Soul Food

Today’s Devotional | May 8 | PSALM 19 | A Perfect Prayer

Memory Verse
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, 0 LORD, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

The most dangerous beast in the world is the one that lives in that den behind your teeth…your tongue!

James compares the tongue to a flame of fire. He warns that it is full of wickedness and can poison every part of the body.

David prayed that the Lord would set a guard at his mouth: “Set a watch, 0 LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

The tongue at its greatest potential is used to bring praise to God. The dedicated Christian sings:

“Take my lips and let them move,
At the impulse of Thy love.”

The Bible teaches that one of life’s greatest contradictions is to both praise God and curse men. In other words, it is the height of hypocrisy to be given to both godliness and gossip. Like oil and water, the two just do not mix.

Peter instructs us to lay aside all slanderings if we want to mature in the Christian life (see 1 Peter 2:1,2).

If the use of your tongue is really that important to the Lord, what guideline can you follow to be sure your words are pleasing to Him?

A number of proverbs and sayings have been put together to help us. One is:

“If your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where.”

But the best is given in the psalmist’s perfect prayer contained in our memory verse. Let this be your prayer — today and every day!

Today’s Devotional | May 11 | ROMANS 12:9-21 | Honesty

Memory Verse
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men (Romans 12:17).

There was in a certain village a very mean man who sold wood to his neighbors, and who always took advantage of them by cutting the logs a few inches under the required four feet. One day the report came that the woodchopper had been saved. Nobody believed the report, for they all declared that he was beyond being reached.

One man, however, slipped quietly out of the grocery store where the conversion was being discussed and soon came running back in excitement and shouted: “It’s so! He has been converted! I have been to his house and measured the wood that he cut yesterday. It is a good four feet long!” That testimony convinced the crowd.

Some who are saved are still cutting short logs! If revival came to their hearts, the logs would lengthen. Their customers would begin to get fair measure. The government would receive honest income tax reports. Their employees would receive better wages. Their employers would get a day’s work for a day’s pay. The Lord would receive His due.

Words are wasted when one who is not honest tries to witness to others about Christ. Actions speak louder than words.

Some time ago, Newsweek revealed that cheating is so prevalent in our schools and colleges that the practice is considered to be normal. Those who assist the cheaters are considered “good neighbors.”

When God is in control of a life, cheating and dishonesty in business must go. Revival makes men walk as they talk.

How long are your logs?

Today’s Devotional | May 12 | PSALM 39 | The Bridle

Memory Verse
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me (Psalm 39:1).

Some things are better left unsaid, especially in the presence of those who are looking for some reason to doubt the reality of your faith in Christ. A watching world is far more likely to remember your lapse than your light. Christians are continually on display and careless words can spoil a testimony that has taken years to build.

A fit of anger can be forgiven at the moment you confess your sin to the Lord, but it will never be forgotten by those who witnessed your explosion. Your demand for your rights may seem perfectly justified but it would be far better to take wrong if your witness for Christ would be damaged by some indignant outburst.

Perhaps you remember a time when you lowered your standards of speech before others. You complained when you should have been thankful. You used near profanity to punctuate and emphasize an argument. You gave someone a piece of your mind over a trifle.

What can you do about it?

Probably nothing. Even apologies may accomplish little.

But you can bridle your tongue in the future. There are more important things than getting your way. If you are a Christian, you represent your Saviour. You are the best Christian somebody knows. Don’t give the enemies of the Lord cause to rejoice.

When you feel like exploding, keep that bridle handy.

Don’t disappoint Jesus by what you say.

Take heed…that you sin not with your tongue!

Today’s Devotional | May 19 | HEBREWS 11:1-6 | Faith

Memory Verse
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Faith sometimes needs reviving.

All Christians understand that salvation comes through faith. Before that day of peace with God arrived you struggled and tried to find the answer to life, but to no avail. Neither religion nor ritual met your need. Finally faith made the difference: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

But faith is more than the key to eternal life. It is to be the daily experience of the child of God: “Now the just shall live by faith…” (Hebrews 10:38). And the mighty people of the Bible trusted God in their everyday battles. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8).

Today, however, your faith may be faltering, Like Peter who walked well on the water until he looked about and saw his precarious position, you may find yourself sinking under the circumstances. You put on a good front and others don’t know about the churning within.

Faith grows as we focus on the strength of the object of faith, the Saviour Himself. Peter’s cry, “…Lord save me!” (Matthew 14:30) may be about all you can muster today. But that was enough to lift the drowning disciple back to the surface. Your present problems may be designed to demonstrate the power of God to deliver you. Have faith in God.

Today’s Devotional | May 21 | JOHN 4:35-38 | Reaping

Memory Verse
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest (John 4:35).

Revival brings times of reaping. Those in your community who have seemed unreachable could melt as a result of seeing changed lives about them. When the church gets right… evangelism flourishes.

Describing conviction and the wonderful soul winning climate of The Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards wrote: “There scarcely was a single person in the town, old or young, left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world. Those who were wont to be the vainest and loosest, and those who had been most disposed to think and speak lightly of vital and experimental religion, were now generally subject to great awakenings. And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner and increased more and more; souls did as it were come by flocks to Jesus Christ. From day to day, for many months together, might be seen evident instances of sinners brought out of darkness into marvelous light and delivered out of a horrible pit and from the miry clay, and set upon a rock, with a new song of praise to God in their mouths (Psalm 40:1-3).

“This work of God, as it was carried on, and the number of true saints multiplied, soon made a glorious alteration in the town… It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought unto them; parents rejoicing over their children as new-born, and husbands over their wives and wives over their husbands.” Sound good?

It can happen again!

Today’s Devotional | May 27 | JAMES 1:22-27 | Vain Religion
Today's Devotional
Memory Verse
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (James 1:26).

The ability to communicate is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. We can express the deep feelings of our hearts in words and songs of praise and thanksgiving. When we hurt, we can describe our pain to another who may be able to help. Love would be frustrated without means of communication. Poets and writers have capitalized on this and a never-ending stream of books and songs flow from their pens.

Some over communicate.

A woman once said to John Wesley, “My talent is to speak my mind.” He answered, “God won’t object if you bury that talent.”

There is no sin quite so destructive as gossip. Churches have been divided, homes broken, and reputations ruined through careless words. Washington Irving said, “A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows sharper with constant use.”

But the Christian has been given power to control his tongue and to use it for the glory of God. When he does not do so but continues to use his tongue to slander and divide, he is on dangerous ground. James casts doubt on the salvation of such a person by saying that his religion is vain…useless.

Heaven will hold many surprises. One of them will be the absence of many who claimed to be saved but had no real walk with God through faith in Christ. A mark of such people, according to the Bible, is their inability to bridle their tongues.

Don’t follow a gossip.

AMAZING how God gives just what I need. No kidding, this isn't my doing.


Today’s Devotional | June 4 | PSALM 9:1-10 | The Refuge
Today's Devotional
Memory Verse

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9).

Troubled people often long for a place to hide. That is exactly what the Lord offers. Refuge here means “hill-fort.” David must have been thinking of one of the hill-forts where he had sought refuge during one of his many times of trouble. See how many times he uses this precious likeness to our Lord:

“Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge” (Psalm 14:6). “…be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (Psalm 57:1). “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble” (Psalm 59:16). “In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:7-8). “I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge” (Psalm 71:7). “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust” (Psalm 91:2). “I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living” (Psalm 142:5).

Trouble can be going on all around one who is in a safe refuge and yet he will be secure. Perhaps your sea is storm-swept today. Unexpected problems have come upon you and you feel near the breaking point. You’d like to fly away somewhere and refuse to see anyone.

Here’s good news. You do not need to flee to a different location to find peace and safety. Your refuge is available. Run to the hill-fort provided by Jesus.

He will keep you safe until the troubles are past!

Today’s Devotional | June 15 | PSALM 46 | Our Refuge


Memory Verse
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea (Psalm 46:2).


In his book, Two Thousand Hours in the Psalms, Dr. Marion Hull says of Psalm 46, “No wonder the psalmist says ‘therefore will not we fear.’ What could man do to anyone who has such a source of strength and help as this?”

He explains that refuge means “a place to go quietly for protection.” And that the Hebrew word translated trouble means “in tight places. “When we get in tight places we can go to the Lord and find a place of quiet protection.

This place of safety belongs to the children of God and is available even in convulsions of nature. One lady who slept through an earthquake was asked how she had such peace in the crisis. She replied that she rejoiced to have a God strong enough to shake the world.

Some are terrified at storms. The disciples expected to die in a watery grave during the storm that swept the Sea of Galilee. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and also rebuked the wind and the waves. When they had entered the boat Jesus had said: “Let us pass over unto the other side” (Mark 4:35). His statement of sure crossing made the boat unsinkable in the face of any storm. Their fears were a waste of energy and a useless drain on their emotions. The Master of nature was on board. And in spite of their anxiety, all was well.

In all the storms of life, Christians have a refuge.

Flee to Him and leave your fears behind!

Today’s Devotional | June 17 | PROVERBS 15:1-18 | Choose Less

Memory Verse
Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith (Proverbs 15:16).

A few years ago, a man stepped out into his back yard, and looking up saw a speck in the sky. It grew larger and larger. Then he discovered it was something alive, a struggling, living mass of something slowly descending to earth.

What he had first seen as a speck, had now revealed itself to be two large bald eagles in deadly combat. The huge birds were fighting in the sky over a fish. The fish finally dropped to the ground, but the birds continued their struggle until they were bloody and exhausted. With a last fatal scream and a plunge at each other, both birds came tumbling down to earth — dead, falling side by side, within a few feet of the man who had been witnessing the fierce battle of the sky. Greed had destroyed them.

Christians and churches are often destroyed like those birds. Testimonies are ruined. Congregations are divided. Reputations are destroyed. And all for the love of money, position or recognition. Someone demanded his rights… insisted on them, regardless of the destruction.

Here is a verse from the Bible that needs reviving: “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” (I Corinthians 6:7).

That bit of advice would halt many a court battle between Christians and on a daily personal level would quiet many troubled seas. Strange that this practical verse seldom appears in Sunday School lessons or memorization programs. Perhaps too many would rather ignore its message.

In your present conflict, choose less, Take wrong!

Today’s Devotional | June 20 | ISAIAH 51:1-8 | Security

Memory Verse
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings (Isaiah 51:7).

The promises of God are given to a particular people, those who have received His Son as Saviour and Lord. Some mistakenly try to claim the promises without receiving the Saviour.

One may quote the beautiful Twenty-third Psalm and enjoy its description of green pastures and still waters, but it is vital to remember that the overflowing cup of the psalmist was based upon the first sentence of his expression of praise for provision: “The Lord is my shepherd.”

Perhaps you have been reading the Bible to find peace and still your fears remain. Could it be that you have never been saved? My wife, Rexella, had a similar experience in her youth. Let her tell it:

“Following my solo in a church service — when I was sixteen — the moment of truth came. I left the service weeping and went to my parents’ car to be alone. Concerned, my father followed me and asked what was wrong. ‘Oh, Dad,’ I sobbed, ‘I’ve deceived my own heart. I’ve deceived our pastor and you and the whole church. I have known about the Lord all my life, but I don’t really know Him.’ Resisting the temptation to soothe my feelings, my father said: ‘Be sure, Rexella.’

“A few days later, my older brother learned of my soul’s distress when he heard me crying in my room. With genuine compassion and understanding, he led me through God’s plan of salvation.”

Tell the Lord of your doubts and uncertainty. Take Christ as your Saviour without delay. Trust Him to take away all your sins.

Today’s Devotional | June 23 | ROMANS 5:1-11 | Developing Patience

Memory Verse
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience (Romans 5:3).

Some groan because of trials. Paul chose to glory in them. Writing on this text, Dr. Kenneth Wuest says: “Paul did not exult because of the tribulations themselves but because of their beneficial effect upon his Christian life. This the saint must learn to do. He must look at these trials and difficulties as assets that develop his Christian character. Paul says that they work patience.”

George L. Rogers writes: “Most blessed is the ministry of affliction to those in the school of grace. Affliction produces endurance, the endurance of expectation (I Thessalonians 1:3), which, without fretfulness or complaint, heroically bears up under what God sends as being part of the all which He is working together for our good,”

Trials also build the patience of faith. Had we been asked to endure certain trials in advance, we might have thought we were unable or that God could not sustain us through them. However, when the trouble came, we held up because He gave grace for that occasion. After the trial, we knew that God was sufficient even for that unwanted affliction and therefore faith was stronger.

Annie Johnson Flint said from experience: “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.” And had she not gone through times of increased burdens we would never have had her helpful and blessed song.

Trouble also increases patience in prayer. How quickly we want our answers! Yet God in His wisdom delays so that we will learn to pray with patient faith.

God is at work in your trials today!


I don't generally comment on Dr Jack's devotionals... but this one is really what I needed today (and alot lately)! I feel so far behind in my endeavors (I have many trying and needing to be done at the same time) and today I have just "hit a wall" and mentally and physically can not do what I want to (including Field Day which is one weekend a year)... and it can be quite frustrating... until I admit to God that IF it were important to Him it would get done, that He would see that I'd be able.

Not running today. Barely moving. Poor dog wants to play. Anyway I know it's brain chemicals dumping (PTSd).... stress overwhelming. So what if I miss out on things, so what if I can't get things done, so what? I'm nobody.

Today’s Devotional | June 25 | II CORINTHIANS 4:8-18 | Not In Despair

Memory Verse
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. It’s not an easy road that we travel to heaven. And Paul’s path was especially strewn with thorns. Stoning, scourging and shipwreck were a few of the hazards of his occupation — preaching the Gospel. Nevertheless, he did not despair (II Corinthians 4:8).

Why?

He remembered the resurrection: “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you” (II Corinthians 4:14). Paul served a living Saviour. And he never forgot it. He knew that he did not pass through his trials alone.

He remembered to refresh the inner man: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16). Times of trouble will overcome us if we do not give attention to spiritual needs. Never allow difficulties to keep you from the Bible, from prayer or the fellowship of your church. If you have slacked off in any of these areas, return to them immediately. No one is strong enough to neglect his Bible, his prayer life or the fellowship of other believers and stay strong.

He remembered that eternal values are greater: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17). Time passes quickly. Eternity is more important. Looking beyond our present problems to blessings promised in the future, lightens the load and makes it bearable.

Your present situation may be difficult, but you are loved by your living Lord who has pledged His word and is preparing a place. Don’t despair!

Today’s Devotional | June 26 | II CORINTHIANS 1:1-12 | Comforting Others

Memory Verse
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God (II Corinthians 1:4).

An old man once prayed, “Lord, bless the pastor for no man can be a blessing until he himself is first blessed of God.” Here Paul gives somewhat the same requirement for those who long to comfort others in their times of trouble. Having experienced the comfort of God in tribulation, we are able to comfort those in need.

Jesus has set the example. Hear Peter’s application of this good news: “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (I Peter 2:20-23). Because He suffered, He can help us in our suffering: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Your suffering, then, may be given to open up a ministry to those who are passing through similar trials. Observe God’s faithfulness to you during this experience so that you can share the message with those to whom you are sent.

Lean hard on His promises… and look for your opportunity to serve!

These are the daily devotionals folks, I'm not picking and choosing but it appears they apply only to my life each day. Ha!

Today’s Devotional | June 27 | I PETER 1:8-9 | Temporary Trials
Memory Verse
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now186 for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations (I Peter 1:6).

All trials are temporary.

And fretting over them doesn’t help.

Had John Bunyan spent his twelve long years in the Bedford jail stewing over his predicament, we would have been deprived of “Pilgrim’s Progress”. It was there in his greatest time of trouble that he produced his greatest work. Bunyan said, “I was at home in prison, and I sat me down and wrote and wrote, for the joy did make me write.”

Sounds great for Bunyan. But rejoice in trials?

Let’s face it. Trials themselves do not generally make us feel like rejoicing. But Peter’s word here is that the Christian always has some things in which to rejoice, even during difficulties.

We can rejoice that we have living hope because of our living Saviour.

We can rejoice that we have an inheritance reserved in heaven that cannot be affected by trials here below.

We can rejoice that we are kept by the power of God and that eternal life is therefore certain.

We can rejoice that our trials are temporary…passing things.

We can rejoice that faith grows during times of trouble and that true faith comes forth as gold. Job understood that in the time of his severe trials: “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

We can rejoice that our Lord is coming again … perhaps today, and that it will be worth it all when we see Him.

A Christian can rejoice in times of trial because he has so many possessions that earthly trials cannot touch. Rejoice!

Today’s Devotional | July 1 | I KINGS 18:17-24 | Troublemakers

Memory Verse
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word (I Kings 18:21).

Elijah’s country was in trouble.

King Ahab thought the prophet was the cause of it all.

Actually, the wicked king was the guilty one. He had led the people in idolatry and had forsaken God’s commandments. The drought announced by Elijah was but the natural consequence of the nation’s sin. The famine in the land was directly traceable to the waywardness of the people. Israel was experiencing the law of sowing and reaping: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Godly people are often thought of as troublemakers. They speak out against evils and seem not to fit in with many modern trends. They may seem out of step with the times … unwilling to compromise proven standards. Dogmatic. Old fashioned.





May God raise up some troublemakers to keep the nation out of trouble!

Read the rest (and prophecy explanations too) here: Today's Devotional - JVIM

“Soul Food” is a daily devotional written by Dr. Jack Van Impe that brings God’s Word to life.

Today’s Devotional | July 4 | PSALM 5 | Trusting

Memory Verse
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee (Psalm 5:11).

History records how George Washington found rest and relief in prayer during the trying times he and his soldiers passed through at Valley Forge. With all the cares and anxieties of that time upon him, he used to have recourse to prayer.

One day a farmer approaching the camp heard an earnest voice. On coming nearer, he saw George Washington on his knees, his cheeks wet with tears, praying. The farmer returned home and said to his wife: “George Washington will succeed!”

“What makes you think so, Isaac?” asked his wife.

The farmer replied: “I heard him pray, Hannah; you may rest assured he will.”

One night during the Civil War, a guest in the White House reported that he had heard Lincoln praying in the next room. He said the President prayed: “Thou God, who heard Solomon in the night when he prayed and cried for wisdom, hear me! I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without Thy help. I am poor and weak and sinful. O God, save this nation.”

We have a great heritage. Without question, God has defended America in the past. We ought to rejoice in our independence. But we must never forget that this freedom is a gift from God. The moment we stop trusting Him, liberty is in jeopardy.

Christians who serve God and rejoice in Him are America’s most valuable asset. What will YOU do for your country?

Daily Devotionals

Today’s Devotional | July 6 | PROVERBS 14 | What Can I Do For My Country?

Memory Verse
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

De Tocqueville of France, over a century ago, visited America. Upon his return home he wrote: “I sought for the greatness of America in her harbors and rivers and fertile fields, and her mines and commerce. It was not there. Not until I went into the churches and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness of her power. America is great because she is good: and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

But there is a sense in which America cannot be good.

Righteousness is not something that is accepted by a nation as a body. It is not legislated in congress or decided in the halls of justice. Good or bad decisions by a government may affect the conduct of its people in certain areas of life, but righteousness is an individual matter.

“In God We Trust” is a moving motto for our money, yet millions of Americans do not trust in God. Therefore, that official statement of faith is only meaningful for those to whom it has meaning. In whom do you trust?

Neither is it enough to decry conditions in the land. A serious situation does exist. Daily news reports are convincing proof of that. But the solution lies in personal repentance of sin and faith in Christ.

It is the righteousness of the people that exalts a nation. The sins of the people reproach the land.

As an individual American, what do you intend to do for your country?

Today’s Devotional | July 7 | PSALM 28 | Helped

Memory Verse
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him (Psalm 28:7).

A Christian in Central Russia wrote the following: “After our commune was closed, I spent some time in the place where God’s servants have to stay… (in prison). And yet, I assure you, that during that time in my heart it was as though I were living in the Garden of Eden… Scarcely a single night passed when I did not rise from my bed and thank God. And what was that which moved me to praise Him? Why, the consciousness of His wonderful presence. The only thing for me to do was to get upon my knees and praise God for His faithful and unfailing presence.”

The world has a saying: “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” Some mistakenly think that this statement is in the Bible. The truth is — the Lord helps those who cannot help themselves. He meets us where we are in our deepest needs.

Paul was helped when buffeted by a messenger from Satan, a thorn in the flesh. Though the physical problem was not removed, grace was promised for that particular test: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

How have you been helped? Have prayers been answered? Has money been supplied for a special need? Have you recovered from a serious illness? Has a loved one been saved? Were you protected from an accident? Were you given strength for a difficult task?

Are you rejoicing over the help granted to you? Praise God for His goodness and rejoice in His help.

Today’s Devotional | July 8 | ISAIAH 58 | Freedom

Memory Verse
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6).

No people have ever had so much and appreciated it so little as Christians in America. We belong to a privileged few who have been able to carry Bibles, attend church and live for Christ without fear of imprisonment or the loss of our lives. Other Christians in other centuries or in other lands have often paid with their lives or freedom for identifying with the Saviour.

Because of the persecutions brought by communistic governments, it is generally agreed that there have been more Christian martyrs in this century than in any other. Still Christians in America have been virtually untouched.

How strange it is then that we are so given to complaining! We gripe about so many things: the weather, our jobs, our wives or husbands, our homes, our churches, our pastors, our health, etc. What would we do if things were really difficult?

This question raises a frightening thought! If we are edgy in affluence, may God have to chasten us to allow us to see what blessings we have been experiencing? Must goods and loved ones be taken away before we appreciate them? Must freedom flee before we realize its importance?

One winter morning I was walking through a blizzard to my office and complaining silently about the storm. When I stepped inside my office my eyes fell on a tiny book in my library, entitled Come Wind Come Weather. Immediately my grumbling ceased, for the book I saw upon entering that warm room is the story of the persecution of the church in China. Our storms here are few. Thank God for freedom!

Today’s Devotional | July 10 |
PSALM 51 | After Backsliding

Memory Verse
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice (Psalm 51:8).

No load is heavier than the burden of backsliding. David had learned that lesson the hard way. After sin, the chastening of God had fallen upon him and he was tormented with conviction of his wrong doing.

At first he decided to ignore God’s voice that called him to confession of sin. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer” (Psalm 32:3,4).

Finally, tired of his backsliding, he made the right decision: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession of sin.“Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psalm 51:13).

How good it feels to be right with God! There is rejoicing in heaven over the return of the prodigal, but the prodigal also rejoices.

Come home. And rejoice!