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Billy Graham Daily Devotional for 2021

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Friday, December 31, 2021 God Loves You! We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love... —1 John 4:16 (TLB) Never question God’s great love, for it is as unchangeable a part of God as is His holiness. Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But God is love! And His love for us is everlasting. The promises of God’s love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive, as human words can make them. But, like describing the ocean, its total beauty cannot be understood until it is actually seen. It is the same with God’s love. Until you actually possess true peace with...More Thursday, December 30, 2021 Why We Have the Bible These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God... —John 20:31 God caused the Bible to be written for the express purpose of revealing to us God’s plan for His redemption. God caused the Book to be written that He might make His everlasting laws clear to His children, and that they might have His great wisdom to guide them, and His great love to comfort them as they make their way through life. For without the Bible this world would indeed be a dark and frightening place, without signpost or beacon. The Bible easily qualifies as the only book in which God’s revelation...More Wednesday, December 29, 2021 We Cannot Out-Give God A tenth of the produce of the land...is the Lord's. —Leviticus 27:30 (TLB) We are to be stewards of our money. When it is invested and shared for the glory of God, it can be a boon and a blessing. I know a businessman in Detroit, Michigan, who made a promise to God that he would tithe his entire income to the work of the Lord. He said his business had tripled, and that God had more than fulfilled His end of the bargain. Some time ago I heard from a laborer in the San Joaquin Valley of California who said that he and his wife agreed to give one tenth of their income to the Lord. At the time they...More Tuesday, December 28, 2021 Cure for Our Troubles ...preaching peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all). —Acts 10:36 Would it not be wonderful if we could find an absolute cure for the troubles of human nature? Suppose we could give a shot in the arm to the whole human race that would fill people with love instead of hate, with contentment instead of greed. Suppose, also, a cure could be found for the past mistakes, failures, and sins of mankind. Suppose by some miracle all the past could be straightened out, all of life’s tangles could be unraveled, and the broken strings of life could be repaired. The most thrilling news in all the world is...More Monday, December 27, 2021 Find Peace With God The Lord will bless his people with peace. —Psalm 29:11 How do we find peace with God? We must stop fighting! We must surrender! We must serve! Of course, these steps will be motivated by faith and mingled with love. Having found peace with God, next we experience the peace of God. This peace of God is not a mere abstraction advocated by preachers and theologians. Thousands of people can witness that they have actually experienced the peace of God and have found it wonderfully adequate for this present day. “For He is our peace.” You can have peace with God...More Sunday, December 26, 2021 Where Does Your Hope Lie? Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. —Jeremiah 17:7 The Scriptures predict that a new day is coming. There will be a golden age of prosperity when all perplexing problems-religious, social, or political-will find their complete solution. It will be a marvelous time for this mixed-up world. However, the Bible teaches that man will not bring about this coming golden age. Man alone cannot. The flaw in human nature is too great. Man has no ability to repair this damaged planet. God is our only hope! His plans are already formed, and they are perfectly stated in the...More Saturday, December 25, 2021 What Does ‘Merry’ Mean? And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God . . . —Luke 2:13 When at this season of the year we wish our friends a “Merry Christmas,” it is essential to realize that true merriment of heart is contingent upon the recognition of the truth that Christ was born in Bethlehem for our salvation. The word “merry” is from an old Anglo-Saxon word which sometimes meant “famous,” “illustrious,” “great,” or “mighty.” Originally, to be merry did not imply to be merely mirthful, but strong and gallant. It was in this sense that gallant soldiers were called...More Friday, December 24, 2021 Christmas Is Not a Myth When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth . . . his Son . . . —Galatians 4:4 Christmas is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It is a glorious reality. It is a time of joy. Bethlehem’s manger crib became the link that bound a lost world to a loving God. From that manger came a Man who not only taught us a new way of life, but brought us into a new relationship with our Creator. Christmas means that God is interested in the affairs of people, that God loves us so much that He was willing to give His Son. Prayer for the day Lord Jesus, as I remember Your birth in...More Thursday, December 23, 2021 What Is in a Gift? For unto us a child is born . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. —Isaiah 9:6 To Christians the joy of Christmas is not limited to His birth. It is built even more on the triumph of His death and resurrection—that gave meaning to His birth. The mysterious spirit of generosity which possesses us at Christmas is the afterglow of Calvary. The fact of the cross illuminates this day and hallows it. As we exchange our gifts, let us remember that they are symbolic of the unspeakable gift of God’s love. I do not believe...More Wednesday, December 22, 2021 The Giver of the Gift He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not . . . freely give us all things? —Romans 8:32 God is the Giver of the gift. The capability of the donor usually gauges the value of the gift. We don’t usually think of a person as a gift, but actually interpersonal relationships are the most valued and cherished gifts of all. But the Bible teaches that God gave a Person as a gift to every one of us, and that Person is Jesus Christ. One day a six-year-old boy in a southern town answered a knock at the door. It was his father, just returned from Southeast Asia. He...More Tuesday, December 21, 2021 Neglect of Soul “Blessed is the man who reveres God, but the man who doesn't care is headed for serious trouble.” —Proverbs 28:14 (TLB) All Christians believe in God, but many Christians have little time for God. They are too busy with everyday affairs to be taken up with Bible reading, prayer, and being thoughtful to their fellowmen. Many of them have lost the spirit of a zealous discipleship. If you ask them if they are Christians, they would probably answer, “I think so,” or, “I hope so.” They may go to church at Easter and Christmas and on other special occasions, but otherwise they have little time for...More Monday, December 20, 2021 The Spiritual Realm He was zealous for my sake... —Numbers 25:11 It is strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual. The world appreciates and understands emotion and enthusiasm, until it becomes a religious fervor—then immediately it is suspect. When you bring a grand and glorious abandon to your dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are thought by many of your neighbors to be mad, to have “gone too far” in religion. The whole history of missionary enterprise is filled with names like William Carey, Hudson Taylor, John Paton, David Livingstone, and others, who were thought by...More Sunday, December 19, 2021 A God of Justice What joy there is for anyone whose sins are no longer counted against him by the Lord. —Romans 4:8 (TLB) A number of years ago I was stopped for driving too fast in a speed zone, and in the courtroom I pleaded guilty. The judge was not only friendly but embarrassed for me to be in his court. The fine was ten dollars. If he had let me go free, it would have been inconsistent with justice. The penalty had to be paid either by me or someone else! Judgment is consistent with love. A God of love must be a God of justice. It is because God loves that He is just. His justice balances His love and makes His acts of...More Saturday, December 18, 2021 The Finished Work Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. —John 3:3 A person is saved by trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and not by bodily sensations and religious ecstasy. But you will say, “What about feeling? Is there no place in saving faith for feeling?” Certainly, there is room for feeling in saving faith. But we are not saved by it. Whatever feeling there may be is the result of saving faith, but feeling never saved a single soul. Love is feeling. Joy is feeling. Inward peace is feeling. Love for others is a feeling. Concern for the lost is a feeling. But these feelings...More Friday, December 17, 2021 The Prince of Peace Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. —Proverbs 10:12 To hate, to discriminate against those who look different, who talk different, who have different national backgrounds, or who act differently from the dominant group, is a universal trait of human nature. I say that there is only one possible solution and that is a vital experience with Christ on the part of all races. In Christ the middle wall of partition is broken down, the Bible says. There is no Jew or Gentile, or black or white or yellow or red. We could be one great brotherhood in Christ. However, until we come to...More Thursday, December 16, 2021 Why the Righteous Suffer God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings... —2 Corinthians 1:7 (TLB) This question, “Why must the righteous suffer?” is as old as time. There is only one place that we can find an answer, and that is in the Bible. You do not need to study the Scriptures long to learn why sinners meet reverses and anguish. They are apart from God. Their sorrow is the result of their sins. But why do Christians suffer? Scripture teaches that many Christians suffer so that they may fellowship with others who are in affliction. Only those who have known sorrow and suffering can have...More Wednesday, December 15, 2021 Not Too Young Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers... —1 Timothy 4:12 Lord Chesterton once said, “I believe in bedside repentance, but I do not want to depend upon it.” During a serious illness a person’s mind does not function normally. Getting right with God is something one should do in the bloom of health. However, as far as the Lord is concerned, “His ear is not heavy that He cannot hear, nor His arm shortened that He cannot save.” He loves us equally, in sickness or in health; while we are living, or while we are dying. In my experience, I have not known of too many people...More Tuesday, December 14, 2021 He Hears You If we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. —1 John 5:14 God has said, “If my people . . . pray . . . then will I hear from heaven.” Before three thousand people were brought into the Church on the day of Pentecost, the disciples had spent ten days in prayer, fasting, and spiritual travail. God desires that Christians be concerned and burdened for a lost world. If we pray this kind of prayer, an era of peace may come to the world and the hordes of wickedness may be turned back. Prayer for the day Almighty God, burden my heart for those in the world who have not...More Monday, December 13, 2021 What God Has Done With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer. —Isaiah 54:8 If God is all-powerful and all-loving, it would seem inconsistent with His nature to allow anyone to be lost. Here again we rationalize because we do not understand the nature of God. God cannot go against His own laws and against His own nature. God is holy. He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. He created us free to choose how we would live. He invites us to come His way, but leaves us free to pursue our own ends with tragic, natural consequences. We glibly say, “Surely a loving God would not allow a person...More Sunday, December 12, 2021 Loving One Another And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men... —1 Thessalonians 3:12 One of the growing psychological problems facing people today is loneliness. One of the greatest ministries that a person can have today is just being a good listener. Many people are longing not only to be loved but to have someone who will listen to them. When we love God with all our hearts, then we have the capacity to love our neighbor. The greatest need in the world today is not more science, not more social engineering, not more teaching, not more knowledge, not more power, not even...More Saturday, December 11, 2021 What Is Idolatry? Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father... —Matthew 10:33 What is idolatry? Idolatry is anything that comes between us and God. Joshua told his people that their nation would be destroyed if they persisted in idolatry, and their souls would suffer eternal death. He said, “You must make your decision today. You must decide whether you want to serve the idols of this life, or the living God.” “Choose you this day,” said Joshua, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” What about you? Are you taking your stand with Joshua? No matter what the cost? I am...More Friday, December 10, 2021 Steadfast Love Your steadfast love, O Lord, is as great as all the heavens... —Psalm 36:5 (TLB) Young people talk a lot about love. Most of their songs are about love...“The supreme happiness of life,” Victor Hugo said long ago, “is the conviction that we are loved.” “Love is the first requirement for mental health,” declared Sigmund Freud. The Bible teaches that “God is love” and that God loves you. To realize that is of paramount importance. Nothing else matters so much. And loving you, God has a wonderful plan for your life. Who else could plan and guide your life so well? Prayer for the...More Thursday, December 9, 2021 Word Made Flesh The Word was made flesh...full of grace and truth. —John 1:14 On the cover of your Bible and my Bible appear the words “Holy Bible.” Do you know why the Bible is called holy? Why should it be called holy when so much lust and hate and greed and war are found in it? It is because the Bible tells the truth. It tells the truth about God, about man, and about the devil. The Bible teaches that we exchange the truth of God for the devil’s lie about sex, for example; and drugs, and alcohol, and religious hypocrisy. Jesus Christ is the ultimate truth. Furthermore, He told the truth. Jesus said that He was the...More Wednesday, December 8, 2021 The Throne of Grace Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace... —Hebrews 4:16 Praying is simply a two-way conversation between you and God. Thousands of people pray only when they are under great stress, or in danger, overcome by uncertainty. I have been in airplanes when an engine died; then people started praying. I have talked to soldiers who told me that they never prayed until they were in the midst of battle. There seems to be an instinct in man to pray in times of trouble. We know “there are no atheists in foxholes,” but the kind of Christianity that fails to reach into our everyday lives will never...More Tuesday, December 7, 2021 The Manifestation of Faith ...we can come to the Lord with perfect assurance and trust... —1 John 3:21 (TLB) The Bible teaches that faith will manifest itself in three ways. It will manifest itself in doctrine—in what you believe. It will manifest itself in worship—your communion with God and the fellowship of the church. It will manifest itself in morality—in the way you live and behave. . . . The Bible also teaches that faith does not end with trust in Christ for your salvation. Faith continues. Faith grows. It may be weak at first, but it will become stronger as you begin to read the Bible, pray, go to church, and experience...More Monday, December 6, 2021 Relying on Grace Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. —1 Corinthians 15:10 Let us face this fact: We came into the world with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing. Where do we get the notion that man’s idea of success and God’s are the same? You have written a book; you are a clever manager and promoter; you are a talented artist; you are independently rich; you have achieved fame and fortune. Without the gifts of intelligence, imagination, personality, and physical energy—which are all endowed by God—where would you be? Are we not born poor? Do we not die poor? And would we not be poor indeed...More Sunday, December 5, 2021 A Thousand Anxieties I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. —Psalm 34:4 Man has always been beset by worry, and the pressures of modern life have aggravated the problem. To men of all time Jesus said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow . . . but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33-34). Many of you are filled with a thousand anxieties. Bring them to Jesus Christ by faith. He will bring peace to your soul and your mind. Prayer for the day Knowing You hear me, Lord, as I talk with...More Saturday, December 4, 2021 No Reason to Hurry When your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character... —James 1:4 (TLB) This is a high-strung, neurotic, impatient age. We hurry when there is no reason to hurry—just to be hurrying. This fast-paced age has produced more problems and less morality than previous generations, and it has given all of us jangled nerves. Impatience has produced a new crop of broken homes, or more new ulcers, and has set the stage for more world wars. Prayer for the day May my heart be still amid all the turmoil, as I remember Your patience with me, Lord...More Friday, December 3, 2021 What About Love? Let love be your greatest aim... —1 Corinthians 14:1 (TLB) What about love? How can you be certain you’re in love? I suggest these simple measures that you can apply to yourself. Is your love patient? Is it considerate? Can it wait until marriage for physical fulfillment? Experience says that true love’s patience is inexhaustible. True love does not assert itself, claim rights, or demand privileges. It always thinks first of the other person. The biblical phrase is it “is not self-seeking.” True love never thinks evil of the beloved. It is never suspicious, but always supportive and inspiring. True...More Thursday, December 2, 2021 All He Requires Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? —John 11:40 If you are a young man or young woman hooked on dissent or despair, ready to split, then lend me your attention. My answer concerns your dreams, and the element in your make-up called “faith.” All that God requires of anyone in taking his first step toward Him and toward total self-fulfillment is faith—faith in His Word, that teaches that God loves you and that you were alienated from Him by sin, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, that when you make a personal surrender to Him as Lord and...More Wednesday, December 1, 2021 The Broken Home “There is sin in their homes, and they are polluted to the depths of their souls. But I will call upon the Lord to save me—and he will.” —Psalm 55:15,16 (TLB) The broken home has become the number one social problem of America, and could ultimately lead to the destruction of our civilization. Since the basic unit of any society is the home, when the home begins to break, the society is on the way to disintegration. It is a threat to the American way of life. It does not make screaming headlines; but, like termites, it is eating away at the heart and core of the American structure. It is...More Tuesday, November 30, 2021 His Presence That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings... —Philippians 3:10 W.C. Burns of India wrote, “Oh to have a martyr’s heart, if not a martyr’s crown.” Popularity and adulation are far more dangerous for the Christian than persecution. It is easy, when all goes smoothly, to lose our sense of balance and our perspective. The important thing is to walk with Christ, to live for Christ, and to have one consuming passion—to please Him. Then, whatever happens, we know that He has permitted it in order to teach us some priceless lesson and to perfect us for His...More Monday, November 29, 2021 Satan at Work In whom we have redemption...the forgiveness of sins. —Ephesians 1:7 Satan is at work in our world. The Bible is my authority. He exists and he has control over thousands of young people, whose hearts have never been captured by Jesus Christ. He has hundreds of agents writing pornographic literature and producing sex movies to pollute young minds. He has intellectuals in high positions teaching a hedonistic and permissive philosophy. Daily I come in contact with mixed-up people who are caught in the anguish of their own unpreparedness, intellectuals who have been seduced by false science, and...More Sunday, November 28, 2021 The Sufficiency of God I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. —John 10:10 In God’s economy, you must go down into the valley of grief before you can scale the heights of spiritual glory. You must become tired and weary of living alone before you seek and find the fellowship of Christ. You must come to the end of “self” before you can begin to live. The happiest day of my life was when I realized that my own ability, my own goodness, and my own morality were insufficient in the sight of God. I am not exaggerating when I say that my mourning was turned to joy, and my sighing into...More Saturday, November 27, 2021 Realities of Life Casting down imaginations . . . and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:5 Thousands of people have made plans to escape from the realities of life. A new word has come into common usage the last few years. That word is “escapism.” The dictionary defines it as “a retreat from reality into an imaginary world.” The escape of imagination. Solomon spoke of the unregenerate heart as one which is inclined to excessive fantasy. The dream world Satan promotes always ends with disillusionment. Thousands of people live in an unreal dream world, while shirking...More Friday, November 26, 2021 Enjoy Life Now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. —1 Peter 1:8 (TLB) Christians are to enjoy life and enjoy one another. When children see no joy in their home, no joy in your Christianity, they will not be attracted by it. When they see you excited about going to a ball game, or watching television, and then dragging around to do spiritual things, they will soon get the idea that Christianity does not mean much to you. Your attitude will rub off. My wife says that the best way to get a child to eat his food is to see his parents enjoying theirs. Our children will not be attracted...More Thursday, November 25, 2021 Whose Son Is He? To us there is but one God, the Father...and one Lord Jesus Christ... —1 Corinthians 8:6 Ultimately, in one way or another, or at one time or another, we shall be faced with this question: What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? If Jesus Christ is not who He claimed to be, He is a deceiver, or an egomaniac. We must answer this question with both belief and action. We must not only believe something about Jesus, but we must do something about Him. We must accept Him, or reject Him. Jesus made clear who He was, and why He came into the world. He asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I, the...More Wednesday, November 24, 2021 Being Grateful in Word and Deed O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. —Psalm 118:1 This year as we observe our season of thanksgiving, let us be grateful not only in word but also in deed. Let our gratitude find expression in a resolve to live a life more unselfish and more consecrated to Jesus Christ. When we sit around our tables laden with sumptuous delicacies, let us not forget that half the world will go to bed hungry. As we enjoy the comforts of our cozy homes, let us not forget that great numbers in other parts of the world have no homes to go to. When we step into our sleek...More Tuesday, November 23, 2021 The Abundant Life He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; for he giveth God thanks... —Romans 14:6 Do you think that God would have bothered to send His Son to the world, if man had been able to face life and eternity alone? Christ’s coming to the world proved that God was not happy with man’s unhappiness. He sent Him not only that we might have eternal life but that we might have life here and now, and that we might have it more abundantly—Life with a capital L! Jesus’ teaching was unique and different. He took religion out of the theoretical category and placed it in the practical. He spoke with authority!...More Monday, November 22, 2021 Thanksgiving with Meaning The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. —Psalm 34:18 (TLB) It is the custom of many Christians to bow their heads in public places and give thanks for the food that has been placed before them. I have had scores of waiters and waitresses tell me that when we bowed our heads, it was the first time they had ever seen that happen in their restaurant. Millions never pause to give a word of thanks to God for the food provided. Few homes have a moment of thanksgiving at the beginning of the meal or at any other time of the day. Even at...More Sunday, November 21, 2021 Life