VIDEO Bless The Broken Road

July 11, 2009

Selah – Bless The Broken Road

I set out on a narrow way
Many years ago
Hopin’ I would find true love
Along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
I wiped my brow
Kept pushin’ through
I couldn’t see how every sign
Pointed straight to you

And every long lost dream
Led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were just northern stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your lovin’ arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
And led me straight to you.

I think about the years I spent
Just passin’ through
I’d like to take the time I lost
And give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You’ve been there you understand
It’s all part of His grander plan
That is coming true.

And every long lost dream
Led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were just northern stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your lovin’ arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
And led me straight to you.

Now I’m just runnin’ home
Into your lovin’ arms
This much I know is true
That God bless the broken road
And led me straight to you.
Yes, God bless the broken road
And led me straight to you

I don’t own anything. Pictures and song belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended!!!

Verify the Truth – Usefulness or Relationship?

Verify the Truth

[The Bereans] searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:11

“A deadly jungle spider has migrated to the US and is killing people.” This was the story sent to me and to others on my friend’s email list. The story sounded plausible—lots of scientific names and real-life situations. But when I checked it out on reliable websites, I found it was not true—it was an Internet hoax. Its truth could only be verified by consulting a trusted source.

A group of first-century believers living in Macedonia understood the importance of confirming what they were hearing. The folks in Berea “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They were listening to Paul, and wanted to make sure what he was saying lined up with the teachings of the Old Testament. Perhaps he was telling them that there was evidence in the Old Testament that the Messiah would suffer and die for sin. They needed to verify that with the source.

When we hear spiritual ideas that disturb us, we need to be cautious. We can search the Scriptures for ourselves, listen to trustworthy sources, and seek wisdom from Jesus, our Lord.

Please give us discernment, Lord, to accept only truth that is rooted in Your Word. We praise You for preserving the inspired Scriptures for us—now help us to use them to seek You.

For help in understanding and applying the Bible, read A Message for All Time at discoveryseries.org/hp142

God’s truth stands any test.

By Dave Branon
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Usefulness or Relationship?

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. —Luke 10:20

Jesus Christ is saying here, “Don’t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.” The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service— rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you do not have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour “rivers of living water” through you (John 7:38). And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7).

Our tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make their request for help on the basis of someone’s usefulness. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint’s usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person’s life is that person’s relationship with God— something of great value to His Father. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory…” (Hebrews 2:10).

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No one could have had a more sensitive love in human relationship than Jesus; and yet He says there are times when love to father and mother must be hatred in comparison to our love for Him. So Send I You, 1301 L

Oswald Chambers

Getting in God’s Way

Matthew 16:21-23

Believers are called to be compassionate (Colossians 3:12), but we must show discernment even when practicing kindness. At times, stepping into someone’s life can block what God is doing with that person. I learned this lesson the hard way. On several different occasions, I stepped into situations I shouldn’t have. Once, I met a need when the Lord was trying to draw someone into a life of spiritual dependence. Another time, I offered comfort when the divine plan was for a heartbroken believer to seek the Lord’s solace. On still another occasion, I bailed a desperate person out of trouble before he learned God’s lesson. Nowadays, I pray before acting upon sympathetic feelings.

Peter once allowed feelings to cloud his discernment, too. Attempting to interfere in the divine plan for Jesus Christ was an experience he never forgot.

Though Peter knew exactly who Jesus was—namely, the Messiah and Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16)—he also held common Jewish misconceptions about the Messiah’s mission. Many Israelites awaited a king who would overthrow Roman rule. Consequently, Peter refused to accept Jesus’ warnings of the judgment, mistreatment, and death He anticipated. After trying to convince the Lord that such an end was impossible, the disciple was rebuked for attempting to subvert God’s will.

Peter had a narrow view of God’s plan. The Lord’s priority was to liberate hearts from sin rather than bodies from tyranny. Peter’s wrong perceptions led him into open rebellion. Do not make his mistake. Seek God’s will before offering compassionate aid, lest you obstruct His unfolding plan.

Milk or Meat

“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14)

The Scriptures are compared in these verses to our daily food—milk and meat. Milk is the necessary food for babies (1 Peter 2:2), but it becomes grotesque when a baby continues year after year as a baby, still incapable of partaking of anything but milk. This was the case with the Corinthian Christians who were, according to Paul, “babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). It was also true for these Hebrew Christians: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again . . . the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12).

Sad to say, this is still the situation with most Christian people today, even in Bible-believing churches. This is indicated not only by the many carnal divisions between them (1 Corinthians 3:3), but even more by the frothy nature of the Christian materials they read, almost always centered on introspective personal relationships rather than on the person of Christ, the deeper truths of Scripture, and the great purposes of God. The time spent in personal Bible study is minimal, and even most sermons repeatedly serve up milk for Christian babes rather than strong meat for spiritually healthy Christians “of full age” whose “senses” have already been strengthened by use to recognize the true and the false, the good and the evil. How urgently we need to heed the last words of the apostle Peter, just before his martyrdom: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). HMM

Modern Salesmanship

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. —1 John 2:19

In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest. We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them….

By offering our hearers a sweetness-and-light gospel and promising every taker a place on the sunny side of the brae, we not only cruelly deceive them, but we guarantee also a high casualty rate among the converts won on such terms. On certain foreign fields the expression “rice Christians” has been coined to describe those who adopt Christianity for profit. The experienced missionary knows that the convert that must pay a heavy price for his faith in Christ is the one that will persevere to the end. He begins with the wind in his face, and should the storm grow in strength he will not turn back for he has been conditioned to endure it.

Deliver us from the error of producing rice Christians. Amen.

The Bible Is Not Addressed to Just Anybody

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever. Isaiah 40:8

That many people find the Bible hard to understand will not be denied by those acquainted with the facts.

I venture to give a short answer to the question, “Why is the Bible hard to understand?”: I believe that we find the Bible difficult because we try to read it as we would read any other book, and it is not the same as any other book!

The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid. It is not addressed to just anybody. Its message is directed to a chosen few. Whether these few are chosen by God in a sovereign act of election or are chosen because they meet certain qualifying conditions I leave to each one to decide as he may.

But whatever may have taken place in eternity, it is obvious what happens in time: some believe and some do not; some are morally receptive and some are not; some have spiritual capacity and some have not. It is to those who do and are and have that the Bible is addressed. Those who do not and are not and have not will read it in vain!

The saving power of the Word is reserved for those for whom it is intended. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. The impenitent heart will find the Bible but a skeleton of facts without flesh or life or breath!

Human Psychology

God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:27

To meet the kind of temptations and enemies confronting us in this world, it is not enough for us to stick out our chins, inflate our chests and mutter the old refrain, “Never say die!”

Since I have been a Christian, I have had a negative reaction to that kind of human psychology. I do not mind saying that my favorite hymns are not those that exhort me to flex my biceps and tell the world where to get off! That is not my philosophy because it would put my confidence in the wrong place. If my faith, my belief, my confidence are in myself, then they cannot at the same time be resting in God!

The Bible tells us to believe in God and put our trust in Him. It warns us against having any confidence in the flesh. So I do not want some voice exhorting me to “Rise up, O man of God; go forth to face the foe”—and all of that. I would rather go to a place of prayer, meet God there and then let Him face the world for me.

We rest our case completely on God—then our experiences proceed by faith, through faith and in faith! Our victory must be God’s victory first!

Dear Lord, the devotional this morning is a good reminder to me to always go to You in prayer—first! I need to learn to wait upon You for Your divine wisdom and guidance before I take any blundering steps.

VIDEO Is Faith a Religious Word?, What’s the evidence for truth?

Jan 19, 2015

Some modern day theories seem to pit science against God, but why? Do you have to choose or can you intellectually believe in both? In Science & God, author and social critic Os Guinness engages Oxford University Professor of Mathematics John Lennox in a conversation that explores this tension, with calculations that subtract neither God nor science. Lennox looks at both historical and contemporary explanations of the universe, offering his unique perspective. Decide for yourself what to think about this important debate as you examine both scientific and theological perspectives.

View the complete video Science & God at: http://dod.org/programs/the-search-for-meaning-science-god/

Baby Steps – The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Baby Steps

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. —Psalm 18:33 niv

My baby is learning to walk. I have to hold her, and she clings to my fingers because she is still unsteady on her feet. She is afraid of slipping, but I’m there to steady her and watch over her. As she walks with my help, her eyes sparkle with gratitude, happiness, and security. But sometimes she cries when I don’t let her take dangerous paths, not realizing that I am protecting her.

Like my baby girl, we often need someone to watch over us, to guide and steady us in our spiritual walk. And we have that someone—God our Father—who helps His children learn to walk, guides our steps, holds our hand, and keeps us on the right path.
God keeps our feet steady & catches us when we slip.

King David knew all about the need for God’s watchful care in his life. In Psalm 18 he describes how God gives us strength and guidance when we are lost or confused (v. 32). He keeps our feet steady, like the feet of the deer that can climb high places without slipping (v. 33). And if we do slip, His hand is there for us (v. 35).

Whether we are new believers just learning to walk in the faith or we are further along in our walk with God, all of us need His guiding, steadying hand.

Dear Father, hold my hand and lead me in the paths of right living.

God watches over me every step of the way.

By Keila Ochoa
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The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” —John 11:40

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, “It’s all a lie”? When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42). Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, “I believe ‘God shall supply all [my] need,’ ” the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end…” (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God— trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6).

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Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Oswald Chambers

Repentance in the Believer’s Life

Proverbs 28:13

Is repentance necessary in the believer’s life? Yes, and we can see this critical truth in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You may say, “The word repentance isn’t in that verse.” But let’s take a closer look.

Remember, “to repent” simply means to change your mind. For unbelievers, this refers to saving faith—that is, the decision to place trust in Jesus. But for Christians, repentance involves a change of heart with regard to behavior or attitude. We must make an ongoing decision to lead an obedient, Christlike life.

In 1 John, this choice is represented by the word confess, which originally had the sense of “agree with.” In other words, if you confess your wrongdoing to God, you are coming into agreement with Him about that sin and, in turn, disagreeing with your previous view. Here, confession isn’t a matter of salvation; rather, it means allowing the Father to continually reform your mind, molding you more and more into the image of His Son.

God absolutely hates sin. So if you agree with Him about sin, then you are changing your mind about the disobedience in your life. Thoughts, attitudes, and actions that once seemed perfectly natural will no longer fit with who you are. As God continues to work in your life, your mind will gradually reject old thought patterns, and you’ll more closely represent His way of thinking.

Is there sin in your life that has become too uncomfortable to bear? Confess the matter to God, and allow Him to change your mind about it today.