Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Prayer Verse

Our prayer verse for the week is Philippians 1:9-11

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

The Message

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

NIV

Childlike Faith vs. Childish Faith

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - Childlike Faith vs. Childish Faith


We know from scripture that without faith it is impossible to please God. And the kind of faith that pleases God is child-like faith. Frequently our faith is more childish than it is child-like. Our challenge is to nurture child-like faith and eliminate childish faith.

There are many examples in Scripture of child-like faith. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego demonstrated child-like faith when they were facing that fiery furnace. They told King Nebuchadnezzar, If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up (Daniel 3:16-18).

In child-likeness, these grown men, who were among the most intellectual and educated men of their time, chose not to concern themselves with the great matter of how God would deliver them from the furnace. They neither went into panic mode, nor into denial about the furnace in front of them.

They recognized the reality of their predicament, and then, without questioning or complaining or worrying, they chose to trust God in an uncomplicated, simple way. That is child-like faith.

Think of the centurion who approached Jesus about healing his servant. Think about Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, who asked Jesus to come heal his daughter. Think about Peter stepping out on the water to walk to Jesus. Their faith was child-like. They had no regard for what others thought about them nor did they worry about looking foolish.

In Luke 7 we read about the Roman Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his sick servant. Here was a Roman soldier who demonstrated great faith in Jesus, believing that He could heal his servant by just speaking a word, without even seeing the servant.

And when Jesus heard this, He said, I tell you, I have not found such great faith, even in Israel. Jesus was amazed at his faith. It was a child-like faith, unconcerned about what others would think and willing to humbly ask Jesus to do what he could not do.Ask yourself: Is my faith child-like or childish?

Living Water

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 31

LIVING WATER

If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37, 38).

The story is told of a prospector in the last century who had to make a four-day journey across a burning desert. He couldn't carry enough water to make the journey without dying of thirst, but he was assured there was a well halfway across the desert. So he set out and sure enough there was a well right where the map indicated. But when he pumped the handle, the well only burped up sand. Then he saw this sign: "Buried two feet over and two feet down is a jug of water. Dig it up and use the water to prime the pump. Drink all the water you want, but when you are done, fill the jug again for the next person."

Sure enough, two feet over and two feet down was enough water for the prospector to prime the pump or to finish his journey. Should he pour the water down the well or should he drink it?
To tell you the truth, I'd drink the water that was buried! I don't know who wrote the sign on that rusty old pump. It could be a cruel joke. I'd pour that water down a worthless well only to watch my life drain away for lack of water.

Faith always has an element of risk, but there is one factor in the above story that doesn't exist when it comes to God. I know who wrote the sign. When I pour myself into a life of faith, I know that out of my inner being shall flow rivers of living water. God said so, history verifies it, and I, for one, can testify that it is true. In the final analysis, God is not only true, He's right.

There is more than enough water in God's well for everyone, but the pump is only activated by faith. Remember: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

Heavenly Father, You have proven Yourself trustworthy. Your river of living water never dries up or becomes polluted.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Monday, July 30, 2007

Sermon: Greatest Tool

Yesterday Aaron spoke from Deuteronomy 6:1-12 about having the passion to use the greatest tool God has given us: our home. His point was we need to be intentional about the greatest thing you can pass on: our faith.

Doing this we have to keep our p's in order: our role as prophet, priest and the provider of spiritual blessings to our children.

4"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Time for Silence and Time for Speech

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional: The Necessity to Cover

There are things which it is our duty to cover in silence. We are told nowadays that everything ought to be expressed if we are truly "honest" and "open."

Proverbs 11:13 says, "He who goes abroad as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing hidden."

Jesus sometimes refused to reveal the truth about Himself, even when it would have seemed to us "an opportunity to witness." He did not always answer questions. He did not always say who He was. He told some of those He healed to tell no one about it.

"For every activity under heaven its time...a time for silence and a time for speech" (Eccl 3:1,7 NEB). "A man of understanding remains silent" (Prv 11:12 RSV).

Lord, deliver me from the urge to open my mouth when I should shut it. Give me the wisdom to keep silence where silence is wise. Remind me that not everything needs to be said, and that there are very few things that need to be said by me.

Faith

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, July 30, 2007 - Childlike Faith vs. Childish Faith

Is your faith child-like or childish? Jesus called a little child to Him one day, and then said to His disciples: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). But the Apostle Paul wrote: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me (1 Corinthians 13:11).

As I was reading Philip Yancey’s book, Reaching for the Invisible God, I was struck by his thoughts on child-like faith versus childish faith. He writes, “Somehow we must learn to distinguish between appropriate child-like behavior, a prerequisite for the kingdom of heaven, and inappropriate childish behavior, a mark of stunted growth” (page 214).

David gives us some insight into this in Psalm 131. He says, I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me (vs. 1b-2).

And so, a child-like faith is one that does not complicate issues. One that takes God at His word, even when failing to comprehend it. A child-like faith is unconcerned with all the details that are God’s responsibility, and rests in the assurance that the Heavenly Father has promised to supply all our needs.

For those of us who have raised children, we can easily distinguish child-like behavior from childish behavior. When our children are doing child-like things, we find them endearing, lovable. Those are the things we put in the baby book and tell Grandma and Grandpa. Child-like behavior is a beautiful part of the maturing process.

Childish behavior, on the other hand, is not so attractive. Those are the traits and characteristics we dutifully try to eliminate through teaching and correction. We want to develop a child-like faith and eliminate a childish faith. Our Lord is looking for grown-up people with child-like faith. Does that describe you?

Don't Light Your Own Fire

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 30

CREATING OUR OWN LIGHT

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand; and you will lie down in torment (Isaiah 50:11).

When your way suddenly gets dark, don't light your own fire. Our natural tendency when we don't see life God's way is to do it our way. Resist the urge to create your own light.

In Isaiah 50:11, God is not talking about the fire of judgment; He's talking about fire that creates light. When we try to find our way out of the darkness by our own devices instead of waiting for God's light, God will allow it, but misery will follow.

Let me illustrate. God called Abraham out of Ur into the Promised Land. In Genesis 12, a covenant was made in which God promised Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the sands of the sea or the stars in the sky. Abraham lived his life in the light of that promise, then God turned out the light.

So many years passed that his wife Sarah could no longer bear a child by natural means. God's guidance had been so clear before, but now it looked like Abraham would have to assist God in its fulfillment. Who could blame Abraham for creating his own light? Sarah supplied the match by offering her handmaiden to Abraham. Out of that union came the Arab nation which has been in conflict with the Jewish nation ever since. Abraham created his own light, God allowed it, and misery followed.

We may not have to wait as long as Abraham did, but our darkness may last for weeks, months, and possibly for some exceptional people, even years. But God is in control and He knows exactly how big a knothole He can pull us through. When your faith is stretched to its limit and you are about to break, He will pull you through to the other side and you will never go back to the shape you were in before.

The dark times are difficult, Lord, but I thank You for how I have grown and matured as I have trusted You through them.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Friday, July 27, 2007

How To Treasure God

Excerpt from John Piper: Praying for All His Purposes, Meditating on All His Word

Where does faith come from? Or: How do you become a person who treasures all that God is for you in Jesus? If faith works through love (Galatians 5:6), and love causes people to magnify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16), then the great question in life is, how shall we have this faith? How shall we come to treasure God like this?

One answer is given in Romans 10:14–17.

How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? . . . 17 So faith
comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

There is Paul's answer: "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." This is why our Spiritual Dynamic includes the phrase, "meditating on all his Word." Prayer has a crucial role to play too, which is why we say, "praying for all his purposes." For example, in Psalm 119:18 the psalmist prays like this:

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law.

In other words the Word of God contains wonderful things, but we will not see them without God's help—his illumination (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6); his opening our hearts like he did for Lydia (Acts 16:14); his opening our minds like he did for the apostles (Luke 24:45). And if we miss what is in the Word of God without his help, then prayer becomes the natural partner to hearing the Word. We pray, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from your law."

We are going to spend two Sundays on prayer during Prayer Week at the beginning of the year (nine weeks from now). So I want us to focus on this other line in our spiritual dynamic this morning and tonight—"meditating on all his Word." "We join God in magnifying the supremacy of his glory by . . . meditating on all his Word." This is the way faith begins and the way faith grows—by hearing and meditating on the Word of God. And as faith grows—as we come to treasure more and more what God is for us in Jesus—we have more and more freedom and strength to love as we ought. And when we love as we ought, people will see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven. And our mission will be fulfilled.

Fear of Man

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 27

THE FEAR OF MAN

The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me? The LORD is for me among those who help me; therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man (Psalm 118:6-8).

David's question in Psalm 118:6 introduces a common fear among Christians: the fear of man. The timid man is quick to respond to the question, "I'll tell you what man can do to me. He can abuse me, he can fire me from my job, and he can even kill me."

True, but Jesus tells us to lay those fears aside: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). If you fail to take God as your refuge, the fear of man will control your life.

God appointed Saul to be the first king of Israel and commanded him to utterly destroy Amalek, along with all of his family, followers and possessions. Unfortunately, Saul didn't completely obey. Samuel confronted Saul, and after Saul's excuses ran out, he confessed, "I have sinned . . . because I feared the people and listened to their voice" (1 Samuel 15:24). Then the Lord rejected Saul as king of Israel. More than one king has fallen for fearing man more than God.

Suppose you are intimidated by your boss. You work in fear of him from eight to five. What power does he have over you? He could fire you! How could you overcome that power? You could quit or be willing to quit. By not allowing your boss to hold the job over your head, you would free yourself from his intimidations. God's Word says, "Do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts" (1 Peter 3:14, 15).

I'm not suggesting that you rebel against your boss or become irresponsible. Servants are to obey their masters, and we are to work heartily as for the Lord rather than men (Colossians 3:22, 23). However, when you make God your sanctuary, you free yourself to live a responsible life. If you lose your job in the process, you have the assurance that God will meet all your needs.

Lord, I want to be a God-pleaser, not a people-pleaser. Give me strength to stand up for the truth no matter what the cost.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Treasure

Heart and Treasure

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21, ESV

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

Matthew 6:19-21, The Message


"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Matthew 13:44, ESV


"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

Matthew 22:36-38


And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands,that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:28-29

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Honor of Being Dishonored on Account of the Name

That convinced them. They called the apostles back in. After giving them a thorough whipping, they warned them not to speak in Jesus' name and sent them off. The apostles went out of the High Council overjoyed because they had been given the honor of being dishonored on account of the Name. Every day they were in the Temple and homes, teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, not letting up for a minute.

Acts 5:40-42, The Message

What Can I Do For God?

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

Title: What Can I Do For God?

Most of us would like to do something special in life, something to distinguish us. We suppose that we desire it for God's sake, but more likely we are discontent with ordinary life and crave special privileges. When Israel asked if they should offer some spectacular sacrifice--thousands of rams, ten thousand "rivers of oil," a firstborn child--the answer was, "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Mi 6:8 RSV).

There is nothing conspicuous about those requirements. It is not a "special" service for which one would be likely to be decorated or even particularly remembered. But it is worth more to God than any sacrifice.

Lord, deliver me from the delusion of imagining that my desire is to serve You, when my real desire is the distinction of serving in some way which others admire.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

We're Not Keeping This Quiet

We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

2 Cor 4:13-15, The Message

Prayer Verse

Prayer verse for this week is from Psalm 19:14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

God is our rock and redeemer and we want to please Him. What is sobering to me is the understanding that we want both words and heart to be pleasing. Sometimes it is easy for the words to be pleasing while the heart is far from pleasing. We need God's power to transform our heart. And then may God receive the glory for what He is doing.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:21

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Cor 4:7

Basic Needs

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 24

HUMANITY'S BASIC NEEDS

My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Adam and Eve were created spiritually alive. The attributes they experienced before the Fall became glaring needs after the Fall.

1. Acceptance was replaced by rejection, therefore we have a need to belong. Ever since Adam and Eve's sin alienated them from God and disrupted human relationships, we have experienced a deep need to belong. Even when people come to Christ and fill their need to belong to God, they still need the acceptance of people. You will never understand the power of peer pressure in our culture until you understand the legitimate need to belong and the fear of rejection we all share.

2. Innocence was replaced by guilt and shame, therefore we have a need for a sense of worth. Many psychologists agree that people today generally suffer from a poor sense of worth. The secular psychologist responds by trying to stroke the human ego and psychologist responds by trying to stroke the human ego and encourage us to improve our performance. Your worth as a person is not an issue of giftedness, talent, intelligence or beauty. It's an identity issue. Your sense of personal worth comes from knowing who you are: a child of God.

3. Authority to rule over creation was replaced by weakness and helplessness, therefore we have a need for strength and self-control. There is no one more insecure than a controller. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, not spouse- or child-control.

Only Christ can meet the most basic needs of humanity such as life, identity, acceptance, security and significance. These needs are eternal, unlike our physical needs. If we present Christ as meeting only our physical needs, we will have stiff competition from every humanistic organization.

Father God, I reject any counterfeit fulfillment Satan offers me. I will live by every word that proceeds from Your mouth.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sermon: You Don't Need Pliers

Yesterday Aaron spoke on worshipping the God who gives us power based on Acts 1:8 and 1 Cor 1:18.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

We know this but we need to be reminded that it is His power -- it is not about us -- God is worthy of all of our praise -- "here we are to worship"

------------------------
Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

(Tim Hughes, Here I Am to Worship)

Pride

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional, An Antidote for Pride

The basis of all sin of whatever kind is pride. This was what inspired the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and it is always with us. One very common form it takes is the pride of privilege. When a man is given a special position, he forgets that it was given. He becomes proud, as though "his own arm" had gotten him the victory.

God knows well the heart and made provision for this sin of pride when He instructed the Israelites about appointing a king. He was to make a copy of the law. This would be the antidote, necessary for him and likewise for all of us (for "law" read "Word"). "He shall keep it by him and read from it all his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and keep all the words of this law and observe these statutes.

In this way he shall not become prouder than his fellow countrymen nor shall he turn from these commandments to right or left" (Dt 17:19, 20 NEB). The attempt itself to keep the commandments, one by one and day after day, will be sufficient to humble us, for the "straightedge of the law" (Rom 3:20 JBP) will only show us, as Paul found, how crooked we are. We will find, in fact, that we cannot keep it. "The whole matter is on a different plane--believing instead of achieving" (Rom 3:27 JBP). Pride won't find much foothold on that plane.

"The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether" (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

Amazing Grace

Excerpt from 268 Blog, Summer Madness, June 12, 2007

"Grace was getting clearer as our sin and God's wrath closed in. I'm not sure when or where, but somewhere along the way in the recent journey of youth ministry and the American church in general, the reality of the coming wrath of God slipped out of our thinking about the cross of Christ. About that same time we lost our sense of desperate need, opting instead for a rosier view of ourselves than God's holiness will allow and embracing the cross as a really wonderful gesture, not life and breath and peace and everything. But in this night both the mercy and judgment of God hung in equal measure, the one making much of the other as we lifted the Cup and considered it's mandate for and from our lives.

As the talk ended, across the room many teens stood on chairs, others with feet on the floor and a few were kneeling. All this with no clever tales, just the simple reality that we are guilty without a Savior, having broken every law of a patient, yet righteous God. Many came that night to heed Jesus' invitation to take the Cup and drink from it, to savor its Inescapable Necessity, Radical Mercy, Gruesome Death, God-Sized Exchange and Radical Worship.

What was supposed to be a closing song erupted into almost an hour of thanks and praise. For how could a brief reply express our wonder and gratitude for mercy that would shelter us on the coming day of judgment?"

Choice

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 23

THE POWER TO CHOOSE

Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. . . . As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15).

Adam and Eve's sin also affected the area of their will. Do you realize that in the Garden of Eden they could only make one wrong choice? Everything they wanted to do was okay except eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16, 17). They had the possibility of making a myriad of good choices and only one bad choice — only one!

Eventually, however, they made that one bad choice. As a result, you and I are confronted every day with a myriad of good and bad choices. You can choose to pray or not pray, read your Bible or not read your Bible, go to church or not go to church. You can choose to walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. You and I face countless choices like that every day, and we eventually make some bad ones.

Other than the Holy Spirit in your life, the greatest power you possess is the power to choose. Someone has said that pure Christianity lies in the exercise of the will. The animal kingdom operates out of divine instinct. But we are created in the image of God, which means we have a self-operated, independent will. The essence of temptation is to function independently of God. The basis for temptation is legitimate needs.

Sinful behavior is often a wrong attempt at meeting your basic needs. The real issue here is are you going to get your needs met by the world, the flesh and the devil, or are you going to allow God to meet your needs "according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)? It's an issue of identity and maturity. The more you understand your identity in Christ, the more you will grow in maturity. And the more mature you become, the easier it will be for you to choose to live your life in dependence on your heavenly Father.

Lord, I determine to exercise my great power of choice to live in moment-by-moment dependence on You today.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Friday, July 20, 2007

Reading

Excerpt from Josh on "Reading" at DG Blog

Christians are people of the book: God purposely chose the medium of typography to deliver his revelation to us. In that book, we are commanded to love God with our hearts and our minds (Matthew 22:34-40). This gives Christians a clear command to use their intellects — to be, in other words, a kind of intellectual.

Reading is one of the best ways to develop our minds. It can help us to know God and ourselves, gain vicarious experience, increase our perception and imagination, train our minds to think critically and logically, and teach us self-discipline. (For more on this, see Neil Postman's excellent Amusing Ourselves to Death.)But we have a problem: our culture is becoming aliterate. We have the ability to read but not the desire. Or maybe some of us have the desire but not the time. We make time to watch television and surf the Internet for the latest triviality, but we can't seem to make the time to sit down and read for an hour.

...

Perceptions

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 20

PERCEPTIONS AND EMOTIONS

The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22, 23).

In a general sense, your emotions are a product of your thought life. If you are not thinking right, if your mind is not being renewed, if you are not perceiving God and His Word properly, it will be reflected in your emotional life.

One of the best scriptural illustrations of the relationship between perceptions and emotions is found in Lamentations 3. In verses 1-6, Jeremiah expresses despair as he wrongly perceives that God is against him and that He is the cause of his physical problems. In verses 7-11, 18, he vents his feelings of entrapment and fear. If your hope was in God, and these words were a correct portrayal of God, you would probably feel bummed out too.

What was Jeremiah's problem? His perception of God was way off center. God wasn't the cause of his affliction. God isn't a wild beast waiting to chew people up. But Jeremiah wasn't thinking right, perceiving right, or interpreting his circumstances right, so he wasn't feeling right or responding right either.

Suddenly, Jeremiah's countenance changes: "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness" (verses 21-23). What a turnaround! Did God change? Did Jeremiah's circumstances change? No. His perception of God changed and his emotions followed suit.

You are not shaped so much by your environment as you are by your perception of your environment. Life's events don't determine who you are; God determines who you are, and your interpretation of life's events determines how well you will handle the pressures of life. In reality we have very little control over our emotions, but we do have control over our thoughts, and our thoughts determine our feelings and our responses. That's why it is so important that you fill your mind with the knowledge of God and His Word. You need to see life from God's perspective and respond accordingly.

Lord, continually adjust my perception of my environment to match Your perspective found in Your Word.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Give Way to Truth

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional: Give Way to Truth

Through a disagreement with my husband Lars yesterday I suddenly recognized an instrument used powerfully by the enemy to drive a wedge between two people who love each other (and there is nothing which fills the enemy with such glee as destroying unity). It is reason. I had good reasons for my argument and so did he. Reason comes very close to being an idol to me at times, and I am tempted to make sacrifices on its altar.

"Be faithful to Reason!" whispers the Destroyer. "Do not let go!"

"Be faithful to Me," Christ says, "give up your reasons, give way to Truth."

Reason is one of God's great gifts. We have intelligence and the faculty of reason, to be employed in the service of God and other people. Faithfulness to Christ (who is Truth) does not negate reason, but purifies it, raises it to a higher level.

"Pure" reason, logical argument, stood between my husband and me, as it stood between Job and his friends, and Jesus and the Pharisees.

"Knowledge gives self-importance--it is love that makes the building grow. A man may imagine that he understands something, but still not understand anything in the way he ought to!" (1 Cor 8:1,2 JB).

Doing the Job Well

Keep your eye on what you're doing;
... do a thorough job as God's servant.
2 Timothy 4:5, The Message

"Many people ... spend their working days "making a living" and their weekends and evenings trying to make up for the lack of meaning in their jobs by doing "Christian work." But that doesn't have to happen. Almost any job can be used to channel discipleship. In every decade Christians have been engaged in hundreds of occupations at all levels of society, each doing the job well "unto the Lord." And disciples have been made -- who knows how many?"

Like Dew Your Mouth

"Doing the Job Well", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

Fight for Superior Pleasure

From last night's Blazing Center (John Piper) DVD:

"The battle is not first at the level of behavior. The battlefield is what makes you glad."

If It's Not Light, It's Not Right!

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - If It’s Not Light, It’s Not Right!


Do you feel like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders sometimes? The truth is, God never intended for His children to carry heavy burdens day after day.

Our burdens fall into three broad categories: guilt and cares from the past, worries and concerns about the present, and fear of the future. Past, present and future.

Think about your burdens. How many of them are a part of your past? Are you carrying things around that should be behind you? Philippians 3:13 says:

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 43:18 tells us to, Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!

One reason many of us are carrying heavy burdens is because we haven't yet committed the past to the Lord. I know some of you have endured great pains in your past, but if you know Jesus as your Savior, He has the power to take that burden from your past and exchange it for His peace.

Is some of your burden because of the future, because you don't know what the future holds? Remember Jeremiah 29:11,

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Yesterday with all its cares and frets, all its pains and aches, all its faults, mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond our recall. We cannot undo an act that we wrought nor unsay a word we said. Yesterday was ours. It is now God's!

And Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its potential perils, its unknown paths and events, is as far beyond our mastery as Yesterday. It is a day of God's. It will be ours, but it is not yet.

Will you put down those heavy burdens from yesterday and tomorrow, and exchange them for Jesus' burden, which is light? Remember, if it's not light, it's not right. He never intended for you to carry that heavy burden, and He's just waiting for you to give it up to Him.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Making of an Expert

I think being a disciple of Jesus is simple, but not easy. Most likely we are already disciples of something or someone and we know what we did to get there. For example, you might be a disciple of baseball and you have many obscure facts in your brain. How did they get there? You spend lots of time reading the sports page, watching baseball, talking with other baseball disciples, encouraging each other in your baseball following, and so forth.

In a recent article in Harvard Business Review (now you know what I read) on "The Making of an Expert" the authors say this:

"The journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment. There are no shortcuts. It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in "deliberate" practice -- practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort. You will need a well-informed coach not only to guide you through the deliberate practice but also to help you learn how to coach yourself."

Sounds like discipleship training to me.

Be - and - Experience a Blessing

Your next dinner invitation list:

Then he turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people."

Luke 14: 12-14, The Message

Faith is an Action Word

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 18

DEMONSTRATING WHAT WE BELIEVE

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself (James 2:17).

Faith is an action word. We cannot passively respond to God. You may have heard the story of the circus performer who strung a wire over a river and proceeded to ride across it on a unicycle. When he returned, everyone applauded. Then he asked, "Who believes I can do that with a man on my shoulders?" Everyone responded in affirmation. He said, "All right, who will hop on?" The person who hops on is the person who really believes. Faith is not just giving credence to something or someone. Faith is demonstrated reliance upon something or someone.

Faith has the same operating dynamic as agape love. When we refer to love as a noun, we're talking about character: patience, kindness, etc. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). When we say that God is love, we are describing His character. Paul says the goal of our instruction is love (1 Timothy 1:5); therefore, the goal of Christian education is character transformation.

When love is used as a verb, it is expressed by action: "For God so loved the world that He gave . . ." (John 3:16). If we say we love someone and do nothing on their behalf, it's only sentimentality and not agape love. True love is expressed by meeting the needs of others.

Faith has a similar dynamic. When using faith as a noun, we're talking about what we believe. But if we're talking about faith as a verb, then it is expressed in the way we live. James says it like this: "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, 'You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:17-19).

The devil believes in the existence of Jesus and knows that God's Word is true. But he doesn't seek to glorify Jesus or to obey Him. He seeks his own glory, being a rebel at heart (Romans 1:25).

We demonstrate what we believe by how we live our lives. If we believe it, we will do it. If we don't, then what we believe is just wishful thinking.

Lord, help me put feet to my faith every day and not rely on past accomplishments.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Forever

I was thinking about the first part of our memory verse for this week from Eccl 3:14 where it says "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it."

Everything God does will endure forever. That is comforting and encouraging and hope giving. I know what I do doesn't endure forever -- sometimes not even for five minutes. But what God does endures (carries on, continues, lasts) forever. On top of that it cannot be improved -- nothing can be added or taken away -- it is perfect, or as God said after creation, it is good.

This reminds me of something else that endures forever ... God's love. Remember Psalm 136? "His love endures forever."

My Strength Comes From God

I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

He won't let you stumble,
your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel's
Guardian will never doze or sleep.

God's your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.

God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.

Psalm 121, The Message

Monday, July 16, 2007

Sermon: Full Moon Christians

Aaron preached yesterday from Ephesians 5:1-14 on being imitators of God and stressed two principles:

1. Love hard -- like God -- extravagantly.

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message

2. Live as children of the light. We are called to be holy (Ephesians 1:4)

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

1 Peter 1:14-16, ESV

Why full moon Christians? It is said that a full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon. Don't be just a half way Christian -- be a full moon.

---

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Philippians 2:14-16, NIV

Cans

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 16

SUCCESS COMES IN CANS, PART I

I do believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).

Someone has said that success comes in cans and failure in cannots. The "Twenty Cans of Success," taken from God's Word, will expand your knowledge of our faith-object, the Almighty God. Building your faith by internalizing these truths over the next two days will help lift you from the miry clay of the cannots to the reality that in Christ you can do all things.

Twenty Cans of Success

1. Why should I say I can't when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)?
2. Why should I lack when I know that God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)?
3. Why should I fear when the Bible says God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)?
4. Why should I lack faith to fulfill my calling, knowing that God has allotted to me a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)?
5. Why should I be weak when the Bible says that the Lord is the strength of my life and that I will display strength and take action because I know God (Psalm 27:1; Daniel 11:32)?
6. Why should I allow Satan supremacy over my life when He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)?
7. Why should I accept defeat when the Bible says that God always leads me in triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14)?
8. Why should I lack wisdom when Christ became wisdom to me from God and God gives wisdom to me generously when I ask Him for it (1 Corinthians 1:30; James 1:5)?
9. Why should I be depressed when I can recall to mind God's lovingkindness, compassion and faithfulness, and have hope (Lamentations 3:21-23)?
10. Why should I worry and fret when I can cast all my anxiety on Christ who cares for me (1 Peter 5:7)?

Lord, thank You for Your loving care reflected in the incredible promises in Your Word.


Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved


Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

If It's Not Light, It's Not Right!

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, July 16, 2007 - If It’s Not Light, It’s Not Right!


Did you know that most people are lugging an invisible bag of burdens with them all the time: Over their shoulder, on their back, dragging along behind them. It saps their strength and destroys their joy, and damages their testimony for Christ as they constantly struggle with this bag of burdens.

Jesus told us that, "In this world we will have trouble." So, having troubles should come as no surprise. However, Jesus didn't stop with that dismal prediction. He added: "Take heart! I have overcome the world!" Our Savior has overcome the world and its troubles, and that means we don't have to carry heavy burdens with us.

A typical burden we Christians frequently carry around is worry. We worry about our family, our children, our parents. We worry about our job. We worry about our bills, where the money is coming from. We worry about our relationships and we worry about our health. Sometimes it seems some people will manufacture something to worry about, because they wouldn't know what to do if they weren't carrying that heavy burden called worry.

Many Christians carry around guilt, and that is a very heavy burden. Or fear. Fear of the future; fear that bad things will happen; fear that people won't like them; fear of failure; fear of being alone. I see so many Christians who are unhappy with who they are, feeling inadequate and unworthy.

Jesus told us in Matthew 11:28-29, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. But so few of us really ever apply that verse to our lives.

Here's a good thought to remember: If it's not light, it's not right. Christians should never carry heavy burdens, because we can always exchange our heavy, ugly burdens for Jesus’ light one. He can carry your burdens for you, if you'll just put them down and exchange them for His.

Everything God Does

Our prayer verse this week is from Ecclesiastes 3:14

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

God's glory is always His goal.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Worship

Excerpt from John Piper, All of Life as Worship

"So our spiritual worship is to come to God each day and say: "O God, there is nothing that I want more than to approve what is most worthy, and value what is most valuable, and treasure what is most precious and admire what is most beautiful and hate what is most evil and abhor what is most ugly. I reckon myself dead to all that is unspiritual and worldly and deadening to my soul. Renew me, O my God. Awaken spiritual capacities of right assessment."

And then we say, "And take me, body and soul, and make me the instrument of your glory in the world. Let the renewal you are working from within show on the outside. This is my spiritual worship. To show the world that you are my all-satisfying treasure."

There it is. Now we are back at the beginning. The essence of worship is a being satisfied in God and cherishing of Christ as gain. Romans 12:1-2 are not saying anything different. This is what it means to have a renewed mind. The renewed mind perceives and approves and treasures and cherishes the will of God (and thus transforms all of life), because it first and foremost perceives, and approves and treasures and cherishes God.

And doing the will of God is the outshining of God in his glory. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship. Either of God, or something else.

Therefore be transformed in the renewal of your mind. Cherish God in all his works and all his ways. Reckon the old mind dead and offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice that he may put you on display by the outshining of his worth and his value in your life. Worship him with your life."

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Use Your Powerful God-Tools

The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

2 Cor 10: 3-6, The Message


For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

2 Cor 10: 3-6, ESV

What is Wrong?

Don't use your anger as fuel for revenge.
And don't stay angry.
Ephesians 4:26, The Message

"Anger is most useful as a diagnostic tool. When anger erupts in us, it is a signal that something is wrong. Something isn't working right. There is evil or incompetence or stupidity lurking about. Anger is our sixth sense for sniffing out wrong in the neighborhood.

What anger fails to do, though, is tell us whether the wrong is outside or inside us. We usually begin by assuming that the wrong is outside us -- our spouse or our child or God has done something wrong, and we are angry. But when we track the anger carefully, we often find it leads to a wrong within us -- wrong information, inadequate understanding, underdeveloped heart."

Under the Predictable Plant

God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.
Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - Don’t Think for Yourself


"Think for yourself!" That's sounds good, doesn't it? Most of us would probably agree that we should think for ourselves, and not allow others to tell us how to think.

I'd like to suggest that for a Christian, it's a little different. Instead of "Think for yourself," our motto should be "Think biblically!" You see, thinking for ourselves can get us in an awful lot of trouble, because often our human reasoning and sinful nature will lead us into unbiblical avenues of thinking.

Our thought life is the place where everything else begins. Your actions begin with thoughts; your words begin with thoughts; your attitudes are formed by thoughts; your emotions are controlled by your thoughts. As we are reminded in Proverbs 23:7, what we think is what we are. Therefore, we need to be extremely aware of what we are thinking, and we really don't need to think for ourselves; we need to think biblically.

People who claim to be "thinking for themselves" are rarely doing just that. When you see someone rebelling against their parents, or against rules and regulations or authority of some kind, or going off into some deep end, they often use the excuse that "I'm thinking for myself and nobody's going to tell me how to think anymore." But what's really happening is that they are allowing some other person or group to tell them how to think instead of the ones who have been influencing their thinking up to that point. Rarely are they truly thinking for themselves.

Don't be misled by the attractiveness of this commonly-held belief that we should think for ourselves. It certainly appeals to our proud human nature, but it leads us to place a confidence in our ability to think correctly, and the sad news is, most of us don't think correctly on our own. We are all influenced by the world around us, the attitudes of others, the majority viewpoint, and in addition, our thought life is polluted by our own sinful nature.

Add all that up, and you realize that not only is it dangerous to think for ourselves, it's also fairly impossible, for our thinking is inevitably a result of other influences. For Christians, we need to be certain that our thinking is shaped by the Word of God and that we are influenced by what God has to say.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Prayer Verse

Our prayer verse for the week is Psalm 62:1-2


1 My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
NIV

1For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;
I shall not be greatly shaken.
ESV

1-2 God, the one and only— I'll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
so why not?
He's solid rock under my feet,
breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
I'm set for life.
The Message

Sermon: Get Sprinkled

Yesterday Aaron spoke about God's blessings with the title coming from a story he told and the text from Ephesians 1-3 (but primarily chapter 1).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Ephesians 1: 3-10

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to look through these verses and identify the blessings. How many do you count?

Hope

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 9

THE SOURCE OF ALL HOPE

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God (Psalm 43:5).

Sometimes the depression resulting from a seemingly impossible situation is related to a wrong concept of God. David wrote: "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? . . . How long will my enemy triumph over me?" (Psalm 13:1, 2 NIV). Had God really forgotten David? Was He actually hiding from David? Of course not. David had a wrong concept of God, feeling that He had abandoned him to the enemy. David believed a lie about God, and consequently he lost his focus. His situation seemed hopeless, and hopelessness is the basis for all depression.

But the remarkable thing about David is that he didn't stay in the dumps. He evaluated his situation and realized, "Hey, I'm a child of God. I'm going to focus on what I know about Him, not on my negative feelings." From the pit of his depression, he wrote: "I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation" (Psalm 13:5 NIV). Then he decided to make a positive expression of his will: "I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me" (verse 6). He willfully moved away from his wrong concept and its accompanying depression and returned to the source of his hope.

If Satan can destroy your belief in God, you will lose your source of hope. But with God, all things are possible. He is the source of all hope. You need to learn to respond to hopeless-appearing situations as David did: "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God" (Psalm 43:5).

If Satan can't destroy your concept of God, then he will seek to destroy your concept of who you are as a child of God. He can't do anything about your position in Christ, but if he can get you to believe it's not true, you will live as if it's not, even though it is. The two most important beliefs you possess are who God is and who you are as His child.

Above all, Father, help me focus continually on who You are and who I am in Christ, and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Stand Forever in the Light

Geoff Moore When I Get Where I'm Going

A part of the lyrics are:

But when I get where I’m going
And I see my maker’s face
I’ll stand forever in the light
Of His amazing grace

When I Get Where I'm Going

Friday, July 06, 2007

Preservation of Joy

"When Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:24, "Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy," we should emphasize it this way: "We are workers with you for your joy." The preservation of our joy in God takes work. It is a fight. Our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, and he has an insatiable appetite to destroy one thing: the joy of faith. But the Holy Spirit has given us a sword called the Word of God for the defense of our joy."

John Piper, Desiring God, p. 123.

Filled with Jesus

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, July 06, 2007 - When Your Cup Runs Over, What Spills Over?


During the times when we are jostled on life's roller-coaster seas, what's inside of us will come spilling out. If it's faith and trust and joy in the Lord, that will come out. If it's bitterness or worry or self-centeredness, that will come spilling out.

The secret is to make sure you're filled up on the inside with the right stuff. Then you don't have to worry about what comes out. I love the song: "Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me 'til I want no more. Fill my cup; fill it up and make me whole."

We need cups filled with Jesus. Friends, I am more and more convinced that the focus of my life has to be simply and only Jesus. There's an old hymn that I love which says: "Only Jesus, only Jesus, only He can satisfy. Every burden becomes a blessing, When I know my Lord is nigh." It reminds me that regardless of the circumstances, if I'm filled with Jesus, I will be satisfied, I will be joyful, I will be spilling over with the beauty of Jesus.

Oh, that doesn't mean I have to be happy about negative situations, about difficult things. But what is so great about being a Christian is that with Jesus, we can know His peace and contentment and joy in the midst of all those troublesome situations.

How do we get our cups filled up with Jesus? Through the Word–the Bread of heaven. If the time you spend in the Bible is not very much and not consistent, your cup won't be full of Jesus, and when it spills over, you won't like what you see. But if you pour the Word of God and prayer into your cup regularly, then your cup will spill over with the peace and compassion of Jesus Christ.

You fill your cup up with Jesus by thinking about Him all through the day. Do you practice His presence regularly? Do you communicate with Him all through the day, and seek His guidance in all things? That will fill your cup up with Jesus.

So, I encourage you to use every jostle, every bump in the road as an opportunity to check up on yourself. When the boss upsets you and causes you to complain, you know you need to clean out the inside of that cup. When someone does you wrong, and you respond with patience and tolerance, you know Jesus is spilling out of your cup. When the money is low and you spill over with worry and fear, you need to work on the inside of the cup. When your health is not good, but you praise God anyway, you are spilling over the beauty of Jesus.

When your cup runs over, what spills out? It’s a good question to ask ourselves every day.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Saving Faith

"The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an "extra" that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your "faith" cannot please God. It is not saving faith.

Saving faith is the confidence that if you sell all you have, and forsake all sinful pleasures, the hidden treasure of holy joy will satisfy your deepest desires. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that he is desirable. It is the confidence that he will come through with his promises and that what he promises is more to be desired than all the world."

John Piper, Desiring God, p. 69.

Motivation

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 5

OUR GREATEST MOTIVATION

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).

To worship God is to acknowledge His divine attributes. He doesn't need us to tell Him who He is. We need to keep our minds renewed to the reality of His presence. Notice how this is brought out in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11: "Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men."

Realizing that God knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, we should be motivated to live our lives to please Him. Someday we're going to stand before Him and give an account. The judgment that Paul is talking about in this passage is not for punishment, but for rewards. We don't fear God because of the possibility of punishment: "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love" (l John 4:18). We have already been judged as to where we will spend eternity. But how we spend eternity depends on how we respond to God in this lifetime.

I personally don't want to limp into heaven and have Him say, "Well, okay, come on in." I want to stand before God someday and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." That's the greatest motivation in my life. As a child I didn't fear the spanking of my father nearly as much as I feared being accountable to him and facing his disappointment.

I'm not disappointed with God and I sure don't want Him disappointed with me.

Lord, may the reality of my eternal salvation motivate me to wholehearted, grateful obedience today.


Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved


Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Spilling Out of Your Cup

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, July 05, 2007 - When Your Cup Runs Over, What Spills Over?


Is there some adversity in your life at present? Do you have a situation that is getting to you? Maybe it's a person you work with, or your boss, or the whole job itself. Perhaps it's financial difficulties or a health problem. It could be almost anything. If your cup is being jostled right now, what is spilling out?

If you're not happy with what you see spilling out of your cup from time to time, then you need to get the inside clean, really clean. Turn those adversities into positive movement in your spiritual life. Use them as building blocks. The earlier you begin, the better and the easier it is to face yourself and make changes.

Remember, if you keep going through life, refusing to look at what is spilling out of your cup and get that cup cleaned up, as you grow older those irritating, unpleasant, un-Christlike traits will become more and more entrenched and more and more difficult to clean out. Let me remind you of Romans 5:2-5:

This doesn't mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys–we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and tribulations. Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint you.

Our cups are jostled to show us what's inside, so that we can develop a mature Christian character. It's rather painful sometimes to have to face up to the mess that's spilling out of our cups, but the sooner we face it, confess it, and ask God to change us, the better equipped we'll be to let God fill our cups with Himself, so that when we spill over, people see the likeness of Christ in us.

Often we use the expression "My cup overflows" when we feel particularly blessed and happy. Well, that's the way it should be–our cup should overflow with good things. But not just when the circumstances are good. Even in the tough times, even when we don't feel like it, even when we can't see what God is doing, even when we are plagued with discouragement or doubts–even then in the midst of the trouble, our cups should overflow with God's goodness.

Yet what is usually true of us? Generally when things are not going good, our cups overflow with complaining, with criticism, with giving up, with negativism. Why? Because we allow circumstances to determine what's in our cup. We are more controlled by the circumstances than we are our trust in God.

Does you cup overflow with good things only when things are going your way? Or does it overflow with God's goodness to you even in the midst of trouble?

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Mercy Me (Easter) Bring the rain

Bring You Glory

Mercy Me "Bring the Rain" Lyrics

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

Democracy

I am a democrat [believer in democracy] because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true. . . . I find that they're not true without looking further than myself. I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost. Much less a nation. . . . The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters. ("Equality," in C. S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces, ed. by Lesley Walmsley [London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000,] p. 666)

Quoted in John Piper, What John Piper Said in Washington, D.C.

Maintaining Your Freedom

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 4

MAINTAINING YOUR FREEDOM

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

The Revolutionary War was a hard-fought battle, and many lives were lost in order to ensure the freedom of our country. There is always a price to pay for freedom, and the moment we take our freedom for granted, we run the risk of losing it.

Freedom in Christ from our sinful nature and the god of this world is the inheritance of every believer. Christ has set you free through His victory over sin and death on the cross. But if you have lost a measure of your freedom because you have failed to stand firm in the faith or you have disobeyed God, it is your responsibility to do whatever is necessary to maintain a right relationship with God. Your eternal destiny is not at stake; you are secure in Christ. But your daily victory in Him will be tenuous at best if you fail to assume your responsibility to maintain your freedom in Christ.

Remember: you are not the helpless victim of a tug-of-war between two nearly equal heavenly superpowers. Compared to Satan's limited attributes, God is immeasurable in His omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience — and you are united with Him! Sometimes the reality of sin and the presence of evil may seem more real than the reality and presence of God, but that's part of Satan's deception. He is a defeated foe, and we are in Christ, the eternal Victor. That's why we worship God: to keep His divine attributes constantly before us in order to counter Satan's lies. A true knowledge of God and our identity in Christ is the greatest determinant of our mental health. A false concept of God and the misplaced deification of Satan are the greatest contributors to mental illness.

Are you walking in freedom today?

