Even More on God's Faithfulness and His Promises~Bob Hoekstra

Even More on God's Faithfulness and His Promises

The Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard youfrom the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

Perhaps, a word of reflection upon our context would be helpful. In our daily studies on growing in the grace of God, we have been looking at the promises of God. Living by God's promises is comparable to living by His grace. In both perspectives, the critical matter is having God at work in our lives, doing what He alone can do, doing what we couldnever deserve or never produce on our own. In considering God's promises, we have allowed the Lord to increase our confidence in His promises by focusing first on His ability, and now on His faithfulness. Our present verse proclaims God's faithfulness, while adding a two-fold promise concerning high priority issues of Christian living.

The faithfulness of God is one of the grand themes of Scripture. "TheLord is faithful." Our God is reliable, so we can rely upon Him and His abundant promises. "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9). The true and eternal God, who has invited us into an intimate relationship with His Son, is trustworthy, so we can trust in Him and His bountiful promises.

For example, we can trust in His promise to bring spiritual stability to our lives. "The Lord is faithful, who will establish you." This is one of the major needs in people's lives. On our own, we can easily be unstable and inconsistent. The Lord wants to turn us into responsible and steadfast servants of God. He will be faithful to do this, if we humbly open our hearts to the work of His word and His Spirit.

Another example of how God wants to demonstrate His faithfulness is in protecting us from the evil one. "The Lord is faithful, who will…guard you from the evil one." We are God's sheep. "Know that the LORD, He is God…We are His people and the sheep of His pasture"(Psalm 100:3). Our enemy is like a lion, who wants to consume us."Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Sheep do not do well against lions. However, we have a wonderful shepherd, who will not flee when the attack comes. "The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own" (John 10:13-14).

Our Lord wants us to know that we can count on Him to be faithful to keep His promises to establish us and to guard us.

Dear Lord, my Good Shepherd, on my own I am as vulnerable as a sheep and as unsteady as ater. In light of Your faithfulness, I rely upon Your promises to protect me from the enemy and to build into my life spiritual stability.

He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit~Jon Courson

He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
	Galatians 3:5
In the days when the healing evangelists were crisscrossing the country and drawing huge crowds under big-tops, many thousands of people were truly touched and definitely impacted by one of the biggest faith healers of all: A.A. Allen. He had the biggest meetings and the most powerful impact in the healing arena — until he died in San Francisco in a cheap motel room of cirrhosis of the liver. He was a complete alcoholic. How could this be? It is because the miracles wrought and the Spirit given are not by the works of the Law, but simply by the hearing of faith. Folks, A. A. Allen understood that what he did was centered not upon his great faith in God, but upon God’s great faithfulness to him. And once you understand that simple truth, it will affect everything you do in ministry. For years, I was under the impression that the key to ministry, to being used by God, to seeing folks saved or filled with the Spirit, was my faith. Therefore, the greater my faith, the more God would do. Not true. The key was not my faith in God at all — but His faithfulness to people. Consequently, last Monday night at Caveman Park in Grants Pass, with a couple hundred high-school kids, I gave an invitation at the end of my teaching, and I just expected kids to respond — not because of the persuasiveness of my message, but because I know the goodness of God. He wants to save people. He cares about every single kid there. It wasn’t because of my presentation or preparation that I expected them to respond. No, it was because I knew God was eager to respond to any of those kids who wanted to come to Him. So, when I said, ‘Which of you wants to receive the coming upon of the Spirit right now?’ most of them raised their hands. ‘Uh-oh,’ you may have thought had you witnessed the scene. ‘What are you going to do now, Jon? What if you pray and nothing happens? What if they don’t speak in tongues? Worse yet, what if they do?’ Folks, it’s not my job to be concerned about those things. I just have total confidence in the great faithfulness of God to touch any boy, any girl, any man, any woman anytime, anywhere who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. When this is understood, it is so incredibly freeing. But until it’s understood, Satan will whisper in your ear, ‘You don’t have the technique down.’ ‘You don’t know enough verses yet.’ ‘You haven’t prayed hard enough.’ ‘You haven’t worshipped long enough.’ Precious people, Satan will paralyze you until you understand that every area of ministry is based not upon your faith, but upon God’s faithfulness. If you believe this, you’ll find yourself talking to people and expecting them to respond in some way. If it’s dependent upon me, my knees knock, my forehead breaks out in beads of sweat, my mouth gets dry, my lips become sealed. I am paralyzed by fear because I know I haven’t done enough. But once a I understand that the one who ministers the Spirit, the one who works miracles doesn’t do it by the works of the Law, I am free!

We know that we have passed out of death into life.~Daily Light

July 25
MORNING

We know that we have passed out of death into life.

"Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."--Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.--By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him. . . . Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.--We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

You were dead in the trespasses and sins. . . . [God] made us alive together with Christ.--He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

1 John 3:14; John 5:24; 1 John 5:12; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22; 1 John 3:19, 21; 1 John 5:19; Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 1:13

EVENING

You make known to me the path of life.

"Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death."--"I will instruct you in the good and the right way."--"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."--"Follow me."

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.--"The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.--"Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord."

"In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?"

Ps. 16:11; Jer. 21:8; 1 Sam. 12:23; John 14:6; Matt. 4:19; Prov. 14:12; Matt. 7:13, 14; Isa. 35:8; Hos. 6:3; John 14:2

Bold Belief~Greg Laurie

On February 1, 2003, our nation was shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy of Space Shuttle Columbia as the spacecraft disintegrated just 16 minutes away from home, killing all seven of its crewmembers.

In the days following, as we learned more about the crew and its mission, I was particularly struck by the life of the commander, Rick Husband.

Commander Husband was a very integral part of his church in Houston, Texas. Despite his busy schedule, he attended a midweek Bible study and prayer meeting for fathers. He had a tremendous love for his family, as evidenced by his taking the time to leave behind videotaped devotionals for his family, because he could not be there to lead them in those devotions.

He said during an interview, "If I had ended up at the end of my life having been an astronaut, but having sacrificed my family along the way or living my life in a way that did not glorify God, then I would look back on my life with great regret and having been an astronaut would not have mattered all that much."

Here was a man who glorified God with his life.

We, too, need to think about the direction our lives are taking, because we never know when life is going to stop. In the Book of Genesis, we find this principle well-illustrated in the lives of two people who stand in interesting contrast: Abraham and Lot.

Abraham walked by faith, while Lot walked by sight. Abraham was a committed believer, and we read three times in Scripture that he was uniquely called the friend of God. Lot, on the other hand, was a compromising believer.

Abraham and Lot both had acquired many possessions, and friction between uncle and nephew was growing. It was time for Abraham and Lot to part company, so in great generosity, Abraham said to Lot, "Wherever you want to go, I will go the other way. You go to the right and I will go to the left. You go to the left and I will go to the right."

So Lot said, "I was checking out this sweet little spot called Sodom." And that is the way that Lot went. Genesis 13:12 tells us that Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, which means that he got a little closer than he was before.

Then a curious chain of events unfolded for Lot. As he was in this place of vulnerability, a war broke out. Chedorlaomer, a king who had controlled the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, attacked because they rebelled. He combined forces with three other rulers who swept across the desert. Poor Lot was in the wrong place at the wrong time and wound up a prisoner of war.

When word got back to Abraham that Lot had been taken prisoner, Abraham could have said, "It serves him right." But instead, Abraham took action. He gathered 318 of his servants, armed them, and went and attacked this king and freed all of the captives.

When Abraham returned from this great battle, he was met by two kings—Bera, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Bera offered Abraham all of the spoils of war in return for the people, while Melchizedek gave Abraham bread and wine. Interestingly, Abraham rejected Bera's offer, but accepted the bread and wine from Melchizedek and gave him tithes of all of his spoils.

Essentially Abraham had two kings to choose from, which represent two ways of living: the way of Sodom and the way of Melchizedek. Lot had been drawn to the things of the world, while Abraham turned down everything the world had to offer.

The question one might ask is was it worth it? We find the answer in Genesis 15:1: "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward' "(NKJV).

Maybe Abraham was thinking, "What if Chedorlaomer comes after me? What am I going to do?" God was saying, "Abraham, I am your shield. I am your reward. I will protect you. I will take care of you. I will watch over you as long as you stay close to Me."

Scripture goes on to say that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. When God came to Abraham and brought him a word of encouragement, Abraham believed. And we should do the same.

2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14 ~ Romans 9:1-24 ~ Psalm 19:1-14 ~ Proverbs 20:1

2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14 ~ Romans 9:1-24 ~ Psalm 19:1-14 ~ Proverbs 20:1
~ Click here to read today's Scripture on BibleGateway.com ~

Old Testament - Today in 2 Chronicles chapter 14 we read about the early year's of King Asa's reign, including his incredible prayer to God in verse 11! "Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!" Unfortunately by the end of our readings today, in chapter 16, we read about Asa falling away from God and relying on a foreign king and physicians without any prayer for healing from God. He replaced God in his life with mere men. I wonder how often we do this in our lives today? Can you think of any times in your life where you have relied on people in the place of relying on God? How did that work out? I do think we can rely on people certainly - if we are also relying on God more so and if God is in the midst of the relationship with the people we are relying on. I think all would have gone well with King Asa in his later years if he had only been taught this motto that we teach our kids today: "Be a FROG!" :) Fully Rely On God! What about you in your life today? Are you a FROG? :) Let us all be FROG's!

(apologies for the silly start to this posting today... :) don't worry, I get more serious by the time we get to Proverbs as you'll see below...)

New Testament - Powerful readings from Paul today in Romans chapter 9! In verse 5 we read one of the clearest statements in the New Testament about the deity of Jesus! "Their ancestors were great people of God, and Christ himself was a Jew as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen." Paul says here that Jesus is God! So, what say you? Is Jesus God?

A portion of verse 6 made me think about Christians today: "Not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew!" Do you think that everyone born into a Christian family today is truly a Christian? I know our various denominations will have various degrees / times / ceremonies that will mark becoming a Christian. But I think many of us would agree that just because you are born into a Christian family doesn't mean that you are necessarily Christian. Meaning, I think there has to come a time in each of our lives where we consciously believe in faith that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We need to own our faith at some point - not just be a "cultural" Christian because that's what our family and friends are. I believe at some point in our life we need to enter into relationship with God through his son Jesus through faith. Let us pray for our friends and family members who are perhaps currently "cultural" Christians. Let us pray that they will enter into a loving and growing relationship with God through Jesus. Side note - I was prayed into the Kingdom by some amazing friends! (thanks Chad & Becky & Becky & others!) It is true. Prayer for your friends and family is powerful. Please pray for them tonight...

Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Romans titled "Man Opposes; God Disposes" is at this link and "Divine Election is Questioned" is at this link.

Psalms - Today we read Psalm 19, which is one of my favorite Psalms! In large part this Psalm is one of my favorites because one of my former pastors taught from this Psalm 3 a few years ago in such a powerful way. Have you had this type of experience? Where you hear a sermon on a chapter of the Bible and then that chapter becomes one of your favorites? I do hope that this One Year Bible experience will allow you to tune-in a little bit more whenever you hear your pastors or ministers or priests teaching you from the Bible in church. I know this is the case with me. Thanks to reading the Bible each day, I now have better context of what is being taught from the pulpit and it makes going to church a richer experience overall. I also now often catch some Bible verses in the worship songs or hymns we sing as well. And this adds a lot to my worship of God now through music. This year, as you go through the One Year Bible and as you go to church, will you tune-in to the sermons and the songs in church more than ever and look for and appreciate how they tie in to the Bible?

Back to Psalm 19 – I do encourage everyone to really read through and meditate on every verse in this Psalm of David and how this Psalm might be speaking to you this week. Please do take a few minutes to go through the Psalm twice if possible and really reflect upon it. You may even want to journal to God some thoughts or ideas or prayers that come to you through reading this Psalm. I find verse 14 in this Psalm to be so powerful – again in large part because one of my former pastors often sang a worship song that simply repeats this verse over and over again – and what a beautiful prayer it is for each of us to repeat over and over again as well: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Are the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart pleasing in God’s sight? Is God your Rock? Is God your Redeemer?

Proverbs - Proverbs 20 verse 1 today reminds me of the need for and success of modern day Alcoholics Anonymous - "Wine produces mockers; liquor leads to brawls. Whoever is led astray by drink cannot be wise." I don't have personal experience with AA, but have heard very good things about it from several friends. I do love the AA Serenity Prayer - I think this prayer is a great prayer for all of us - "God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference." Amen.

While I'm on the subject of alcohol, since the Bible brought it up and all :), mind if I go on a bit of a tangent on this subject? Thanks. :) I would be very interested to hear others views / experiences with alcohol in their lives in the Comments below. (I know that some of our denominations have very different views on alcohol.) I'll share with you here that I struggled with alcohol abuse big time in my teens and early 20's. Certainly this Proverb was true in my case - wine produced a mocker out of me. Liquor led to brawls - oftentimes more psychological brawls than physical. And certainly I don't think I had the ability to be wise back in the days when I was led astray by excessive drink. Very frankly, I nearly drank myself to death the night before I graduated college. Alcohol poisoning / a black out got a hold of me that night. I'll spare you all the details, other than to say that after my near-death experience with alcohol, I knew I had a decision to make. Keep going the way I was going and I would die. Or go another direction. I didn't quite know what that other direction was or would look like, but I knew I had to go in the other direction away from alcohol / the party life. And thankfully God led me to Him. It took me 6 years of searching from the night I almost drank myself to death to the night when I accepted Jesus as my Savior, but it was the most important journey to undertake in my life. (The journey to Jesus is the most important journey in all of our lives...) So, yes, alcohol can be a dangerous thing, to say the least. I do know many Christians who do not / never have really struggled with it. I don't fault anyone for drinking in moderation. (These days I do have a drink in social settings very infrequently.) I just know that many people reading this blog likely struggle with or know someone who struggles with alcohol. All I know is that if alcohol is something that you are "allergic" to, stay away from it. Don't touch it. Get into AA if tomorrow if you need to. (please... do it if you need to...) Let each of us never forget this Proverb 20:1 - "Wine produces mockers; liquor leads to brawls. Whoever is led astray by drink cannot be wise."

Worship God: As we're reading Psalm 19 today, I think it's appropriate to share this "God of Wonders" video with Third Day and Caedmon's Call!

Do you know our God of Wonders? Click here for Wonder!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Comments from You & Questions of the Day: What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

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Jesus shows us how to live~David McGee

Saturday, July 25th 2009

Romans 8:3-4

"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
NKJV

Life Lesson

Jesus shows us how to live.

No man has ever been a better example of righteous living than Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He was giving, loving, benevolent, caring, serving and passionate about saving people. He was selfless in every action and relentless in pursuit of His goal. In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." When you place the wants and needs of others before your own wants and needs you lay down your life for them. Serving others is serving God. We should be following Jesus' example. Is that example too lofty for us? No, friend, it is not! Once you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He starts His work in you. Through the power of the Spirit, you can rise above the flesh. You can be the example of Jesus in the lives of everyone around you.

Dear Father,
Thank You for Your selfless gift of dying for my sins. Please give me Your love and passion for people. Help me to place the wants and needs of others before my own. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can show the love of Jesus to those around me. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Living to tell what He died to say,
Pastor David McGee
Senior Pastor
Calvary Chapel of the Triad
reachthetriad.com
twitter.com/ccot

Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit,~Mark Balmer

Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit

Posted:

Based on “The Urge to Purge” by Pastor Dave Folkerts; 7/18–19/09,
Message #DF141; Daily Devotional #5 - “Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit”

Preparing the Soil (Introduction): Once you have been filled with the Spirit, you know the power you have in your life to overcome temptation, and you experience peace. You also know when you go back to relying on your own power in the flesh without the Holy Spirit. We need a constant filling of the Holy Spirit, and the only way to stay filled is to be constantly in the Word and in prayer purging our lives of the junk that we and the world deposit there. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2, NLT).

Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): When the Holy Spirit is not controlling our lives we find it difficult to serve. We are not overflowing with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We probably are putting ourselves first and not trusting God’s Word. We want to do what makes us feel good, or what we reason is the right way to handle situations, without consulting God. The problem with this is that our feelings are fickle and change with different situations. We will not have peace and will not be able to serve because we will be consumed with searching for that peace. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. (Romans 8:6, NLT). That peace only comes when we ignore our own feelings and put our trust in God and what His Word says. We don’t trust in ourselves, but we put our trust in God, even if nothing makes sense.

Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): Jesus was our perfect example of living the Spirit-filled life. The Spirit led Christ into the desert, where He was tempted by Satan for forty days. He could have given in to hunger, but instead He stayed Spirit-filled and resisted Satan’s temptations. He fully experienced the same trials Satan tempts us with and then defeated them by the power of the Holy Spirit living in Him. So when we experience temptation in our lives we can look to Jesus, our example, and pray for the Holy Spirit to deliver us, too.

Once the junk is purged from your life and you are living a Spirit-filled life, be on guard. Satan doesn’t like you to live Spirit-filled, and he will find your weakness when you least expect it. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. (I Corinthians 10:12-13, NLT). Satan will look to destroy you when you are serving God and overflowing with his Spirit. You need to be on your guard at all times and constantly fed by the Word so you are armed with the sharp sword.

Cultivating (Additional Reading): Luke 4:1-13