Worth Living ...ye might have life through his name. —John 20:31 “Is life worth living?” To scores of people life has ceased to be worth living. To all of you I have good news. God did not create you to be a defeated, discouraged, frustrated, wandering soul, seeking in vain for peace of heart and peace of mind. He has bigger plans for you. He has a larger orb and a greater life for you. The answer to your problem, however great, is as near as your Bible, as simple as first-grade arithmetic, and as real as your heartbeat. Upon the authority of God’s Word, I tell you that Christ is the answer to every...More Saturday, November 20, 2021 Stumbling in Darkness The one who is the true Light arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world. —John 1:9 (TLB) The world is stumbling in darkness from one crisis to another. The crises are getting worse and worse, and are coming closer and closer to home. Inflation, population explosion, hunger, dominate vast areas of the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. You follow me and give your life to me and I’ll take you out of the darkness of this world, out of this confusion, out of this mess that you’re in, and I’ll give you peace and joy. A light will burn in your heart and mind that you never had...More Friday, November 19, 2021 Bridge the Gap Keep a close watch on all you do and think. Stay true to what is right... —1 Timothy 4:16 (TLB) In searching for ways to bridge the generation gap, there is no doubt that we, as parents, will have to practice what we preach, by striving more and more to bring our conduct into line with our code of beliefs. No mother can demand that her daughter abstain from sleeping around when she herself is flirting and on occasion compromising her own moral conduct. No father, who wavers between heavy social drinking and occasional binges to the edge of alcoholism, and who can’t speak a pleasant word in...More Thursday, November 18, 2021 Pure Hearts Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 2:5 It is impossible to live pure lives until we have pure hearts. Many people today are trying to put the cart before the horse. They are teaching purity of motives, desires, and actions to old, deceitful hearts! No wonder we have ended up such moral failures, in spite of our vaunted knowledge and psychological approaches. Pure motives, desires, and actions stem from pure hearts. Pure hearts will be Christlike. It is God’s desire that we be conformed to the image of His Son. If Christ lives within us and our bodies become...More Wednesday, November 17, 2021 Integrity Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do... —Philippians 4:9 Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. What our young people want to see in their elders is integrity, honesty, truthfulness, and faith. What they hate most of all is hypocrisy and phoniness. That is why it is important for us to go to church, to read the Bible, and to say grace at the table. Let them see us doing what we would like them to do. Prayer for the day Take away the “front,” Father, that so often creeps into my life. I would live in such a way...More Tuesday, November 16, 2021 Real Security The foundation of God standeth sure... —2 Timothy 2:19 On campus the quickest way to security is through the crowd. Precisely where students talk about being independent and on their own, you will find them practicing the most rigid conformity in dress, in speech, in moral attitudes, and in thinking. Sometimes they follow fashion at the expense of integrity. They dread to be alone. They do not want to stand out or be different. They want to conform. After they graduate from college, many of these young people want nothing more than a good job with a big firm, and a home somewhere in suburbia. But...More Monday, November 15, 2021 Divine Artistry Yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. —2 Corinthians 12:5 Dr. Edward Judson, in speaking of the life of his father, Adoniram Judson, at the dedication of the Judson Memorial Church in New York City, said, “Suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered; if you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed.” Happy are they that mourn. They can be happy because they know that their pain, their distress, and their privation are the travail of a new creation, the birth pangs...More Sunday, November 14, 2021 Unbreakable ...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. —Joshua 24:15 The basic unit of any society is the home. When the home begins to break, the society is on the way to disintegration. Thousands of homes are almost on the rocks. Many couples are fearful lest their home, too, will be broken some day. There is one great insurance policy that you can take out, in order to guarantee the unity and happiness of your home. It is simple: Make Christ the center of your home. A home is like a solar system. The center, the great sun, holds the solar system together. If it were not for the sun, the solar...More Saturday, November 13, 2021 Heart Trouble I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world... —1 Peter 2:11 (TLB) We all know there is no such thing as absolute freedom. We cannot drive down the street at 100 miles an hour. You can’t swing your fist at me, because your freedom stops at the end of my nose. We can say that we want freedom to publish pornography, to push harmful drugs, to have unrestricted sex, to lie, to cheat; but if we continue with that kind of permissive freedom, we shall destroy ourselves. Man can remain free only so long as he has the moral power to restrain his appetites. Basically, our problem is...More Friday, November 12, 2021 Good Things Are Costly In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. —John 16:33 You should not expect the easy way, for if you do you are certainly destined for disappointment. Any person who knows the Bible knows that the Christian life is likened to an athletic contest or to warfare, and neither one is easy. Jesus warned His followers to count carefully the cost, and that certainly does not speak of an easy way. But there is no good thing that comes without cost. The Christian life is the most satisfying, but only when we actually go all out and all the way. It is the...More Thursday, November 11, 2021 A Creative God For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. —Romans 8:26 John Knox, with an all-consuming soul-concern for his country, prayed, “Give me Scotland, or I die!” His earnest travail was rewarded with a spiritual rebirth in his land. This is what is termed “praying in the Spirit.” It is the manifestation of a deep spiritual concern for others, and it is instilled by the Spirit of God. This kind of prayer can leap over oceans, speed across burning deserts, spring over mountains, bound through jungles, and...More Wednesday, November 10, 2021 The Mysteries of God Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. —1 Corinthians 2:5 The word “mystery” is used many times in Scripture. Some of the mysteries of the past have been fathomed by science. Others still bewilder mankind. This fact remains: All of the garnered wisdom of the ages is only a scratch on the surface of man’s search for the knowledge of the universe. For the most part, God retains His secrets, and man standing on his intellectual tiptoes can comprehend only a small fraction of the Lord’s doings. This inability to comprehend fully the mysteries of God does...More Tuesday, November 9, 2021 What Is Conscience? Having a good conscience . . . —1 Peter 3:16 What is conscience? God has put within each one of us something that cries aloud against us, whenever we do that which we know to be wrong. Conscience is the detective that watches the direction of our steps and decries every conscious transgression. Conscience is a vigilant eye before which each imagination, thought, and act, is held up for either censure or approval. I believe there is no greater argument for the existence of God in the world today than conscience. There is no greater proof of the existence of a moral law and Lawgiver in the universe...More Monday, November 8, 2021 Limitless God The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy . . . —Zephaniah 3:17 The world’s millions could come down to the beach and reach out their hands to be filled with sea water. They could each take as much as they wanted, as much as they needed—and still the ocean would remain unchanged. Its might and power would be the same, the life in its unfathomable depths would continue unaltered, although it had supplied the needs of every single person standing with outstretched hands along its shores. So it is with God. He can be everywhere at once,...More Sunday, November 7, 2021 Compassion for Others Let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. . . . And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. —1 John 4:7,21 If you would know the measure of your love for God, just observe your love for your fellowman. Our compassion for others is an accurate gauge of our devotion to God. Some time ago, with some friends, I went through a museum in San Francisco. Among other things, we saw a collection of instruments of torture which were employed by religious people to force other people to believe as they did....More Saturday, November 6, 2021 God Made You "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength . . . " —Isaiah 40:31 It is an exhilarating experience to live the new life, with Christ inside me enabling me to live it. As a man was riding along in his Ford, suddenly something went wrong. He got out and looked at the engine, but he could find nothing wrong. As he stood there, another car came in sight, and he waved it down to ask for help. Out of a brand new Lincoln stepped a tall, friendly man who asked, “Well, what’s the trouble?” “I cannot get this Ford to move,” was the reply. The stranger made a few adjustments under the hood...More Friday, November 5, 2021 Human Nature Who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. —Proverbs 16:20 There is much in our nature that perplexes us. Many people are disturbed as they confront the troubling riddle of their own existence. They are bewildered by their proneness to sin and evil. They quake and tremble at the thought of their inability to cope with their own lives. Christ can give you satisfying answers to such questions as “Who am I?” “Why was I born?” “What am I doing here?” “Where am I going?” All of the great questions of life can be measured when you come by faith to Jesus Christ and receive Him as your...More Thursday, November 4, 2021 A New Birth We started out bad, being born with evil natures. . . . But God is so rich in mercy . . . he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead . . . —Ephesians 2:3,4 (TLB) I am reminded of a period when all the agonies that afflict modern minds were felt by another generation, the young people who lived during the first century after Christ. They too sought change, but they directed their efforts at individuals, not at the Roman Empire, not at City Hall. And eventually the whole social and political structure felt their impact. In short, those renewed men and women became filled with a...More Wednesday, November 3, 2021 The Love of God Keep yourselves in the love of God... —Jude 21 The Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. Many people misunderstand the attribute of God’s nature which is love. “God is love” does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy, and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach...More Tuesday, November 2, 2021 God With Us There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. —Proverbs 18:24 How many lonely people there are today! God did not create man to live in miserable inner loneliness. In that first Eden, God Himself came down to keep the man He had made from being lonely. One of the most heartening things Jesus said to His disciples was, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). He came to restore fellowship between man and God, and to take away human loneliness. Jesus Christ will take away loneliness from your soul. He will be your companion and...More Monday, November 1, 2021 Triumph in Affliction You don't understand now why I am doing it; some day you will. —John 13:7 (TLB) May I remind you that physical illness is not the worst thing that can happen to you? Some of the most twisted, miserable people I have ever met had no physical handicap. Some of the world’s greatest and most useful people have been handicapped. “The Messiah” was composed by Handel, who was suffering from a paralyzed right side and arm. Catherine Booth, in the last year of her life, said that she could not remember one day free from pain. Helen Keller has written, “I thank God for my handicaps, for...More Sunday, October 31, 2021 Hope for the Future For our citizenship is in heaven; from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. —Philippians 3:20 (NASB) If you are moving to a new home, you want to know all about the community to which you are going. And since we will spend eternity some place, we ought to know something about it. The information concerning heaven is found in the Bible. When we talk about heaven, earth grows shabby by comparison. Our sorrows and problems here seem so much less, when we have keen anticipation of the future. In a certain sense the Christian has heaven here on earth. He has peace of soul,...More Saturday, October 30, 2021 God Is Love! Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love... —Jeremiah 31:3 As I read the Bible, I find love to be the supreme and dominant attribute of God. The promises of God’s love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive, as human words can make them. But the total beauty of the ocean cannot be understood until it is seen, and it is the same with God’s love. Until you actually experience it, until you actually possess it, no one can describe its wonders to you. Never question God’s great love, for it is as unchangeable a part of God as His holiness. Were it not for the love of God, none...More Friday, October 29, 2021 Battle of the Spirit Let the peace of God rule in your hearts... —Colossians 3:15 When we examine the problems that confront us in our world today, we find that every one of them resolves into a problem of “inner space,” a problem of the dark side of the human spirit. From thousands of letters we receive, it is evident that a large proportion of the population is facing deep personal problems. They vary from person to person, but they do exist, and they are all problems of “inner space.” Yes, we are the people who have been conquering outer space, but are in danger of losing the battle of the spirit. But...More Thursday, October 28, 2021 Genuine Love ...being knit together in love... —Colossians 2:2 Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. I believe we need to read the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, in which the Apostle Paul gives us a definition of love. He says, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never...More Wednesday, October 27, 2021 True Colors God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind... —Job 34:21 (TLB) There is an old story that tells about a pig. . . . The farmer brought the pig into the house. He gave him a bath, polished his hooves, put some Chanel No. 5 on him, put a ribbon around his neck, and put him in the living room. The pig looked fine. He made a nice and companionable pet for a few minutes. But as soon as the door was opened, the pig left the living room and jumped into the first mud puddle that he could find. Why? Because he was still a pig at heart. His nature had not been changed. He had changed outwardly but not...More Tuesday, October 26, 2021 Bread of Life I am the living bread that came down from heaven... —John 6:51 In John 6:48 we read that Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus had just fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fishes. They were all excited and thrilled over the great miracle that had occurred, [but] Jesus was talking about something more important than social needs. Bread in the Scriptures is a symbol of spiritual life. Man has an inborn hunger for God. He cannot be satisfied with anything less than God. God alone can supply the bread which satisfies the inner longing of your soul and the hunger of your heart. . ....More Monday, October 25, 2021 Cure Discouragement Wait on the Lord, be of good courage... —Psalm 27:14 Discouragement is nothing new. Many of the great Bible characters became discouraged. Moses in the Sinai desert; Elijah when he heard Jezebel was searching for him to take his life; and David when his son Absalom rebelled against him. It is as old as the history of man. There is often a cause for discouragement. It comes many times when we don’t get our way, when things don’t work out the way we want them to. Discouragement is the opposite of faith. It is Satan’s device to thwart the work of God in your life. Discouragement blinds our...More Sunday, October 24, 2021 Prejudice Is Weakness Judge not, that ye be not judged. —Matthew 7:1 The word prejudice means “prejudging” or “making an estimate of others without knowing the facts.” Prejudice is a mark of weakness, not of strength. Prejudice is measured by computing the distance between our own biased opinions and the real truth. If we would all be perfectly honest before God, there would be no prejudice. Prayer for the day You love each one of us with a love that breaks through all prejudicial barriers, Father. Forgive me for the times I judge others. Purify my heart, that I may be used to draw people together...More Saturday, October 23, 2021 Where Is Heaven? I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. —Luke 22:29 Many people have asked, “Where is heaven?” We are not told in the Scripture where heaven is. Some students have tried to take some Scriptures and put them together and say that heaven is in the north. They quote Psalm 48:2, “The joy of the whole earth is . . . on the sides of the north . . . ” The magnetic needle points north. Perhaps the Celestial City is in the north. We do not know. But no matter where heaven is, it will be where Christ is. Many people ask, “Do you believe that heaven is a literal...More Friday, October 22, 2021 All Have Sinned So it is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do. —Romans 3:28 (TLB) Many people still cling to the notion that man is naturally good. We did not get this from the Greeks. Aristotle said, “There is no good in mankind.” We did not get it from Judaism. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We did not get it from Christian teachings. The Apostle Paul said, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We got this illusion, I believe, from the philosophers...More Thursday, October 21, 2021 A Need for God Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory. —Colossians 1:27 (TLB) The age-old issue, “Can man save himself, or does he need God?” is still raging across the world as furiously as ever. As long as the world goes on, people will build towers of Babel, fashion their graven images, and invent their own ideologies. Now, as in every period of history, people think they can manage without God. Economically, they may manage; intellectually, they may manage; socially, they may get by. But down underneath the surface of rational man is a vacuum-a void that can be met only through Jesus Christ....More Wednesday, October 20, 2021 Victory Over Temptation ...tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed... —Romans 5:3–5 God never promised to remove temptation from us, for even Christ was subject to it. The Bible says that “He was tested in all things, like as we, yet without sin.” There is no good reason why you should seek to escape, for such times of testing have beneficial effects. There is a sense of achievement and assurance that results from victory over temptation that cannot come to us otherwise. Temptation shows what people really are. It does not make us Christian or...More Tuesday, October 19, 2021 Joy in Sorrow In the day when I cried, [you] answered me, and strengthened me... —Psalm 138:3 At some time in life all of us feel the loneliness of sorrow. Mary and Martha were saddened by the death of their brother, Lazarus, and Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Theirs was a loneliness of sorrow. The shortest verse in the Bible tells us that at the tomb of Lazarus “Jesus wept.” He enters into our sorrows. When we come to Jesus Christ, He does not promise to exempt us from trouble or sorrow. Tears will come, but deep inside there will be a joy that is...More Monday, October 18, 2021 Blessed Are Peacemakers I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8 In a materialistic world which has tried to sever diplomatic relations with God, we have nowhere to retreat except within ourselves. We are like turtles in a traffic jam—the best we can do is to pull our heads into our shells and shut our eyes. But that’s a good way to get the life crushed out of us, as any dead turtle can attest. Man’s conflict with man has been but an expression on the human level of his conflict with God. Until man finds an armistice with God, he cannot know peace with...More Sunday, October 17, 2021 Searching for Peace? Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee... —Isaiah 26:3 Are you searching for peace? Are you longing for it? You thought you would find it if you made a lot of money, but you didn’t find it. You thought you would find it in getting and accumulating a lot of knowledge, so you got all the degrees you could, but you didn’t find it, this peace. You’ve searched the religions of the world, but you haven’t found it. There are a thousand ways you’ve turned, trying to find peace, but you haven’t found it. When you come to Christ by an act of faith, He gives you the...More Saturday, October 16, 2021 Loneliness My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. —Psalm 84:2 Loneliness is one of the greatest problems people face today. It is a leading cause of suicide-that is now the third greatest killer of students in the United States. People feel various kinds of loneliness. One of the most common is the loneliness of solitude. Or there is the loneliness of suffering. Many people experience loneliness in society, or there is the loneliness of sorrow, guilt, and judgment. All of us feel at times a loneliness for God. Someone has called it cosmic loneliness. We don’t know what it is. It makes us...More Friday, October 15, 2021 Experience Jesus The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. —John 6:63 To one of the most religious men of His day, Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Nicodemus could not substitute his profound knowledge of religion for spiritual rebirth, and neither can we. I have read a book on water skiing, and it did not take long for me to learn that I could never learn to water ski by reading a book-I would have to experience it. I have read a number of books on golf, but none of them seems to improve my game; I must get out on the golf course and play. You may study theology...More Thursday, October 14, 2021 Pure in Heart He that walketh righteously . . . shall dwell on high. —Isaiah 33:15,16 Being pure in conduct also includes honesty and integrity in dealing with our fellowmen. A Christian should be known in his neighborhood or place of business as an honest person, a person who can be trusted. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Do you want to be happy? All right, apply this Beatitude to your heart. Take it to yourself. The pure in heart are the only ones who can know what it means to be supremely happy. Their hearts are pure toward God and, as a result are pure toward their fellowmen. They are...More Wednesday, October 13, 2021 True Freedom ...believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable... —1 Peter 1:8 Christ is the answer to sadness and discouragement. This is a world of thwarted hopes, broken dreams, and frustrated desires. G.K. Chesterton says, “Everywhere there is speed, noise and confusion, but nowhere deep happiness and quiet hearts.” A Hollywood columnist wrote about a famous movie star, “The bright, carefree radiance has gone from her pretty face.” Optimism and cheerfulness are products of knowing Christ. If the heart has been attuned to God through faith in Christ, then its overflow will be joyous optimism and good...More Tuesday, October 12, 2021 Christianity Is Serious Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only... —James 1:22 Jesus indicated that there will be a permissive society just before He comes back. “As in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” The world today is on an immoral binge that has not been known since the days of Rome. We are in a hedonistic society, and what we are seeing is human nature expressing itself without God. Many have fallen into an antinomianism in which they believe intellectually and then go out and live like the devil, imagining that God will forgive them and take them to...More Monday, October 11, 2021 The Problem of Boredom ...knowing what lies ahead for you, you won't become bored with being a Christian... —Hebrews 6:12 (TLB) Do you know what nearly all the sociologists say today in their study of young people? The greatest problem facing young people today is not sex—it is boredom. Did you know that when they had the riot at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire they asked the young people what was wrong, why did they do it? Many of them said, “Just for the hell of it.” Bored—life has no purpose, life has no meaning. Give your life to Christ and you will never spend another bored minute. Give your life meaning...More Sunday, October 10, 2021 Satisfied by Righteousness But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:19 Man hungers for food, and God sends the sun and rain upon the golden fields of grain. The grain is made into flour, and flour into bread, and man’s physical hunger is satisfied. Man hungers for love; and God ignites the fire of affection in another heart, and two hearts are made complete in the bonds of holy matrimony. Man hungers for knowledge, and God raises up institutions of learning, calls men to be instructors, puts it into the hearts of the rich to endow them; and men are satisfied...More Saturday, October 9, 2021 The Real Source of Power But seek ye first the kingdom of God... —Matthew 6:33 A man or a woman who has been focusing all attention on financial gains, or business, or social prestige, or who has centered all his affection on some one person, experiences a devastating sense of loss when denied the thing that has given life its meaning. In these tragic moments, the individual recognizes how terribly and completely alone he is. In that moment the Holy Spirit may cause the worldly bandages to fall from his eyes so that he sees clearly for the first time. He recognizes that God is the only source of real power, and the only...More Friday, October 8, 2021 How to Love These things I command you, that ye love one another. —John 15:17 How are we to love? We are to love as God loves us . . . we are to show acceptance and appreciation . . . [to] accept each other as God accepts us. Too many parents refuse to accept and appreciate their children for what they are. That is why a million American children ran away from home last year. A team of Yale researchers has concluded that the majority of these runaways were attempting to escape an unhappy family situation. They yearned to be appreciated. The causes of delinquency, we are told, are broken homes, poverty, lack...More Thursday, October 7, 2021 Forever Linked ...this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. —John 4:42 History, philosophy, theology, and—in many centers of learning—even the sciences are being studied to discover what they have to say about Jesus Christ. The records of the Early Church are being reexamined for their testimony to Him. Archaeologists are digging to discover new evidence. Some say that Jesus Christ is a myth, and He never existed in history. Others say that He was merely a man, that there was nothing supernatural about His birth, and that His resurrection was a hallucination. Others talk about a Christless...More Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Longings of the Soul Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. —Matthew 5:6 It has been my privilege to know what it means to walk in the way of Christ. What a thrilling, joyous experience it is to wake up every morning and know His presence in the room! What a thrilling, joyous experience it is to know in the evening, when the sun is setting, the peace of God as you go to bed and to sleep, and to sleep the sleep of only those who know Christ! What a joy it is to walk in the eternal and permanent experience of Christ! Do you hunger for such a walk? Do you long for such...More Tuesday, October 5, 2021 Suffering as a Christian Blessed is the man whom [the Lord] chasteneth... —Psalm 94:12 God sometimes allows Christians to suffer, in order that they might learn the secret of obedience. The Psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy word” (Psalm 119:67). It was not until after great sorrow and much affliction that David learned obedience to God. My dear Christian friend, if you are today suffering at the hand of God and you have asked a thousand times, “Why?” I beg of you to be patient and quiet before God, and listen to the still, small voice. Bow under His loving hand and...More Monday, October 4, 2021 Respect for Authority And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth. —Matthew 28:18 Have respect for authority. Jesus Christ was under the authority of His Father in heaven...He lived for one thing: to fulfill the will of the Father. Everyone is subject to some kind of authority. There is one chain of command and the ultimate authority at the top is God. What is the authority in your life? Is it your selfishness? Your lust? Your greed? Or have you turned it all over to God and said, “Lord, You are going to be my authority?” When you are under authority, you are...More Sunday, October 3, 2021 Science and Religion He reveals profound mysteries beyond man's understanding. He knows all hidden things, for he is light... —Daniel 2:22 (TLB) The fact of the matter is that science and faith complement each other, and there is no conflict between true science and true religion. Together they give the best foundation for wholesome faith and courage for daily living. When Galileo, the father of modern science, discovered that the earth revolved, instead of the sun moving around the earth, certain religious leaders were greatly disturbed, for they held another theory. But eventually they were reconciled. Since that...More Saturday, October 2, 2021 A Daily Process He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 1:6 Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion. It is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ. When you start out, you start out as a baby. You must be fed on the simple things of the Bible, and you learn to walk in your Christian life gradually. At first you will fall down and make many mistakes, but you are to continue growing. However, there are many people who have stopped growing. They remain spiritual babes all their lives. I am afraid that this experience is...More Friday, October 1, 2021 Our Defeated Foe For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword... —Hebrews 4:12 How do we overcome the devil in everyday life? First, we need to recognize that the devil is a defeated foe. The Son of God came to undo the work of the devil. The crucifixion of Christ, which looked like a mighty victory for Satan, turned out to be a great triumph for God, because it was on the cross that Jesus took your sins and my sins. God laid our sins on Christ, so that when our Lord bowed His head and said, “It is finished,” He was referring to the plan of redemption and salvation. Then . . . we are...More Thursday, September 30, 2021 Our Greatest Need I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land... —Psalm 143:6 Not long ago I visited the dean of a great American university. We looked out the window of his office and watched hundreds of students walking to their classes. I asked the dean, “What is the greatest problem at this university?” He thought a moment and answered, “Emptiness.” So many people today are bored, lonely, searching for something. You can see it in their faces. One girl home from college told her wealthy father, “Father, I want something but I don’t know what it is.”...More Wednesday, September 29, 2021 Do Not Compromise Out of his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit. —Ephesians 3:16 (TLB) Horace Pitkin, the son of a wealthy merchant, was converted and went to China as a missionary. He wrote to his friends in America, saying, “It will be but a short time till we know definitely whether we can serve Him better above or here.” Shortly afterward, a mob stormed the gate of the compound where Pitkin defended the women and children. He was beheaded and his head was offered at the shrine of a heathen god, while his body was thrown into a pit with the bodies of nine...More Tuesday, September 28, 2021 The Beginning of Jesus Before Abraham was, I am. —John 8:58 Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus said that He existed before the foundation of the world. He was there when the moon and stars were flung out into space from the Father’s flaming fingertips. He was there when God created this planet. He has always existed. He is “from everlasting to everlasting.” Prayer for the day You, Lord Jesus, who have always existed, came down from heaven in love and saved me from the depths of my sin. In humble...More Monday, September 27, 2021 The Holy Spirit Your body is the home of the Holy Spirit... —1 Corinthians 6:19 (TLB) Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God, just as God the Father and God the Son are also God. We speak of them as the Trinity. You ask me to explain the Trinity. Our minds can but dimly grasp these great spiritual facts, because we are finite and God is infinite. It may help to remember that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have all existed from eternity. The work of creation was given to the Son and we are told that, “All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.” But when...More Sunday, September 26, 2021 You Can Preach! And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world... —Matthew 24:14 (TLB) We are stewards of the Gospel. The power to proclaim the greatest news in heaven or on earth was not given to the angels. It was given to redeemed men. This was addressed to humble laymen. Some think that only ministers are to preach, but that is wrong. Every Christian is to be a witness; every follower of Christ is to preach the Gospel. We can preach by sharing our experience with others. We can preach by exalting Christ in our daily lives. Sermons which are seen are often more effective than...More Saturday, September 25, 2021 Symptoms of Guilt Cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. —Psalm 51:2 (TLB) Guilt is a prominent word among psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and ministers too. The dictionary calls guilt “the act or state of having done a wrong or committed an offense.” The symptoms of guilt are many, but the root cause is one. We have broken the moral law of the universe as expressed in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. So we have a sense of guilt. This guilt causes a variety of psychological problems such as insecurity, tension, hunger for approval, struggles for recognition. A sense of...More Friday, September 24, 2021 A Living Presence A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. —Luke 2:32 If we could look through mighty telescopes or listen to electronic soundings, we could hear and see the metallic stars which both Russia and America have put into space in the past years. None of these synthetic stars have brought peace to the world. But God’s star promised peace to the whole world, if man would believe and trust. Too often man’s synthetic stars bring fear and anxiety. Our gadget-filled paradise, suspended in a hell of international insecurity, certainly does not offer us the happiness of which...More Thursday, September 23, 2021 How to Handle Temptation ...who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able... —1 Corinthians 10:13 It is Satan’s purpose to steal the seed of truth from your heart by sending distracting thoughts. It should encourage you to know that the devil considers you a good enough Christian to use as a target. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is: though they both may have good and evil thoughts, Christ gives His followers strength to select the right rather than the wrong. You see a man going to prayer meeting with a Bible under his arm. That man was undoubtedly tempted to stay at home, go...More Wednesday, September 22, 2021 Salvation Is An Act of God There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them. —Acts 4:12 (TLB) Salvation is an act of God. It is initiated by God, wrought by God, and sustained by God. The faith that saves the soul is described as faith in Christ as the Son of God—not as a good man or a great man, but as the uniquely begotten Son of the living God! This is consistent with the witness of the entire New Testament and with the proclamations of the first preachers of the Gospel. All proclaim the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ as deity. Prayer for...More Tuesday, September 21, 2021 The Mysteries of God Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power... —Romans 1:20 (TLB) If you try to rationalize God exhaustively, you will fail. There are mysteries about God that we will never understand in this life. How can the small and finite, limited to time and space, understand an infinite God! We should not think it strange that it is impossible to explain many mysteries in the realm of matter. Who can explain why objects are always attracted to the center of the earth? Who can fathom the law of gravity? Newton discovered it,...More Monday, September 20, 2021 Do You Surrender? It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. —Ephesians 2:10 (TLB) Happiness and all of the unlimited benefits which flow from the storehouse of heaven are contingent upon our relationship to God. Absolute dependency and absolute yieldedness are the conditions of being His child. Only His children are entitled to receive those things that lend themselves to happiness; and in order to be His child, there must be surrender of the will to Him. We must admit we are poor before...More Sunday, September 19, 2021 Change Yourself, Change the World Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. —Romans 14:12 I do not quarrel with Karl Marx’s statement that “religion is the opiate of the people.” I never try to defend religion. Religion has spawned wars. Many so-called religious people have been characterized by prejudice, pride, bickering, and even tolerance for slavery. However, I would call you to a simple faith in Jesus, who said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Are you really concerned? Are you disappointed with society? If you are, I challenge you to take the first step. I challenge you to look at yourself. Prayer...More Saturday, September 18, 2021 Finite Beings: Infinite Desires For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. —Hebrews 13:14 One of the basic desires of the soul is to live on and on. Self-preservation is the first law of nature. People may grow tired of aches and pains and the decrepitude of old age, but they do not grow tired of life itself. God has arranged to satisfy this yearning of the soul to live forever, and the desire to be free from pain and sickness and trouble. People are little creatures with big capacities, finite beings with infinite desires, deserving nothing but demanding all. God made people with this huge capacity and desire in order...More Friday, September 17, 2021 The Power of Words The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do... —James 3:5 (TLB) There is a story of a woman in England who came to her vicar with a troubled conscience. The vicar knew her to be a habitual gossip—she had maligned nearly everyone in the village. “How can I make amends?” she pleaded. The vicar said, “If you want to make peace with your conscience, take a bag of goose feathers and drop one on the porch of each one you have slandered.” When she had done so, she came back to the vicar and said, “Is that all?” “No,” said the wise old minister, “you must go now and gather up...More Thursday, September 16, 2021 The Madness of the Gospel We preach Christ crucified... —1 Corinthians 1:23 One of the great needs in the church today is for every Christian to become enthusiastic about his faith in Jesus Christ. This is the essence of vital spiritual experience. The apostles had been with Christ, and they could not help but testify to that which they had seen and heard. Every Christian should become an ambassador of Christ with the splendid abandon of Francis of Assisi. Every Christian should be so intoxicated with Christ and so filled with holy fervor that nothing could ever quench his ardor. The Gospel that Paul preached seemed madness to the...More Wednesday, September 15, 2021 Is It Well With Your Soul? And how does a man benefit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process? For is anything worth more than his soul? —Mark 8:36,37 (TLB) In the world in which we live, we give most attention to satisfying the appetites of the body and practically none to the soul. Consequently, we are one-sided. We become fat physically and materially, while spiritually we are lean, weak and anemic. The soul actually demands as much attention as the body. It demands fellowship and communion with God. It demands worship, quietness, and meditation. Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and...More Tuesday, September 14, 2021 True Friendship By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. —John 13:35 The human soul is a lonely thing. It must have the assurance of companionship. Left entirely to itself, it cannot enjoy anything. God said in the beginning, “It is not good that man should dwell alone” (Genesis 2:18). The creation of Eve was the beginning of human companionship. God’s people are a body, not intended to function separately, not intended to be unconcerned for one another. The only true body in the world is the Church. The world may talk grandly of brotherhood, but in reality its...More Monday, September 13, 2021 Where Is Jesus Christ? Everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus . . . —Philippians 3:8 (TLB) “Where is Jesus Christ?” Innumerable students are studying Him and deciding whether or not Christ and the Gospel really matter—whether He is relevant in this modern age. C.S. Lewis, a professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Oxford and later at Cambridge, had to do the same thing. He spent his life exploring the great literature of centuries. In his remarkable autobiography, Surprised by Joy, he tells of his pilgrimage from atheism to Christianity. His turning point came...More Sunday, September 12, 2021 Be Meek—Be Happy Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. —Matthew 5:5 In His characteristic way Jesus was saying something quite shocking and revolutionary to His listener with these words, “Happy are the meek.” He was saying something quite the opposite of our modern concept of the way to happiness. We say, “Happy are the clever, for they shall inherit the admiration of their friends”; “Happy are the aggressive, for they shall inherit a career”; “Happy are the rich, for they shall inherit a world of friends and a house full of modern gadgets.” Jesus did not say, “Be meek and you shall...More Saturday, September 11, 2021 Only Jesus God . . . is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, even Christ our Lord. —1 Corinthians 1:9 (TLB) The question remains, “How can God be just—that is, true to Himself in nature and true to Himself in holiness—and yet justify the sinner?” Because each man had to bear his own sins, all mankind was excluded from helping, since each was contaminated with the same disease. The only solution was for an innocent party to volunteer to die physically and spiritually as a substitution before God. This innocent party would have to take man’s judgment, penalty, and death. But...More Friday, September 10, 2021 Dream Great Dreams Be thou faithful unto death... —Revelation 2:10 In our day much of the world believes little or nothing. People are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, emptiness, meaninglessness, have gripped much of the world—and even the church. Our youth are desperately searching for a purpose and a meaning in their lives. They are searching for fulfillment which they are not finding in sex and drugs. By contrast, our Pilgrim forebears stand as shining examples of men who were narrow but deep, certain of what they believed, unswerving in their loyalty, and passionately dedicated to the God they trusted, and...More Thursday, September 9, 2021 Science & Faith He...has given you a full understanding of the truth. —1 Corinthians 1:5 (TLB) There is never any conflict between true science and our Christian faith. It is my own feeling that when all of the truth is known, it will be found that the Genesis story is a wonderfully accurate record of what took place when the world was created. This may be a telescoped record, giving only major points, but I believe it is scientifically accurate. To discard the Bible because we do not understand everything in it, or in the world, would be a foolish thing to do. Let me also suggest that teachers should confine...More Wednesday, September 8, 2021 Be Honest with God God loveth a cheerful giver. —2 Corinthians 9:7 The greatest blessing of giving is not on the financial side of the ledger but on the spiritual side. You receive a sense of being honest with God. You receive a consciousness that you are in partnership with God—that you are doing something constructive—that you are working with Him to reach the world for Jesus Christ. You are also enabled to hold on to this world’s goods loosely because the eternal values are always in view. How do you give? Is it liberally and cheerfully? Or is it sparingly and grudgingly? If you have been giving God the leftovers of...More Tuesday, September 7, 2021 The Mystery of Heaven I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. —Psalm 23:6 What will heaven be like? Just as there is a mystery to hell, so there is a mystery to heaven. Yet I believe the Bible teaches that heaven is a literal place. Is it one of the stars? I don’t know, I can’t even speculate. The Bible doesn’t inform us. I believe that out there in space where there are one thousand million galaxies, each a hundred thousand light years or more in diameter, God can find some place to put us in heaven. I’m not worried about where it is. I know it will be where Jesus is. Christians don’t have to go around...More Monday, September 6, 2021 Born Again Clothe yourself with this new nature. —Ephesians 4:24 (TLB) In Texas they tell a story about a man who used to hitch his horse every morning in front of the saloon. One morning the saloonkeeper came out and found that the horse was hitched in front of the Methodist church. He saw the man walking down the street and called out, “Say, why is your horse hitched in front of the Methodist church this morning?” The man turned around and said, “Well, last night I was converted in the revival meeting, and I’ve changed hitching posts.” That’s what it means to be born again. That’s what it means to be...More Sunday, September 5, 2021 The Truth Sets Us Free Come unto me, all ye that labor... —Matthew 11:28 The mark of a true Christian is found in his personal relationship to the Person of Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ. Christ is Christianity. I speak reverently when I say that Jesus is more than His ideas. All that He said was true, but without Him even the truth would have been powerless. Men know the power of truth, and truth is that which sets men free. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Prayer for the day Thank You, Jesus, for the shackles that have been broken in my...More Saturday, September 4, 2021 A Living Presence A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. —Luke 2:32 If we could look through mighty telescopes or listen to electronic soundings, we could hear and see the metallic stars which both Russia and America have put into space in the past years. None of these synthetic stars have brought peace to the world. But God’s star promised peace to the whole world, if man would believe and trust. Too often man’s synthetic stars bring fear and anxiety. Our gadget-filled paradise, suspended in a hell of international insecurity, certainly does not offer us the happiness of which...More Friday, September 3, 2021 The Responsibility of Discipleship Even while we were still there with you we gave you this rule: 'He who does not work shall not eat.' —2 Thessalonians 3:10 (TLB) One of the Christian’s responsibilities in following Christ is to have a new attitude toward work. So many young people want Christ without responsibility. Jesus was not a drop-out. As a carpenter, He worked hard with His hands. The Apostle Paul made tents for a living while he carried on the work that God assigned him. Whatever work a Christian does is done unto the Lord. He should do his best at whatever his trade or vocation. He should be faithful, clean, and...More Thursday, September 2, 2021 The Struggles of Life Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree... —1 Peter 2:24 All life is a struggle—that is the nature of things. Even within our physical bodies, doctors tell us, a conflict for supremacy is going on. The bacteria in our bloodstream are waging a constant war against alien germs. The red corpuscles fight the white corpuscles constantly in an effort to maintain life within the body. A battle is also raging in the spiritual realm. “We fight,” the Bible says, “against the rulers of the darkness of this world.” Darkness hates light. I have a dog that would rather dig up a moldy carcass...More Wednesday, September 1, 2021 The First Missionary Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. —Matthew 4:19 Jesus Himself was the first missionary! He did not sit by passively and let those who happened to be interested in His teaching come to Him. He went out where the sick, the sorrowing, and the sad were, and expounded His message of joy, healing, and salvation. Even at a tender age, He went to the Temple and “taught” the doctors and lawyers who were entrenched in the old traditions. He found His way to the seaside and intruded upon the life of the commonest of laborers, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Wherever He...More Tuesday, August 31, 2021 Hope Beyond Death The righteous hath hope in his death. —Proverbs 14:32 We don’t like to talk about death; it’s the forbidden subject of our generation. Yet it’s real for all of us. Sometimes on television I see motion pictures featuring actors who are no longer living. They seem very much alive in the picture, but they are dead. Some of them were my personal friends. Death is real, and when we die, that is a battle we have to fight all alone. Nobody can be with us in that hour, but David said he had found an answer that would take the fear of death away. David said that there is an answer to death, there is a hope...More Monday, August 30, 2021 Make Room in Your Heart Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven... —Matthew 5:43–45 When H. G. Wells summed up the influence of Jesus in history, he said, “Is it any wonder that this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?” And yet the heart of man, though small, is big enough for Christ to live in, if man will only make room for Him. Christ instilled...More Sunday, August 29, 2021 Just As I Am You are living a brand new kind of life . . . more and more like Christ who created this new life within you. —Colossians 3:10 (TLB) A long-haired blonde from a southern university seemed to be enjoying a satisfactory student career when her grades began to slip. “Life had become one long case of the blahs,” she confessed later. “I wasn’t walking around with a steady load of blues, but I wasn’t enjoying life. Small things made me blow up. I met some kids who seemed to know something I didn’t know, but I couldn’t get in on it. We went to several meetings, and one night the speaker said that we...More Saturday, August 28, 2021 Grace and Peace Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. —Ephesians 4:7 The Christian life is never spoken of in the Bible as a bed of roses. It is uphill, because society is coming one way and the Christian is going the opposite way. But Jesus said that in the midst of your problems, in the midst of your difficulties, He will be there to give you grace and peace. Underneath all the troubles, will be the “still waters” that the Great Shepherd can provide. Many people are trying to steady themselves by taking tranquilizers. Jesus is the greatest tranquilizer of all. He can...More Friday, August 27, 2021 The Secret of Surrender Just as you used to be slaves to all kinds of sin, so now you must let yourselves be slaves to all that is right and holy. —Romans 6:19 (TLB) We have heard the modern expression, “Don’t fight it—it’s bigger than both of us.” Those who are meek do not fight back at life. They learn the secret of surrender, or yielding to God. He then fights for us! Instead of filling your mind with resentments, abusing your body by sinful diversion, and damaging your soul by willfulness, humbly give all over to God. Your conflicts will disappear and your inner tensions will vanish into thin air. Then your life will...More Thursday, August 26, 2021 Unspeakable Joy And the disciples were called Christians... —Acts 11:26 In the third century Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, wrote to his friend Donatus, “It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people, who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians . . . and I am one of them.” If you have repented of your sins...More Wednesday, August 25, 2021 The Purity of Marriage Whatsoever things are pure . . . think on these things. —Philippians 4:8 Nowhere does the Bible teach that sex in itself is a sin. Man in his sinful nature has taken what was intended to be a glorious and complete act of love between two people and has made it something low, cheap, and dirty. The Bible is one of the world’s outspoken books on the subject of sex, and the Bible condemns sex outside the bonds of matrimony. The fact that immorality is rampant throughout the nation doesn’t make it right; the fact that some clergymen may condone it doesn’t make it right. The Bible says, “There is a way...More Tuesday, August 24, 2021 Root of Sin Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us. —Romans 8:37 (TLB) The basic problem facing our world is not just social inequity, or lack of education, or even physical hunger. We are finding that highly educated and well-fed people have greeds, hates, passions, and lusts that are not eliminated by education. The root of sin in each of our hearts is extremely deep, and this is the basic cause of the world’s problems; only the fire of the Lord can burn it out. This is precisely what Christ came to do. He didn’t come to treat symptoms. He came to get at the very heart of...More Monday, August 23, 2021 We Must Decrease Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. —Lamentations 3:40 Our modern philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency has caused many to believe that we can make the grade without God. “Religion,” they argue, “may be all right for certain emotional people, but you can’t beat a man who believes in himself.” But this self-confident generation has produced more alcoholics, more dope addicts, more criminals, more wars, more broken homes, more assaults, more embezzlements, more murders, and more suicides than any other generation that ever lived. It is time for all of us to take...More Sunday, August 22, 2021 God Provides For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself, and not by human hands. —2 Corinthians 5:1 (TLB) Death, to the Christian, is the exchanging of a tent for a building. Here we are as pilgrims or gypsies, living in a frail, flimsy home; subject to disease, pain, and peril. But at death we exchange this crumbling, disintegrating tent for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The wandering wayfarer comes into his own at death and is given the...More Saturday, August 21, 2021 What Heaven Will Be Like And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him. —Revelation 22:3 The Bible indicates that Heaven will be a place of great understanding and knowledge of things that we never learned down here. Sir Isaac Newton, when an old man, said to one who praised his wisdom, “I am as a child on the seashore picking up a pebble here and a shell there, but the great ocean of truth still lies before me.” And Thomas Edison once said, “I do not know one millionth part of one percent about anything.” Many of the mysteries of God—the...More Friday, August 20, 2021 3 Kinds of Pleasure The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. —Acts 13:52 The Bible speaks of three kinds of pleasure. There is lustful pleasure, the lust of the flesh, and Scripture says it is sinful and wrong. There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but we are not to become so preoccupied with its activities that it takes the place of God. Then there is a third kind of pleasure, lasting pleasure. Do you have that kind? It does not depend on circumstances or feelings. It is the pleasure that runs deep and comes from the Spirit of God. Prayer for the day Almighty God, may my...More Thursday, August 19, 2021 Be Not Anxious Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. —Colossians 3:16 Christians are to rejoice. To do that, you need only to think of the great things God has done for you. Then we are told not to be anxious, but in our prayers to make our requests known to God. In your biggest problems you have One to whom you can go; and before Him you can pour out your heart with the assurance that He will not leave you without an answer to that great problem. Then we are to fill our minds...More Wednesday, August 18, 2021 Where Is Your Treasure? Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... —Matthew 6:20 Many young people are building their lives on the rock of materialism. I find across the country a deep economic discontent among people in every walk of life. People want more and more things. They forget that we are enjoying the highest standard of living the world has ever known. We still have poverty, and hundreds of agencies are trying to do something about it; but we are dissatisfied. We want more, more, more. But Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and money.” He said that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that...More Tuesday, August 17, 2021 Cast Your Cares Look at the birds! They don't worry about what to eat-they don't need to sow or reap or store up food-for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. —Matthew 6:26 (TLB) Some section hands on a British railroad found a thrush’s nest under a rail. Peacefully sitting on her eggs, the hen was undisturbed by the roar of the fast trains above and around her. Someone has written a little verse which goes: “Said the robin to the sparrow, ‘I should really like to know, Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.’ Said the...More Monday, August 16, 2021 Hunger for Righteousness I will give to the thirsty the springs of the Water of Life—as a gift! —Revelation 21:6 (TLB) God says that only those who hunger after righteousness will receive it. God thrusts this heavenly manna on no one. You must desire it, above everything else. Your yearning for God must supersede all other desires. It must be like a gnawing hunger and a burning thirst. Prayer for the day Almighty God, my soul is parched and I'm so hungry without the spiritual food You so desire to give me. Take away anything in my life that would cause me not to give You...More Sunday, August 15, 2021 Wonders of Nature These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us... —Romans 15:4 (TLB) In the wonders of nature we see God’s laws in operation. Who has not looked up at the stars on a cloudless night and marveled in silent awe at the glory of God’s handiwork? Who has not felt his heart lifted in the spring of the year, as he sees all creation bursting with new life and vigor? In the beauty and abundance around us we see the magnitude of God’s power and the infinite detail of His planning; but nature tells us nothing of God’s love or God’s grace. Conscience tells us in our innermost...More Saturday, August 14, 2021 The Beginning of Wisdom But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom... —1 Corinthians 1:30 I believe we ought to get all the education we can, but we dare not make it our god. John Dewey once defined education as the systematic, purposeful reconstruction of experience; but so much of modern education leaves out God. What we are actually doing is reconstructing our sins. We expand our sins, enlarge them, multiply them. We need education, but not just for the mind and the body; we also need education for the spirit. Man has a spirit, and in our educational system today we need a spiritual emphasis. If we...More Friday, August 13, 2021 Life-Changing Power Christ died and rose again . . . so that he can be our Lord both while we live and when we die. —Romans 14:9 (TLB) With a frequency that is amazing, the Bible affirms the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ. Perhaps the most direct of all its statements is Luke’s account in the book of Acts, where he reports, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3). What are we going to do with these “many infallible proofs”? Someone asked my colleague George Beverly Shea how much he knew about God. He said, “I don’t...More Thursday, August 12, 2021 Poverty of Soul For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me... —Jeremiah 4:22 No man is more pathetic than he who is in great need and is not aware of it. Remember Samson? Standing there in the valley of Sorek, surrounded by the lords of the Philistines, ” … he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.” It has been truly said, “No man is so ignorant as he who knows nothing and knows not that he knows nothing. No man is so sick as he who has a fatal disease and is not aware of it. No man is so poor as he who is destitute, and yet thinks he is rich.” The pitiable thing about the Pharisees was not so...More Wednesday, August 11, 2021 The Unmerited Favor of God For by grace are ye saved... —Ephesians 2:8 “Grace,” according to the dictionary, is the unmerited favor of God toward mankind. The word “grace” is used over 170 times in the New Testament alone. Grace is not bought. It is a free gift of almighty God to needy mankind. When I picture Jesus Christ dying on the cross, I see the free gift of God’s grace in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. I sing with the songwriter, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Your human mind, with its philosophy of an...More Tuesday, August 10, 2021 A New World Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. —1 Corinthians 2:9 At the close of the Bible we encounter these words, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” A new world is coming! Each time we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” we should remember that that prayer will be answered. Heaven is described as a new creation in which we shall move in new bodies, possessed of new names, singing new songs, living in a new city, by a new...More Monday, August 9, 2021 The Eternal Fact And all who trust him—God's Son—to save them have eternal life . . . —John 3:36 (TLB) Currently, Christianity is being compared with other religions as never before. Some so-called Christian leaders even advocate the working out of a system of morals, ethics, and religion that would bring together all the religions of the world. It cannot be done. Jesus Christ is unique. Why insist on the uniqueness of Christ? What did Christ bring into the world that had not appeared before? The Christian answer is that He is the supreme manifestation of God. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself”...More Sunday, August 8, 2021 Unity in Scripture . . . holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. —2 Peter 1:21 Although one can derive inspiration from any portion of the Scripture, it is better to have an understanding of the general structure of the Bible to get the most out of it. The Old Testament is an account of a nation, Israel. Out of that nation came Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The New Testament is an account of a Man, the Son of man, the Savior. God Himself became a man, so that we might know what He is like. His appearance on the earth was the central, most important event of history. The Old Testament gives the...More Saturday, August 7, 2021 The Mind of Christ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. —2 Timothy 1:7 Many diseases of both body and mind are self-inflicted. For example, ulcers are often caused by worry and anxiety. Heart attacks are caused many times by overexertion. Unjustified worry, fear, prejudice, hatred, and envy can contribute to mental stress, which could lead to mental illness. So one way to have a healthy mind is to avoid those practices. But the Bible way to a healthy mind is this, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” If you have the mind of Christ, worry will...More Friday, August 6, 2021 Ills of the Human Race Set thy house in order . . . —2 Kings 20:1 Man condemns himself by his refusal of God’s way of salvation. In love and mercy, God is offering to men and women a way of escape, a way of salvation, a hope and anticipation of better things. Man in his blindness, stupidity, stubbornness, egotism, and love of sinful pleasure, refuses God’s simple method of escaping the pangs of eternal banishment. Suppose you were sick and called a doctor who came and gave you a prescription. But after thinking it over you decided to ignore his advice and to refuse the medicine. When he returned a few days later, he might...More Thursday, August 5, 2021 Love One Another But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin. —1 John 1:7 (TLB) I received a letter from a man in Charlotte, North Carolina. He said that, until our Charlotte Crusade, he was filled with hatred, bitterness, and prejudice toward people of another race. He had joined one of the extremist organizations and was on the verge of engaging in violence. Out of curiosity he came to the meetings, and one night he was gloriously converted. He said, “All bitterness, hatred,...More Wednesday, August 4, 2021 Guard Against Greed You cannot serve two masters: God and money. —Matthew 6:24 (TLB) Tell me what you think about money, and I will tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man’s heart is closer to his wallet than anything else. It is a staggering fact that for the past few years people have spent ten times as much for luxuries and non-essentials as they have for all charitable and religious purposes. This is a commentary on our shallow and superficial religious faith. While the Bible warns us against greed and selfishness, it does encourage frugality and thrift. Even Jesus said to...More Tuesday, August 3, 2021 Sufficient to Save There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. —Proverbs 14:12 A line of human thought that seems right to many people is the idea of self-redemption. Man thinks he must work at righteousness to save himself. After all, it was man who sinned and as we say, “God helps those who help themselves.” But a greater truth than this emerges from the Bible-the truth that God helps those who cannot help themselves. We cannot save ourselves. It is noble to be upright if we can. It is admirable to be honest, kind, and compassionate. It would seem that these characteristics...More Monday, August 2, 2021 Demands of the Soul And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought . . . —Isaiah 58:11 The soul demands as much attention as the body. It demands fellowship and communion with God. It demands worship, quietness, and meditation. Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless. Many people turn to alcohol to try to drown the cryings and longings of the soul. Some turn to a new sex experience. Others attempt to quiet the longings of their souls in other ways. Nothing but God ever completely satisfies, because the soul is made for...More Sunday, August 1, 2021 Internal Strife Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall. —Proverbs 16:18 (TLB) David, king of ancient Israel, found himself in the midst of a confused national situation. His kingdom was torn by internal strife. Slave hated master; master hated slave. People blamed the government, and government blamed the people. David looked about him and saw that every man thought himself perfect. Each individual placed blame upon other individuals. David knew that if sinful pride continued to increase, his nation would collapse spiritually. He knew that economic depression, moral disintegration, or military defeat...More Saturday, July 31, 2021 Molding You When we suffer and die for Christ it only means that we will begin living with him in heaven. —2 Timothy 2:11 (TLB) I have a friend who during the Depression lost his job, a fortune, a wife, and a home. But he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone. “What are you going to do with that?” asked my friend. The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here, so it will fit in up there.” Tears filled the...More Friday, July 30, 2021 A Covenant With Eyes Keep thyself pure. —1 Timothy 5:22 Someone has said, “You cannot help the first look, but the second is sin.” Jesus indicated that you can engage in immorality by a look. The Bible places the “lust of the eye” right along with other major sins. Listen: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Peter spoke of having “eyes full of adultery.” No wonder Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” Your eyes see only what your soul allows them to...More Thursday, July 29, 2021 Faith Pleases God You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him. —Hebrews 11:6 (TLB) Faith pleases God more than anything else. The Christian life is dependent upon faith. We stand on faith; we live on faith. Faith is loved and honored by God more than any other single thing. The Bible teaches that faith is the only approach that we have to God. No man has sins forgiven, no man goes to heaven, no man has assurance of peace and happiness, until he has faith in Jesus Christ. You may be...More Wednesday, July 28, 2021 Truth and Fiction . . . make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. —Psalm 145:12 Some years ago I heard about a clergyman who had a friend who was an actor. The actor was drawing large crowds of people, and the clergyman was preaching to a few in the church. He said to his actor friend, “Why is it that you draw great crowds, and I have no audience at all? Your words are sheer fiction, and...More Tuesday, July 27, 2021 Give and Take Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. —Ephesians 6:24 Certain relationships in life require from the parties involved only moderate degrees of devotion. A certain degree of reserve and distance seems to be suitable in such relations as these. But there are other relationships in life where all this is changed when friendship becomes love. Two hearts give themselves to each other to be no...More Monday, July 26, 2021 The End of Life ...willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. —2 Corinthians 5:8 A little boy was riding alone on a train on a hot day when the travelers were extremely uncomfortable; and the scenery was not too interesting as they passed through the desert of Arizona. A lady sitting beside the boy asked him, “Are you tired of the long ride?” The little boy smiled and said, “I’m a little tired, but I...More Sunday, July 25, 2021 Sanctity of Marriage How I need your help, especially in my own home . . . —Psalm 101:2 (TLB) In the marriage ceremony, after the vows are said, the minister solemnly and reverently remarks, “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” Is not God the third part in a marriage? Should He not be taken into account in the marriage, and in the home that emerges from that marriage? If God joins the couple together at the outset, should not...More Saturday, July 24, 2021 What God Expects He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much . . . —Luke 16:10 What God expects, and all God expects, is that we dedicate completely all of our talents and gifts to Him. That is the meaning of the parable of the talents in Matthew, chapter 25. Read this parable, and you will see that we are always rewarded because of our faithfulness. You can be just as faithful as anyone and have the commendation of the Lord. Take the one talent you have and invest it in eternal things. Some talented people lose their reward because they do things to be seen of men. Some untalented people lose their...More Friday, July 23, 2021 Sufficient to Meet Your Needs I am with you, that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people. —2 Corinthians 12:9 (TLB) A director of a camp whose purpose is to lead young hoodlums to Christ says, “Being a Christian is the toughest thing in the world. What’s tougher than loving your enemy?” One boy, who developed into a rugged disciple of Christ at this camp, said, “In this outfit we’re all brothers and we’re all men. It was too tough for me at first, but then I heard that through Christ everything is possible. Then the roughness went away. I say a man is not a man, not a full man, until he gets to know Jesus...More Thursday, July 22, 2021 Establishing Peace Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. —Romans 5:1 Before the Big Four Conference in Geneva I watched President Eisenhower kneel in a chapel and ask God for divine guidance in the deliberations to follow. I felt sure that God would answer his earnest prayer. I believe that He did, for President Eisenhower during those days displayed the spirit of a true peacemaker...More Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Talk vs. Action Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20 In a decadent society the will to believe, to resist, to contend, to fight, to struggle, is gone. In place of this will to resist, there is the desire to conform, to drift, to follow, to yield, and to give up. This is what happened in Rome, but it also...More Tuesday, July 20, 2021 No Strings Attached Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. —2 Corinthians 9:15 A gift is not a gift unless it is accepted. God has given you His Son, but ownership is conditional on acceptance. God does not force His gift on us, but He asks us to receive by faith the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. A person who deliberately refuses God’s offer of love, mercy, and forgiveness is lost. Most people gratefully receive a...More Monday, July 19, 2021 Words to Count On Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts . . . —Zechariah 4:6 (TLB) After the crucifixion the beleaguered disciples despaired and said, “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21, RSV). There was anguish, despair, and tragedy in their midst. Life had lost its meaning and purpose. But when the resurrection became apparent, life took on a new meaning. It had purpose and reason. David Livingstone once addressed a group of students at Glasgow University. When he rose to speak, he bore on his body the marks of his African struggles. Several...More Saturday, March 20, 2021 Standing Firm So use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up. —Ephesians 6:13 (TLB) Daniel and his companions were tempted to forsake their godly heritage, but they refused. They even faced a fiery furnace rather than compromise. God honored their faith and mightily used them. Moses was surrounded by the luxury and godlessness of the Egyptian court, but cast in his lot with his own people. Lot lived in Sodom and saw the obscenities of that doomed city. God saved him out of it because he trusted in Him. Every one of our Lord’s apostles...More

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