DEVOTION - THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012

DEVOTION – THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012

“Putting Down the Weights”

BY

ADRIAN ROGERS

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” - 1 Corinthians 6:12

There are certain weights that an athlete must choose to lay aside. They are not bad for other people, but they are bad for the athlete. In the spiritual realm, it is the same for Christians.

Paul tells us, “all things are not expedient.” The word “expedient” is similar to the word “expedition.” You see, Christians are going somewhere, and if something doesn’t speed us along the way, then it is excess baggage and we need to get rid of it.

Ask God today, “Are there legitimate, lawful things in my life that are keeping me from running the race?” It might be a hobby, friendship, recreational sport, or a cabin in the mountains. It is not bad; it just keeps you from maximizing your life for the Lord Jesus Christ. You must lay it aside.

DEVOTION - WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2012

DEVOTION – WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2012

“A study in separation – Jonah”

BY

BOB COY

For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me...Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ Jonah 2:3-4 (NKJV)

God knows how to break us, and He will. Not so we become useless, but so we can become useful in His hands. This is what we see throughout the arc of Jonah’s life. The Lord used Jonah’s experience of being alone in the darkness of the fish to break him down. God wanted to get him to the place of total surrender, a place where he would embrace rather than resist God’s presence and call upon his life.

Somewhere from the farthest reaches of the sea, amidst the bowels of some unsuspecting creature, from the deepest place in Jonah’s heart, a prayer of repentance is offered. The reluctant prophet breaks, and the “Not thy will, but my will be done” is reversed.

Unconditional surrender to the will of God takes place. And in short order, the Lord gets Jonah back on dry land and repeats His call. This time, Jonah responds much differently:

The word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. (Jonah 3:1-3 NKJV)

As we see with Jonah, the Lord can use solitude to transform disobedience into obedience. God doesn’t override our free will, but He goes all out to help us exercise it in the right direction. When our will is dead set against what He wills and wants for us, He can put us in a position where we finally decide to surrender and submit to Him.

DEVOTION - TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

DEVOTION – TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

““WINNING WALK”

BY

DR ED YOUNG

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2

“What’s your excuse?” the indignant boss demands when the project deadline is missed. Someday the Judge will ask you why you fell short of His glory. The besieged employee tells the boss she had to attend her dying mother, and is justified in the eyes of the merciful supervisor. At the Judgment Seat, all we need reply is “Jesus,” and we are instantly justified. A pastor I know preached the funeral of an evil man who had accepted Christ right before death. The pastor focused on Christ’s mercy. “What you said,” a man told him later, “is that Jesus was his excuse

DEVOTIOIN - MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012

DEVOTION – MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012

“Relationship, Not Religion”

BY

JAMES MACDONALLD

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”—Acts 17:24-28

I read a compelling tweet by a pastor in California, which said, “Religion does not provide an opportunity to actually know God, and is therefore cruel, powerless, and boring” (Bill Johnson).

Knowing God—being in a relationship with Him—is what every human being, whether they’re aware of it or not, is longing for and searching after. What most do to achieve that relationship is to establish some sort of religious observance. The options are literally limitless when you consider all the established world religions and faith systems.

And so, they go to places of worship. Perform rituals and sacraments. They make donations, give of their time, and volunteer their talents. They meditate, read, study and memorize holy books and writings: they chant, sing, recite, and sit in silence. They dance, sway, kneel, walk. They make pilgrimages, go on missions, proselytize and teach others about their particular way of getting to “god” or whatever it is they’ve chosen to worship.

They do all this, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “That they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him” (v.27). But it is a vain hope when religion is the means of seeking.

From the beginning, God related to His creation on a personal level. Adam and God walked together in the garden and conversed as one person talks to another.

Throughout Old Testament history, prior to the coming of Christ, God was relating to His people as Father. He gathered them as a family. He loved them, watched over them and provided for them, He listened to them and gave them good gifts. It was never because of what they did (religion) but because of His faithful love for them (relationship). The incarnation of Jesus Christ as a human being was all about God relating to us; literally becoming like us, in order to save us. It was the ultimate expression of His love.

That we have taken His love and the offer of a relationship and encumbered it with religion is our own undoing. By creating a set of rules and practices by which we gain God’s attention, we actually miss out entirely. Religion is our ineffectual way of getting to God, dependent on what we do. Relationship is His way of getting to us, dependent entirely on what He did.  —Todd Dugard

DEVOTION - SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012

DEVOTION – SATURDAY, MAY, 26, 2012

“Unshakable Faith in a Shaken World: God, What Are You Trying to Teach Me?”

BY

RON MOORE

| Job 2:7-10 | Devotional

Job 2:7-10 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job’s life had been a cakewalk—layers of moist blessings iced with a thick frosting of more blessings. Then the cake crumbled and he had to make a choice. It’s easy to love God when life is sweet. But can you love Him when it all tumbles in?

The spiritual life always involves a spiritual crossroads. After the verbal profession, there is normally a painful life experience that forces a decision. Are you in or out? Will you follow Christ or not? Are you a professor or a possessor? Job came to that crossroads in our passage today. He sat among the ashes of a broken body with a broken heart. Would he curse God and die? Or would he accept the blessings and the burdens?

Arthur John Gossip was the pastor at Beechgrove Church in Aberdeen Scotland. In 1927, he was 54 years old and things could not have been going better in his life or in the life of the church. Then very suddenly and unexpectedly his wife died. The Sunday after her death he preached a sermon, trying to reconcile his faith with such a sudden and tragic loss. These are his words:

I do not understand this life of ours. But still less can I comprehend how people in trouble and loss and bereavement can fling away peevishly from the Christian faith. In God’s name, fling to what? Have we not lost enough without losing that too?

Father thank you for the example of Job and Arthur John Gossip who clung to You in the difficult times of their lives. Lord, give us the strength to do the same. Thank You when blessings flow. Help us to thank you when trouble comes. In Christ’s Name. Amen.

DEVOTION - FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012

DEVOTION – FRIDAY, MAY 252, 2012

“The Place of Blessing”

BY

BAYLESS CONLEY

In Genesis 12:1-3 we read,

Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Notice how God says to Abram, "Abram, I'm going to bless you, and you will be a blessing."  But here is what I want you to see:  Abram's being a blessing was tied to being in God's purpose.  He could only become a great blessing if he followed God's calling.

You will never be the blessing God intends for you to be if you are not flowing in your purpose.

Was there risk involved for Abram?  You bet!  He had to leave everything that was familiar to him, all of his security, everything that was comfortable and familiar.

He left Ur of the Chaldeans, which history tells us was one of the most highly developed cities of the ancient world.  They had cobblestone streets, an underground sewage system, and it was a place of world trade.

Abram left all of that and went out on an adventure by faith, pursuing the purpose that God had for his life.  And in pursuing that purpose, God blessed him, and he became a blessing.

But think about this. What if he had stayed back? What if he had said, "I'm secure here; I have it made; I have a nice house and everything I need.  I think I will stay put."  We would not even know his name.

Pursue your purpose. That is the place of God's blessing.

DEVOTIONAL, THURSDAY, MAY24, 2012

DEVOTION – THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012

“Someone Loves You Perfectly”

BY

ADRIAN  ROGERS

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” - 1 John 4:18

Are you gripped with fear about something? Do not give in to despair. There is hope. Love is the answer to overcoming your fear because love is the Christian’s security blanket.

When you were a child, did you have a teddy bear or a blanket that gave you a sense of security—something you wanted to hold close to you and get wrapped up in? Well, dear friend, the Holy Spirit of God is the believer’s warm, loving security blanket.

Have you read the verse, “Perfect love casteth out fear”? It may not have rung true to you because you are thinking, “I can never manage to achieve “perfect love.” But this is not the way to look at this verse. Listen to it in The Living Bible, which says, “We have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly.” God’s perfect love can eliminate all dread. It is not our love for Him, but His perfect love for us that will cast out our fears.

The question isn’t “Am I brave enough?” The question is “Do I trust His love enough?