* 2010
* Monday
* 06
* September
Daily Devotional
Extraordinary Success
By Bonnie St. John
This week's topic: A Life Of Success
How does a person achieve extraordinary success? Ken Kragen, a major Hollywood agent, took talented performers like Kenny Rogers, Travis Tritt, and Lionel Ritchie and made them superstars. His observations on what makes the difference between a star and a superstar might surprise you.
Lots of people sing beautifully, work hard, and stay focused, yet still don’t make it to the top. According to Ken, author of Life is a Contact Sport, superstars are usually the people who get the most help. He taught his clients to cultivate help by making more contacts, sending more thank you notes, and just being nice. Being “helpable” is key to achieving your full potential.
God answers a request from Paul in 2 Corinthians with the phrase we all know so well, “My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” In other words God is saying to Paul, “By admitting you have weaknesses and need help, you can be so much stronger. If you try to do everything on your own, you’ll only get so far.”
Paul may not have been able to accomplish what he did for the Kingdom of God if he had not understood this message. By opening himself up to God’s help, Paul achieved superstar status in the Bible. He appreciated God’s direct help spiritually, as well as the help he received through the people God had placed in his life. In most of Paul’s letter we see him thanking his brethren and asking for continued help and support.
By admitting you have weaknesses and need help, your life will be so much more successful. By allowing God to work with you and through you, achieving success is not only easier, it’s more lasting and more fulfilling. Being created by God, we all have the potential for being superstars in the kingdom if only we allow ourselves to accept His help.
Scripture Of The Day: "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'" - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NKJV)
Bonnie St. John
Bonnie St. John is a professional speaker and Olympic medalist, who has appeared on the Today Show, CNN, the 700 Club, and Life Today. The author of How Strong Women Pray and Live Your Joy, Bonnie St. John is committed to reaching out to the world with a message of triumph over circumstance. For more information about Bonnie, log onto http://www.bonniestjohn.com…
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Have It All
Daily Devotional
Have It All
By Pastor Andre Butler
This week's topic: A Life Of Success
Have it all! Isn’t that what the world is striving for? People read books, chase money, fame, and sex all in a futile effort to have it all in life. Sadly, they don’t realize that the only person that can bring them to a place of satisfaction is God.
The good news is that we can tell them about Jesus and demonstrate to them what God can do with a life that is totally sold out to Him. We can tell them that they can have it all in God! They can have a life of satisfaction and significance! A life worth living!
To be effective in our witness about God, we need to allow God to develop our character so that we are enjoying the rich life He desires us to have for ourselves. The rich life is where you prosper spiritually, emotionally, physically, professionally, and financially. It includes growing spiritually through a life lived in the Word and daily fellowship with Jesus.
It also includes consistently enjoying the blessing that comes from being a blessing to others, especially in leading someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Living a life of significance is the key to living a life of satisfaction.
In giving us the greatest gift of Jesus, God has demonstrated His great love to us. His Word teaches that He will give good things to His children, and that He’ll withhold no good from those of us who will walk right before Him. In short He desires that we have it all. When I married my wife Tiffany, I gave her my heart. And after 10 years, that is the greatest gift I gave her--myself.
Sure, buying her material things to fill her needs and wants has shown her how much I love her, but those things are just bonuses. This is what God has done with us. He gave us Jesus, and with this greatest gift came the ability to receive from God in every area of life. God has demonstrated to us that His desire is that we enjoy the life
He intended for Adam and Eve to have all along, and we can start living it now. Of course, we have to deal with the enemy in this life but ‘greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world’ (1John 4:4). We have the tools to defeat him every time!
Today is the day to start having it all!
Choose to give up control of every area of your life to God. Say yes to Him about everything! Never tell God no. And as you grow in your relationship with Him and fulfill His plan for your life, you will be able to witness to the world around you that it is possible to have it all in this life.
You Can Have It All in God!
Scripture Of The Day: "For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right." - Psalm 84:11
Pastor Andre Butler
Pastor Andre Butler is a young man anointed and commissioned by God to spread the Good News of Christ. A 1996 graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center, Pastor Butler serves as Co-Pastor of Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, MI.s. For more information about Pastor Andre Butler, log onto http://www.andrebutler.tv.…
Have It All
By Pastor Andre Butler
This week's topic: A Life Of Success
Have it all! Isn’t that what the world is striving for? People read books, chase money, fame, and sex all in a futile effort to have it all in life. Sadly, they don’t realize that the only person that can bring them to a place of satisfaction is God.
The good news is that we can tell them about Jesus and demonstrate to them what God can do with a life that is totally sold out to Him. We can tell them that they can have it all in God! They can have a life of satisfaction and significance! A life worth living!
To be effective in our witness about God, we need to allow God to develop our character so that we are enjoying the rich life He desires us to have for ourselves. The rich life is where you prosper spiritually, emotionally, physically, professionally, and financially. It includes growing spiritually through a life lived in the Word and daily fellowship with Jesus.
It also includes consistently enjoying the blessing that comes from being a blessing to others, especially in leading someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Living a life of significance is the key to living a life of satisfaction.
In giving us the greatest gift of Jesus, God has demonstrated His great love to us. His Word teaches that He will give good things to His children, and that He’ll withhold no good from those of us who will walk right before Him. In short He desires that we have it all. When I married my wife Tiffany, I gave her my heart. And after 10 years, that is the greatest gift I gave her--myself.
Sure, buying her material things to fill her needs and wants has shown her how much I love her, but those things are just bonuses. This is what God has done with us. He gave us Jesus, and with this greatest gift came the ability to receive from God in every area of life. God has demonstrated to us that His desire is that we enjoy the life
He intended for Adam and Eve to have all along, and we can start living it now. Of course, we have to deal with the enemy in this life but ‘greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world’ (1John 4:4). We have the tools to defeat him every time!
Today is the day to start having it all!
Choose to give up control of every area of your life to God. Say yes to Him about everything! Never tell God no. And as you grow in your relationship with Him and fulfill His plan for your life, you will be able to witness to the world around you that it is possible to have it all in this life.
You Can Have It All in God!
Scripture Of The Day: "For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right." - Psalm 84:11
Pastor Andre Butler
Pastor Andre Butler is a young man anointed and commissioned by God to spread the Good News of Christ. A 1996 graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center, Pastor Butler serves as Co-Pastor of Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, MI.s. For more information about Pastor Andre Butler, log onto http://www.andrebutler.tv.…
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Why Grace Is Amazing
Daily Devotional
Why Grace is Amazing
By Alan Riley
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
We church folk have a world of our own that we live in most of the time. We have our own language (with words that most people outside of the church don't understand), our own diet (fried chicken for the most part!), our own songs, and our own singers.
Every now and then, something from our world becomes known and popular in the world at large. When this happens, we refer to that singer or that song as a "crossover." Artists like Andre Crouch, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Marvin Sapp have become well-known and popular outside the church world. Songs like "Place in This World," "Butterfly Kisses" and "Never Would Have Made It" have become popular with folks who never or hardly ever go to church.
There is a song that is the ultimate "crossover" hit. It has been sung in every church of every denomination. It has been played or sung at the coronation of kings and at the graveside of paupers. It has been the number one song on the pop charts in both the United States and England. It has been rightly called the most popular song in the world.
The song is "Amazing Grace." And the story behind the song is as remarkable as the song itself.
John Newton was a slave trader who lived a despicable life for most of his early years. After nearly losing his life in a violent storm at sea, Newton He gave his life to Christ. The change in Newton's life was not immediate but gradual. He began to encourage his crew to pray and he saw to it that his human cargo were treated with kindness and gentleness, but it wasn't until years later that God convicted Newton's heart that slavery was sinful, and years more before he would openly oppose the slave trade.
At the age of 28 John Newton suffered a stroke and was unable to return to sea. He later saw that as yet another way God was reaching out to him. Despite his lack of a formal education, in 1764 Newton was ordained as a minister and was offered the a pastorate at Olney in Buckinghamshire.
As time passed, Newton came to realize how abhorrent slavery was in the eyes of God. He was tormented by the thoughts of the suffering he had helped inflict on others, and became with each passing year more and more amazed that God would choose to save him, much less call him into the ministry and use him is His service. Newton became known as a staunch abolitionist and for the rest of his life he worked to end the slave trade in Great Britain.
On New Year's Eve, 1773, Newton decided to preach on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17. In that passage, King David marvels that God had chosen him. As a part of that sermon, Newton decided to share a poem he had written a year before that was essentially his testimony. The name of the poem was "Faith's review and expectation." We know it today as "Amazing Grace."
The song Amazing Grace is so popular precisely because God's grace is indeed amazing. No matter who you are, no matter where you are from, no matter what you have done or haven't done, we all share the same essential testimony: "I once was lost but now I'm found, 'twas blind, but now I see." All of us, know in our hearts that we did not deserve God's gift of salvation. We all know that it is God's grace - his unmerited favor on us that has brought us to where we are today.
You may not have been as wicked as John Newton and caused great pain and suffering to others, but you know that you are a sinner who was (or is) in need of a Savior. Later in his life, John Newton was quoted as saying, "I know that I was a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." We all know that in our hearts.
God's grace is truly amazing. Aren't you thankful for it?
Scripture Of The Day:
Alan Riley
Alan Riley is Vice President for Ministry and Media Development for 316 Networks (http://www.316Networks.com), Streaming Faith’s sister media property. He can be found blogging at http://www.alansblog.com or more often opining in 140 characters or less at http://www.Twitter.com/AlanRiley.…
Why Grace is Amazing
By Alan Riley
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
We church folk have a world of our own that we live in most of the time. We have our own language (with words that most people outside of the church don't understand), our own diet (fried chicken for the most part!), our own songs, and our own singers.
Every now and then, something from our world becomes known and popular in the world at large. When this happens, we refer to that singer or that song as a "crossover." Artists like Andre Crouch, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Marvin Sapp have become well-known and popular outside the church world. Songs like "Place in This World," "Butterfly Kisses" and "Never Would Have Made It" have become popular with folks who never or hardly ever go to church.
There is a song that is the ultimate "crossover" hit. It has been sung in every church of every denomination. It has been played or sung at the coronation of kings and at the graveside of paupers. It has been the number one song on the pop charts in both the United States and England. It has been rightly called the most popular song in the world.
The song is "Amazing Grace." And the story behind the song is as remarkable as the song itself.
John Newton was a slave trader who lived a despicable life for most of his early years. After nearly losing his life in a violent storm at sea, Newton He gave his life to Christ. The change in Newton's life was not immediate but gradual. He began to encourage his crew to pray and he saw to it that his human cargo were treated with kindness and gentleness, but it wasn't until years later that God convicted Newton's heart that slavery was sinful, and years more before he would openly oppose the slave trade.
At the age of 28 John Newton suffered a stroke and was unable to return to sea. He later saw that as yet another way God was reaching out to him. Despite his lack of a formal education, in 1764 Newton was ordained as a minister and was offered the a pastorate at Olney in Buckinghamshire.
As time passed, Newton came to realize how abhorrent slavery was in the eyes of God. He was tormented by the thoughts of the suffering he had helped inflict on others, and became with each passing year more and more amazed that God would choose to save him, much less call him into the ministry and use him is His service. Newton became known as a staunch abolitionist and for the rest of his life he worked to end the slave trade in Great Britain.
On New Year's Eve, 1773, Newton decided to preach on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17. In that passage, King David marvels that God had chosen him. As a part of that sermon, Newton decided to share a poem he had written a year before that was essentially his testimony. The name of the poem was "Faith's review and expectation." We know it today as "Amazing Grace."
The song Amazing Grace is so popular precisely because God's grace is indeed amazing. No matter who you are, no matter where you are from, no matter what you have done or haven't done, we all share the same essential testimony: "I once was lost but now I'm found, 'twas blind, but now I see." All of us, know in our hearts that we did not deserve God's gift of salvation. We all know that it is God's grace - his unmerited favor on us that has brought us to where we are today.
You may not have been as wicked as John Newton and caused great pain and suffering to others, but you know that you are a sinner who was (or is) in need of a Savior. Later in his life, John Newton was quoted as saying, "I know that I was a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." We all know that in our hearts.
God's grace is truly amazing. Aren't you thankful for it?
Scripture Of The Day:
Alan Riley
Alan Riley is Vice President for Ministry and Media Development for 316 Networks (http://www.316Networks.com), Streaming Faith’s sister media property. He can be found blogging at http://www.alansblog.com or more often opining in 140 characters or less at http://www.Twitter.com/AlanRiley.…
Friday, September 3, 2010
What To Do In Times Of Trouble
2010
Friday
03
September
Daily Devotional
What To Do in Times of Trouble
By Bishop Keith Butler
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
Do you know what time it is? It is time to give God thanks because He is your Deliverer! In the time of trouble, you have to abound in thanksgiving to God. Thank Him for protection. Thank Him for provision. Thank Him for your food. Thank Him for your job. Thank the Father whether or not it looks like things are working. When you do, you release His ability and power.
2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (KJV)
We have no need to faint and no need to fear. When we are in Christ, we don't gauge our future by what the stock market does. We don't gauge our future by what the news reporters say. We gauge our standing in this life by the word of God which lives and abides forever.
So I'm telling you today, don't look at all the things you are reading in the newspaper. Instead look to God. You may not see God, but you know He's there. You know He makes a way for you. So begin to thank Him for doing it right now.
2 Thessalonians 1:6 says, "it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." In other words, God is going to trouble your trouble. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 says, "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand ."
So, know what time it is and don't be troubled. Don't be frightened. Don't be full of fear. God is pleased by our thanksgiving, and He will move in our situation. It is time now to thank God for delivering us by His mighty power!
Scripture Of The Day: "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:15 (KJV)
Friday
03
September
Daily Devotional
What To Do in Times of Trouble
By Bishop Keith Butler
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
Do you know what time it is? It is time to give God thanks because He is your Deliverer! In the time of trouble, you have to abound in thanksgiving to God. Thank Him for protection. Thank Him for provision. Thank Him for your food. Thank Him for your job. Thank the Father whether or not it looks like things are working. When you do, you release His ability and power.
2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (KJV)
We have no need to faint and no need to fear. When we are in Christ, we don't gauge our future by what the stock market does. We don't gauge our future by what the news reporters say. We gauge our standing in this life by the word of God which lives and abides forever.
So I'm telling you today, don't look at all the things you are reading in the newspaper. Instead look to God. You may not see God, but you know He's there. You know He makes a way for you. So begin to thank Him for doing it right now.
2 Thessalonians 1:6 says, "it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." In other words, God is going to trouble your trouble. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 says, "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand ."
So, know what time it is and don't be troubled. Don't be frightened. Don't be full of fear. God is pleased by our thanksgiving, and He will move in our situation. It is time now to thank God for delivering us by His mighty power!
Scripture Of The Day: "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:15 (KJV)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Amazing Grace or Random Grace
Daily Devotional
Amazing Grace or Random Grace
By Tim Challies
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
A while ago I received an email from a father, concerned about the task of sharing the gospel with his children. Here is what he sent to me:
I have such a hard time grasping the notion of election as a father. I struggle with why so much of Bible addresses us as decision making/choice making creatures, appealing to us to recognize something and depart from sin and accept Christ.
Yet if God is simply "zapping" us with irresistible Grace, it seems to me that our efforts for others to turn away sin and accept Christ is really not genuine. It seems rigged.
Is there anything that can assure me that I have an influence in whether my child's number is called?
I certainly understand the heart behind this question. I, too, am a father and one who is deeply concerned about the eternal welfare of my children. I love them so deeply and desire nothing greater than that they would turn to Christ in repentance and faith
Like this reader, I am sometimes tempted to express frustration with the way God has chosen to save a people for Himself. But through it all I know that his ways are not only good; his ways are best.
Here's the 3-part answer I gave this father:
First, I think we need to have much greater confidence in God's sovereignty than in the ability of our children to choose God without his foreordaining grace. Without God's grace, none of us could ever turn to him. So we need to take refuge in God's sovereignty and not make it an occasion of fear or dread.
Second, I think it is helpful to see predestination as something that is of far greater concern to God than to us. While we see from Scripture that God has predestined his elect to eternal life, I'm not sure that it is helpful for us to think too much about who is among the elect and who is not.
Third, we need to be careful in how we understand God's work of election. Scripture does not say that certain people "had their number called" and others did not. Instead, we read that God chose some because he had special love for them. There is nothing random about it.
Take adoption for example.
When a couple sets out to adopt a child, they have a large number of potential children available to them. But somewhere in the process of adoption they set their heart on a particular child. It is not that they have chosen this child randomly, but rather that they did so because their affections were set upon him.
Their selection of a particular child is not unfair to the other children. One child was graciously selected for the special blessing of adoption while many others were not. Giving a gift to one person does not make it unfair to withhold a gift from another.
While God has, indeed, ordained who will be saved, he has not told us who he will save. And so we are called to take the gospel message far and wide, preaching it to all men and allowing God to work the gift of faith into those whom he has chosen for life.
Our task in evangelism is not ultimately to win people to Christ but to faithfully preach the gospel message. If we preached that message, we have done what God calls us to.
As believers, we must learn to rejoice in His goodness as well as in His sovereign choice and grace. His grace is not random.
It is amazing.
Scripture Of The Day: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9
Tim Challies is a web designer and author and editor of DiscernedReader.com, a site dedcated to provide books of interest to Christians. A husband and father of three, Tim lives on the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. Find him blogging at http://www.Challies.com.
Amazing Grace or Random Grace
By Tim Challies
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
A while ago I received an email from a father, concerned about the task of sharing the gospel with his children. Here is what he sent to me:
I have such a hard time grasping the notion of election as a father. I struggle with why so much of Bible addresses us as decision making/choice making creatures, appealing to us to recognize something and depart from sin and accept Christ.
Yet if God is simply "zapping" us with irresistible Grace, it seems to me that our efforts for others to turn away sin and accept Christ is really not genuine. It seems rigged.
Is there anything that can assure me that I have an influence in whether my child's number is called?
I certainly understand the heart behind this question. I, too, am a father and one who is deeply concerned about the eternal welfare of my children. I love them so deeply and desire nothing greater than that they would turn to Christ in repentance and faith
Like this reader, I am sometimes tempted to express frustration with the way God has chosen to save a people for Himself. But through it all I know that his ways are not only good; his ways are best.
Here's the 3-part answer I gave this father:
First, I think we need to have much greater confidence in God's sovereignty than in the ability of our children to choose God without his foreordaining grace. Without God's grace, none of us could ever turn to him. So we need to take refuge in God's sovereignty and not make it an occasion of fear or dread.
Second, I think it is helpful to see predestination as something that is of far greater concern to God than to us. While we see from Scripture that God has predestined his elect to eternal life, I'm not sure that it is helpful for us to think too much about who is among the elect and who is not.
Third, we need to be careful in how we understand God's work of election. Scripture does not say that certain people "had their number called" and others did not. Instead, we read that God chose some because he had special love for them. There is nothing random about it.
Take adoption for example.
When a couple sets out to adopt a child, they have a large number of potential children available to them. But somewhere in the process of adoption they set their heart on a particular child. It is not that they have chosen this child randomly, but rather that they did so because their affections were set upon him.
Their selection of a particular child is not unfair to the other children. One child was graciously selected for the special blessing of adoption while many others were not. Giving a gift to one person does not make it unfair to withhold a gift from another.
While God has, indeed, ordained who will be saved, he has not told us who he will save. And so we are called to take the gospel message far and wide, preaching it to all men and allowing God to work the gift of faith into those whom he has chosen for life.
Our task in evangelism is not ultimately to win people to Christ but to faithfully preach the gospel message. If we preached that message, we have done what God calls us to.
As believers, we must learn to rejoice in His goodness as well as in His sovereign choice and grace. His grace is not random.
It is amazing.
Scripture Of The Day: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9
Tim Challies is a web designer and author and editor of DiscernedReader.com, a site dedcated to provide books of interest to Christians. A husband and father of three, Tim lives on the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. Find him blogging at http://www.Challies.com.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Amazing, Truly Amazing Grace!
Daily Devotional
Amazing, Truly Amazing Grace!
By Bishop E. Earl Jenkins
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
Have you any idea of the mess you were in, or moving toward, when God reached down and saved you? Perhaps an illustration may help you get the picture. If you took your children to a petting zoo and a little lamb came running towards you, you probably wouldn't be afraid at all because lambs are harmless. You might even reach out your hand and let the lamb lick it.
But let's say you're at the zoo and the alarm goes out that a lion has escaped from its cage. If you're standing there and that lion comes running towards you, you'll be terrified and start to run because you know what lions can do. But just suppose that the runaway lion corners you in one part of the zoo and comes up to you - but instead of attacking you it gently licks your hand the way the lamb did. If that happened whose gentleness would you appreciate more, the lamb's or the lion's? You'd appreciate the lion's gentleness more because you know that he could just as easily have destroyed you without violating his nature as a lion.
Well, grace is God's kindness and gentleness to us when He could have backed us into a corner as guilty sinners and destroyed us without violating His holy character. But God wanted to make us His children, so instead of expressing His wrath against us, He poured it out upon His own sinless Son on the cross. Jesus took our punishment so God could embrace us. Hence, we have a brand-new relationship with God through grace. Isn't that amazing!
Scripture Of The Day: "By Grace you have been saved"- Ephesians 2:5 (NAS)
Bishop Edward Earl Jenkins is the senior pastor and founder of the True Servant Worship & Praise Church located in Trenton, New Jersey. For over twenty years, Bishop Jenkins’ unique method of preaching and teaching has opened doors to allow him to touch the hearts of many lives near and far. For more information, visit him at http://www.eejministries.org…
Subscribe to receive the SF Daily Devotional in your inbox each morning!
Amazing, Truly Amazing Grace!
By Bishop E. Earl Jenkins
This week's topic: God's Gift Of Grace
Have you any idea of the mess you were in, or moving toward, when God reached down and saved you? Perhaps an illustration may help you get the picture. If you took your children to a petting zoo and a little lamb came running towards you, you probably wouldn't be afraid at all because lambs are harmless. You might even reach out your hand and let the lamb lick it.
But let's say you're at the zoo and the alarm goes out that a lion has escaped from its cage. If you're standing there and that lion comes running towards you, you'll be terrified and start to run because you know what lions can do. But just suppose that the runaway lion corners you in one part of the zoo and comes up to you - but instead of attacking you it gently licks your hand the way the lamb did. If that happened whose gentleness would you appreciate more, the lamb's or the lion's? You'd appreciate the lion's gentleness more because you know that he could just as easily have destroyed you without violating his nature as a lion.
Well, grace is God's kindness and gentleness to us when He could have backed us into a corner as guilty sinners and destroyed us without violating His holy character. But God wanted to make us His children, so instead of expressing His wrath against us, He poured it out upon His own sinless Son on the cross. Jesus took our punishment so God could embrace us. Hence, we have a brand-new relationship with God through grace. Isn't that amazing!
Scripture Of The Day: "By Grace you have been saved"- Ephesians 2:5 (NAS)
Bishop Edward Earl Jenkins is the senior pastor and founder of the True Servant Worship & Praise Church located in Trenton, New Jersey. For over twenty years, Bishop Jenkins’ unique method of preaching and teaching has opened doors to allow him to touch the hearts of many lives near and far. For more information, visit him at http://www.eejministries.org…
Subscribe to receive the SF Daily Devotional in your inbox each morning!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Holy Spirit
This week's topic: The Holy Spirit
H. A. Ironside, a former pastor of Moody Church, began preaching one night in the open air of Chicago, attracting a large and enthusiastic gathering. During his message a man stepped out from the crowd and handed him a note.
This particular man was a well-known agnostic, sowing skepticism and discord wherever the truth of Scripture was spoken, especially in relation to God being a personal God who seeks relationships with humans. That is why, with face full of pride and self-confidence, he approached Ironside with a letter. Pastor Ironside opened the note and read the words aloud: "I challenge you to a debate in the Hall of Science next Sunday afternoon." Then he turned to the agnostic and delivered this wise response:
"I will come and debate with you the reality of the Christian life, if you will do one thing; you must agree to bring with you one person from your sphere of influence. One person who was discouraged and defeated by life, not knowing where to turn or what to believe, until that person came and heard you lecture your agnostic beliefs. And then that man, after listening to you, said in effect, ‘I believe what you are saying and will begin living in light of it.' Bring one person who, after hearing you speak, found peace of mind, victory over temptation, and a purpose for living. Bring one and I will debate you; and will bring with me one hundred.".
Upon hearing this, it was reported that the agnostic refused the offer and quickly turned away.
What a great reminder to us that the unanswerable argument for Christianity is, in fact, the Christian! Every religion requires faith to believe it, reason to defend it, and evidence to prove it; but this is where Christianity stands out above all the rest. Our primary evidence is not only found in the revelation of Scripture and the discoveries of science, but it is found inside us.
We are the living and breathing evidence of Christianity—the walking proof that God really does save lives, and that His Spirit changes them completely. God's Spirit is actually inside us, giving us faith when we have none, and testifying in our spirits that we are part of His family.
Make no mistake about it—our God is not only alive, but He is alive and dwelling...in us!
Scripture Of The Day: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." - Romans 8:16 (NIV)
Dr. Stephen Davey is founding pastor of Colonial Baptist Church, located in Cary, North Carolina. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters of Sacred Theology, Dr. Davey is the founder of Wisdom For The Heart, an international Bible-teaching ministry. For more information about Dr. Stephen Davey, log onto http://www.wisdomonline.org.…
H. A. Ironside, a former pastor of Moody Church, began preaching one night in the open air of Chicago, attracting a large and enthusiastic gathering. During his message a man stepped out from the crowd and handed him a note.
This particular man was a well-known agnostic, sowing skepticism and discord wherever the truth of Scripture was spoken, especially in relation to God being a personal God who seeks relationships with humans. That is why, with face full of pride and self-confidence, he approached Ironside with a letter. Pastor Ironside opened the note and read the words aloud: "I challenge you to a debate in the Hall of Science next Sunday afternoon." Then he turned to the agnostic and delivered this wise response:
"I will come and debate with you the reality of the Christian life, if you will do one thing; you must agree to bring with you one person from your sphere of influence. One person who was discouraged and defeated by life, not knowing where to turn or what to believe, until that person came and heard you lecture your agnostic beliefs. And then that man, after listening to you, said in effect, ‘I believe what you are saying and will begin living in light of it.' Bring one person who, after hearing you speak, found peace of mind, victory over temptation, and a purpose for living. Bring one and I will debate you; and will bring with me one hundred.".
Upon hearing this, it was reported that the agnostic refused the offer and quickly turned away.
What a great reminder to us that the unanswerable argument for Christianity is, in fact, the Christian! Every religion requires faith to believe it, reason to defend it, and evidence to prove it; but this is where Christianity stands out above all the rest. Our primary evidence is not only found in the revelation of Scripture and the discoveries of science, but it is found inside us.
We are the living and breathing evidence of Christianity—the walking proof that God really does save lives, and that His Spirit changes them completely. God's Spirit is actually inside us, giving us faith when we have none, and testifying in our spirits that we are part of His family.
Make no mistake about it—our God is not only alive, but He is alive and dwelling...in us!
Scripture Of The Day: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." - Romans 8:16 (NIV)
Dr. Stephen Davey is founding pastor of Colonial Baptist Church, located in Cary, North Carolina. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters of Sacred Theology, Dr. Davey is the founder of Wisdom For The Heart, an international Bible-teaching ministry. For more information about Dr. Stephen Davey, log onto http://www.wisdomonline.org.…
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