Inspiration

Greed is perhaps the deadliest and most tempting of sins. With more money and more possessions, we can better take care of ourselves and our families. At what point is it enough? At what point does it go from being a good thing to being a sin? Worldly possessions will fade, as will our bodies. Our time spent on Earth should be spent pursuing good so that we can live beside God in heaven. It is only then will we understand what true treasure really is.

Prayer

Dear God, I would like to use this moment to declare my faith in you and my resolve to abide in you no matter what. I am aware of what may come my way because I choose to align myself with you. Whatever my earthly body endures on this earth, as a result of being a Christian, I count it worth it when I think of the glory that is to come. I thank you, Lord, that I can be a partaker of this glorious future. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Inspiration

The persecution, mockery, beatings, isolation, and attacks we may face for being advocates of the gospel, will never gain any comparison to the glory of what is to come on the day of the Resurrection, where we will receive new glorious bodies, free from infirmities and sin. Persecution neither adds nor removes to our eternal security in Christ. Our salvation remains our priority and we should strive to proclaim it, defend it, and be proud of it no matter what.

The flip side of pursuing wisdom is avoiding foolishness. Running toward God necessarily means hurrying away from selfish, short-sighted pursuits. We cannot genuinely pray for our heavenly Father to “deliver us from evil” if we are not striving to avoid personal temptations to sin.

There are different ways by which you may be enticed to sin. You may want to fit in or belong; you may be intimidated by a stronger personality; you may see some promise of personal advancement. Enticement can even come in the form of a well-meaning, but foolish, peer who offers counsel that is contrary to God’s Word.

‘If sinners entice you…’ Notice that we are not to be concerned with the pitfalls and shortcomings of others. What entices someone else to sin may not even be a temptation for you. But here is the vital principle: whatever sins do entice you, do not consent to them. It is not enough to console yourself with the fact that you have not committed the same sin to which someone else has fallen prey.

Regardless of the multi-faceted enticements to sin which you may encounter, here is the simple, straight-forward admonition — do not consent. Though others may entice you to sin, they cannot force you to sin. We can never say someone else “made me do it.” When you feel the tug of sin, do not consent to its alluring invitation.

Set your mind, by God’s grace and power, to say “No” to every one of Satan’s advances, and to consciously consent to the claims of Christ upon your life.

It is not hard to find someone who will give support to the powerful, attention to the famous, notice to the remarkable, or recognition to the accomplished. Virtually everyone is willing to jump on the bandwagon of some well-known, talented, or beautiful person.

But God gives encouragement to the faint. He gives strength to the exhausted. He does not join the crowds hurrying after celebrities; he seeks out the broken-hearted and the overlooked and gives them the greatest honor imaginable — his attention and his love.

This is not because God is a cosmic talent-scout, finding the individual diamonds in the many roughs throughout the world. It is to those who truly have no merit, who can stake no claim to his assets, who have no might that he sends reinforcements of strength and provision. It is God’s grace, not our value, that draws him to hurting, helpless humanity.

While this is humbling — even humiliating — to realize, it is also liberating and invigorating. We can let all our collected claims of good works and inherent worth fall around our feet as we reach out to a God who only heals the sick, who only mends the broken, who only gives strength to the powerless.

How do you see yourself? It doesn’t matter how others might describe you; perhaps they even consider you among the great, the mighty, the successful. But are you broken-hearted and helpless before the Lord? If so, then prepare for a strength infusion from the most High him

There are great lessons to be learned even from the failures of God’s people recorded in the Scriptures. God says if his people had obeyed his voice he would have subdued their enemies and fed them with honey out of the rock. But they rebelled and walked in their own counsels.

How sad that a people who that could have enjoyed the richest of blessings from their gracious God were instead given up to their own desires and suffered the consequences of their disobedience.

How often have you neglected the place of blessing? There is counsel and comfort in God’s Word but you have spent little time reading it. There are rich mercies to be found at the throne of grace but you have neglected prayer. There are joys and blessings to be found in God’s house but you have been attracted by the empty promises of the world.

Churches sometimes mourn the loss of spiritual fervor enjoyed in former days. But instead of being brought to repentance for sin and neglect, the excuse is made that we live in difficult times. The lack of power in preaching is a concern but still messages to make people feel good take precedence over sound biblical exposition.

The next time you are facing temptation to sin or to squander God’s blessings, remember this: God is willing and able to bless his people. Today, heed his call to return. Call upon him, knowing he is willing to hear and ready to bless.

This is verse is famous for being the shortest verse in the Bible. But it deserves our attention for reasons much more significant than that. What a scene! The eternal, unchanging, immovable God-in-the-flesh Jesus, weeping in front of the tomb of a friend.

