Good Words for Today
When people ask me what they can do to help others, my answer is always the same. Start where you are. Open your eyes to see the hurting faces you meet every day. Our greatest problem is not that we won't help hurting people; it's that all too often we don't even see them in the first place.
When I feel like giving up on life, Lord, grant me the gift of endurance so I won’t give up on you. Amen.
Sometimes we forget how powerful the gospel is and how easy it is for a sinner to be saved. I have been preaching for fifty-five years, and I can say with conviction that I have never known a sinner whom Christ would not receive. I know thousands of people who have experienced the life‐transforming power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The prayer that changes the world begins and builds on what God has already revealed. When you pray, stand on the promises of God.
I heard about a billboard advertising the cardiac services of Christ Hospital. The billboard reads: "Christ is #1 in Open Heart Surgeries." I donʹt know about the hospital, but I can vouch for its namesake. Jesus Christ is indeed #1 in open‐heart surgery. He has never lost a case yet. When you come to him, he gives you a brand‐new heart.
"No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.” George Jean Nathan
Living Lord, forgive me for doubting your good purposes. Thank you for using my doubts to teach me more about yourself. Amen.
We cannot trace God’s hand in every circumstance because God paints on a canvas much larger than our tiny vision.
Father, thank you for giving me a faith that is based on fact. Fill my heart with Easter joy, because I know that my Redeemer lives today. Amen.
“Your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). If the Lord remembers our work, it does not matter who forgets it.
As long as you refuse to forgive, you’re better off not praying the Lord’s Prayer. Because unless you forgive, you will not be forgiven.
“O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!” Katharine Lee Bates, 1895
Thank You, Father, for fully equipping me to face life. Show me the mighty resources that are mine through your Holy Spirit. Amen.
God continually pours out the Holy Spirit on his children, ensuring that the new life will never grow old. This thought ought to be a great comfort to every struggling Christian. God wants us to have all the resources we need for the problems we face. That’s why he poured out his Spirit—not a little trickle, but a mighty ocean from heaven.
Mind-blowing truth: God knows you inside and out, and he loves you anyway.
Lord Jesus, help me to discern the difference between honest concern and sinful worry. Show me how to cast my cares upon you lest I collapse under the weight of my own problems. Amen.
The only way to be delivered from a spirit of revenge is to be so filled with God that a desire for revenge finds no place in your heart.
Lord Jesus, you promised to return. Today wouldn't be too soon. If not today, then tomorrow. Help me to live so that I won’t be surprised or ashamed when that glad day finally arrives. Amen.
God's holiness demands that sin be punished. Godʹs grace provides the sacrifice. What God demands, he supplies. Salvation is a work of God from first to last. It is conceived by God, provided by God, and applied by God.
Holy Spirit, thank you for faithful pastors and Bible teachers. Fill them with power as they preach and teach. Give me ears to hear what you are saying and a willing heart to respond in obedience. Amen.
Jesus died in accordance with Godʹs plan, at precisely the right moment, in exactly the right way, accomplishing all that the Father intended from before the foundation of the world.
“Never pass up an opportunity to keep your mouth shut.” Elisabeth Elliot
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed” (Romans 4:18). This is always where faith meets the acid test. Are you willing to believe God even when the outward circumstances argue against it? Abraham had no one to encourage him. No one except God. Where is God stretching your faith right now? Where would it be easier for you to doubt God than to believe in Him? As you think about those questions, ponder the story of Abraham and Sarah. God put it in the Bible for at least two reasons: 1. So that we will know that God always keeps his promises. 2. So that we will never stop believing, even though we have to wait a long time for God to answer our prayers. Keep hope alive. You never know what God will do.
"The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away."
“Be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). The word means to be long-tempered. It has the idea of being tough and durable under pressure. Be slow to anger, slow to give up. Don’t lose your patience as you help others. We must not give way to exasperation. Sometimes I hear people say, “I lost my temper.” I want to reply, “You didn’t lose it, you found it!” Some of us need to lose our temper and never find it again.
Holy Father, thank you for entrusting me with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May I be faithful to share it with others who will keep on believing it long after I am gone. Amen.
Keep me true to you, Lord Jesus, lest I should begin to drift away. May I never take you for granted, not even for a moment. Amen.
There is nothing except your sin that stands between you and God. God's wrath was turned away in the death of his Son; his justice has been satisfied, his love poured out to the world. Now you must choose—your sins or Jesus Christ! Damnation or salvation! If you come to God through Christ, you will be accepted. You will not, you cannot, be turned away.
Did you wake up worried? God is large and in charge. He can handle the details that scare you to death.
Death is the final enemy. It is the end of one thing and the beginning of. . . what? Modern men and women do not know how to finish that sentence. No wonder we are afraid. Jesus Christ says, ʺFear not, for I have conquered death.ʺ He was there. He died just like all men die. And he came back to tell the story. No one else has ever done that.
When we need courage, love, or discipline, we should never say, “We can‘t,” because in Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, God has said, “You can!”
When Jesus died, something stupendous happened in the spiritual realm. Although it was invisible to the naked eye, it was seen by all the angels and the Old Testament saints. They watched as Jesus entered the infernal regions and disarmed the ʺbad guysʺ one by one. Then he marched them in full view of his heavenly Father so that every created being would know that he had won the victory.
When God saves people, he doesnʹt do it because of any potential he sees in them. Most of us secretly feel (though we would never say it) that there must have been something in us worth saving. Human pride dies hard. But itʹs not as if God saw a musician and said, ʺWe need a good piano player in the church. I think Iʹll save him." Or, "Sheʹs got a lot of money, and we could use some extra cash for world missions." Or, ʺThose twins would make excellent ushers. I want them on my team." No, no, a thousand times no. God doesn't save on the basis of your potential. Apart from the grace of God, the only potential you have is the potential for eternal damnation.
God isn’t worried about anything. He’s not up in heaven wringing his hands over who’s going to win the election in November. He’s also not fretting about your next visit to the doctor. He’s not worried about your aging parents or your income taxes or whether or not you’re ever going to get married. God’s not worried about anything in your life or my life or about anything relating to the people we love. He’s in perfect control of the entire universe at all times. He’s working out his plan to perfection, and nothing can hinder him in the least degree.
“Stop trying to fix people. Point them to Jesus.” Caleb Kaltenbach
Father, I pray for my friends who don’t know Jesus. Grant them tender hearts to respond to the call of Your Spirit. Amen.
Father, thank you for sending your Spirit to tell me what to say when trouble comes. May I never be ashamed of Jesus or afraid to speak up for him. Amen.
What happens when we worship? When William Temple tried to define worship, he wrote a statement that is both beautiful and profound: To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, To feed the mind with the truth of God, To purge the imagination by the beauty of God, To open the heart to the love of God, To devote the will to the purpose of God. All of that is utterly countercultural. You don’t get that by spending hours on social media. Come to think of it, you won’t get that in the great universities of the world. Cambridge and Harvard can teach you how to think at a high level, but if you want to worship, you’ll need to go into the presence of God.
"Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up Lord; Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole."