Devotional for the day

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
The Greatest Source of Power
 
Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do . . . -John 14:13

Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point- the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.

However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? "If you abide in Me . . . "- that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point- "you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these- what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ.

"Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do . . . ." The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God's foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.


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A Chain Reaction

Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus (John 1:35-37).

When John opened his mouth about Jesus, two people who heard him speak followed the Lord.  We must open our mouths about the Lamb of God if we want people to follow Him.

Look what happens next in John 1:40-42,

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.

We have a chain reaction happening here.  John says, "Behold the Lamb of God," and two men follow Jesus.  One of the men, Andrew, goes straight to his brother and brings him to Jesus.  It is interesting to note that it says he "first" found his own brother-indicating that Simon was not the only one that Andrew found and brought to the Lord.

The remainder of this chapter in John tells us how Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus and was able to persuade him to meet the Lord with the words "come and see."

These stories from the first chapter of John reveal to us what we should be doing once we meet Jesus.  We need to bring our friends and loved ones to the Lord.  We should be inviting them to "come and see."

Take a moment right now and ask God to show you someone who you should talk to about Jesus.  Then get busy and do it.  You just may see a chain reaction of salvations.


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The Cure

In His Presence: 1 John 1:9

"The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel"(Mark 1:15).

Sin is more than just a problem in our lives. Many of our troubles are the consequences of sin. Sin always carries a consequence. Some of us may be suffering consequences for many years. Aren't you tired of living with these consequences? God has a cure-repentance.

Repentance is God's way of restoring harmony and removing the impregnable wall that goes up when we've lost our close fellowship with Him. Repentance is the decision to turn from sin in order for God to bring an end to the judgment He has wrought on us. Repentance repairs relationships.

The Greek word metanoia means a change of mind. It is often translated as repentance. It involves a change of heart, a new way of looking at life. Only one aspect of metanoia is repentance. It is much more like a rebirth. Metanoia involves a realization or new way of looking at ourselves. Like David who said: "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13), we need to wake up to the fact that we have sinned against God and God alone. We have offended God.

True repentance involves regret. We should feel sorrow over our sin, not just sorrow over the fact that we got caught. "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom" (James 4:8-9). We need to be broken-hearted before God about our sins.

One Minute Please

Have you gotten sick over your sins yet?

[Judy Harder]

June 10, 2013
 
Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
And After That What's Next To Do?
 
. . . seek, and you will find . . . -Luke 11:9
Seek if you have not found. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss . . ." (James 4:3). If you ask for things from life instead of from God, "you ask amiss"; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. ". . . seek, and you will find . . . ." Get to work- narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? ". . . seek, [focus,] and you will find . . . ."

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. . ." (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or complacent and indifferent- so satisfied with your own experience that you want nothing more of God? Experience is a doorway, not a final goal. Beware of building your faith on experience, or your life will not ring true and will only sound the note of a critical spirit. Remember that you can never give another person what you have found, but you can cause him to have a desire for it.

". . . knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9). "Draw near to God . . ." (James 4:. Knock- the door is closed, and your heartbeat races as you knock. "Cleanse your hands . . ." (James 4:. Knock a bit louder- you begin to find that you are dirty. ". . . purify your hearts . . ." (James 4:. It is becoming even more personal- you are desperate and serious now- you will do anything. "Lament . . . " (James 4:9). Have you ever lamented, expressing your sorrow before God for the condition of your inner life? There is no thread of self-pity left, only the heart-rending difficulty and amazement which comes from seeing what kind of person you really are. "Humble yourselves . . . " (James 4:10). It is a humbling experience to knock at God's door- you have to knock with the crucified thief. ". . . to him who knocks it will be opened" (Luke 11:10).


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Making a Priority of Faith

When we talk about what pleases God, I think we must put faith at the top of the list.  Very simply, faith pleases God.

Hebrews 11-often called the faith chapter-makes it very clear how vital faith is to pleasing God.  In fact, Hebrews 11:6 tells us,

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Notice it doesn't say, "Without faith it is very difficult to please Him."  No, it is impossible to please God without faith.  You and I must learn to trust God if we are to bring a smile to the face of God.

