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Today’s 5/12/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

Acts of Kindness (1 Chronicles 19:2)

Most of us remember where we were on September 11, 2001, when four commercial airliners became missiles in the hands of terrorists. We were at work, home or school when we got the urgent call, “Turn on the television!” We watched replays of the plane hitting Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. Time stood still as we watched another plane strike Tower Two. We willed the towers to stand . . . but they crumbled before our eyes. Even the seemingly impregnable Pentagon was a target. The horrifying marks of the crash site in a lonely Pennsylvania field pay homage to the passengers who bravely fought back. The death toll of this atrocity rose to almost 3,000 people.

America was stunned at this attack on its own soil. Some were amazed that people immediately responded with kindness and compassion. USA Today reported, “In New York, people literally took the shirts off their backs and bandaged the injured.” Furthermore, tens of thousands of people lined up to donate blood at hospitals and blood banks. Solemn candlelight vigils were held throughout the world. “Miss Manners,” Judith Martin, reported a shocking return to civility. “Please, please, let’s make it last,” she exhorted. But shouldn’t acts of kindness be our ordinary response, not an extraordinary reaction to a catastrophic event?

Nahash, the Ammonite king, had rendered some memorable service to King David. When he died, David responded by acting kindly toward Hanun, Nahash’s son. However, David’s kindness was misinterpreted. The men sent by David to express sympathy over Nahash’s death were humiliated and accused of spying. War ensued, though it was certainly not the intended outcome of David’s gesture.

Just as God unreservedly extends kindness to us, we are called to “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). We are to reflect God’s kindness to others, regardless of how they choose to respond.

Don’t wait for a crisis to extend loving-kindness. Take the time to ponder who is suffering from a recent heartbreak. Maybe they could use a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. Who feels discouraged in your circle of friends? Maybe they need to hear an encouraging word. Who might feel alone? Perhaps you could pick up the phone to tell them that you care . . . and then leave the outcome to God.

Taken from NIV Women’s Devotional Bible

 

johnpiper

Go on to the Meal

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 34:8)

To you who say you have never tasted the glory of God, I say, you have tasted many of its appetizers.

Have you ever looked up? Have you ever been hugged? Have you ever sat in front of a warm fire? Have you ever walked in the woods, sat by a lake, lain in a summer hammock? Have you ever drunk your favorite drink on a hot day or eaten anything good?

Every desire is either a devout or a distorted enticement to the glory of heaven.

You say you haven’t tasted God’s glory. I say, you have tasted the appetizers. Go on to the meal.

You have seen the shadows; look at the substance. You have walked in the warm rays of the day; turn and look at the sun itself. You have heard echoes of God’s glory everywhere; tune your heart to the original music.

The best place to get your heart tuned is at the cross of Jesus Christ. “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

If you want the most concentrated display of the glory of God, look at Jesus in the Gospels, and look especially at the cross. This will focus your eyes and tune your heart and waken your taste buds so that you will see and hear and taste the glory of the true God everywhere.

That is what you were made for. I plead with you: don’t throw your life away. God made you to know his glory. Pursue that with all your heart and above all else.

Gods story

Genesis 31:1-42

God tells Jacob to return to his homeland. But when Laban finds the idols missing from his home, he chases down Jacob and his wives.

Get Out of Town

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So Jacob put his wives and children on camels, and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived. At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her.
(Genesis 31:17-19)

Reflect

While Jacob was living with his father-in-law, he always did more than was expected of him. When his flocks were attacked, he took the losses rather than splitting them with Laban. He worked hard even after several pay cuts. His diligence eventually paid off; his flocks began to multiply.

Leaving home was not difficult for Rachel and Leah because their father had treated them as poorly as he had treated Jacob. According to custom, they were supposed to receive the benefits of the dowry Jacob paid for them, which was fourteen years of hard work. When Laban did not give them what was rightfully theirs, they knew they would never inherit anything from their father. Thus, they wholeheartedly approved of Jacob’s plan to take the wealth he had gained and leave.

Jacob certainly had a complicated relationship with his in-laws. Even though Jacob manipulated the breeding of the flocks (Genesis 30:37-43) and snuck away with his family while Laban was gone (Genesis 31:17-19), Jacob was nevertheless a hard worker who brought wealth to his dishonest father-in-law. More importantly, Jacob was beginning to realize that whatever blessings he received were the gift of God, who was watching over him in the midst of his family turmoil.

Respond

Some of life’s most challenging relationships can be with family members. What relative do you have a complicated relationship with? Ask God to show you what you can do to honor him and that person.

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Streams in the Desert – May 12

All things are possible to him that believes (Mark 9:23).

The “all things” do not always come simply for the asking, for the reason that God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and in our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith, and often many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith, namely, the victory of faith.

Real moral fiber is developed through discipline of faith. You have made your request of God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do?

Keep on believing God’s Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed. The fact of looking at the apparent contradiction as to God’s Word and being unmoved from your position of faith make you stronger on every other line.

Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment when it comes.

In the lives of all the great Bible characters, God worked thus. Abraham, Moses and Elijah were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline of their faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God had called them.

For example, in the case of Joseph whom the Lord was training for the throne of Egypt, we read in the Psalms:

“The word of the Lord tried him.” It was not the prison life with its hard beds or poor food that tried him, but it was the word God had spoken into his heart in the early years concerning elevation and honor which were greater than his brethren were to receive; it was this which was ever before him, when every step in his career made it seem more and more impossible of fulfillment, until he was there imprisoned, and all in innocence, while others who were perhaps justly incarcerated, were released, and he was left to languish alone.

These were hours that tried his soul, but hours of spiritual growth and development, that, “when his word came” (the word of release), found him fitted for the delicate task of dealing with his wayward brethren, with a love and patience only surpassed by God Himself.

No amount of persecution tries like such experiences as these. When God has spoken of His purpose to do, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

Today’s 5/11/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

Rock Solid (Luke 6:47–48)

The futuristic Space Needle spikes from the Seattle skyline. Stretching approximately 605 feet into the sky, its spire pierces the clouds that often veil the earthquake-prone city. Although its height can seem frightening, especially when the Needle sways, it is actually safer than many tall buildings. The architects who designed the stunning structure kept one principle firmly in mind: the larger and higher the building, the stronger the base needs to be.

The Space Needle’s foundation is 30 feet deep, weighs 5,850 tons and contains 250 tons of reinforcing steel. The foundation is as heavy as the Needle, enabling the airy structure to withstand a wind velocity of 200 miles per hour. In 2001 it withstood an earthquake of 6.8 on the Richter scale. It is estimated that it can endure even greater shocks because the architects doubled the 1962 building code requirements.

Jesus, the master builder of strong, resilient women, likens our spiritual foundation to a building with a strong, immovable base. In his analogy, he tells of a wise builder who “laid the foundation on rock” (verse 48). We know that sooner or later, floods will come in one form or another: illness, financial problems, a relationship breakdown, societal calamities, terrorism or natural disasters. If we don’t take Jesus’ words to heart and put them into practice, we are on shaky ground. But if we build our spiritual lives on what he says, we can withstand anything that shakes us.

And what strong words had Jesus given his followers? Love your enemies and be good to them (see verses 27–36). Exchange kindness for anger, silence for gossip, a sweet spirit for bitterness. Don’t judge others but accept them as God has accepted you. Forgive, because you have been forgiven (see verse 37). Be generous, and generosity will come back to you when you most need it (see verse 38). Be more concerned with your own purity than about the purity of others (see verses 41–42). Care about the goodness of your heart because your words will reveal, no matter how good an actress you are, what’s really inside (see verses 44–45). The rock solid foundation isn’t an abstract notion. The “rocks,” ironically, are a soft heart and a gentle spirit. And those can only come from the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ.

Taken from NIV Women’s Devotional Bible

johnpiper

A People for His Name

Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. (Acts 15:14)

It is scarcely possible to overemphasize the centrality of the fame of God in motivating the mission of the church.

When Peter had his world turned upside down by the vision of unclean animals in Acts 10, and by the lesson from God that he should evangelize Gentiles as well as Jews, he came back to Jerusalem and told the apostles that it was all owing to God’s zeal for his name. We know this because James summed up Peter’s speech like this: “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name” (Acts 15:14).

It’s not surprising that Peter would say that God’s purpose was to gather a people for his name; because the Lord Jesus had stung Peter some years earlier with an unforgettable lesson.

You recall that, after a rich young man turned away from Jesus and refused to follow him, Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you [unlike this rich fellow]. What then shall we have?” Jesus responded with a mild rebuke, which in effect said that there is no ultimate sacrifice when you live for the name of the Son of Man. “Every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

The truth is plain: God is pursuing with omnipotent delight a worldwide purpose of gathering a people for his name from every tribe and language and nation (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the fame of his name among the nations.

Therefore when we bring our affections in line with his, and, for the sake of his name, renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join his global purpose, God’s omnipotent commitment to his name is over us and we cannot lose, in spite of many tribulations (Acts 9:16; Romans 8:35–39).

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Streams in the Desert – May 11

We went through fire and through water: but thou brought us out into a wealthy place (Ps. 66:12).

Paradoxical though it be, only that man is at rest who attains it through conflict. This peace, born of conflict, is not like the deadly hush preceding the tempest, but the serene and pure-aired quiet that follows it.

It is not generally the prosperous one, who has never sorrowed, who is strong and at rest. His quality has never been tried, and he knows not how he can stand even a gentle shock. He is not the safest sailor who never saw a tempest; he will do for fair-weather service, but when the storm is rising, place at the important post the man who has fought out a gale, who has tested the ship, who knows her hulk sound, her rigging strong, and her anchor-flukes able to grasp and hold by the ribs of the world.

When first affliction comes upon us, how everything gives way! Our clinging, tendril hopes are snapped, and our heart lies prostrate like a vine that the storm has torn from its trellis; but when the first shock is past, and we are able to look up, and say, “It is the Lord,” faith lifts the shattered hopes once more, and binds them fast to the feet of God. Thus the end is confidence, safety, and peace.

–Selected

The adverse winds blew against my life;
My little ship with grief was tossed;
My plans were gone–heart full of strife,
And all my hope seemed to be lost–
“Then He arose”–one word of peace.
“There was a calm”–a sweet release.

A tempest great of doubt and fear
Possessed my mind; no light was there
To guide, or make my vision clear.
Dark night! ’twas more than I could bear–
“Then He arose,” I saw His face–
“There was a calm” filled with His grace.

My heart was sinking ‘neath the wave
Of deepening test and raging grief;
All seemed as lost, and none could save,
And nothing could bring me relief–
“Then He arose”–and spoke one word,
“There was a calm!” IT IS THE LORD.
–L. S. P.

 

Gods story

Genesis 29:31–30:24

Even though Jacob loves her, Rachel is discontent without a baby. When she sees her sister having children, Rachel refuses to wait any longer.

Baby Competition

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Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and presented him with a son. Rachel named him Dan, for she said, “God has vindicated me! He has heard my request and given me a son.” Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel named him Naphtali, for she said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I’m winning!”

Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Soon Zilpah presented him with a son. Leah named him Gad, for she said, “How fortunate I am!” Then Zilpah gave Jacob a second son. And Leah named him Asher, for she said, “What joy is mine! Now the other women will celebrate with me.”
(Genesis 30:4-13)

Reflect

Rachel and Leah were competing in an arrogant contest. Racing to have more children, they both gave their servants to Jacob as concubines. This was an accepted custom of the day, but Jacob would have been wise to refuse. He was perpetuating bad relationships between the women. The fact that a custom is socially acceptable does not mean it is wise or beneficial.

There are many socially acceptable choices that have negative effects on others. Society often prioritizes a person’s freedom to choose above considering the impact those choices have on others. The choices of Jacob and his wives resulted in bitterness, anger, resentment, and jealousy among their sons. The rivalry and fighting between Leah’s sons and Rachel’s sons continued years later among the tribes that descended from them.

Respond

Think about how your choices might affect others. Will you help them or hurt them? Are you willing to give up some of your freedom to ensure that others do not suffer harm? Are you willing to go a step further and do something that will benefit them?

klove

DIGGING DEEPER 05/11/2015

Teaching Your Child to Honor

Excerpt from Motivate Your Child: Christian Parent’s Guide to Raising Kids Who Do What They Need to do Without Being Told By: Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN

To motivate children to develop new patterns, parents often have to stretch their kids beyond the tendency to be selfish by requiring that they look for ways to think of others. A great place to start is with God’s Word. God designed our world and knows what works most effectively. He has given us principles that will guide our thinking.

For example, Philippians 2:3–4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” That’s a great family verse and can help get kids thinking of ways to contribute to the well-being of others.

Romans 12:10 is our favorite verse for this area of the conscience. “Honor one another above yourselves.” That verse is for all people, not just children. However, honor is one of the qualities learned at home. Eight times in the Bible it says, “Honor your father and mother.” In fact, according to Ephesians 6:1–3, there are two parts to a child’s job description, obedience and honor. God has created a conscience inside a child that can be trained with those two principles. As children learn obedience, they’re learning to do what’s right. As children learn honor, they’re learning to think about others.

STAND BEFORE CHRIST AND SHARE IN HIS MERCY

Hebrews 13:18 ties the concept of living honorably with the conscience. “We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.” The conscience God places inside a person provides an internal satisfaction when that individual does something kind for others. You feel good when you allow someone else to go first or have the best seat. In that moment you often feel a sense of greatness, having risen above the crowd.

That’s what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples when he said to them in Mark 10:42–44, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” In fact, when we consider others or serve others, we become like Jesus. That’s why he added in verse 45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Teresa needed to think about others, become more aware of how her actions were affecting others, and then make some significant changes in how she lived and operated.

Honor is a practical tool for conscience development, and teaching about honor can raise a child’s internal motivation in the area of thinking about others. We define honor in simple terms for children. As we see the concept taught in God’s Word, we say that honor is treating people as special, doing more than what’s expected, and having a good attitude. That’s a working definition of honor, helping children know how to put honor into practice. Even young children can memorize that definition.

But honor isn’t just for young children. We tell teens that God has hidden within honor the secret ingredients you’ll need to be successful in life. When you treat others as special, it often comes back to you. Let’s take that honor definition, look at its three parts, and discuss how to use it in family life.
By
Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller

Today’s 5/10/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

A Gentle Spirit (Philippians 4:4–5)

If you walked down the street and asked five people what they thought the word gentleness meant, how many would say that a gentle person is docile, easily intimidated or passive? Or that gentleness would be a good quality for a pet or a horse? In our culture, assertiveness and forthrightness are more highly valued personality traits for human beings than gentleness.

But the Scriptures value gentleness. Here Paul explains what it means to be virtuous, especially in view of the disputes that had arisen among the Philippians. How were they to build unity? First, they were to rejoice. If they concentrated on rejoicing in the risen Christ, they would focus on their common joy rather than on the differences that could divide them. Next, they were to “let [their] gentleness be evident to all.” Gentleness carries the idea of being reasonable. It does not mean that truth is compromised; rather, it means that the truth is defended with thoughtful consideration for the other’s point of view. In other words, the people involved come to a meeting of the minds. There is a winsome quality in gentleness that diffuses anger and hostility.

A supervisor named Ann was gentle. She never raised her voice and never threatened. She had a steady calm about her. She smiled while explaining to vendors or employees exactly what was expected of them. She clearly stated the consequences if they didn’t fulfill their obligations. But her subordinates never seemed defensive or discouraged; rather, they worked hard to live up to the expectations she laid out.

Paul reminded the Philippians that the key to peace was grateful prayer. He admonished them to give their every anxiety over to God as they gave thanks (verses 6–7). More than that, Paul encouraged his readers—including us—to focus on things that are beautiful, pure and positive (verses 8–9). Meditating on such things develops our ability to notice and appreciate small beauties and increases a sense of thanksgiving to God. A spirit of contentment and gratitude brings peace.

A woman who speaks words of encouragement and has an attitude of contentment is inviting; she draws people to her, even if she faces times of crisis and pain. When your gentleness is evident to all, others will know that the Lord is near and they, too, will rejoice.

Taken from NIV Women’s Devotional Bible

johnpiper

What It Means to Love God

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)

Only God will satisfy a heart like David’s. And David was a man after God’s own heart. That’s the way we were created to be.

This is the essence of what it means to love God — to be satisfied in him. In him!

Loving God will include obeying all his commands; it will include believing all his word; it will include thanking him for all his gifts; but the essence of loving God is enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that glorifies his worth most fully.

We all know this intuitively as well as from Scripture. Do we feel most honored by the love of those who serve us from the constraints of duty, or from the delights of fellowship?

My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

None of us has arrived at perfect satisfaction in God. I grieve often over the murmuring of my heart at the loss of worldly comforts. But I have tasted that the Lord is good. By God’s grace I now know the fountain of everlasting joy.

And so I love to spend my days luring people into joy until they say with me, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

Gods story

Genesis 29:14b-30

In Paddan-aram, Jacob starts to work for his uncle, Laban. But when he falls in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel, Jacob, the deceiver, is deceived . . .

Wife Swap

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Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

“Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.” . . .

But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”
(Genesis 29:18-21, 25)

Reflect

The custom of the day was for a man to present a dowry, or substantial gift, to the family of his future wife. Marriage meant the loss of a valued worker, so this gift compensated for the loss. Jacob’s dowry was not a material possession, for he had none to offer. Instead, he agreed to work seven years for Laban. Laban did not tell Jacob about another custom of the land. The older daughter had to be married first. By giving Leah, not Rachel, to Jacob, Laban tricked him into devoting another seven years of hard work to the family.

Jacob was enraged when he learned that Laban had tricked him. The trickster who deceived Esau had been deceived himself. We often become upset at injustices done to us while closing our eyes to the injustices we do to others. Sin has a way of coming back to haunt us.

Although Laban tricked Jacob, Jacob kept his part of the bargain. People often wonder if working a long time for something they desire is worth it. Jacob worked seven years to marry Rachel. After being tricked, he agreed to work seven more years for her (although he did get to marry Rachel shortly after he married Leah)! The most important goals and desires are worth working and waiting for.

Respond

How do you respond when you have been faithful and you are used because of it? Are you bitter and angry? Does it consume you or do you continue to persevere in what is right? Ask God for guidance and patience as you work toward your Christ-honoring goals, and the wisdom to avoid treating others the way you have been treated.

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Streams in the Desert – May 10

I had fainted unless… (Ps. 27:13).

“FAINT NOT!”

How great is the temptation at this point! How the soul sinks, the heart grows sick, and the faith staggers under the keen trials and testings which come into our lives in times of special bereavement and suffering. “I cannot bear up any longer, I am fainting under this providence. What shall I do? God tells me not to faint. But what can one do when he is fainting?”

What do you do when you are about to faint physically? You cannot do anything. You cease from your own doings. In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one. You lean hard. You rest. You lie still and trust.

It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction. God’s message to us is not, “Be strong and of good courage,” for He knows our strength and courage have fled away. But it is that sweet word, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he wrote a dear friend: “I am so weak I cannot write; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God’s arms like a little child, and trust.” This wondrous man of God with all his spiritual power came to a place of physical suffering and weakness where he could only lie still and trust.

And that is all God asks of you, His dear child, when you grow faint in the fierce fires of affliction. Do not try to be strong. Just be still and know that He is God, and will sustain you, and bring you through.

“God keeps His choicest cordials for our deepest faintings.”

“Stay firm and let thine heart take courage” (Psa. 27:14)

Stay firm, He has not failed thee
In all the past,
And will He go and leave thee
To sink at last?
Nay, He said He will hide thee
Beneath His wing;
And sweetly there in safety
Thou may sing.
–Selected

Today’s 5/9/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

Reflection (Jeremiah 8:5–7)

Morning Verses

Jeremiah 7:34; 8:5–7,15,22; 9:7,11,16

  • With sorrow, the compassionate God of Judah portrayed the rebellion of his covenant people. He longed for their return so that he could heal and comfort them, but they continued to pursue a course of destructive self-will.
  • The Lord sought to refine the people of Judah, but they would not respond to his frequent prophetic urgings. He announced that he was scattering them among foreign nations.

Evening Verses

Colossians 3:1–17

  • As followers of Jesus, our spiritual life is now hidden with Christ in God in the heavenly places. In our earthly life we are called to live out our new identity with him by putting to death our old selves and walking in the resurrected power of our life in Christ.
  • Because of this new identity, for which God chose us, loved us and made us holy, we can practice compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Taken from Once a Day Morning & Evening

johnpiper

Pleased with His Precepts

I delight to do your will, O my God. (Psalm 40:8)

How does being born of God make the commandments of God a delight rather than a burden?

The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in verse 1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”

Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not make ourselves born again by deciding to believe. God makes us willing to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth.

So when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith,” I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased, rather than put off, by God’s commandments.

Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments, and say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).

Gods story

Genesis 28:10-22

Enraged by Jacob’s deception, Esau plots to kill him. Rebekah warns Jacob, who flees to distant Paddan-aram. Along the way, he has a dream . . .

Personal Connections

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At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
(Genesis 28:13-15)

Reflect

Bethel was sixty miles north of Beersheba, where Jacob left his family. This was where Abraham made one of his first sacrifices to God when he entered the land. Early on, Bethel became an important center for worship; later it was a center of idolatry. The prophet Hosea condemned the evil practices of its people.

God’s covenant promise to Abraham and Isaac was offered to Jacob as well. It was not enough to be Abraham’s grandson; Jacob had to establish his own personal relationship with God.

Was Jacob’s vow a bargain with God? It is possible that he, in his ignorance, thought of God as a servant who would wait on him for a promised tip. More likely, Jacob was not bargaining but pledging his future to God. He may have been saying, in effect, “Because you have blessed me, I will follow you.” Whether Jacob was bargaining or pledging, God blessed him.

Respond

God has no grandchildren; each person must have a personal relationship with him. Even if you have a godly heritage, simply hearing wonderful stories about Christians in your family is not enough. You need to become part of the story yourself (see Galatians 3:6-7). You are a link in your family’s chain of faith. Ask God to show you what you can do to pass on the faith to the next generation.

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Streams in the Desert – May 9

Abraham stood yet before the Lord (Gen. 18:22).

The friend of God can plead with Him for others. Perhaps Abraham’s height of faith and friendship seems beyond our little possibilities. Do not be discouraged, Abraham grew; so may we. He went step by step, not by great leaps.

The man whose faith has been deeply tested and who has come off victorious, is the man to whom supreme tests must come. The finest jewels are most carefully cut and polished; the hottest fires try the most precious metal. Abraham would never have been called the Father of the Faithful if he had not been proved to the uttermost.

Read Genesis, twenty-second chapter: “Take thy son, thine only son, whom thou loves.” See him going with a chastened, wistful, yet humbly obedient heart up Moriah’s height, with the idol of his heart beside him about to be sacrificed at the command of God whom he had faithfully loved and served!

What a rebuke to our questionings of God’s dealings with us! Away with all doubting explanations of this stupendous scene! It was an object lesson for the ages. Angels were looking. Shall this man’s faith stand forever for the strength and help of all God’s people? Shall it be known through him that unfaltering faith will always prove the faithfulness of God?

Yes; and when faith has borne victoriously its uttermost test, the angel of the Lord–who? The Lord Jesus, Jehovah, He in whom “all the promises of God are yea and amen”–spoke to him, saying, “Now I know that thou fears God.” Thou hast trusted me to the uttermost. I will also trust thee; thou shalt ever be My friend, and I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing.

It is always so, and always will be. “They that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
–Selected

It is no small thing to be on terms of friendship with God.

Today’s 5/8/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

Reflection (1 Timothy 6:11–19)

Morning Verses

Jeremiah 38:17–20; 39:6–9

  • King Zedekiah secretly met with Jeremiah to get a clear word from the prophet concerning the imminent invasion by the Babylonians. When Jeremiah urged him to surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, he told the king that his life would be spared and Jerusalem would not be destroyed.
  • Sadly, Zedekiah refused to heed Jeremiah’s counsel because he was more afraid of being harmed by the Jews who had gone over to the Babylonians than he was of disobeying the prophetic words of God.

Evening Verses

1 Timothy 6:6–19

  • The quest for wealth can kill contentment and turn people’s hearts away from the Lord. True wealth is found in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
  • If God has given us much, we must be generous and willing to share with those in need.

Taken from Once a Day Morning & Evening

johnpiper

Don’t Serve God

The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” ad. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will accept no bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world and all that is in it is mine” (Psalm 50:9–12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties.

It’s a command: “Cast all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s medical advice, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

Gods story

Genesis 27:1-40

Isaac has grown old, and the time comes for him to bless his son Esau—but Rebekah has something else in mind.

A Hairy Plot

Read

“Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.”

“But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”

But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!”
(Genesis 27:8-13)

Reflect

When Rebekah learned that Isaac was preparing to bless Esau, she planned to trick him into blessing Jacob instead. Even though God had promised her that Jacob would become the family leader (Genesis 25:23), Rebekah took matters into her own hands. She resorted to doing something wrong to bring about what God had already said would happen. For Rebekah, the end justified the means.

How we react to a moral dilemma often exposes our real character. Frequently we are more worried about getting caught than about doing what is right. Jacob hesitated when he heard Rebekah’s plan—not because it was deceitful but because he was afraid of getting caught.

Although Jacob questioned Rebekah’s plan for the wrong reason, his protest gave Rebekah one last chance to reconsider. But Rebekah had become so wrapped up in her plan that she no longer saw clearly what she was doing. Sin had trapped her and was degrading her character.

If you are worried about getting caught, that’s a good sign that you are probably being less than honest. Let your fear be a warning to do right. Backing out in the middle of doing wrong may bring hurt and disappointment, but it will also bring freedom from sin’s control. Both Jacob and Rebekah paid a huge price for carrying out their deceitful plan.

Respond

No matter how good we think our goals are, we should not attempt to achieve them by doing what is wrong. Would God approve of the methods you are using to accomplish your goals?

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Streams in the Desert – May 8

Walking in the midst of the fire (Daniel 3:25).

The fire did not arrest their motion; they walked in the midst of it. It was one of the streets through which they moved to their destiny. The comfort of Christ’s revelation is not that it teaches emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow.

O my God, teach me, when the shadows have gathered, that I am only in a tunnel. It is enough for me to know that it will be all right some day.

They tell me that I shall stand upon the peaks of Olivet, the heights of resurrection glory. But I want more, O my Father; I want Calvary to lead up to it. I want to know that the shadows of this world are the shades of an avenue the avenue to the house of my Father. Tell me I am only forced to climb because Thy house is on the hill! I shall receive no hurt from sorrow if I shall walk in the midst of the fire.
–George Matheson

‘The road is too rough,’ I said; ‘It is uphill all the way;
No flowers, but thorns instead;
And the skies over head are grey.’
But One took my hand at the entrance dim,
And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

“The cross is too great,’ I cried–
‘More than the back can bear,
So rough and heavy and wide,
And nobody by to care.’
And One stooped softly and touched my hand:

‘I know. I care. And I understand.’

“Then why do we fret and sigh;
Cross-bearers all we go:
But the road ends by-and-by
In the dearest place we know,
And every step in the journey we
May take in the Lord’s own company.

Today’s 5/7/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

God Gives You the Capacity to Be Gentle (Galatians 5:22–23)

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount he told his followers, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). And later in his ministry he characterized himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Many Bible versions use the word meek for the word translated as “gentle” in Matthew 5:5. Our culture often thinks of meek as weak and spineless. Gentle, however, gives a sense of tempered strength. When Jesus angrily cleared the temple, he stayed focused on his goal, and his anger was directed appropriately. Gentleness can be strong when it needs to be.

God promises to bless those who are gentle and humble. That’s just the opposite of what we see in the world. Often those who succeed are wealthy, harsh and willing to step on anyone to get ahead. But in God’s economy those who are gentle will receive everything—the “earth” refers to the future inheritance of God’s kingdom.

When we ask for the fruit of gentleness in our lives, we are praying for an attitude of humility that, while strong, is considerate toward others. As we see in the example of Jesus, gentleness can be tough, disciplined and powerful.

God’s Promise to Me

  • My Spirit grows the fruit of gentleness in your life.
  • Great blessings are in store for those who are strong in their faith and gentle in their relationships with others.

My Prayer to God

Lord, thank you for dealing with your people gently, even though you are at the same time sovereign, supreme, holy and just. I want to be a person of principle, a person of strong faith, who stands firm for you, and yet a person with powerful gentleness.

Taken from Once a Day Bible Promises

johnpiper

Truer Knowledge Brings Greater Joy

And all the people went their way . . . to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Nehemiah 8:12)

The only joy that reflects the worth of God and overflows in God-glorifying love is rooted in the true knowledge of God. And to the degree that our knowledge is small or flawed, our joy will be a poor echo of God’s true excellence.

The experience of Israel in Nehemiah 8:12 is a paradigm of how God-glorifying joy happens in the heart. Ezra had read the word of God to them and the Levites had explained it. And then the people went away “to make great rejoicing.”

Their great rejoicing was because they had understood words.

Most of us have tasted this experience of the heart burning with joy when the word of God was opened to us (Luke 24:32). Twice Jesus said that he taught his disciples for the sake of their joy.

John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 17:13, “These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

And what we mainly see in the word is the Lord himself — offering himself to be known and enjoyed. “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21).

The point is that if our joy is going to reflect the glory of God, then it must flow from true knowledge of how God is glorious. If we are going to enjoy God duly, we must know him truly.

Gods story

Genesis 26:1-11

God reaffirms his covenant with Isaac. Because of a famine in the land, Isaac and Rebekah travel to Gerar.

If Looks Could Kill

Read

When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.” But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.
(Genesis 26:7-8)

Reflect

The Philistines would become some of Israel’s fiercest enemies. The Philistines were one of a number of sea peoples who had migrated from the Aegean Sea and settled in Palestine. They arrived by way of Crete and Cyprus and were mercenaries for Canaanite rulers. These people, living along the southwest coast, were few but ferocious in battle. Although friendly to Isaac, this small group was the forerunner to the nation that would plague Israel during the time of Joshua, the judges, and David. This King Abimelech was not the same Abimelech that Abraham encountered (Genesis 20–21). Abimelech may have been a dynastic title for the Philistine rulers.

Isaac feared that the Philistine men in Gerar would kill him to get to his beautiful wife, Rebekah, so he lied, claiming that Rebekah was his sister. Where did he learn that trick? He may have known about the actions of his father, Abraham (see Genesis 12:10-13 and 20:1-5). And like father, like son. Parents help shape the world’s future by shaping their children’s values. The best way to help children live right is to set a good example for them.

Respond

Your actions are often copied by those closest to you. Consider the example you are setting for your children. What values and morals are you modeling?

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Streams in the Desert – May 7

He spoke a parable unto them… that men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1).

No temptation in the life of intercession is more common than this of failure to persevere. We begin to pray for a certain thing; we put up our petitions for a day, a week, a month; and then, receiving as yet no definite answer, straightway we faint, and cease altogether from prayer concerning it.

This is a deadly fault. It is simply the snare of many beginnings with no completions. It is ruinous in all spheres of life. The man who forms the habit of beginning without finishing has simply formed the habit of failure. The man who begins to pray about a thing and does not pray it through to a successful issue of answer has formed the same habit in prayer. To faint is to fail; then defeat begets disheartenment, and unfaithful in the reality of prayer, which is fatal to all success.

But someone says, “How long shall we pray? Do we not come to a place where we may cease from our petitions and rest the matter in God’s hands?” There is but one answer. Pray until the thing you pray for has actually been granted, or until you have the assurance in your heart that it will be. Only at one of these two places dare we stay our importunity, for prayer is not only a calling upon God, but also a conflict with Satan. And inasmuch as God is using our intercession as a mighty factor of victory in that conflict, He alone, and not we, must decide when we dare cease from our petitioning. So we dare not stay our prayer until the answer itself has come, or until we receive the assurance that it will come.

In the first case we stop because we see. In the other, we stop because we believe, and the faith of our heart is just as sure as the sight of our eyes; for it is faith from, yes, the faith of God, within us.

More and more, as we live the prayer life, shall we come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance, and know when to rest quietly in it, or when to continue our petitioning until we receive it.
–The Practice of Prayer

Tarry at the promise till God meets you there. He always returns by way of His promises.
–Selected

Today’s 5/6/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

God Helps You to Stand Firm (Ephesians 6:13)

A battle is raging—a battle we can’t see. There are powers beyond our senses, beyond what we can see and hear. The Bible tells us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Pretty heavy stuff, huh? But it is true. The battles we wage in our lives are but part of a huge cosmic battle that has been going on since Satan’s fall. This battle will not end until he is destroyed.

In the meantime, God promises that if we wear his armor, we can stand firm. As we pray God’s promises for ourselves or for others, we need to pray for strength in the unseen spiritual battles…

God’s Promise to Me

  • I will provide you with armor so that you can stand firm and resist the enemy in times of evil.

My Prayer to God

Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that there is a spiritual battle being waged, a battle far beyond the scope of my senses. I claim your promise that as I wear the armor you provide, I will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil and still be standing firm after the battle. Thank you for providing this armor.

Taken from Once a Day Bible Promises

johnpiper

Seven Sources of Joy

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. (2 Corinthians 7:4)

What is extraordinary about Paul is how unbelievably durable his joy was when things weren’t going well.

Where did this come from?

First of all it was taught by Jesus: “Blessed are you when men hate you . . . Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven” (Luke 6:22–23). Troubles for Jesus compound your interest in heaven — which last a lot longer than earth.

Second, it comes from the Holy Spirit, not our own efforts or imagination or family upbringing. “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . joy” (Galatians 5:22). “You received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1Thessalonians 1:6).

Third, it comes from belonging to the kingdom of God. “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

Fourth, it comes through faith, that is, from believing God. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). “I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith” (Philippians 1:25).

Fifth, it comes from seeing and knowing Jesus as Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4).

Sixth, it comes from fellow believers who work hard to help us focus on these sources of joy, rather than deceitful circumstances. “We are workers with you for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

Seventh, it comes from the sanctifying effects of tribulations. “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope” (Romans 5:3–4).

If we are not yet like Paul, he calls us to be. “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). And for most of us this is a call to earnest prayer. It is a supernatural life.

Gods story

Genesis 25:27-34

Isaac married Rebekah, who gave birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. After the boys come of age, Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright.

Birthright and Wrong

Read

One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)

“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”

“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”

But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
(Genesis 25:29-33)

Reflect

A birthright was a special honor given to the firstborn son. It included a double portion of the family inheritance along with the honor of one day becoming the family’s leader. The oldest son could sell his birthright or give it away if he chose, but in so doing, he would lose both material goods and his leadership position. By trading his birthright, Esau showed complete disregard for the blessings that would have come his way if he had kept it.

Esau traded the lasting benefits of his birthright for the immediate pleasure of food. Esau exaggerated his hunger. “I’m dying of starvation!” he said. The pressure of the moment distorted his perspective and made his decision seem urgent. He acted on impulse, satisfying his immediate desires without considering the long-range consequences. We can fall into the same trap. When we see something we want, our first impulse is to get it and we can exaggerate its importance in the moment. We can avoid making Esau’s mistake by comparing the short-term satisfaction with the long-range consequences.

We often experience pressures like Esau did. For example, when we feel sexual temptation, a marriage vow may seem unimportant. We might feel such great pressure in one area that nothing else seems to matter and we lose our perspective. Getting through that short, pressure-filled moment is often the most difficult part of overcoming temptation.

Respond

Ask God to help you see life from his perspective and to help you resist making an Esau-like choice.

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Streams in the Desert – May 6

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him (Ps. 25:14).

There are secrets of Providence which God’s dear children may learn. His dealings with them often seem, to the outward eye, dark and terrible. Faith looks deeper and says, “This is God’s secret. You look only on the outside; I can look deeper and see the hidden meaning.”

Sometimes diamonds are done up in rough packages, so that their value cannot be seen. When the Tabernacle was built in the wilderness there was nothing rich in its outside appearance. The costly things were all within, and its outward covering of rough badger skin gave no hint of the valuable things which it contained.

God may send you, dear friends, some costly packages. Do not worry if they are done up in rough wrappings. You may be sure there are treasures of love, and kindness, and wisdom hidden within. If we take what He sends, and trust Him for the goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall learn the meaning of the secrets of Providence.
–A. B. Simpson

Not until each loom is silent,
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the pattern
And explain the reason why
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
For the pattern which He planned.

 

He that is mastered by Christ is the master of every circumstance. Does the circumstance press hard against you? Do not push it away. It is the Potter’s hand. Your mastery will come, not by arresting its progress, but by enduring its discipline, for it is not only shaping you into a vessel of beauty and honor, but it is making your resources available.

Today’s 5/5/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

Christ Is Risen (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Matt Maher, Mia Fields

Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
But fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to him
Who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely you’ve bled for us
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven’s will
No scheme of hell
No scoffer’s crown
No burden great
Can hold you down
In strength you reign
Forever let your church proclaim
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the night
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead
He’s alive! He’s alive!

Behind the Song

Matt Maher finds inspiration for songs in unusual places. One of his friends, a Ukrainian priest, told him about an amazing sermon from the fourth century, and Maher immediately resonated with its message.

“There was a priest named John Chrysostom,” Maher explains. “His nickname was ‘The Golden Tongue’ because he was such a great preacher. One year on Easter, he preached a homily with the message; ‘Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death and redeeming us from the grave.’ ” Maher was so moved by both the original Chrysostom message and the passion of his Ukrainian friend as he told him about it, that he began to explore the concept within the context of a worship song for Easter.

“The whole song is about the cross—the death and the resurrection of Christ,” Maher adds. “Hell thought it had swallowed another victim; just another human being, but it swallowed God Incarnate. So God literally used death to destroy death and that’s something only God can do!”

The song ends by triumphantly proclaiming “He’s alive! He’s alive!” “It’s a refutation of modernism in a way,” Maher admits. “There’s this whole notion in these times that religion is obsolete or God is dead. He is not dead. He’s alive!”

Taken from NIV Worship Together Bible

johnpiper

A Dangerous Motive

Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. (Romans 11:35–36)

When it comes to obedience, gratitude is a dangerous motive. It tends to get expressed in debtor’s terms. For example, “Look how much God has done for you. Shouldn’t you, out of gratitude, do much for him? Or: “You owe God everything that you are and have. What have you done for him in return?”

I have at least three problems with this kind of motivation.

First, it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us. We can’t even begin to pay him back, because Romans 11:35–36 says, “Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? [Answer: Nobody!] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” We can’t pay him back because he already owns all we have to give him.

Secondly, even if we succeeded in paying him back for all his grace to us, we would only succeed in turning grace into a business transaction. If we can pay him back it was not grace. If someone tries to show you a special favor of love by having you over for dinner, and you end the evening by saying that you will pay them back by having them over next week, you nullify their grace and turn it into a trade. God does not like to have his grace nullified. He likes to have it glorified (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

Thirdly, focusing on gratitude as a motive for obedience tends to overlook the crucial importance of having faith in God’s future grace. Gratitude looks back to grace received in the past and feels thankful. Faith looks forward to grace promised in the future and feels hopeful. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1).

This faith in future grace is the motive for obedience that preserves the gracious quality of human obedience. Obedience does not consist in paying God back and thus turning grace into a trade. Obedience comes from trusting in God for more grace — future grace — and thus magnifying the infinite resources of God’s love and power. Faith looks to the promise: “I will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9), and ventures, in obedience, to take the land.

Gods story

Genesis 24:1-67

Sarah dies at age 127, and Abraham is “very old.” His servant Eliezer goes to seek a wife for Isaac.

Water for Camels

Read

Then he [Eliezer] loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor had settled. He made the camels kneel beside a well just outside the town. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.

“O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham. See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’—let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.”
(Genesis 24:10-14)

Reflect

The well, the chief source of water for an entire village, was usually located outside town along the main road. Many people had to walk a mile or more for their water. They could use only what they could carry home. Farmers and shepherds would come from nearby fields to draw water for their animals. The well was a good place to meet new friends or to chat with old ones. Rebekah would have visited the well twice daily to draw water for her family.

Was it right for Abraham’s servant to ask God for such a specific sign? The sign he requested was only slightly out of the ordinary. The hospitality of the day required women at the well to offer water to weary travelers but not to their animals. Eliezer was simply asking God to show him a woman with an attitude of service—someone who would go beyond the expected. An offer to water his camels would indicate that kind of character. Eliezer did not ask for a woman with good looks or wealth. He knew the importance of finding a woman with the right heart, and he asked God to help him with this task.

Respond

Obviously Eliezer (see Genesis 15:2) had learned much about faith and about God from his master, Abraham. What are your family members, friends, and associates learning about God from watching you? Be like Abraham, setting an example of dependent faith. And be like Eliezer, asking God for guidance before any venture.

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Streams in the Desert – May 5

When they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments… and they were smitten (2 Chron. 20:22).

Oh, that we could reason less about our troubles, and sing and praise more! There are thousands of things that we wear as shackles which we might use as instruments with music in them, if we only knew how. Those men that ponder, and meditate, and weigh the affairs of life, and study the mysterious developments of God’s providence, and wonder why they should be burdened and thwarted and hampered–how different and how much more joyful would be their lives, if, instead of forever indulging in self-revolving and inward thinking, they would take their experiences, day by day, and lift them up, and praise God for them.

We can sing our cares away easier than we can reason them away. Sing in the morning. The birds are the earliest to sing, and birds are more without care than anything else that I know of. Sing at evening. Singing is the last thing that robins do. When they have done their daily work; when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, then on a topmost twig, they sing one song of praise.

Oh, that we might sing morning and evening, and let song touch song all the way through.
–Selected

Don’t let the song go out of your life
Though it chance sometimes to flow
In a minor strain; it will blend again
With the major tone you know.

 

What though shadows rise to obscure life’s skies,
And hide for a time the sun,
The sooner they’ll lift and reveal the rift,
If you let the melody run.

 

Don’t let the song go out of your life;
Though the voice may have lost its trill,
Though the tremulous note may die in your throat,
Let it sing in your spirit still.

 

Don’t let the song go out of your life;
Let it ring in the soul while here;
And when you go hence, ’twill follow you thence,
And live on in another sphere.

Today’s 5/4/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

The Distorter (Ephesians 4:25–32)

When God’s people, his Beloved, obeyed the Archnemesis in the beginning of this great story, all of God’s creation fell. We still live in a broken world today.

Read

While the world we live in is broken, it hasn’t been destroyed. It’s broken as in “not fixed.” Fingerprints of the great Hero can still be seen. And as he works in and through his Beloved, his ways and his kingdom spread.

Jesus told us to ask God to spread his kingdom further (see Matthew 6:10). But Satan, the great Corrupter, is out to stop every bit of it.

Think

Although he is pure evil, Satan has to fight within his limitations. He’s not a creator. If he was, he could create a slew of new beings to battle against the Beloved. But he can’t create like God can. He can only distort. He corrupted the angels that joined his rebellion—he could only steal from what God had already created. And still now, he and his fallen angel followers can only interfere with what exists. Like a fungus or a parasite, they’ll take something good and infect it.

The Archnemesis seeks to break up strong families and good relationships, doing whatever it takes to tear them down.

He corrupts sexuality. Since it’s one of God’s beautiful and creative inventions for marriage, Satan has attacked it fervently—promoting it as something everyone should do, at any time, without any rules.

The Enemy goes after whatever God says is good. And as we buy into his corruptions, we put on his chains.

Live

Since the Archnemesis is mainly a distorter, you can know that the target of his attacks is something good. If it’s good and of the Hero, that something is worth fighting for. Pay attention to the world around you. Look for the Archnemesis’s attacks. Find out what he’s after, and defend it.

Taken from NIV The Great Rescue

johnpiper

How to Ask Forgiveness

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9)

I recall hearing one of my professors in seminary say that one of the best tests of a person’s theology was the effect it has on one’s prayers.

This struck me as true because of what was happening in my own life. Noël and I had just been married and we were making it our practice to pray together each evening. I noticed that during the biblical courses which were shaping my theology most profoundly, my prayers were changing dramatically.

Probably the most significant change in those days was that I was learning to make my case before God on the ground of his glory. Beginning with “Hallowed be Thy name,” and ending with “In Jesus’ name” meant that the glory of God’s name was the goal and the ground of everything I prayed.

And what a strength came into my life when I learned that praying for forgiveness should be based not only on an appeal to God’s mercy, but also on an appeal to his justice in crediting the worth of his Son’s obedience. “God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins” (1 John 1:9).

In the New Testament, the basis of all forgiveness of sins is revealed more clearly than it was in the Old Testament, but the basis in God’s commitment to his name does not change.

Paul teaches that the death of Christ demonstrated the righteousness of God in passing over sins and vindicated God’s justice in justifying the ungodly who bank on Jesus and not themselves (Romans 3:25–26).

In other words, Christ died once for all to clear the name of God in what looks like a gross miscarriage of justice — the acquittal of sinners simply for Jesus’ sake. But Jesus died in such a way that forgiveness “for Jesus’ sake” is the same as forgiveness “for the sake of God’s name.”

Gods story

Genesis 22:1-24

Isaac, the promised miracle child, is born. But then, a few years later, God tests Abraham’s faith.

Crucial Test

Read

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
(Genesis 22:9-13)

Reflect

Pagan nations practiced human sacrifice, but God condemned this as a terrible sin (Leviticus 20:1-5). So why did God ask Abraham to perform human sacrifice? God was testing Abraham. God did not want Isaac to die, but he wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in his heart so it would be clear that Abraham loved God more than he loved his promised and long-awaited son. The purpose of testing is to strengthen our character and deepen our commitment to God and his perfect timing.

Imagine what Abraham must have felt as he walked slowly up the mountain with his beloved son. And then as he built the altar with Isaac and laid the wood on it. And finally, as he tied Isaac to the altar and reached for his knife. What a test! But he passed; and through this difficult experience, Abraham strengthened his commitment to obey God. He also learned about God’s ability to provide. He learned to trust God more.

The ram offered on the altar as a substitute for Isaac parallels Christ, who was offered on the cross as a substitute for us. Whereas God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, God did not spare his own Son, Jesus, from dying on the cross. If Jesus had lived, the rest of humankind would have died instead. But God sent his only Son to die for us so that we could be spared from eternal death and instead receive eternal life (John 3:16).

Respond

Letting go of what we deeply love is extremely difficult. What could be more proper than to love your only child? Yet when we do give to God what he asks, he returns to us far more than we could dream. The spiritual benefits of his blessings far outweigh our sacrifices. Have you withheld your love, your children, or your time from him? Trust him to provide.

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Streams in the Desert – May 4

He makes sore, and binds up: he wounds and his hands make whole (Job 5:18).

The Ministry of Great Sorrow

As we pass beneath the hills which have been shaken by the earthquake and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed those of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their fallen rocks, the water lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among the shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and its church tower, white through the storm twilight, proclaims a renewed appeal to His protection “in whose hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is his also.”
–Ruskin

God ploughed one day with an earthquake,
And drove His furrows deep!
The huddling plains upstarted,
The hills were all aleap!

But that is the mountains’ secret,
Age-hidden in their breast;
“God’s peace is everlasting,”
Are the dream-words of their rest.

He made them the haunts of beauty,
The home elect of His grace;
He spreadeth His mornings upon them,
His sunsets light their face.

His winds bring messages to them
Wild storm-news from the main;
They sing it down the valleys
In the love-song of the rain.

They are nurseries for young rivers,
Nests for His flying cloud,
Homesteads for new-born races,
Masterful, free, and proud.

The people of tired cities
Come up to their shrines and pray;
God freshens again within them,
As He passes by all day.

And lo, I have caught their secret!
The beauty deeper than all!
This faith–that life’s hard moments,
When the jarring sorrows befall,

Are but God ploughing His mountains;
And those mountains yet shall be
The source of His grace and freshness,
And His peace everlasting to me.
–William C. Gannett

Today’s 5/3/2015 Daily Devotionals

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365 devotional

The Fight Within (Romans 6:15–23)

In his book of semi-philosophical and satirical stories titled Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes: “There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. But then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully.”

Isn’t that like most of us? We figure it’s easier to pay the bully than to learn how to defeat him. Sadly, in the same way, we often continue to live in sin rather than to wage war to destroy it. We allow sin to reign rather than dethroning it. We succumb to defeat rather than learning the countermeasures that lead to victory. Before we beat ourselves up too much, we can find comfort in the apostle Paul’s confession that he too struggled with sin. He recognized that he couldn’t escape being a sinner. Yet because sin ultimately leads to death, if he didn’t deal with it his sin would destroy him. He had a fight on his hands, one he waged daily.

How can we win the fight and defeat the power of sin? Honestly, we can’t. We possess neither the strength nor the moral completeness to win such a monumental battle. For victory we must, like Paul, rely solely on Jesus Christ. His sacrifice on the cross, bearing the sins of all human beings, provides our only hope for dethroning the power of sin. Sin is too serious to face alone. Victory over sin requires calling on Jesus, the Victor, all day and every day.

Taken from NIV Men’s Devotional Bible

johnpiper

God Demonstrates His Love

God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Notice that “demonstrates” is present tense and “died” is past tense.

The present tense implies that this demonstrating is an ongoing act that keeps happening in today’s present and tomorrow’s present.

The past tense “died” implies that the death of Christ happened once for all and will not be repeated. “Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Why did Paul use the present tense (“God demonstrates”)? I would have expected Paul to say, “God demonstrated (past tense) his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Was not the death of Christ the demonstration of God’s love? And did not that demonstration happen in the past?

I think the clue is given a few verses earlier. Paul has just said that “tribulations work patient endurance, and patient endurance works proven character, and proven character works hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (vv. 3–5).

In other words, the goal of everything God takes us through is hope. He wants us to feel unwaveringly hopeful through all tribulations.

But how can we?

Paul answers in the next line: “Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v. 5). God’s love “has been poured out in our hearts.” The tense of this verb means that God’s love was poured out in our hearts in the past (at our conversion) and is still present and active.

God did demonstrate his love for us in giving his own Son to die once for all in the past for our sins (v. 8). But he also knows that this past love must be experienced as a present reality (today and tomorrow) if we are to have patience and character and hope.

Therefore he not only demonstrated it on Calvary, he goes on demonstrating it now by the Spirit. He does this by opening the eyes of our hearts to “taste and see” the glory of the cross and the guarantee that it gives that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

Gods story

Genesis 20:1-18

Abraham experiences déjà vu when he introduces his beautiful wife to the local king. In a situation similar to his experience in Egypt, Abraham is faced with the same decision as before.

Stuck in a Rut

Read

Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
Genesis 20:1-2

Reflect

Although Abraham is one of our heroes of faith, even he repeated the same mistakes. Abraham had used this lie to protect himself before (Genesis 12:11-13). By giving in to this temptation again, he risked creating a pattern. Sin is often a rut created over time. He risked making a habit of lying whenever he suspected his life was in danger. Abraham had his own selfish priorities at heart.

No matter how much we love God, some ruts are especially difficult to resist. These are worn into our hearts with a lifetime of behavior. As we struggle with these sins, we can be encouraged to know that God is breaking up the ground of our hearts just as he did for Abraham (see Jeremiah 4:3-4). But this can be painful. It certainly was for Abraham.

God later tested Abraham when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac. God did not want to watch Abraham fail. He wanted to deepen Abraham’s capacity to obey and thus to develop his character. God wanted to rearrange Abraham’s priorities.

Respond

What situation is requiring you to have faith right now? When we are tested, we can complain about the pain, or we can rejoice that God is at work in our hearts. Are you willing to believe that God is at work?

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Streams in the Desert – May 3

And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (Joel 2:32).

Why do not I call on His name? Why do I run to this neighbor and that when God is so near and will hear my faintest call? Why do I sit down and devise schemes and invent plans? Why not at once roll myself and my burden upon the Lord?

Straightforward is the best runner–why do not I run at once to the living God? In vain shall I look for “deliverance anywhere else; but with God I shall find it; for here I have His royal shall to make it sure. I need not ask whether I may call on Him or not, for that word “Whosoever” is a very wide and comprehensive one. Whosoever means me, for it means anybody and everybody who calls upon God. I will therefore follow the leading of the text, and at once call upon the glorious Lord who has made so large a promise.

My case is urgent, and I do not see how I am to be delivered; but this is no business of mine. He who makes the promise will find ways and means of keeping it. It is mine to obey His commands; it is not mine to direct His counsels. I am His servant, not His solicitor. I call upon Him, and He will deliver.
–C. H. Spurgeon

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