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God’s Story… For My Life – Facing the Fickle

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Gods story

Facing the Fickle

Read Acts 14:8-20

When Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.

Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
(Acts 14:14-20)

Reflect

Only days after the people in Lystra had thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods and wanted to offer sacrifices to them, they stoned Paul and left him for dead. That’s human nature. Jesus understood how fickle crowds can be (John 2:24-25).

Paul and Barnabas were persistent in their preaching of the Good News, considering the cost to themselves to be nothing in comparison with obedience to Christ. They had just narrowly escaped being stoned in Iconium (Acts 14:1-7), but Jews from Antioch and Iconium tracked Paul down, stoned him, and left him for dead. But Paul got up and went back into the city to preach the Good News. That’s true commitment! Being a disciple of Christ calls for total commitment—whether times are good or bad. As Christians, we no longer belong to ourselves but to our Lord, for whom we are called to suffer.

Respond

When people approve of us, we feel good, but that should never cloud our thinking or affect our decisions. In what ways, if any, are you trying to live up to someone’s expectations? How will you follow Paul and Barnabas’s example of trust in God? What commitment level does your life reflect: total or partial?

God’s Story… For My Life -A Useful Confrontation

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Gods story

A Useful Confrontation

Read Acts 11:1-18

Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. “I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame animals and wild animals, reptiles, and birds. And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’

“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.”
(Acts 11:1-10)

Reflect

When Peter brought the news of Cornelius’s conversion back to Jerusalem, the believers were shocked that Peter had eaten with Gentiles. After they heard the whole story, however, they praised God (Acts 11:18). Most Jewish believers thought that God offered salvation only to the Jews because God had given his law to them (Exodus 19–20). A group in Jerusalem believed that Gentiles could be saved, but only if they followed all the Jewish laws and traditions—in essence, if they first became Jews before becoming Christians. Both groups were mistaken. God chose the Jews and taught them his laws so they could bring the message of salvation to all people (see Genesis 12:3; Psalm 22:27; Isaiah 42:4; 49:6; 56:3-7; 60:1-3; Jeremiah 16:19-21; Zechariah 2:11).

God had promised throughout Scripture that he would reach the nations. This promise became very specific in Malachi’s statement: “But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night” (Malachi 1:11). But this was an extremely difficult truth for the Jewish believers to accept.

Respond

The reactions of the Jewish believers teach us how to handle disagreements with other Christians. How do you usually handle a disagreement? Before judging the behavior of fellow believers, hear them out. The Holy Spirit may have something important to teach you.

Streams in the Desert – January 9

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For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

I kept for nearly a year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the perfect insect forces its way, so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibers having taken place. The great disproportion between the means of egress and the size of the imprisoned insect makes one wonder how the exit is ever accomplished at all — and it never is without great labor and difficulty. It is supposed that the pressure to which the moth’s body is subjected in passing through such a narrow opening is a provision of nature for forcing the juices into the vessels of the wings, these being less developed at the period of emerging from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.

I happened to witness the first efforts of my imprisoned moth to escape from its long confinement. During a whole forenoon, from time to time, I watched it patiently striving and struggling to get out. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. Very probably the confining fibers were drier and less elastic than if the cocoon had been left all winter on its native heather, as nature meant it to be. At all events I thought I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, and I resolved to give it a helping hand. With the point of my scissors I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just a very little easier, and lo! immediately, and with perfect case, out crawled my moth dragging a huge swollen body and little shriveled wings. In vain I watched to see that marvelous process of expansion in which these silently and swiftly develop before one’s eyes; and as I traced the exquisite spots and markings of divers colors which were all there in miniature, I longed to see these assume their due proportions and the creature to appear in all its perfect beauty, as it is, in truth, one of the loveliest of its kind. But I looked in vain. My false tenderness had proved its ruin. It never was anything but a stunted abortion, crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying through the air on rainbow wings.

I have thought of it often, often, when watching with pitiful eyes those who were struggling with sorrow, suffering, and distress; and I would fain cut short the discipline and give deliverance. Short-sighted man! How know I that one of these pangs or groans could be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks the perfection of its object does not weakly shrink from present, transient suffering. Our Father’s love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakers of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation.
–Tract

Streams in the Desert – January 8

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I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing (Ezekiel 34:26).

What is your season today? Are you experiencing a season of drought? If so then it is the season for showers. Are you going through a season of great heaviness with dark clouds? Then that too is the season for showers. “Your strength will equal your days” (Deut. 33:25). “I will send… showers of blessing.” Notice that the word ‘showers’ is plural.

God will send all kinds of blessings. And all His blessings go together like links in a golden chain. If He gives you saving grace, He will also give you comforting grace. God will send “showers of blessings.” Look up today, you who are dried and withered plants. Open your leaves and flowers and receive God’s heavenly watering.
–Charles H. Spurgeon

Let but your heart become a valley low,
And God will rain on it till it will overflow.

You, O Lord, can transform my thorn into a flower. And I do want my thorn transformed into a flower. Job received sunshine after the rain, but was the rain all wasted? Job wants to know, and I want to know, if the rain is related to the sunshine. Only You can tell me – Your cross can tell me. You have crowned Your sorrow. Let this be my crown, O Lord. I will only triumph in You once I have learned the radiance of the rain.
–George Matheson

The fruitful life seeks rain as well as sunshine.

The landscape, brown and dry beneath the sun,
Needs but the cloud to life it into life;
The dews may dampen the tree and flower,
But it requires the cloud-distilled shower
To bring rich greenness to the lifeless life.
Ah, how like this, the landscape of a life:
Dews of trial fall like incense, rich and sweet;
But meaning little in the crystal tray —
Like moths of night, dews lift at break of day
And fleeting impressions leave, like lips that meet.
But clouds of trials, bearing burdens rare,
Leave in the soul, a moisture settled deep:
Life stirs by the powerful law of God;
And where before the thirsty camel trod,
There richest beauties to life’s landscape leap.
Then read you in each cloud that comes to you
The words of Paul, in letters large and clear:
So will those clouds your soul with blessing feed,
And with a constant trust as you do read,
All things together work for good. Fret not, nor fear!

God’s Story… For My Life – The Power of a Changed Life

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Gods story

The Power of a Changed Life

Read Acts 9:19b-31

Immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”

Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
(Acts 9:20-27)

Reflect

Immediately after receiving his sight and spending some time with the believers in Damascus, Saul went to the synagogue to tell the Jews about Jesus Christ. Some Christians counsel new believers to wait until they are thoroughly grounded in their faith before attempting to share the gospel. Saul took time alone to learn about Jesus before beginning his worldwide ministry, but he did not wait to witness.

Saul’s arguments were powerful because he was a brilliant scholar. But what was more convincing was his changed life. People knew that what he taught was real because they could see the evidence in the way he lived.

Respond

Although we should not rush into a ministry unprepared, we do not need to wait before telling others what has happened to us. It is important to know what the Bible teaches and how to defend the faith, but your words should be backed up with a changed life. Take time to study the Word each day.

DIGGING DEEPER – K-love – You Deserve a Fresh Start

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A FRESH START TO A NEW YEAR by Jeff Schreve

 

The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24

Have I ever told you how bad of a golfer I am? Well, it is true. I am inconsistent off the tee box, can’t chip to save my life, and putt like Herman Munster. That mixture of problems typically results in bad scores. Sometimes I just give myself an “F” for “fun” on the scorecard.

Recently, I was playing golf with a friend. It was a typical day for me on the course, a few good shots and lots more bad shots. After we made the turn for the final nine holes something happened, I started to play better! It was like a scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I am sure my friend was wondering, “Who are you and what have you done with Jeff Schreve!” I was on fire!

We got to the last hole. If I shot par on that hole, I would have finished the back nine with a 40, my best score ever for nine holes. Unfortunately, as I stepped to the tee box, the body snatcher left me. The old Jeff Schreve was back, and it wasn’t pretty. I hit tree after tree on my way to a quadruple boogie. UGH! You know what I needed on Hole 18? A do over! I needed my friend to say, “Jeff, that was a bad hole for you. Let’s not count it. Let’s play it again! You need a fresh start to this hole.”

NEW YEAR’S IS GOD’S WAY OF SAYING TO YOU, HERE IS A FRESH START!

My love is new for you to embrace. My compassion is fresh for you to experience, and My faithfulness is great and will never fail you.” How cool is that!?

Do you need a fresh start? Was 2014 a tough year? Did things happen that really messed you up? Did you make some bad decisions that really cost you? Did you get a quadruple boogie on the last hole, so to speak?

Don’t despair! Don’t throw in the towel and quit! God still loves you, and He still has a wonderful plan for you! You can have a “do over” with the Lord.

Listen, my friend, the past is history. You cannot change it, but you can surely learn from it and move forward. Accept the Lord’s love, compassion and faithfulness. Those things from God are not just for other people, THEY ARE FOR YOU TOO!

2015 is going to be a great year IF, IF, IF you will live life with your eyes on Jesus, walking by faith and not by your feelings. What God says IS TRUE! Take Him at His Word! Tee up again, and replay Hole 18. He wants you to. And this time, the results are going to be so much better! Happy New Year!

 

 

God’s Story… For My Life – Sudden Death

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Gods story

Sudden Death

Read Acts 5:1-11

Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”

“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”

And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”

Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
(Acts 5:3-10)

Reflect

Even after the Holy Spirit had come, the believers were not immune to Satan’s temptations. Although Satan was defeated by Christ at the cross, he was still actively trying to make the believers stumble—as he does today (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8). Satan’s overthrow is inevitable, but it will not occur until the last days, when Christ returns to judge the world (Revelation 20:10).

The sin Ananias and Sapphira committed was not stinginess or holding back part of the money—it was their choice whether or not to sell the land and how much to give. Their sin was lying to God and God’s people—saying they gave the whole amount but holding back some for themselves and trying to make themselves appear more generous than they really were. This act was judged harshly because dishonesty, greed, and covetousness are destructive in a church, preventing the Holy Spirit from working effectively.

Respond

All lying is bad, but when we try to deceive God and his people about our relationship with him, we destroy our testimony about Christ. Be open and honest with God and with others, even about times of doubt. Admit your need for God’s mercy.

Streams in the Desert – January 4

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Jesus saith unto him, “Go thy way; thy son lives. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way” (John 4:50).

When you pray, believe (Mark 11:24).

When there is a matter that requires definite prayer, pray till you believe God, until with unfeigned lips you can thank Him for the answer. If the answer still tarries outwardly, do not pray for it in such a way that it is evident that you are not definitely believing for it. Such a prayer in place of being a help will be a hindrance; and when you are finished praying, you will find that your faith has weakened or has entirely gone. The urgency that you felt to offer this kind of prayer is clearly from self and Satan. It may not be wrong to mention the matter in question to the Lord again, if He is keeping you waiting, but be sure you do so in such a way that it implies faith.

Do not pray yourself out of faith. You may tell Him that you are waiting and that you are still believing Him and therefore praise Him for the answer. There is nothing that so fully clinches faith as to be so sure of the answer that you can thank God for it. Prayers that pray us out of faith deny both God’s promise in His Word and also His whisper “Yes,” that He gave us in our hearts. Such prayers are but the expression of the unrest of one’s heart, and unrest implies unbelief in reference to the answer to prayer. “For we which have believed do enter into rest” (Heb. 4:3).

This prayer that prays ourselves out of faith frequently arises from centering our thoughts on the difficulty rather than on God’s promise. Abraham “considered not his own body,” “he staggered not at the promise of God” (Rom. 4:19, 20). May we watch and pray that we enter not into temptation of praying ourselves out of faith.
–C. H. P.

Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His Word.
–Christmas Evans

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
–George Mueller

You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings. God gives us the promises in a quiet hour; God seals our covenants with great and gracious words, then He steps back and waits to see how much we believe; then He lets the tempter come, and the test seems to contradict all that He has spoken. It is then that faith wins its crown. That is the time to look up through the storm, and among the trembling, frightened seamen cry, “I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me.”

Believe and trust; through stars and suns,
Through life and death, through soul and sense,
His wise, paternal purpose runs;
The darkness of His Providence
Is starlit with Divine intents.

God’s Story… For My Life – Boldly Go!

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Boldly Go

Read Acts 4:23-31

When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, ‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

“In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
(Acts 4:24-31)

Reflect

The time of persecution had come for the disciples as a result of their bold actions for the cause of Christ. Notice how the believers prayed in response. First, they praised God. Second, they told God their specific problem and asked for his help. They did not ask God to remove the problem, but to help them deal with it. This is a model for us to follow when we pray. We may ask God to remove our problems, and he may choose to do so. But we must recognize that often he will leave the problem in place and give us the strength and courage to deal with it.

Boldness is not reckless impulsiveness. Boldness requires courage to press on through our fears and do what we know is right. How can we be bolder? Like the disciples, we need to pray with others for that courage.

Respond

To gain boldness, you can (1) pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to give you courage, (2) look for opportunities in your family and neighborhood to talk about Christ, (3) realize that rejection, social discomfort, and embarrassment could be the result, and (4) start where you are by being bolder in small ways.

Streams in the Desert – January 3

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According to What They Can Endure

I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goes before me and the children be able to endure (Genesis 33:14).

What a beautiful picture of Jacob’s thoughtfulness for the cattle and the children! He would not allow them to be over driven even for one day. He would not lead on according to what a strong man like Esau could do and expected them to do, but only according to what they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day; and he made that his only consideration in arranging the marches. He had gone the same wilderness journey years before, and knew all about its roughness and heat and length, by personal experience. And so he said, “I will lead on softly.” “For you have not passed this way before” (Josh.3:4.).

We have not passed this way before, but the Lord Jesus has. It is all untrodden and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all by personal experience. The steep bits that take away our breath, the stony bits that make our feet ache so, the hot shadeless stretches that make us feel so exhausted, the rushing rivers that we have to pass through — Jesus has gone through it all before us. “He was wearied with his journey.” Not some, but all the many waters went over Him, and yet did not quench His love. He was made a perfect Leader by the things which He suffered. “He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of His leading. He is remembering all the time; and not one step will He make you take beyond what your foot is able to endure. Never mind if you think it will not be able for the step that seems to come next; either He will so strengthen it that it shall be able, or He will call a sudden halt, and you shall not have to take it at all.
–Frances Ridley Havergal

In “pastures green”? Not always; sometimes He
Who knows best, in kindness leads me
In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.
So, whether on the hill-tops high and fair
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where
The shadows lie, what matter? He is there.
–Barry