Words of Encouragement and Thoughts (6)
- Thread starter Moriah Ruth 777
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"Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." Proverbs 20:17
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Shalico2007
Jesucristo es el Rey! Que Dios te Bendiga!
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Daily Devotional by Derek Prince.
Death Brings Life
John 12:24
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” NIV
What a vivid picture that is. Do you see it? You are holding the grain of wheat there in your hand. It’s got a hard little shell around it, it’s all by itself, it’s right there in your hand. It’s yours, it’s your life, you control it, you make the decisions. You can decide what you want to do to it. You can hold onto it and keep it. But if you keep it, Jesus says, it will remain alone. Nothing more will ever come out of it.
How many lonely people there are all around us in the world today? They are lonely just for that very reason. They are holding onto that little grain. They are not willing to let it go. And so they have it. It’s all theirs but it’s, oh, so lonely. What’s the alternative? Let it go, drop it. Hand it over to God. Let God take control of it. Be willing to drop into the ground, lose sight of it, and be buried even there in the dark. Maybe people will walk over it, but God’s promise is that a new life will come out of it: a life that’s worth living, a life that’s not just for time, but for eternity.
Death Brings Life
John 12:24
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” NIV
What a vivid picture that is. Do you see it? You are holding the grain of wheat there in your hand. It’s got a hard little shell around it, it’s all by itself, it’s right there in your hand. It’s yours, it’s your life, you control it, you make the decisions. You can decide what you want to do to it. You can hold onto it and keep it. But if you keep it, Jesus says, it will remain alone. Nothing more will ever come out of it.
How many lonely people there are all around us in the world today? They are lonely just for that very reason. They are holding onto that little grain. They are not willing to let it go. And so they have it. It’s all theirs but it’s, oh, so lonely. What’s the alternative? Let it go, drop it. Hand it over to God. Let God take control of it. Be willing to drop into the ground, lose sight of it, and be buried even there in the dark. Maybe people will walk over it, but God’s promise is that a new life will come out of it: a life that’s worth living, a life that’s not just for time, but for eternity.
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The Raging Battle
In His Presence: Psalms 37:4
“I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please”(Galatians 5:16-17).
The very Spirit of God has taken up residence in our lives if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. God wants to express His mind, His thoughts, His desires, and His will through our mortal bodies. But for us to see this happen, we need to be under the Holy Spirit’s control. While this is taking place, we are going to experience conflict within ourselves. This is one way we can know we are Christians. If we have no battles raging within, we are probably not saved. There is no opposition within us. God says the flesh and the Spirit are total opposites; they are not going to get along with each other at all.
How do we know the difference between the flesh and the Holy Spirit within us? The Spirit will want to please God, and the flesh will want to please ourselves. That’s why the war going on inside of us is good, not bad. Most of us feel guilty about having such a battle. Of course, we may not like the feeling, but the two laws operating in our bodies should give us occasion to praise God.
One Minute Please
If a battle is being waged within you, that’s a good thing because it indicates that the Spirit is active.
Tony Evans
In His Presence: Psalms 37:4
“I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please”(Galatians 5:16-17).
The very Spirit of God has taken up residence in our lives if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. God wants to express His mind, His thoughts, His desires, and His will through our mortal bodies. But for us to see this happen, we need to be under the Holy Spirit’s control. While this is taking place, we are going to experience conflict within ourselves. This is one way we can know we are Christians. If we have no battles raging within, we are probably not saved. There is no opposition within us. God says the flesh and the Spirit are total opposites; they are not going to get along with each other at all.
How do we know the difference between the flesh and the Holy Spirit within us? The Spirit will want to please God, and the flesh will want to please ourselves. That’s why the war going on inside of us is good, not bad. Most of us feel guilty about having such a battle. Of course, we may not like the feeling, but the two laws operating in our bodies should give us occasion to praise God.
One Minute Please
If a battle is being waged within you, that’s a good thing because it indicates that the Spirit is active.
Tony Evans
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Love, By an Unfamiliar Name
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.—1 John 4:10
It’s a lot easier to declare love than demonstrate it. Saying it but not showing it doesn’t add up to genuine love. Only a small part of love is how we feel—it’s much more about what we are willing to do.
In the verse above, the apostle John reminds us that God the Father, the source of love, has both declared and demonstrated it. And God’s relationship with us is love’s ultimate example. In that relationship, the least deserving recipients receive divine love, poured out in the greatest selfless act. And because of the cross, we also face the serious choice of receiving God’s love for us.
First John 4:10 makes it clear we are never the initiators and always the responders when it comes to love between us and our Creator. In other words, we can’t even begin to respond to Him until we grasp that He already loves us. As a result of His love for us, "God . . . sent His Son."
If we only see the life of Jesus as a great example, we’ve missed the central purpose of His time here. He came to be and do for us what couldn’t be accomplished any other way. Only God’s Son could “be the propitiation for our sins.”
The word propitiation tells us Jesus was the complete and perfect answer for our sin problem—the Son addressed all of the Father's righteous anger for sin. God's wrath for all the selfish prideful things we have done, for all the good we should have done but left undone, and for all of our indifference to God—He placed the sum of everything we had coming to us squarely on Jesus Christ. When He died on the cross, our Savior paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.
We don’t really “get” Christianity until we understand Christ was the payment for sin and God’s greatest demonstration of His love for us.
The glory of the gospel is that God loves you! He paid the price that makes your forgiveness possible. He made all the necessary arrangements to free you to love Him back.
Receiving His love is your response to His amazing offer. Even if you have been a Christ follower for a long time, remember—you’ve done nothing in your past and can’t do anything in your future to deserve or earn the life-transforming love God has declared and shown you. Let that reality sink into your soul, with a grateful heart for all He has done.
Journal
What is involved for you in choosing to let God love you? Is it hard or easy? Why?
How do you know God loves you?
Prayer
Lord, I am stunned every time I am confronted by all You did for me long before I gave You a thought. How can I not be humbled before You, knowing though I am completely unworthy, You have chosen to value and redeem me from sin? You’ve done all the hard work of love and offered me the choice to respond to it. Lord, YES! I receive the forgiveness Your Son bought on the cross for me, and the lifelong joy of learning to love You back with all I have in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.—1 John 4:10
It’s a lot easier to declare love than demonstrate it. Saying it but not showing it doesn’t add up to genuine love. Only a small part of love is how we feel—it’s much more about what we are willing to do.
In the verse above, the apostle John reminds us that God the Father, the source of love, has both declared and demonstrated it. And God’s relationship with us is love’s ultimate example. In that relationship, the least deserving recipients receive divine love, poured out in the greatest selfless act. And because of the cross, we also face the serious choice of receiving God’s love for us.
First John 4:10 makes it clear we are never the initiators and always the responders when it comes to love between us and our Creator. In other words, we can’t even begin to respond to Him until we grasp that He already loves us. As a result of His love for us, "God . . . sent His Son."
If we only see the life of Jesus as a great example, we’ve missed the central purpose of His time here. He came to be and do for us what couldn’t be accomplished any other way. Only God’s Son could “be the propitiation for our sins.”
The word propitiation tells us Jesus was the complete and perfect answer for our sin problem—the Son addressed all of the Father's righteous anger for sin. God's wrath for all the selfish prideful things we have done, for all the good we should have done but left undone, and for all of our indifference to God—He placed the sum of everything we had coming to us squarely on Jesus Christ. When He died on the cross, our Savior paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.
We don’t really “get” Christianity until we understand Christ was the payment for sin and God’s greatest demonstration of His love for us.
The glory of the gospel is that God loves you! He paid the price that makes your forgiveness possible. He made all the necessary arrangements to free you to love Him back.
Receiving His love is your response to His amazing offer. Even if you have been a Christ follower for a long time, remember—you’ve done nothing in your past and can’t do anything in your future to deserve or earn the life-transforming love God has declared and shown you. Let that reality sink into your soul, with a grateful heart for all He has done.
Journal
What is involved for you in choosing to let God love you? Is it hard or easy? Why?
How do you know God loves you?
Prayer
Lord, I am stunned every time I am confronted by all You did for me long before I gave You a thought. How can I not be humbled before You, knowing though I am completely unworthy, You have chosen to value and redeem me from sin? You’ve done all the hard work of love and offered me the choice to respond to it. Lord, YES! I receive the forgiveness Your Son bought on the cross for me, and the lifelong joy of learning to love You back with all I have in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Generosity to Those in Need
Psalm 112:5–7, 9
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor. NIV
The Bible always speaks well of generosity but it has nothing good to say about stinginess. The Bible teaches that wise and judicious generosity is the way to blessing and prosperity, but that stinginess leads to poverty.
The psalmist here pictures a righteous man. He says, “He will never be shaken; he will be remembered forever.” Why? What are the causes of that man’s stability? He’s generous, he lends freely, he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. Therefore the psalmist says, “His righteousness endures forever.” I believe that many of us today need to recall how central to righteousness is our attitude to the poor, to those who are in need. God has nothing good to say about those who neglect the cry and the need of the poor. Let’s remember that that’s essential to establishing our righteousness.
Derek Prince devotional
Psalm 112:5–7, 9
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor. NIV
The Bible always speaks well of generosity but it has nothing good to say about stinginess. The Bible teaches that wise and judicious generosity is the way to blessing and prosperity, but that stinginess leads to poverty.
The psalmist here pictures a righteous man. He says, “He will never be shaken; he will be remembered forever.” Why? What are the causes of that man’s stability? He’s generous, he lends freely, he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. Therefore the psalmist says, “His righteousness endures forever.” I believe that many of us today need to recall how central to righteousness is our attitude to the poor, to those who are in need. God has nothing good to say about those who neglect the cry and the need of the poor. Let’s remember that that’s essential to establishing our righteousness.
Derek Prince devotional
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This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
Shalico2007
Jesucristo es el Rey! Que Dios te Bendiga!
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