Love Worth Finding

[Judy Harder]

Love Worth Finding
     
August 16

Be Merciful to Me, A Sinner

"Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation." Psalm 85:7

There's a story about a lady who went to a photographer to have her picture made. When she saw it, she didn't like it. She took it back and told the photographer, "You'll have to take this over." He asked, "What's wrong with it?" She said, "It doesn't do me justice." He looked at it and looked at her and said, "Lady, you don't need justice, what you need is mercy."

God is just, but we need mercy. If you have never come to place where you have seen yourself as a sinner lost before Almighty God and cried out to Him for mercy, you've never been saved.

You may have joined a church, but have you thrown yourself on the mercy of the court? Have you said, "Lord God be merciful to me, a sinner?"

[Judy Harder]

August 17

Casting Our Burdens at His Feet

"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

I read about a man who had a very fine dog who loved the water. One day the dog was playing in the lake and the man decided to leave. He called the dog, but the dog wouldn't come. He called him several times; he wouldn't come. It was a well-trained dog, but he just would not come. The man finally threw a stick out in the water. When the dog saw it, he swam over, got the stick, and came back and laid it at his master's feet.

It just may be that God has given you a burden because He can't get your attention. He wants you to come and lay it at your Master's feet.

Is your heart aching today? Cast your burden at His feet and allow His peace to fill your heart.

[Judy Harder]

August 18

Exercise Discernment with Entertainment

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

The most dangerous thing on television in my estimation today is the sitcom. Do you know what they're doing? They're getting you to laugh at sin. In fact, a Christian television and film writer attended a producers' workshop one day. One of the keynote speakers was one of TV's most successful producers of sitcoms. In his address, he stated that in order to have a commercially successful production, the characters in a sitcom must violate at least three of the Ten Commandments. How tragic. But what an opportunity for people like you and me to take a stand for the truth and for the glory of God in the film and television industry.

Pray Joshua 1:7 for those who are in the television and movie industries—that they will be strong and courageous.

[Judy Harder]

August 19

True Freedom in Christ

"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Romans 6:22

When Jesus Christ comes into your life, He changes you. Maybe you have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Maybe you struggle with lust, fear, doubt, or self- pity. Maybe you're a slave to public opinion or perfectionism. But I want to tell you that the Jesus Christ who set Adrian Rogers free is the Jesus Christ who will set you free.

Our freedom in Jesus Christ isn't the privilege to do what we want. Instead it is the glorious, abundant, supernatural power to do what we ought.

It is saving grace that sets us free. It is sustaining grace that keeps us free.

Bow before the Lord and thank Him for the freedom you've been given through the great price of Calvary.

[Judy Harder]

 Love Worth Finding
   
August 20

The Sacrificial Quotient of Giving

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it." Ephesians 5:25

A little boy was looking through the family picture album, and he came to a picture of his mother when she was a very young girl. It was taken just after they'd gotten married. The boy asked his father, "Is that when Mother came to work for us?"

Does this ring true in your home? Let me set the record straight. The husband, if he loves his wife as Christ loves the church, is going to love his wife sacrificially. He is going to love her in such a way that he would be willing to lay down his life for her. He's going to protect her. He's going to provide for her. He's going to do what he can to present his wife and family as holy vessels for the Lord's use.

Are you married? Then how are you doing on the sacrificial quotient of giving to your spouse? If you had to, would you be willing to lay down your life for your spouse?

 

[Judy Harder]

August 21

When These Things Begin to Come to Pass

"Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto Thy name." 2 Samuel 22:50

If we get into an auto accident and come out alive, we typically thank God for sparing our lives. But do you ever just thank God for saving your life as you drove home from work and didn't have an accident? Isn't that even better?

I heard a story that poignantly illustrates this. One Sunday a husband and wife heard that a person in their church whose son died on the battlefield gave a significant love offering in his memory. On the way home, the wife asked her husband, "Why don't we give an offering for our son?"

"Why?" he answered. "Our son wasn't killed."

She said, "Don't you think that's a good reason?"

What should you do in all things? Whether you are safe or sorry?

[Judy Harder]

August 22

Peace, Be Still

"Keep me as the apple of the eye...hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." Psalm 17:8

Charles Wesley was walking through the woods on a stormy day when a lightening storm broke out and the rain began to come down in torrents. A bolt of lightening flashed, and a little bird was so frightened that it flew down to Wesley and it tried to hide in his coat.

He was so moved by the scene that he wrote a song we often sing: "Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, 'til the storm of life is past; safe unto the haven guide me, O receive my soul at last." That's what our Lord does. He hides us, sustains us, and keeps us.

Are the storms of life raging around you? Hide yourself in the dark clouds—they are just the shadow of His wing.

[Judy Harder]

August 23

How Passionate Is Our Love for the Lord?

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25

When I was a little boy and I found something that didn't belong to me, I'd say, "Finders keepers, losers weepers!"

But do you know what the apostle Paul said? "Keepers weepers, losers finders."

He said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:7).

Religion does not save us. Jesus saves us. And He's calling us to not only turn from our sins, but to turn from our righteousness.

What are you holding onto in your life that brings you security? Let it go to the glory of God! You can trust Him to provide for all your needs.

[Judy Harder]

August 24

That I May Know Him

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." Philippians 3:10

One day I was making a call on a businessman with a friend of mine. This dear man of God began giving his testimony of how the Lord saved him. But then he said something that really shocked me. I was speechless. He said, "I used to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and that He was buried and rose again. But I don't believe it anymore."

I was stopped dead in my tracks. Then with a smile on his face he said, "I don't believe it anymore. Now, I know it!"

Oh, to go from believing to knowing the Savior! What a change of thought. What a change of heart. What a glorious revelation and transformation!

Do you know him? Really know Him today? Or do you just believe that He died, was buried, and rose again?

[Judy Harder]

August 25

To Be Found in Christ

"But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30

Paul thought it was the greatest of blessings to be found "in Him" (see Philippians 3:9). Paul exchanged a set of rules for a friend.

Hadn't you rather have a friend than a set of rules? Before this, Paul had the law. Now, he has the Lord. And what a difference! What a safe place—to be found in Jesus Christ.

You're not just a church member if you are saved, you are in Christ. You are in His body and He is in you. Talk about fellowship divine! You may be alone, but you'll never be lonely again because the Lord Jesus Christ is in you and you are in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have a hymnal in your home, find the hymn "In The Garden" and meditate on its truth, that "He tells me I am His own."