Showing Genuine Love for Others (and other devotionals)

Showing Genuine Love for Others

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great.” Psalm 18:35

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Can a person donate to the poor and not have love? Can a person work in a soup kitchen for the homeless and not have love? Yes. You say, “A person wouldn’t do that!” Oh yes, they would…if they had a guilty conscience. Sometimes it is neater to write a check or donate some used things than to give of our time.

Do you know what the world needs? Not more money, though I’m sure they’d be glad to take it. First Corinthians 13:3 says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving of yourself to others.

ACTION POINT:
Ask God to show you the ways you can show His genuine love to others. 

~Adrian Rogers~

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Is it Okay to Make Plans for Your Dreams? 

Guest Writer: Meet my friend Shana Schutte. We are blessed to have her as our guest writer.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 

A few years ago I wondered about something that perhaps you have wondered about too: When someone has a dream or something they want to accomplish, is it okay with God to make plans? Maybe you are familiar with two popular positions related to this question.

Some people say that it’s not okay to make plans for anything. Instead, you should be like a leaf floating in the wind. You let God take you wherever He wants. You don’t exert your will or your desires. You just are. Others say that if anything good happens in life, it’s because you make it happen. After all, God won’t magically appear on your doorstep and offer you a new job, a new relationship, or a new life. He set the world into motion and then stepped back to watch it spin. Everything else is up to you. I found something in Scripture that addresses both of these positions. James 4:13 says. . .

 “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”’

To begin, we can throw Position No. 1 out the window. Some people might think this passage is saying that you don’t make any plans at all, you don’t exert your will, your desires or hope into any situation. It is not. Notice it says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will do this or that.’” God is saying, “It’s okay to have a ‘I’d like to do this or that’ in mind. It’s okay to verbalize it and make plans accordingly. But in all of your expectations, remain flexible and let Me have the final say.” There is no person who will suffer the disappointment and despair that comes from dashed expectations if they live with a plan in one hand, and surrender to God in the other.

Position No. 2 says that you make things happen: it’s all up to you. You are the maker of your own destiny—you are your own god. I have one word for that: baloney! It’s pretty clear that according to James, you can make your plans but God says yes or no. The real truth is that control is an illusion. No one really has any. We don’t even control our own breath or how long we live. The person who assumes that they have control of their life is, as the Scripture says, boasting—and boasting is evil. It is opposite of being God dependent. Only God has total control—and because He loves us, we can trust Him with that control.
If you have a goal, a hope, or a dream, pray over it. If you feel that God is giving you the thumbs up and it’s not sinful, go for it! Make your plans. Dream your dreams. But be led by God and always let Him have the final word.

Prayer:  “Lord, please help me live my life in submission to you. Give me the confidence that you are always leading me to fulfill your best plans for me so it’s easier to surrender my plans and dreams to you. Amen.”

Application: Do you have a particular dream or plan? Write a letter to Christ today and pour out your heart to Him about it. Then tell Him that you will submit to Him no matter the outcome.

~Wisdom Hunters Devotional~
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He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass (Ps. 72:6).

Amos speaks of the king's mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is perpetually mowing His lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe portends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows.

Thus in human life we make a brave show, before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointment, the sickle of death. There is no method of obtaining a velvety lawn but by repeated mowings; and there is no way of developing tenderness, evenness, sympathy, but by the passing of God's scythes.

How constantly the Word of God compares man to grass, and His glory to its flower! But when grass is mown, and all the tender shoots are bleeding, and desolation reigns where flowers were bursting, it is the most acceptable time for showers of rain falling soft and warm.

O soul, thou hast been mown! Time after time the King has come to thee with His sharp scythe. Do not dread the scythe--it is sure to be followed by the shower.
--F. B. Meyer

When across the heart deep waves of sorrow
Break, as on a dry and barren shore;
When hope glistens with no bright tomorrow,
And the storm seems sweeping evermore;

When the cup of every earthly gladness
Bears no taste of the life-giving stream;
And high hopes, as though to mock our sadness,
Fade and die as in some fitful dream,

Who shall hush the weary spirit's chiding?
Who the aching void within shall fill?
Who shall whisper of a peace abiding,
And each surging billow calmly still?

Only He whose wounded heart was broken
With the bitter cross and thorny crown;
Whose dear love glad words of Joy had spoken,
Who His life for us laid meekly down.

Blessed Healer, all our burdens lighten;
Give us peace, Thine own sweet peace, we pray!
Keep us near Thee till the morn shall brighten,
And all the mists and shadows flee away!

