Our Divine Teacher..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 Our Divine Teacher

Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Corinthians 2:9-16

One of the reasons that many people—including believers—don’t read the Bible is because they can’t understand it. We would expect that to be the case for those who don’t know Christ, but why do so many believers fail to comprehend the truths of Scripture? Maybe it’s because they haven’t asked for help from their divine Teacher. One of the Holy Spirit’s chief responsibilities is to enable Christians to understand the things of God.

When looking at believers who know more than we do, we’ll sometimes think, I will never be able to reach that level. The issue, however, isn’t how much knowledge you have right now, but whether you are growing in your understanding. The Spirit will teach you what you need to know, not necessarily what others know. Because He wants to make us godly people, He’ll give us enough truth each day to change our lives. He will interpret the meaning and give an application designed specifically for each person.

The Spirit’s goal is not to fill your mind with information but to bring you to a deeper level in your relationship with the Lord. He wants you to understand the truth so you will fall in love with Jesus. Then you’ll long to spend time in the Word, thereby getting to know Him even better.

But all these treasures of God’s Word could remain out of reach if you never ask the Teacher to unlock them. Each time you read your Bible, ask the Lord for understanding. A wonderfully intimate love relationship with Christ awaits those who let the Spirit reveal to them the thoughts of God.

Faith and Trust..... Craig Denison

 

Faith and Trust

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

God’s goodness over our lives far exceeds anything we’ve experienced. We’ve only yet splashed around in the shallows of God’s deep love and mercy. In order to dive deeper into the fullness of life available to us, we must learn how to posture our hearts. May your relationship with God be enriched this week as you position yourself to receive all your loving heavenly Father has to give.

Scripture:“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10

Devotional:           

Where we place our faith and trust is like the currency of our hearts. We have a limited amount of faith and trust to invest and real returns to gain or lose depending on where we choose to invest them. Scripture is clear that we cannot place our faith and trust in both God and the world. We cannot choose money and God as our anchors of hope. We cannot choose both the opinion of man and God’s opinion. We cannot choose our own will and his. We must, moment-by-moment, choose where we will invest our limited, valuable currency of faith and trust.

If we as children of God truly believe that his word is truth, a vast reservoir of peace and joy is available to us today. The Bible is clear about what we get in return for placing our faith and trust in God alone. Jesus said in Matthew 6:30, “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” And then later in verse 34, Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” What would it look like for us to truly have faith in God to the level that we really didn’t worry about tomorrow? What kind of peace would it bring to truly place the cares, burdens, and stresses of this world squarely on the shoulders of the Almighty, all-loving God?

To go deeper into the fullness of life available to us in Jesus requires putting our faith and trust in God alone. We will never experience the peace of heaven if our hope is in this earth. We will never experience the power and help of the Holy Spirit if our hope is in our own abilities, talents, and strengths. We will never fully experience the satisfaction of truly being loved if we place our hope of affirmation in the opinions of others. The only path to truly experiencing the abundant life available to us in Jesus is placing our faith and trust in him alone.

Jeremiah 29:13 promises, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Choose to place your faith and trust in God alone today that you might seek him with “all of your heart.” Place your hope in him alone for he alone is faithful. Do as 1 Peter 5:7 commands and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV). You will never find a return on your investment of faith and trust in anything of the world like you will in God. God will take your faith and trust and multiply it until your life is a perfect reflection of his loving-kindness. May you find true satisfaction, peace, and joy in God today as you crown him King of your heart.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the importance of placing your faith and trust in God alone.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10

2. What have you been placing your faith and trust in other than God? What have you put your hope in? Where have you been storing up treasure on earth rather than with your Father in heaven?

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:20

3. Confess those sins to God, and place your faith and trust in him alone. Receive his love and rest in his faithful presence. Allow him to reveal his heart for you that you might know the wonders of his amazing hopes and dreams for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

“That they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:27

To place your faith and trust in God alone is not to free yourself from the need to act, be responsible, and work, but rather to position yourself to receive empowerment, guidance, and grace for every action, responsibility, and work. To place our faith and trust in God alone is to humble ourselves before God as our King, Shepherd, Helper, and Provider so that all we do is done through him. May your life be filled with his loving presence, guidance, and power as you place your faith and trust in him alone.

Extended Reading: Hebrews 11

Eyes To See..... DANIELLE HITCHEN

 Eyes To See

DANIELLE HITCHEN

“… The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.” 2 Chronicles 15:2-4 (ESV) 

Close your eyes for a moment and envision a trick of the eyes — an abstract, patterned image that, when looked at just the right way, reveals a 3D image nestled amidst the pattern. An optical illusion. That’s a stereogram!

When I was a child, I remember being slightly frustrated by how much my best friend loved stereograms. I always struggled to see the obscured image, too fond of clarity to allow my eyes to soften, too impatient to wait for the hidden prize to pop off the page.

To this day, my eyes revolt when I look at a stereogram — my brain is loath to release the surface-level picture long enough for the hidden image to appear.

Over the past several years, my life has been like the repeating, plain and unremarkable surface pattern of the stereogram. Pregnancy, kids, chores, work, laundry, meals, church — lather, rinse, repeat. These were all things I was deeply thankful for but not daily thankful for. And in these years, I have gotten through desperate seasons where it seemed God was nowhere to be found.

Feeling utterly abandoned, I begged God to come in obvious ways — to make my babies sleep, to heal my body, to transform my children into the picture of obedience (or at least grant me superhuman patience), to magically resolve the conflict in my church, to make four broken hours of sleep somehow sustain me like 10 uninterrupted ones.

Instead, God came like the 3D image of the stereogram: obscured and unclear, despite how hard I looked. How was I to keep hoping, believing and trusting when I was blind to Him? And how was I to teach my children to look and see God when I couldn’t even see Him myself?

The open secret of Christianity is that, while God is accessible, God is not always obvious. Even when God walked the earth in the person of Jesus, God was not obvious. Jesus was so shockingly controversial in His claim to be God that He was crucified.

God is loving enough to allow us to choose Him. He does not force His presence upon us in a way that leaves us no alternative but to worship. If we consider the stories of Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah and Daniel (to name a few), we learn that if God appeared to us like He appeared to these long-ago believers, we would have no choice but to fall on our faces before Him and worship. But God desires love and genuine relationship, not forced servitude.

God is also gracious enough to allow us to see Him if we look. He wants to be found. Second Chronicles 15:2b tells us, “If you seek him, he will be found by you …” And it’s true — once your eyes are accustomed to the search, God is everywhere.

When I could not see God in life’s monotony, God called me to seek Him, gently nudging me to soften my eyes, to see beyond the obvious, to ask what else might be revealed in the repetitive scene of my life.

As I took a closer look, God’s presence not only emerged from the midst of the messy scene; it completely popped off the page. Once I adjusted my perspective, I could not not see God.

He had been there all along, giving shape to the pattern of my world, guiding my steps, growing my character, faithfully answering my desperate prayers. These answers were not the magical fixes I asked for but rather the eternal, soul-strengthening experiences I needed. They were stories I collected to teach my children to see God in the everyday world around them.

Friend, if you seek God, He will be found by you. God sees you, knows you, desires relationship with you and calls you to come to Him. He is hidden in plain sight, just waiting for you to step back, soften your eyes and look again.

Heavenly Father, send forth Your light and Truth. Give us eyes to see You. As we seek You, let us find You. As we find You, let us worship You in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Teach Your Thoughts..... By: Amanda Idleman

 Teach Your Thoughts

By: Amanda Idleman

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5

The battle for a joy-filled life starts in the mind. When we are living a spirit-filled life, it is then we can more easily see when our attitudes or thoughts don’t align with the instructions of Christ.

In other words, in order to find joy, we have to be dialed into the Holy Spirit. We must allow the Spirit to convict us when our thoughts don’t align with the truth of God’s Word found in 2 Corinthians 10:5 and begin to “capture every thought.”

The temptation to let our thoughts spiral out of control is hard to overcome! All it can take is reading one article about some scary new study finding or come across a piece of news that hits a little too close to home, and the mind can start to race with fear. We must use wisdom about what information we allow into our lives and how we let it affect us. These are the seemingly tiny choices that make a huge impact on our spiritual health, peace of mind, attitude, and ability to have joy even in the midst of a storm.

Matthew 6:34 says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Focus your minds on the now. Engage with what we know today to be real and true. Only God knows what the future holds, it is not ours to worry over.

We defend against negativity that so easily creeps into the mind by kicking those thoughts out and replacing them with more grace-filled meditations. How then do we take it to the next level and begin to go on the offensive against joy-killing thoughts? By purposefully meditating on the good. Here are some great ways to feed ourselves with positive messages that will push out the negative.

1. Write a daily gratitude list. Thank God for the ways He has provided for you each and every day.

2. Create a list of verses that uplift your heart and mind. Commit as many as you can to memory. Read through them when you find yourself feeling frustrated or overrun with anxious thoughts.

3. Choose a Christian Bible study, podcast, or Devotional to read through. Let the principles you are reflecting on that take the place of the negative messages that want to flood our thoughts.

4. Limit your use of media and carefully vet the shows, books, social media, and music that you consume.

5. Evaluate your closest relationships. Are they encouraging you in your faith or reinforcing the negativity of the world? Set boundaries when necessary to help preserve joy in your life.

Paul tells us we have to actually “teach” our thoughts to obey Christ. We cannot be passive about what’s going on in our minds. The way we win joy in the day-to-day is through training our minds to expect it.

