Daily Prayer~~~
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me. Psalm 27:7–9a, NIV We thank you, dear Father in heaven, that you let the light from your face shine into our hearts. Look upon our time, we pray, with your clear, penetrating eyes, and let all people sense that they are watched over by more than they are able to see. Let them realize that a strong God and Father is watching over them. Protect us on our way, and let your light shine ever more brightly, so that in all we do your name is glorified. Amen.
Verse of the Day---
Thoughts on Today's Verse...
When we became Christians, we were not only cleansed by the Holy Spirit, we were also filled with the Holy Spirit. John speaks of this as our anointing. The Spirit helps us hear the truth about Jesus and keeps us from surrendering that truth to false teaching that would diminish either side of Jesus' identity — Jesus, God with us and God like us. We abide in Jesus when we hold on to both of these incredible truths.
My Prayer...
Holy and Righteous Father, thank you for sending Jesus to save me. May I never surrender my sense of wonder or my deep feelings of appreciation for all that Jesus was, is, and will be. Thank you for sending me your Spirit to help me safeguard the truth about your Son and my Savior, in whose name I pray and give you thanks. Amen.
Bible Study Buddy---
Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional
2 Corinthians 1:5
2 Corinthians 1:5
"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also
aboundeth by Christ."
—2Co 1:5
—2Co 1:5
There is a blessed proportion. The Ruler of Providence bears a pair of
scales—in this side He puts His people's trials, and in that He puts their
consolations. When the scale of trial is nearly empty, you will always find the
scale of consolation in nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials
is full, you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy. When the black
clouds gather most, the light is the more brightly revealed to us. When the
night lowers and the tempest is coming on, the Heavenly Captain is always
closest to His crew. It is a blessed thing, that when we are most cast down,
then it is that we are most lifted up by the consolations of the Spirit. One
reason is, because trials make more room for consolation. Great hearts
can only be made by great troubles. The spade of trouble digs the reservoir of
comfort deeper, and makes more room for consolation. God comes into our heart—He
finds it full—He begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then there
is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more comfort he will always
have, because he will be more fitted to receive it. Another reason why we are
often most happy in our troubles, is this—then we have the closest dealings
with God. When the barn is full, man can live without God: when the purse is
bursting with gold, we try to do without so much prayer. But once take our
gourds away, and we want our God; once cleanse the idols out of
the house, then we are compelled to honour Jehovah. "Out of the depths have I
cried unto thee, O Lord." There is no cry so good as that which comes from the
bottom of the mountains; no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up from
the depths of the soul, through deep trials and afflictions. Hence they bring us
to God, and we are happier; for nearness to God is happiness. Come, troubled
believer, fret not over your heavy troubles, for they are the heralds of weighty
mercies.
8. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11. as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Flow & Overflow...
When a cup is filled to overflowing, whatever spills over the edge is the same as what’s being poured in. That is a natural process that I can understand.
But here is a supernatural process beyond my understanding: If suffering is poured into a Christian, the Christian will overflow. But what spills over is different from what is poured in. Suffering goes in but comfort comes out.
This law of flow and overflow is expressed in 2 Corinthians 1:5, “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” The word abound means “to exist in abundance, to exceed a certain measure, to remain.” It is the same word used of the 12 baskets of food “left over” after Jesus miraculously fed thousands of people with 5 loaves and 2 fish (Jn. 6:12-13).
When we experience tribulation for being a Christian, and suffering is poured into our lives, God will transform it by His supernatural grace and power. Another translation reads, “Just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor. 1:5).
When trouble flows in, look to God for His overflowing comfort—first to us, then through us to others.
Words We Long to Hear
What words do you most long to hear from Jesus today?
Scripture
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me (Revelation 3:20).
Reflection
What are the words you most long to hear?
That depends on what is going on in your life at the moment, I suppose. When polled, however, people had a remarkable consistency to their answers. Philip Yancey, in his book Vanishing Grace, remembers a survey where the people polled gave two very predictable answers to this question, and then a surprising third one:
- I love you.
- I forgive you.
- Supper’s ready.
As we approach the Lord’s Table, what happens for us as believers is beyond bread and wine.We not only remember what Jesus did, but we also remember why he did it. And, if we listen with our hearts, we also hear his invitation to join him at the Table of his grace to celebrate our life with him and anticipate a greater supper that awaits in the presence of God. The bread we break and the drink we take allow us to hear our Lord Jesus say to us, “I love you. I forgive you. Supper’s ready.” In fact, he promises to meet us at this meal and share in it with us if we accept his invitation (Revelation 3:20).
The bread we break and the drink we take
allow us to hear our Lord Jesus say to us,
“I love you. I forgive you. Supper’s ready.”
allow us to hear our Lord Jesus say to us,
“I love you. I forgive you. Supper’s ready.”
As we share the Lord’s Supper, let’s listen to the life of Jesus from his incarnation to his resurrection. Let's be touched by his great love for us (John 3:16-17). Let’s hear his declaration of forgiveness at the cross (Luke 23:34; Romans 5:6-11). Let's be moved by the perfection we are given by his body sacrificed for us (Colossians 1:21-22). And, as the bread is broken and as the cup is shared, let’s hear the Lord’s invitation to join him in his grace because supper’s ready (Luke 22:15-17; Revelation 3:20)!
Prayer for the Bread:
O loving Father, thank you. I know those two words are so inadequate, but please know that they are true. Thank you for all that love led Jesus to do for me. We see this bread as a tangible reminder of the cost of your loving forgiveness and grace. Thank you, Jesus, for saying to each of us, “I love you this much,” then spreading out your arms on the cross and dying to destroy the power of hell, death, and Satan. Thank you. Amen.
Prayer for the Cup:
Eternal God and loving Savior, thank you for inviting me, and all those with me, to this simple meal. We view our invitation to share in the Lord's Supper as an invitation to an even greater feast that awaits us on Jesus' return. Thank you for such a glorious future. In Jesus’ name, I thank you. Amen.
Passion for Praise: 'Silencing Your Enemies'
[O LORD, our Lord] You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.
Daily Wisdom: Ecclesiastes 7:14
God's Holy Fire: 'Receive the Spirit'
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Key Thought
After Jesus' resurrection, he reminds his closest followers of three gifts he is leaving with them, all of which find their origin and functional power in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The gifts are peace through the Spirit's presence, purpose in mission, and power to forgive. As we look at the power of the Holy Spirit, which of these gifts are you not living out in your daily life? Why not take advantage of all three?! Make a specific commitment to live out the Spirit's work in your life by making sure you take advantage of each of these gifts in all that you do!
Today's Prayer
Father, forgive me, and forgive us your people; empower us to be a community of grace where your Spirit brings peace, sends us out on mission, and uses us to bring forgiveness and reconciliation. As we do these things, O God, I know we are living out the life of Jesus in our world. It is in his name that I pray. Amen.
Why Did Jesus Demand “Perfection”?
One of Jesus’ most famous sayings was “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,” and it is found in the Sermon on the Mount at Matthew 5:48. Interestingly, Luke doesn’t have the word perfection (teleios) but has “be merciful as your Father is merciful.” Instead of teleios Luke has oiktirmos.
That may well be a clue, but before we get to that clue I want to look at Jonathan Pennington’s wonderful new book on the Sermon called The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing. (Maybe this image to the right was what his listeners were seeing as Jesus taught.)
Here are Jonathan’s points that lead to a solution for the meaning of “perfection” for the Sermon on the Mount.
First, the problem for so many in the church is that the term means sinlessness and flawlessness and therefore rigorous perfectionism and perfectionistic features. The problem with this term is that it can lead to neurotic scrupulosity.
Second, the term teleios has a background in the Old Testament/Jewish literature in the notions of shalom and tamim, roughly, peace and wholeness or completeness or devotedness. In using devotedness for qadosh/holiness, Pennington and I agree in a significant way: the term Holiness means more than separation or separateness; it means devoted to God and therefore separate.
Third, the virtue tradition in Plato and Aristotle is all about the same idea of wholeness. The virtuous life then is the life of teleios.
Fourth, now to the Gospels, to Matthew, to the Sermon on the Mount: we are staring at a term that means wholeness and singular devotion to God. Jonathan ably shows that the idea of teleios or wholeness can summarize the whole Sermon, and my only pushback here would be that many other terms have been used to do the same — the most obvious one is dikaiosune or righteousness, which it can be argued has even more programmatic appearance in the Sermon.
He has made a very good case for understanding teleios as wholeness. We might ask what wholeness is? Is it devotion and is devotion a true ethical telos?
I observe this: I press harder for the value of Luke 6:26’s use of oiktirmos, for the significance of understanding Matt 5:48’s teleios in the context of loving our enemies and the concept of love at the heart of Jesus’ ethical vision, and not just that teleios summarizes 5:17-48 but that love of God and love of others is what those passages are about as well. How so? Matt 22:34-40 shows that the fundamental ethical core to the whole torah is loving God and loving others. In other words, teleios’s fundamental expression is agape, which is wholeness and what devotedness to God are about. To flourish is to love God and to love others. That is what human flourishing are all about.
TODAY'S
Christian Quote
GODTUBE
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27
Unexpected
READ
After the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave (vv.12-13).
In American football, the start of a play is usually hard- hitting as players strive to overpower their opponents. But at the close of a middle school game in 2016, the quarterback simply stood up and started casually walking toward his opponent’s goal line. The opposing team was tricked by his calm demeanor and let him walk for twenty yards before realizing what was going on, and by then it was too late. The quarterback scored and his team won the game—all because he started the play in a way that no one expected.
God can also do things in unexpected ways. When we read of God speaking to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, we’re tempted to think, Surely God is present in the earthquake and the fire, in such mighty works of nature—that has to be God! (vv. 11-12). That assumption seems logical, but Elijah found that God isn’t limited to speaking through one type of circumstance or another. The prophet learned instead to focus on God’s voice—not his difficult circumstances.
I often over-rely on circumstances to determine whether God is at work or not and find myself saying things like, “I felt this sense of peace, and so it must be God,” or “Everything came together so easily that God must have been at work.” Events in life can be used by Him to guide us, but it’s vital that we carefully, prayerfully consider what to do.
Moses didn’t feel a sense of peace when called by God and neither did Gideon (Exodus 3:11; Judges 6:15). The best way for us to sense God’s leading isn’t by focusing on our feelings or circumstances, but by carefully seeking God’s wisdom. The Holy Spirit can use prayer, Scripture, and the godly counsel of others to help us make the right decisions—even if they’re unexpected. —Peter Chin
MORE
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-14 for an example of someone who needed to carefully listen for God’s leading.
NEXT
Can circumstances sometimes point to God being at work? Have you ever been misled by that approach? How can you discern what God wants you to do?
From Go for the Green by Jeff Hopper
PAYING ATTENTION
“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” --1 John 4:20
Love others to show that we love God. Love God to show that we love others. Did John really mean to write such conflicting demands?
If you have trained under a challenging golf instructor, you know the feeling of being pulled in different directions. Just when you think your driving is shaping up, the instructor says, “All right, let’s move to the bunker and work some more.” Never a break.
God’s Word is like that instructor. Each time we read it, it reminds us that there is more to this life in Christ. There is upward attention, outward attention, inward attention. Indeed, many people tire of such attention to the spiritual. But the beauty of our relationship with Christ is that He does provide for us the respite of Himself, those times in prayer when we can unashamedly say, “Lord, help me know what to do next.”
Order your own copy of Go for the Green by Jeff Hopper
Satisfied Singleness
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. - 1 Corinthians 7:1-2
According to the latest U.S. Census, there are 95.7 million single adults in America. This constitutes a large--and growing--portion of our society, yet a portion that’s often overlooked in the area of spiritual care. So if you’re a single adult or know one, I’d like to speak to you.
You may be single by choice or as a result of unfortunate circumstances. You may have future plans to marry, or you may sense God calling you to a life of singleness. No matter what your situation, God’s will for you right now is to be satisfied in Him, and to trust His plan for you at this time in your life.
You get to choose how you respond to your singleness. Learn from it. Grow in it. Singleness does not have to equal loneliness. You can survive the temptations unique to your situation in our world today. Start by going to God and connecting with others.
“I think I’ve discovered the secret of life--you just hang around long enough to get used to it.” - Charles M. Schultz (1922-2000)
The Daily Word of Hope Devotional
Carving Out The Masterpiece
If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light. Luke 11:36 WEB
After viewing the marble statue of David, someone asked Michelangelo: 'How did you know what to cut away?' The sculptor answered: 'It's simple, I just remove everything that doesn't look like David.' He knew what the statue should look like before he began his work, but it then took him three years to carve away the pieces that did not belong.
They say that anything can be accomplished when it is broken down into small enough steps. I do find that when I take on a large project, it works best for me to break it into stages. I complete stage one, then focus on stage two, and so on until the project is complete. The way that you eat an elephant, is one bite at a time.
It is important to not become overwhelmed in our life. If you brought a bride to be into her new home, and showed her all the housework that she have would do, all the dishes that there would be to wash, all the dirty diapers that she would have to change, all at once, then the wedding would probably be off.
God is working on us in a similar fashion. He does not want us to remain in darkness, but He takes it a step at a time. That is why some teachings are so timely in our lives, it is the Holy Spirit at work uncovering things, reassuring us, comforting us.
We all have areas of our lives that could stand improving, but if it were all done at once, we could not bear it, and we would just give up. When we first come to Jesus there are usually more areas, and after we have walked with Him a while, there should be less.
Anger, lust, greed, idolatry, jealousy, envy, strife, out of control eating and drinking (gluttony and drunkenness), and things like pornography, are really just a few areas that the Holy Spirit will shine His light on. You know that thing that causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand up when mentioned, the one that we tend to keep quiet about? That is the one that I am talking about right there. He will bring those things up one at a time until they are all gone.
Yes He loves us, and He will wash our sins away. But after growing up on a farm, I can tell you that it is hard to wash a hog while it is actively rolling in the mud. You have to wait for it to stop.
Work with God day by day on improving your life and do not try and get ahead of Him. Take it one day at a time and He will let you know what is on today's to-do list. Walking with Jesus is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and He works with us individually, and at our own pace. Don't compare yourself to others that seem more polished. In time, you will be as well.
God is working on a masterpiece that will take decades to perfect, you. He gently chips away the parts that do not belong there. Don't get too excited on the mountain top, and don't get too depressed in the valley, for this is a lifelong event.
Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank You for Your patience with me. Help me to be stable and learn to time my steps with You. Make what is important to You, important to me and help me to focus on that. Please give me the grace to get through today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
Note: Good morning and happy Sunday! If you are in need of prayer, don''t forget that we are here for you! Just click on the Prayer link on the site menu (or it''s also at the bottom of the announcements on the home page) and you can send in a private prayer request. Have a blessed day!
After viewing the marble statue of David, someone asked Michelangelo: 'How did you know what to cut away?' The sculptor answered: 'It's simple, I just remove everything that doesn't look like David.' He knew what the statue should look like before he began his work, but it then took him three years to carve away the pieces that did not belong.
They say that anything can be accomplished when it is broken down into small enough steps. I do find that when I take on a large project, it works best for me to break it into stages. I complete stage one, then focus on stage two, and so on until the project is complete. The way that you eat an elephant, is one bite at a time.
It is important to not become overwhelmed in our life. If you brought a bride to be into her new home, and showed her all the housework that she have would do, all the dishes that there would be to wash, all the dirty diapers that she would have to change, all at once, then the wedding would probably be off.
God is working on us in a similar fashion. He does not want us to remain in darkness, but He takes it a step at a time. That is why some teachings are so timely in our lives, it is the Holy Spirit at work uncovering things, reassuring us, comforting us.
We all have areas of our lives that could stand improving, but if it were all done at once, we could not bear it, and we would just give up. When we first come to Jesus there are usually more areas, and after we have walked with Him a while, there should be less.
Anger, lust, greed, idolatry, jealousy, envy, strife, out of control eating and drinking (gluttony and drunkenness), and things like pornography, are really just a few areas that the Holy Spirit will shine His light on. You know that thing that causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand up when mentioned, the one that we tend to keep quiet about? That is the one that I am talking about right there. He will bring those things up one at a time until they are all gone.
Yes He loves us, and He will wash our sins away. But after growing up on a farm, I can tell you that it is hard to wash a hog while it is actively rolling in the mud. You have to wait for it to stop.
Work with God day by day on improving your life and do not try and get ahead of Him. Take it one day at a time and He will let you know what is on today's to-do list. Walking with Jesus is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and He works with us individually, and at our own pace. Don't compare yourself to others that seem more polished. In time, you will be as well.
God is working on a masterpiece that will take decades to perfect, you. He gently chips away the parts that do not belong there. Don't get too excited on the mountain top, and don't get too depressed in the valley, for this is a lifelong event.
Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank You for Your patience with me. Help me to be stable and learn to time my steps with You. Make what is important to You, important to me and help me to focus on that. Please give me the grace to get through today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
Note: Good morning and happy Sunday! If you are in need of prayer, don''t forget that we are here for you! Just click on the Prayer link on the site menu (or it''s also at the bottom of the announcements on the home page) and you can send in a private prayer request. Have a blessed day!