VIDEO Secret Hero

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26

 

We try so hard to be self-sufficient. Although we delight in helping others out of our strength, it takes a giant swallow of our pride to accept help. We avoid feelings of brokenness and dependence. We would rather struggle for months on end before admitting we need help. This tendency stunts our growth because it rejects the help and power God has provided.

Although unseen, the Holy Spirit is the invisible hero dwelling within us. God knows our weakness and provides the Holy Spirit to guide, strengthen, and sustain us. The Spirit comes to our rescue time and again. We are loved, and our weakness is never mocked. When God calls us, we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit will equip us through His insight and power. The evidence is clear in both the life of Christ and the lives of His followers.

The first thing that accounts for God’s using D. L. Moody so mightily was that he was a fully surrendered man. Every ounce of that two-hundred-and-eighty-pound body of his belonged to God; everything he was and everything he had, belonged wholly to God. R. A. Torrey

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Groanings Too Deep for Words (Romans 8:26-28)

Fleeing from Turkeys

David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 1 Samuel 17:48

Two wild turkeys stood in the country lane ahead. How close could I get? I wondered. I slowed my jog to a walk, then stopped. It worked. The turkeys walked toward me . . . and kept coming. In seconds, their heads were bobbing at my waist, then behind me. How sharp were those beaks? I ran away. They waddled after me before giving up the chase. 

How quickly the tables had turned! The hunted had become the hunter when the turkeys seized the initiative. Foolishly, I had wondered if they were too dumb to be scared. I wasn’t about to be carelessly wounded by a bird, so I fled. From turkeys.

David didn’t seem dangerous, so Goliath taunted him to come near. “ ‘Come here,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!’ ” (1 Samuel 17:44). David flipped the script when he seized the initiative. He ran toward Goliath, not because he was foolish but because he had confidence in God. He shouted, “This very day . . . the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (v. 46). Goliath was puzzled by this aggressive boy. What’s going on? he must have thought. Then it hit him. Right between the eyes.

It’s natural for small animals to run from people and shepherds to avoid giants. It’s natural for us to hide from our problems. Why settle for natural? Is there a God in Israel? Then, in His power, run toward the fight.

By:  Mike Wittmer

Reflect & Pray

What problem or person are you avoiding? How might you express confidence in God?

Father, whenever I’m afraid, remind me that Your Spirit is in me. Help me run in Your strength.

When God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways

A humble and trusting heart allows us to accept rather than resist God’s will 1 Chronicles 17:1-15

How do you respond when God says no? What if you requested something good—or even godly—and God doesn’t merely withhold but says, “No, I’m giving this good thing to someone else”?

David built a kingdom and then erected a palace for himself. It was evident (to him) that the next thing to construct was a temple for God. Why should he, a mere man, live in luxury while the Lord had nothing more than the old tabernacle tent? It was such an obvious next step, in fact, that the prophet Nathan didn’t even inquire of the Lord. He told David to go right ahead. “Do whatever is in your heart,” he said, “for God is with you” (1 Chron. 17:2).

But God said no. That night, the Lord met Nathan in a vision and gave him the unenviable task of telling the king—one of the most powerful men in the known world—that he could not pursue this task. Rather, his son Solomon would be the one to do it (1 Chronicles 28:6).

David wasn’t a perfect man by any means, but his response to this news demonstrates faith and the ability to surrender to God’s will. Instead of resisting, David came before God with thanksgiving, worship, and awe—and blessed His name. David found contentment and gave praise for all the Lord had done for him. May his example be one that comes to mind when we face delays and disappointments.

Love in Action

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” (1 Corinthians 13:4)

It is well known that “charity” in this famous “love chapter” is the Greek agape, which is translated “love” three times as often as it is translated “charity,” even in the King James Version. Why then did the scholarly translators prefer to use “charity” in this chapter, of all places?

Possibly it is because 1 Corinthians 13 emphasizes what love does rather than what love is. Love is described in this chapter, not with adjectives or adverbs, but with verbs! “Charity,” in the Old English sense, was not merely giving to feed the poor (note v. 3) but meant agape love—an unselfish, enduring, and active concern on behalf of others.

In this passage (vv. 4-8, 13) are listed 17 actions that love, or charity, does or does not engage in. Love acts with patience and kindness; it does not envy others or seek to impress others, neither does it exhibit arrogance or conceit. Love is never rude, does not seek its own way, is slow to take offense, and bears no malice or resentment. Love does not gloat over the sins of others and is delighted when truth prevails. Love will bear up under any trial and will never lose faith; it is always hopeful and unlimited in its endurance.

Finally, genuine love will be eternal. Even faith will cease when it is replaced by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and hope will finally be fulfilled (Romans 8:24), but love will abide forever. Love, of course, is eternal because Christ is eternal, and Christ is God, and God is love.

This classic passage, describing genuine Christian love, could in fact be read as a beautiful description of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is, “Christ suffereth long, and is kind,” and so on, finally climaxing in the great truth, “Christ never faileth.” Jesus Christ is, indeed, love in action! HMM

Picture The Scene

Three years of camaraderie, miracles, and the infusion of His life into theirs, now culminating in a final meal together… before the tragic onslaught of denial and death.

In a few hours:

Judas would knife Him in the back.

Peter would crumble under pressure.

The rest would run away in fear.

Fully aware of these events, Jesus:

Knelt before Judas and lovingly washed his feet.

As He did Peter’s

And the rest.

It’s called unconditional love.

Grace unmerited.

Of this love the Lord Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… As I have loved you, so you must love one another.“(John 13:15, 34b)

QUESTION: To what extent of loving servanthood are you willing to go for the sake of those whom God has placed in your path?

Washing traitors’ feet and dying on an instrument of execution for a pack of rebels was His level of sacrifice.

What is yours?

“When ye stand praying, forgive.”

Matthew 17:22-27

Matthew 17:22, 23

He often spoke to them upon this point, and as they gradually comprehended his meaning their sorrow increased. He kept his death always before his mind’s eye, and frequently reminded his followers of it before it was accomplished; and now that his suffering work is finished, he would have it always present to the hearts of his people.

Matthew 17:24, 25

But, as usual, he spake too quickly. He ought not to have committed his Master to the payment of a doubtful exaction.

Matthew 17:24, 25

prevented or anticipated

Matthew 17:26

This tribute had not the divine sanction. The services of the temple, and the maintenance of the priests were otherwise provided for by the Mosaic law, and no annual poll tax had ever been instituted by God. Eastern kings in our Lord’s day levied tribute only upon the natives of conquered lands, and did not exact from their own people. It could not be supposed that the King of Grace would tax his own family.

Matthew 17:27

He paid the demand, but in such a way as to prove his own sovereign status. He paid as only God could do.

Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:23, 24

If of silver, these talents were worth between three and four millions sterling; if of gold, sixty millions.

Matthew 18:25-28

hundred pence: or about three pounds:

Matthew 18:25-28

This debt at the most was the millionth part of the former one.

Matthew 18:29

The attitude and words which had drawn compassion from his master were addressed to him in vain.

Matthew 18:30-35

God will deal with each of us upon the principle which sways our own life, and if we adopt a stern and severe mode of action, we must expect the same rule to be carried out in our case.

The Promise of the Spirit

This Jesus… being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:32-33)

The miraculous events wrought in Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost indicated to the disciples that Jesus Christ, the Messiah-Savior, had indeed taken His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

With Jewish critics all around, Peter lifted his voice and said that all who were in Jerusalem on that day were seeing the fulfillment of prophecy—he words of Jesus that He would send the Holy Spirit after His death and resurrection and exaltation.

“Therefore,” Peter cried, “let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

Many, many have failed to note Peter’s Pentecostal emphasis: the important thing in God’s plan was the fact that Jesus had been exalted in heaven, and that His glorification there had been the signal for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit. What a lesson! The Spirit does not have to be begged—He comes when the Savior is honored and exalted!