SOUL FOOD by Dr Jack Van Impe

drjean · #1 2nd January 2012, 07:10 PM

January 1, 2012

The Everlasting Arms
Memory Verse: The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them (Deuteronomy 33:27).

When did God have His beginning?
Who was before Him?

These common questions have but one answer: God is eternal. He has always existed. Note this revelation to Isaiah: "Ye are my witnesses said the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither is no savior. (Isaiah 43:10,11). Go back in time as far as you like and God is there: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).

Man is tied to time. We reckon time in segments because our lives are limited to approximately threescore years and ten (see Psalm 90:10). All plans for the future must be conditioned on whether or not we will be alive.

God has no such limitation. He will always exist. His promises are forever because He will endure forever. Because He lives, we can lean on the everlasting arms and be "safe and secure from all alarms."

F. B. Meyer explained: "The Oriental shepherd was always ahead of his sheep. He was in front. Any attempt upon them had to take him into account. Now God is in front. He is in the tomorrows. It is tomorrow that fills men with dread. But God is there already, and all tomorrows of our life have to pass before him before they can get to us. "

As Fanny Crosby said, we are "safe in the arms of Jesus, the everlasting arms.

drjean · #2 3rd January 2012, 11:27 PM

January 2nd 2012 January Thaw
Memory verse: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I , whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. (Matthew 3:11).

Now that the message of peace on earth is neatly packed away with the Christmas decorations, it is time for the yearly lapse into business as usual. Though totally inconsistent with the Bible message, that is too often our experience.

What we really need is an old-fashioned January thaw.

Let's thaw the frigid feelings that divide us from others. Icy stares and cold, meaningless greetings must go. Bitterness and strife within a church can thwart the work of God. And the world suffers.

Melting ice is no easy task. Real and imaginary wrongs have often built up such barricades that true reconciliation seems out of the question. Yet, Christ came to reconcile us to God and commanded that we forgive as we have been forgiven.

Christian leaders should abandon petty personal desires and turn their efforts toward reaching the staggering number of those who are still untouched by the gospel message. The first century church was a tiny minority in a dangerous and hostile world but they knew that the situation called for unity and they laid aside their differences in order to do the job. It was said of them: "the were all with one accord" (Acts 2:1)

Warmth can be felt in a congregation, as can the chill of low spirituality and dead formalism. What's the feel of your fellowship?

Increase your love for Christ and others. Your warmhearted action may raise the temperature enough to start the badly needed January thaw.

drjean · #3 6th January 2012, 12:10 PM

January 6th
Memory Verse: And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (Matthew 6:5).

A good rule is to make public prayers shorter than those we offer in private. Some seize opportunities to pray in public as a means to impress others. A minister who was asked to pray at the opening of a widely heard radio program became so eloquent that he prayed through the entire broadcast and did not finish his prayer until they had been off the air for five minutes.

The famous evangelist, D.L. Moody, did not like long public prayers. Once when a minister prayed long in one of his meetings, he rose and said, "While our brother is finishing his prayer, we will sing number 75." A medical student happened to be bored with the long prayer and just about to leave when Moody's action captured his attention. He was converted that day and became known around the world for his outstanding missionary work.

The recorded public prayers of Jesus were brief. On the other hand, when alone or in the company of His disciples, He prayed long and fervently. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed so intensely that drops of blood fell from His brow and so long that the disciples who were with Him fell asleep.

Many feel that conditions in the world and the church are so serious that they constitute a call to prayer. Tense times move people to pray. But we must remember that effective prayer is not the people-pleasing variety. Prayer that moves the hand of God comes from the heart of man.

drjean · #4 7th January 2012, 11:51 AM

January 7
Memory Verse: Let your light so shine before men, tat they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Babe Ruth once said: "Most of the people who have really counted in my life were not famous. Nobody every heard of them, except those who knew and loved them. I knew an old minister once. His hair was white, his face shone. I have written my name on thousands of baseballs in my life. the old minister wrote his name on just a few simple hearts. How I envy him! I am listed as a famous homerunner, yet beside the obscure minister who was so good and so wise, I never got to first base.

Ruth rightly valued the impact of his friend's influence as more important than money or applause. He saw the old minister's example being followed by others and knew that was a more lasting tribute than being in man's Hall of Fame.

Influence at its greatest flows from the unexpected. Jesus said: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44).
Those weren't just words. Peter would later write of Him: "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again" (II Peter 2:23).

Most of us are influenced by people whose lives reflect this admonition. people who stand out from the crowd. Even the religious crowd. Dedication and Christian discipline make them different. And they don't have to announce it. Like Ruth's friend, there write their names on the hearts of others. They are lights in a dark world

Let your light shine. many are walking in darkness!

drjean · #5 8th January 2012, 01:34 PM

Anxiety

Memory verse: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Matthew 6:34).

Think of the cares that would be cancelled if we could escape anxiety about tomorrow. Most feel safe about today, but the tomorrows are tough. Tomorrow the house payment is due. Tomorrow is the final day of grace on the insurance premium. Tomorrow is the day of your appointment with the doctor. Tomorrow somebody may push the button that plunges the world into another war.

But what if tomorrow does hold unknown trials? Is worry likely to change anything? Ian McClaren wrote: "What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape evil--it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.

The Lord's call to avoid anxiety about tomorrow followed His instruction about priorities in life today: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you: (Matthew 6:33).

