#devotional message

From Fear to Perfect Love

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Dear reader: I offer this devotional message to you with this prayer: that it would bring comfort to you in this terrifying time of domestic and foreign terrorism. I gave this message at the Head Office for World Vision in Canada shortly after 911. It has been edited to make it flow better for an audience reading…

Faith may arise and fall depending on the situations that God has given us. But faith will move God’s heart faithfully.

They say, faith is important and surely it move God’s heart. The Lord will not give us situations that we can’t overcome.

Many people may not lead unto God’s plan for them because they are too focused on the situation or the problem.

Many will fall from the grace of God…

— 1 Peter 2:9

Thought

Excluded. Rejected. Discarded. Abandoned. Forgotten. Pushed aside. Not picked. Each of these describes an aspect of feeling like you are a nobody. Satan gives our sinful flesh the tools and the opportunities to speak these words of self-condemnation to ourselves. But God — two of the greatest words in the Bible — loved us in Christ and brought us into his family and gave us a purpose. We are now part of the people of God! We have been chosen for the victorious team of teams. We have received mercy! Grace has washed over us and the love of God has adopted us in his family.

Peter is giving maligned and persecuted people the reminder that they can choose to see themselves as "nobodies" or they can choose to see themselves by their new identity. Thankfully, Peter's words speak to our hearts, too. You, dear friend in Jesus, are God's child. You are part of his eternal and conquering people — like Moses, Esther, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. Mercy has reversed the power of sin and failure and put grace in place empowered by the Holy Spirit's presence in you. So don't live today as you once "were": live today as you are in Jesus!

Prayer

O Father of Mercy and God of all grace, thank you for making me new — your child, part of your people, and a purpose put in the world around me on purpose. Please help me hear your description of me and not Satan's. Please help me define my identity by your words and not my own words of self-condemnation. I thank you for who I am and that I a no longer bound by what I once was. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayers for Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to [email protected].

Fun? YOLO? Do everything while you're young? Live like you're today’s your last day?

  I’m pretty sure everyone’s encountered these words or phrases already. Prior to my being a Christian, these phrases were my life motto. I promised myself I’d do all things, regardless whether it’s illegal or foolish, before I die hence all the things an ordinary adolescent nowadays would think of as living the “YOLO” life.

  True enough we have only one life to live. But let me ask you this question, why waste it living in sin? The world will be obliterated to oblivion soon. So why love it? Will you be able to bring these things and memories with you to wherever your destination is? Are you even sure you would be able to remember these things when you're already there, in the midst of blinding white light? Thus why is it such a big deal for us to continue living a worldly life?

  As it was said in Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

  I know it's hard, not to conform to the patterns of this world. I'm a teenager too let alone a human. And humans are weak creatures. We are all susceptible to temptation. We all easily succumb to sin. And the society we have today only adds oil to the flame. Most teenagers nowadays are influenced or pressured to do this and that, to have this and that because it has become the new norm. But in the end, where do you think will all these things end up in?

  No sure answer right? No one knows what will happen to us after our heartbeats halt. But we Christians know one certain thing: God gave us the assurance of eternal life the moment we received Christ into our lives and accepted him as our personal Lord and Savior. We are now certain that there's a paradise after death. Do you see yourself amid that paradise? Held by the arms of God? Can you see His beautiful face saying, "Child, I am proud of you. I know you had a tough time deflecting from the means of the world yet you still opted to obey and follow me. This then is your reward for living a righteous life on earth and for being the kind of person I wanted you to be." Wonderful, isn't it? Some of us are probably stoked for that moment to come. But how will God be able to say such if you're still living the former you? The earthly and unrighteous you?

  There are three detrimental effects when you ought to live by the world and not by the Word:

  1. You become an enemy of God. James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

  Living according to the world means living in sinand living in sin means choosing the side of the enemy.We should always be reminded that the world is the kingdom of the enemy. And when we adhere to everything in this world we become an enemy of God because we choose to accede to the devil’s snare. We then begin to love the world as the enemy entices us with things that seem to be pleasurable but are actually decaying. So when we live according to the world we actually begin to disobey and turn away from God.

    2. If you live according to the world, you will get what the world has to offer. The things we should pine for are not supposed to be worldly because a worldly desire begets something worldly in return. And we all know what anything worldly is for the world is the epitome of flaw, a melting pot of distress, afflicted lives and conflicts thus a life at odds is what you will live thereafter.

  3.  You are trading the glory of what God has promised us for something short-lived. Keep in mind that the bliss is temporary.Nothing in this world is permanent. Gadgets, fashion trends, social networking sites itself, are fleeting as they “evolve” all the time. Do not trade what God has promised us if we live a righteous life for something that is passing, for something that will last for only one day, for only a few weeks, for only a handful of months.

  Let us hold on to what Paul has told us in 1Corinthians 7:31b, “For this world in its present form is passing away.”

  Now that we’ve learned the drawbacks of living according to the world, let us now impress on our hearts and minds what we should do when the enemy’s trying to lure us:

  Here are some suggested action points:

  Remember the 3D’s.

 1.     Destroy. Destroy everything that will urge you to commit a sin. Whether it’s a material thing or just mere thoughts, as long as you consider it sinful or not Christ-like, destroy it. Crash it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

  I copied this verbatim from the Call to Consecration letter that we read before the school year began, “Imagine Jesus is coming to your home to take a careful look in every room. He will see the things in your closets and drawers. He will see the music you listen to and the DVD’s you watch. He will look on the shelves at your reading literature. He will check out the refrigerator and examine your computer files. Nothing will escape His pure gaze.”

 2.     Deviate. Our discipler has once told us that when we are tempted to commit a sin, we should literally shout: “Away with you!” for us to be able to deviate from that particular sin.

   3.     Divert. When you’re being tempted, divert your attention to something else.  It was mentioned in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” The best way of doing this is reading the Bible and talking to God. When you read His Word, be rest assured that He will distract you from committing yet another sin.

anchoredinChrist4ever:

Devotional message from Billy Graham about love <3