Posts for October 8-11, 2015

October 8

On The Voice of God by A.W. Tozer

"My sheep hear My voice..." -Jesus "God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken words, constantly speaking his word and causing the power of it to persist across the years... The voice of God is a friendly voice. No one needs fear to listen to it, unless he has already made up his mind to resist it... I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception of, and a wrong feeling for the Scriptures of truth.  A silent God suddenly began to speak in a book and when the book was finished lapsed back into silence again forever.  Now we read the book as the record of what God said when he was for a brief time in the speaking mood... The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent.  It is the nature of God to speak... A word of God once spoken continues to be spoken."

October 9

Tragedy Or Triumph?  By Dr. D. James Kennedy

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.—Philippians 1:21 If you knew that you were going to die today, how would you feel until the moment arrived?  Death can be either the most frightening or the most delightful prospect to an individual.  How a person feels about death depends totally on his or her relationship with the Lord.  Consider how one man changed his perspective on facing “the king of terrors” as his relationship with Jesus Christ changed. John Wesley was an unbeliever and a clergyman all at the same time, at least in the early part of his ministry. He knew all the facts about Christianity, but he hadn’t developed an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. During this time of unrecognized spiritual confusion, Wesley was sailing on a ship bound for England when a great storm overwhelmed the vessel, ripping its sails to shreds and threatening to destroy the masts. Wesley was terrified! As the wind howled in the darkness of that night, Wesley felt certain he’d soon face his Maker. He knew that he was getting ready to leap into the darkness of death, and he didn’t know where he would land. Suddenly, over the howling of the winds, Wesley heard the sound of singing. He looked to see where it came from, and he saw three men holding onto the other side of the ship, singing praises to God! Wesley staggered over to these men and shouted against the wind, “How can you sing? You are going to die this very hour!” To his astonishment they replied, “If the ship goes down, then we go up to meet the Lord!” “How can they know that?” thought Wesley. Only later, in London, would he discover their secret—the secret of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Dying means totally different things to the saved and the unsaved. At death, the unbeliever is ripped from the arms of the world and cast into the fires of hell. But the Christian leaves this world to rest eternally in the everlasting arms of Jesus, who has made our entrance into heaven possible by His death! What’s your attitude toward death? If you feel fear, you needn’t. You can trust your life to Jesus Christ, accepting His free gift of grace, your passage to heaven when this life ends. And as you receive that gift, you can experience the joyful anticipation of an even greater life to come when this life ceases.

October 11

Good For Evil

‘…bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.’—Matthew 5:44 Remember the last time someone wronged you?  Maybe a friend betrayed a confidence.  Or perhaps someone attacked your character or lied to you or…well, any one of thousands of scenarios.  Whatever the offense, how did you respond? In matters of good and evil, our responses can take one of four directions. First of all, some people return evil for good.  This is the devil’s way of doing things. We see this attitude demonstrated by criminals and by cruel and tyrannical governments. You offer these people your best, and they hurt you in return. Then some people return evil for evil.  These people aren’t devil-like; they’re beast-like. Animals, especially wild animals, generally react this way.  If you step on a snake’s tail, you can soon expect to find its fangs in your ankle. Others return good for good.  This isn’t devilish or beastly; it is a natural human response, the response of an unregenerate person.  We don’t find this hard to accept. In fact, when we do good to others, we expect good in return. But the fourth response, returning good for evil, makes us halt in our tracks.  Jesus says, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person.” He then gives some illustrations of this: If someone takes away your coat, let that person have your cloak also; if someone borrows from you, do not turn away; and if anyone compels you to go a mile, go two. If we were to put such a response into practice, we’d see God do tremendous things through us. Jesus, in His great love and compassion, has told us how to respond to others, especially those who hurt us!  But we can’t respond this way on our own; it’s not part of our human nature.   Instead, we must turn to Christ Himself, who returned ultimate evil with ultimate good. Christ went into the very depths of ruin and hell for our evilness, and in His goodness He suffered for us and conquered evil for all time.  Only through Christ can we gain the ability and the desire to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek. Has someone done you wrong recently?  How can you return good for evil to that person today?