Devotional for the day

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 18, 2009

On Shoulders Of Giants
READ: Joshua 1:1-9
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. -Joshua 1:5

Giants hold a special place in our lore-both historical and literary. From the real giant Goliath to the fictional giant of Jack and the Beanstalk fame, we are fascinated by these larger-than-life characters.

Sometimes we use the word giant to honor ordinary-size people who have done extraordinary things. One example is the 17th-century physicist Sir Isaac Newton. A committed Christian, he credited his success to other "giants" who had gone before. "If I have seen a little further," he said, "it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Indeed, Newton became a giant on whose shoulders later scientists stood-even as they used his observations in the conquest of space flight.

When God commanded Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, Joshua certainly had a giant's shoulders to stand on. He had watched Moses' leadership for 40 years, and now he would put what he had learned into action.

Joshua had another advantage-his walk with God sustained his life's mission. Therefore, he had both Moses' example and God's promised presence as he led Israel.

Looking for help as you face the future? Look for a giant to follow. And never underestimate the importance of your walk with God.  - Dennis Fisher

There is a destiny that makes us brothers:
None goes his way alone;
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own. -Markham

A good example is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

Idolatry

The most predominant sin we find in the Bible that stopped the rain of God's blessing from falling was idolatry.  Maybe you are thinking, "Well, that's great, but it doesn't really apply.  I'm not tempted to go to the nearest pagan shrine and bow down and worship a carved image."

Hold on, though.  As you read the New Testament you begin to realize it has a lot to say to us about idolatry.  For example, 1 Corinthians 10:14 says, Flee from idolatry, and 1 John 5:21 says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Wycliffe in his commentary says, "An idol is anything which occupies the place due to God."  An idol is anything in your life that competes with God.

Colossians 3:5 says, ...covetousness, which is idolatry.  In other words, your stuff can become an idol.  Greed can become an idol; money can become your idol.  If anything becomes the main pursuit of your life, other than God, then that thing becomes an idol.

It can be your job, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your husband, your wife, or even a child.  It can be a sport, a hobby, fame, anything that comes before God in your life.

I once saw an interview of one of my favorite golfers.  He was a brilliant golfer who had won major tournaments.  In the interview he said, "I've had a love affair with the game of golf.  But I want to tell you, it cost me my marriage.  It's cost me my relationship with my kids.  Golf has been my god."

The interviewer asked him, "If you had all of it to do over again, what would you do differently?"  He said, "Nothing.  I'd do it all the same."

You will never experience God's blessing if there is an idol in your life.  Is there?

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!

Read: Romans 15:14-22
Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. - Romans 15:17

TODAY IN THE WORD
NightLight is a ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, that helps prostitutes escape sexual slavery. The vision is "to share the Light of the world in both word and deed to those who live in darkness." NightLight helps women and children in the Bangkok sex industry get off the streets, learn English and skills such as jewelry-making, and recover physically, emotionally, and spiritually from their ordeals. Many of these women were young girls who came to the big city looking for jobs so they could send money back to their poverty-stricken families. But they were tricked or coerced into prostitution and trapped there until NightLight opened a door to freedom. Service and witness like this glorify our Lord.
In today's reading Paul wanted to encourage the Roman believers, even though he had written boldly on some points, for their own good and on the basis of his apostolic authority. He said they were "full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another" (v. 14).

The purpose of his ministry to them and other Gentiles was not just conversion-the journey is one of discipleship, toward becoming pleasing offerings and trophies of sanctification (vv. 15-16). That's why Paul assumed that belief and obedience go hand in hand (v. 18).

About his own service and witness, Paul said, "I glory" (v. 17). He boasted of his accomplishments only insofar as they had been done in, through, and for Christ. To revel in God's work in us is another way to bring Him glory. Though Paul's ministry had involved signs, miracles, and other evidence of the Spirit's power (v. 19), to him these were merely supports, not the main event. The main event was clearly the work God does in people's lives.

This work brings glory to God. It caused Paul to rejoice and framed his future ambitions. His goal was to bring God glory by proclaiming Christ to those who had never heard about Him (vv. 20-22).
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Most readers of Today in the Word live in North America, very far from Bangkok. But thanks to modern technology, it's possible to learn more about the service and witness of the NightLight ministry highlighted in today's illustration. It takes about $250 per worker per month to keep NightLight going. The ministry has a Web site, www.nightlightbangkok.com, which accepts donations and sells jewelry and jewelry kits made by the women. A DVD about NightLight is included with each kit.


GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 19, 2009

Teach Your Children Well
READ: Deuteronomy 11:13-21

You shall teach [God's Word] to your children . . . when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. -Deut. 11:19

The Sleeping Beauty Waltz, the 1812 Overture, and The Nutcracker Suite were all part of the music of my childhood.

Sometimes a narrator told stories or-as in the case of Tubby the Tuba and Peter and the Wolf-introduced my sisters and me to the sounds of different instruments. In their desire to pass on their love for music, my parents used this method as a teaching tool. It worked! Weaving the classic tales with classical tunes made a powerful impact on us.

When an adult wants to impart important information to a child, it's often best related in a story because it is more easily understood and enjoyed. Telling children the stories in God's Word is especially crucial because the Bible's enduring truth can shape character and show consequences of actions (1 Cor. 10:11). Tiny seeds of faith can be cultivated in fertile soil and help children to see how God has worked in the lives of His followers throughout history. Bible stories also show how God is intimately involved in our lives.

What we have seen God do for us and what He has done for His people throughout history must be passed on to the next generation (Deut. 11:1-21). Their future depends on it. Teach your children well.  - Cindy Hess Kasper

Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard! -Crosby

The character of your children tomorrow depends on what you put into their hearts today

Selfish? 
Over the last several devotionals, we have been looking at the cause of spiritual drought.  In today's devotional, I want to look at selfishness as a cause of spiritual drought.   

Selfishness is where I am focused on my own interests rather than the needs of others or of furthering God's Kingdom.

In Haggai 1:4-6, 9-11, God says,

"Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?"  Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts:  "Consider your ways!  You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes... You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away.  Why?" says the LORD of hosts.  "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.  Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.  For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

They were investing everything in themselves and their homes, but not a thought was given to God's house or God's Kingdom.

Friend, if you want the rain to fall, you need to think about God and His house first, others second, and yourself third.  It is like the old saying, "If you want joy, j-o-y, it's Jesus, others, and then you."

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!

Read: Romans 15:5-13
So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Romans 15:6

TODAY IN THE WORD
In 1968, a Boston firefighter doing his job made headlines. Crawling through a burning apartment, he found a diaper-clad baby unconscious in her crib. She had no pulse. He picked her up and breathed into her mouth as he ran outside. A photographer captured the moment-the image of a white firefighter with his face pressed against that of a black child. News filled with race riots was for a moment transcended by this picture that touched the heart of the nation and made racial reconciliation seem more possible.
Unity in Christ by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual reality that bridges differences and brings God glory. Today's reading is phrased to remind us that unity is also a blessing (vv. 5-6, 13). What is unity? It involves at least three dimensions-God as source, Christ as leader, and us as worshipers. God is the architect and engine of spiritual unity in the church. Christ is the head of the church-we obey His commands and follow His example. And we are His people, "with one heart and mouth" praising and glorifying God for who He is and what He has done.

How is unity manifested in action in the body of Christ (vv. 7-12)? It sounds kind of abstract-what are we to do? "Accept one another" doesn't sound like much, but "just as Christ accepted you" puts matters into perspective. He loved us and sacrificed Himself for us when we were still His enemies, then welcomed us into His family as a free gift of faith. Another way of looking at it is to recognize that Christ the Jewish Messiah accepted the Gentiles, too, just as He had long promised, even though they (we) were "outsiders."

Imagine what the church would be like if we lived out the truth of spiritual unity (see John 17:20-23)! Acting toward one another as Christ did toward us would unite brothers and sisters across barriers of ethnicity, culture, race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The words of Psalm 133 celebrate the spiritual unity of God's people. To close today's devotion, reflect on the words of this beautiful poem: "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore."

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 20, 2009

Retirement Time
READ: Matthew 16:24-28
Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. -Matthew 16:25

After working for 40 years as a teacher, Jane Hanson retired. She and her husband were looking forward to the arrival of their first grandchild.

Retirement is that time of life when many people simply relax, travel, or enjoy hobbies. But Jane heard about a ministry to at-risk youth in a city near her home, and she knew she had to get involved. "I realized there are kids just waiting, and I could make a difference," she said. She began teaching English to a young Liberian man who had been forced to flee his home country because of civil war. Though he was in a safe environment, he didn't understand the new language. Of this ministry opportunity, Jane said with a smile, "I could just go shopping to stay busy, but what fun would that be?"

Jane is making a difference. Perhaps she has learned a little of what Jesus meant when He said, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25). Giving ourselves to the Lord through helping others takes self-denial, yet one day Jesus will reward that effort (v.27).

Let's follow Jane's example of love for God and others-no matter what our stage of life may be.  - Anne Cetas

Oh, let us be faithful to Jesus,
The faith we confessed let's renew,
And ask Him this question each morning:
"Lord, what will You have me to do?" -Pangborn

Work for the Lord-His retirement plan is out of this world.

Rx for Depression 
Isaiah 58:10-11 gives you and me a powerful prescription for depression.  It says,

If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.  The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Take a moment to think about what God is saying.  Think about the promise:  If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, God will satisfy your soul in drought.

If you are a person who is given to depression and you feel like you have this big empty void in your life, I have a prescription for you based on this passage.  Are you ready?

Go help somebody else.  In fact, find a place in your church, local rescue mission, or The Salvation Army where you can minister to folks who are going through a rough patch.  Donate a couple of days a week, and help other folks who are going through a rough time.

God promises that if you will draw out your soul to the hungry and if you will minister to the afflicted soul, He will satisfy your soul in drought.

Rather than being so inwardly focused..."my problems, and I'm so depressed, and why aren't things going right for me?", go help somebody else.  Get things in perspective.  There are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than you are, and you will find that God will bring the rain into your life when you change your focus.

If your soul is dry, the way to get it watered is to go help someone else.  The sooner the better.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!

Read: 1 Peter 2:9-17
Live such good lives among the pagans that . . . they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. - 1 Peter 2:12

TODAY IN THE WORD
Schindler's list was recently found at a library in Australia. Viewers of the Oscar-winning movie, Schindler's List, know that in the waning days of World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler typed a list of 801 Jewish names, people he then saved from the Nazi gas chambers. The actual list was rediscovered this April among the research notes of Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark, the book that was the basis for the movie. "It's an incredibly moving piece of history," said a librarian about the 13-page document. As one of the characters in the movie said, "The list is life."
God keeps an even more important list, the Lamb's Book of Life, and His list means eternal life (Rev. 21:27). Those who receive eternal life as His gift are empowered to live righteously. And as today's reading reminds us, righteous lives bring glory to God because He is absolutely righteous and holy. This is our identity in Christ-"a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (vv. 9-10). For what purpose do we belong to Him? To declare His praises. What did He do for us? He called us out darkness into light and gave us mercy. These spiritual facts constitute our identity as believers.

The main implication of this identity, as we've said, is to be righteous, which is here described as abstaining from sinful desires and living good lives (vv. 11-12). Such life makes us "aliens and strangers in the world," which is not characterized by holiness. We benefit because, while sin wars against our souls, righteousness spiritually nourishes them. Unbelievers benefit, because our good deeds are a witness. And God benefits, because through our good lives He receives glory from both believers and unbelievers. Specific examples of righteous living include submission to authority, respect for people, reverence for God, and love for the church (vv. 13-17).
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Part of how our righteousness brings glory to God is our freedom in Christ. But Peter warned: "Do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God" (v. 16). Sometimes we tend to think of freedom as the license to do whatever we like. Genuine freedom, however, might be defined as the freedom to do whatever God likes. Freedom can be found in obedience and service, because God created us for a purpose and knows best how this purpose is to be fulfilled.


GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 21, 2009

How To Help Those Who Hurt
READ: 1 Corinthians 13
Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13

When I have asked suffering people, "Who helped you?" not one person has mentioned a PhD from a prestigious seminary or a famous philosopher. All of us have the same capacity to help those who hurt.

No one can package or bottle the "appropriate" response to suffering. If you go to the sufferers themselves, some will recall a friend who cheerily helped distract them from their illness. Others think such an approach insulting. Some want honest, straightforward talk; others find such discussion unbearably depressing.

There is no magic cure for a person in pain. Mainly, such a person needs love, for love instinctively detects what is needed. Jean Vanier, who founded the L'Arche movement for the developmentally disabled, says: "Wounded people who have been broken by suffering and sickness ask for only one thing: a heart that loves and commits itself to them, a heart full of hope for them."

Such a love may be painful for us. But real love, the apostle Paul reminds us, "Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7).

As is so often His pattern, God uses very ordinary people to bring about His healing. Those who suffer don't need our knowledge and wisdom, they need our love.  - Philip Yancey

O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother!
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. -Whittier

They do not truly love who do not show their love. -Shakespeare
 
The Blessing of God's Spiritual Influence

Perhaps today you are honestly doing all you know to do, but it seems like you are in this season of drought.  God's blessing has seemingly dried up in your life.

Let me point you to 2 Samuel 21:1-3,

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD.  And the LORD answered, "It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites."  So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them.  Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.  Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you?  And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

There was a famine in the land because there had been no rain for three years.  So David inquired of the Lord, and God spoke to him.  If you read to the end of the story, you see the rain finally did fall, the drought was broken, and the famine was over.

But here is the point.  It says, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him.

If there is a drought in your life, ask God why.  God will talk to you.  Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice."  If you in earnestness will seek God and ask Him why, God will speak to you.

Be willing to take responsibility for whatever He shows you.  There just may be something in the past that needs to be corrected.

Just ask. Then act on what He reveals.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!


Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. - 2 Corinthians 4:7

TODAY IN THE WORD
In Future Grace, John Piper wrote: "[T]he greatest grace in world history is now past. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into the world. In a sense we could say that God's grace has come in person and done such a decisive work of grace that all other experiences of grace depend on it . . . He came for the sake of future grace. From the time of Christ onwards, every look back should include a look to Jesus. Without him there would be no future grace."
We live our spiritual lives within the abundant grace of which Piper spoke. God's grace in our lives is best shown, in a humbling way, through our weaknesses, for it is through our weaknesses that God is glorified.

This point sounds counterintuitive. Wouldn't God be more glorified by our accomplishments and achievements, by giving us the ability to do great things for Him? Perhaps, if power were the only issue at stake. But God is so much more than all-powerful-He's also all-loving, all-wise, perfectly faithful, and more. So when we are weak, He continues to use us to fulfill His purposes and proves all of these things. One would think the King could afford to use vessels made exclusively of gold and silver, but it is to His greater glory to work with "jars of clay" filled with the "treasure" of the gospel (v. 7).

For a clay pot to contain the truth and power of redemption, it means that we carry Christ's death in our own bodies, in the sense that we, too, experience trials and troubles (vv. 8-12). Just as death was not the end for Him, so also are we hard pressed but not crushed, struck down but not destroyed. Jesus' death preceded the victory of the Resurrection, and in the same way our present sufferings reveal the life of Jesus. This is the foundation for sharing the gospel (vv. 13-15).
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The divine irony that God is glorified in our weakness reminds us that an eternal perspective transcends all. Eternal or spiritual things are far more important and valuable than temporal or earthly things. As an old song says, "Only one life, t'will soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last." Thus, we are encouraged to choose the things of God: "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (v. 17).

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals Oct 22, 2009

Who Goes There?

READ: John 10:1-6
When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him. -John 10:4

Last fall my wife, Carolyn, and I were driving up a winding mountain road near our home in Idaho when we came across a large flock of sheep moving down the road toward us. A lone shepherd with his dogs was in the vanguard, leading his flock out of summer pasture into the lowlands and winter quarters.

We pulled to the side of the road and waited while the flock swirled around us. We watched them until they were out of sight, then I wondered: Do sheep fear change, movement, new places?

Like most older folks, I like the "fold"-the old, familiar places. But all is shifting and changing these days; I'm being led out, away from familiar surroundings and into a vast unknown. What new limits will overtake me in the coming days? What nameless fears will awaken? Jesus' words from John 10 come to mind: "When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them" (v.4).

We may well be dismayed at what life has for us this year and next, but our Shepherd knows the way we're taking. And He goes before. He will not lead us down paths too dangerous or too arduous where He cannot help us. He knows our limits. He knows the way to green pasture and good water; all we have to do is follow.  - David H. Roper

Child of My love, fear not the unknown morrow,
Dread not the new demand life makes of thee;
Thy ignorance doth hold no cause for sorrow
Since what thou knowest not is known to Me. -Exley

Our unknown future is secure in the hands of our all-knowing God.

Praying for the Rain

For the past week we have been seeking to understand what causes a spiritual drought, and then how we can break that drought if indeed we are in one.

Here is what I want you to understand.  Even if you earnestly seek God and repent of sin in your life, or you shift your focus and say, "God, I'm putting Your house first, and I'm going to put other people before myself,"  or perhaps God leads you to do something of a personal nature, you still need to pray for the rain.

Do not just assume God's blessing will automatically fall.  You still need to ask for it.  Zechariah 10:1 teaches us this truth,

Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the latter rain.  The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.

I used to read that and wonder, "God, I don't understand.  If it is the time of the latter rain, if it is rainy season, why ask for rain?  Won't it just fall automatically?"  If it is rainy season, why pray for rain?"

Because you cannot assume that it is automatically going to fall.

In James 5:17-18 there is a story about Elijah from 1 Kings 18.  James gives us the very, very, very short version.  But it tells us something significant,

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

What caused the rain to stop?  His prayer.  What caused the rain to fall again?  His prayer.

Ask God today for the blessing of His rain in your life!

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!

Read: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed. - 2 Timothy 4:17

TODAY IN THE WORD
A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life revealed that when Americans give up religious faith, it's more often a gradual process than the result of sharp conflict or disillusionment. The study surveyed former Catholics and Protestants who are not now affiliated with any religion. Nearly three-quarters said they had "just gradually drifted away" from the church. Half of the former Protestants said their belief in Christian teaching or doctrine had simply eroded or disappeared over time.
In other words, many American believers drift spiritually instead of running the race of the Christian life in such a way as to win. Discipleship, like a race, requires all-out effort.

As Paul assessed himself in today's reading, he identified at least six features that characterized his life as a follower of Christ: (1) Righteousness, for which he knew he'd receive a crown of righteousness from our perfect Judge. (2) A longing for Christ to return (v. . (3) Steadfastness, including perseverance and courage to stand for faith even when standing alone. (4) A spirit of forgiveness. He held no grudges against those who should have stood with him (v. 16). (5) Total dependence on God as his source of strength and rescue. (6) A heart for evangelism and a dedication to his calling to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles (vv. 17-18).

In this self-assessment, Paul used several word-pictures. One is of his life as a drink offering, a sacrifice poured out in worship to God. Another is of death as a departure, not an ending. He would be leaving for his true home, Christ's "heavenly kingdom." A third image is of his life as a fight or battle. He knew well that doing God's work involves spiritual warfare. A fourth metaphor is of his life as a race, in which the prize of victory is Christ Himself (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-27). The glory for all of this belongs to the Lord (v. 18)!
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
"Running the race" is a biblical image of perseverance and sacrifice-living in this way brings glory to God. He has a different way than the world of evaluating achievements. He measures success in different terms. In other words, the world encourages us to run one kind of race; God demands another. It takes courage and strength that only God can give to run a race the world doesn't recognize, for a prize it doesn't value, but this is what it means to be a disciple of Christ!

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 23, 2009

Failing Memory
READ: Psalm 119:33-40
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way. -Psalm 119:37

A New York Times article linked the increase of computer storage with the decrease of data in the human mind. Our electronic aids now remember phone numbers, driving directions, and other information we used to learn by repeated use. In schools, memorization and oral recitation are disappearing from the curriculum. We have become, according to the Times, "products of a culture that does not enforce the development of memory skills."

Yet never have we as followers of Christ been in greater need of hiding God's Word in our hearts (Ps. 119:9-11). Scripture memory is more than a helpful mental exercise. The goal is to saturate our minds with God's truth so that our lives will conform to His ways. The psalmist wrote: "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. . . . Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way" (Ps. 119:33,37).

Why not begin committing Scripture to memory? Daily consistency and review are keys to success. And just like physical exercise, this spiritual discipline is enhanced when done with a small group or with a friend.

Let's not forget to remember and follow the life-giving wisdom of God's Word.  - David C. McCasland

God's Word will change your life
If you will do your part
To read, to study, and obey,
And hide it in your heart. -Sper

Let the Bible fill your mind, rule your heart, and guide your life.
   
It's Never Too Late

As we wrap up our series of devotionals on how to break a spiritual drought, I want to focus our attention on Psalm 72:6.  This verse contains a very powerful truth that I want to leave with you.  It says,

He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass. (KJV)

I remember when I was first saved and read this passage, I would picture somebody out there with a lawnmower.  But of course, they didn't have lawnmowers back then!

This verse refers to a field that has been eaten over by locusts, a plague of locusts that has come through and just devoured a field.  And God gives a wonderful promise:  He will come down like the rain on the mown grass, to revive and to restore that which the locusts have eaten.

Today, as you read this devotional, you may feel like a swarm of locusts has come over your life and eaten your blessing.  I think if you seek God and earnestly pray and ask Him to send the rain, you will have an encounter with God beyond anything you could have imagined.

He can restore what the enemy has stolen in your life.  You can indeed experience the freshness and revival and fruitfulness in your life again.  It is never too late to pray for God's blessing.

No matter the situation, seek God today.  Ask, and He will send the rain down on whatever part of your life has been mowed over by the locusts.  And you will experience the blessing God desires for you.

Remember, it is never too late.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!

Read: 1 Peter 4:7-11
So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. - 1 Peter 4:11

TODAY IN THE WORD
Educational researchers have long investigated what motivates learners in the classroom. Some students are spurred on by extrinsic rewards, such as grades or gold stars. Others are more motivated by personal interest or curiosity. Some look to the past and a particular person or event that inspired them in certain directions. Others look to the future and their desire to enter a certain profession. Collectively, studies on motivation tell us that one key factor is a teacher's moral character. That is, does a teacher show respect and care for all the learners in his or her classroom? If students know the answer is yes, their motivation and success in learning are greater.
For the believer, God's glory is our total and complete motivation. The opening premise in today's reading is that the "end of all things is near" (v. 7). The New Testament teaches that the "last days" began after Christ's first coming, and we are to be vigilantly watching for His imminent Second Coming. "Therefore," Peter argued, "be clear minded and self-controlled." One study Bible explains: "Christians are to be characterized by reason; are to make wise, mature decisions; and are to have a clearly defined, decisive purpose in life."

One of the results of this spiritual mindset is prayer. Another is love, a deep and sincere love for our fellow believers (v. 8; John 13:34-35). To say "love covers over a multitude of sins" is an exhortation for us to forgive one another as Christ forgave us (Col. 3:13). A third result is hospitality (v. 9), an important spiritual practice. True hospitality is characterized by a spirit of generosity and open-heartedness. A fourth result is the use of spiritual gifts for service (v. 10). Spiritual gifts are a means of grace and an expression of faithfulness. In summary, our words and actions are to be full of God, empowered by God, and to the praise and glory of God (v. 11).
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Prayer as a result of a clear mind and self-control doesn't sound very dramatic. What about life-changing decisions and actions? If prayer somehow doesn't sound like "enough," it's only because we don't properly value prayer in the Christian life. It's not just about grace over meals or a laundry list of petitions. Prayer is a state of mind in which we are walking with God at all times. "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:12).

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God bless !

Kim, Otis and Walter
www.thegospelhiway.org
www.fellowship-katy.org

The Gospel Hiway is dedicated to praying for your needs and sharing your words of encouragement with others.
If you have a prayer request or a praise report to share please use the links below.

Prayer request

Matthew 6:33 (King James Version)
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[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals Oct 24, 2009

Close On His Heels

READ: Matthew 4:18-25
Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. -Matthew 4:19

Stan and Jennifer were speaking at a mission conference in Marion, North Carolina, after their first term of service on the field.

Jennifer told of a Bible study she had held with one woman. The two were discussing Matthew 4:19, and the woman told Jennifer about a word in her native language, which means follow. She said, "It is the word for following closely, not at a distance."

To illustrate, Jennifer held up slippers used by the native women, showing one far behind the other. Then she moved one slipper right up against the back of the other one, and said that the word means "to follow right on one's heels." It suggests that we are to follow Jesus as closely as possible.

Later, when Jennifer was reading over the journal she had been keeping, she was surprised to see that she had often questioned, "Is Jesus enough?" She had been working her way through culture shock, loneliness, illness, and childlessness. At times she had felt far from Christ. But when through prayer and faith she had drawn as close to Him as she could, walking "right on His heels," He had calmed her soul, restored her strength, and given her peace.

Are you feeling far from the Lord-empty, weak, and afraid? It's time to follow close on His heels.  - David C. Egner

God, give me the faith of a little child!
A faith that will look to Thee-
That never will falter and never fail,
But follow Thee trustingly. -Showerman

The closer we walk with God, the clearer we see His guidance.
 
Obedience

To God, obedience is a big deal.  And one of the best ways to see just how importantly He regards it is to learn from those who disobeyed.

One of those is King Saul.  When he was told by God to make an end of the Amalekites and to destroy all of their property, he did not do it.

Instead of obeying God, he saved the oxen and the sheep, along with some other things, and then claimed he had obeyed God.  But when Samuel heard the oxen and the sheep, Saul knew he had been caught.  So he changed his story.  He said, "Well, these things are just a sacrifice to God."

In response to this act of disobedience, this is what Samuel, the prophet, said.  We find it in 1 Samuel 15:22,

So Samuel said:  "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams."

God does not want religious lip service.  He wants obedience.  Obedience is better than sacrifice.  One reason for that is because you cannot make up by sacrifice what you lose through disobedience.

Another reason why obedience is better than sacrifice is because it is preventative.  In Saul's day, sacrifices were made to cover sin, but if he had obeyed, there would have been no need for sacrifice.  Obedience would have prevented his sin.

So do what God desires.  Obey what He commands.  It is always better.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!


Read: John 8:48-59
My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. - John 8:54

TODAY IN THE WORD
Donating blood can get you tax deductions in Poland. Blood banks issue a receipt for every donation, and donors can then write off about $50 per receipt from their tax bills. Said one man: "I learned about it from an accountant friend and started to give blood last year. I have only done it three times, but already it has been worth it."
Paying part of one's taxes with a blood donation might sound impressive, but it's nothing compared to what Christ did. He paid for the sins of the whole world with His blood, shed on the cross.

The final main section in this month's study on glorifying God is lessons from the Gospel of John. Focusing on the life of Christ highlights key themes, as we might expect, since Christ's life brought more glory to God more perfectly than any person before or since. In today's reading, Jesus told a group of hostile Jews that He was not seeking glory for Himself (v. 50), as they apparently expected would be the case for a popular, miracle-working new rabbi. Jesus did, though, expect to receive glory from God for completing His mission of redemption (v. 54). This is a beautiful insight into the Trinity. Jesus submitted to and obeyed His Father, seeking His glory, who in response would exalt and glorify His Son for His perfect obedience and atonement for sin.

Jesus calls all who hear to believe in Him. Even in this conversation, He gave His enemies a chance to believe. Though they had started with racial ("Samaritan") and spiritual ("demon-possessed") insults, He tried to explain who He was and what He was doing. They couldn't grasp the Father-Son relationship, so He framed belief in terms of eternal life (v. 51). They seized on this, which gave Jesus one more opportunity to try to shake them out of their pride and complacency and to reveal Himself as the great "I am" (v. 58).
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
For Jesus, the key to bringing God glory was His relationship with the Father. We would do well to follow His example. Bringing glory to God is not first and foremost a matter of deeds or actions, though these will follow. Glorifying God is first and foremost a matter of our relationship with Him. Do we love Him? Enough to trust Him? To surrender all control and lay aside our pride? To begin here is to lay the foundations of a life that brings great glory to the Lord.

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 25, 2009

Secrets Exposed

READ: Psalm 32:1-7
I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. . . . And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. -Psalm 32:5

For many years, Lake Okeechobee hid its secrets in thick waters and layers of muck. But in 2007, drought shrank the Florida lake to its lowest level since officials began keeping records in 1932, unveiling hundreds of years of history. Raking through the bottom of the lake, archaeologists found artifacts, pottery, human bone fragments, and even boats.

After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and planned the death of her husband, Uriah, he covered his sins by denying them and not confessing them. He probably went many months conducting business as usual, even performing religious duties. As long as David cloaked his sinful secrets, he experienced God's crushing finger of conviction and his strength evaporated like water in the heat of summer (Ps. 32:3-4).

When the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin, God's conviction was so great that David confessed his sins to God and turned away from them. Immediately the Lord forgave David and he experienced His mercy and grace (2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 32:5; Ps. 51).

Let's be careful not to hide our sin. When we uncover our sins by confessing them to God, we are covered with His forgiveness.  - Marvin Williams

Lord, help me to expose my sin,
Those secret faults that lurk within;
I would confess them all to Thee;
Transparent I would always be. -D. De Haan

Give God what He desires most- a broken and repentant heart.

Obey and Honor

Yesterday's devotional helped us understand the importance of obedience.  Over the next few devotionals, I want to focus on three areas I believe are critical for you and me to ensure we are obedient.

The first is found in Ephesians 6:1-3.  This first category of obedience has to do with family, something God teaches very specifically in His Word.  It says,

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."

As long as a child is under his parents' roof and under his parents' direct authority, he needs to obey.  But throughout your entire life you need to honor your parents.

One time I had a dear lady come to me after a service when I preached on this command and say, "Pastor, I just have to tell you.  I just felt I needed to make things right with my dad.  I went home that night and called him and said, 'Dad, you need to forgive me because I've been bitter against you for all these years.  I'm sorry, and I want you to know that I forgive you for all the past.'"

Then she said, "Pastor, you need to understand, I've had a migraine headache for 15 years, 24 hours a day.  I take piles of medication.  I go to bed with a migraine, and I wake up with one, but the morning after I made things right with my dad, I woke up, and I had no headache."  And she started to cry.

I am telling you, this promise is full of power!  It is better to obey and honor your parents!

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!


Read: John 11:1-6, 25-44
This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that Gods Son may be glorified through it. - John 11:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
Motivated by the knowledge that about two billion people in the world have no access to electricity, Florida State University researcher Anjaneyulu Krothapalli and his colleagues have been working to develop simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly new technologies for generating electricity. "The principles are really very simple," he said. "We are exploring ways to combine existing technologies to convert solar radiation to heat; to use that heat to produce steam to run a low-cost, highly efficient turbine; and then to use the power generated by that turbine to run a small electric generator. Individual homes could be equipped with these technologies."
Energy and power are perennial human concerns. God's power, on the other hand, never runs out. When we bear witness to His power, we bring Him glory. Today's reading narrates the start and finish of one of Jesus' most eye-opening and powerful miracles, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The key truth is that the entire situation happened for God's glory (vv. 4, 40). We know from this that God's glory is worth suffering and death; that events that bring Him glory may be beyond human comprehension; that miracles and acts of power glorify God; that God's glory is about life, not death; and that God redeems all things for His own glory.

Significantly, this miracle didn't take place out among the crowds following Him, but in the context of a close friendship between Jesus and the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It is certain Jesus loved them, but it is even more certain He loved God and His glory more. In responding to the request to heal Lazarus, He marched not to the drum of human urgency but followed the beat of God's timetable. In the end, the miracle created a tremendous opportunity to reveal and proclaim Jesus' identity as "the resurrection and the life" (v. 25). It's not just that Christ brought life-He is life! It's not just that He can resurrect a dead man-He is the resurrection!
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus offers eternal life to those who believe in Him: "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Martha, despite the fact that she didn't see her brother's resurrection coming, responded with a heartfelt affirmation of faith: "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world" (vv. 25-27; cf. John 1:12). Have you trusted Him as Savior?

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 26, 2009

Five People You Meet In Heaven

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:6-11
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. -2 Corinthians 5:10
Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, said that he got the idea for his book when he speculated: What would heaven be like if it were a place where some of the people you impacted on earth explained your life when you met them in heaven?

Albom's book does give insight into how we unintentionally affect others' lives. But for the Christian, our ultimate joy in eternity does not stem from other people but from our Lord and Savior. Heaven is a real place that Jesus is now preparing for us. And when we get there, we'll rejoice to meet the living Christ (John 14:2-3; 2 Peter 3:13).

This encounter with Jesus, however, will also include accountability for the life we lived on earth. Believers are told: "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10). His wise and just evaluation will show us how well we have loved God and our neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40).

We don't know who will be the first five people we meet in heaven. But we do know who the first One will be-the Lord Jesus.  - Dennis Fisher

When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know-
Not till then-how much I owe. -McCheyne

To be with Jesus forever is the sum of all happiness.

Obedience in Marriage

Ephesians 5:22-24 gives an important area of obedience.  While this is not popular in our society today, it is biblical, but is also often misunderstood. 

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

It is important to make clear that before God there is an absolute equality between men and women, between husbands and wives.  In fact, this passage does not say, "Women submit to men."  It is purely a domestic situation.

Even with that understanding, the Bible says that husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life.  There is an equality before God between men and women and husband and wife.

What this passage teaches is that God has set up a system of authority in the home that needs to be followed, if it is going to be well with us.  In fact, this is even a military term.  To submit or to obey means to put yourself in rank under.

Friend, we are in a spiritual warfare, and there are spiritual forces that have been unleashed against homes and against marriages that would love to tear marriages apart. 

God has designed a way for the home to function, and that is for the man to take the responsibility of leadership and for the wife to come under that authority.  When a husband truly loves his wife, and cares for her like Christ does the church, and the wife respects her husband, things will be well in the home.  That couple and that family will be magnets for the blessings of God.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!


Read: John 12:20-33
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. - John 12:23

TODAY IN THE WORD
In an ancient battle between Burma (now Myanmar) and Thailand, the kings, princes, and top generals from both armies rode out on elephants for personal combat. The military principle stated that by defeating the leader, his nation would be defeated and the war would be over. The Thai king and the Burmese general charged head-on at one another, with the general gaining the advantage. When Queen Srisuriyothai of Thailand, who was present in disguise, saw what was happening, she drove her elephant between the two men and received the fatal blow meant for the king. She sacrificed her life for her husband, king, and country, and to this day she is honored as a national heroine in Thailand.
In the same way, though on a far greater scale, Christ willingly sacrificed His life within the Father's plan of redemption (vv. 27-28; cf. Acts 2:23-24). Jesus' obedience unto death brought glory to God, who in turn glorified and exalted the One who won so great a salvation (cf. John 13:31-32).

By God's grace, we are not merely spectators in this incredible drama, but participants. Jesus' word-picture of a kernel of wheat falling into the ground applies to Himself and to us (v. 24). The death of a seed results in the life of a plant; the death of the only perfect human being who has ever lived resulted in eternal and abundant life for all who believe (vv. 31-32). The death-to-self of His followers results in the work of the gospel going forward in and through our lives.

