Video Bible Lesson - God's Grand Plan by Dr. Charles Stanley

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

4/2/2020

God's Grand Plan

Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
It's amazing but true that God's grand plan for your life is far greater than you can imagine. In fact, this earth-bound existence has us so preoccupied with the demands of life that most of us give little thought to what it will mean to be completely sanctified.
In the Christian life, sanctification is a three-stage process. At the moment of salvation, God sets us apart for Himself. Then throughout the rest of our earthly life, He works to transform us into the image of His Son. One day, however, there will be a glorious culmination to our sanctification. Presently, we all struggle with sin, but when we die, our spirits and souls will ascend to heaven and be completely sinless. Then we'll see our Savior face to face and experience unimaginable joy. No longer will we struggle with the pride of life or the lusts of the flesh and the eyes (1 John 2:16).
However, as great as this will be, it's not yet the final step. Some day in the future, Jesus will descend from heaven, bringing with Him the souls of those who have died in Christ. They will be united with their resurrected bodies, and believers who are still alive on the earth will be changed (1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). Then sanctification will be complete--spirit, soul, and body.
This is not a fairy tale, but the believer appointed destiny. God Himself promises to bring it to pass. We'll walk in His presence, spotless and without blame, for all eternity. Knowing this, how will you live today? The promise of salvation isn’t meant just to give hope, but to spur us on to holy living.

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

Streams in the Desert.....🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Streams in the Desert

They looked… and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud" (Exod. 16:10).

Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud and when you have found it, continue to look at it, rather than at the leaden gray in the middle.

Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be. A discouraged soul is helpless. He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others.

Flee from every symptom of this deadly foe as you would flee from a viper. And be not slow in turning your back on it, unless you want to bite the dust in bitter defeat.

Search out God's promises and say aloud of each one: "This promise is mine." If you still experience a feeling of doubt and discouragement, pour out your heart to God and ask Him to rebuke the adversary who is so mercilessly nagging you.

The very instant you whole-heartedly turn away from every symptom of distrust and discouragement, the blessed Holy Spirit will quicken your faith and inbreathe Divine strength into your soul.

At first you may not be conscious of this, still as you resolutely and uncompromisingly "snub" every tendency toward doubt and depression that assails you, you will soon be made aware that the powers of darkness are falling back.

Oh, if our eyes could only behold the solid phalanx of strength, of power, that is ever behind every turning away from the hosts of darkness, God-ward, what scant heed would be given to the effort of the wily foe to distress, depress, discourage us!

All the marvelous attributes of the Godhead are on the side of the weakest believer, who in the name of Christ, and in simple, childlike trust, yields himself to God and turns to Him for help and guidance.  --Selected

On a day in the autumn, I saw a prairie eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. His eye still gleamed like a circle of light. Then he slowly turned his head, and gave one more searching and longing look at the sky. He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle's domain. A thousand times he had exploited there his splendid strength. In those far away heights be had played with the lightnings, and raced with the winds, and now, so far away from home, the eagle lay dying, done to the death, because for once be forgot and flew too low. The soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must not lose the skyward look. We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. We would better creep away from the battlefield at once if we are not going to be brave. There is no time for the soul to stampede. Keep the skyward look, my soul; keep the skyward look!

"Keep looking up--
The waves that roar around thy feet,
Jehovah-Jireh will defeat
When looking up.

"Keep looking up--
Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul;
The Light of Light shall fill thy soul
When looking up.

"Keep looking up--
When worn, distracted with the fight;
Your Captain gives you conquering might
When you look up."

We can never see the sun rise by looking into the west.
--Japanese Proverb

The Believer's Journey to the Cross.....Dr. Charles Stanley

The Believer's Journey to the Cross

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 12:23-27

We all know that Jesus walked the road to Calvary, but did you know that believers also journey to the cross? We've all been positionally crucified with Christ, but those who hunger for Him participate in a deeper experience of this reality. Jesus lovingly takes their hand and leads them to the cross. Even though this is the last place anyone wants to go, it's the only way to partake of God's best for our lives.

The trip to the cross is not one you take with family and friends. It's a lonely journey with just you and Jesus. He strips away everyone and everything you've depended on so that you'll learn to rely only on Him. While we're at the cross, He uncovers layer after layer of self-deception until we begin to see ourselves as He does. Soon our self-centeredness, inadequacy, and failures are laid bare.

The cross is a place of brokenness, but it's necessary because there's no other way we'll ever bear fruit. If we hang onto our lives and refuse to take this journey, we'll be like a grain of wheat that is never planted and never grows. But those who willingly die to themselves will produce an abundance of spiritual fruit. The only way Christ can live His life through us is if we've allowed ourselves to be crucified.

God doesn't want you to be content with just your salvation. There's so much more He desires to give you and accomplish through you. Are you willing to take the road to the cross with Him? Yes, it's painful, but the rewards in this life and in eternity far outweigh any suffering you will experience.

When You Don’t Know What To Do Next

When You Don’t Know What To Do Next
NICKI KOZIARZ

“Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.” Proverbs 19:20 (NLT)

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where it feels impossible to have wisdom, direction and discernment about what to do next.

Which is exactly how I felt that morning.

There wasn’t anything tragically wrong. I hadn’t gone through a major life-change, but I just didn’t know what step to take next as I looked at my to-do list of prayed-through possibilities.

I sat at my simple white desk in my office with the bright white walls and big windows. The simplicity and light of this room normally filled me with peace as I worked. But sudden anxiety made this bright space seem as if a dark cloud quickly moved to cover the brightness.

It brought to mind all the questions:

What if I get the next step wrong? 
What if I miss what God has for me? 
What if I am not brave enough to do what I need to do next? 

It’s often these questions we ask ourselves that lead to the greatest thoughts of doubt, discouragement and defeat.

But there’s a saying: “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” It reminds me of today’s key verse: “Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life” (Proverbs 19:20). As we surround ourselves with people who reflect God, their wisdom can help guide us toward our next step.

So, I texted the wisest friend I know, and asked if I could get her perspective about the things on my list. Instead of texting back what she thought I should do, she asked me three important questions.

Questions that helped me change the way I was looking at the list.
Questions I want to share with you if you’re also in a season of seeking.
Questions that offer the chance to reflect godly wisdom and that I hope encourage you, too.

Question One: Who are the people you are here for? 

This is important because we can start to think we’re here for everyone, all the time. But the reality is, there’s a burden God has placed inside of you for a specific set of people here on this earth. Figure out who they are and then …

Question Two: What are you supposed to give them?

Each of us has a unique gift to bring to this world. The people you’re here for need what you have to give them. Whether it be time, encouragement, prayer, teaching or a dozen other possibilities, never think this world has everything it needs. It needs what you have to give.

Question Three: What gives you the most energy when you put energy into it? 

There are certain things we have to do in life that don’t necessarily feel life-giving, and yet we have to do them anyway. But your God-assignments should make you feel like you’re alive and ready to do it again and again and again.

I let these three questions turn into prayers. And slowly, God started to reveal where to direct my focus on that list of possibilities.

He is ready to do the same for you. You can have clarity. You can have a sense of direction. And you can trust the process of finding wisdom for your life.

And if you don’t believe that just yet, I believe it for you.

Dear God, thank You for reminding me today how important it is to surround myself with the right voices and how they help me ask the right questions to bring Your direction to my life. Help me listen, learn and lead others in the same way. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Proverbs 12:25, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” (ESV)

Proverbs 3:18, “Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly.” (NLT)

A Prayer to Rest in God’s Love

A Prayer to Rest in God’s Love
By Amy Carroll

“As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love.” John 15:9 (HCSB)

In today’s key verse, John, the beloved disciple, records this instruction from Jesus: “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love” (John 15:9). In this verse, the word “remain” can also be translated dwell or abide. Reflecting on these definitions made me realize how wrong my beliefs had been.

We want to move on, but Jesus invites us to move in.

Remain, abide and dwell — these words revealed how I evaluated progress and growth, and they helped me understand God’s approval in a new way. We don’t have to produce or create forward movement to earn God’s love. Instead, He asks us to move into … to settle … to be still in His love.

This idea changes everything. As a wise friend once told me, “You don’t work for God’s love. You rest in His love.”

God doesn’t measure our worth by our works. He establishes our worth by His love. Although I tend to calculate value by external things, God gauges value by internal things, and love is an internal work.

I invite you with the same invitation God extends to each of us: Remain in God’s love.

Move in all the pieces of your life. Every thought, emotion, gift and flaw.

Stay awhile.

As we say in the South, “Sit a spell!” In other words, dwell and bask in the love of God. You are worthy because of God’s gift of love, not the checks on your to-do list.

Lord, I’ve been so prone to evaluate my value in terms of what I produce. I’ve believed wrong things about how You see me, keeping me from being as close as You desire. Today, I surrender. I move in to dwell permanently in Your love. I choose to rest and abide. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Significant Life...🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

The Significant Life
by Sarah Phillips

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25: 37 - 40

Have you ever felt dissatisfied with life? Have you ever wondered if perhaps God intended you for bigger things than what you're doing right now or that perhaps your chance at leaving a mark on this world has passed you by?

If you grew up in my generation, you were probably encouraged to dream big and to make a difference in the world. Depending on how your life has played out so far, you may be experiencing some disappointment as your youthful ideals clashed with the hard realities of life.

But something I, a natural-born idealist, have learned recently is that chasing idealistic notions of bettering myself or mankind can actually direct us away from our calling in Christ.

That's because achieving big personal dreams or implementing social programs for the betterment of the globe really isn't at the heart of Christianity. After all, God redeemed you and me by trading His power and importance in for a hidden, mostly ordinary life that culminated in a humiliating death.

Mother Teresa grasped God's special love for littleness with startling clarity. While most of us view Mother Teresa as a spiritual celebrity who did "big things" for the world, a closer look into her ministry reveals a woman who did not care for broad, idealistic notions. In Finding Calcutta (InterVarsity Press 2008), university professor Mary Poplin reflects on the two months she spent volunteering with Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity during the summer of '96.

As a worker in the Missionary-run children's home, Poplin found herself immersed in a humble life most would find excruciatingly boring. A typical day for a Missionary of Charity is filled with repetitive, tedious chores necessary to meet the needs of those who arrive at their doorstep.

Poplin shares, "[Mother Teresa] believed that 'welfare is for a purpose - an admirable one - whereas Christian love is for a person.'"  The Missionaries' love for a personal God fuels them to love on a personal level, believing no global cause can be effective if it disregards the dignity of even the smallest person. So they feed each disabled infant as if they are feeding the infant Christ. They bathe each dying man as if they are bathing the crucified Christ. And they turn no one away, moving through their hours, days and weeks with joy when most would have given up long ago out of frustration or despair.

Poplin notes that during her time with this flourishing, world-renowned ministry, she never heard a Missionary sister speak of eradicating the world of hunger or even ridding India of hunger. They simply feed the hungry person in front of them. Poplin shares:

"The humility and clarity with which Mother Teresa understood her task in life was one of the most incredible things about her. People go into teaching, nursing, politics, or business with ideas of doing revolutionary things. I once encouraged this unrealistic zeal in my students who became teachers. Now I see how easily they became depressed and discouraged… Starting out with the fervor to change the world can be a quick rut to discouragement. Sometimes despair is a result of thinking too highly of oneself."

As Christians, we must be careful to fend off this despair born of pride. Chasing big ideals apart from the "smallness" of Christ can distract us from God's will. The mother who feeds and bathes her infant is doing the same work as Mother Teresa where the spouse who abandons his family in favor of a more "significant" life grieves God.

Chasing ideologies apart from Christ can also blind us from meeting the immediate needs of those sitting in front of us. Mother Teresa once encountered a starving man lying on the steps of a conference center where important leaders gathered to address, get this -- world hunger. And in worst-case scenarios, a failure to balance global thinking with love for the least can lead well-meaning people down a path fraught with bloated, utopian philosophies that promote widespread evil instead of good.

I personally am slowly learning to train my "idealist within" to accept that a simple life of serving those around me is often God's ideal. And if we are unwilling to love each individual we encounter in our small spheres of influence then our highest ideals for humanity amount to nothing. The second part of the Gospel in Matthew puts things in perspective for me: Christ tells those who did not love the "least of these" to depart from Him, into "the eternal fire."

Intersecting Faith & Life: Is the Christian faith just a philosophy to you or a personal relationship with a living God and those He loves? Serve a person in need, not for your own satisfaction or to serve a "cause" but because that person is a fellow human being loved by Christ.

Finished!

Finished!

Greg Laurie

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit. —John 19:30 

The cross was the goal of Jesus from the very beginning. His birth was so there would be His death. The incarnation was for our atonement. He was born to die so that we might live. And when He had accomplished the purpose He had come to fulfill, He summed it up with a single word: “finished.”

In the original Greek, it was a common word. Jesus probably used it after He finished a project that He and Joseph might have been working on together in the carpentry shop. Jesus might have turned to Joseph and said, “Finished. Now let’s go have lunch.” It is finished. Mission accomplished. It is done. It is made an end of.

So what was finished? Finished and completed were the horrendous sufferings of Christ. Never again would He experience pain at the hand of wicked men. Never again would He have to bear the sins of the world. Never again would He, even for a moment, be forsaken of God. That was completed. That was taken care of.

Also finished was Satan’s stronghold on humanity. Jesus came to deal a decisive blow against the devil and his demons at the cross of Calvary. Hebrews 2:14 says, “Only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who hadthe power of death.” This means that you no longer have to be under the power of sin. Because of Jesus’ accomplishment at the cross, finished was the stronghold of Satan on humanity.

And lastly, finished was our salvation. It is completed. It is done. All of our sins were transferred to Jesus when He hung on the cross. His righteousness was transferred to our account.

So Jesus cried out the words, “It is finished!” It was God’s deliberate and well-thought-out plan. It is finished—so rejoice!