PRAYERS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THEY GO UNANSWERED?

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Prayers: What does it Mean when they Go Unanswered?

 

We tend to equate unanswered prayer with failure and fault. Years ago, my wife had been told that her mother died because she hadn’t prayed with enough faith.

We are surrounded with apostles of blame. The popular mystic, Richard Foster, also lays the blame on us, when our prayers aren’t answered:

• Often we assume we are in contact [with God] when we are not…Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they are not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition. Listening to the Lord is the first thing…(Celebration of Disciple, 34)

For Foster and the mystics, unanswered prayer (UP) is the result of failing to use the prescribed mystical techniques. However, the Bible often associates UP with wrong motives:

• You ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

Other sins will also block us from receiving God’s mercy. However, “contacting the channel” is not a matter of clever techniques but of confession:

• He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

However, often times we do not receive because what we ask for is not according to God’s plan for our lives – His will:

• I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:13-15)

Sometimes His will might be a matter of the last thing we’d suspect – death. Jesus informed the faithful church of Smyrna that martyrdom was what God had willed for “some”:

• “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander[a] of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev.2:9-10)

Our Lord had informed Peter that he would glorify God in this manner, and no amount of prayer would make a difference:

• “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) (John 21:8-9)

This might sound strange, but, from our present perspective, I am glad that Peter and the Apostles had suffered martyrdom. Martyrdom would serve, better than anything else, to prove that they really believed what they had preached – that Jesus died for our sins and rose again.

Paul wrote that this would also be the way that we too would have to glorify the Lord:

• All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim. 3:12)

This is God’s will, and it won’t be changed by prayer. Nor would He answer Paul’s prayer to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” Instead, God had revealed to him that this affliction was necessary to keep Paul humble. We want strength, but God gives us weakness through which to bless us, according to His will (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Prayer will not remove all of our afflictions!

Sometimes, God expects us to wait, even for many years, for our prayers to be answered (Psalm 27:14). Abraham had to wait 25 years to receive the promised son, Isaac. Moses had to wait 40 years for God to recall him to Egypt to fulfill the calling that He had originally put in Moses’ heart – a calling of which Moses had long since despaired. God has His own timing.

Sometimes our prayers are answered, but God strangely refuses to reveal this to us. Abraham had intervened with Yahweh on behalf of Lot and his family, then residing in wicked Sodom. He finally got Yahweh to agree to spare Sodom if there were only 10 righteous people in the city. A done-deal, right? Wrong:

• And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.  And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. (Gen. 19:27-29) 

God had answered Abraham’s prayer, but Scripture gives us no evidence that He had ever made Abraham aware of this fact. Instead, Abraham packed up his tent, left the area, and fell into sin once again in his new country of residence (Gen. 20), perhaps discouraged by his apparent UP. I wonder how many of our own UPs have been mercifully answered without our knowing it.

We have to walk by faith and not by sight! This is my hope for my two deceased parents. Neither of them had given any indication that God had heard my prayers for their salvation. Yet I continue to hope in the unseen grace of our Savior.

Sometimes, we are afraid of praying for the wrong things. However, if we are walking with the Lord, seeking His will, we need not be afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes up for our deficits:

• In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27) 

As long as we do not willfully and unrepentently continue in sin, we are covered. However, Scripture warns us that sin can close the prayer-channels, for example:

• Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Unrepented sin will hinder pray. Meanwhile, our Lord is determined to give us the world (Romans 8:17; 31-32; 1 Cor. 21-22), but in His time! He’s already paid the price.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR REWARDS ON EARTH?

Today's promise: God has great rewards for those who remain faithful

Are you looking for rewards on earth?

"…we who are still alive and remain on earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever."

1 Thessalonians 4:17 NLT

Awaiting our day

The story is told of an old missionary couple returning to the States after many years of thankless service in Africa. They happened to be on the same ship to New York as President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunt in Africa. As the ship pulled past the Statue of Liberty and into the dock, huge crowds were gathered to welcome him home. The press was out in full force, and thousands of people had come to get a glimpse of the president.

In the middle of the chaos, the aged missionary couple fought their way through the crowds with their large suitcases in tow. Silently they hailed a cab and made their way to a cheap hotel. The missionary sat on the bed and said to his wife, "It just doesn't seem right. We gave our lives to Christ to win souls for the Kingdom in Africa, and when we arrive home there is no one here to meet us. The president shoots a few animals and receives a royal welcome."

His wife sat beside him on the bed and said softly, "That's because we're not home yet, dear."

It may seem at times as if our work for Christ is going unnoticed. Faith doesn't bring a lot of praise on this earth. But that's only because our trip is not yet over.

Our day will come, you can be sure. And when it does, the ceremony will last for an eternity.

From Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale) p 346

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

DO YOU EVER FEEL IT DOESN'T PAY TO LIVE A GODLY LIFE?

Today's promise: God has great rewards for those who remain faithful

Do you ever feel it doesn't pay to live a godly life?

"Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent, and they will receive a reward that lasts forever."

Psalm 37:18 NLT

God will honor your integrity

Maybe last month it was a relational disaster or an occupational trial. This week it might be a financial setback. Next week could bring a health crisis. After a while the unrelenting stream of tough times takes its toll.

"What's the use?" we cry. "I try to do right and for what? Life keeps beating me up! I can't get ahead! I'm not sure it pays to try to live a godly life. I struggle as much or more than my neighbors who couldn't care less about God!"

Troubles certainly have a way of wearing us down. And if we're not careful, they can erode even our bedrock convictions. The promise in Psalm 37 is a good reminder of why we must be vigilant about not taking moral or ethical shortcuts.

Those who maintain their integrity, those who continue to do right even when everything and everyone else is wrong will one day receive the ultimate reward.

Praying God's Promise:
Life doesn't seem fair at times, Lord, and integrity often doesn't seem to matter. But it does matter. You see everything. Nothing escapes your gaze. You promise to care for the pure and to reward the faithful. Give me the spiritual tenacity to hang in there. Remind me that the day is coming when you will exalt those who steadfastly trust in you.

From the Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 204-5

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WHAT DO YOU LONG FOR?

Today's promise: God blesses those who seek after Him

What Do You Long For?

"Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth."

Psalm 73:25 NLT

Heart's Desire

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the Beavers inform the children that Aslan is on the move, the children feel a strange stirring in their hearts. Peter in particular says he's "longing" to meet this Aslan.…he doesn't say he's curious; he says he's longing, and that carries a very different meaning….

To long for something means you've had it in your mind for a while, the way you fix your heart on getting that iPod for Christmas…. Longing carries with it the concept of desire.

Yearning Desire. It's a theme that weaves throughout the life and works of C. S. Lewis. In Surprised by Joy, he introduces the concept of longing as the signature quest of his childhood and young adulthood.

It wasn't until Lewis converted to Christianity that he eventually realized what he'd been longing for: God. Not the Norse gods of the pagan world, not even the gods or spirits of fantasy worlds, but the God of the Bible — a real, living Being in whom we can have life forever.

With our own friends, part of our role is to help them understand that their longing comes from an inborn desire to know the King of the universe. And, like the Beavers with Peter, we are to tell our friends about the King — that his return is imminent, that he is on the move even now.

We're all longing to meet the true King. Will you recognize his name when you hear it? Will you help others do the same?

Adapted from Walking Through the Wardrobe by Sarah Arthur (Tyndale) pp 77-83

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HOW OFTEN DO YOU ASK GOD TO HURRY?

Today's promise: God blesses those who seek after Him

How often do you ask God to hurry?

"O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help! Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering."

Psalm 141:1-2 NLT

The Second Thanksgiving

The year was 1623. The Pilgrims had been in the New World for two and half years. The first Thanksgiving of 1621 was only a memory by this time because this summer's drought was jeopardizing everything. Not even the Indians could remember anything like it. The settlers had planted more corn than before, but without any rainfall, there would be no harvest. Daily they had prayed that God would send rain, but he hadn't answered. As the psalmist did in Psalm 141:1, they were begging God to hurry.

Finally, the settlers set aside an entire day for prayer and worship. As they went for worship, the "heavens were as clear and the drought as like to continue as it ever was," yet when they left the meeting, "the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides." For the next 14 days there were "moderate showers of rain," according to Edward Winslow, one of the Pilgrims.

The Indians watched and were amazed at how the God of the new settlers had answered their prayers, and that year, after the harvest, a second Thanksgiving was celebrated with the Indians joining in as well.

"Hurry up, Lord," we often prod, wondering why the Almighty doesn't seem to be in as much of a rush as we are. Sometimes we need to set our watches to his clock.