~L. B. Cowman~

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Not Guilty

The new covenant provides cleansing for a guilty conscience.  In talking about the old covenant, read Hebrews 9:9,

It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.

Then verse 14 about the new covenant,

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

At the point of conversion, not only is sin taken away, but the burden of guilt is lifted.  The conscience is cleansed.

Even if you sin as a believer, thank God for 1 John 1:9,  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you are still grappling with a guilty conscience after you have from your heart repented of sin and confessed it to God, then one of three things is happening:

1. The devil is accusing you.  He is called the accuser of the brethren.  He will run by your kitchen window with flash cards which say, "Remember when you did this?  Remember when you did that!"  Do not listen to the devil.

2. You have not forgiven yourself.  You are forgiven by God, but you have not forgiven yourself.  If God Almighty has forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself.

3. It may just be that you need to make restitution.  That is something you will have to work out between you and God.  Sometimes when you have injured a party through your sinful act, your conscience is going to bother you until you make things right with that person. 

Under the new covenant there is cleansing from a guilty conscience, and it makes an awfully soft pillow at night.

~Bayless Conley~

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Thou shall see greater things than these - John 1:50

God's dealings with us are always on an ascending scale. If we see clearly the lowest rung in the heavenly ladder, whilst we behold, the veil of mist will part, and we shall see the next above it, and then the next, and, in due order, the next; and so the steps that slope away through darkness up to God will always be beckoning to greater and yet greater things.

Have you known Christ as the Word? He is more; both Spirit and Life.

Has He become flesh? You shall behold Him glorified with the glory He had before the worlds.

Have you known Him as Alpha, before all? He is also Omega.

Have you met John? You shall meet One so much greater, that the latchet of His shoes the Baptist shall deem himself unworthy to unloose.

Do you know the baptism by water? You shall be baptized by fire.

Have you beheld the Lamb on the Cross? You shall behold Him in the midst of the throne.

Have you seen the Spirit descend as a dove on one head? You shall see Him come as a fire upon an unnumbered multitude.

Have you followed the Christ to the slight booth in the Jordan Valley? You shall enter with Him into mansions of eternal glory.

Do you acknowledge Him as King of Israel? You shall hear the acclamations that salute Him as King of the worlds.

Live up to all you know, and you shall know more. Be all you can, and you shall become more. Do all that your two talents permit, and you will find yourself ruler over four cities.

~F. B. Meyer~

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Stop Talking to Yourself

You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. - Psalm 139:3 

Does God want to be involved in every decision we make? Is it necessary to pray about every little detail? Many would say that God doesn’t care, He saved you and He gave you a mind to think things through for yourself. I would completely disagree. After spending years of praying over the details in life, I have come to appreciate all He does for me just by including Him and looking for His fingerprints in my life.

But how does this work? Well, for a great starter, stop talking to yourself and start talking to the Lord. If you are late, talk to God about it. If you are confused, include God in it. Talk to Him as a friend, a counselor and a companion. He says that He is all those traits so get to know Him in those ways. In every relationship, there needs to be two-way communication. Prayer obviously is your part in the communication process with the Lord. But the Bible is God’s way of speaking back to you. So let’s say it is on your heart to buy a new car. Start talking to Him about it. Ask Him to change your heart if it is not His will or to lead your heart in the car buying process. Next, go to the Bible and ask the Lord to give you verses to guide you in this decision. If some verse pops out to you, pray over it and ask God to make His message clearer through that verse. If He does give you the go ahead, do further research with that promise.  Keep talking to Him and keep going back to the Word, asking for specific direction. Whatever you include Him in, the Lord will work with you from dealerships to your finances. As you grow in the knowledge of God’s guidance, you will gain a peace in your decision of what to purchase. Regardless of the outcome, you will have assurance of God’s hand in the process. Walking through these decisions in our lives with God is the only way to assure peace. The more we include Him in every decision, the more we grow in our knowledge of Him, which leads to a closer walk with the Lord.

Are you in the midst of a trial or major decision in your life? Are you searching for answers in various places? Knowledge can bring peace, but the knowledge of God brings everlasting peace that continues to surpass our understanding. Start out everyday in God’s Word. Take time to put His Word in your heart and mind. Before the day is through, you will need to hear from the Lord on something that crosses your path. The knowledge of His Word will give you peace and assurance in ways you could never imagine. Try it and see what God will do.

~Daily Disciples Devotional~