knowledge of God's truth, we're not well-attired. We're just tired.

Wear the truth, say it, sing it, and you will be amazed how the difficulty will be subdued; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
John Henry Jowett

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Ezra 3:1-6:22

 

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, May 14 & 15

Places of Greatness: Desert Sands

Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"
Matthew 4:10

Recommended Reading
Matthew 4:1-11


We're often told that Jesus quoted Scripture to the devil and thereby defeated him. But it's not quite that easy. In reading through the story of the Temptation in Matthew 4, we notice that Jesus also relied on the Holy Spirit who was leading Him at every point (verse 1). Christ was also maintaining the spiritual discipline of fasting, and we can assume this was a season of prayer for Him (verse 2). Our Lord was also determined to say, "No! No! No!" to Satan's three enticements. We also notice that Jesus outlasted the temptation, for verse 11 says that Satan limped away in defeat having been worn out by our Lord's unflinching righteousness. Within that context, Jesus quoted Scripture three times to Satan and thereby won the victory.

To be victorious over sin, we need the Holy Spirit's inner power, the practice of regular spiritual disciplines, a determination to live righteously, tenacity, and a handful of crucial Scriptures to quote in times of temptation.

We, too, can resist the devil and he will flee from us.

Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue, Look ever to Jesus, He'll carry you through.
Horatio R. Palmer in his hymn "Yield Not to Temptation"

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Ezra 7:1-9:15
Ezra 10:1-Nehemiah 2:20

[Judy Harder]

Monday, May 16

Putting on Truth

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John 14:6

Recommended Reading
Psalm 19:7-11


In our modern world, think of all the ways we are told to relate to "truth": study the truth, find the truth, explore the truth, know the truth, discover the truth, reveal the truth--and the list goes on. But before we can put any of those verbs into action, we must answer the question raised by Pontius Pilate when he questioned Jesus of Nazareth: "What is truth?" (John 18:38) We can only study and learn that which we can define and identify.

Had Pilate known Jesus better, of course, he would have known that Jesus had already answered that question when He said, "I am . . . the truth." Marrying that statement with Paul's description of truth as one of the elements of the Christian's spiritual armor brings us to this conclusion: Jesus Christ is, in every dimension, the believer's spiritual armor. Paul says in Romans 13:14 that we are to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." When we put on (believe in, submit to, embrace) Christ who is truth, we clothe ourselves with truth; we protect ourselves from Satan's lies and deceit.

If you are clothed with Christ and His Word today, you are clothed in truth, defended against the subterfuge of Satan.

The truth of Scripture demolishes speculation.
R. C. Sproul

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Nehemiah 3:1-6:19

[Judy Harder]

, May 17

Free From Accusations

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:1b

Recommended Reading
Job 1:8-9; 2:3-6


At this very minute, accusations are flying around all over the world: in a court of law, in a political body, perhaps in a living room. Accusations carry tremendous weight according to the stature of the person making them.

There is another place where accusations never stop flowing--in the throne room of heaven. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan the "accuser of [the] brethren"--he accuses Christians "before our God day and night." Given the stature of the Accuser, the accusations against us as sinners, unworthy of forgiveness and grace, must be taken seriously. And they are true: We are sinners. But because we have put on "Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1), our Advocate enters as evidence the facts: He paid for our sins and we have been credited with His righteousness. That is what putting on the "breastplate of [Christ's] righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14b) means--that we are defended from the accusations of Satan about our sin.

When Satan tries to convince you of your unworthiness before God, agree with him--then show him the breastplate of Christ's righteousness you are wearing.

When God declares a man righteous he instantly sets about to make him righteous.
A. W. Tozer

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Nehemiah 7:1-8:18