A Powerful Life Verse for Thoughtful Christians.....By Randy Newman

 A Powerful Life Verse for Thoughtful Christians

By Randy Newman

Proverbs 25:2 may be the leading candidate for a life verse for thoughtful Christians. The text reads, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” This shows the contrast between God and people but also the glory of both. There are some things only God knows or can know. People are not omniscient. But there are some things that people can know, should know, and would find great “glory” in seeking out. In other words, the very acts of study, inquiry, research, investigation, questioning, examining, and “searching out” are things of glory.

The primary contrast in this context is between God and kings. Thus, the first setting of application would be when rulers seek to know all that is going on in their domain.

But it is not unreasonable, given the poetic nature of proverbs and the vocabulary chosen here, to apply this principle to all fields of rulership, in which academic or intellectual study fits rather nicely.

But remember the contrast. Our “searching out” or “uncovering” things brings glory. It is something worthwhile, satisfying, and beneficial – not only to the one doing the searching but to anyone else who might benefit from learning what has been discovered. Thus, a student may be thought of as someone who serves others just as a king serves people (good ones do, at least) by ruling well with equity, honesty, integrity, etc.

The other part of the equation is that all our study and inquiry has limits. God has not told us everything and he will not reveal everything. (Meditate on Deuteronomy 29:29 sometime to fill out this idea). Commentator Allen P. Ross says about this verse, “Kings must make things understandable to people, but God’s providence is beyond knowing.” As we seek, uncover, study, and research, we must do so with a blend of zeal and humility – zeal that it’s worth all the effort, even when it stretches our intellect more than ever before; humility that, at the end of the day, we may never find some of the answers we seek.

The Renewal of Your Mind..... Denison Ministries

 The Renewal of Your Mind

 Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

One of the best aspects of spending time alone with God is being renewed daily by his word and presence. When we make space for God in our lives, especially at the beginning of the day, he is faithful to renew and prepare us for all we will face out in the world. Scripture says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Where do you need renewal? How greatly do you need God’s mercies in your life? He has a plan this week to both teach and guide you into an encounter with him that will renew you with his overwhelming goodness and love. Make space for God. Make time to encounter him. And experience the refreshing spring rain he longs to bring to heal the dry and weary places of your heart.

Scripture:“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

Devotional:    

The mind is the vehicle in which thoughts and ideas become emotions, beliefs, and actions. You hear things every day that attempt to influence the way you see yourself and your life. Advertising tells you that you are constantly in need of something bigger and better to be happy. People tell you who you are and what you should do based only on their limited perspectives. You also have a very real enemy who hates you, working to convince you that you aren’t worth love, you’re good at nothing, and you’ll never amount to anything. But God, because of his incredible love for you, has given you the Holy Spirit and his word. He’s given you the ability to renew your mind to the truth of how he sees you and feels about you, the truth of who you really are. Every day, you have the chance to experience the much needed renewal of your emotions, perspectives, and beliefs. Every day, God longs to speak the truth of your identity through his word and Spirit. So, let’s look today at the power of renewing our minds and how we can consistently experience that renewal.

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When we renew our minds we are presenting ourselves as worship to God. You worship God when you choose to believe his word over others’ words. You love God when you trust him over your feelings and limited perspective. And when you renew your mind, you are conforming no longer to the world, with its destruction and many lies. God puts conforming to the lies of the world and renewing your mind to the truth in stark contrast.

Romans 8:5-6 further illustrates the point: “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” When you set your mind on the Spirit, you will begin to experience life in your thoughts. Your way of thinking will be transformed from being negative and destructive to positive and responsive to God’s boundless love and grace. What you choose to trust and believe will impact every area of your life for either good or bad.

So in light of the incredible promises of God’s word, how can you experience the fruit of renewing your mind? How can you continually set your mind on the things of the Spirit? First, you have to make time to open your mind and heart to Scripture every day. The best time to experience renewal in your mind is when you first wake up. Every morning, you can lay the foundation for what you will believe and how you will think for the rest of the day.

Second, you have to read Scripture while listening to the Holy Spirit. Scripture will come alive when you spend time reading it with the guidance and teaching of the Spirit. In John 14:16-17 Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” Spend time allowing your Helper, the Spirit of truth, to reveal the ways in which he desires to apply Scripture to your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to be your Teacher as your read.

