AUGUST 31, 2013. GOD’S PLAN FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

Saturday August 31

"He sought his God…And so he prospered.”                                                               2Ch 31:21 NIV

God’s Plan for Spiritual Renewal

The conditions in our country today are similar to those in ancient Israel. In spite of all God’s blessings, the people had turned their back on Him. So when Hezekiah, a man of integrity, came to the throne, he set his heart on restoring God to His rightful position of leadership in the land. Notice four things he did: (1) He reopened the doors of God’s house and called the people to repent and return to the Lord. (2) He challenged the corruption and carnality which had become a way of life even among leaders and ministers of the Lord. His words were strong: "Sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place” (2Ch 29:5 NKJV). Can you see a parallel to the day in which we live? (3) He reestablished the supremacy of God’s Word. "They went in to purify the temple of the Lord…following the word of the Lord” (v. 15 NIV). Pastor, a Sunday morning sermon alone won’t cut it; you need to get your people into God’s Word every day. (4) He called the people to worship God. It was an amazing scene. "The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed” (v. 28 NIV). Scholars estimate that for over three hours the entire nation stood in God’s presence and worshipped Him. Did God bless Hezekiah’s efforts? "In everything that he undertook…he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” And that’s God’s plan for spiritual renewal!

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 30, 2013. GRACE AT HOME (2)

Friday August 30

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”                                                        2Co 5:17 NKJV

GRACE AT HOME (2)

Here are three more steps to treating your spouse with grace: (1) See them as God created them to be. Focusing on your partner’s flaws doesn’t help either of you. The Pharisees saw only the worst in the woman caught in adultery. Jesus didn’t minimize her sin, but chose to see what she could become through grace. "I don’t condemn you. Go, and stop what you’re doing” (See Jn 8:11). Grace enables you to see beyond your spouse’s upsetting ways and work with God in helping them become the "new creature” He’s called them to be. (2) Celebrate them. Too often we try to impose on our spouse our desired image of them. We resent them and insist they change, see it our way, and do things to our required standard. If they don’t, we think they’re inconsiderate, unloving, even un-Christian. Grace doesn’t operate that way! It understands, accepts, forgives, and leaves changing others up to God. Try telling yourself, "Yes, that annoys me, but I wonder what God’s trying to work out in my spouse.” Then step back, love and accept them and let God work on them. (3) Forgive them. Your spouse will irritate you at times because of what they are. We’re all different. She thinks she’s detailed; he thinks she’s nit-picking. He thinks he’s laid-back; she thinks he’s lazy. We act out the image we hold of ourselves, and that’ll change only when God changes it! Acknowledge your intolerance and forgive your partner’s irritating behaviors—even before they do them. That’s "pre-emptive forgiveness,” the kind that denies resentment a toe-hold on your marriage.

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 29, 2013. GRACE AT HOME (1)

Thursday August 29

"But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”                                              Ro 5:20 NIV

Grace at Home (1)

You need a lot of grace in marriage. Even in the best of relationships, things happen that cause misunderstanding and hurt. Speaking about his marriage, therapist Michael Sytsma says: "Before I was married, God said, ‘Mike, you have some rough edges. To help you become more Christlike, I’m giving you Karen. That should do the trick.’ So he brought Karen…into my life to identify all my shortcomings. My first response when she points out my flaws? Not gratitude! Instead, I strike back: ‘How dare you point out those things? What’s your problem?’ Then I have the opportunity of either denying my feelings, or owning them and maturing. And Karen can either harbor anger and resentment, or offer grace and forgiveness. Imagine a marriage filled with grace: a spouse who extends joy, pleasure, sweetness, kind speech and unmerited favor. My wife does that. I’m still working at it.”

Here is the first of four ways you can show grace to your spouse: (1) Try to look at it differently. Focus on the positive. If you think your spouse is stubborn, feeling loving toward them is hard. But if you exercise grace and choose to see them as persistent and tenacious, loving them becomes much easier. If they’re disorganized, by grace you can choose to see that as a sign they are spontaneous, or creative, or the flexible type, or even over-extended. "You'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things…noble… gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse” (Php 4:8 TM). People usually try to live up to the image you hold of them!

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 27, 2013. HOW QUICKLY THEY GROW!

Tuesday August 27

"Make every minute count.”                                                                                           Eph 5:16 CEV

How Quickly They Grow!

Do you remember wishing your kids were grown? Suddenly you’re amazed at how quickly it’s happening. The truth is, they’ll soon be gone, leaving the place feeling deserted and quiet. Bob Benson puts it poignantly: "I pass a lot of houses on my way home; some pretty, some inviting. But my heart skips a beat when I see my house nestled against the hill. I’m especially proud of the way it looks because I drew the plans myself. It started out large enough for us. I even had a study, in which two teenage boys now reside! It had a guest room, but my girl and nine dolls are permanent guests there now. It had a room for Peg, who hoped to turn it into her sewing room. But two boys swinging on the Dutch door have claimed that room. Right now it appears I’m not much of an architect. But it’ll get larger again. One by one they’ll go away to college, work, the service, their own homes. Then there’ll be room: a guest room, a sewing room, a study, just for the two of us. But it won’t be empty. Every corner, room, nick in the coffee table will be full of memories. Memories of picnics, Christmases, birthdays, bedside vigils…going barefoot, vacations, cats, dogs, black eyes…graduations, first dates, arguments, ball games…and a thousand other things that fill the lives of those who rear five kids. And Peg and I will sit quietly by the fire and listen to the laughter in the walls.” Childhood and youth evaporate swiftly. So fill them with loving, wonderful, sustaining memories. "Make every minute count.”

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 26, 2013. MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL (2)

Monday August 26 

"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous.”    Ps 139:14 NLT

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (2)

So, how should you view the role of your physical appearance? (1) With gratitude. Thank God for the unique person He created you to be. You’re not the result of random genetics. You’re a genuine "one-off,” designed by God to fill a slot no one else can fill. He is what makes you who you are! "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb” (v. 13 NLT). "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous.” You didn’t come from an assembly line like some product designed to fulfill a quota. No, you received the detailed, individualized focus of the Divine Architect. The Psalmist said, "You watched me as I was being formed… as I was woven together in…the womb” (v. 15 NLT). Now, that’s attention at the highest level, right? So give God thanks: you were created, inspected and approved in heaven before you moved a muscle on earth. (2) With understanding. Discover God’s purpose for your life. You weren’t designed to impress others or to seek their approval. In God’s eyes, your looks are not the measure of your worth. "The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1Sa 16:7 NLT). Start seeing yourself as God sees you. Ultimately, His opinion is the only one that matters. Indeed, "He decided in advance that [his people] would be conformed to the image of his Son” (Ro 8:29 CEB). Rejoice! God won’t be finished working on you until He’s made you just like Jesus.

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 25, 2013. MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL (1)

Sunday August 25 

"The clay doesn't ask, ‘Why did you make me this way?’’’                                          Isa 45:9 CEV

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (1)

A lot of us are unhappy with what we see in the mirror. Indeed, some of us are so unhappy that we spend a fortune to change it. And while it’s good to look your best, God never intended our looks as a statement of our value to Him, or to others. Whatever physical features you may have inherited, here are some scriptural truths worth considering: (1) Resenting your looks just puts you at odds with God. The Bible says, "You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are…a clay pot shaped by a potter. The clay doesn't ask, ‘Why did you make me this way?’” God intends you to be His clay container; a practical, usable vessel; not a fancy ornament for display. "We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us” (2Co 4:7 TM). Your value isn’t in how you look, but in what you contain—the life-changing message of God’s grace! (2) Resenting your looks results from false comparisons. Today we’re driven to become reflections of some unattainable ideal. Airbrushed models on TV sell us everything from cornflakes to cars. Let’s get real! "They are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!” (2Co 10:12 NLT). Unhappiness over your appearance results from ignorance of God’s marvelous and creative purpose for you. And that’ll become clear to you when you "look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect” (Heb 12:2 NCV).

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional

AUGUST 24, 2013. FACING YOUR BIGGEST FEARS IN PRAYER

Saturday August 24 

"Father…Take this cup away from Me.”                                                                  Mk 14:36 NKJV

Facing Your Biggest Fears in Prayer

The next time you drink from the communion cup in church, stop and recall what was in the cup Jesus drank from in Gethsemane on the night before He was crucified. You can drink from the cup with assurance because He first drank from the cup in agony. On the eve of His death He prayed: "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death…Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will” (vv. 34-36 NKJV). Note the words, "exceedingly sorrowful.” (If you think your sin is no big deal, perhaps those words will help to change your mind.) Christ drank from the cup of God’s wrath so that you could drink from the cup of God’s grace. Although He was sinless, He tasted the sins of both the most refined sinner and the most repulsive one. He had never felt God’s fury; He didn’t deserve to. He had never experienced isolation from His Father; the two had been one from before time began. He had never known physical death; He was an immortal being. Yet within a few hours God would unleash His sin-hating wrath on His sinlessly perfect Son. And as a man, Jesus was afraid. Deathly afraid. And what He did with His fear shows us what to do with ours. He prayed earnestly and persistently. He told His followers, "Sit here while I go and pray over there” (Mt 26:36 NKJV). Jesus faced His ultimate fear with honest prayer, and overcame it. And through prayer, you can overcome your fears too.

 Taken from the Word for You Today devotional