Some people say, "Well, there is just too much teaching on faith."  I disagree.  Why?  Because it takes faith to please God.  Without it, we have no chance at all of pleasing Him.  In fact, Hebrews 10:38 states,

Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

That is pretty black and white, isn't it?  If you desire to please God, it starts with faith, trusting God completely.

I challenge you today to ask yourself, "Do I really trust God with every part of my life?  Do I place my faith in Him moment by moment?  Or do I refuse to trust Him as I should?"

If this is an area of struggle for you, determine today to spend time in the Word of God.  For the Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  Ask God to speak to you through His Word.  Your faith and trust in Him will grow.  Our great God is worthy of your trust.

 

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God Is Unique

In His Presence: Nehemiah 9:6

"Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place' ''(Isaiah 44:6-7).

There are no other beings like God. He is entirely unique. Anyone trying to equate themselves to the status of deity is practicing idolatry. God establishes His uniqueness in so many ways. " 'You are my witnesses,' declares theLord, 'and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me' '' (Isaiah 43:10).

When God placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden and placed a limitation on the man He had created, He was saying that He is God, the Creator, and Adam was man, the created. He lay down a clearly marked line that Adam and Eve were not to cross over.

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God"(Isaiah 45:5). Satan, in the Garden of Eden, held out to Adam and Eve the idea that they could cross over the line and become like God.

One Minute Please

God is so spectacular that it will take all of eternity for us to get to know Him.

[Judy Harder]

 
Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
Getting There (1)
 
Come to Me . . . -Matthew 11:28

Where sin and sorrow stops, and the song of the saint starts. Do I really want to get there? I can right now. The questions that truly matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words- "Come to Me." Our Lord's words are not, "Do this, or don't do that," but- "Come to me." If I will simply come to Jesus, my real life will be brought into harmony with my real desires. I will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in my life.

Have you ever come to Jesus? Look at the stubbornness of your heart. You would rather do anything than this one simple childlike thing- "Come to Me." If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.

Jesus Christ makes Himself the test to determine your genuineness. Look how He used the word come. At the most unexpected moments in your life there is this whisper of the Lord- "Come to Me," and you are immediately drawn to Him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything. Be "foolish" enough to come and commit yourself to what He says. The attitude necessary for you to come to Him is one where your will has made the determination to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him.

". . . and I will give you rest"- that is, "I will sustain you, causing you to stand firm." He is not saying, "I will put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep." But, in essence, He is saying, "I will get you out of bed- out of your listlessness and exhaustion, and out of your condition of being half dead while you are still alive. I will penetrate you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity." Yet we become so weak and pitiful and talk about "suffering" the will of the Lord! Where is the majestic vitality and the power of the Son of God in that?


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The Nature of Faith

In our last devotional, we talked about how important faith is to pleasing God.  It is not just important, it's essential, because without it, you and I cannot please God.

The natural question is, "What is faith?"

In Hebrews 11:1, the writer gives us the technical definition of biblical faith,

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith deals with unseen reality.  In fact, Weymouth's translation says, "Faith is a conviction of the reality of things we do not see."

You might think, "That's a nice definition, but what does that really mean?"  That is a good question.  And it is answered by the examples given in Hebrews 11  which show different ways people expressed their faith in God, because there is not just one way to demonstrate faith in God:

Abel shows us that faith is giving our best to God.  He deserves our first and our best.
Enoch shows us that faith is walking with God.  It is living a life in constant connection with God, even when you can't sense or feel Him.
Noah shows us that faith is making preparations as though Christ is coming back today, even when there is seemingly no evidence.
Abraham shows us that faith is obeying God, even though you may not know where He is leading you.
Sarah shows us that faith is receiving God's promise, even when public opinion says, "No way!"
Moses shows us that faith is living life in light of eternity, and allowing that focus to affect all of life's decisions.
Commit today to live this life of faith. If you do, you will truly please God!


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Knowledge vs. Power

In His Presence: Proverbs 3:19-20

"It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their host" - (Isaiah 45:12).

God wants a Creator/creature distinction between us. We can still relate with each other, talk, and have fun. But we must not forget there is a difference. We have limitations while God does not. A good illustration of this type of relationship is the teen/parent relationship. Teenagers often question why there should be a distinction in the relationship. Depending upon whom they listen to, they may feel that their parents are withholding things that will make life better. They don't understand why they can't enjoy the same privileges as their parents.

Why would Satan tell Eve that eating the fruit would open her eyes and make her like God? Does this reasoning sound familiar?

Satan basically said, "God wants to keep us ignorant so He can control us. If He can control us, He can always tell us what to do and be our boss. But if we eat of the tree we won't be ignorant anymore. We will know what He knows and be able to do what He does."

In using the word know, Satan was implying that information equaled power-the power to determine our own future, our own fate.

One Minute Please

Using our illustration of the teen/parent relationship, Satan was encouraging Adam and Eve to think like the teen who wants his parents to pay the bills, but does not want to submit to their authority.
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
Getting There (3)
 
. . . come, follow Me -Luke 18:22

Where our individual desire dies and sanctified surrender lives. One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you- and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.

If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, "Come," then He will continue to say, "Come," through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ's "Come." That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.

Have I come to Him? Will I come now


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God's Pleasure...Your Blessing

In Psalm 35:27 we are told,

Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, "Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant."

This Psalm says it clearly-God is pleased when you are blessed.  The Revised Standard Version translates this verse this way, God delights in the welfare of His servant.

In Luke 12, when talking about God meeting our practical, physical, and material needs, Jesus says, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

You do not need to somehow convince God to meet your needs.  In fact, God desires to bless you.

It is like the son who felt his father had not provided for him when his dad passed away.  His father left one sibling some property, another one some valuable stock, and all the son got was a box of what looked to him like junk.

One day, because of financial trouble, the son had to move out of his apartment.  As he cleaned things out, he found the box of junk he had thrown in the back of a closet.   Noticing there were some stamps and trading cards in the box, he decided to see if they were worth anything.

It turned out the trading card collection was filled with rare baseball cards in mint condition.  And every one of the stamps was very rare-very valuable.  The combined appraisal of the two collections was over $450,000!

His father had provided for him, but the son had lived far below those privileges because he didn't believe his father had blessed him!

Our heavenly Father delights in, He takes pleasure in, the prosperity of His servant.  And that means you!


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Who Will Be Our God?

In His Presence: 1 Peter 3:15

"If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"(Exodus 19:5-6).

When Satan tried to get Eve to take the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he put forth arguments that sounded convincing in her ears. He told her God was holding out on them. He said if they ate the fruit, they would be like God. He said God's Word couldn't really be trusted anyway.

There was something that Satan didn't tell the first married couple. In disobeying God, they would be obeying Satan, making him their master. He knew that whomever we obey is our god. So the devil was not just offering Adam and Eve a bit of knowledge independently of God, he was offering himself as their new god. That is what he originally wanted as Lucifer, the angel of light. He wanted to be like God. We're right back to the issue that caused the problems in the first place.

Moses said: "If you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 28:1-3).

One Minute Please

The issue today for us is whom are we going to obey? Who is the authority in our lives?

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
Get Moving! (1)
 
Abide in Me . . . -John 15:4
In the matter of determination. The Spirit of Jesus is put into me by way of the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I then have to build my thinking patiently to bring it into perfect harmony with my Lord. God will not make me think like Jesus- I have to do it myself. I have to bring "every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). "Abide in Me"- in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is. Our lives are not made up of only one neatly confined area.