The metaphors of seed and sacrifice capture many of the paradoxes of the Christian life (vv. 25-26). To die is to live. To lose is to gain. To be last is to be first. To love the wrong thing is to lose all. To hate the temporal is to gain the eternal. To serve is to be honored. To die to self is to gain the world.
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
What does it mean to die to self? Does it mean we should pay no attention to our own needs and desires? Does it mean we should always speak self-deprecatingly of our abilities and accomplishments? Does it mean all pleasures are suspect? According to Scripture, it means that self ceases to occupy the central place in our universe. Pride no longer rules us. To be a child of God means that Christ occupies the central place. We are to be ruled by His love and His glory.

GOD BLESS!

[Judy Harder]

Daily Devotionals October 27, 2009

Is That Jesus?

READ: Romans 8:26-29
Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. -Romans 8:29

As I walked into church one Sunday morning, a little boy looked at me and said to his mother, "Mom, is that Jesus?" Needless to say, I was curious to hear her response. "No," she said, "that's our pastor."

I knew she would say no, of course, but I still wished she could have added something like, "No, that's our pastor, but he reminds us a lot of Jesus."

Being like Jesus is the purpose of life for those of us who are called to follow Him. In fact, as John Stott notes, it is the all-consuming goal of our past, our present, and our future. Romans 8:29 tells us that in the past we were "predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." In the present, we "are being transformed into the same image" (the likeness of Christ), as we grow from "glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18). And, in the future, "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Being like Jesus is not about keeping the rules, going to church, and tithing. It's about knowing His forgiveness, and committing acts of grace and mercy on a consistent basis. It's about living a life that values all people. And it's about having a heart of full surrender to the will of our Father.

Be like Jesus. You were saved for it!  - Joe Stowell

Be like Jesus-this my song-
In the home and in the throng;
Be like Jesus all day long!
I would be like Jesus. -Rowe

Live in such a way that others see Jesus in you

An Enemy to Your Enemies

Exodus 23:20-22 says,

"Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.  Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.  But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries."

Israel's success in possessing the promised land lay in their obedience.  The same is true for us as we endeavor to possess the things promised to us by God.

I like the thought of God being an enemy to my enemies and an adversary to my adversaries, but that hinges on obedience as well.

The difficult thing about obeying God is that it always requires faith.  He asks us to do things that sometimes make no sense.  Other times He demands that we face seemingly impossible situations armed with nothing but His Word.

But He is faithful.  He keeps His promises.  And He can be absolutely trusted-in everything and with everything.

So today if you are desiring to enter some aspect of your "promised land", or if you are faced with difficult or seemingly insurmountable obstacles, listen for His voice, search His Word for instructions, and then obey.

He will be an enemy to your enemies, and you will possess the promises.

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God
and
click here to listen to Bayless Conley at OnePlace.com.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Godly Wisdom for a Great Marriage

Although it's God's plan for husband and wife to flourish in their marriage, it won't happen by accident. A great marriage takes work. In this 4-part series, Bayless and Janet explore God's Word relating to marriage and share personal insight from over 25 years of experience. You will learn about the specific roles that God gives to both husbands and wives along with how God's commandments can be applied to strengthen and improve your marriage, and much more!


Read: John 14:5-14
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. - John 14:13

TODAY IN THE WORD
Alvin J. Vander Griend wrote about the power of prayer: "God gave us intercessory prayer so we could partner with Him in transforming society, saving the lost, and establishing His kingdom . . . n His sovereign good pleasure, He has chosen to involve us, through our prayers, in accomplishing His will. Our intercessory prayers are important to God; they should also be important to us . . . Prayer can move mountains. It can change human hearts, families, neighborhoods, cities, and nations. It's the ultimate source of power because it is, in reality, the power of Almighty God."
Answered prayer brings glory to God. In today's reading, Jesus taught this truth while trying to overcome the confusion of His disciples. In response to Jesus' prediction of His death, Thomas had asked where Jesus was going and how to get there. We might be tempted to label him a "slow learner" and say with exasperation, "I'm returning to heaven!" But Jesus took pity on the disciples and put things in terms of their relationship with Him (vv. 6-7). Whatever they lacked in understanding, Jesus is their all-in-all. He is the way, the truth, and the life. To know Him is to know the Father. Following another clueless interjection, this time by Philip, Jesus further explained, "It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (v. 10).

The critical point is that the same divine power that was at work in Christ's life and miracles is available to us by faith (v. 12). This is where prayer comes in. Jesus exhorted His followers to ask for anything-anything! Dream big, pray boldly! "I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" (vv. 13-14). This is not an invitation to treat Jesus like a genie who grants our every wish, but rather an invitation to participate in the Son's glorifying of the Father.
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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Prayer is a powerful resource in the Christian life. Jesus said to ask for anything in His name, but what does that mean? To pray in His name means to pray in line with His will. And what does that mean? It means to pray in line with His redemptive purposes. We might ask ourselves, "Does my prayer contribute to the spread of the gospel and the glory of God?" When we truly understand that prayer is for God's glory, we won't ask for frivolous and selfish things.

GOD BLESS!