Kenneth & Gloria Copeland Devotional 16 October 2018

Kenneth & Gloria Copeland Devotional 16 October 2018

Topic: Put Patience to Work [October 16, 2018]

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. – Hebrews 10:35-36

Most of us have a distorted idea about patience. We think of it as something designed to help us suffer failure gracefully, but according to these scriptures, it will actually put us on the path to success!

Patience (or being consistently constant) is the power twin of faith. They work together to see to it that the promises of God are fulfilled in your life.

Say, for example, you need a job. You can go to the Word and see clearly that God promises to provide your needs. You can see He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. Once you see that, faith takes hold and you shout, “Hallelujah, I’ve got the job I need.”

But what happens to that faith tomorrow morning when you go to three interviews and get turned down all three times? Then what? That’s when patience has to take over! That’s when you have to make a decision to stay constant, to act as if nothing’s changed.

The truth is, if you based your confidence on the Word of God, nothing has changed. It says exactly the same thing it said yesterday.

So, if you’ll put patience to work, you know what you’re going to say after those three unsuccessful job interviews? You’re going to say, “Hallelujah, I’ve got the job I need!” just like you did before.

You see, faith opens the door to God’s promise for you; and patience keeps it open until that promise is fulfilled.

Do you have your faith sights set on a promise of God today, a promise you’ve been waiting on for some time? Don’t let the delay discourage you. Put patience to work. The Word guarantees you will receive your reward.

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 6:10-15

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

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Our Daily Bread 16 October 2018 Devotional

Our Daily Bread 16 October 2018 Devotional

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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Billy Graham Devotional 16 October 2018 – Loneliness

Billy Graham Devotional 16 October 2018 – Loneliness

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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Andrew Wommack Devotional 16 October 2018 – Love Comes First

Andrew Wommack Devotional 16 October 2018 – Love Comes First

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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Joyce Meyer Devotional 15 October 2018 — God Blesses Obedience

Joyce Meyer Devotional 15 October 2018 — God Blesses Obedience

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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Kenneth & Gloria Copeland Devotional 15 October 2018 – The Heart of the King

Kenneth & Gloria Copeland Devotional 15 October 2018 – The Heart of the King

Topic: The Heart of the King 

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. – Proverbs 21:1

Think about that for a moment! God has reserved the right to override the will of a nation’s leader, if need be, to see that His people are governed according to His will.

What’s more, God will hear the prayer of any government leader. Even if he’s the worst reprobate in the whole world. He heard the prayer of old King Nebuchadnezzar. Believe me, that means He’ll listen to any leader!

You see, Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. He was an ungodly ruler of an ungodly nation. However, he’d taken captives from the land of Judah. He had some of God’s people under his authority. So, God began to deal with him.

Again and again, God warned him, Nebuchadnezzar, you’re going to lose your mind if you don’t straighten up. And, sure enough, he went just as crazy as could be.

He stayed that way for years too. Then one day he cried out to God and God heard him.

Despite his status as a heathen king of a heathen nation, God intervened repeatedly in Nebuchadnezzar’s life and heard him when he finally cried out for help. Why? Because he had God’s people under his control!

That same principle still holds true today. If we’ll open the way through prayer, God will deal with our leaders!

If we will humble ourselves in unity and pray, God can change the injustice and corruption that exist in our country, or any country for that matter. He’ll change the hearts of everyone from the White House on down to make sure His children are governed justly.

Make it a point to pray for our leaders today!

Scripture Reading: Daniel 4:1-37

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

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