The Wisdom of Right Relationships
The subject of positive relationships is near to my heart because God has provided me with such good friends. These are the people who challenge me to do more for the Lord. My friends love me, but they certainly aren’t content to let me stay as I am! If they spot a sin in my life or see something I could do better, they say so.
Paul gave relationships a high priority too. The apostle surrounded himself with people who could help him achieve two things: fulfillment of his God-given mission and conformity to Christlikeness. While Paul was pouring himself into the lives of others, he was being built up and strengthened by his fellow believers. That, in brief, is the Lord’s plan for every one of His children.
What about you? Do you have certain relationships that motivate you to pursue God more fervently? It does matter whom we allow to influence our lives. The Father equips your brothers and sisters to invest in you—to encourage you, to pray for you, and to prod you toward a more complete faith—so that you are prepared to devote yourself to serving others. Good relationships with people who build each other up can help believers fulfill God’s plan for their lives.
The finest relationships are between people who want to see each other succeed in faith and therefore “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24, niv). In other words, our best friends are those who love us as we are but never cease to challenge us to be better for the Lord.
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
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Rx for Depression
Isaiah 58:10-11 gives you and me a powerful prescription for depression. It says,
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Take a moment to think about what God is saying. Think about the promise: If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, God will satisfy your soul in drought.
If you are a person who is given to depression and you feel like you have this big empty void in your life, I have a prescription for you based on this passage. Are you ready?
Go help somebody else. In fact, find a place in your church, local rescue mission, or The Salvation Army where you can minister to folks who are going through a rough patch. Donate a couple of days a week, and help other folks who are going through a rough time.
God promises that if you will draw out your soul to the hungry and if you will minister to the afflicted soul, He will satisfy your soul in drought.
Rather than being so inwardly focused…"my problems, and I'm so depressed, and why aren't things going right for me?", go help somebody else. Get things in perspective. There are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than you are, and you will find that God will bring the rain into your life when you change your focus.
If your soul is dry, the way to get it watered is to go help someone else. The sooner the better.
~Bayless Conley~
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"The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them" (Num.10:33).
God does give us impressions, but not that we should act on them as impressions. If the impression be from God, He will Himself give sufficient evidence to establish it beyond the possibility of a doubt.
How beautiful is the story of Jeremiah, of the impression that came to him respecting the purchase of the field of Anathoth. But Jeremiah did not act upon this impression until after the following day, when his uncle's son came to him and brought him external evidence by making a proposal for the purchase. Then Jeremiah said: "I knew this was the word of the Lord."
He waited until God seconded the impression by a providence, and then he acted in full view of the open facts, which could bring conviction unto others as well as to himself. God wants us to act according to His mind. We are not to ignore the Shepherd's personal voice but, like Paul and his companions at Troas, we are to listen to all the voices that speak and "gather" from all the circumstances, as they did, the full mind of the Lord.
--Dr. Simpson
--Dr. Simpson
"Where God's finger points, there God's hand will make the way."
Do not say in thine heart what thou wilt or wilt not do, but wait upon God until He makes known His way. So long as that way is hidden it is clear that there is no need of action, and that He accounts Himself responsible for all the results of keeping thee where thou art.
"For God through ways we have not known,
Will lead His own."
Will lead His own."
~L. B. Cowman~
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Finding Your Way when Human Reasoning Won’t Do
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.” Deuteronomy 13:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
When we read a command in the Bible, whether we understand it or not, we ought to obey it. The Bible is not first and foremost a book to be explained, it is a book to be believed and obeyed.
So many times we want to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early apostles when they first met Paul persecuting believers. Those well-meaning Christians could have been praying for God to strike Paul dead, but what did God do? He struck him alive! And aren’t you glad He did?
ACTION POINT:
Don’t substitute human reasoning for obedience. God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith 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).
“Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.” Deuteronomy 13:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
When we read a command in the Bible, whether we understand it or not, we ought to obey it. The Bible is not first and foremost a book to be explained, it is a book to be believed and obeyed.
So many times we want to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early apostles when they first met Paul persecuting believers. Those well-meaning Christians could have been praying for God to strike Paul dead, but what did God do? He struck him alive! And aren’t you glad He did?
ACTION POINT:
Don’t substitute human reasoning for obedience. God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith 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).
~Adrian Rogers~
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Our Strongholds
by Max Lucado
Does a stronghold have a strong hold on you? Do you feel nothing but despair? Do you think thoughts of defeat? A stronghold is a false premise that denies God’s promise. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “it sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” It attempts to magnify the problem and minimize God’s ability to solve it.
God could never forgive me— That’s the stronghold of guilt.
Bad things always happen to me— That’s the stronghold of self-pity.
I have to be in charge– The stronghold of pride.
I don’t deserve to be loved– The stronghold of rejection.
Most Christians don’t recognize strongholds. But we don’t have to be among them. Our weapons are from God and have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn’t that what you want? Keep God at center stage. Turn off the computer and open the Bible more! And turn to God for help.
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Worship Sets Us Free
And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnightPaul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone¹s chains were loosed. Acts 16:23-26
Worship sets people free. How much do you worship? When do you worship? Are you able to worship when your circumstances are the very worst, your patience has failed and your confusion is maxed out? Do praise songs come to your mind at the most stressful times? We need to assess our ability to worship because worship will change our lives. We need to train ourselves to worship in all circumstances.
Paul and Silas were beaten, thrown in the inner prison and their feet were fastened in stocks. They were probably in too much pain to sleep, so at midnight they broke out in worship. They did not have a worship leader, instruments, power point, or a radio to sing along to. They probably could not even tap their feet to keep the beat. Paul and Silas may not even have had good singing voices. But from the wellspring of their hearts, their mouths worshipped the Lord despite their circumstances. As a result, other prisoners listened to them and even better, everyone¹s chains were loosed. Worship set prisoners free.
In many ways, you may feel like a prisoner. You may have habits that you cannot break, you may find yourself in circumstances that have not changed, you may feel that God isn¹t answering your prayers. What are you to do? Worship. Worship when you are sad, feel bad, and after you were mad. Worship every day, at work and at play, worship any way. Worship will change your life and if you sing loud enough for others to listen, your worship may set them free as well.
Lord, teach me to worship. Lord, bring songs to my mind so that worship can be my way of life. Change me through worship and allow me to see the fruit of worship in the lives of others around me.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
God could never forgive me— That’s the stronghold of guilt.
Bad things always happen to me— That’s the stronghold of self-pity.
I have to be in charge– The stronghold of pride.
I don’t deserve to be loved– The stronghold of rejection.
Most Christians don’t recognize strongholds. But we don’t have to be among them. Our weapons are from God and have divine power to demolish strongholds. Isn’t that what you want? Keep God at center stage. Turn off the computer and open the Bible more! And turn to God for help.
__________________________
Worship Sets Us Free
And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnightPaul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone¹s chains were loosed. Acts 16:23-26
Worship sets people free. How much do you worship? When do you worship? Are you able to worship when your circumstances are the very worst, your patience has failed and your confusion is maxed out? Do praise songs come to your mind at the most stressful times? We need to assess our ability to worship because worship will change our lives. We need to train ourselves to worship in all circumstances.
Paul and Silas were beaten, thrown in the inner prison and their feet were fastened in stocks. They were probably in too much pain to sleep, so at midnight they broke out in worship. They did not have a worship leader, instruments, power point, or a radio to sing along to. They probably could not even tap their feet to keep the beat. Paul and Silas may not even have had good singing voices. But from the wellspring of their hearts, their mouths worshipped the Lord despite their circumstances. As a result, other prisoners listened to them and even better, everyone¹s chains were loosed. Worship set prisoners free.
In many ways, you may feel like a prisoner. You may have habits that you cannot break, you may find yourself in circumstances that have not changed, you may feel that God isn¹t answering your prayers. What are you to do? Worship. Worship when you are sad, feel bad, and after you were mad. Worship every day, at work and at play, worship any way. Worship will change your life and if you sing loud enough for others to listen, your worship may set them free as well.
Lord, teach me to worship. Lord, bring songs to my mind so that worship can be my way of life. Change me through worship and allow me to see the fruit of worship in the lives of others around me.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
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