Blog Archives
Our Daily Bread – Surrounded By Prayer
READ: Romans 15:22-33
Now I beg you, brethren, . . . that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. — Romans 15:30
My friend Melissa’s 9-year-old daughter Sydnie was in the hospital for chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant when I had a dream about her. I dreamed she was staying in a central room at the hospital with her parents. Surrounding her room was a block of other rooms where family and friends were staying and continually praying for her during her times of treatment.
In real life, Sydnie wasn’t physically surrounded by family and friends in adjacent rooms. But spiritually speaking, she was and is surrounded by prayer and love.
The apostle Paul seemed to have a desire to be surrounded by prayer. In most of his letters to churches, he requested to be remembered in prayer to the Lord (2 Cor. 1:11; Eph. 6:18-20; Col. 4:2-4; Philem. 1:22). To the believers in Rome, he wrote, “Now I beg you, brethren, . . . that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me” (Rom. 15:30). He knew that he could not be effective in his service for God without His power.
The Bible tells us that Jesus also prays for us (John 17:20; Heb. 7:25), as does the Holy Spirit, whose prayers are according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27). What a comfort to be surrounded by prayer! —Anne Cetas
We give to those we hold most dear
No greater help and care
Than when we give them to the Lord,
Surrounding them with prayer. —D. De Haan
Prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit is powerful.
Copyright © 2012, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA
Our Daily Bread – Abide With Me
READ: Hebrews 13:1-8
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” —Hebrews 13:5
One of the highlights of English football (soccer) each year is the final match of the annual FA Cup Final. For more than a hundred years, the day has been marked by excitement, festivity, and competition. But what fascinates me is how the game begins. It starts with the singing of the traditional hymn “Abide With Me.”
At first that struck me as odd. What does that hymn have to do with football? As I thought about it, though, I realized that for the follower of Christ it has everything to do with sports, shopping, working, going to school, or anything else we do. Since there is no corner of our lives that should not be affected by the presence of God, the longing that He would abide with us is actually the most reasonable thing we could desire. Of course, the presence of our heavenly Father is not something we need to plead for—it is promised to us. In Hebrews 13:5, we read, “For [God] Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
Not only is God’s presence the key to our contentment, but it is also the promise that can give us wisdom, peace, comfort, and strength—no matter where we are or what we are doing. —Bill Crowder
Thank You, Lord, for walking with us every day.
You are our guardian, friend, and guide.
May we sense Your loving presence and always
know that You are close by our side. Amen.
Our greatest privilege is to enjoy Christ’s presence.
Copyright © 2012, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA
Our Daily Bread: Blunders To Wonders
READ: John 21:15-19
Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored. — Lamentations 5:21
Artist James Hubbell says, “Mistakes are gifts.” Whenever he’s working on a project and something goes wrong, he doesn’t start over. He looks for a way to use the mistake to make something better. None of us can avoid making blunders, and all of us have favorite ways of dealing with them. We may try to hide them or to correct them or to apologize for them.
We do that with our sin sometimes too. But God doesn’t throw us away and start over. He redeems us and makes us better.
The apostle Peter tended to do and say whatever seemed best at the moment. He has been referred to as an “impetuous blunderer.” In his fear after Jesus was arrested, Peter claimed three times that he didn’t know Jesus! Yet later, on the basis of Peter’s three declarations of love, Jesus turned Peter’s humiliating denial into a wonderful occasion of restoration (John 21). Despite Peter’s flawed past, Jesus restored him to ministry with these words: “Feed My sheep” (v.17).
If you have made a “blunder” so big that it seems irreversible, the most important matter is whether you love Jesus. When we love Him, Jesus can turn our most serious blunders into awesome wonders. —Julie Ackerman Link
Lord, I’m so human and make foolish mistakes.
And worse yet, I willfully sin against You.
Please forgive me, change me, restore me,
and use me for Your name’s sake. Amen.
God can change our blunders into wonders.
Copyright © 2012, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA
God Can Restore Whatever You Lost
Dear Friend,
Have you ever lost something of importance only to find it again later? –a wedding band, a watch, a photograph, an heirloom?
If you have, you know the jubilation that floods your heart when what was lost is restored to you.
Today, I want to share this good guarantee:
God wants to restore the thing you thought was lost in your life.
I’m not just talking about objects and possessions. God wants to restore the everlasting: your relationships, dreams, career, even your faith.
This happened to Jacob; day after day, he felt the sting of loss due to his own deceptive ways, and he thought like many of us that those things would never be restored. Jacob is cemented in scripture among the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But he got there through deception and manipulation.
If you’ve ever experienced broken relationships, disappointing outcomes, moral failures, an identity crisis, the loss of a dream, or a divided family, I want you to LOOK UP!
Jacob dealt with all this and more, and God restored him.
Now it’s time for your Jacob moment . . .
If you need something restored today,
I want you to let these words sink into your spirit:
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord . . .” (Psalm 121:1-2)
Twenty years went by after Jacob ran from his family to avoid the wrath of his twin brother. He was no longer the young trickster, and now he wrestled his own conscience. He wrestled the what-ifs of life. And ultimately, he wrestled God.
Some of you are wrestling with God right now, “Lord, when is my past going to stop influencing my present? Are you big enough to give me back what I’ve lost? Because I’ve tried it in my own strength, and it’s not working!”
One touch from God in your life can change everything. He can do more in one moment than you can do in 20 years.
One touch from God will bring healing.
One touch from God will repair broken places.
One touch from God will restore dreams.
One touch from God will reach your child.
One touch from God is all it takes. LOOK UP . . .
Free From Shame
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“Let my heart be sound (sincere and wholehearted and blameless) in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame” (Psalm 119:80 AMP)
TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria Osteen
Did you know the Word of God will protect you from shame and embarrassment? God’s laws, or statutes, were established for your good. God sent His Word to guide and protect you. When you follow His commands, you can be sure that you are making clear, sound choices. You can have confidence knowing that you are making the very best decisions.
When negative, accusing thoughts come, you have to know that those are not from God. They are from the enemy. In fact, the Bible calls him the “accuser of the brethren.” That means he’s trying to make you feel guilty, shameful and condemned. He’s trying to make you second guess yourself. But remember, the enemy is already defeated! Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you are free from shame! The enemy has no legal power over you unless you open a spiritual door to him. Keep the doors closed by submitting yourself to God and His Word. Ask the Lord to give you a whole and blameless heart to follow His commands. As you do, you will walk in His protection and guidance and live free from shame today and all the days of your life!
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father, thank You for Your Word which guides and protects me. Thank You for giving me the ability to make right choices according to Your Word. Give me a sincere and blameless heart that I may serve You all the days of my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.
— Joel & Victoria Osteen
© 2012 Joel Osteen Ministries
Dorian Gray
READ: Matthew 23:23-31
For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of . . . all uncleanness. —Matthew 23:27
The Victorian novel The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrates how the person we project to others may be very different from who we are on the inside. After the youthful and handsome Dorian Gray had his portrait painted, he dreaded the prospect of growing old, and he wished the portrait would grow old in his place.
Soon he realized that his wish had been granted. The portrait, which mirrored his troubled soul, aged and became more hideous with each sin Dorian committed, while he himself remained youthful. His outward appearance did not match his corrupted heart.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for displaying a similar hypocrisy. Many of them took pride in showing off their spirituality in public. Yet on the inside, they were guilty of many secret sins. Because of this, Jesus compared them to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of . . . all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).
We are tempted to cultivate a false image for others to see. But God knows our hearts (1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 15:3). Through confession and prayerfully opening our hearts to God’s Word and the work of the Spirit, we can experience an inner goodness that is reflected in godly actions. Let God transform you from the inside out (2 Cor. 3:17-18). —Dennis Fisher
Father, it’s easy to put up a front and hide
from the public what we are really like. We’re
grateful that we cannot hide from You. You
know us. Please change us inside and out.
Only Christ can transform us.
Copyright © 2012, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA.
Too Hard
by Joyce Meyer – posted July 19, 2012
And the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in every work of your hand. …If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being. For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off….But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your mind and in your heart, so that you can do it. — Deuteronomy 30:9–11, 14
Please make everything easy and simple for me, dear God. I don’t like to struggle, and I want constant victory without exerting any effort. Let me go on my way as I let You do everything to keep me secure.
I’ve never heard anyone pray those words, but I have heard people pray in such a way that they were asking for an easy time in life. Too many people want victory without battle, triumph without effort, and ease without labor. God’s world simply doesn’t function that way.
“It’s just too hard.” I wonder how many times I’ve heard people talk that way. I wonder how many times Joyce Meyer has talked that way. And I did. There was a time when I’d make a firm stand for following the Lord, but in my heart (and often in my mouth) were the words that “it was just so hard.”
God convicted me of negative thinking. He taught me that if I would stop looking at the hardships and obey Him, He would make a way for me. The previous verses tell us that God wants to bless us and prosper the work of our hands, but we must obey His commandments. And in verse 11, He assures us that we can do it: “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.”
Because we spend so much time listening to the negatives and figuring out what can go wrong, too often we forget the promise that His will is not too difficult for us. Instead, it may help if you think of the obvious difficulties as blessings from God.
For instance, take encouragement from Joseph. After he spent years in Egypt and saved the lives of his family in Canaan, his brothers were afraid of him. They had hated him, plotted to kill him, and sold him into slavery. After their father, Jacob, died, they expected Joseph to punish them. He could have done that and groaned about his hard life—and his life had not been easy. Not only was he sold as a slave by his brothers, but he had been wrongly imprisoned and could have been put to death if God hadn’t been with him.
Instead of saying, “Life is so hard,” Joseph said, “As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day” (Genesis 50:20). He understood how God works in human lives. Joseph didn’t look at the hardships; he looked at the opportunities. Joseph didn’t listen to the whispering campaign of his enemy; he turned his ears to the encouraging words of his God. In no place do we read of him complaining. He saw everything that happened to him as God’s loving hand upon him.
I wrote the words loving hand even though it may not always seem that way. And that’s where the devil sometimes creeps in to say, “If God loves you so much, why are you in this mess?”
The best answer I can give is to repeat the words of Paul the great apostle: “Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).
God never promises an easy life, but He does promise a blessed life.
God of love and compassion, please forgive me for complaining about life being too hard. Forgive me for wanting things to be easy. Lead me wherever You want me to go and, in the name of Jesus, I plead that You will help me rejoice all the way—even in the midst of the problems, because You will be there to help me solve them. Amen.
From the book Battlefield of the Mind Devotional by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2006 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.
The Secret Things
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God…” (Deuteronomy 29:29, AMP)
TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria
Are you going through a situation in your life that you don’t quite understand? During these uncertain seasons, it’s natural to question things in your mind. But in order to move forward, we have to look forward with our hearts. We have to look beyond the questions and continue to trust in Almighty God.
Serving God means we’re going to have some unanswered questions. You may never understand why a relationship ended sooner than you would have liked. You may never understand why you lost a loved one. You may never understand why you went through something difficult or why your prayers didn’t get answered. But at some point, you have to decide to put your questions aside and go on with God. We have to decide to trust His character even when our circumstances don’t make sense. The Bible tells us that adversity will come, but God is the one who promises to lead us into victory. He has promised that He’s going to turn that difficulty around and use it for your advantage. He is faithful to His Word, and you can be sure that He will fulfill every promise He’s made to you.
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Father God, I choose to trust You with my unanswered questions. I choose to release any doubt and confusion to You. Help me to focus on Your Word which is truth that sets me free. Thank You for Your goodness and for the blessings You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.
— Joel & Victoria Osteen
© 2012 Joel Osteen Ministries
Accept and Share the Love of God
by Joyce Meyer – posted July 18, 2012
We love Him, because He first loved us. —1 John 4:19
More than anything, you need a revelation of God’s love for you personally. God’s love for you is the foundation for your faith, your freedom from sin, and your ability to step out in ministry to others without fear in the form of insecurity.
God made you with a longing in your heart to be loved. And the Word assures you that God loves you. Yet many people mistakenly believe they have worn God out with their failures. You can’t cause God not to love you. Love isn’t something God does—it is who He is (see 1 John 4:8).
As you meditate on God’s love at the end of the day, accept it and express your great love for Him. Then as you go about your day tomorrow—and all your tomorrows—share that love with others.
From the book Ending Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2004 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.
The Best Things In Life
READ: Proverbs 23:1-18
Do not overwork to be rich. —Proverbs 23:4
An old adage says, “The best things in life are free.” There’s a lot of truth in that. Some people, however, believe that the best things in life are expensive or perhaps elusive. Recently I saw a sign that made me smile and think. It said, “The best things in life are not things.” What a great way to say it! The value of family, friends, and faith points us to the realization that what matters most in life is all wrapped up in people and the Lord.
Solomon was well qualified to speak about material things because he “surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom” (1 Kings 10:23). His advice? “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven” (Prov. 23:4-5). His recommended course of action was, “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge. . . . For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off” (vv.12,18).
The best things in life are the eternal riches that come from God’s goodness and grace in Jesus Christ. We do not hold them in our hands, but in our hearts. —David McCasland
The treasures of earth are not mine,
I hold not its silver and gold;
But a treasure far greater is mine;
I have riches of value untold. —Hartzler
Our greatest riches are the riches we have in Christ.
Copyright © 2012, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI 49555 USA.
I Am Lady Fab 