Am I preventing God from doing things in my circumstances by saying that it will only serve to hinder my fellowship with Him? How irrelevant and disrespectful that is! It does not matter what my circumstances are. I can be as much assured of abiding in Jesus in any one of them as I am in any prayer meeting. It is unnecessary to change and arrange my circumstances myself. Our Lord's inner abiding was pure and unblemished. He was at home with God wherever His body was. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek, submitting to His Father's plans and directions for Him. Just think of how amazingly relaxed our Lord's life was! But we tend to keep God at a fever pitch in our lives. We have none of the serenity of the life which is "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

Think of the things that take you out of the position of abiding in Christ. You say, "Yes, Lord, just a minute- I still have this to do. Yes, I will abide as soon as this is finished, or as soon as this week is over. It will be all right, Lord. I will abide then." Get moving- begin to abide now. In the initial stages it will be a continual effort to abide, but as you continue, it will become so much a part of your life that you will abide in Him without any conscious effort. Make the determination to abide in Jesus wherever you are now or wherever you may be placed in the future.


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A Prosperous Attitude

In our previous devotional, we learned that God is pleased to bless us.  But that prosperity must be accompanied by a special attitude...an attitude that is captured in 1 Kings 3.

This passage records God's appearance to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon.  In the dream God said to Solomon, "Ask!  What shall I give you?"

What an incredible statement, and question!  Equally incredible is Solomon's response, which revealed the attitude of his heart, the attitude which must accompany our prosperity.  That response is captured in verses 7-10,

"Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.  And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.  Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil.  For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"  The speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

God is pleased when, in our hearts, we put others before ourselves.  God delights in prospering us when prosperity is not our chief aim.  When we get it right, and in our hearts we do place others before ourselves, God can bless us beyond our wildest dreams.

God will give you everything you need to fulfill His plan for your life. He will give you richly all things to enjoy, as long as you have a prosperous attitude that puts His plans and His people first.


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Knowledge vs. Power

In His Presence: Proverbs 3:19-20

"It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their host"(Isaiah 45:12).

God wants a Creator/creature distinction between us. We can still relate with each other, talk, and have fun. But we must not forget there is a difference. We have limitations while God does not. A good illustration of this type of relationship is the teen/parent relationship. Teenagers often question why there should be a distinction in the relationship. Depending upon whom they listen to, they may feel that their parents are withholding things that will make life better. They don't understand why they can't enjoy the same privileges as their parents.

Why would Satan tell Eve that eating the fruit would open her eyes and make her like God? Does this reasoning sound familiar?

Satan basically said, "God wants to keep us ignorant so He can control us. If He can control us, He can always tell us what to do and be our boss. But if we eat of the tree we won't be ignorant anymore. We will know what He knows and be able to do what He does."

In using the word know, Satan was implying that information equaled power-the power to determine our own future, our own fate.

One Minute Please
Using our illustration of the teen/parent relationship, Satan was encouraging Adam and Eve to think like the teen who wants his parents to pay the bills, but does not want to submit to their authority.

[Judy Harder]

June 17, 2013


Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
The Uncritical Temper
 
Judge not, that ye be not judged. - Matthew 7:1
 
Jesus says regarding judging - Don't. The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual. Criticism is a part of the ordinary faculty of man; but in the spiritual domain nothing is accomplished by criticism. The effect of criticism is a dividing up of the powers of the one criticized; the Holy Ghost is the only One in the true position to criticize, He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into communion with God when you are in a critical temper; it makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person. Jesus says, as a disciple cultivate the uncritical temper. It is not done once and for all. Beware of anything that puts you in the superior person's place.

There is no getting away from the penetration of Jesus. If I see the mote in your eye, it means I have a beam in my own. Every wrong thing that I see in you, God locates in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-20). Stop having a measuring rod for other people. There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual spring-cleaning; there is no possibility of pride left in a man after that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.


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Fearing God

In Psalm 147:10-11, David gives us insight into two things that please God-two things that may seem disconnected from each other.

He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.  The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.

First, God delights in those who fear Him, those who have a reverential respect and awe for Him.  Second, God is pleased with those who hope in His mercy.

In today's devotional, I want to focus on what it means to truly fear God.  And, in tomorrow's devotional, we will look at what it means to hope in mercy, and how these two are connected.

Scripture constantly admonishes us to fear God.  But how do you do that?  I believe the Bible gives us at least four ways:

Through a hatred of evil.  Proverbs 8:13 says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Through radical obedience.  To fear the Lord means to radically obey Him, as Abraham did in Genesis 22 when he was willing to sacrifice his son.
With an awareness that God is always watching you.  Scripture makes it clear there is nowhere you can go that God does not see.
With the knowledge that one day you will have to stand before God as your Judge.  Jesus even tells us that one day, when we stand before Him, we will have to give an account of every idle word we have spoken.
Pray today that God will help you live your life by these four principles.  Because God delights in those who fear Him.


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Who Will Be Our God?

In His Presence: 1 Peter 3:15

"If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"(Exodus 19:5-6).

When Satan tried to get Eve to take the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he put forth arguments that sounded convincing in her ears. He told her God was holding out on them. He said if they ate the fruit, they would be like God. He said God's Word couldn't really be trusted anyway.

There was something that Satan didn't tell the first married couple. In disobeying God, they would be obeying Satan, making him their master. He knew that whomever we obey is our god. So the devil was not just offering Adam and Eve a bit of knowledge independently of God, he was offering himself as their new god. That is what he originally wanted as Lucifer, the angel of light. He wanted to be like God. We're right back to the issue that caused the problems in the first place.

Moses said: "If you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 28:1-3).

One Minute Please

The issue today for us is whom are we going to obey? Who is the authority in our lives?

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
Keep Recognizing Jesus
 
. . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . -Matthew 14:29-30
The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn't see them at first. He didn't consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and "walked on the water." Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn't our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter's continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, ". . . why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately- totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything- by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness- being willing to risk your all.


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Hoping in God's Mercy

In our last devotional, Psalm 147:10-11 showed us how important fearing God is to pleasing Him.

He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.  The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.

In today's devotional, I want to look at the second thing that pleases God, according to this psalm, those who hope in God's mercy.

You have to wonder why the Lord put those two things together, the fear of Him and hoping in His mercy.  At first blush, they do not seem to go together, but they do.

They show how God truly understands our nature.  That even those who reverence Him, and truly fear Him, and try to live for Him, sometimes fall short.  And in those moments of failure, they need the mercy of God.

In fact, we are told in the Book of Proverbs that the righteous man falls seven times, but gets up again.

You know, I love God, and I do my best to serve Him and walk with Him.  But I'm super grateful for His mercy!  Thank God He is a merciful God!  Because there are times when I so desperately need it, And I am sure you do, too!

My friend, if you have stumbled and today feel like you are a million miles away from God, do not despair.  God finds pleasure in those who hope in His mercy.  He is delighted when you ask for His mercy.  He will not be angry.

Remember, only the guilty need mercy. And God finds pleasure when in your guilt you call out to Him, and hope in His mercy.


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True Worship

In His Presence "An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).

Many years ago, Robert Grant wrote the words to "O Worship the King,"

O worship the King, all glorious above
O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, Whose canopy space,
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the winds of a storm.

These two verses introduce us to the glory of God and the opportunity that we have to worship Him. However, a growing concern for many pastors is that many in their congregations attend church on Sunday because it is the right thing to do-not to worship the Lord. In other words, the act of coming together and fellowshipping has become more important than being in God's presence where we worship Him through praise and prayer.

It is like the couple who had their baby christened at church, and then, after the service, had a party to celebrate the event. Aunts and uncles began arriving along with grandparents, nieces, nephews, and friends. Everyone began talking and eating. Finally someone spoke up and asked, "Where's the baby?" The parents had taken the child to his bedroom and placed it in the crib to take a nap. Everyone was so busy enjoying one another that they had forgotten why they were there.

Worship is essential to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. In the Scripture above, the Lord explains to a woman who had committed many sins that a time was coming-and really, had come-when true believers would worship in spirit and truth. The Messiah was standing right before her, and in His presence she found forgiveness for all that she had done and salvation for her soul.

It was then that she realized the freedom of heart and mind that God was extending to her. And she began to worship the Lord by telling others of His marvelous grace and love.

One Minute Please
Worship has to do with real people who have real needs. When we understand the gift the Father has given us, we will want to worship Him without ceasing.

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
 
 
My Utmost for His Highest
 
. . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep -John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, "If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me." A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, "Now I see who Jesus is!"- that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord's primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people- the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"- it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).


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Rejoicing in God's Mercy

We all are familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son. After he had wasted his inheritance, he came to his senses and returned home, hoping he could just be a servant to his father.

His father wouldn't even consider it. He put the best robe on him, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, and then had the fatted calf killed for a party. The father delighted in showing mercy to his son!

But what about the older brother? He stood outside the party and wouldn't come in to celebrate. He was so angry! He had never messed up and yet his father had never thrown him a party!

Sometimes, if we are not careful, we can have the attitude of that older son. We can look at the lives of others and think, "That is not fair.  I know he's been messing up, and God is blessing him. What's up with that?  I haven't been as bad as him!"

We need to remember that God delights in showing mercy to the guilty when, from a sincere heart, they seek that mercy. He delights when you and I ask for His mercy when we have blown it.

Micah 6:7-8 says,

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

God delights in showing mercy.  So be a person of mercy, and rejoice when God shows mercy to someone who needs it.


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The Priority of Worship

In His Presence "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory" - (Isaiah 6:3).

Imagine what it would be like to step inside your church sanctuary on Sunday morning and witness the vision that Isaiah saw. He writes, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings . . . One called out to another and said, 'Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke" (Isaiah 6:1-4).

This had to be a glorious sight! But it also was one that conflicted Isaiah's heart because he knew that he was guilty of sin. Immediately, a godly sense of fear swept over him, and he cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). When we become aware of God's holy presence, we won't be able to stop ourselves from worshiping Him and seeking His cleansing for our sins.

However, if we become so entangled with sin and the pleasures of this world, we will fail to sense the need to worship God. In fact, our spirits will be dead to any true praise. Instead, we will yawn and check our watches to see if the preacher is preaching longer than he should.

Isaiah realized there was a problem in his life-it was one that needed to be addressed immediately, so he could do what God had called him to do. Many times, we miss God's best for our lives because we become too busy for worship. When we take time to worship God for who He is-righteous, loving, and infinite in power-our hearts will be lifted, and our lives will be changed. We will cry out, "Holy are You Lord and worthy to be praised!"

One Minute Please
True worship begins with a heart that is totally turned toward God.

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest
 
Have You Come to "When" Yet?
 
The Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends -Job 42:10
A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, "Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer- I will walk rightly before You if You will help me." But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us- He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.

If you are not now receiving the "hundredfold" which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God's Word, then start praying for your friends- enter into the ministry of the inner life. "The Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends." As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.


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Becoming a Person of Mercy

Luke 6:38 tells us,

"Give, and it will be given to you:  good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

It is not unusual to hear this verse used in connection with giving money to the Lord's work.  And while there is a principle concerning money embedded in this verse, Jesus was not talking about giving an offering when He made this statement.  That was not the subject under discussion.

In order to understand what He was really talking about, you need to read verses 35-37,

"But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.  Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.  Judge not, and you shall not be judged.  Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Jesus wanted to impress on us this truth:  If you give forgiveness, and you give love, and you give mercy, they come back to you in good measure, pressed down, shaken together.

He wanted us to understand that by the same measure you and I give these things, it will come back to us.  But if you and I measure out judgment and condemnation, guess what gets measured back to us?

Make a commitment today to become a person of mercy, not seeking anything in return.  Become known as someone who reflects our God of mercy to a broken and needy world.


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A Notetaker's Journal

In His Presence "Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord" (Exodus 24:4).

One of the most exciting things you can do in your Christian walk with the Lord is to keep a journal of all that He is teaching you. Exodus 24:4 says, "Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord." In other words, he did not want to miss or forget anything. He took notes! If he were attending church with you, you could expect him to pull out a notebook and start jotting things down. Why? God directed Moses to do this because he was the one who would communicate what God said to the nation of Israel.

Today, godly men and women teach God's truth, and we would be wise to pick up the habit of taking notes, as God taught Moses to do. Actually, the human mind has to hear or record a fact at least three times before it is committed to memory. Sometimes, it can take hearing a fact up to fourteen times before it is actually stored in our knowledge base.

This is why when you walk up to your pastor at the end of the worship service and commend him on his sermon, you pray that he does not ask you to repeat his main points back to him. It also is the reason you can gather over lunch with family and friends and exclaim how much you learned at church, but when you are asked to tell what you thought was the highlight, your mind goes blank.

Learn to take notes. Record your thoughts, and then, when you are alone with the Lord, ask Him to affirm what you have heard in and through His Word. Godly messages never conflict with what God has written in the Bible-it is the infallible Word of God. This means that it is God's Word to us, and nothing about it can be changed or taken away.

We live in a devious world because Satan is constantly enticing us away from God's truth. As you worship the Lord, ask Him to make you aware of the Enemy's subtle and dangerous scheme. There is only one way to worship God, and that is with the entirety of our hearts and minds.

One Minute Please

Worship is not a place or an event. It's a way of life.
 

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotion by Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest
 
The Ministry of the Inner Life
 
You are . . . a royal priesthood . . . -1 Peter 2:9

By what right have we become "a royal priesthood"? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our "hanging on by the skin of our teeth," although we say, "What a wonderful victory I have!" Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don't worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, "Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men." Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: "Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now."

How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.


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Obedience and Respect

I am sure most Christian parents, at one time or another, have pointed their children to Colossians 3:20,

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

Or to Ephesians 6:1-3,

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."

These two character qualities of obeying and honoring parents are vital to pleasing God.  But it is important to understand that obedience has to do with an outward act, while honoring has to do with an inward attitude of the heart.

As parents, we all can remember those times when our children may have been outwardly obedient but were being inwardly disrespectful. You may have gotten them to sit down in the corner, but while they sat there, they were thinking, "I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside!"

If you are a parent, it is critical for you to deal just as swiftly with a disrespectful attitude as it is with a disobedient act.  It is part of your God-given role of teaching your children obedience and respect for authority.

As your children learn how to obey and respect, you will not only bring them peace, they will experience God's blessing in their lives.

So as you work to raise your children to be the people God desires them to be, make a priority of teaching your children the qualities of respect for authority and obedience. Someday they will bless you for it!


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Tapping into His Power

In His Presence: "Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God" (Acts 12:5).

There was a lady who lived out in the country and never had electricity. Finally, her family made arrangements so a line could be run out to her house. However, after six months, she had only used one unit. Company officials decided to drive out to her house to make sure nothing was wrong. When everything checked out fine, they asked her if she was enjoying having electricity. "Oh my, yes," she replied.

Then one of the representatives said, "Well, tell us how you are using it." The old woman paused for a moment, and then, with a gleam in her eyes, she explained. Each evening, as the sun was setting, she turned the lights on long enough to light her kerosene lamps-and then turned them off! She was still living a kerosene existence when she could have been enjoying the comforts of having electricity.

God has given us tremendous power through the presence of His Spirit. Yet many times, we fail to use it. Instead, we settle for much less by relying solely on our human ability. There are certain things God never meant for us to handle on our own. We may be fine when it comes to choosing which shirt to wear in the morning, but when life becomes stormy and the winds begin to blow hard against us, we need an omnipotent Savior.

In Acts 12, we learn that Peter was arrested and that no amount of human effort could free him. However, the supernatural power of God did. The Bible tells us that the church was praying fervently. This means they were praying without ceasing, knowing that God had the power they lacked to release the one they loved.

What are you wrestling with today? Have you rolled it over onto the Lord through prayer, or have you lit a room full of kerosene lamps? Stop struggling on your own and turn on God's power through prayer and faith. Allow Him to be your strength and your everlasting peace.

One Minute Please
God wants to use the problems we face to demonstrate His awesome power and ability. Are you willing to allow Him to do this?