Devotional for the day

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

The Purpose of Prayer

. . . one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray . . .' -Luke 11:1

Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person's life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

"Ask, and you will receive . . ." (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, ". . . unless you . . . become as little children . . ." (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits' end. When a person is at his wits' end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems- the very things that have brought you to your wits' end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

To say that "prayer changes things" is not as close to the truth as saying, "Prayer changes me and then I change things." God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature.


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Listening and Believing

For the last several devotionals we have been looking at heart attitudes that are conducive to receiving God's blessings. Today we will discuss a few more.

·        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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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]

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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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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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]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

Usefulness or Relationship?

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven -Luke 10:20

Jesus Christ is saying here, "Don't rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me." The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service- rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour "rivers of living water" through you (John 7:38). And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7).

Our tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make their request for help on the basis of someone's usefulness. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint's usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person's life is that person's relationship with God- something of great value to His Father. Jesus is "bringing many sons to glory . . ." (Hebrews 2:10).


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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 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]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

"My Joy . . . Your Joy"

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full -John 15:11

What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father- the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do- ". . . who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . ." (Hebrews 12:2). "I delight to do Your will, O my God . . ." (Psalm 40:. Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

Living a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, in circumstances, nor even in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed. But the first thing that will hinder this joy is the subtle irritability caused by giving too much thought to our circumstances. Jesus said, ". . . the cares of this world, . . . choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). And before we even realize what has happened, we are caught up in our cares. All that God has done for us is merely the threshold- He wants us to come to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.

Have the right relationship with God, finding your joy there, and out of you "will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). Be a fountain through which Jesus can pour His "living water." Stop being hypocritical and proud, aware only of yourself, and live "your life . . . hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). A person who has the right relationship with God lives a life as natural as breathing wherever he goes. The lives that have been the greatest blessing to you are the lives of those people who themselves were unaware of having been a blessing.


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The Prayer of Dedication

Yesterday we began a journey to understand the different kinds of prayer for the different circumstances we face in life.  The first kind of prayer I want to point you to is the prayer of dedication.   

Mark 14:32, 35-36 helps us understand this type of prayer,

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."...He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.  And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.  Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

Here we find Jesus dedicating and consecrating Himself to the will of the Father.  He is in agony; He is in distress.  This is the eve of His crucifixion.  And Jesus is saying, "Lord, if we can redeem humanity some other way, God, please!  But Your will is what is important.  So I am consecrating Myself to Your will, Father."

This prayer of dedication and consecration is one that believers should pray.  In fact, I believe every Christian should pray this prayer in a general sense after they get saved.  Just like the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, "Lord, what would You haveme to do?"

Also, when you come to specific crossroads as you follow God, if you are unsure of God's will, or you feel He may be leading you into a specific area that will require sacrifice, reestablish that consecration and dedication to God through this kind of prayer.

Christ was dedicated to do the will of the Father, and yet He reaffirmed that dedication as He prayed, "I am willing to submit Myself to You."

Pray it.  Vocalize it.  Submit yourself to His will as He reveals it.


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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]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

His!
They were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . -John 17:6

A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: "You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, "I am not my own," is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, "Go" (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, "[You] cannot be My disciple." This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.

Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. ". . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . ." (Acts 1:. The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary's secret is truly being able to say, "I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me."

Be entirely His!


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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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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]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

Watching With Jesus

Stay here and watch with Me -Matthew 26:38

Watch with Me." Jesus was saying, in effect, "Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me." In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular "Gethsemane" experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, "No, Lord, I can't see the meaning of this, and besides, it's very painful." And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don't even know why He is suffering? We don't know how to watch with Him- we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.

The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they "all . . . forsook Him and fled" (Matthew 26:56).

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . ." (Acts 2:4). "They" refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events- our Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension- and the disciples have now been invaded and "filled with the Holy Spirit." Our Lord had said, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . ." (Acts 1:. This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.


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The Prayer of Supplication

Today I want to focus your attention on the prayer of supplication.  Ephesians 6:18 tells us,

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints

When Paul says, Praying always with all prayer, the Greek word he uses for prayer is just a general term for prayer used throughout the New Testament.

But the word he uses translated supplication means prayer for definite, specific needs.  Most generally, you will find that this is a prayer prayed for others, as is the case in this verse.

In Philippians 1:4, Paul uses this same word for supplication, when he says,

Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.

Both the words translated prayer and request are the Greek word for supplication that we just read in Ephesians 6:18.  But here it is translated as prayer and request.

I want you to notice who he is saying to pray for,  Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all.  It is for someone else.

Recently, I had a pastor friend ask me to pray for his church and their finances.  He said things were really tight.  So several times I brought the issue before God and made specific requests about it...or supplications.

Now, I did not pray, "I believe I receive it."  That is not my place.  What I did do was pray for God to help them.  I prayed that God would give them wisdom, that God would inspire the people in the church to give, that people would have a heart for souls, and a number of other specific requests over the following several days.

That is the prayer of supplication...praying specific requests for specific people.


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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

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water -John 7:38

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1: regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow- "This is the work of God, that you believe. . ." (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ- not emotion nor experience- nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.


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The Prayer of Intercession

Today I want to help you understand the prayer of intercession...the sixth and last of the kinds of prayer we have been covering over the last week of devotionals.

1 Timothy 2:1 points us to this type of prayer,

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

Intercession, as we find it here, is a technical term for approaching a king on behalf of another.  In a general sense, related to prayer, intercession is seeking God on the behalf of others.  But, more specifically, it is coming to God for one who has no standing with Him.

A number of years ago, I was ministering in Nigeria, speaking at a large conference in the city of Onitsha.  While there, we were invited to go meet the king of Onitsha.

It was pretty exciting driving in a motorcade with little flags on all the cars.  I felt like a big shot!  But when we got to the palace, we had to have someone go on our behalf in order to meet with the king.  I had no standing with the king, and neither did anyone else in our party.

The person who brought us to the king of Onitsha was an intercessor.  And that is the idea of this word intercession.  You are coming to the King of kings on the behalf of someone who presently has no standing with Him.

Do you remember when Abraham went before God for the city of Sodom-desiring that God would spare Sodom?  What was Abraham doing?  He was acting as an intercessor.  He was coming between God and someone who had no standing with God.

We all should be praying prayers of intercession.  You and I are to make intercession for the lost.


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God Wants to Amaze You
In His Presence: Luke 5:1-11

How do you respond when you get a tremendous blessing?  We all want to be blessed.  Do you accept with gratitude? Do you let the blessing absorb you?

In the gospels, at Jesus' direction Peter let down his net in the water, and the blessing was so huge that the abundance of fish tore holes in Peter's net.  His boat was dangerously close to capsizing.

In Luke 5:8, it reads, When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"Peter saw beyond the blessing.  Peter saw Jesus and recognized his own limitations and his need for the Savior.

Jesus amazed Peter with the overload of fish because He wanted Peter to follow Him and get to know Him better.  God wants to amaze you so that you can better understand who He is and love Him even more!





God bless

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

Fountains of Blessings

The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life -John 4:14

The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to "be filled" (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame- something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you "will flow rivers of living water"- irrepressible life (John 7:38).

We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as "rivers of living water" in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessings are not being poured out in the same measure they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you "will flow rivers of living water." It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.

Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, "But I don't see the rivers"? Through the history of God's work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.


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Regaining Your Cutting Edge

Over the next several devotionals, I want to focus your attention on something that affects every Christian at one time or another:  Losing our spiritual edge.

God wants us to stay spiritually sharp.  Consider Ecclesiastes 10:10,

If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success.

God is using this analogy to illustrate a very important truth:  If you lose your edge spiritually, you lose your effectiveness as well.

Maybe you feel that way today.  Though you are exerting strenuous effort, you are making little progress in your spiritual life.  God wants you to go forward.  He wants you to progress and not become stagnant in your spiritual life.

I have a friend whose father was a logger many years ago.  It was a time when they cut all the timber by hand with just an ax.

One day his father shared about the way he would operate.  After he chopped down a tree, he would sit on the stump of the tree he had just chopped down, take out a file he kept on his belt, and he would sharpen the edge of the ax.  He would sit there until the ax was very sharp again, then he would go after the next tree.

Each time he chopped down a tree he would do exactly the same thing.  But he said most of the other guys didt do that.  They just wanted to keep going, never stopping to sharpen their axes.

Without fail, he said, he always got more done than they did, and he used a lot less effort.  They had to exercise more strength, yet they got less done.

Over the next several days, we will look at what it takes to regain that spiritual edge.


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Expect Great Things from a Great Name
In His Presence: Ephesians 3:14-20

If you want to rise up spiritually, you need to hang out with people who will inspire you to higher expectations and help you reach them.  If you want a better job, you hang out with the experts in the field, not with unmotivated, unfocused people. If you want to see God move supernaturally in your life, you hang out with people who believe in God's power.

Too many Christians have put a lid on God, expecting little from Him because they don't know the power of His name. The apostles, Peter and John, gave the lame beggar at the gate, Beautiful, something more valuable than silver or gold.

The apostles offered the lame man the name above every other name with all authority: Jesus!   There's power in that name, and you TOO can expect great things from that great name.


God bless

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
   

Is There Good in Temptation?
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man . . . -1 Corinthians 10:13


The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person's inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal- it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don't know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else-what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations-He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).


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A Miracle-Working God
Once again I want to take us back to 2 Kings 6:6, which provides for us the sixth key to regaining your cutting edge.

So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float.

Perhaps you are wondering just what other principle for regaining your spiritual edge can come from this verse. Well, there is one more, and it is critical to understand because it points to God's part in the process of restoration.

I want you to look at the words,"And he made the iron float."

I don't know about you, but I have never seen an iron ax head float. Clearly this was a miracle. God worked a miracle when the man did his part, looking to the master, taking responsibility, and going to the place where the ax head was lost.

You do your part; God does His part. I like the King James Version as it says, ...the iron did swim. It was against that ax head's nature to swim, but God made it swim.

God brings the restoration. He brings the healing. He brings back that sensitivity and usefulness to Him. I pray that right now God is at work in your heart, and you are responding, making adjustments...regaining your cutting edge.

As you admit to those areas where you have lost your spiritual edge, God is going to restore it. God's part is to make that ax head float once you have admitted where you have failed!

He can restore what has been lost, even if it takes His miracle power to do it.


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Transforming Our Culture
Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-16

When Jesus Christ returns, we will no longer need to worry about transforming our culture because He will set up His Kingdom rule. But until that time, we need to reach the world for Him and for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

What is the role of Christians in our society? Jeremiah 29:4-11 illustrates this foundational principle: Society is transformed when God's people execute His strategy in history in a Christ-centered way.

The prophet Jeremiah challenged the Jews in Babylonian captivity to regain their spiritual clarity. The Babylonian pagans were not Israel's greatest problem to deal with. The Jews had become pagans themselves and had failed to remain God's distinct, unique people.

When the church fails to be God's unique people, the entire culture will suffer the effects of sin.





God bless
 

[Judy Harder]

September 18, 2012

Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
     

His Temptation and Ours


We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin -Hebrews 4:15

Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is the kind mentioned in James 1:14, "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." But through regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, namely, the kind of temptations our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus had no appeal to us as unbelievers because they were not at home in our human nature. Our Lord's temptations and ours are in different realms until we are born again and become His brothers. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a mere man, but the temptations of God as Man. Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us (see Galatians 4:19), and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things- he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means a test of the possessions held within the inner, spiritual part of our being by a power outside us and foreign to us. This makes the temptation of our Lord explainable. After Jesus' baptism, having accepted His mission of being the One "who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) He "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Matthew 4:1) and into the testing devices of the devil. Yet He did not become weary or exhausted. He went through the temptation "without sin," and He retained all the possessions of His spiritual nature completely intact.


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Take It!

The seventh and final key to regaining your cutting edge is found in verse 7 of 2 Kings 6, the passage we have been looking at over the last several days.  Here is what that verse says,

Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself."  So he reached out his hand and took it.

The sixth key was something that only God could do, and that is to make the ax head float; that is, to restore your cutting edge.

Now we see what we must do in response.  You and I must receive what God is offering.  Unless you take hold of what God is offering, your spiritual edge will never be restored.

Perhaps over the last several days, as we have looked at how to restore your spiritual edge, God has been speaking to you.  Maybe you have come to realize that you are not where you should be in your relationship with God.

Maybe you have lost that sensitivity.  Maybe you have lost your cutting edge.  I am telling you, you can reach out and take what God is doing to restore your cutting edge.

I want to challenge you to take some time today to search your heart.  If you have lost your cutting edge, stop swinging an empty handle and just going through the motions.

Be honest and admit you have lost that edge, determine where it fell, look to the Master, listen to His voice, take responsibility, know that the cross of Christ is completely sufficient to restore you, and then take hold of what God is doing to restore your edge.

God can work that miracle in your life if you will only do your part!


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Don't Depend on Pharaoh
Scripture Reading: Exodus  35:30-33; Proverbs 22:29 

Believe it or not, God's strategy to transform society includes the development of economic stability.  What does economics have to do with transforming a culture?

In Deuteronomy 28:12, God told Israel that if they would obey Him, they would be a lender to other nations and never a borrower. When God's people disobeyed, they became debtors and were plunged into poverty. They had to depend on pagans, on Pharaoh, for their livelihood.

This economic strategy remains a good one for today. Pagans will not finance God's program. With economic independence via hard work and skills, God's people can continue to make an impact for Christ. We can do His business His way because we're using His resources.

As long as you are working for and dependent upon Pharaoh, he will never let you go.





God bless








Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers     
     

Are You Going on With Jesus?


You are those who have continued with Me in My trials -Luke 22:28

It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We wear His name, but are we going on with Him? "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (John 6:66).

The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going on with Jesus in the life we are living right now?

We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ's honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?

Are you going on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on "outside the camp" (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow- but only the voice saying, "FollowMe" (Matthew 4:19)

   

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Created for a Purpose

Many Christians today are not living the successful life God intends because they have missed the purpose for which they were born.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us,

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

If you are going to live successfully, you have to know what you are all about. Any tool that is used for something other than what it was created for will not be effective. And it is liable to get damaged.

At times I have needed a hammer to pound in a nail, but I have been too lazy to go out in the garage to get one (don't get too self-righteous, you've done it too!).  So I have ended up using whatever I had handy, like a wrench.

Well, you can get the nail in, but you are not going to be very effective.  You are liable to dent the wall, and you are liable to damage the wrench.

Too many Christians today are not functioning or flowing in the thing they were created for, and consequently, they are not effective.  And sometimes they get hurt and damaged.

You do have a purpose.  In fact, the word in Ephesians 2:10 translated workmanship literally means you are handcrafted by God.  The Greek word is the same word we derive our English word poem from.

In other words, your life is not to be without order or symmetry or rhyme or reason.  God has some specific things mapped out for your life.  You are not an accident.  You are not excess baggage.  You have a purpose.

Ask God today to show you that purpose, and then develop the gifts God has given you to fulfill that purpose.


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Shine Your Light in the Darkness
Scripture Reading: Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:9 

Some Christians get nervous about discussions on the Christians' responsibility to the culture. A major concern is that the Gospel will be obscured in favor of social concerns.  Let me reassure your, when it comes to the lost, evangelism must come first. We must win people to Christ.

Without Christ, it doesn't matter how much money people have or how good their jobs are. If they die without Christ, they die without hope.  We still have to live in this world until Jesus returns. We need to be salt and light in our culture just as Jesus commanded.



We are responsible to recapture our society for Jesus, point people to Him and promote His righteousness in society.  Ask yourself, "Am I making anyone around me thirsty for Christ? Am I shining my light in the darkness?"





God bless