Video Bible Lesson - The Living God by George Mueller

The Living God

by George Mueller

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

1/24/2020

01/24/2020

The Living God

O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee? (Daniel 6:20).
How many times we find this expression in the Scriptures, and yet it is just this very thing that we are so prone to lose sight of. We know it is written "the living God"; but in our daily life there is scarcely anything we practically so much lose sight of as the fact that God is the living God; that He is now whatever He was three or four thousand years since; that He has the same sovereign power, the same saving love towards those who love and serve Him as ever He had and that He will do for them now what He did for others two, three, four thousand years ago, simply because He is the living God, the unchanging One. Oh, how therefore we should confide in Him, and in our darkest moments never lose sight of the fact that He is still and ever will be the living God!
Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you. An older brother who has known the Lord for forty-four years, who writes this, says to you for your encouragement that He has never failed him. In the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust Him He has always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of His name.
--George Mueller

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

God Knows

God Knows

But the dove found no rest for or the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him... And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf (Genesis 8:9-11).

God knows just when to withhold from us any visible sign of encouragement, and when to grant us such a sign. How good it is that we may trust Him anyway! When all visible evidences that He is remembering us are withheld, that is best; He wants us to realize that His Word, His promise of remembrance, is more substantial and dependable than any evidence of our senses. When He sends the visible evidence, that is well also; we appreciate it all the more after we have trusted Him without it. Those who are readiest to trust God without other evidence than His Word always receive the greatest number of visible evidences of His love.
--C. G. Trumbull

Believing Him; if storm-clouds gather darkly 'round,
And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall.
And praising Him; when sorrow, grief, and pain are near,
And even when we lose the thing that seems most dear?
Our loss is gain. Praise Him; in Him we have our All.
Our hand in His; e'en though the path seems long and drear
We scarcely see a step ahead, and almost fear?
He guides aright. He has it thus to keep us near.
And satisfied; when every path is blocked and bare,
And worldly things are gone and dead which were so fair?
Believe and rest and trust in Him, He comes to stay.

Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is registered, and underneath it the words: "My time is not yet come." God has a set time as well as a set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our habitation orders also the time of our deliverance.

From Alienation to Reconciliation 🙏🙏

From Alienation to Reconciliation

Dr. Charles Stanley

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Separation, rejection, and alienation are unpleasant experiences that we usually try to avoid at all costs. But we live in a fallen world, so we cannot totally escape them.

Isolation from other people is bad enough, but what's worse is that many individuals live apart from the heavenly Father. How tragic and futile life must be when it is spent completely detached from its Creator. God planted within each of us a desire to be in relationship with Him, so until we find our connection to Him, we will always feel that something is missing.

And yet as crucial as that relationship is to our well-being, something stands in its way: Whether by our thoughts or actions, we have all violated the Lord's commands (Rom. 3:23), and our pure, holy God cannot be in the presence of sin. Romans 6:23 states that the penalty for sin is death, which is an eternal separation from the Lord. Therefore, we will always have a void.

What a bleak outlook for mankind! But our loving Father solved the dilemma by sending His Son to pay our penalty. Fully God and fully man, Jesus lived the perfect life, took all our iniquity upon Himself, and died a gruesome death on the cross. No longer are we condemned for our wrongs, because Christ took our place. And three days later, He victoriously rose to life.

Salvation is available to anyone who believes and receives this remarkable gift. John 3:16 describes how reconciliation puts an end to our alienation: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

The Wrong Way to be Right 🙏

The Wrong Way to be Right
KELLY BARBREY

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:10 (NRSV)

I like to be right. Who doesn’t?

But I’d also like to think I’m able to admit when I’m wrong. It’s pretty simple to admit the little mistakes, apologize and ask forgiveness. Maybe I accidentally tossed my husband’s hang-up shirt in the dryer. Or maybe I missed a clear-cut deadline at work. I can admit being wrong then.

But what about the times when I’m really, really right?

The beyond the shadow of a doubt kind of right. The “How in the world can you not see my point?” kind of right. The kind of right where you want to go and rally everyone you know and get them to confirm just how right you are, so your righteousness is validated. What about those times?

When I’m absolutely, positively sure I’m right, it’s my job to dig in my heels and stand my ground. Right?

There’s a particular situation I’ve been walking through (and praying about daily) for quite some time. It’s one of those situations where I just know I’m right. I was praying about this situation as usual one morning, pouring out my heart. Asking for clarity. Asking for resolution. But then I did something I don’t always do. Taking my pastor’s suggestion after pouring out my heart in prayer, I sat silently and listened for that still small voice.

The verse that resonated in my head in those quiet moments was not the verse I had expected.

It was the words of James 4:10, which says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” This was not necessarily the advice I had prepared myself to hear. But it made sense.

So much time had been spent digging in my heels and rallying my troops that I’d been anything but humble. I let the words sink in, reading them in context. It comforted me to understand James writes from a place of everyday life with Jesus, to people dealing with everyday conflicts and interpersonal struggles. I had been prideful. And puffed-up pride has no place as an ingredient in a recipe for resolution.

I’m still dealing with this particular situation, and I’m still wrapping my mind around the application of this verse in the context of my struggle, but in humbling myself before God, I know He will work out all things for good in due time (Romans 8:28).

Dear heavenly Father, help me to kneel before You and lay my struggles at Your feet. Give me the clarity and humility to see that interpersonal situations are not one-sided. Give me compassion to understand the viewpoints of others, and give me the capacity and energy to work through conflict in a way that is pleasing to You. In Jesus’ Name Amen. 

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Philippians 2:3-5, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (NRSV)

Proverbs 16:18-20, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit among the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Those who are attentive to a matter will prosper, and happy are those who trust in the LORD.” (NRSV)

Working Forgotten Muscles

Working Forgotten Muscles
by Katherine Britton

"Rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." - 1 Timothy 4:7b-8

Strength. Consistency. Goals.

The discipline of running a race means waking up muscles I forgot I had and teaching them a little more every day. Without those practices, I'll be hobbling across the finish line with the last of the stragglers.

It's too easy to kid ourselves that taking the stairs here, walking a little further there, doing a few crunches or pushups one day a month is real exercise. Sure, it's better than nothing, but where's the discipline? Short answer: nonexistent. We wake up our muscles just long enough for them to grumble at us and go back to sleep.

Likewise, I can deceive myself about spiritual disciplines. They require every bit as much training, consistency, and sense of purpose. What good does it do me to pray for five minutes before bed, really? If I want to learn to better speak with God, then I need to do some more praying, more training, trying out the deep prayers of the Bible. Then, maybe I would better understand what a habit of prayer looks like. Do I want to be more generous? More loving? More patient? We've got to do more than let our spiritual muscles wake up and fall asleep again.

In his book, "Disciplines of Grace," T.M. Moore notes that real spiritual training is marked by a transformation of our souls. He writes:

"Disciplines that do not produce growth are not disciplines at all. Rather, they have become mere routines, done to satisfy some sense of "oughtness" or duty but with little sanctifying effect. God has given us the disciplines of grace so that, as we are exposed to his glory from one encounter to the next, we will be progressively transformed into the very image of Jesus Christ, and, being transformed, nothing and no one we encounter will remain the same."

Intersecting Faith & Life: Why do you work out your spiritual muscles? To say that you "exercised" and did your part for the day? Or do you have a purpose in mind for your training - to finish more like Christ than you started?

Making the Most of Your Mouth

Making the Most of Your Mouth
by Lynette Kittle

“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them”—Matthew 15:11

In the current culture, it seems what goes into the mouth is given much more thought and priority than what comes out of it.

Even Jesus and His disciples discussed which is more important. As Mark 7:18 describes, “Are you so dull?’ He asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?’”

Sadly in today’s setting much more focus and importance is put into what types of food goes into a mouth, while what comes out of it seems to be given very little thought.

Yet Jesus took great care to explain why what goes into the body through the mouth, is not as important as what comes out of it. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?” (Matthew 15:17)

Continuing His dialogue with them on the topic, Jesus had more to say about it, “He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them’” (Mark 7:20).

Current culture seems to foster hateful, hurtful, and careless words designed to humiliate and destroy others, and supports the sharing of it through public and social media for the whole world to hear or read.

Yet how many people might think twice about what they are writing or saying if they understood their words are defiling themselves?

If individuals truly understood how their words towards others are actually revealing more about their own heart, along with causing much harm personally, they might reconsider the things they say and write.

Luke 6:45 explains how “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

If you’ve been tempted to jump onto the social media insult wagon, consider your words as Ephesians 5:31 urges, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

Instead of lashing out with your words, Colossians 3:8 encourages, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

Ask God to, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

When you do, Scripture assures, “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin” (Proverbs 13:3).

A Prayer to Put on the Armor of God

A Prayer to Put on the Armor of God
 By Debbie McDaniel

“Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you.” (Deut. 3:22)

We may forget at times but one thing is true - this world is a battlefield. Day by day, hour by hour, we face a spiritual war and an enemy who’s real. He wants nothing more than to bring defeat, for his main aim is to steal, kill, and destroy.

God has a plan for our lives. The enemy has a plan for us too. We just have to decide which voice we’re going to listen to, and who we're going to choose to follow each day. And chances are, if we don't make a determined choice to follow God, we may eventually fall into the evil one’s trap.

God has given us his Word and Spirit, powerful and true, so we'll have the wisdom and protection to stand against the enemy. We focus today on putting on His armor, staying alert, and praying that God will equip believers everywhere to "stand strong."

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Eph. 6:10-18)

Pray with me: 

Dear God, today we put on the full armor to guard our lives against attack. We put on the belt of truth to protect against lies and deception. We put on the breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts from the temptations we battle. We put the gospel of peace on our feet, so we’re ready to take your light wherever you send us this day. We choose to walk in the peace and freedom of your Spirit and not be overcome with fear and anxious thoughts. We take up your shield of faith that will extinguish all the darts and threats hurled our way by the enemy. We believe in your power to protect us and choose to trust in you. We put on the helmet of salvation, which covers our minds and thoughts, reminding us we are children of the day, forgiven, set free, saved by the grace of Christ Jesus. We take up the sword of the Spirit, your very Word, the one offensive weapon given to us for battle, which has the power to demolish strongholds, alive, active, and sharper than any double-edged sword.

We ask for your help in remembering to put on your full armor every day, for you give us all that we need to stand firm in this world. Forgive us God for the times we’ve been unprepared, too busy to care, or trying to fight and wrestle in our own strength.

Thank you that we never fight alone, for you are constantly at work on our behalf, shielding, protecting, strengthening, exposing deeds of darkness, bringing to light what needs to be known, covering us from the cruel attacks we face even when we’re unaware. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.