How mysterious a scene this is. And yet there are some clear implications, embedded in the context of the verse, from which we can learn valuable lessons. First, Jesus was not weeping because of despair at the death of Lazarus his friend. He had already told his disciples that this death had been allowed in order to provide an occasion for their faith to be strengthened (11:15). Moments after weeping, Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead.

Secondly, Jesus was weeping because he saw the deep grief of those around him and was deeply moved by compassion for them (11:33). Even though he knew that he was about to bring Lazarus back from the dead, Jesus was still effected by the sorrow that others were experiencing.

What about you? When you have lost a loved one, or seen your fondest hopes or projects fall dead at your feet, do you despair or do you see it, like Jesus did, as an occasion for faith to be strengthened? Does it cause you to lose hope or to place your hope in the strength and wisdom of God?

On the other hand when you see others experiencing deep grief, does it move you at all? Even if it does not directly effect your life, are you compassionate toward those whose lives are shattered by sin or sorrow? Do you weep with those who are weeping around you, bearing their burden empathetically and prayerfully with them?

May this day find you walking in the faith, and in the sympathy, of our beloved friend Jesus Christ, who is still touched by the sorrows of his people and who is still able to speak life to the dead.

There are a thousand different places and people and pleasures that promise comfort and healing and satisfaction… but their comfort is vain, their promises are empty. Cosmetics are not the fountain of youth they claim to be, cars do not satisfy the cavernous need for pleasure that people have, and college will not fill the need for knowledge that every one of us feels. They comfort in vain.

Many religious leaders or philosophical seers or academic icons pretend to understand the needs of mankind and claim to have found the answers to life’s big questions. But they have seen a lie. They are just as blind in their own musings and speculations as those whom they persuade to follow them.

The only true promise, the only full comfort that is to be found in all the universe is found at the feet of Jesus. He is the Way, he is the Truth, in him is the Life. Everything else and everyone else that makes a pretense of substituting the creator God is telling you a lie, is offering empty promises, is plying a false comfort.

Are you looking today for a soul-filling, need-meeting, pleasure-supplying comfort? The greatest pleasure the world will ever know is the satisfaction of submitting to God, confessing our desperate condition apart from him, and begging him to fill us with himself.

Ask ye of the Lord. You will not be disappointed. His comfort is not in vain.

Paul was given a thorn in the flesh as a reminder of his weakness and through this he learned very well that his strength was in Christ, not in himself. He did not consider himself on a level above others; he desired the prayers of the most humble member of the church. In his first epistle to the Thessalonians he had asked simply, “Brethren, pray for us,” and here he asks that they should pray for the success of the gospel.

He desired that they pray for the gospel to be spread and that it be received and honored. The language conveys the thought of a river flowing freely, unobstructed, unhindered. He knew from experience there is much opposition to the gospel. There is persecution to face, criticism to overcome, and error to be challenged; so he prays these things will not hinder the free flow of the message.

As we endeavor to proclaim the gospel, whether to a congregation or to an individual, we must realize the challenge of overcoming the humanistic thinking that is prevalent in our day… or just the indifference that is widespread. If the gospel is to have success in our day and in our culture, we will need the Lydia-like blessing of hearts opened by the Lord to attend the message (Acts 16:14).

How wonderful is that experience when the Spirit of God opens a heart, enlightens a mind, and humbles a will! May we pray for the gospel to have free course — to flow uninhibited and unobstructed across the globe, converting souls and making wise the simple. May God’s Word be glorified or honored as it is received as the truth and embraced to the glory and praise of our Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s hard to imagine a two-year-old getting tired. They seem to have endless energy and they only have two speeds: fast and faster. When you try to put them to bed, they deny all the way there that they are in need of even a nap. But the moment their head hits the pillow, they fall into a deep and much-needed slumber.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary. And certainly all the rest of us have constant reminders of our limitations. Try going a day without coffee, or a night without sleep, or on a run without water. We are every one of us in need of constant refreshment, because we are not self-contained or autonomous creatures.

What is true of us all physically is even more evident spiritually. No one walks this earth in self-supplied satisfaction. Although we do not always go to the right source, we are always looking for a spring of spiritual renewal somewhere, to which we can come and deeply drink and consistently return.

Those that wait on the Lord, who look to him for refreshing or allow him to restore their souls, find that his supply is never empty, his sufficiency never runs dry. Young or old, rich or poor, sick or healthy — God is able to supply our needs, not just for a moment, but over and over throughout our lives.

They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Are you waiting on his good purpose, on his good timing, on his good supply… or are you still running in circles, denying that you are even in need of rest or refreshment? Lay your head on the pillow of God’s grace and find the deep and much-needed renewal that only he will provide.