Video Bible Lesson - 5 Lessons from the Story of Noah that We Still Need Today By Bobbie Schaeperkoetter

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

7/31/2020

5 Lessons from the Story of Noah that We Still Need Today

By Bobbie Schaeperkoetter

If you aren’t convinced that God’s word still matters to you in your life today, let’s go straight back to one of the oldest accounts in the Bible, the story of Noah and the ark, and see if it’s truths stand the test of time. You are going to be shocked at how the living, breathing Word of God can speak into your life today.1. We can grieve the heart of God with our sin.God is a good Father and He loves His children. Just like any good Father, our disobedience and sin grieve the heart of our Heavenly Father. In Noah’s days, the people were so sinful that God’s heart was deeply grieved. God was grieved by sin then and He’s grieved by our sin now. He can’t just ignore it because He is a holy and righteous God.“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” Genesis 6:5-62. God always provides a way for us to begin again with Him.God must judge sin but he is also merciful, loving, and full of grace. He will never leave us without a way to come back to Him. God wants a relationship with us and is always willing to go above and beyond to provide a way for that. Even throughout deep sin and a worldwide flood, God provided a way for Noah and his family salvation by shutting them in the ark.He is willing to do the same for you today. It’s never too late for new beginnings because God will always provide a way.“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark…Then the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:11-13,16b3. We will not always understand God and His ways, but we can trust Him.Noah must have wondered if God’s plan was best because, after all, a worldwide flood seems very harsh. However, God had an eternal plan in mind. He knew the sinful state of the world was self-destructive and loved the world enough to intervene.His plan ultimately provided a way for you and me to come to salvation. God sees the bigger picture, so we must trust Him even when we don’t understand His ways.In Isaiah 55:8-9 we are reminded that God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”4. We can obey God even if the world thinks we are crazy.Speaking of things that are hard to understand, Noah must have faced lots of opposition. People must have been unkind and laughed as he built a massive ark when it had never rained like God told Noah that it would. Yet, Noah obeyed and held fast to what he knew was right, and God rewarded his obedience.Sometimes obeying God means believing and doing things that the world won’t understand, but we know that God honors our obedience to him.“And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.” Genesis 7:5,75. All things are possible with God.As Christians, we believe that the Bible is 100 percent true, and that means that we believe in a flood that covered the whole earth. We believe in a God that warned, instructed, and protected Noah and his family and loved creation enough to send animals into the ark to protect them.God is able to do far above what we know, expect, and even understand. That was true of Him then and it’s still true of Him today. He did it in Noah’s situation and He can do it in yours.As if there weren’t proof enough, Ephesians 3:20-21 reminds us of that truth. It says that He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert

David cared for them with pure motives; he led them with skill.  Ps 78:72

When you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one…Meanwhile keep on as you are, and consider the absence of indication to be the indication of God’s will that you are on His track…As you go down the long corridor, you will find that He has preceded you, and locked many doors which you would fain have entered; but be sure that beyond these there is one which He has left unlocked. Open it and enter, and you will find yourself face to face with a bend of the river of opportunity, broader and deeper than anything you had dared to imagine in your sunniest dreams. Launch forth upon it; it conducts to the open sea.

God guides us, often by circumstances. At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked; and then shortly afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others, but which to the keen eye of faith speaks volumes. Sometimes these things are repeated in various ways, in answer to prayer. They are not haphazard results of chance, but the opening up of circumstances in the direction in which we would walk. And they begin to multiply as we advance toward our goal, just as the lights do as we near a populous town, when darting through the land by night express.
—F. B. Meyer

If you go to Him to be guided, He will guide you; but He will not comfort your distrust or half-trust of Him by showing you the chart of all His purposes concerning you. He will show you only into a way where, if you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, He will show you on still farther.
—Horace Bushnell

As moves my fragile bark across the storm-swept sea,
Great waves beat o’er her side, as north wind blows;
Deep in the darkness hid lie threat’ning rocks and shoals;
But all of these, and more, my Pilot knows.

Sometimes when dark the night, and every light gone out,
I wonder to what port my frail ship goes;
Still though the night be long, and restless all my hours,
My distant goal, I’m sure, my Pilot knows.

—Thomas Curtis Clark

Failing to Listen to God.....Dr. Charles Stanley

Failing to Listen to God

Dr. Charles Stanley

Genesis 3

Listening to God is not a onetime event. We must continually keep His Word before us, or we'll begin to listen to the wrong voices.

In Genesis 2:16-17, the Lord gave a command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve began to listen to another voice and did not hold firmly to her Creator's words. All that Satan had to do was plant a single doubt about God's integrity and offer Eve one appealing advantage of doing things her own way—and she fell for it. He mentioned wisdom, but using her own reasoning, Eve added two more benefits to the temptation: the fruit is good for food and a delight to the eyes.

The schemes of the Enemy have not changed. He still whispers lies and twists truth to convince us that a) God cannot be trusted and b) His ways are not the best. In every temptation, there is a deception about the character and motive of God, plus an attractive promise of a better way.

The world is filled with voices that vie for our attention and influence our thoughts and actions. Throughout the day, consider the messages that are sent your way through the media and people. Consciously begin to compare them to what Scripture says about God and His ways.

Remembering what God says in the Bible is our safeguard against deception and temptation. Daily devotions won't protect us if they're quickly forgotten during the day. Follow Christ's example: be ready with truth in your mind and on your tongue whenever temptation strikes (Matt. 4:1-11).

The Gift of Our Weakness..... ALEXANDRA HOOVER

The Gift of Our Weakness
ALEXANDRA HOOVER

But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (CSB)

There have been times in my life where I sat on the floor asking God for just a sliver more of strength to press on. Those moments have a way of reminding me I have come to the end of my strength, my will and my power.

Recently, the Lord used one of those on-the-floor moments to breathe life over my weak and weary soul. I was coming out of a challenging season. Our family had endured many trials in the last year, putting an emphasis on wounds that were still healing.

I was finally starting to find my footing when everything changed. We were all overwhelmed with a pandemic, grief, loss, tension and confusion.

On the floor, I silently prayed, How on earth am I supposed to keep pressing in, Father? My heart is so tired, my mind weary, and everything feels so tender.

I felt empty, tired and lost. The strength and power in me felt futile when trying to serve my family, job and friendships — all while tending to my own soul. Maybe you’ve felt the same, friend.

As I wrestled with the Father that day, I sensed an urgency to look at my belief system. How did I conclude I had to carry this on my own? Why was my soul almost bitter toward God, as if He’d withheld some sort of help from me?

Had I made an idol out of my strength and resilience? Had my pride become the foundation for what I thought my soul could carry?

The answer was yes.

I was believing the lie that in and of myself, I was strong enough to take on the hardships of life. Weakness was not welcome here.

God whispered words of hope to me there on the floor: Daughter, you are a broken vessel, made whole in Me. You are broken open to spill the power, hope and love of Christ into the lives of others. You were created to be an image-bearer of My glory. It is Me in you and through you. I am the source.

God was not withholding His power from me. He is an ever-present help! But I wanted Him to give me the power so I could do it on my own. All the while, He wanted to do it through me.

God’s desire has always been for His family to be a people who reflect His power and love. We were not created to be the source of strength. We were created to worship Him as our source of strength. All the power to overcome, press into life, love and experience abundance — it comes from the Father. Which means all the glory goes to Him too.

Our weakness is an opportunity for life, renewal and dependency to take place. For us to grab hold of the presence, peace and power offered to us by the Father. As God says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” And Paul responds, “Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.”

In our flesh, we cannot find the wherewithal to muster up the strength, will or courage to press on. When those things do manifest themselves through us, they are supernatural gifts from the Father, showing the world the victory and power of Christ in us.

Friends, God will use situations to remind us He is the source of our strength, power, joy and hope. Our role is to partner with Him in it — confessing we are not the source or enough — but that He is.

So, we boast. We boast about our good God who graciously offers us His grace. We rejoice in our weakness, as God meets us right where we are to gift us His strength and power. Our weakness is a gift because it’s where His power is made perfect. In His presence, we find His power. His presence and power reside in me and in you.

Father, thank You that in You, we find and have all the power and strength we need. Help us to remember we are not the source, but You are — that in Your presence, we find Your power. We love You and thank You for Your sustaining grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Isaiah 40:29, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (NIV)

Go Ahead. Shine..... by John UpChurch

Go Ahead. Shine.
by John UpChurch

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life" - Philippians 2:14-16

The quick-burning desire to be an astronomer came during year three of my college experience. That was after philosopher, writer (the first time), and English professor, but before anthropologist, high school teacher, and writer (the second time). You can’t blame a guy for wanting to wring every cent out of his scholarships.

So, in year three, I became convinced that I would study space because… well… because I loved planets and stuff. With the same gusto that had carried me through my philosophy phase, I charged into star charts and calculated orbits with fury and fine-tipped lead pencils. I pored over research on black holes and quasars and stared intently into the night sky trying to figure out how in the world someone could think that a certain cluster of stars could look anything like a person or a goat or whatever.

Then, reality hit in the way of astrophysics. The funny thing about studying the stars is that you have to be able to calculate distances, luminosity, parallaxes, and more fancy terms. I could crunch equations just fine, but that doesn’t mean I found it more satisfying than, say, ripping off a bandage from my legs.

Before I came to know Christ, all that nadir gazing did produce one substantial result in me: deep, deep emptiness. You can’t help but feel how small you are when you peer into the infinite-seeming inkiness of space. The more you see how incomprehensibly expansive everything really is, the more you feel speck-like in the cosmic order. The weight of eternity came crushing in on me.

And in that darkness, I needed light. This “crooked and depraved” man groped about for anything that would shine, some embers of hope. Not finding them in philosophy or books or even astronomy, the pressure just got worse. I kept feeling my way through the darkness into whatever classes the university offered, but through each of my potential career paths, I found nothing that could illuminate the road around me.

Of course, I wouldn’t have put it in those terms back then. At that point, I just knew something was messed up, and I couldn’t figure out what. I needed the “word of life.” But I didn’t know I needed it, and I didn’t know where to find it.

Intersecting Faith & Life: That’s where we come in as Christians. People like the old me don't always even know what gnaws at them. Some have so subverted the pain that it plays out in pursuits of passion: They mute it with noise, clutter, medicine, or flesh. They prefer to find ways to ignore the crushing weight.

And then they see the stars. At least, they should see the stars. I don't necessarily mean the stars in the night, since city lights drown them out for most of us nowadays. I mean, they need to see the stars around them who shine through their Jesus-emulating behavior. That light has the power to both expose their blindness and help them see.

So, shine. People like the old me are counting on it.

For Further Reading
Philippians 2
Matthew 5

The Corinthian Man-Creed..... by Shawn McEvoy

The Corinthian Man-Creed
by Shawn McEvoy

Today's verse hangs on a board on the wall of my son. But years ago, long before my son was even an inkling, I came across that verse as I was sending my own father one of many letters I composed over the years to share with him the importance of salvation, and the value of life in Christ. My sister, mother, and I came to know the Lord in 1980, but it took another 17 years, seven months, and 26 days worth of praying, heart softening, and brokenness for Dan McEvoy to surrender.

And it wasn’t this letter or the above verse that pushed him into it. No, this letter I was writing simply to tell him how blessed I was to have begun dating a woman (who eventually became my wife) for whom faith came first, and I was giving God all the glory and credit and all that good stuff, and probably telling him how God delights in blessing those who trust in Him.

With the letter I enclosed a quick-and-dirty page of graphic art involving the aforementioned verse from Corinthians in some fancy font, with a clip-art picture of a sailboat, kind of as a visual aid to my letter, indicating, I suppose, what it was like for the man of God to live in this world under the Captaincy of Christ.

Well, so. After he died in 2001, I found that letter and piece of "art" in my father’s desk, looking as if it had been read and glanced at often. Something in me knew then that if I were ever to have a son, I’d commit to raising him to manhood under these same five principles:

Be on your guard. Be ready, be alert. Expect God to be involved, expect Satan to attack. Let the wonder of creation still catch your eye.

Stand firm in faith. Be unmoved because you know intimately that of which you believe. Become biblically literate.

Be a man of courage. Fear is not from God (2 Timothy 1:7), so go your way boldly. The worst that can happen – even death – still ends in victory and glory for the Christian.

Be strong. Physically, yes, let's take care of ourselves, and present our bodies as holy. But remember that the Lord is the strength of the strong (Ephesians 6:10), and that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Do everything in love. Here's your motivation, because he that doesn't love doesn't know God (1 John 4:8), and the world shall know you by your love (John 13:35).

So when Jordan was born, and we had the dedication service at our church, that's the verse we selected to have read. When he was about two-and-a-half, he started reciting it by memory and making up arm/hand motions to go with it. We call it our "Man-Creed."

But here's the secret: these couple verses from the closing of Paul’s first letter to Corinth aren’t first-and-foremost for Jordan… they’re for me.

When I first realized that, it caught me, ironically enough, "off my guard." I had been more than happy to tell my own father how to "be a man," and was perfectly willing to raise my son to be one according to the Word. How, I wonder, did I intend to do so without living out the credo, making it my own?

The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible comments upon the 1 Corinthians passage thusly: "[Paul] shows that they ought to make their hopes of salvation to depend not on Apollos or any other teacher; that it rests with themselves." Yes, and on how I am willing to live, or better, whether I am willing to let my life be of greater worth than my words.

I don’t know about the other guys out there, but it definitely helps me to have something to live by, to recite, to write on my heart, ponder the meaning of, and connect to other scriptures as I strive to be a man after God’s own heart. And it doesn’t hurt that this creed I now try to follow is affecting its third generation in my family.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Allow me to recommend teaching your child – no matter how young – to recite Bible verses that reflect who they are and can be in Christ, and make it real in their lives. But while you’re doing it, "be on your guard." One of them may just become your own credo.

Video Bible Lesson - A Prayer to Pray against Sin You Can't Shake By Chara Donahue

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

7/30/2020

A Prayer to Pray against Sin You Can't Shake

By Chara DonahueBut he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9You have seen how it steals from your life. You have had others call you on it. You have half-heartedly tried to leave it behind but keep finding it lurking at every doorway. It is your favorite sin. Not that you love it, you may even despise it, but somehow you have yet to shake it. We sometimes settle for calling them vices, weaknesses, or flaws, but Christ has far more in mind for us than captivity. He desires freedom for His people, and giving life to the spiritually dead.The first step in escaping the tangles of sin is always looking first to the only one who has defeated sin and death out of his deep love for us, Jesus Christ. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 Sin continuously pulls down all of humanity with its corrosive ways, but those who have had its stain wiped from their hearts have the power to say “No”. The only way for that stain to be lifted is by seeking Christ as Savior, He clothes us in His righteousness and our filthy rags will be no more. When we begin seeking to walk in victory, we first must set our eyes on the one who is eternally victorious.Let’s pray to our Father now for the strength we need to shake the sin in our lives:Lord, I confess there is sin in my life I can’t shake. I’ve struggled silently for so along against it. I’ve dismissed it, justified it, tried to convince myself it isn’t as bad as I know it really is. Lord, I know Satan desires me to leave my sin in the dark. I confess it to you, and bring it to light.Lord, I need your strength to defeat this sin. I am thankful that your power is made perfect in my weakness. I don’t boast in my sin, but boast in you who works in my weakness to make me more like you. I know that I have the opportunity to glorify you by fighting against this sin in my life. Give me wisdom and perspective in the moment I am tempted to sin – help me in that moment see my sin as you see it, and not do the sin my heart longs to do.Oh Lord – who will save me from this body of death! Thanks be to God! Thank you Lord for rescuing me and saving me from my sinfulness. It is only in your grace that I am saved, and I am so thankful.In Your Name I pray, Amen!

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

Streams in the Desert 

A cup of cold water only  (Matthew 10:42).

What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man or animal let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.
--An Old Quaker Saying

It isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache
At the setting of the sun;
The tender word unspoken,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of your brother's way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time or thought for,
With troubles enough of your own.
These little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind,
These chances to be angels,
Which even mortals find
They come in night and silence,
Each chill reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a blight has dropped on faith.
For life is all too short, dear.
And sorrow is all too great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late.
And it's not the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache,
At the setting of the sun.--Adelaide Proctor

Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think.
--Longfellow

 

Defeating the Devil's Strategies.....Dr. Charles Stanley

Defeating the Devil's Strategies

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 21:15-19

All of us make tracks through the valley of failure. Then the key question is, What we will do next? Sadly, many believers who stumble give up a vibrant kingdom-serving life for a defeated existence. But failure can also be a chance for a new beginning of living in Christ's strength.

In pride, Peter thought his faith was the strongest of all the disciples' and swore that even if the others left Jesus, he never would (Mark 14:29). Yet when the time of testing came, he denied even knowing Christ--and did so three times (Matt. 26:69-75). Satan hoped the disciple would be so wounded by his own disloyalty that his faith would be undermined by shame, condemnation, and despair.

Likewise, when the Enemy sifts believers today, his goal is for us to become shelved and ineffective for God's kingdom. That's why he goes after our strengths, especially the areas in which we proudly consider ourselves invincible. But if we're willing, the Lord can use our failures to do spiritual housecleaning, as He did in Peter's life. After the resurrection, Jesus met with the disciple personally and restored him, preparing him to become a great leader in the early church. He made it clear that Peter's potential to serve was defined, not by failure, but by his unwavering love for Christ.

Peter laid down his pride, received the healing Jesus offered, and put on courage with the Holy Spirit's help. He then risked his life fearlessly to further the gospel, and many came to Christ through his example. Failure was the catalyst that grew in him a stronger, more authentic faith.

Familiar Faithfulness

Familiar Faithfulness 
NICKI KOZIARZ

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

If you’ve felt like this year has been uncomfortable and unfamiliar, you are not alone.

If you’ve wondered what God is doing in this season, you are not alone.

And if you’ve struggled to find anything that feels normal, you are not alone.

Lately, life has felt hard and ever-changing. There is a fear inside many of us as we wonder if life will ever feel normal again, and crave that which feels familiar.

I’ll be honest. The circumstances, pain, loss and disorder our world has experienced in recent months have left me feeling like it’s all exceeding the plan of God’s goodness.

But I know this isn’t true. And I’m sure you do, too. We often find ourselves (falsely) believing that what we see is what we should feel. So when we see darkness, we feel darkness. We see gloom, and we feel gloom. When we see hopelessness, we feel hopeless.

The book of Hebrews was written to be a source of encouragement for the Jews in Jerusalem who experienced persecution for their belief in God. Their faith had been flipped upside down, and nothing felt normal to them either.

They were craving God’s familiar faithfulness, and the writer of this verse was trying to remind them of this sacred place that never leaves us.

This is one of the many reasons I love the Word of God, because for every hard thing we will walk through on this earth, there’s someone who walked through it before us. As we study the Bible, we see the wisdom, encouragement and Truth which applies to us today.

And this is why we can declare Hebrews 10:23 for our lives right now: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Tucked in this verse is the promise of God’s familiar faithfulness — both then and today.

Seasons may come and go, but His familiar faithfulness remains. Life will twist and turn, but we can always see His familiar faithfulness if we decide to look for it. We will question and wonder, but our doubts don’t change His familiar faithfulness — they simply try to cover it up.

God cannot lie, He never changes His mind, He never forgets His Word, and He has never failed anyone with the fulfillment of His promises. Jesus’ death and resurrection never stop existing. It’s up to us to look for the familiar faithfulness of God in seasons that feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar and ever-changing.

Today, my news feeds will be filled with heartache, hard situations and heavy struggles in our world. It might make me question His faithfulness, but I will still find it through the pages of my Bible.

My friends will text, call and tell me they feel weary. I will feel it, too. But I can bring them into the presence of Jesus in prayer. There in that place is His familiar faithfulness.

There is a fresh wind of grace flowing into our lives today through the Holy Spirit. It’s not stale, old or even normal. But it is familiar. And as we worship, praise and declare His faithfulness over our lives, that wind will feel stronger and stronger.

Every day, let’s be expectant and hopeful there’s something new we will experience with God. Because we are the ones changing, shifting, growing, maturing and becoming more like Him each day.

I’ve got to be willing to admit my own shortcomings with these faith struggles. As I do, I can rise up and become a little stronger, knowing how much I need God.

Thankfully, the writer of Hebrews was willing to be vulnerable with us about how much we need to be reminded of God’s familiar faithfulness. The willingness to pen words that speak faith to our spirits today is something we can hold on to.

May we do the same for the people around us today. Jesus is worth all our trust and devotion to stir the familiar faithfulness of Him every chance we get.

Father, thank You for never changing. When life is painful and unsteady and I crave Your familiar faithfulness, may I turn to Your Word to remind myself of those who have walked with You in faith before me. And as I’m encouraged, please give me the confidence to remind others of Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” (RSV)

2 Corinthians 9:13, “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.” (NIV)

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity
by Katherine Britton

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” – 1 Chronicles 29:14

While I was in elementary school, family friends made the decision to leave the States for Kiev, Ukraine. This family of seven, including children my age, had to downgrade from a four-bedroom suburban home to an 800 square foot flat. That meant getting rid of a house full of clothes, toys, yard tools, furniture, dishes – a whole host of personal preferences and “needs.” Each family member had the luxury of one big trunk as they moved halfway around the world.

For this family, however, the joy of sharing the Gospel in a former USSR satellite nation outweighed all their possessions. My dad asked his friend how he was handling the sudden “loss.” His answer was telling.

“Actually,” the new missionary responded, “this is the most freeing thing I’ve ever done.”

This family found a special freedom far before I began to sniff it out. For me, this reorientation is coming slowly, helped along recently by a little book called The Treasure Principle. In it, Randy Alcorn uses a science metaphor to explain why our friends felt unshackled rather than empty. He writes:

It's a matter of basic physics. The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own—the greater their total mass the more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in.

Consider our materialism that way – the more stuff, the more mass. The more mass, the greater its gravitational pull. And the harder it is to escape.

Compare this to David’s exhilaration in 1 Chronicles. He is humbled not by how much God has blessed him with – but by how much God has allowed him to give away. The king of Israel, a center of the ancient world, found his joy not in the palaces and the women at his disposal, but in the act of returning to God was rightfully God’s. How many of us can say the same?

We live in a physical, material world. But we have the chance to defy its hold on us with every cent, toy, and “need” that comes our way. Are you ready?

Intersecting Faith & Life: I want to relearn the joy of giving in a more tangible way than ever before. As Alcorn puts it, “We give because He first gave to us” the most valuable gift of all. What ministries, families, or other kingdom cause is on your heart?

The Power of Prayer to Deliver You from Fear

The Power of Prayer to Deliver You from Fear
by Lynette Kittle

A few years back, our family of six attended an out-of-town conference, staying in a large hotel in the greater Los Angeles, California area. Like Ezra fasted and prayed before embarking on a journey, we fasted and prayed beforehand for safe travels and protection over our luggage (Ezra 8:21).

With a packed hotel busy with conference attendees and our room located directly across from the elevator, it was an active area with people coming and going 24/7. Because it was such a high traffic location, I asked my husband and daughters to make sure to put items away in their suitcases each day before leaving for the conference. Besides not wanting items to get lost or broken in the cleaning process, I didn't want us to leave anything out that might tempt an employee or guest passing by to be dishonest.

Needless to say, after attending conference events all week long, along with traveling back and forth between the hotel and conference location, we were tired and dragging between the numerous sessions.

Rushing to leave our room on the final night of meetings, I found myself the last one out of our room. Later on in the evening while settling into my seat to listen to the speaker, a thought briefly crossed through my mind. Did I close the hotel door completely on my way out? Trying to go over my steps and actions in leaving the room, it wasn’t clear in my mind.

As fearful thought started to invade my mind, I resisted the urge to let my imagination run wild with possible scenarios of an open room full of open suitcases. In the midst of my processing, Psalm 119:114 calmed my anxious thoughts by reminding me that God is our refuge and shield.

So rather than let my thoughts run away with worry, I let God’s word assure me our possessions were under His watchful eye.

Realizing it was too late at that point to do anything about it, I was comforted in remembering how we had prayed at the beginning of our stay specifically for protection of our suitcases.

Like Psalm 34:4 states, “I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”

God delivered me so much so from all my fears that by the time we returned to the hotel later that night, I had completely forgotten about my earlier concerns. As we stepped off the elevator, all six of us stopped in our tracks in seeing our hotel room door unlocked and standing wide-open.

Walking into the room it looked like every piece of luggage had been left unlocked and on-display throughout our room. For the four-plus hours we had been away, our possessions had been spread across an open hotel room and in full view of a busy hotel elevator. Yet it looked like everything was still there exactly the way we left it.

A Prayer to Remind Us God Works for Our Good

A Prayer to Remind Us God Works for Our GoodBy Lori Hatcher

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”(Romans 8:28)

This Scripture brings comfort, direction, and hope to Christians every day. Sadly, it’s also one of the most misquoted and misunderstood verses in the Bible.

I’d like to share three things about this popular verse you may never have noticed.

First, Romans 8:28 doesn’t mean we can live any way we choose, and God will fix our messes.

To understand the truth of Romans 8:28, we can’t just quote the part of the verse we like: “And we know that in all things God works for the good...” and skip the rest, “of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

This verse says to those who love God and are doing their best to obey his commands, “Even though bad/sad/evil/wicked things will touch your life, I (God) will use them to ultimately bring about good, both in your life and in the world.”

Second, Romans 8:28 tells us God can use all things together for good. He doesn’t say all things are good.

No matter how rose-colored our glasses are, there’s nothing good about cancer, sex trafficking, or death. Until Jesus returns and conquers Satan once and for all, sin will continue to drag its poisonous tentacles across our world, damaging and destroying everything in its wake.

The truth of Romans 8:28 reminds us that although sin and Satan are powerful, God is more powerful; He is able to redeem and restore anything for our good and his glory. All things may not be good, but God can and will use all things for good.

The final thing you may never have noticed about Romans 8:28 and its accompanying verse, Romans 8:29 is the ultimate good God wants to accomplish in the lives of his children:

“For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (v. 29).

A wise Bible teacher once told me, “God allows everything into our lives for one of two purposes—either to bring us into a relationship with himself or, if we already know him, to make us more like his Son.”

As long as we live in this world, people will attempt to reconcile God’s sovereignty with humanity’s suffering. Verses like Romans 8:28 assure us that no suffering is wasted, and God is always at work for our good and his glory. When we cannot comprehend why trials come and struggle to imagine that anything good can come from them, we can rest in the security that God is in control.

Please pray with me:

Father, sometimes I can’t understand how you can bring beauty from the ashes of my life. I struggle to trust you with the broken pieces. You say in your Word that without faith it is impossible to please you, and I want to please you. I want to trust you. I want you to make me more like Jesus and use my trials for my good and your glory. Help me believe the promise of Romans 8:28. In the strong name of Jesus I ask, Amen.