DEVOTION - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

DEVOTION –  MONDAY,  FEBRUARY 20, 2012

“THE WINNING WALK”

By

Ed Young

“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” - Matthew 24:13

“I was prepared to eat bitterness when I went to China, but not to eat loss,” said Mabel Williamson. “Eating bitterness” symbolized suffering and hardship. “Eating loss” meant giving up the right to one’s self. Jesus warns that following Him is risky living by worldly standards. Real discipleship means “eating loss,” taking up your cross, dying to self. This is the secret to endurance. Mabel Williamson, Hudson Taylor and many other nameless “China hands” found the secret, endured to the “end”—which means “purpose”—and saw the promise of God. The Gospel is spreading so fast in China now that it could become the center of global Christianity!

DEVOTION - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012

DEVOTION –  SATURDAY,  FEBRUARY 18, 2012

“The Great Omission”

BY

GREG LAURIE

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

As Jesus was getting ready to ascend to heaven, He gathered the disciples together and said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).

This is what is known as the Great Commission. In the original language, these words are a command. That is why we call this the Great Commission and not the Great Suggestion. And I believe that to fail to do this actually could be a sin. “A sin?” you might say. “Well, maybe we should do more, but it is not a sin if I don’t share the gospel.”

But I think it could be, because James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” This is called the sin of omission, which is not doing what you are supposed to do.

These words were given to every follower of Jesus. If I am His disciple, I am commanded to go and make disciples of others. On the other hand, if I am not making disciples of others, then I am not being the disciple God wants me to be.

For many of us, the Great Commission has instead become the Great Omission. So how are you doing with your part in fulfilling the Great Commission? Are you going into all of your world? The commission is not to wait for the world to come to us; it is to go into all of world.

DEVOTION - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012

DEVOTION –  FRIDAY,  FEBRUARY 17, 2012

“Real Treasure ‘

BY

BAYLESS CONLEY

Proverbs 15:6 says,

In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.

Notice that this verse does not just declare there is treasure in the house of the righteous. It says there is much treasure in the house of the righteous.

You can also find treasure in the house of the wicked, but Solomon says it is laced with trouble. The income of the wicked has a bunch of trouble with it.

But the same is not true for those who are right with God. When the treasure is found in their house, it does not have the same trouble that it does when it is found in the house of the wicked.

If you read on, the Lord shares two things that must accompany this treasure if it is going to be enjoyed. First, you must have a right relationship with God. Proverbs 15:16 says, Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, than great treasure with trouble.

It is better to have almost nothing and have a right relationship with God than to have everything money can buy and not have a relationship with God. We must get our priorities right.

The second thing we need to have is a right relationship with people, lest the treasure become hollow and become a curse. Proverbs 15:17 says, Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.

Some people have more prosperity than they know what to do with, but all of their relationships fail. They do not have love. Consequently, there is a vacuum they can never fill with things, that they can never fill by accumulating more possessions.

Pursue your relationship with God, and a right relationship with people. Then you will enjoy the treasure God gives you!

DEVOTION - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012

DEVOTION – THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 16, 2012

“Here’s My Heart—O Take and Seal It”

BY

ADRIAN ROGERS

“With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments.” Psalm 119:10

In 1758 Robert Robinson wrote a hymn that echoes in my heart from time to time:

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”

Do you ever wander from God? Then you know how it feels and how hard it is to return. If you feel far from God today, I implore you with all that I am to return to Him with all your heart.

Make Psalm 86:11-13 your prayer today, “Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name. I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name for evermore. For great is Thy mercy toward me: and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.”

DEVOTION - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012

DEVOTION – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012

“Faith-based’

BY

PASTOR BOB COY

I will lift up my eyes to the hills; from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1-2 (NKJV)

Have you ever noticed how faith-based prayer is? Think about it, you're in a room all by yourself, your head is bowed, maybe your knees are bent, and you're facedown on the floor. You're lips are moving as you're expressing and articulating what's on your heart. By all outward appearances this seems futile, even foolish.

And that would be true—if you took faith out of the equation. But faith, the firm conviction that there are spiritual realities that transcend the world we can see, changes everything. Faith grabs hold of prayer and wields it like a mighty, life-changing weapon. Isn't it interesting that when it comes to one of the most important practices in the Christian life, so much of it depends on faith?

There's a reason for this. There's a reason God has set prayer up to be such a faith-based activity. It's so we can become more and more familiar with the lifestyle of faith. Each time we decide to pray, we declare that we believe in something that's not of this world. We proclaim that our trust is invested in things that are beyond the limitations of earth.

Perhaps that's a new concept for some of us. Maybe we've even fallen into the trap of devaluing prayer because it is so dependent on faith. It's easy for us to slip into that way of thinking because let's face it, it's easier to present your requests to someone standing right in front of you instead of lifting your eyes up to the hills and trusting that there's Someone who hears and is willing to respond.

But God is wise enough to know that when we pray to Him, when we press through the urge to focus on what we can see, we grow and mature as people of faith.

DEVOTION - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012

DEVOTION – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012

“WINNING WALK“

BY

DR ED YOUNG

Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. - Psalm 25:12

A mother cat, kitten on her back, tried crossing New York City’s intersection of 42^nd Street and Broadway. Storms of traffic filled the crossroads with chaos. The mother cat repeatedly started across, then retreated after a couple of steps. A policeman suddenly stepped into the maelstrom, and made New York City stand still as the cat and her kitten crossed. The animals had no idea that all the authority of that huge metropolis—symbolized in the officer’s badge—had been mobilized on their behalf. God’s promise to instruct us in the way we should choose means He mobilizes Heaven’s authority and resources to help us in life’s wild intersections.

DEVOTION - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012

DEVOTION – MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012

“An Unraveled Life “

BY

JAMES MACDONALD

Psalm 25:11 For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Second Samuel 11:1-4 records, incredibly, that while everyone else was out at battle and David stayed home, he saw Bathsheba. Verses 2-4 say, "He saw from the roof a woman bathing. . . . [He] sent and inquired about the woman. . . . [He] sent messengers and took her." You're like, "Who can do that?" The king can do that! And nobody contradicted him! That is until God began to use his friend Nathan and his son Absalom to absolutely crush David. Consequences began to unravel David's life.

As the next several years unfolded, Absalom murdered his brother Amnon because he raped his sister, Tamar. David did nothing about it. He lost Absalom's respect because he was so passive late in life. Absalom led a revolt against his father. He was trying to take over the kingdom. David's authority and power had blinded him to his own sin.

The word guilt in today's verse means literally to bend, to twist, to distort, to warp, to pervert, or to ruin. The word means sin. David in effect said, "For Your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my bent-ness; pardon my twistedness, God. Pardon my distorted, warped, perverted way of thinking, God. Pardon my ruin, what I've done with myself." It's an incredible statement of personal admission. David's prayer flowed from humility born of adversity. "I'm wrong, God! My actions are wrong! My words are wrong! My motives are wrong! I am wrong!"

When was the last time you were undone? When was the last time your life was unraveled by your own shortcomings? How quickly we are worked up about the shortcomings of others. When was the last time you were taken apart by yourself? Not by what your spouse needs to learn. Not by what your mom's doing wrong. Not by the shortcomings of the leaders in your church or where you work, but by yourself. That's the moment that God's trying to bring about. That's where all this is headed. Not that you should observe the shortcomings of others, but that you should have a better understanding of yourself and where you're failing. That's what God is always going for in your life.
—James MacDonald