Feeding the Fire..... byRyan Duncan

 Feeding the Fire

by Ryan Duncan

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. - 1 Chronicles 16:11

Earlier this year I went fishing with my family up in the boundary waters of Minnesota. Ironically, the first day we pushed out onto the lake in our canoes, the weather was ideal. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and it was warm but with a nice breeze to take the edge off. Then, like something out of a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, the weather made a sudden shift. The next morning we got up to find a cloud had descended over the lake.

It wasn’t raining per say, it was more like all the moisture in the area had gotten together and decided to smother our campsite. It was cold, it was damp, and all we could really do was huddle together for warmth. Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer, I was going to build a fire. We had all tried earlier that morning, but the damp wood was nearly impossible to burn. With no lighter fluid and only a couple of matches, I realized I was going to have to do this the hard way.

First I started off with small kindling, pine needles, leaves, twigs. Then I moved on to sticks and paper. It took a long time, but at last I got a decent sized flame that would burn the big logs despite the fact that they were damp. You can be sure, now that we finally had a roaring fire there was no way we were going to let it go out. I bring this up because I believe the concept of building a fire is similar to building a relationship with God.

When a friend of mine recently said he didn’t want to lose “the fire” God had given his spirit, I couldn’t help but remember that cold morning in Minnesota. The Holy Spirit will give us the passion and endurance to live Godly lives, but like a campfire, it will eventually burn down to embers if not supplemented by our own actions. It can be hard work at times. You’ll need to start with kindling like daily prayer and scripture reading, follow up with something bigger like volunteering at Church, and then maybe apply a large commitment like ministry. It won’t be easy, and there will be times when it all seems useless, but in the end the Holy Spirit will burn all brighter.

Remember the words of Matthew,

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16

Intersecting Faith and Life: Look for ways to build up your faith in daily life. What actions can you take to make a difference?

Further Reading

1 Corinthians 12

A Prayer to Submit to God and Resist the Enemy..... By: Alisha Headley

 A Prayer to Submit to God and Resist the Enemy

By: Alisha Headley

“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Many times, the things we are dealing with in our daily life are none other than the enemy having his way with us. In our flesh, we tend to fight another person, fight our circumstances, or fight with ourselves. Perhaps, we focus solely on the problem itself attempting to put it all in our own hands as we frantically try to control it with the hopes of diminishing it altogether.

But have you ever thought it might not be the person or problem you are actually needed to take control of? Perhaps it’s the enemy itself whom you need to control and put in his place?

Remember, we are fighting a spiritual battle daily as we are taught in Ephesians 6. The enemy wakes up with the same goal each day and that’s to keep us from walking in the Lord’s provision and purpose for our lives. Satan has a great day when he accomplishes to discourage us in any way he can.

This leaves us feeling hopeless, helpless, and often times we are left feeling defeated.

Looking at today’s passage, an important part of “submitting ourselves to God” means taking everything back from Satan. We do this by “resisting him”: to no longer give him footholds and power in our lives. When we begin to remove all influences of the enemy and take back our power, the issues we face will either disappear or downsize to a workable level. The enemy no longer has the control.

Once we “submit to God, then resist the devil.” The result is that the devil will “flee from you.”  So, in order to have this beautiful promise come to pass where the devil leaves your situation, we must do our part first: submit all our issues to God, then resist the enemy.

Rest assured that we have the power to overcome whatever it is we are facing. We have the power through submitting all to God to overcome the enemy. God already overcame and defeated the enemy for eternity when our Savior bore the cross. Satan is already a defeated foe.  But while we are here on earth, before the enemy’s eternal destruction comes to pass, we can resist him in our daily lives, and he will leave. Scripture promises this.

What a relief that we have the power to defeat our issues and the enemy behind them daily. Therefore, let us remain in that promise today. We have the victory in the middle of this earthly battle.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for giving us the power to command that the enemy flee from us anytime we recognize the need to. Thank you for your promises that we don’t have to be a slave to sin and all the issues the enemy tries to entangle us in and keep us trapped in. Through submitting them to you, and resisting the enemy, he is commanded to leave. Thank you for this promise. 

We ask for the Holy Spirit to slow us down and remind us every time we are battling something, that it’s not the problem or person itself we are battling, but rather the enemy behind it. Remind us that you are bigger than any problem. Remind us to hand everything over to you as we take everything back from the enemy by resisting him. 

Thank you for the secret weapon of victory to submit and resist. Thank you for being the greatest leader in this spiritual battle we face. We thank you in advance for your provision and guidance in this daily fight. We submit to you this day, and every day, are so grateful for your power and victory that has already been won. The power to overcome the defeated foe and all of the enemy’s tactics. We love you Lord and are grateful for your mighty power.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen