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“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15 NIV
New International Version (NIV)
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
You Can Still Be Merry!
by Jon Walker
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20 NIV)
40 Days in the Word: Learn the Word, Love the Word, LIVE the Word.
The nationwide launch of Pastor Rick’s 40 Days in the Word is coming Jan. 29. It’s not too late for your small group to get involved! Watch a three-minute video testimony of lives already being changed. Download a free sample PDF of 40 Days in the Word.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus, and then we return to the office, to school, to the things we normally do.
Do you remember that Christmas was just a few weeks ago? (Or are you still thinking about when you’ll take down your decorations?)
The shepherds of Bethlehem returned to their fields. God had sent them to find the baby Jesus in a manger. They marveled at God and knew they’d been blessed to see the Messiah’s arrival.
And then they returned to their flocks. They returned with an energized faith, glorifying and praising God. But, still, they returned to their routine.
God takes us to the mountaintop where he shows us great miracles and wonders, but he doesn’t leave us there. It is in the fields and among the flocks that our faith grows, nurtured in the soil of the day-to-day, the mundane. This is where we die to Christ, allowing his life to blossom within us (Galatians 2:20).
You may have returned to your routine, but God wants you to know this:
Merry Christmas and a Happy Return to Routine.
Jon is managing editor of Rick Warren’s Daily Hope Devotionals and the author of Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship.” This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
December 14
Trials and Pain: The Necessity of Wounds
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word....It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. --Psalm 119:67,71
It is amazing to me! There are people within the ranks of Christianity who have been taught and who believe that Christ will shield His followers from wounds of every kind.
If the truth were known, the saints of God in every age were only effective after they had been wounded. They experienced the humbling wounds that brought contrition, compassion and a yearning for the knowledge of God. I could only wish that more among the followers of Christ knew what some of the early saints meant when they spoke of being wounded by the Holy Spirit....
In every generation, the people who have found God have been those who have come to the end of themselves. Recognizing their hopelessness, they have been ready to throw themselves on the mercy and grace of a forgiving God. Men Who Met God, pp.59,62
"Lord, don't let me waste the humbling wounds. Do Your great work within me, and help me to respond properly and learn all You want me to learn through Your working. Amen."
February: The Holy Spirit
In my sober judgment the relation of the Spirit to the believer is
the most vital question the church faces today.
Keys to the Deeper Life, page 15
This Insight for Leaders devotional is also available in a print-friendly format here on the LMI web site.
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August: Evangelism
Every notable advance in the saving work of God among men will, if examined, be found to have two factors present: several converging lines of providential circumstances and a person.
Let My People Go: The Life of Robert A. Jaffray, 50.
August 26
Evangelism: Sovereign Calling
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
--John 1:12-13
There is another and worse evil which springs from this basic failure to grasp the radical difference between the natures of the two worlds. It is the habit of languidly "accepting" salvation as if it were a small matter and one wholly in our hands. Men are exhorted to think things over and "decide" for Christ, and in some places one day each year is set aside as "Decision Day," at which time people are expected to condescend to grant Christ the right to save them, a right which they have obviously refused Him up to that time.
Christ is thus made to stand again before men's judgment seat; He is made to wait upon the pleasure of the individual, and after long and humble waiting is either turned away or patronizingly admitted. By a complete misunderstanding of the noble and true doctrine of the freedom of the human will salvation is made to depend perilously upon the will of man instead of upon the will of God.
However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints not at their own whim but by sovereign calling. The Pursuit of Man, pp. 37-38
"Sovereign God, I'm Your servant. I'll share the message, I'll pray for response, but only You can draw an unsaved person to faith in Christ. Thank You for the privilege of having even a small part in Your sovereign work. Amen."