From The One Year® Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for November 22

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

ROOTED LOVE

ROOTED LOVE

READ:

Hebrews 13:15-25

Do not forget to do good

and to share. –Hebrews 13:16

When I think of all the wonders of God’s magnificent creation, I am especially awed by the giant sequoia tree.  These amazing behemoths of the forest can grow to around 300 feet tall with a diameter that exceeds 20 feet.  They can live over 3,000 years and are even fire resistant.  In fact, forest fires pop the sequoia cones open, distributing their seeds on the forest floor that has been fertilized by the ashes.  Perhaps the most amazing fact is that these trees can grow in just 3 feet of soil and withstand high winds.  Their strength lies in the fact that their roots intertwine with other sequoias, providing mutual strength and shared resources.

God’s plan for us is like that.  Our ability to stand tall in spite of the buffeting winds of life is directly related to the love and support we receive from God and one another.  And then, as the writer of Hebrews says, we are to “do good and to share” (13:16).  Think of how tough it would be to withstand adversity if someone were not sharing the roots of their strength with us.

There is great power in the entwining gifts of words of encouragement, prayers of intercession, weeping together, holding each other, and sometimes just sitting with one another sharing the presence of our love. –Joe Stowell

Lord, thank You for entwining Your strength

into my life.  Lead me today to someone

who needs the love of shared strength from resources

that You have given to me.

*********************************************

Let the roots of God’s love in your life be entwined

With others who need your support.

INSIGHT

If we were left to our own devices and determination, even the brief instructions in today’s passage would be more than we could live up to.  Fortunately, we are not left to ourselves.  God works in us to make us complete (vv.20-21).

Have a blessed day and week ahead.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

PREDESTINATION IS NOT THE REAL OFFENSE

Your Brother Daniel

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

This is an essay I wrote for my students hoping to reinforce some of the teachings on predestination:

Predestination is not the Real Offense

The teaching of predestination/election can be troubling, but it shouldn’t be. It merely teaches that humanity is downing, and therefore, God has to jump in to rescue them. However, God is even more gracious than that. He rescues those who are His enemies (Rom. 8:5-8; 5:8-10) - those who even refuse to be rescued (John 3:19-20; Rom. 3:10-16). What is so bad about that? Nothing! Instead, it’s called the “Good News!”

I think that what many Christians really object to is not predestination, but instead the doctrine that requires predestination – our depravity and rebellion, our universal rejection of the light (John 3:19-20; 1 Cor. 2:14). Consequently, since we will not choose God, He must choose us (John 6:40-45; 15:16), if any are to be saved. But we find this dismal assessment of humanity both unbelievable and offensive!

Is humanity really that bad? Not according to us! But we do not see the inner man. We – even the most spiritual - are duped by appearances. The prophet Samuel certainly was! God had to warn him against judging according to the “outward appearance” (1 Sam. 16:7).

Perhaps all of us judge superficially, and therefore cannot appreciate the depths of sin and God’s abhorrence of it. Jeremiah had a hard time accepting God’s dismal evaluation of Israel. God therefore challenged him:

·       “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” (Jer. 5:1)

Jeremiah too had a high estimation of humanity, especially of his own kind, and thought that it would be easy to find one honest man:

·       I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” (Jer. 5:4-5)

Because Jeremiah had had a high estimation of the educated Israelite, he found God’s assessments and judgments unbelievable and unduly harsh. However, Jeremiah found that all Israel was in rebellion against the Lord. Even his own family wanted to kill him for bringing the message of God. (It is interestingly to note that even though Israel’s rejection of their God had often included every Israelite, the Prophets never blamed God for their rebellion.)

However, once Jeremiah began to see the extent of human rebellion, he too began to reassess humanity and affirm God’s righteous judgments. In fact, he began to plead with God not to forgive.

If we could only see the extent of human rebellion and our hatred towards the Savior, perhaps we might really regard predestination as Good News, which it truly is, and appreciate the extreme generosity of God’s mercy.

It is imperative to understand these depths of our hatred of the light, our enmity against God, however offensive this might be. When we understand the extent of God’s forgiveness of our sins in light of this, we will be truly grateful. Failing to perceive this, we tend to disregard God’s grace.

Jesus was invited to a top-of-the-line pharisaic lunch. A woman He had forgiven entered uninvited and anointed His feet in expensive oil. The host was appalled both by this woman and that Jesus allowed this base creature to touch him. Jesus therefore explained that she was more blessed than the host: “He who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47)

The woman loved much because she knew that she had been forgiven much. Often, we do not know the extent to which we have sinned and have been forgiven and, therefore, love little and disdain God’s just ways. If we only understood the extent of Christ’s forgiveness, we would not be offended by God’s judgments, knowing that they are just. Instead, we’d fully accept the Bible’s judgment that sin deserves death (Romans 6:23; Deut. 27:26). We would also gladly embrace whatever mercy that God might offer – predestination.

