Warning about sin’s consequences

Bible Reading Plans – Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks – VOICE – July 29, 2013.

Comment from The Voice Bible: Romans Chapter 2:Paul sounds a sober warning. God’s wrath is here; it is not some far-off future event. Paul says that God’s wrath is already at work in the world in what is effectively God’s “hands-off” policy. God, he says, steps aside and gives us over to idolatry, sexual sins, and depraved minds. Human sin and depravity are both its cause and effect. You see, we are not only punished for our sins, but we are punished by our sins. If God’s salvation consists essentially of His presence with us, then His wrath consists of His absence or separation from us. The bad news is this: God’s wrath is real. Without the good news of Jesus, no hope exists.

Where is Your Hope by Billy Graham

Day 13 – Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com.

Where is Your Hope?

The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing; but the little bird was asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head serenely under its wing, sound asleep. That is peace—to be able to sleep in the storm! In Christ, we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of the confusion, bewilderments, and perplexities of life. The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest. We have found peace—at last!

Daily Prayer

Thank You, dear Lord, for the hope I have in Your abiding love, which surrounds me.

God Never Makes Mistakes

Day 12 – Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com.

God Never Makes Mistakes

God is especially close to us when we are lying on a sickbed. God will make the bed soft and will freshen it with His presence and with His tender care. He makes the bed comfortable and wipes away our tears. He ministers to us with special tenderness at such a time and reveals His great love for us. Tell me why the gardener trims and prunes his rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches, and I will tell you why God’s people are afflicted. God’s hand never slips. He never makes a mistake. His every move is for our own good and for our ultimate good. Oftentimes He must deform us and mutilate our own image. Deformity sometimes precedes conformity.
Daily Prayer

When times of tribulation come, help me, dear Lord, to glory in them for Your sake.
Comment: Exchange Sorrow & Suffering for Joy & Peace, Much Afraid becomes Grace & Glory.  Read the book: Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

From Suffering to Glory

Day 11 – Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com.

 

 

18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18

Eternity

Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are to be exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. It does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside Christ. The early Christians were able to experience joy in their hearts in the midst of trials, troubles, and depression. They counted suffering for Christ not as a burden or misfortune, but as a great honor, as evidence that Christ counted them worthy to witness to Him through suffering. They never forgot what Christ Himself had gone through for their salvation; and to suffer for His name’s sake was regarded as a gift rather than a cross. Christians can rejoice in tribulation because they have eternity’s values in view. When the pressures are on, they look beyond their present predicaments to the glories of heaven. The thought of the future life with its prerogatives and joys helps to make the trials of the present seem light and transient.

Daily Prayer

Father, help me to go beyond the afflictions and tribulations of our age, and to look toward the inheritance reserved for us in heaven.

The Privileges of Living by faith in Christ

Narender Bhatia:

God has given us His Word and a tongue to create the future we desire.We can be everything God has planned for us to be and attain the highest height in life if we would learn to use our tongue right. Never talk failure,weakness,sickness,lack or fear!Speak faith-filled words all the time.We build our future with our tongue…Proverbs 18v21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue:and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof…Stay blessed…

The Life of Discipline for children of God

Bible Reading Plans – Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks – VOICE – Today’s Reading.

Comment from The Voice Bible Hebrews Chapter 12:The Bible is a brutally honest book. It contains stories of liars, murderers, and adulterers; and these are the good guys. If we read the Bible looking only for positive role models, we’ll be quickly disappointed. But if we are honest with ourselves and confess our own faults, we will find in Scripture, particularly in the First Testament, that we have much in common with many broken saints of the past. But we must not stay broken. We must follow their path to transformation through repentance and faith. Repentance means a change of heart, a change of mind, and ultimately a change of how we live. God’s grace comes to us and enables us to turn away from sin and to turn back to Him.

Walk by Faith in Jesus Christ

The 23 Photos That Will Make Your Stomach Drop – StumbleUpon.

You will accomplish greater things when you follow the Lord.

The Unchanging God by Billy Graham

Day 10 – Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com.

Have you ever thought about the collapse of time? From the days of the Lord Jesus Christ until about 1830, man could not travel any faster than a horse. In 1960, a man went into space and traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles an hour. Look how far we have come in so short a time! Sometimes when I read the papers, I think we are trying to run the Space Age with horse-and-buggy moral and spiritual equipment. Technology, you see, has no morals; and with no moral restraints man will destroy himself ecologically, militarily, or in some other way. Only God can give a person moral restraints and spiritual strength. While our world is shaking and crumbling, we need to realize that one thing will never change, and that is God. He is the same today as He was ten million years ago, and He will be the same ten million years from today. We are like grasshoppers; we appear and hop around a bit on the earth, and then we are gone.

Daily Prayer

Almighty God, to know You are unchanging gives me peace in a frighteningly changing world.

Living by Faith

Bible Reading Plans – Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks – VOICE – Today’s Reading.

Comment from The Voice Bible Hebrews Chapter 11:

Stories of faith and faithfulness are central to the First Testament. The writer of Hebrews recalls some of the most memorable examples of how people of faith lived their lives. But what is faith? Faith is more than belief; it is trust, assurance, and firm conviction. Ironically most of those who lived by faith never fully realized the promises God had made. Like us they journeyed as strangers and exiles, longing for another country. We should remember their patient faith when we face prolonged hardships and allow the trials we face to strengthen our faith rather than destroy it. If we are comfortable here and don’t face suffering for our faith, perhaps we aren’t fully living by faith and looking forward to a future hope.

Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com

Day 9 – Day By Day With Billy Graham | YouVersion.com.

Devotional

Get In The Word

As Christians, we have the Spirit of God in us. But ours is the responsibility to keep sin out of our lives so that the Spirit can produce His fruit in us. Become grounded in the Bible. As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God. Abraham Lincoln in a letter to a friend said, “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance upon faith. You will live and die a better man.” Begin the day with the Book; and as the day comes to a close, let the Word speak its wisdom to your soul. Let it be the firm foundation upon which your hope is built. Let it be the Staff of Life upon which your spirit is nourished. Let it be the Sword of the Spirit which cuts away the evil of your life and fashions you in His image and likeness.

Daily Prayer

Almighty God, Your Word nourishes my whole being and I praise Your holy name!