by dailyd | Oct 16, 2018 | More
Topic: Terrible and Beautiful Things
Read: Psalm 57, Bible in a Year: Isaiah 47–49; 1 Thessalonians 4
Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. Psalm 57:8
Fear can leave us frozen. We know all the reasons to be afraid—everything that’s hurt us in the past, everything that could easily do so again. So sometimes we’re stuck—unable to go back; too afraid to move forward. I just can’t do it. I’m not smart enough, strong enough, or brave enough to handle being hurt like that again.
I’m captivated by how author Frederick Buechner describes God’s grace: like a gentle voice that says, “Here is the world. Terrible and beautiful things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.”
Terrible things will happen. In our world, hurting people hurt other people, often terribly. Like the psalmist David, we carry our own stories of when evil surrounded us, when, like “ravenous beasts,” others wounded us (Psalm 57:4). And so we grieve; we cry out (vv. 1–2).
But because God is with us, beautiful things can happen too. As we run to Him with our hurts and fears, we find ourselves carried by a love far greater than anyone’s power to harm us (vv. 1–3), a love so deep it fills the skies (v. 10). Even when disaster rages around us, His love is a solid refuge where our hearts find healing (vv. 1, 7). Until one day we’ll find ourselves awakening to renewed courage, ready to greet the day with a song of His faithfulness (vv. 8–10).
Prayer: Healer and Redeemer, thank You for holding us and healing us with Your endless love. Help us find in Your love the courage to follow You and share Your love with those around us.
God’s love and beauty make us brave.
INSIGHT
In the book of Psalms, superscriptions often precede the actual text. These notes shed light on the individual or group designated to lead the composition, the author, or the situation that inspired the lyrics. The superscription for Psalm 57 tells us David wrote this psalm “when he had fled from Saul into the cave.” Scripture records two times when David found refuge from Saul in a cave (1 Samuel 22 and 24). While there is uncertainty as to which of these two incidents is in view here, the truth of the psalm is crystal clear—the fearful, the anxious, the fleeing can find ultimate safety in the Lord (Psalm 57:1).
When was the last time a difficult situation caused you to call out to “God Most High”? (v. 2).
Arthur Jackson
This message was written By Monica Brands [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]
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by dailyd | Oct 16, 2018 | More
Topic: Loneliness
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. — Psalm 84:2
Loneliness is one of the greatest problems people face today. It is a leading cause of suicide-that is now the third greatest killer of students in the United States. People feel various kinds of loneliness. One of the most common is the loneliness of solitude. Or there is the loneliness of suffering. Many people experience loneliness in society, or there is the loneliness of sorrow, guilt, and judgment.
All of us feel at times a loneliness for God. Someone has called it cosmic loneliness. We don’t know what it is. It makes us restless. You see, man was made for God; and without God, he is lonely. But Jesus is knocking at the door of our heart, saying, “I want to come in. Let me in.” He doesn’t push His way through that door. We have to open it and invite Him in; when we do, He comes in to live forever and we are never lonely again.
Prayer for the day: Lord Jesus, I remember the agony of my days without You. Lead me to the lonely people who need to experience the joy of Your companionship, too.
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
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by dailyd | Oct 16, 2018 | More
Topic: Love Comes First – Tuesday October 16, 2018.
John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Text: John 13:35
Jesus didn’t say that all men would know we are His disciples by our doctrine, our rituals, our hatred for sin, or even by the way we express our love for God. He said very clearly, that the one characteristic that would cause the world to identify us as His followers, is our love, one for another.
This same night, the Lord prayed to His Father using this same thought saying, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn. 17:21). The only way that Christ’s body will be one as the Father and Jesus are One, is through God’s kind of love.
Unity of believers, that can only come through a genuine God-kind of love, is the greatest tool for evangelism that the church has or will ever have, according to Jesus. The early church didn’t have the massive organizational structures that we see today or the ability to travel anywhere in the world in just a matter of hours. They certainly did not come close to spending as much money, in proportion to us, to spread the gospel. And yet, the pagans of Thessalonica said of Paul and his companions, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). They had evangelized the known world in less than thirty years.
Before we can ever fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20, there must be a revival of love in the church, where doctrine and ritual take a “back seat” to love for one another.
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).
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by dailyd | Oct 16, 2018 | More
Topic: God Blesses Obedience
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. — Exodus 19:5
God’s grace and power are available for us to use. God enables us or gives us an anointing of the Holy Spirit to do what He tells us to do.
Sometimes after He has prompted us to go another direction, we still keep pressing on with our original plan. If we are doing something He has not approved, He is under no obligation to give us the energy to do it. We are functioning in our own strength rather than under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then we get so frustrated, stressed, or burned out, we lose our self-control, simply by ignoring the promptings of the Spirit.
Many people are stressed and burned out from going their own way instead of God’s way. They end up in stressful situations when they go a different direction from the one God prompted. Then they burn out in the midst of the disobedience and end up struggling to finish what they started outside of God’s direction, all the while begging God to bless them.
Thankfully, God is merciful, and He helps us in the midst of our mistakes. But He is not going to give us strength and energy to disobey Him. We can avoid many stressful situations simply by obeying the Holy Spirit’s promptings at all times.
Prayer Starter: Father, I know Your plan is always best for my life. Please help me today and every day to obey the promptings of Your Holy Spirit in every area. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.
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by dailyd | Oct 15, 2018 | Open Heavens
Topic: Learn To Trust God
Memorise: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”– Romans 8:28
Read: Psalm 37:4-6 (KJV)
4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
Bible in One Year: Isaiah 65-66, Luke 6:46-7:17
MESSAGE:
Trusting God is one of the best things a child of God can ever learn to do. The moment you learn to trust God, life will become beautiful because you will begin to experience a kind of peace you never knew existed. Initially, it can be quite hard for us to trust God due to the fact that His ways are higher than our ways, and until we get to know Him well, His instructions and commands might seem strange. Nevertheless, as a child of God, it is important that you learn to trust God blindly. Even if you cannot see around the bend, you should trust Him enough to know that He will always lead you aright. No matter how unconditional God’s ways are, one thing is sure: He has your best interest at heart. Jeremiah 29:11 says:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Trusting God involves taking the backseat and letting God handle the major decisions and situations in your life. It involves letting your will be so lost in His will until you start to see things from His perspective and feel things through His heart. It takes a lot of trust in another individual to be able to let go of your own will and let that person’s will prevail in your life. You can only trust someone that you love; so if you don’t love God genuinely, you cannot trust Him.
There was a day I was driving down from Ilorin to Lagos and the fuel tank was almost empty. Unknown to me, a fuel scarcity was on, and so all the filling stations I saw along the way had no fuel. I cried to God and He asked me to take my eyes off the fuel gauge and continue driving to Lagos. Although my fuel tank was already on reserve at the time He told me to do this, I said to Him ”Yes Lord”, and I kept driving. To the glory of God, I kept on driving till I got my house in Lagos. After I parked the car, I looked at the fuel gauge and it read empty! If I did not trust God completely, I would have parked my car in a safe place along the way and gone through the stress of finding an alternative means of getting home, instead of taking the risk of getting stranded along the way.
The devil specializes in sowing seeds of doubt in our hearts so that our faith in God will diminish, because he knows that the moment you start doubting God, you will not be able to receive anything from Him (James 1:6-7). For this reason, it is very important to remind yourself of the good things God has done for you and others in the past. Encourage yourself with these testimonies in order to rekindle your faith. Learn to trust God, because it shows your love for Him!
Key Point:
If you don’t learn to trust God, then don’t expect anything from Him.
Monday Hymn 11: O God Our Help In Ages Past
1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4. A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
6. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Open Heaven 15 October 2018 Monday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven 15 October 2018 Monday Daily Devotional.
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