There is also another danger when we fail to appreciate the extent of our rebellion against the light – boasting! For my first 15 years in Christ, I believed that I had chosen Christ and not the other way around. Why had I chosen Christ? I had convinced myself that it was because I was more spiritual than others. In doing this, I exalted myself and looked down on others (Luke 18:9-14). Consequently, I had to suffer for years before I could recognize that I had been boasting and that this had been offensive to the One who had given me the faith to believe.

The same had been true for King Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonia empire-builder. Understandably, he was convinced that he was great and that his greatness was all about him. However, he had a disturbing dream which changed everything. Daniel interpreted it for him:

·       It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. (Daniel 4:24-25)

For seven years, Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, thinking that he was a cow. Why had God punished him in this manner? Because of his warfare? Taking Israel into captivity? His treatment of the poor? No! It was simply to learn a theological lesson – that his success wasn’t about Him but about God, who chooses “whom He will!”

At the end of the seven years of grievous suffering, Nebuchadnezzar got the point and gave all of the thanks to God for choosing him. If this pagan, unenlightened by Scripture, was held to account for his boasting, we will, even more so, be held accountable.

Why? Because God actually deserves the credit! If someone gives you a magnificent painting from their studio, you hang it up in your house, and others ask if you had painted this masterpiece, should you take credit for painting it? If you do, would not the real artist be offended? Likewise, if faith is God’s gift to us (Eph. 2:8-9; Philip. 1:29; Acts 18:27; 16:14; 13:48) and if we take credit for it, as I had, would not God be offended?

Instead, it is only fitting to credit God for our salvation and even for the faith to receive it – God’s predestined salvation!

WHAT THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE

Today's promise: God blesses those who seek after Him

What Thanksgiving should be

"How wonderful it is, how pleasant when brothers live together in harmony!"

Psalm 133:1 NLT

Fighting historical vandalism

In an article in Focus on the Family's Citizen magazine, Douglas Phillips describes how he took his family to Plymouth, Massachusetts, a few years ago and was shocked at what he found. Atop Cole's Hill, the burial ground for Pilgrims who died that first hard winter, Phillips was startled to see a city truck pull up and men pile out carrying shovels. They told Phillips the city was placing a new monument.

"Most revolutions are staged at night," Phillips wrote, so he wasn't surprised the next day to find stone markers all over Plymouth designating Thanksgiving as a day of mourning — a day to recall how the Pilgrims murdered and stole from their Indian neighbors. That afternoon, demonstrators — mostly white college kids — celebrated their victory by defacing the traditional monuments. Plymouth had transformed a tale of religious freedom into a story of genocide.

The historical reality is totally different. While it's true that later settlers abused the Native Americans, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians lived together in peace for 50 years. They signed covenants, bought and sold property, and fought against mutual enemies.

The modern obsession with group identity and victimhood encourages us to see those assigned to other groups as our enemies. When we interact with them, we ought to recall the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians and model not hostility and hatred but brotherly love. As the psalmist notes, a willingness to get along with others makes for a pleasant and peaceful life.

Adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 631-32

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

GOODBYE

GOODBYE

READ:

Numbers 11:1-10

When the people complained,

it displeased the LORD; for the

LORD heard it, and His anger

was aroused. –Numbers 11:1

When Max Lucado participated in a half-Ironman triathlon, he experienced the negative power of complaint.  He said, “After the 1.2-mile swim and the 56-mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1-mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  He said, ‘This stinks.  This race is the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.’ I said, ‘Goodbye.’”  Max knew that if he listened too long, he would start agreeing with him.  So he said goodbye and kept running.

Among the Israelites, too many people listened too long to complaints and began to agree with them.  This displeased God, and for good reason.  God had delivered the Israelites from slavery, and agreed to live in their midst, but they still complained.  Beyond the hardship of the desert, they were dissatisfied with God’s provision of manna.  In their complaint, Israel forgot that the manna was a gift to them from God’s loving hand (Numbers 11:6).  Because complaining poisons the heart with ingratitude and can be a contagion, God had to judge it.

This is a sure way to say “goodbye” to complaining and ingratitude:  Each day, let’s rehearse the faithfulness and goodness of God to us.  Marvin Williams

Lord, You have given us so much.  Forgive us for our short

memories and bad attitudes.  Help us to remember and be

grateful for all that You have provided.  And help us to tell

others of the good things You have done for us.

***********************************************

Proclaiming God’s faithfulness

Silences discontentment.

INSIGHT

When they faced difficulties, the Israelites often complained against Moses (See Exodus 16:2; 17:3; Numbers 14:2; 16:41; 20:3).  Their first complaint was made just 3 days out of Egypt (Exodus 15:22-24).  Paul warned us not to follow their critical spirit (1 Corinthians 10:1-10), for they were sinning against the Lord (Exodus 16:8).

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace

BORN OF THE SPIRIT

Today's promise: God blesses those who seek after Him

Born of the Spirit

"Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."

John 3:8 NLT

Who died on November 22, 1963?

Many will correctly answer, "President John F. Kennedy." But also on that day another person died who was mightier in God's kingdom. His name was C. S. Lewis.

His initials stood for Clive Staples, but to his friends he was known as "Jack." Born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1898, he was raised as an Anglican. But at the age of ten his world was shaken when his mother died of cancer. Jack wanted nothing to do with a God so cruel as to take his mother. By his early teenage years he had become an atheist.

Jack's spiritual pilgrimage back to God began in 1926 with a conversation with a cynical friend whose belief in the Trinity challenged Lewis' atheistic presuppositions.

Through the influence of various philosophers he read and conversations with his intellectual colleagues, including J. R. R. Tolkien, he began to realize that an absolute Spirit or God existed and that the events of the Bible had really happened.

By 1931, he had passed from merely believing in God to trusting in him as his Savior.

In 1941, Lewis burst on the literary scene with The Screwtape Letters. Books then began to flow from his pen at an amazing rate.

C. S. Lewis is considered the most influential Christian author of the twentieth century — quite a leap from the atheism of his youth.

Adapted from the The One Year® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale) pp 654-55

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HEARING GOD

Today's promise: God is always calling us back to Him

Hearing God

"My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

John 10:27 NLT

He knows our name, our nature

Usually, when someone says, "God has been speaking to me lately," we get a little suspicious (justly so, in many cases). Many who say God speaks to them are far too often what I describe as a few clowns short of a circus.

Yet as our Good Shepherd, Jesus promises that we can hear and know His voice. This does not, however, need to be some mysterious, mystical process. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that God speaks to you quite often.

You see, the Good Shepherd knows not only your name (John 10:3), but your nature.

Yes, God speaks — but we do not always like what He says. Have you sensed the conviction of the Holy Spirit when you were in a relationship or a place you did not belong? At times, God's Holy Spirit whispers in the stillness of your heart, "What are you doing here?" How else can we know when God is speaking to us?

God speaks to us through His word. (Psalm 119:105)

God speaks to us through circumstances (Psalm 119:67)

God speaks to through His peace (Colossians 3:15)

And once we have heard God's voice, what should we do? We must follow. Jesus calls, we responds. He whispers, we move. We follow — and then we keep on listening.

From the Breakfast with Jesus by Greg Laurie (Tyndale) pp 243-45

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

HAVE YOU EMBARRASSED YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER?

Today's promise: God is always calling us back to Him

Have You Embarrassed Your Heavenly Father?

"Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live."

Titus 1:16 NLT

Embarrassing God

Not so long ago I saw a man shopping in a grocery store while his young son ran up and down the aisles. The boy was unleashed and hyper, making a complete nuisance of himself. The father kept calling his son's name, but the boy only ran faster — up one aisle and down the other.

Just as the father caught up with him, the boy reached out and grabbed a handful of candy bars. The father tried to take them away, but the boy held on tightly. Then he started to scream. It was a high-pitched, piercing scream that reverberated throughout the store. Clerks and customers turned to look from every direction as the frustrated father tried his best to squelch his son's cries. The boy only screamed louder and started to kick. Finally the father let him go, and once again he ran down the aisle with all his might, chocolate still clutched in his greedy little grip.

I caught a glimpse of the father's face. It was the look of complete and total embarrassment. Although I'm sure he loved his son dearly, at this moment he was ashamed to be his father.

Do you think God ever feels that way with his children? Imagine how he must feel when we become so earthly minded that we run through life, ignoring his voice and oblivious to his warning, grabbing things as we go and holding them tightly.

Do you think God doesn't get embarrassed by the way his children act? Our life is a reflection of his authority. And when we disobey, he is the One the world scoffs at.

From Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins and Frank M. Martin (Tyndale) p 148

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

WISE WITH SPIRITUAL WISDOM

Today's promise: God is always calling us back to Him

Wise with spiritual wisdom

"We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom.