Third, you have to live in obedience to God’s word.The Bible isn’t merely historical, but a book full of practical and applicable truth that has the ability to change your life. When you open your heart to God’s word and choose to believe it, you will experience transformation. When you obey God’s commands, they will bear incredible fruit in your life. God’s word is meant to direct you to the abundant life he has planned for you. Have faith in the words of Scripture. Choose to believe God’s promises.

Last, you must see yourself in light of God’s word. You have the choice to believe God or not. The Bible says incredible things about your identity in Christ: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Bible says that you are God’s child, that you are worth the death of Christ and that you are free from the bondage of sin and the world. Those are powerful promises. But in order for you to experience the fullness of what Scripture says, you must renew your way of thinking to be like God’s. Paul says that “we have the mind of Christ” as people born of the Spirit(1 Corinthians 2:16). So set your mind every day on the things of God. Read Scripture with the help of the Spirit, walk in obedience to God’s word, and see yourself as God does. If you will do these things daily, your entire outlook on life will be one of contentment, joy, purpose, and abundance.

Where do you need to renew your mind today? What area of your life seems to be plagued by negativity, insecurity, or anger? Spend time reading God’s word with the Holy Spirit. Receive revelation from the very God who authored the word you’re reading. Meditate on the words that stand out to you, and allow them to change the way you think, feel, and act. Experience renewal today in your way of thinking, and watch as renewing your mind changes your entire day for the better.       

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the power of renewing your mind.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

2. Reflect on your own life. Where do you need renewal today? What thoughts seem to plague you? Where do you normally feel negative, insecure, or angry?

3. Meditate on a passage of Scripture that seems pertinent to an area of your thinking that needs renewal. Do a web search on a specific topic if you need to. If you’re struggling with a particular sin, meditate on Scripture about freedom. If you struggle with your speech, meditate on a passage about taming the tongue. Wherever you need renewal today, God has a plan to help you.           

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6

“Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Colossians 3:10

How great is the love of God that he would give us the incredible gift of his word to mold and shape us! Your heavenly Father loves you too much to let you stay where you are. Every day he has a plan to lead you into more and more abundant life. When you wake up, take a minute to ask yourself what you want your day to be like. What sort of life do you want to live today? Then ask the Spirit to help you renew your mind to God’s truth so you can live that life. Walk in freedom today. Live with your mind set on the Spirit. And experience the incredible life God has planned for you as his child. You’ll never have a better day than one where your mind is renewed to the truth of God’s unfathomable love.

Extended Reading: Romans 8

Live Like You Were Dating.....by Shawn McEvoy

 Live Like You Were Dating

by Shawn McEvoy

Let marriage be held in honor among all…" - Hebrews 13:4

I heard the Tim McGraw song Live Like You Were Dying in the most unusual of places the other day - my head as I slept. Normally that's a huge annoyance, a song looping through my brain while I toss and turn. This time, however, I think I was so relieved it wasn't something by The Wiggles or VeggieTales that I went along for the ride.

Only thing is, I began to dream along with the music. As weird as that sounds, the dream varied just a bit from the theme of the song, which is: in order to make sure we don't take life for granted, we should check off that list of things we've always wanted to do, and do not go gently into that good night, but rather sit on top of angry bulls. Or something like that. Basically, you should act like you don't have much time left, because really you don't.

But the montage that played upon my closed eyelids wasn't about me, important moments, my death, or things I want to accomplish. Instead, I was treated to a slide show of moments from my courtship with Valerie. What fun life was then! The things we did, the places we went, the way we treasured each other and every moment together...

I awoke in a very good mood, even if I was confused about the connection between the song and the dream. On my drive to work some of the words from the song slapped me upside the head:

"… and I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying…"

Ah, I see… that sentence sounded a lot like the guy I was when I was putting the moves on the tall, big-eyed, opinionated babe who liked my jokes. It did not sound so much like the ten-year married version of myself, who has been going through the motions.

Still I wondered: how can I live like I did then, when I have none of the freedoms afforded me during those years? Unless I'm mistaken, the very word "dating" implies occasionally going on a date...

I interrupt this devotional because at this point Valerie calls me from her cell phone saying she can't get the car to start. The ignition won't turn because the steering wheel is also locked, and she can't jiggle the keys or wheel enough to get either to turn. She's embarrassed, and I can hear her banging and straining away on the dashboard components. She thinks she's gonna be stuck in someone's driveway all day. I suggest looking in the owner's manual to see if there are suggestions. There aren't. We decide she'll have to call a Toyota dealer or Triple-A because I'm too far away to help. 10 minutes later I check in on her because I read online that she might want to use the parking break from now on to prevent this from happening again. Turns out that wasn't the problem. It was that she was trying to start her Camry with the key to my Corolla…

And so it occurs to me - not only can I count on my wife to spice up our life with a good laugh once in a while, but maybe our dating engine simply has to be redefined. It still exists, but it's not going to be started with the same set of keys that got it running 10 years ago. That doesn't mean it's not a reliable vehicle for shuttling us to all of life's events in a manner befitting our faith. If I could find a way to regularly appear as outwardly joyful as I inwardly feel whenever I reflect on how blessed I am to have such a mate, I'd go a long way towards helping fulfill the purpose for this marriage, which Valerie and I long ago decided was to be better for the Lord than we are apart. That felt easier when we were dating. So with a cue from Tim McGraw, here are some ideas…

Loving Deeper
"Love does not seek its own…" (1 Corinthians 13:5)

In Colossians 3:18-19, and again in Ephesians 5:24-25, we are quite simply told by Paul how this marriage thing is going to work. Unfortunately, I've heard the first half of those verse pairings - the "women submit" part - quoted and exercised far more often than the equally important "husbands love" portion. Remember how much easier those commands seemed back then? This was the most wonderful person in the world. They communicated well, never sought their own way; it would be so easy to submit to or actively display love for them. Then time, comfort, bad habits, and the daily grind got a hold of you both. Satan tossed clutter everywhere. Threw in some doubt. Sprayed super-green paint on your neighbor's lawn and spouse. Marriage, it turned out, was complicated. I'll be the first to attest to that, although the Bible doesn't really think it's so complex if you go by the fact that it's not dripping with verses on how to navigate the maze. You leave, you cleave, then you love/submit. Those simple instructions don't seem to get us very far down the path. In fact, they seem to take us happily up to the vows and leave us there. Perhaps that's the point. Perhaps there is no "trick" to loving deeper, you just need to get in touch with what it is you fell in love with this person for in the first place, and act on it, since it's not a feeling anyway.

Speaking Sweeter
"If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal…" (1 Corinthians 13:1)

This is where I need the most help, being gruff by nature. I'm pleasant enough to co-workers and strangers. I've even earned the nickname "Small-Talk" from one of my buddies, but for some reason, those I love the most are occasionally blessed with a symphony of grunts, groans, and snippy comments. Not only is that gruff nature part of the "former self," but I recall that it did not dare rear its head during our dating days. That's not just because I was trying to sell this woman on my finer qualities, but because I truly felt the love and respect for her that I was dishing out. I therefore gave no place to impatient or intellectually-superior speech. In the words of James, there were, when I was dating Valerie, precious few times when the same fountain sent out both fresh and bitter water. But gradually, as I failed to guard my tongue, I lazily allowed that small amount of bitterness to befoul the whole cistern. I don't want to give the impression that I stalk the grounds of my house grumpy and cursing when I'm actually a pretty decent husband and father, but this is where I need the most improvement in my relationships, and I know it. Harkening back to the days when I wrote poetry, quoted scripture, wooed from afar, and encouraged about the future has helped me to remember the importance of bridling my tongue. James says horses and great ships are steered by very small bits and rudders. Likewise, the direction of my marriage may be steered by brushing up on the language I spoke when dating.

Giving Forgiveness
"Love does not take into account a wrong suffered…" (1 Corinthians 13:5)

Do you often hear people saying, "I'll forgive, but I won't forget"? It's an especially popular thing to say with the camera in one's face on a reality TV program. Thank goodness that's not how the Lord defines forgiveness. He instead wipes out our transgressions, turns crimson to snow white ( Isaiah 1:18), and divides us from sin as far as East is from West ( Psalm 103:12). Which way is your marriage M.O. regarding wrongs done to you? Do you refuse to go to bed angry, do you grant mercy every morning, or do you have a little file drawer in the back of your brain that lists All the Stupid & Hurtful Things He's/She's Done to Me? Once again, think back to your courtship, and ask yourself how many little foibles, faux paus, and thoughtless words you let slide with little more than a tiny reprimand just because you were so in love.

We all get caught in those lulls in marriage where the wind isn't blowing, the air gets stale, and nothing new happens. And it's admittedly a tad trite to think living out some song lyrics is going to lift the doldrums, but it's worth a try. After all, one thing all married folks have in common is fond memories of meeting and dating our spouse; otherwise, hopefully, we never would have bound our lives to theirs in the first place. Looking back is a good way to appreciate all those things that led to the commitment.

Intersecting Faith & Life: If you've been married a while, try living like you were dating, even if actual dates are few and far between, and see if remembering your first love doesn't translate to renewing your first love.

A Prayer for When You Fear God’s Calling.....By: Alisha Headley

 A Prayer for When You Fear God’s Calling

By: Alisha Headley

“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you, He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” - Deuteronomy 31:8

Has the Lord prompted you to go do something recently? It could be something big or small, but you know God is telling you to go and do it. For the past year, the Lord has been speaking to me and my husband’s heart about moving across the country. This was a very big decision. At the time, it didn’t make a lot of sense.

I wrestled it and resisted it mainly due to fear. After months of praying about it, God kept taking me to today’s verse. Moses was told by God that he was not going to be allowed to enter the Promised Land with the nation, and he would be passing on the job to Joshua.

Moses encouraged Joshua saying the “Lord will cross over the land before him,” (Verse 3) and so he should be “strong and of good courage, and do not be afraid of what’s ahead of you.” (Verse 6) He then goes on to say in today’s verse that God will be with him and will see him through to the very end. That he will not leave nor forsake Joshua.

Do you feel God is calling to you go somewhere, but fear what’s on the other side?

Perhaps He’s asking you to go speak to a family member or co-worker about your faith. Maybe God is calling you to go into a deeper relationship with him asking you to rid yourself of things or people that are hindering you from moving forward in your purpose. It could be God asking you to go into a new career or step into a new calling. Or is God pulling you to cry out to him right where you are in prayer with what’s on your heart at this very moment.

You are braver than you know, even if you don’t feel it. I was scared to make the move across the country. I felt afraid at times, not knowing what was waiting for me on the other side. But I knew as God promises us in Scripture, and He is faithful to His promises, that God would be with me. I didn’t need to know every detail, I just needed to do the thing God called me to do.

And once we do the first thing, we continue to seek him for guidance on the next thing, the next step, and the next yes. Let’s cling to His promise to go do what He is calling us to do. We can know full well, He’s with us and will never leave our side.

Dear Lord,

Oh, how we love you. We love how you have already gone before us. We love that you have already paved the way. We love that when we step out in obedience, that you promise to continue to be with us, and you will then go behind us. Thank you for the promise that you will never leave us nor forsake us. That even if we don’t know every detail as to why you are telling us to go do something, that we can cling close to you staying attached to you, knowing you’ll direct us.

Please continue to direct us one next step at a time. Father, please give us peace and courage to do the next thing. Thank you for choosing us to partner with you to fulfill your purpose here “on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) We pray that in moments of weakness and doubt, that we would run closer to you and not run away. That when the future looks dim and looks nothing like what we expected that we know that you are the author of the story and know how this story ends.

You are a faithful God. Remind us that you are in control as we choose to trust you this day. Thank you for being sovereign over my life. We praise you, Father.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Resurrection!.....Dr. Charles Stanley

 Resurrection!

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 20

Within three days Jesus's followers went from heartbroken sadness to triumphant jubilation. The cross screamed, “The End,” making them feel hopeless and helpless. But the resurrection trumpeted, “The Beginning,” bringing confidence and courage. The cloud of doubt and despair that had shrouded them melted away and was replaced with unshakeable faith.

Can you imagine how they felt when they realized Jesus had risen from the dead? Suddenly hope came alive; now everything He had said was validated as truth. They had not believed a lie. His victory over death was the acid test that forever sealed their sure conviction that He was the Messiah.

We commemorate Jesus's death on the cross with solemnity, but the resurrection calls for thunderous applause, praise, and song. All the blessings that come our way through the Savior’s cross are confirmed by the resurrection. It proved that the Father was satisfied with the Son’s payment for our sins. Now we can know that our transgressions are forgiven and we’re eternally secure.

What’s more, Jesus promises that we, too, will be resurrected and given new bodies. Physical death could not hold Him, nor will it overpower us. Because He overcame the grave, His followers have the same kind of life He has—eternal and indestructible.

As Christians, we have the right to celebrate Easter with great rejoicing. Because of this event, our lives have been forever changed. We’ve been transformed and given new life. With unwavering faith, we trust the Bible because Christ’s power over the grave proves He can and will fulfill every word.