2018-06-20
John 8:31 NKJV
John writes, “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John v.2 NKJV). In order to “prosper,” reading God’s Word must be one of your first priorities each day. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” To “abide” means to reside in a certain place. It makes us think of home, the place where you find joy, acceptance, encouragement, support, protection, purpose, identity, and rest. To “treasure” God’s Word means to accept it as your highest authority, your compass for direction, your counselor in making decisions, your benchmark for evaluating every relationship and action. In other words, the first and last word in your life. Many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on unreliable authorities, like: Culture – “Everybody’s doing it.” Tradition – “We’ve always done it this way.” Reason – “It seems logical.” Emotion – “It just feels right.” All these are flawed because they come from within us, not from God. What we need is a perfect standard that will never lead us in the wrong direction, and only God’s Word meets that criteria. Solomon wrote, “Every word of God is flawless” (Proverbs 30:5 NIV). That means when His Word tells you to do something, you need to do it whether or not it makes sense to you, and whether or not you feel like doing it. You must say like Paul, “I believe everything that…is written” (Acts 24:14 NIV).
Soul food: Ezek 43-45; Luke 1:39-56; Ps 139:1-6; Prov 15:25-27
2018-06-19
Job 23:12 NIV
The Spirit of God makes us like the Son of God, through the Word of God! That’s why Satan will put 101 roadblocks in your way to keep you from reading the Bible. Paul writes, “[God’s]…Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need” (Acts 20:32 TM). Underscore that word “everything.” God’s Word is like seed; it’s filled with potential. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you…are life” (John 6:63 NAS). An amazing thing happens when you study the Scriptures. Your mind illuminates, your heart resonates, and the truth comes to life in you. The Bible is more than just a doctrinal guidebook. It creates faith, produces change, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, builds hope, releases power, cleanses minds, brings things into being, and guarantees your future. You can’t survive without it. It’s as essential to your life as food. That’s why Job said, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” God’s Word is the spiritual nourishment you need to fulfill your life’s purpose. The Bible is described as milk, bread, solid food, and sweet dessert (See 1 Peter 2:2; Matthew 4:4; 1 Corinthians 3:2; Psalm 119:103). This four-course meal is the Spirit’s menu for daily strength and growth. Peter writes, “Crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up” (1 Peter 2:2 NIV). So make a commitment to spend time each day reading God’s Word.
Soul food: Ezek 40:10-42:20; Luke 1:26-38; Ps 73:17-28; Prov 15:22-24
2018-06-18
2 Peter 3:18 NLT
Winning gracefully can be harder than losing gracefully. When we win we’re tempted by arrogance, power, insensitivity, gloating, and wanting to relive our success long after everyone else is bored by it. Gracious winners always remember what it feels like to lose. They are caught up in something bigger than their own wins and losses. Abraham Lincoln had the wisdom to place the good of the country above his own ego, appointing his worst political critic, Edwin Stanton, to run the War Department. Stanton, a brilliant legal mind, could be brusque and condescending. As Frederick Douglass put it, ‘Politeness was not one of his weaknesses.’ Lincoln, on the other hand, was keenly aware of his looks and his uneducated background. (When someone charged him with being two-faced during a campaign, he responded: ‘If I had two faces, do you think I’d be wearing this one?’). As outgoing attorney general of the losing party, Stanton had belittled Lincoln as ‘the original gorilla.’ How Lincoln treated Stanton is Civil War history. Lincoln trusted in him, confided in him, leaned on him, depended on him. And Stanton responded with unfailing loyalty and affection. On the morning of April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died after having been shot the night before at Ford’s Theatre. The most famous words ever spoken after the death of a president were spoken that morning: ‘Now he belongs to the ages.’ The speaker was Edwin Stanton. Robert Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln’s son, said that after his father died he was visited in his room each morning for two weeks by Stanton who ‘spent the first ten minutes of his visits weeping without saying a word.’ When nothing else works, showing grace does!
Soul food: Ezek 37:1-40:9; Luke 1:11-25; Ps 73:1-16; Prov 15:18-21
2018-06-17
2 Peter 3:18 NLT
Samuel and Susanna Wesley (John Wesley’s parents) were at evening prayer one night when Susanna didn’t say ‘amen’ to her husband’s prayer for William of Orange, then King of England. When he asked her why, she explained that her sympathy lay with the deposed James the Second. It turned into a game of ‘you do what I say’ which he couldn’t win. She wrote about what happened next: ‘He immediately kneeled down and invoked the divine vengeance upon himself and all his posterity if he ever touched me again or came to bed with me before I had begged God’s pardon, and his, for not saying amen to a prayer for the king.’ The stalemate lasted six months and was broken only when a tragic fire destroyed two-thirds of their home. People who cling to resentments, who don’t know how to handle disappointment with grace, who have long memories, who choke on the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ or who sulk and pout and whine, always finish up on the short end of the stick. Losing well is an art that requires all the grace we can muster. It means having the humility to face reality with no excuses, but with the confidence not to allow losing to define our identity or make us feel ‘less than.’ It means no excuses, no blaming, no self-pity – but no self-condemnation either. It means having the discernment to know when to quit and when to persevere. It means learning how to say ‘congratulations.’ It means letting go of an outcome we cannot change, but holding on to the will to live fully and well, and seeking to glorify God in all that we do.
Soul food: Matt 5:4; Isa 51:1-16; Ps 30; 2 Cor 1:3-7
2018-06-16
2 Peter 3:18 NLT
Psychologist Henry Cloud does a lot of corporate consulting. Sometimes he asks executives this question: ‘When in your business training or education, did you ever take a course on how to lose well?’ Losing is an inevitable part of life. It gives us an invaluable window into the development of our character. How do we do when we’re part of a team that makes a decision that’s opposed? How do we handle it when the promotion we applied for, goes to somebody else? How do we do when our idea, proposal, or invitation for a date gets rejected? To live is to lose. But to lose badly, gracelessly, can be lethal. The president of an organisation has an agenda for change that is dead in the water. No one wants it. But he’s stubborn and won’t take no for an answer, so he gets malicious compliance instead. People don’t resist him openly, but they sabotage his agenda. He loses their respect and their loyalty. He could not stand to lose on his agenda; so instead, he loses what matters far more. A pastor wants his church to change in ways that the people don’t embrace. He wants it to look like his ideal of what a church should be. So he preaches angry sermons that chastise them for not following his leadership. He tries to pressure the elders. He threatens, he whines, he manipulates. Eventually the elders ask him to leave the church. Because he cannot learn from his losses, he loses everything. Peter, who was known for being bull-headed, had grown wiser and more mature, so he writes, ‘Grow in grace.’ When you don’t get what you want – be gracious!
Soul food: Ezek 34-36; Luke 1:1-10; Ps 80:12-19; Prov 15:15-17
2018-06-15
Philippians 3:20 NLT
Every year Pacific salmon, having lived five to six years in the ocean, suddenly get the urge to return to the headwaters of their birth river. Battling fishermen, bears, and giant hydroelectric dams, they fight their way upstream determined to reach their home. Scientists don’t know how the salmon make their way back to the exact river in which they were born after being in the ocean for several years. Some think it’s because they can taste or smell the fresh water from their river. Others think they may use the stars to navigate. Regardless of how they do it, we know they don’t use charts and compasses; their journey is intuitive. They have a longing for a particular river, and it can’t be satisfied until they find it. That’s exactly how it is with us. God created us for heaven, and nothing in this life will fully satisfy that longing (See Ecclesiastes 3:11). Just like those salmon – we’re in this world but we’re not of it. Yes, we find joy in fulfilling the assignment in life God has given us, but it’s nothing compared to the joy that awaits us in heaven. Paul puts it this way: “We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control” (Philippians 3:20-21 NLT). And as your redeemed loved ones leave to go to heaven, your longing to join them will only increase.
Soul food: Ezek 31-33; Mark 16:1-20; Ps 80:1-11; Prov 15:11-14