Colossians 1:9 NLT

Discerning cultural trends

C. S. Lewis was born on this day in 1898, and 40-plus years after his death it is startlingly clear that he was not only a keen apologist but also a true prophet for our postmodern age.

Lewis wrote his book Miracles in 1947, before most Christians were aware of the emerging philosophy of naturalism, which says that there is a naturalistic explanation for everything in the universe.

Naturalism undercuts any objective morality, opening a door to tyranny. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis warned that naturalism turns human beings into objects to be controlled and turns values into "mere natural phenomena" that can be selected and inculcated into a passive population by powerful Conditioners. He predicted a time when those who want to remold human nature "will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique."

Why was Lewis so uncannily prophetic?

One reason is that Lewis was a professor with a specialty in medieval literature. This gave him a mental framework shaped by the whole scope of intellectual history and Christian thought.

We Christians need to liberate ourselves from the prison of our own narrow worldview and immerse ourselves in Christian ideas "down the ages." The best way to celebrate Lewis' birthday is to be at our posts, as he liked to say, with renewed spirits and with probing and informed minds.

Adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 665-66

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

AMAZING GUIDE

AMAZING GUIDE

READ:

Joshua 1:1-9

Not a word failed of any good

thing which the LORD had

spoken. –Joshua 21:45

When actors and actresses make a movie, it’s the director who sees the “big picture” and the overall direction.  Actress Marion Cortillard admits she didn’t understand everything the director was doing in one of her recent films.  She said, “I found it very interesting to allow myself to be lost, because I knew that I had this amazing guide….You abandon yourself for a story and a director that will make it all work.”

I think Joshua could have said something similar about the director of his life.  In today’s Scripture passage, the newly commissioned leader of Israel is standing at the threshold of the Promised Land.  More than 2 million Israelites are looking to him to lead them.  How would he do it?  God didn’t give him a detailed script, but He gave him the assurance that He would go with him.

God, said, “I will be with you.  I will not leave you” (Joshua 1:5).  He commanded Joshua to study and practice everything written in His Word (vv.7-8), and He promised to be with Joshua wherever he went.  Joshua responded with complete devotion and surrender to his amazing Guide, and “not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken” (21:45).

We too can abandon ourselves to our Director and rest in His faithfulness. –Poh Fang Chia

He leadeth me! O blessed thought!

O words with heavenly comfort fraught!

What’er I do, where’er I be,

Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me. –Gilmore

****************************************

Faith never knows where it is being led; it knows

And loves the One who is leading. –Oswald Chambers

INSIGHT

Moses dishonored God (Numbers 20:1-13) and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 3:23-29).  Yet God permitted him to see it from afar (34:1-4).  Moses was succeeded by Joshua, a man who was “full of the spirit of wisdom” (v.9).  In Joshua 1:1-9, God assured Joshua of His presence, power, providence, provision , and protection-just as God had assured Moses and been with him.

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

THE DRINKING GOURD

THE DRINKING GOURD

READ:

Philippians 2:12-18

Shine as lights in the world, holding

Fast the word of life. –Philippians 2:15-16

Prior to the American Civil War (1861-1865), fugitive slaves found freedom by following the Underground Railroad, a term for the secret routes from the South to the North and the abolitionists who helped them along the way.  Salves would travel at night for many miles, keeping on track by following the light of the “Drinking Gourd.”  This was a code name for the collection o stars known as the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star.  Some believe the fugitives also used encoded directions in the lyrics of the song “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to keep them from getting lost as they traveled.

Both the abolitionists and the “drinking gourd” served as points of light directing the slaves to freedom.  The apostle Paul says that believers are to shine as “lights in the world” to show the way to those seeking God’s truth, redemption, and spiritual liberation (Philippians 2:15).

We live in a dark world that desperately needs to see the light of Jesus Christ.  Our calling is to shine forth God’s truth so that others can be directed to the One who redeems and is the path to liberty and life.  We point the way to Jesus, the One who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). –Dennis Fisher

Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming me and giving

me new life.  Give me compassion for those who are

still lost in spiritual darkness.  Use me to be a light

that points others to you, the Light of the world.

*******************************************

Light up your world by reflecting the light of Jesus.

INSIGHT

Paul tells the followers of Christ in Philippi that they are lights among a “crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15).  But the progression of Paul’s thought should be noted.  When we live our lives in harmony and concern for others “without complaining, and disputing” (v.14), we become blameless and harmless and shine in the world (v.15).  Christ is made known in the world through us when our lives reflect the humility and love of our Lord.

Have a blessed night.

God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace