Monthly Archives: June 2012

by

At The Point of Death

Friedrich Overbeck - Christ Resurrects the Dau...

Friedrich Overbeck – Christ Resurrects the Daughter of Jairus – WGA16795 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Here’s Today‘s Devotional from The Vine…

Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.” - Mark 5:22-23

 

There is nothing like trouble to drive people to Christ. When things go well many people do not acknowledge Him; but when great need comes, He is the first one they turn to. This is one of God‘s main uses of trouble. God makes many of His children uncomfortable so that they will look to Him instead of being too self-reliant. There are many in heaven now who would never have repented and been saved had God not sent trouble, sorrow, and difficulty.

This father in Mark said his daughter was “at the point of death.” This is one point which we all must come to. Our paths on Earth run many different ways but they all ultimately reach the “point of death.” It is a point that lies hidden from view. No one knows the day when he or she will come to it, and yet somewhere along the years it waits for everyone. Sometimes this point is struck early in life. Here it is a little twelve year old girl  that lies “at the point of death.” Even children should think about dying, not as a sad and terrible thing, but as a point to which they must come, and for which they should prepare.

It is a touching sight to see this father falling at Christ’s feet. The strongest men break down when their own children are sick or in danger. A man may seem very strong as he works or goes about life. You think he has no compassion in him.  But if one of his children becomes ill or injured that strong man will melt. Behind his strong front there is a warm spot in his heart where he is gentle.

Related articles
by

The Power of Corporate Prayer

Read | 2 Chronicles 20:14-30

When trouble loomed, the first thing that Jehoshaphat did was to turn attention to God and proclaim a fast throughout Judah (2 Chron. 20:3) People came from all around to support their king in prayer (v. 13).

Sometimes we are too proud to ask others to pray for us. Jehoshaphat was a king, yet he wasn’t so self-sufficient that he wouldn’t admit his army paled in comparison to the three forces united against him. He recognized his limitations and sought divine intervention. Though Jehoshaphat reigned over his subjects, he nevertheless called on them for prayerful support.

One of the wisest things we can do in the midst of difficulty is to engage the assistance of someone who knows how to talk to God. The body of Christ depends upon cooperation. When the people of Judah began to pray, God provided a solution through a trusted prophet. Jehoshaphat was humble enough to listen and wise enough to follow his directives (vv. 14-17). As a result, his people were saved. The advancing armies turned against each other and destroyed themselves completely. Without shooting an arrow or drawing a sword, Judah’s forces suffered not even one casualty. Because their humble king listened, they witnessed the Lor’s remarkable victory (vv. 22-30).

We have to attune our ears to God’s voice in order to hear Him. Sometimes He speaks through people we would not choose to follow, and He often says things we’re not expecting to hear. But He will provide us with solutions to our problems if we are willing to listen to Him.

Dr. Charles Stanley

Related articles
by

Joy in The Lord

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. - Mark 2:19

This was our Lord’s answer to those who thought His religion was too bright and optimistic – that it didn’t have enough days for fasting in it. They thought that religion was only genuine when it made people sad, and that its quality was just in proportion to its gloom. But Christ‘s reply showed that mournful faces are no essential indicators of a reverent and contrite heart. Should His disciples be mournful and sad when He was with men, filling their lives with the gladness of His presence? Should Christians claim to be heavy-hearted, looking as though life is not worth living, when in fact they are really filled with joy, and when there is no excuse for sorrow? Why should anyone who has been saved by the Lord Jesus and who is rejoicing in the fact they have eternal life, go about in sackcloth and ashes? Is there any godliness in a sad face? Does God love to see his children looking miserable? Is human joy displeasing to our Father?

All these questions are answered here in our Lord’s words. He does not wish His disciples to go mourning and fasting when they have no excuse for it. His words are a defense of Christian joyfulness. Christ wants His friends to be happy. There is a complete contradiction in a sad and downcast Christian life. By its very nature true religion is joy-filled! Our sins are forgiven. We are adopted into God’s family. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. The covenant of love arches its shelter over us continually. All things in this world work together for our good, and then glory waits for us beyond death’s gate. With all this to look forward to, why should we be mournful and sad?

While we enjoy the smile of Christ, the consciousness of his love, the assurance of his forgiveness, and the hope of heaven and eternal life, what should make us sad? We should have radiant faces.

Related articles
by

Our Caring and Able Heavenly Father

English: Josaphat was the fourth king of the K...

English: Josaphat was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, and successor of his father Asa. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read | 2 Chronicles 20:1-4

Everyone faces challenges in life. Whether our struggles are financial, vocational, relational, or physical, we can be certain that nobody is exempt. Fortunately, we serve a God who is both interested in our problems and able to take care of them.

When trouble looms, prayer is always a good first step to take. But having a foundation upon which to build our prayers also makes a difference. Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, faced an enormous challenge. Three different tribes–the Moabites,Amonites, and Meunites–simultaneously waged war against him. Most leaders would have crumbled under such pressure, or at the very least taken drastic measures, but Jehoshaphat was a wise king. Though afraid, he did not strike out against his enemies.Instead, knowing that God was interested in his dilemma, he “turned his attention to seek the Lord” and proclaimed a fast throughout the land (2 Chron. 20:1-3).

Jehoshaphat also knew that God, who was greater than any earthly problem, had done miraculous things for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Daniel. That same God would help him, too, in his hour of need. We should never underestimate the Lord’s interest in our affairs. He helped our ancestors in the Bible, and He can and will help His children today.

It’s easy to think our problems are unimportant in the eyes of God, but He doesn’t feel that way at all. Whatever concerns us concerns Him. If we, like Jehoshaphat, turn right to God and proclaim His power, He will intervene. And no matter how great our challenges are, God is greater.

Charles Stanley

by

How to Be Authentic When Image is Everything

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James 5:16

People today love to put on a good façade when deep down, they’re deeply hurting. Chuck Swindoll, the noted author and pastor said on this subject,

Most of us are pretty good at dressing up the outside of our lives.  Perfectly decorated homes, immaculately landscaped yards, polished status symbol cars, dressed for success clothes, sparkling teeth. But underneath, many of our manicured lives are withering souls. The polluting emphasis on empty externals and prayerless activity has produced a smog in our inner world. In unguarded moments of silence and solitude, we can almost feel the grime that covers our real selves.

It’s so true, isn’t it? Especially in our culture, where image is everything and what’s inside is almost nothing. And behind the nice cars, big houses, and everything anyone could buy, there is pain and brokenness at a level unsurpassed in the history of the world.

What the world needs today is people who are authentic. It needs men and women who don’t just put on a show, but are the same people in every area of their lives. So instead of putting on an image, be who God made you by confessing your sins and showing others who you really are in Christ.

IN A WORLD WHERE IMAGE IS EVERYTHING, LIVE AUTHENTICALLY.

by

Accept His Love

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

It does not matter what you do to try to clean yourself up. If you don’t trust
Jesus to save you through His grace, all your righteousness is as filthy rags
in God‘s sight. Your flesh isn’t accepted before God; it can’t even be
reformed. All flesh was done away with at the cross and now a new Man has come
forth—the Christ-man—and true faith is having confidence in what He did for
you.

You may say, “I find it hard to believe that a troubled, failing Christian like
me could be precious to God. He has to be disgusted with me, because my life is
so up-and-down. I have problems I can’t seem to get through. Oh, I believe He
still loves me but surely He is disappointed in me because I have failed Him so
often!”

Please understand: Isaiah‘s wonderful prophecy of grace (see Isaiah 43:1-5) was
spoken to a people who had been robbed, snared in holes and cast into
prison—all because of their own foolishness and unbelief. It was at such a
point that God said to them, “Now, after all your failures, I come to you with
this message of hope—and it is all because you are Mine.”

I will never forget the pain I endured when one of my teenage children came to
me and confessed, “Dad, I’ve never once felt as if I have pleased you. I’ve
never felt worthy of your love. I feel like I’ve let you down my whole life.
You must be really disappointed in me.”

Those words hurt. I embraced that tearful child, hurting deeply inside myself.
I cried as I told this child, “But you have always been special to me. You have
been the apple of my eye. When I’m on the road conducting crusades, I think of
you and my whole being lights up. Sure, you’ve done foolish, wrong things at
times but you were forgiven. You were truly sorry and I never once thought less
of you. You are nothing but a joy to me.”

So it is with many Christians in their relationship with the heavenly Father.
The devil has convinced them they have disappointed God and will never be able
to please Him. Consequently, they don’t accept His love and they live as if His
wrath is always breathing down on them. What a horrible way to go through
life—and how pained God must be when He sees His children living that way.

by

They That Are Sick

The Pharisees Question Jesus

The Pharisees Question Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

g Toot,

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” - Mark 2:17

 

This was the answer Jesus gave to the dissatisfaction about his presence among the sinners and tax collectors at Matthew‘s feast. The Pharisees thought He was compromising Himself by having a meal with these kinds of people. They were accusing Him of being one of these types of people.

But Jesus gave them a wise and good answer. These wicked and sinful ones were the very people that needed Him most. It was just with Him as with a doctor. A doctor doesn’t go on house calls to people with perfect health! Those who are well do not need a doctor, but the sick and those with a disease need him. In fact, the worse their sickness or disease, the more they need his comfort and help.

No one would ever have a problem with a doctor  visiting the sick in their homes, or hospitals, or into plague-infested areas. No one would ever suggest that he must have low standards because of the kind of people among whom he spends his time. It was just the same with Him, Jesus said. He had come to this world just so that sinners might find hope and salvation. For this reason, He could not be blamed for going where sinners were. The worse the sinners the more reason there was why He should be found there. “Good” people, like those who criticized Him, did not need his services; but wherever He found a poor, lost sinner, there was one of the persons He had come to help and save.

One suggestion is, that, like their Master, Christ‘s disciples should carry the gospel to the lowest people in society. We should not mingle among the wicked as companions; but when we strive to save them we are becoming Christ to them. Another lesson is, that no sinner need ever despair of hope, since the worse he is the more surely is Christ willing to save him.

by

You Belong To Him!

B

English: Isaiah; illustration from a Bible car...

English: Isaiah; illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

y David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride: “How fair and how pleasant art
thou, O love, for delights!” (Song of Solomon 7:6). Three of the Hebrew words
in this verse are synonymous: fair (meaning “precious”), pleasant (indicating
“pleasure”), and delights.

These words describe Jesus’ thoughts toward His bride as He beholds her. He
looks at her and says, “How beautiful, sweet and delightful you are. You are
precious to me, O love!” And in turn, the bride boasts, “I am my beloved’s, and
his desire is toward me” (verse 10). The meaning here is, “He runs after me with
delight. He chases me because I am so precious to him!”

These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalms. “The Lord taketh pleasure
in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 147:11). “For
the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with
salvation” (149:4).
Now, I can try to convince you of God‘s delight in you by telling you, “You are
precious to the Lord!” Yet you may think, “Well, that’s a lovely thought. How
sweet.”

This truth is much more than a lovely thought, however. It is the very key to
your deliverance from every battle that rages in your soul. It is the secret to
entering into the rest God has promised you. And until you lay hold of
it—until it becomes a foundation of truth in your heart—you will not be
able to withstand what is ahead in this wicked time.

Isaiah had a revelation of God’s great delight in us. He prophesied to Israel
this word from the Lord:

“O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name;
thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee”
(Isaiah 43:1-2).

Isaiah was not talking about a literal flood or fire. He was talking about what
the people were going through spiritually and mentally. They were in captivity
at the time and their floods were trials, their fires were temptations, their
rivers were testings. It was all the devil’s attempt to destroy and overwhelm
God’s people.

Isaiah’s words were a message of pure mercy to Israel. They were in captivity
because of their own stupidity and foolishness and they deserved nothing. But
God sent them a weeping, brokenhearted prophet who said, “God wants me to
tell you that you belong to Him!”

by

Depart From Us

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

They began to beg him to depart from their region. - Mark 5:17

 

This is one of the saddest sentences in the Gospels. We can scarcely imagine anyone asking Jesus to go away. He had come to their community to bring rich blessings. His hands were full of gifts. He had the power to heal the sick, to open blind eyes, to make the lame walk – to freely share all kinds of blessings among the people. He had begun His work of grace as soon as He arrived by curing their most terrible case of demon-possession. He would done other works of mercy and love if they had not begged Him to leave. It was probably all because of the loss of the pigs. If that was the way Christ‘s work was going to affect them, they did not want Him to do anyhting else!

Some people feel the same way when a work of grace begins in their community. They are opposed to Christianity because it interferes with their business. Anyone who gets upset at Christianity and Christians often get that way because they know that deep down it would bring significant changes into their lives if they accepted the message of truth. They are against Christianity because Christianity is against them. So all of us are apt to want Christ to depart from us when He interferes with our cherished plans. We need to be careful for fear that we would send Christ altogether away from us.

Jesus did not stay after these people asked Him to leave. He would not stay where He was not wanted. He left with the gifts He had come share. The sick remained unhealed that He would have healed, the crippled continued to be crippled, the demoniacs remained possessed, and the dying whom Jesus could have restored passed away.

Does anyone now ever ask Christ to depart when He comes with blessings? Does Jesus never turn away from any heart now because He is not wanted, because He is rejected?

by

The Other Side

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…


On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” - Mark 4:35

 

Christ is continually saying the same to us, though with varying meaning in his words. He is always calling us to move on into new territory, new experiences, new privileges, new duties, new conflicts, and new joys.

He says it to the unrepentant when he graciously invites them to become his disciples. He wants them to cut loose from this world, from sin and all their old dead past, and rise up and go with him to the better life. He invites them to His Father’s country, into His Father’s family. It is a land of blessing and of beauty, of plenty and of great riches. True, there is a sea that must be crossed to reach it. No one can reach the glorious country on “the other side” without passing over this sea, and no one can pass over without encountering the storms of life. There are fierce temptations, the battle to deny self, struggles, and many losses and sorrows before we can reach heaven; but the reward is so great that we should be ready to endure any hardship or suffering to win it.

Then Christ gives the same call and invitation to His people when they reach the end of their earthly lives and when He comes to take them home. No-one wants to contemplate death and think about dying, but there’s no reason to be afraid of it. On“the other side” glory waits. There is the Father’s house with many rooms (John 14:2). And however dark and terrible the narrow sea that has to be crossed may seem, there is no danger for Jesus himself accompanies His people, and none of them will die. However, if God invites us to come over to the other side into the heavenly glory, we must accept His call to come over out of the old life of sin into the new life of holiness.