Devotional for the day

[Judy Harder]

August 17, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Are You Discouraged or Devoted?
. . . Jesus . . . said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me.' But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich -Luke 18:22-23


Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven't, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.

Jesus did not show the least concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He simply said to him, "Sell all that you have . . . and come, follow Me." Our Lord never pleaded with him; He never tried to lure him- He simply spoke the strictest words that human ears have ever heard, and then left him alone.

Have I ever heard Jesus say something difficult and unyielding to me? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened- not something I can explain for the sake of others, but something I have heard Him say directly to me? This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it clearly, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart. He did not go away as a defiant person, but as one who was sorrowful and discouraged. He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but the words of Jesus simply froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they produced heartbreaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is truly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. What is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life. I wonder what we will say when we finally make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain- He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.

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Inwardly Compelled

It was love that motivated the Father to send His Son Jesus to redeem mankind. That same love has been poured out into the heart of every believer.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

God's love in us calls and compels us to do something about the plight of lost people.  Even as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14, For the love of Christ compels us.

A few years ago, late at night I would hear what seemed to be a very faint chime or bell.  Several times I got out of bed to try and find the source of the sound, but it always stopped before I could discover it.

Finally, one evening, I found out what it was.  It was an old watch I had, tucked away in a drawer under some junk.  Every evening, the alarm would go off at the same time.

The call of God's love in your heart can be like that.  Sounding regularly but seldom heard.  Buried under personal ambitions, cares and problems, daily routines and the general busyness of life.  But it is unmistakably there!

The same love that moved Jesus to heal the sick and minister God's life to broken people is in you!  Listen to it.  Get in touch with it and express it to someone in need.


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Dullness of Hearing

In His Presence: 2 Corinthians 5:20

Carnal Christians are characterized by a willful refusal to grow. The writer of Hebrews says that they "have become dull of hearing. For though by this time [they] ought to be teachers, [they] have need again for someone to teach [them] the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and [yet they] have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the world of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Hebrews 5:11-14).

The writer here says they had become dull of hearing. Notice that he says they have become dull of hearing, not that they are dull of hearing. This implies that they used to be good listeners at one time, but that changed. They had become willfully rebellious against God. They started by being neglectful and disinterested, and then they became insensitive to sin.

The Greek term used here to mean "dull of hearing" has to do with slowness of perception due to moral laxness. It was the word used as an epitaph for a mule! So the writer was telling his readers that they had become like mules. Now mules are not the greatest thinkers; they are used for manual labor. The mule-minded Christians had regressed so much that they were of little value to God-not because God had made them that way, but because they had become that way.

One Minute Please

People become dull of hearing as a result of choices they have made.


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 18, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sorrow?
When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich -Luke 18:23


The rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus' words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to respond. Have you ever been there? Has God's Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He has pointed out certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind. If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you. But every time He meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will simply repeat His words, saying, "If you really mean what you say, these are the conditions."

"Sell all that you have . . ." (Luke 18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought- in the realm of your will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is difficult- it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.

I can be so rich in my own poverty, or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody, that I will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute and poor even in my sense of awareness of my destitution and poverty? If not, that is why I become discouraged. Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus- not love for Jesus Himself.
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"Come Over and Help Us"

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.  A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."  Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:9-10).

The world is in need and they are calling!  I can hear Africa, Asia, voices from South America and Europe calling out.  China and Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines...voices from around the globe crying out, "Come over and help us!"

The call may be coming from down your street or from the next aisle in the grocery store.  "Help me!  I'm lost.  I want to find God.  I have problems I can't cope with.  I have an aching void in my heart that I don't know how to fill.  Is there anyone out there with answers?!"

Who will go to them if not you and me?

To say, "I don't feel called to go to them," is equivalent to a strong swimmer standing on the shore of a lake saying he doesn't feel called to save the man drowning before his eyes.

Ask God today to direct you to someone whose heart has cried out for answers and help.  Chances are you won't have to go too far to find them.


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Dullness of Hearing

In His Presence: 2 Corinthians 5:20

Carnal Christians are characterized by a willful refusal to grow. The writer of Hebrews says that they "have become dull of hearing. For though by this time [they] ought to be teachers, [they] have need again for someone to teach [them] the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and [yet they] have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the world of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Hebrews 5:11-14).

The writer here says they had become dull of hearing. Notice that he says they have become dull of hearing, not that they are dull of hearing. This implies that they used to be good listeners at one time, but that changed. They had become willfully rebellious against God. They started by being neglectful and disinterested, and then they became insensitive to sin.

The Greek term used here to mean "dull of hearing" has to do with slowness of perception due to moral laxness. It was the word used as an epitaph for a mule! So the writer was telling his readers that they had become like mules. Now mules are not the greatest thinkers; they are used for manual labor. The mule-minded Christians had regressed so much that they were of little value to God-not because God had made them that way, but because they had become that way.

One Minute Please

People become dull of hearing as a result of choices they have made.



God bless

[Judy Harder]

August 19, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Self-Awareness
Come to Me . . . -Matthew 11:28


God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God's will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.

Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one- "Come to Me . . . ." The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.
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Resist the Devil

In Jude 9 we are told how Michael the archangel dealt with Satan.

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

My concern is that some people have tried to use this Scripture to say that we do not have authority over the devil.  They believe we have no recourse other than to pray that the Lord will do something about him.

But that is not the point he is making here at all.  Jude was referencing the previous verse where some would "speak evil of dignitaries."  He used Michael's conversation with the devil to show that this was wrong.  To say that we do not have the right to resist the devil and cast him out on the basis of this Scripture is ridiculous.  Here are five things to think about:

1.      This event between Michael and Lucifer (Satan) happened before New Testament times-before Jesus defeated the devil and broke his power.

2.      James 4:7 tells us, Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  It does not say, "Pray that God will resist the devil for you."

3.      Jesus, in the Great Commission, told us to cast out devils (or demons).  Jesus wouldn't tell us that if He hadn't given us the authority.

4.      In Luke 10:19 Jesus said, "I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

5.      In the book of Acts, as the Church carried out their mission, they commanded demons to come out, and they came out in Jesus' name.

My friend, Jesus has broken the authority of the devil in your life.  Resist him and he will flee!


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Keep the Fires Burning

In His Presence: Psalm 51:12

The carnal Christian is characterized by withdrawing from the fellowship of other Christians. "Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25). One of the ways we know we are on the road to carnality is when we feel that church doesn't matter much any more. While we don't have to go to church to become Christians, attending church is necessary for us to grow spiritually. Attending a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching fellowship will inspire and motivate us in this direction. Mature Christians not only want to be blessed, but they want to be a blessing to others.

"Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds"(v. 24). God saved us to be part of His body. Our fingers couldn't work without our hands, and our hands couldn't work without our wrists. Our wrists couldn't work without our arms, and our arms wouldn't work without our shoulders. God has designed us to need each other and to care for each other. When someone begins down the road to carnality, we find that they don't attend church as often as they used to. As a result, no one is around to hold them accountable and encourage them to be responsible.

One log in the fireplace does not burn very well. Logs need to be piled together for there to be a flame. The flame lasts longer when there are several logs burning together.

One Minute Please
Attending church services involves much more than attending a meeting.


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 22, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

"I Indeed . . . But He"
I indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire -Matthew 3:11


Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, "I indeed . . . but He . . ."? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more- butHe begins right there- He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.

Repentance does not cause a sense of sin- it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.

"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. "He will baptize you . . . ." The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.

"I indeed" was this in the past, "but He" came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.

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  Clean and Committed

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

When God looks at us, the first thing He sees is the state of our heart.  In the next few devotionals we are going to look at several different aspects of the heart-things that must be present in order to experience the richer blessings of God.

·        A clean heart.  Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Every once in a while I have to clean out the drains throughout our house.  It is amazing how quickly they become clogged.  If I do not clean them, before long, the sinks get stopped up and the water will not flow through anymore.

If we don't periodically take time before God to have our hearts purified and cleansed, pretty soon His blessings can no longer flow to us or through us.

·        A committed heart.  2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV) says, "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."

I believe it is important to be committed to God before seeking His blessings.

God told Moses to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go, that they may serve me."  Most people want to be delivered from their captivity, but they are not so keen on the "serving God" part of the deal.

The Lord is looking for committed hearts.  Does your heart belong fully to Him?  If not, commit it to Him today!


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Apostasy

In His Presence: Deuteronomy 13:4

The carnal Christian is also characterized by rejection of the Christian faith. If the carnal Christian stays on the road to carnality long enough, he will apostatize-fall away from the life of faith. He or she may deny Christianity. Can a Christian go so far as to become a rank sinner in his actions? Yes, "for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment" (Hebrews 10:26-27).

God will intervene on behalf of the carnal Christian, but He will also judge. Even the blood of Jesus will not save him from God's wrath. This does not mean that salvation will be lost, but God will judge that person. There will be emotional consequences. It may even mean an end to his life. The price tag for apostasy is staggering. "Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (vv. 28-29).

One Minute Please
A person is not beyond help if he is disinterested


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 23, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Prayer- Battle in "The Secret Place"
When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly -Matthew 6:6


Jesus did not say, "Dream about your Father who is in the secret place," but He said, ". . . pray to your Father who is in the secret place. . . ." Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, "This needs to be done, and I have to do that today." Jesus says to "shut your door." Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from "the secret place"- He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in "the secret place," it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into "the secret place," and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and "pray to your Father who is in the secret place," every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.


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Listening and Believing



·        A listening heart.  Luke 5:15 says, However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

The people came to hear and then be healed.  Some did not want to take the time to listen, they just wanted the blessing so they could be on their way.

Listen to what the apostle Paul said to some people in Acts 28:27, For the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.

We must have listening, receptive hearts if we are going to experience healing or any other of God's blessings.

·        A believing heart.  Proverbs 3:5 says, Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding.

Many years ago I was hiking up a canyon with one of my sons.  He was about eight years old at the time.  We reached a place where he could only get up by trusting me.

I dropped him a rope and pulled him up to where I was.  He needed to believe that I would not let go.  Because he did, and put actions with his belief, my strength was made available to him and he reached a place he could not have gotten to on his own.

God's strength is made available to the believing heart, and as we believe He brings us to places we could never reach on our own.


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Spiritual Discipline

In His Presence: James 1:2-2

When a person's carnality reaches the point of rejecting the Christian faith, many things can happen. Financial, emotional, social, and mental difficulties are just a few things that could catch up with them. If they live in persistent rebellion against God, God is going to discipline them. "We had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplines us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness" (Hebrews 12:9-10).

The purpose of God's discipline is to bring us back to Him in reconciliation. He does not discipline in vengeance or because He is angry. Our parents disciplined us the best they could, but God disciplines perfectly every time. He knows everything. He knows what the carnal Christian has done, so God is never caught by surprise.

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful" (v. 11). A person living in carnality is going to experience discipline that will hurt. What is the difference between a Christian in the will of God going through trials, and a person out of the will of God going through discipline? If we are in the will of God, we can "consider it all joy" (James 1:2). If we are out of God's will, we will not have joy in the midst of our problems.

One Minute Please
"To those who have been trained by [discipline], afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11).


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 24, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

The Spiritual Search
What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? -Matthew 7:9


The illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our relationship is to Him (see Matthew 5:45). Never say that it is not God's will to give you what you ask. Don't faint and give up, but find out the reason you have not received; increase the intensity of your search and examine the evidence. Is your relationship right with your spouse, your children, and your fellow students? Are you a "good child" in those relationships? Do you have to say to the Lord, "I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings"? You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a "good child."

We mistake defiance for devotion, arguing with God instead of surrendering. We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God's child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12).

I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I "walk in the light" (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. We are all good at producing spiritual fog that blinds our sight. But if we will search out and examine the evidence, we will see very clearly what is wrong- a friendship, an unpaid debt, or an improper attitude. There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, "Everyone who asks receives . . ." (Matthew 7:.
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Unless They Are Agreed

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3).

In order to walk with God, one must agree with Him.  In order to experience the fulfillment of His promises in our lives, we must agree with what those promises say-whether we understand how they could ever come to pass or not.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would give birth to a son, she asked, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" (Luke 1:34).

A pretty fair question, don't you think?  It seemed impossible to Mary.  She could not get her mind around how Gabriel's announcement could ever come to pass.

I love the angel's response to her question, "The Holy Spirit..." (Luke 1:35). That is the answer to your impossibilities as well.  When you can't understand how a promise from God could ever be fulfilled, the answer is "The Holy Spirit!"

At this point Mary could have said, "No way!  This makes no sense to me.  I don't accept it!"  But she didn't.  She said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word"(Luke 1:38).

Mary agreed with God's promise and accepted it.  Then the miracle happened.

Whatever you are facing today, make the decision to agree with God and His promises.  The Holy Spirit can bring His Word to pass!


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Marriage Is A Covenant

In His Presence: Genesis 2:18; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9

Marriage is a covenantal union designed to strengthen the capability of each partner to carry out the plan of God in their lives. Whether your marriage has drifted off course or was never on course at all, God can redeem your marriage to make it satisfying and whole.

One way of beginning this process is by understanding that marriage is a covenant. Many of us in our day today have lost touch with this word - covenant. But if we do not know what a covenant is, then we do not know what we are supposed to have, develop, or protect over time. It's like trying to hit a bull's eye without a target.

According to God as He lays it out for us in the Scripture, a covenant is a spiritually binding relationship between God and His people inclusive of certain agreements, conditions, benefits and effects.

Whenever God wanted to formalize His relationship with His people, He would establish a covenant. Simply stated, it is a formal arrangement made within a legal capacity between God and His people. In order to enjoy a satisfying marital relationship, we must first begin by aligning our thinking with God's thinking on the matter. Without a divine frame of reference, we will stray from God's formula for a healthy, productive home.


God bless

[Judy Harder]

August 25, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Sacrifice and Friendship
I have called you friends . . . -John 15:15


We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most difficult thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying, "I'll surrender if . . . !" Or we approach it by saying, "I suppose I have to devote my life to God." We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these ways.

But as soon as we do totally surrender, abandoning ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy. The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend (see John 15:13-14). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit's ultimate expression of love.

Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, "I delight to do Your will, O my God . . . ." He endured tremendous personal sacrifice, yet with overflowing joy. Have I ever yielded myself in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am looking for direction and guidance, then there is no benefit in my sacrifice. But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused on Him, slowly but surely His molding influence becomes evident in my life (see Hebrews 12:1-2).

Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God. One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love is through the rejection that results from having built the love on natural desires. But the one true desire of a saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional- for a saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing imaginable.

"I have called you friends. . . ." Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God.

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Grumbling and Complaining

One of the things I believe grieves the heart of God is when His children grumble and complain.  In Jude 6 we find some interesting insight into this destructive behavior,

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.

The word complainer is really two Greek words stuck together.  The first word means to blame, and the second word means your fate or lot in life.  The point is that complainers blame someone else for their lot in life.

Isn't it always amazing how someone can make wrong choices, and when they have to face the consequences of those choices, it is always somebody else's fault?

I have two pieces of advice for you on this.  First, if you are a complainer and grumbler, stop.  God is not honored, and you are only showing that you are "walkingaccording to your own lust," not according to God's Spirit.

Second, stay away from people like that or you will end up being like them.   Proverbs 22:24-25 says,

Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.

Their attitudes and mindsets will bleed off on you.

Did you ever throw a pair of jeans in the washing machine with a red shirt?  What happened to your blue jeans?  They turned pink, didn't they?  The red dye bled over into the blue jeans, and the blue jeans were no longer blue.  They were pink.

If you hang around with people who grumble and complain, their attitudes will bleed over into your way of thinking.  And the last thing you want to be is a grumbler and complainer.


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Marriage is God's House

In His Presence: Genesis 2: 19-24 

If you were to come over to my house, I would welcome you inside but there would be a set of rules by which to abide. Just like I would need to abide by the rules for your house. For example, in my home, I don't allow smoking. So if you smoke, you would need to put out your cigarette before you came in my home.

I am able to make these rules and enforce them because it is my house. Marriage is God's house. He came up with the idea. And it can only run right when it is run by His rules.

What married couples often want to do, though, is to have God's institution of marriage, yet run it by their own rules. They want to get married in the church so that God will bless their marriage, but then they want to leave God standing at the altar. They want to make up their own rules for how a marriage should be run.

But let me tell you a secret. It is a very powerful secret. Pay attention: You don't get God's results without operating by God's rules. You don't get God's blessings in your marriage, and in your home, without following God's instructions. You don't enjoy God's provision, protection, and peace in your relationships without abiding by God's policies concerning the covenantal union of marriage.

 
God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 26, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 

Are You Ever Troubled?
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you . . . -John 14:27


There are times in our lives when our peace is based simply on our own ignorance. But when we are awakened to the realities of life, true inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always "spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Have I ever received what Jesus speaks? ". . . My peace I give to you. . ."- a peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment.

Are you severely troubled right now? Are you afraid and confused by the waves and the turbulence God sovereignly allows to enter your life? Have you left no stone of your faith unturned, yet still not found any well of peace, joy, or comfort? Does your life seem completely barren to you? Then look up and receive the quiet contentment of the Lord Jesus. Reflecting His peace is proof that you are right with God, because you are exhibiting the freedom to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security.

With regard to the problem that is pressing in on you right now, are you "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) and receiving peace from Him? If so, He will be a gracious blessing of peace exhibited in and through you. But if you only try to worry your way out of the problem, you destroy His effectiveness in you, and you deserve whatever you get. We become troubled because we have not been taking Him into account. When a person confers with Jesus Christ, the confusion stops, because there is no confusion in Him. Lay everything out before Him, and when you are faced with difficulty, bereavement, and sorrow, listen to Him say, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." (John 14:27).
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Prayer?

In Ephesians 6:17-18, the apostle Paul tells us,

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Today I want you to take special note of that phrase, "Praying always with all prayer."  In Goodspeed's translation, he puts it this way,  Use every kind of prayer and entreaty; and at every opportunity, pray in the Spirit.

I believe Paul is pointing you and me to the fact that there are different kinds of prayer.  Over the next few devotionals, I want to talk to you about those different types of prayer.

Now, I know you may be thinking, "Well, prayer is prayer. Let's not get so technical."  There is a truth there because prayer in its simplest form is just talking to God, and that is something anyone can do.

But to say, "All prayer is prayer," is equivalent to saying, "All sports are sports."  It is true in one sense, but you cannot play one kind of sport with the rules that govern a different kind of sport.

I remember when I was coaching Little League.  A ground ball was hit into the outfield.  When the outfielder got it, he threw it at the kid running to second base and hit him.  Then the outfielder started screaming, "You're out! I got you!"

Well, that works in dodge ball, but it doesn't work in baseball.  There are different kinds of prayer for different kinds of circumstances, which I look forward to helping you understand in the coming devotionals. 

Be diligent to talk to God every day, but along with that commitment, make it your aim to learn the "rules" that govern different kinds of prayer.


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Why Did God Make Marriage?

In His Presence: Genesis 2:25

When we read in our passage for today that Adam and Eve were naked before each other, I want us to realize that the word used here means more than physical nakedness. It means they were transparent. They were open to one another. They had become best friends.

Is your wife or your husband your best friend? Is he or she the person you share your total being with? That's important, because the reason God created marriage was so that you and I could experience the Trinity.

What is the Trinity? Three coequal persons who are one. What is marriage? Three persons who become one - a man, a woman, and the Lord. That's marriage. It's a picture of a higher unity, a symbol on earth standing for the reality in heaven. The marriage relationship is the closest we'll get in this life to the oneness and unity of the Trinity.

Will you join me in praying that God will enable us to make our marriages everything He meant them to be ... and will you join me in committing yourself to this goal?

God bless

 

[Judy Harder]

August 29, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
 
The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith
Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' -John 11:40

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, "It's all a lie"? When you are on the mountaintop, it's easy to say, "Oh yes, I believe God can do it," but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42). Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, "I believe 'God shall supply all [my] need,' " the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end . . ." (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God- trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6).
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The Prayer of Agreement

Today I want to help you understand the prayer of agreement.

This prayer is found in Matthew 18:19, where Jesus says,

, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven."

When I pray with other people, nine times out of ten this is the prayer that I pray with them.  And most of the time I will quote this verse to them.

I remember working for a ministry years ago and praying with the folks who called on the phone.  When I prayed with someone, I would walk them through this verse before we prayed.

The steps I pointed out were simple:

There needs to be at least two of us praying.
We need to agree.
We need to be on earth (I usually got a laugh out of this one).
What we are asking God for needs to come under the category of "anything" (which their request always did).
God will do it.
The only part people ever got hung up on was the agreement.  "What does it mean to agree?" they would ask.  I would say, "Simple, to agree means to agree."  Don't over-spiritualize it.  If we decide to get lunch together at a certain time at a certain place, and you say, "Ok, see you there," we have just agreed.

To agree in prayer is no different.

Read this verse again.  Look at it step by step, and follow it-in all its simplicity.  If we do our part, God will do His.


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We All Have Expectations



In His Presence: Psalm 40:1-17   

Life is filled with expectations.  Look at our everyday lives.  Some of us wake up expecting the best in our work day or with our family or in our health or in our finances.  Others dread the day, or at best, never expect anything to change for the better.

Childhood dreams and hopes might be crushed by comments that discourage rather than encourage.  Disillusionments or disappointments can stop any positive expectations.

What are you expecting in life?  Whatever your expectations, there's a good chance you're going to get it. In other words, you get whatever you expect out of life.

Please know that God is still ABLE to deliver you from low expectations.  Start believing for something better in your life.  The Word tells us that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Expect it!


God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

August 30, 2011

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   
AM I CONVINCED BY CHRIST?


"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not . . . , but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:19, 20
Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfil God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light.
The tendency to-day is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that Our Lord heeds in a man's life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons to glory.

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The Prayer of Personal Edification

Today's devotional brings us to the prayer of personal edification.  In 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul writes,

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

In verse 14, Paul says, If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays.  Coupled together with his statement in verse 4, we can see that praying in tongues edifies our spirit.

Edifies is actually an old English word.  It means to build an edifice or building higher and higher.  The closest modern way to say that would be "charges himself with energy," just like you would recharge a battery.

When I pray in other tongues, I charge my spirit with energy.  I build myself up.  It is like my cell phone.  It needs to be recharged, or before long it will cease to work.

Sometimes I keep my phone on and talk on it while it is recharging, but when I do that it takes a whole lot longer to recharge.  If I turn it off and plug it in, the charging process happens much quicker.

Sometimes you just need to shut everything down, turn everything off, and go get away with God and pray.  Build yourself up in the Holy Spirit, especially praying in other tongues.

Sometimes after a long day I will come home just drained, tired inside and out.  Eating a good meal and getting some rest takes care of my physical tiredness, but in order to replenish my inner resources, I need to do something else.

For me, reading His Word is food for my spirit, and praying in tongues brings inward rest and rejuvenation.

Even as the Scripture declares in Isaiah 28:11-12, For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, "This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest," and, "This is the refreshing."

Take the time to get away and recharge your spiritual batteries.


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Do You Need to Change Your Expectations?

In His Presence: Acts 3:1-9; 16   

As a pastor, I witness people accepting their circumstances with a "crippling" mindset rather than believing God for something better in life.

They are like the lame man in Acts 3 who sat by the gate, Beautiful, begging for money.  His only expectation was that a passerby will take pity on him and toss a coin his way.  He never expected anything better. He was crippled in his body and his mind. 

That's the mindset of those who don't expect things can change in their lives.  We all face bad days, but we don't have to let them turn into a bad life.

Do you know anyone like that?  Is that you?  Jesus' disciples offered the lame man miraculous healing in both his body and his mind.  You too can move forward no matter what you face in life.


God bless