Never Been More Alive! (and other devotionals)

Never Been More Alive!

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
If you are a child of God and this moment were to have a stroke or a heart attack or something fall on your head, and some doctor were to say, “I have an announcement to make: he/she is dead,” he'd be “dead” wrong! You'd never be more alive!

Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body; spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God. I can never die in that sense because I can never be separated from God. Neither can you. Paul said there is nothing that can “separate us (the child of God, the Christian) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

ACTION POINT:
There are a lot of dead people who will go to work tomorrow. They have existence, but they don't have life. But if you know Christ, you have life and will never die!

~Adrian Rogers~

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No Cause to Blush

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed"   (Isaiah 54.4).

We shall not be ashamed of our faith. Carping critics may assail the Scriptures upon which we ground our belief, but every year the LORD will make it more and more clear that in His Book there is no error, no excess, and no omission. It is no discredit to be a simple believer; the faith which looks alone to Jesus is a crown of honor on any man's head and better than a star on his breast.

We shall not be ashamed of our hope. It shall be even as the LORD has said. We shall be fed, led, blest, and rested. Our LORD will come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended. How we shall glory in the LORD who first gave us lively hope and then gave us that which we hoped for!

We shall not be ashamed of our love. Jesus is to us the altogether lovely, and never, never, shall we have to blush because we have yielded our hearts to Him. The sight of our glorious Well-beloved will justify the most enthusiastic attachment to Him. None will blame the martyrs for dying for Him. When the enemies of Christ are clothed with everlasting contempt, the lovers of Jesus shall find themselves honored by all holy beings, because they chose the reproach of Christ rather than the treasures of Egypt.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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Rejoicing in God's Mercy

We all are familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son. After he had wasted his inheritance, he came to his senses and returned home, hoping he could just be a servant to his father.

His father wouldn't even consider it. He put the best robe on him, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, and then had the fatted calf killed for a party. The father delighted in showing mercy to his son!

But what about the older brother? He stood outside the party and wouldn't come in to celebrate. He was so angry! He had never messed up and yet his father had never thrown him a party!

Sometimes, if we are not careful, we can have the attitude of that older son. We can look at the lives of others and think, "That is not fair.  I know he's been messing up, and God is blessing him. What's up with that?  I haven't been as bad as him!"

We need to remember that God delights in showing mercy to the guilty when, from a sincere heart, they seek that mercy. He delights when you and I ask for His mercy when we have blown it.

Micah 6:7-8 says,

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

God delights in showing mercy.  So be a person of mercy, and rejoice when God shows mercy to someone who needs it.

~Bayless Conley~

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My servant Moses is faithful: with him will I speak mouth to mouth. - Numbers 12:8

The meekest of. the men was vindicated by God Himself. He held his peace, but his Almighty Friend spoke up for him. It is thus that the meek inherit the earth and rejoice themselves in the abundance of peace. Oh, keep still, ye afflicted and tormented souls, God will not let you be trodden underfoot, if only you commit your cause to Him, and are faithful in all that He has committed to you. "That good thing keep which was committed to you: He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him."

Notice to what faithfulness leads! The vision of God is not given to great intellectual ability or mental gift; but to those who as servants are faithful in the administration of God's Household, and the performance of such duties as are entrusted to them by the Great Householder. Such are they that enjoy the face-to-face fellowship, and the mouth-to-mouth speech.

These words about Moses are quoted in Heb. 3., as though it was pleasant to the Holy Spirit to commemorate in all ages the faithfulness of His servants: and there is this further thought added, that the Household is one, and that all dispensations are included in its precincts. "Whose house are we." It is inspiring to know that we are in the same house with Moses, and may have the same blessing. Are God's dealings with you in dark speeches, in mysterious and perplexing enigmas? Be patient and faithful in well-doing: He is but testing you, and soon He will say, I have called you not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but all things I have heard of the Father I have made known unto you.

~F. B. Meyer~