I praise You, Lord, for the awesome freedom I enjoy in Christ. Strengthen my will so I may choose to walk in freedom daily.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Believing Is a Gift

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake

Philippians 1:29

Exchanging Love of Comfort for Love of Goodness and Justice

Excerpt from John Piper, "The Poor of the Land and the Pride of Jacob"

Now there are only a few branches that spring up out of the trunk of God's wrath, only a few calls to repentance. One we saw in 5:6 [Amos], "Seek the Lord and live." So there is hope for the converted. But 5:14, 15 make it clear that conversion is more than just changing your mind about God. It means exchanging love of comfort for love of goodness and justice. Amos says,
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

O, to have a church full of people who don't care if they live in comfort, but who hate evil, love good, and who devote themselves to establish justice in the gate! People who feel grief and indignation not just when their right to get rich is threatened, but also when children die of starvation and anyone dies without salvation.

What does it mean to have justice established in the gate? I don't think it means to have a society without distinctions, but a society without oppression. No more exploitation; no more small print in the contracts; no more price-manipulating monopolies; no more Marie Antoinettes who say of the poor, "Let them eat cake." And no more Robin Hoods who steal from the rich. No more central socialist committees who hold a gun to your head and tell you how much of yours is really your neighbor's, and no more fat capitalistic cats who walk by Lazarus every day on their way to work off their latest five pounds of wine on the silver running machine. No more false advertising; no more slipshod workmanship at $30 an hour. When every wage is fair, every contract is plain, every agreement is kept, and everyone strives for the advancement of his fellow man and not just his own—and all to the glory of God, then justice will be established in the gate.

And how shall we do it? By striving to produce men and women whose hearts are aflame with the righteousness of God. And by struggling together to know what elements of righteousness should be enacted into civil law. When a slumlord gouges a Laotian family with exorbitant rent in the Phillips neighborhood, it is not necessarily because of bad laws; it's because of a bad man. Therefore, we must guard ourselves against the naïve idea that those who work for rent control at city hall are necessarily working harder to establish justice than those who work to convert evil men so that their hearts and business practices will ring with the righteousness of Christ.

If America stays free—which, by the way, is not the main goal of the church but, I pray, a happy byproduct—if America stays free, it will not be because Christian right-wingers push through a prayer amendment, or because Christian left-wingers push through bigger government subsidies for housing and health and jobs. It will be because the salt of the earth and the light of the world have exerted such a profound spiritual effect on the heart and soul of the nation that men and women feel pangs of conscience when contracts are broken, and refugees are gouged, and prices are inflated, and workmanship is shabby, and babies are intentionally aborted. Constraining civil laws are necessary in a fallen world. But if violations of love are not treated at the spiritual spring, then the river of evil that flows out of man's heart will break through every legal dam and sweep the world away with injustice. One group on earth has this potential and this mission—the Church of Jesus Christ. If we are not wholeheartedly engaged in this indispensable spiritual work, no one else will do it, for no one else has the message of redemption. And justice will most assuredly, then, not be established in the gate. And then, who will stand when the Lord roars from Zion?

When Your Cup Spills Over

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - When Your Cup Runs Over, What Spills Over?


Have you had your cup jostled lately? I've discovered that I learn a lot about myself when things go wrong and my cup gets bumped, because what's inside comes spilling out, and sometimes it's not that pleasant.

If you're like me, your job and the people you work with are great places to get bumped and jostled. I well remember a job situation that caused my cup to spill over. It was dealing with a very difficult boss, who managed through humiliation and intimidation. At first I had great difficulty with this person, and when God challenged me to take a serious look at what came spilling out of my cup because of this difficult relationship, I wasn't too pleased.

Selfishness was the first thing I saw come running over the sides. I realized that my thought patterns had been centered on such sentiments as "I can't take this anymore," or "This is not fair to me," and "I've worked too hard to get where I am to have to put up with this kind of treatment."

Unfair and unkind treatment will come our way from time to time, and that kind of treatment really reveals the self-centeredness that's inside of us.

This unpleasant job environment caused another thing to come spilling out of my jostled cup: I had to admit a severe lack of patience. Patience is not one of my strong points, but it is one of the fruits of the Spirit that I should exhibit. So here again, I had to confess that a whole lot of impatience was spilling out of my cup.

In Psalm 103:8 we read that our God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. When I began to compare my behavior with God's behavior toward me, I had no choice but to repent of my own lack of tolerance, and ask God to give me His graciousness and kindness.

Another thing this stressful situation caused to spill out of my cup was malice. Isn't that an awful word? Malice is the desire to see others suffer. And I saw that I had a heart full of malice toward the person causing me the difficulty.

And along with malice, we usually have slander, because as soon as we express those malicious thoughts, we have become guilty of slander.

It wasn't pleasant to see what came running over the sides of my cup in that situation. But it caused me to get serious about cleaning up my cup. And with prayer and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, changes started to take place.Watch yourself. If your cup is jostled, take note of what spills out.

Your Unique Role

Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional

July 3

YOUR UNIQUE ROLE

We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

God has a unique place of ministry for each of us. It is important to your sense of fulfillment that you realize exactly where that place is. The key is to discover the roles you occupy in which you cannot be replaced, and then decide to be what God wants you to be in those roles.

For example, of the five billion people in the world, you are the only one who occupies your unique role as husband, father, wife, mother, parent, or child in your home. God has specially planted you to serve Him by serving your family and the community where you live.

"I don't understand women who are looking for fulfillment in the world in some meaningless job," said a mother of five children. "What could be more challenging and meaningful than raising five godly children and managing a Christian home?" I agree. Assuming the responsibility of our primary roles is too challenging for some, but it is the only path of fulfillment. You will never be fulfilled trying to become something you're not.

You occupy a unique role as an ambassador for Christ where you work and live. These are your mission fields and you are the worker God has appointed for the harvest there. Your greatest fulfillment will come from accepting and occupying God's unique place for you to the best of your ability. Sadly, so many miss their calling in life by looking for fulfillment in the world. Find your fulfillment in the kingdom of God by deciding to be an ambassador for Christ in the world. Paul said, "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5).

Lord, keep me sensitive to the ministry You have for me in the ordinary places of my daily life.

Copyright © 2006 Freedom in Christ
All Rights Reserved
Taken from Daily in Christ by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson