God's Compass
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Posted:Sep 15, 2015 4:55 am
Last Updated:Sep 16, 2015 4:49 am 19309 Views
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Read: Psalm 119:105-112
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 22–24; 2 Corinthians 8
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105
During World War II, small compasses saved the lives of 27 sailors 300 miles off the coast of North Carolina. Waldemar Semenov, a retired merchant seaman, was serving as a junior engineer aboard the SS Alcoa Guide when a German submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship. The ship was hit, caught fire, and began to sink. Semenov and his crew lowered compass-equipped lifeboats into the water and used the compasses to guide them toward the shipping lanes closer to shore. After three days, the men were rescued.
The psalmist reminded God’s people that His Word was a trustworthy “compass.” He likened it to a lamp. In that day, the flickering light cast by an olive oil lamp was only bright enough to show a traveler his next step. To the psalmist, God’s Word was such a lamp, providing enough light to illuminate the path for those pursuing God (Ps. 119:105). When the psalmist was wandering in the dark on a chaotic path of life, he believed that God, through the guidance of His Word, would provide direction.
When we lose our bearings in life, we can trust our God who gives His trustworthy Word as our compass, using it to lead us into deeper fellowship with Him.
Heavenly Father, it is difficult to navigate life. I drift sometimes, but I will trust in You. Lead me and guide me by the faithfulness and reliability of Your Word.
God has given us His Word to help us know and follow Him.
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Words And Actions
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Posted:Sep 14, 2015 4:53 am
Last Updated:Sep 15, 2015 4:57 am 19180 Views
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Read: Matthew 21:28-32
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 19–21; 2 Corinthians 7
Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
The email from the student in my college writing class expressed urgency. It was the end of the semester, and he realized he needed a better grade to participate in sports. What could he do? He had missed some assignments, so I gave him two days to complete those papers and improve his grade. His response: “Thank you. I’ll do it.”
Two days—and the deadline—passed, and no papers appeared. He didn’t back up his words with action.
Jesus told about a young man who did something similar. The boy’s dad asked him to do some work in the vineyard. The said, “I will, sir” (Matt. 21:30). But he was all talk and no action.
In commenting on this parable, Matthew Henry concluded: “Buds and blossoms are not fruit.” The buds and blossoms of our words, which breed anticipation of what we might do, are empty without the fruit of our follow-through. Jesus’ main application was to religious leaders who spoke of obedience yet refused to follow through with repentance. But the words apply to us as well. It is in following God “with actions and in truth”
1 John 3:18—not in making empty promises—that we honor our Lord and Savior.
Our actions in obeying God show Him more love, honor, and praise than any empty words we might say to try to appear good.
Dear Father, help me to follow through on my promises to You and to all who depend on me. Especially help me to do Your will and not just talk about it.
Words are the blossoms, action the fruit.
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IN THE GARDEN
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Posted:Sep 11, 2015 5:54 am
Last Updated:Sep 14, 2015 4:53 am 18946 Views
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Read: Matthew 26:36-42
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 10–12; 2 Corinthians 4
My Father, . . . may your will be done. Matthew 26:42
My forefathers were pioneers in Michigan. They cleared the land, planted crops, and cultivated gardens to raise food for their families. This agrarian bent has been passed down through the generations. My dad grew up on a Michigan farm and loved gardening, which may explain why I love gardening and the smell of fertile soil. Cultivating plants that bear beautiful flowers and tending roses that fragrantly grace our yard with beauty are enjoyable pastimes for me. If it weren’t for the weeds it would be wonderful!
When I have to wrestle with the weeds, I am reminded of the garden of Eden; it was a perfect garden until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and thorns and thistles became a reality for them and every gardener since then (Gen. 3:17-18.
The Bible also mentions another garden—the garden of Gethsemane where Christ, in deep distress, pleaded with His Father to find another way to reverse sin’s consequences that were born in Eden. In Gethsemane, Jesus surrendered to His Father by uttering words of full obedience in the face of great pain: “Your will be done” (Matt. 26:42).
Because Jesus surrendered in that garden, we now harvest the benefits of His amazing grace. May this lead us to surrender to His weeding of sin from our lives.
Lord, thank You for the amazing price You paid to free me from sin. May the reality of the victory You won encourage me to reject the sin that entangles my ability to be fruitful for You.
Spiritual growth occurs when faith is cultivated.
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Holding Me Up
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Posted:Sep 10, 2015 3:33 am
Last Updated:Sep 10, 2015 3:33 am 18834 Views
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Read: Psalm 34:1-7
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 8–9; 2 Corinthians 3
I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13
After I no longer went on family road trips with my parents, it became a rare occasion to visit my grandparents who lived hundreds of miles away from us. So one year, I decided to fly to visit them in the small town of Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, for a long weekend. As we drove to the airport for my return flight, Grandma, who had never flown, began to express her fears to me: “That was such a small plane you flew on . . . . There’s nothing really holding you up there, is there? . . . I would be so afraid to go up that high.”
By the time I boarded the small aircraft, I was as fearful as the first
I had flown. What exactly is holding up this plane, anyway?
Irrational fears, or even legitimate ones, don’t need to terrify us. David lived as a fugitive, afraid of King Saul who relentlessly pursued him because he was jealous of David’s popularity with the people. David found true solace and comfort only in his relationship with God. In
Psalm 34 he wrote: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears”
(v. 4).
Our Father in heaven is all-wise and all-loving. When fear starts to overwhelm us, we need to stop and remember that He is our God and He will always hold us up.
My fears sometimes overwhelm me, Father. Yet I know that You are here with me. May Your perfect love cast out my fear and still my troubled heart!
When we believe that God is good, we can learn to release our fears.
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A Fragrance And A Letter
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Posted:Sep 9, 2015 6:15 am
Last Updated:Sep 9, 2015 6:16 am 18624 Views
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Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14–3:3 |
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 6–7; 2 Corinthians 2
We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:15
Every time I get close to a rosebush or a bouquet of flowers, I’m unable to resist the temptation to pull a flower toward my nose to savor the fragrance. The sweet aroma lifts up my heart and triggers good feelings within me.
Writing to the Christians in Corinth centuries ago, the apostle Paul says that because we belong to Christ, God “uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14). Through His strength we can live a victorious life, exchanging our selfishness for His love and kindness and proclaiming the goodness of His salvation. When we do this, we are indeed a sweet fragrance to God.
Paul then switches to a second image, describing Christians as a “letter from Christ” (3:3). The letter of our lives is not written with ordinary ink, but by the Spirit of God. God changes us by writing His Word on our hearts for others to read.
Both word pictures encourage us to allow the beauty of Christ to be seen in us so we can point people to Him. He is the One who, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:2, “loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Lord, let Your splendor fill my life, that I may draw people to You. Help me walk in the way that spreads the fragrance of Your love to others.
Our actions speak louder than our words.
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God's Plan
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Posted:Sep 8, 2015 7:57 am
Last Updated:Apr 25, 2024 3:52 am 18605 Views
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Read: Joshua 5:13–6:2
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 3–5; 2 Corinthians 1
What do you want your servant to do? Joshua 5:14
An army officer may have an overall plan, but before each battle he has to receive and give out new instructions. Joshua, a leader of the Israelites, had to learn this lesson. After God’s people spent 40 years in the wilderness, God chose Joshua to lead them into the land He had promised to them.
The first stronghold they faced was the city of Jericho. Before the battle, Joshua saw the “commander of the Lord’s army” (probably the Lord Himself) standing opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. Joshua fell on his face and worshiped. In other words, he recognized God’s greatness and his own smallness. Then he asked, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (Josh. 5:14). Joshua experienced victory at Jericho because he followed the Lord’s instructions.
Recognizing God's greatness & our own smallness makes us more dependent on Him.
On another occasion, however, Joshua and his people “did not inquire of the Lord” (9:14). As a result, they were deceived into making a peace treaty with the people of Gibeon, enemies in the land of Canaan. This displeased the Lord (vv. 3-26).
We too are dependent on the Lord as we face life’s struggles. He longs for us to come near to Him today in humility. And He’ll be there again for us tomorrow.
In what area do you need God’s guidance today? Ask God to lead the way.
Spiritual victory comes to those who humble themselves and seek God’s will.
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Ripples Of Hope
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Posted:Sep 7, 2015 2:19 am
Last Updated:Sep 8, 2015 7:58 am 18521 Views
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Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 1–2; 1 Corinthians 16
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3
In 1966, U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy made an influential visit to South Africa. There he offered words of hope to opponents of apartheid in his famous “Ripple of Hope” speech at the University of Cape Town. In his speech, he declared, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
At times in this world, hope seems scarce. Yet there is an ultimate hope readily available for the follower of Christ. Peter wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
Jesus can infuse #hope into the most hopeless of situations.
Through the certainty of Christ’s resurrection, the of God has a hope that is more than a ripple. It is an overwhelming current of confidence in the faithfulness of the One who conquered death for us. Jesus, in His victory over death—our greatest enemy—can infuse hope into the most hopeless of situations.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
In Christ the hopeless find hope.
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People Power
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Posted:Sep 4, 2015 4:41 am
Last Updated:Apr 25, 2024 3:52 am 18088 Views
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Read: Ephesians 4.7-16
Bible in a Year: Psalms 143–145; 1 Corinthians 14.21-40
The whole body . . . grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16
A man was boarding a train in Perth, Australia, when he slipped and his leg got caught in the gap between the train carriage and the station platform. Dozens of passengers quickly came to his rescue. They used their sheer might to tilt the train away from the platform, and the trapped man was freed! The train service’s spokesman, David Hynes, said in an interview, “Everyone sort of pitched in. It was people power that saved someone from possibly quite serious injury.”
In Ephesians 4, we read that people power is God’s plan for building up His family. He has given each of us a special gift of His grace (v. 7) for the specific purpose that “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (v. 16).
Every person has a job to do in God’s family; there are no spectators. In God’s family we weep and laugh together. We bear each other’s burdens. We pray for and encourage one another. We challenge and help each other to turn from sin. Show us, Father, our part in helping Your family today.
Are you a spectator or a participant? What gifts do you have? In what ways can God use you to help others grow closer to Him?
We need each other to get to where God wants us to go.
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The Tyranny Of The Perfect
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Posted:Sep 3, 2015 2:51 am
Last Updated:Sep 4, 2015 4:41 am 18243 Views
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Read: 1 John 1:5–2:2
Bible in a Year: Psalms 140–142; 1 Corinthians 14:1-20
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
Dr. Brian Goldman obsessively tried to be perfect in treating his patients. But on a nationally broadcast show he admitted to mistakes he had made. He revealed that he had treated a woman in the emergency room and then made the decision to discharge her. Later that day a nurse asked him, “Do you remember that patient you sent home? Well, she’s back.” The patient had been readmitted to the hospital and then died. This devastated him. He tried even harder to be perfect, only to learn the obvious: Perfection is impossible.
As Christians, we may harbor unrealistic expectations of perfection for ourselves. But even if we can somehow manage the appearance of a flawless life, our thoughts and motives are never completely pure.
John the disciple wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8. The remedy is not to hide our sins and to strive harder, but to step into the light of God’s truth and confess them. “If we walk in the light,” said John, “as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his , purifies us from all sin” (v. 7).
In medicine, Dr. Goldman proposes the idea of a “redefined physician” who—in a culture where we are hesitant to admit our errors—no longer toils under the tyranny of perfection. Such a physician openly shares mistakes and supports colleagues who do the same, with a goal of reducing mistakes.
What if Christians were known not for hiding their sins but for loving and supporting each other with the truth and grace of our God? What if we practiced a risky yet healthy honesty with each other and with the watching world?
Father, it’s so difficult for us to share our faults with each other, but You call us to wholeness as Your people. Empower us by Your Spirit to live courageously in love and honesty.
Honesty with God about our sin brings forgiveness.
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The Babel Proyect
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Posted:Sep 2, 2015 5:17 am
Last Updated:Sep 3, 2015 3:21 am 18617 Views
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Read: Genesis 11:1-9
Bible in a Year: Psalms 137–139; 1 Corinthians 13
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1
Two workmen were asked what they were building together. One said he was building a garage. The other replied that he was building a cathedral. A day later there was only one man laying bricks. When asked where the second was, the first replied, “Oh, he got fired. He insisted on building a cathedral instead of a garage.”
Something similar happened on the ancient worksite of Babel. A group of people decided they would build a city and a tower that would reach to the heavens and unite their world (Gen. 11:4). But God didn’t want them working on a grand, self-centered plan based on the idea that they could rise to the heights of God and solve all of their own problems. So He came down, stopped the project, scattered the people “over all the earth,” and gave them different languages (vv. 8-9).
God wants us to see Him as the solution to our problems.
God wanted people to see Him as the solution to their problems, and He revealed His plan for them to Abraham (12:1-3). Through the faith of Abraham and his descendants, He would show the world how to look for a city “whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).
Our faith does not rise out of our own dreams and solutions. The foundation of faith is in God alone and what He can do in and through us.
Dear heavenly Father, forgive me for focusing on my own schemes and dreams. Help me to look to You for guidance in all that I do.
God wants to do what only He can do in and for us.
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