Giving God first place is an act of faith. And faith conquers anxiety. George Mueller declared: "the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith." The beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

There is, however, a difference between faith that is mere profession and real faith. False faith may go through all the motions and impress all the right people, but it will not hold up in the pressures of daily experience. True faith is anchored in the promises of God. And they will endure through all your tomorrows.

drjean · #6 10th January 2012, 11:00 AM

January 9th
A Wise Man

Memory Verse: Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock (Matthew 7:24).

General William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army. One day his son came to tell the old general, who had struggled long with poor vision, that the doctors could do no more for his eyes.

"Do you mean that I am blind and must remain blind?" the general asked.

"I am afraid that is true," said his son.

The general moved out his hand until he felt and clasped the hand of his son. "God must know best," he said. "I have done what I could for God and the people with my eyes. Now I shall do what I can for God and the people without my eyes."

Booth's tranquility in trouble came from a life in which selfishness had surrendered. he trusted God and cared for men.

Asked one day for the secret of his success, he answered: "I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me to have. There have been men with greater opportunities but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do, I made up my mind that God would have all there was of William Booth. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life."

The old general's secret was not original. Nor did he claim it to be. His Saviour had voiced it many years before. Booth had built his life on the Rock (Christ). This Foundation stands in the storm!

drjean · #7 11th January 2012, 12:29 PM

Memory Verse: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Phillip Brooks wrote: "A friend says to me, 'I have not time or room in my life for Christianity. If it were not so full! You don't know how hard I work from morning till night. When have I time, where have I room for Christianity in such a life as mine?' It is as if the engine had said it had no room for the steam. It is as if the tree said it had no room for the sap. It is as if the ocean said it had no room for the tide. It is as if the man had said he had no room for his soul. It is as if the life had said it had no time to live. It is not something added to life; it is life. A man is not living without it. And for a man to say, 'I am so full in life that I have no room for life,' you see immediately to what absurdity it reduces itself."

The first wise use of time is that moment of coming in faith to Christ that brings new birth. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). From that point on, wisdom dictates using time to lay treasures in heaven through service for Christ.

It is wise to take time to pray.

It is wise to take time to read the Bible.

It is wise to take time to tell others of Jesus.

It is wise to take time to help those who are in need.

It is wise to take time to bear the burdens of those who are troubled.

It is wise to value spiritual things above material things.

It is wise to act in faith.

In view of the brevity of life, we must learn to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom. Any other course results in a wasted life.

drjean · #8 12th January 2012, 07:51 PM

Memory Verse: Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7).

For nearly two thousand years, Christian have been living in a parenthesis, a prophetic interval, a time "in between."

During this prophetic interval, sometimes known as the Church Age, both Jews and Gentiles who are born again through faith in Christ become part of the body of Christ or the bride of Christ. The signal that the "in between" time has ended will be the removal of the Church (the bride of Christ) from the earth. This great event is described in a number of Bible portions. On of the clearest is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

The event that ends the Church Age and ushers in the seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy is the return of Christ for His Church. This coming of Christ in the air is known as the Rapture of the Church; it involves the resurrection of the Christian dead as well as the exit from earth of all believers living at that time.

With the removal of the Church, earth plunges into its most awful hour. Of this time Jesus said, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was no since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21).

There are difficult days ahead for Israel and for the world. This unprecedented period of Tribulation is not to be confused with daily tribulations which all of God's people pass through. And those who receive Christ before He comes will escape the coming tribulation...the Time of Jacob's Trouble.

Are you ready for the Lord's return?

drjean · #9 14th January 2012, 01:08 PM

Time to Pray
Memory verse: Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:10).

When trouble came, Daniel was prayed up.

This faithful prophet was in the habit of prayer.

The fact that Daniel had a regular time for prayer reveals that he counted prayer worthy of his time. He did not consider time spent in prayer wasted. If we were to total the hours most Christians spend in prayer the sum would be woefully small.

Why?
Because too many discount the importance of prayer.

Some claim to be doers while allowing others to do the praying. The truth is that most successful Christin doers are mighty in prayer. That is the reason they accomplish so much.

Since prayer is conversation with God, our Father must be grieved that we do not spend more time praying. Would not an earthly parent's heart be broken if his children considered all other activities more important than conversing with him? How shall we answer for our lack of prayer when we appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ? (See 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Daniel's faithful praying saved his life. God answered his prayers and the lions were unable to harm him. Even King Darius was moved by the miracle and sent a proclamation throughout the kingdom telling of Daniel's deliverance by the Lord.

A lion's den may await.

Take time to pray.

drjean · #10 15th January 2012, 09:07 PM

Memory verse: But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, or worship the golden image which thou hast set up (Daniel 3:18).

Man's vanity has often carried him to unbelievable ends. Consider Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Napoleon, or Hitler. History has a number of examples of leaders demanding worship. In the coming Tribulation period, the final world dictator will insist on being worshipped.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also let pride become his undoing. Constructing a great image in the plain of Dura he demanded that at a certain signal all in his kingdom fall down and worship it. Three in the crowd wouldn't cooperate, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Hebrews who had been brought to Babylon in the captivity of their people. As a result of their defiance of the king's order, these three were thrown into a burning fiery furnace. God wonderfully protected them there. As the song written about their experience says: "They wouldn't bend; they wouldn't bow; they wouldn't burn."

When the king looked into the furnace he saw four men walking in the flames. His reaction is worth remembering. He said: "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25).

They were so committed to the Lord that they were determined to be true even if no deliverance came. Those three men must have been conspicuous when all the company on the plain of Dura bowed and left them standing. But they are the only ones of that crowd that we know by name today. God honored them for standing. And He will honor those who stand for Him today.