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THE COLLISION OF GOD AND SIN

Today is Good Friday and I trust you will take some time today to rehearse and remember what our Savior did for you on the cross of Calvary. Oswald Chambers’ devotional for today is piercing to the heart as he explains about the “Collision of God and Sin …” — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

 “. . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . . .” 1 Peter 2:24   
  
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross—He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.     

The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus—He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh . . . ” from “. . . He made Him . . . to be sin for us . . . ” (1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.     

The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.     
The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.
Chambers, Oswald (2010-10-22). My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition (p. 97). Discovery House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Team YOU: 1 Samuel 4-6; Proverbs 6; Luke 9:1-17

Motivations:  The way pride works in remorse is through a distorted self-righteousness which must pay for its own sin or which must exonerate the self through putting the blame elsewhere…Remorse may lead to despair or else back into the victim response of blame, but repentance leads to life. Judas died in remorse, but Peter was restored through repentance. Deidre Bobgan
Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 4:25; Level 2: Ephesians 4:11-16
Powered Up:  Not just pray about the work. Prayer is the work. Armin Gesswein

Lord, Open My Eyes

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Lord, Open My Eyes

 For the past several months I have been daily praying, “Lord, let me see you at work all around me.”  I am amazed at how HE has answered those prayers. There are so many LITTLE things I would have missed if I had not been asking Him to open my eyes. This was yesterday’s reading from STREAMS IN THE DESERT. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” (2 Kings 6:17)

This is the prayer we need to pray for ourselves and one another: “Lord, open our eyes so we may see.” We are surrounded, just as the prophet Elisha was, by God’s “horses and chariots of fire” (2 Kings 6:17), waiting to transport us to places of glorious victory.
Once our eyes are opened by God, we will see all the events of our lives, whether great or small, joyful or sad, as a “chariot” for our souls. Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such. On the other hand, even the smallest trial may become an object crushing everything in its path into misery and despair if we allow it. The difference then becomes a choice we make.

It all depends not on the events themselves but on how we view them. If we simply lie down, allowing them to roll over and crush us, they become an uncontrollable car of destruction. Yet if we climb into them, as riding in a car of victory, they become the chariots of God to triumphantly take us onward and upward. Hannah Whitall Smith

There is not much the Lord can do with a crushed soul. That is why the Adversary attempts to push God’s people toward despair and hopelessness over their condition or the condition of the church. It has often been said that a discouraged army enters a battle with the certainty of defeat.

 I recently heard a missionary say she had returned home sick and disheartened because her spirit had lost its courage, which led to the consequence of an unhealthy body. We need to better understand these attacks of the Enemy on our spirit and how to resist them. If he can dislodge us from our proper position, he then seeks to “wear out the saints of the most High” (Dan. 7:25 KJV) through a prolonged siege, until we finally, out of sheer weakness, surrender all hope of victory.

Reimann, Jim; Cowman, Mrs. Charles E. (2008-09-02). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 142). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Team YOU: 1 Samuel 1-3; Proverbs 5; Luke 8:26-56

Motivations:  God never promised we would be comfortable in the world. In fact, He promised the opposite. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to send our children to schools that attempt to undermine God’s Word. It’s uncomfortable when obedience to God puts us in the minority. It’s uncomfortable when the evil world system encroaches upon our freedom to worship Christ. But we should be uncomfortable. In a fallen world that crucified Christ, our discomfort reflects our desire to serve and honour Him.
John MacArthur
Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 4:25; Level 2: Ephesians 4:11-16

Powered Up:  Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. Corrie Ten Boom

Special Announcement to my Freedom Fighter friends

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Keswick Celebration Choir Concert and
Dramatic Presentation
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Saturday, March 31, 2012, 7:00 PM

Join us Saturday evening March 31st in the Activity Center for a Keswick Celebration Choir concert. You have two options for this event: you may want to participate in the worship as a listener, or join with over 100 voices celebrating the events leading to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

S.W. 1-8-12

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S.W. 1-8-12

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:4-6 (ESV)

Do you remember when the year was 1999? They were saying that once the new year of 2000 hit we would experience the “Y2K” bug. Well when the countdown came to its three, two, one crescendo and the ball dropped, it was as the great Yukon Cornelius would say…nuttin’!!! No bugs, no systems crashing, no nothing. 

Well okay, maybe a new century started but there was no apocalyptic end of civilization as we knew it. All we really got from the “Y2K” bug was the i-pod and there are a lot of thankful people because of it. 
But now we are facing a new/old threat to end times and that is 12-21-2012. According to the Mayan calendar, Michel de Nostreame (Nostradamus) and Marvin the Martian of Looney Tunes fame, the world as we know it now will end before we are allowed to celebrate Christmas this year. Seems kinda unfair doesn’t it? That even though there are some of us who really think we have a right to long life, liberty and a continued pursuit of happiness, all of this is going up in a puff of smoke. My problem with this all is that it doesn’t align with what my Bible tells me. 

Matthew 24 is an almost solid red letter chapter and tells us of all kinds of done and over with stuff but Jesus never tells us an exact time and date. Instead He says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (Matt 24:36) This tells us that Jesus, Himself, is not going to even take a guess and we all need to rest in that. We need to focus in on what He says earlier in that chapter, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”(Matt 24:4-5) 

That is why what we find in 1 John 4:1-6 is our instruction to test the spirits. From that infamous moment in The Garden until now man (and woman) has had to deal with a spirit of antichrist. We need to be in an understanding that we are always going to be in spiritual warfare and that our adversary is at the ready to usurp the authority of God’s word. The parables of Jesus put emphasis on faithfulness, watchfulness, stewardship, expectancy and preparedness. Any other teaching only serves to take us off this path and have us all walk openly on New Age Boulevard.  

As this year goes by I will be paging through a book titled, “The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare.” The author of this book even goes as far as giving warning on a total focus on his book for fear of a constant thought pattern that puts emphasis on Satan and the evil we can do. That is a warning coming from a watchman isn’t it? This year I urge you Brothers (and Sisters) to purpose yourself to practice the lost art of being a Biblical Watchmen and be ready to give answer to Marvin the Martian. He has a P32 uranium explosive device and is ready to blow up the earth because it ruins his view of the planet Venus. Seriously folks…the prince of lies is hard at work. Be Ready!!! – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and Freedom Fighter contributor

Team YOU: Genesis 25-26; Proverbs 10; Matthew 8:1-17
Motivations: “Many Christians imagine that victory in Christ is to become the epitome of what the world desires in wealth and success and fame and to do it all better than the ungodly because Christians have Jesus on their side.”—Dave Hunt

Practice to Remember: Level 1: Ephesians 1:13; Level 2: Ephesians 1:7-14
Powered Up: Units of prayer combined, like drops of water, make an ocean which defies resistance.

Generous Farmer

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Generous Farmer
Luke 20: 9-16
When we demand from God we rob him of the joy of generosity. This idea threads its way through a parable Jesus taught. The story is about a farmer who hired out his land to workers and left on a journey that kept him away all summer. At harvest time he sent someone to collect some of the fruit, but the workers refused. Three times the farmer patiently asked to no avail. In a last ditch effort he sent his son hoping the workers would respect him, but they took him out and killed him in a hostile take-over scheme.
The problem here is entitlement. Like the workers, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that God owes us. When we have spent time and effort we expect payment. That’s the way we are. But we must not forget that it is never God who owes us but rather we who owe him. The hymn writer Isaac Watts expressed it this way:
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away—
’Tis all that I can do!
But let us not forget the generosity of God. He loves to bless his children (Matthew 7:11). In fact, he gave us the greatest gift ever given when he gave us his son Jesus. Such a gift can never be deserved. So, let us remember to be grateful. When we stop trying to put God in our debt we restore to him the joy of generosity. – Jason Walsh is Youth Pastor at Whiting Bible Church and a new contributor to Freedom Fighter
GPS – God’s Positioning System: 1 Kings 1-2; Psalm 119:25-32; Proverbs 13
Compass Pointers: The weakness of our graces, the strength of our temptations, and the diligence of our spiritual enemies, require strong resolutions.  Stephen Charnock
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 19:23; Level 2: Proverbs 19:20-23
Anchored to the Rock:  Five minutes with Him in which the soul is touched by the forces of eternity will mean a day full of spiritual vigor. God can do much in five minutes of a man’s time if no more can honestly be spared. He can do nothing in five minutes for the man who should give Him sixty, but who is slothful. G. Campbell Morgan

What Am I, Offensive? Part 3

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What Am I, Offensive? Part Three 

“And He said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:1-4 (ESV) 

According to John Bevere’s book, “The Bait of Satan” there is one thing to keep in mind when we think of being offended is that we can group all of those offended people, to include ourselves, into two major categories: those who have been genuinely mistreated and those who think they have been mistreated but actually were not. I would like to look at those who have been genuinely mistreated category and will start off by asking this question: If you’ve been genuinely mistreated, do you have the right to be offended? Let’s see if that has any weight when we finally take a look at the Old Testament character of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph. His story starts in Genesis 37 and goes on until the end in chapter 50.  By the time you have read the first four verses of Joseph’s story he has already offended his brothers…severely!  

When we look into the life of Joseph the first thing we need to do is to go back a few chapters to chapter 28 of Genesis rush through it and try to get a brief overview of the background story. So here we go…after Isaac (Joseph’s Granddad) actually calls Jacob (Joseph’s dad) to bless him, Jacob is sent out to Padan Aram to get a wife from Rebekah’s (Joseph’s Grandmom, Jacob’s Mom) brother, Laban. When Jacob arrives in the land he spots flocks of sheep with their shepherds and asks where he can find Laban. While he is speaking with the shepherds Rachel (Joseph’s mom) arrives with her father’s flock of sheep. Jacob is awestruck and he rolls away a stone that is covering the well that all the flocks are congregating at and then he gives Rachel a kiss, falls in front of her, weeps and tells her who he is. Then there is much rejoicing as Rachel goes running to her father.  

Laban and Jacob strike an understanding that Jacob is gonna work for one of Laban daughters as a wife but she will not be Jacobs first pick as Laban sends in Rachel’s sister Leah into Jacobs tent and once Jacob realizes that Laban has tricked him he goes and confronts Laban. So Laban and Jacob come to another understanding and then Jacob gets the wife he wanted, who would be Rachel. And as we breeze through the rest of Jacob’s tale Joseph is born and during the birth of Joseph’s brother, Benjamin, Rachel dies. Needless to say that once we have traversed the Scripture we can get the idea that Joseph will be Jacob’s favorite son because Jacob really wanted Rachel first and Joseph is the son of Jacob’s old age. And then as we read on in chapter 37 there are two dreams you find in Genesis 37:5-11.
Now if we are familiar with Joseph’s story we know what’s gonna be next. Joseph is sent out to see what the other brothers are up to and they plot to kill him. But due to the craftiness of Judah he is sold into slavery for twenty shekels of silver. Joseph had offended his brothers so much that they plotted together to betray him, taking away his inheritance and deliberately separating him from his family. Keep in mind that these are his brothers doing this to him. Same father, same flesh and blood. They blotted his name out and stripped him of his identity. I don’t think being born into slavery is a good thing but to be sold into it sends a clear and very ugly message. He may have been tempted at times to wish his brothers had killed him considering what they had done was evil and cruel. But this story doesn’t end here does it? No it doesn’t! 

Even looking into the lives of Joseph’s parents and grandparents we can see those moments of possible and probable offense. But the thing here to keep in mind is that no matter how offending the circumstances may have seemed to them, the will of God continued on whether anyone bothered to notice or not. So it is with our ever present daily comings and goings. The sun goes up and goes down all the while the tide comes in and then goes out, whether we pay any attention to it or not. I’ll wrap this up in my next Freedom Fighter. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent Freedom Fighter contributor

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Samuel 16-18; Psalm 114; Proverbs 5

Compass Pointers: “When the heart is stung with a sense of wrong, injustice, misrepresentation and cruel hate, nothing but the very power of supernatural grace can enable us to love those who wrong us and bless those who hate.”     Walking in Love A.B. Simpson

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 18:10; Level 2: Proverbs 18:1-8

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the night.

The Atheist Arguing Job — Part 3

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The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Three
“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”                                                                                                                2 Peter 3:15-18 (ESV)
Over the past few Freedom Fighters I covered just the tip of the iceberg concerning an i-app for the i-gizmo’s that are out there called “The Atheist Pocket Debater.” In my first moments of looking into this i-book I had issues and I was outraged with what I was reading. Well in this Freedom Fighter I want to cover why the compiler of this i-app went the direction he did. If it wasn’t for a conversation with my pastor I just may have missed this particular reason why Jason Hagen made the decision early in his life to dismiss God totally. So I thank Pastor Paul Ort for taking the time out for presenting the evidence that lite the light bulb for these past Freedom Fighters in the first place.
I found the following quote in the N.Y. Times online archives from earlier this year, “What inspired him, he said, was a lifetime of frustration as the son of a fundamentalist Christian preacher in rural Virginia. “I know what people go through, growing up in the culture I grew up in,” said Mr. Hagen, 39, adding that his father had only recently learned of his true beliefs. “So I tried to give people the tools they need to defend themselves, but at the same time not ridicule anybody. Basically, the people on the other side of the debate are my parents.” When I read this I immediately called Pastor Paul and asked him where I could find the rest of this guy’s bio. “It’s part of the debater titled “The Skeptical Teenager” Pastor replied. So I went there and read some disturbing stuff. 
He was baptized at age 12 “just to please the folks.” By the time he was 14 he began to question the stories in the Bible. “How do we know those stories in the Bible actually happened?” The reply was, “Jason, don’t even go there! We know it’s true. We just know!” And then he asked, “Why don’t all those miracles happen today?” The reply to this question was, “I don’t know why God doesn’t do miracles nowadays. Maybe He wants us to have faith.” That last answer bothers me something fierce. These were the answers provided by a teacher at the Baptist school he was attending…according to him.
Later on in the bio Jason tells a story about being 19, living in Atlanta and running into a street corner preacher. The preacher was the “fire and brimstone” kind of preacher and, in front of his friends; Jason begins a dialogue that went like this. “Those who do not accept the Lord Savior Jesus will perish in the everlasting fire of Hell.” Jason walks up to him and asks, “Sir, if God knows everything and loves us, why would He create Hell? Wouldn’t it be better to not even be born in the first place, if we knew we were going to be sent there? It’s being born into a curse.” And of course this street preacher goes into an incoherent tirade about Satan even though it is not directed towards Jason.
There are two things we can glean from this. One is that we have a rebellious teenager who just feels like being so or we have a younger brother who had doubts and an older brother did not do what should have been done to reinforce the work of the Cross. Even so this man has gone to compile a very popular tool for people to use against us. It is important that the Christian take the time to present the evidence to support their faith. To say, “Just because” may not be enough. Maybe Jason’s story is one-sided but it should still serve as a warning to all of us that the world is grabbing at anything right now and we need to have them and reach out…to Jesus. I got one more thing left to say but that will be for tomorrow. – Chris Hughes contributes frequently to our daily Freedom Fighter e-votional
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 29; Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20
Dig This Quote;
“The unchurched don’t care much about our credentials. Bible school and seminary degrees aren’t important if we can’t undergird them with our wholehearted response to God’s character requirements. We must live out the reality of our message. And we live it out best in community and relationships when we deeply share our lives, our dreams, our joys, and our sorrows. What people expect of us-their pastors and church leaders- is that we be holy men and women, that we love mercy, that we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the sheep, including sheep that are lost. They want to know that their pastors aren’t always looking for a fight or motivated by money. They long for leaders who are patient and gentle, kind and generous-pastors who love them.” Reclaiming God’s Original Intent for the Church                                                                                   Wes Roberts and Glenn Marshall
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; John 1:8-14

Determined Praying: When faith sets prayer on work, prayer sets God on work. Thomas Watson

Let Nothing Move You

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Let Nothing Move You

“Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labors are not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
Good morning, my brothers! I just read this story that I thought would be worth sharing with you this morning. Somebody reading today’s Freedom Fighter just might be in a situation were you are frustrated with where God has placed you and everything around you seems to be out of control. Well hold on …
Jonathan, who pastored a church in New England for twenty-three years, faced everything from power struggles to salary controversies to questions about his leadership. Once, he confronted some boys in the church after they had taunted several young girls with suggestive comments. His handling of the situation outraged the boys’ parents and fueled their resistance toward him.
Another issue swirled around his visitation policy. He knew his greatest primary gifts were preaching and teaching rather than other traditional pastoral ones. So in contrast to what was considered customary, he chose to make a visit only when an emergency occurred. However, many members began to fault him for “not loving people,” which further stoked Church dissatisfaction.
Fortunately, Pastor Jonathan had a friend, John, upon whom he often leaned. John’s stature in that church helped ameliorate many issues that otherwise could have derailed the ministry, and his presence helped keep criticism at bay.

Unfortunately after John’s death, the simmering problems floated to the surface. One particular man was so hostile to Jonathan’s leadership that be became the ringleader of a large opposition group.

One final matter became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The previous pastor had loosely allowed unbelievers to become members, and Jonathan later became aware that several of those members had flagrantly sinned. In their small community, these sins had become quite public, and since he believed that only believers who evidenced a change life should join the church, he began to change the policy.

A firestorm erupted, and Jonathan knew that were he to stand firm on his conviction, he could lose his pastorate. But he stood his ground, and the inevitable occurred. They fired him, and at age forty-six he found himself unemployed. The rejection became so intense that the agricultural town forbade him even to use common grazing land for his farm animals.
One friend, noting how Jonathan responded to his firing, wrote, “I never saw the least symptoms of displeasure in his countenance the whole week, but he appeared like a man of God, whose happiness was out of the reach of his enemies and whose treasure was not only a future but a present good one.

Ten years later, because Jonathan had so graciously responded to his critics and his dismissal, one of his main detractors admitted that pride, self-sufficiency, ambition, and vanity had caused contention. The Pastor’s handling of his ministry crisis left such an impression that eventually the church repented of their actions, exactly 50 years after they sent him packing. (from 5 Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them — Bethany House)
And who was Jonathan? Well he was one of the greatest Puritan preachers — Jonathan Edwards, arguably one of America’s greatest theologians!

Are you in a tough situation today where you need to stand firm? Commit 1 Corinthians 15:58 to memory and apply its truth to your heart today.

Dig This Quote: God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. – Oswald Chambers
Determined Digging: Level 1 —Proverbs 15:1; Level 2 — Psalm 91:5-10

PRESSURE

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PRESSURE

We were under great pressure … so that we despaired even of life … But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Last Tuesday night we had our first Piano Extravaganza concert at America’s KESWICK. Five grand pianos on the stage in our Activity Center. Our own Robert Hayes joined me, Carolyn Hibbard, Jeff Duffield and Michael Faircloth in a spectacular evening of music. The concert was recorded on a 2 set CD which you can order by responding to this email. The cost is $20.
Our piano tuner gave me some trivia right before the concert: 5 pianos = 440 keys; 1000 piano strings and 100,000 tons of tension! Wow! And on top of that, all of us felt the pressure of performing in front of 1000 people!
Life is filled with pressure and difficulty and sometimes it can be overwhelming. Listen to these words from STREAMS IN THE DESERT:
The pressure of difficult times makes us value life. Every time our life is spared and given back to us after a trial, it is like a new beginning. We better understand its value and thereby apply ourselves more effectively for God and humankind. And the pressure we endure helps us to understand the trials of others, equipping us to help them and to sympathize with them.
Some people have a shallowness about them. With their superficial nature, they lightly take hold of a theory or a promise and then carelessly tell of their distrust of those who retreat from every trial. Yet a man or woman who has experienced great suffering will never do this. They are very tender and gentle, and understand what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, “Death is at work in us.”

Trials and difficult times are needed to press us forward. They work in the way the fire in the hold of a mighty steamship provides energy that moves the pistons, turns the engine, and propels the great vessel across the sea, even when facing the wind and the waves.

Pressed beyond measure; yes, pressed to great length;
Pressed so intensely, beyond my own strength.
Pressed in my body and pressed in my soul,
Pressed in my mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure from foes and pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.
Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving His staff and His rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living my life for the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life out poured.
Are you feeling the weight of the pressure of the difficulties of life? Press into Him and allow Him to pour His life in and through you today. — Bill Welte is President and CEO
Dig This Quote: All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ. – Oswald Chambers
Determined Digging: Level 1: Proverbs 5:12; Level 2: Psalm 86:11-13

How Thankful Are You (Part 2)

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How Thankful Are You (Part 2)

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. Psalm 91:1

This devotional was written by Dr. Jerry Bridges and is one that I needed to hear today:

Most of us acknowledge that everything we have comes from God, but how often do we stop to give thanks to Him? At the end of a workday, do you take time to say, “Thank You, heavenly Father, for giving me the skill, ability and health to do my work today.” Do you ever physically or mentally go through your house and say to God, “Everything in the house and the food in the cupboard and the car (or cars) in the driveway are gifts from You. Thank You for your gracious provision”?

When you give thanks at mealtime, is it routine and perfunctory, or is it a heartfelt expression of your gratitude to God for His continual provision of all your physical needs?

Taking for granted all the temporal provisions and spiritual blessings that God has so richly bestowed on us, and so failing to continually give thanks, is one of our “acceptable” sins. In fact, far too many Christians wouldn’t think of it as sin. Yet Paul, in his description of a Spirit-filled person, said we’re to be “giving thanks always and for everything to God.” (Ephesians 5:20) Note the words ALWAYS and EVERYTHING. That means our whole lives should be ones of continually giving thanks.

Giving thanks to God for both His temporal and spiritual blessings in our lives is not just a nice thing to do — it’s the moral will of God. Failure to give Him the thanks due Him is sin. It may seem like a benign sin to us because it doesn’t harm anyone else. But it is an affront and insult to the One who created us and sustains us every second of our lives. — Jerry Bridges — Holiness Day By Day.

I am thankful for the reminder that I need to be thankful for all things. How about you? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 13; Genesis 31-32; Matthew 9:18-38

Dig This Quote: We should learn to live in the presence of the living God. He should be a well for us – delightful, comforting, unfailing, springing up to eternal life (John 4:14). When we rely on other people, their water supplies ultimately dry up. But the well of the Creator ever fails to nourish us. – Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Determined Digging: Level 1: Proverbs 4:23; Level 2: Psalm 66:16-20