The Vital Sign of Spiritual Insight (and other devotionals)

The Vital Sign of Spiritual Insight

In the Old Testament, we find the story of Ezra and a large group of Israelites who returned to Jerusalem to reestablish the temple and the worship of God. In the midst of this incredible effort, Ezra prays a powerful prayer, as recorded in Ezra 9:8,

"And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage."

Ezra prays that their eyes would be enlightened spiritually.  It is reminiscent of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1, when he prayed that the eyes of the Ephesians would be enlightened, spiritually opened.

One vital sign of the need for revival is when we are spiritually dull and insensitive to God's promptings, and the Holy Spirit's direction and creativity.

Perhaps you can remember something creative that once operated in your life, but sadly, it has waned.  It has declined.  It has gone dormant.

It shouldn't be that way!  The Holy Spirit wants to prompt you and guide you and give you knowledge and creativity.  But when you are living in a spiritual fog, and you have become accustomed to living in that fog, you can be assured you have become spiritually dull.

That is when you need to be revived.  And when you are, there is an enlightening of the eyes.  There is a renewed sense and an awareness of the prompting, and the wooing, and the guiding of God's Spirit.  That is what comes with revival. 

When you are spiritually revived, you will be sensitive to God's Spirit, and you will gain from Him supernatural insight and enlightenment.

~Bayless Conley~

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Formula for Personal Growth

James 1:22

Growing in Christ involves far more than just attending church, tithing, and listening to a sermon. In fact, many believers do these yet remain stagnant in their walk. There are two elements necessary for us to become more like Jesus: instruction and involvement.

The first of these, learning truth, is vital to a healthy walk with God. Our Savior proved the importance of instruction by devoting much of His time on earth to it. The apostle Paul is another example, as he wrote letters to educate Christians about godliness.

So how can we gain knowledge and understanding? One of the most important and effective ways is to read the Word of God. Scripture instructs us that just as newborns crave milk, we are to desire His Word so that we might grow. I pray your spiritual thirst will become insatiable.

Yet simply listening to the truth does not mean that we've acquired it. I know many people who love attending Bible studies and expanding their knowledge base, but their lives remain unchanged. Just as today's passage teaches, we have to apply the Word to our lives. Even so, actual growth requires more than merely inputting information. It requires action. James 2:26 states, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."

Are we careless hearers, deceived into thinking that we're growing? Or are we listening intently and abiding in the truth? If we're truly maturing, our lives will be increasingly Christlike, and our desires will align more closely with God's heart. Make sure that you are listening and responding to His truth.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

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I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (Ephesians 3:14,15)

God is acting in this dispensation to get a family, and God’s present dispensational activity is not going to be defeated by death, and He is not going to be cheated of it by death. He will get a Family, and will cheat death of that Family. It is not God, Infinite and Mighty, as such, it is the Father; and it is a deathless Family that He is after. This Family is never divided by death, this Family is never broken into by death, this Family knows no such thing as bereavement by death, this Family will never lose a child by death. Of course, as the Family, when we enter into the appreciation of that, that is our comfort: that in this Family we do not lose anyone. Death may touch things here, but the spiritual Family is no more separated in the spiritual reality and in the eternal oneness of the Father’s house, than they would be if they were still here. It is the natural, human side of us that suffers the loss and knows all that pain. But what is the comfort of the believer? We sorrow not as those who have no hope. What is our hope? Because we have a Father who has got a Family that can never be broken up by death and never lose a member by death. Our hope is that the whole Family will be together with not one missing. The hope is that we have not lost any. Ours it is to be together forever. “The whole family in heaven and on earth....” That is a part of the meaning of Fatherhood, and that is what the Father is doing in this dispensation; getting that kind of Family.

The mentality of “God” is sometimes severe. We can never have a severe mentality in the right atmosphere of “the Father.” All these things have to be brought into that realm; the Lord’s dealings with us now are the dealings of the Father and are along the family line. That is what is happening in this dispensation.... The revelation above all revelations of God in the history of the world is the revelation in which we are now living; the revelation of the Father, brought to us by the Son, Jesus Christ. In future when we say “Our Father” may it have a fuller meaning for us.

By T. Austin-Sparks

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Psalm 28:1

Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear, and His ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries. "Be not silent to me." Mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot; they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will-they must go further, and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that it shakes the wilderness; but His silence is equally full of awe to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close His ear, we must not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and grief, He will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case should we be in if the Lord should become for ever silent to our prayers? "Lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." Deprived of the God who answers prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We must have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for He never can find it in His heart to permit His own elect to perish.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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Turning the Tide

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable and right in the sight of God our Savior.” I Timothy 2:1-3 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When I was a boy in Florida, we lived at the seaside. I love the water and one of the things that always intrigued me as a boy was the changing of the tide. As we’d go out fishing, my brother and I would always be cognizant of the tides because we would come and go by the tides. The tides were important to us.

There are tides in nations too. America saw a tide of revival sweep in twice—in the First and Second Great Awakenings. But today we’ve seen a different tide. At this lowest point, when the tide is as low as it can get, may God grant that we see the tide begin to turn, back the other way, back to decency in America, back to standing up for the unborn.

ACTION POINT:

We need to look up. Only God can help us. We need to confess up and turn from our wicked ways. We need to speak up and we need to stand up for what is right. Pray 1Timothy 2:1-3 today.

~Adrian Rogers~