Good Words for Today

If you decide to follow Christ, you may not be safe but your life will never be dull.

The devil loves an empty heart because he can move right in. Keep your heart filled with Christ today.

The majority is not always right. Often the majority is dead wrong. Remember Joshua and Caleb.  

We think we are going from the land of the living to the land of the dying. But if you know Jesus, you are going from the land of the dying to the land of the living.

Do not complain about circumstances. That changes nothing. Do not complain about difficult people. That changes nothing. Do not complain about hard challenges. That changes nothing. Ask the Lord, "What do you want me to learn from this?" That changes you.

You came to Christ because someone prayed for you. It might have been a godly mother or father or a friend who witnessed to you or a pastor or a Sunday School teacher or a youth pastor or a deacon or a missionary or a fellow student or a coworker. Don’t think you came to Christ on your own. Someone lifted you before the Throne of Grace, and God moved from heaven to draw you to the Savior. If someone prayed for you when you were lost, won’t you do the same for a friend who needs Jesus?

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15). 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, like some conquering Old West hero, entered the infernal regions and disarmed the “bad guys” 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.

If you don't disciple your kids, the world will gladly do it for you.

The world has no quarrel with a compromising Christian.

“The problem in America today is not the presence of darkness. It's the absence of light.” Jason Benham.

Christ didn't die for good people because there aren't any. He died for sinners and rebels and scoundrels. If you qualify in any of those categories, you can be saved.

Lord, please do whatever needs to be done in my life so that others may see Christ in me. Amen.  Rephrase with Ginger (Ctrl+Alt+E)

Lord, help me to love the irritating people I meet, and help me to remember that someone is probably praying this about me today. Amen.

"Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all."

Just in case you were wondering . . . He's got the whole world in his hands He's got the whole wide world in his hands He's got the whole wide world in his hands He's got the whole world in his hands.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a "a time to be silent and a time to speak." We need wisdom to know the difference. But pay attention to the order of the verse. A time to be silent comes before a time to speak. Better to be silent than to open your mouth and regret it later. That's the good word for today.

Christians don't fit in, and we never will. We can't serve the world by becoming like the world.

Have you prayed for your pastor today?

Fortify our hearts, Lord Jesus, to trust you more and more. Thank you for promises that can never be broken because you are Promise-keeping God. Amen.

Even in the most difficult moments, God’s people can rejoice because he is at work doing something important in them. More than one person has told me, “I wouldn’t trade my pain for the things God has shown me.” If that doesn’t make sense, it is only because you haven’t been there yet.

What does it mean to be “righteous” in God’s sight? When God looks at me, all he sees is my sin. What I call righteousness, he calls filthy rags. I have nothing in myself that will pass for righteousness in his eyes. But when I place my trust in Jesus Christ, God looks down from heaven and sees me clothed in the righteousness of Christ. How does this happen? By faith alone. Not by anything I could ever do, but simply and only by faith in the crucified Lamb of God. All that I wanted but could never have, I find when I come to Jesus Christ. All that I wanted but could never achieve is provided for me by faith in the Son of God. What I lacked, he provided. What I wanted most, he supplied. What I needed, he freely gave.

That ugly thing you're about to say--Don't. That critical comment you're about to make--Don't. That foolish joke you're about to tell--Don't. You'll be glad you didn't when this day is done.

If man built it, it’s coming down in the last days. You can take that to the bank. Every building. Every monument. Every stadium. Everything built by human hands becomes dust in the wind. Put your trust in the One who said, "I will come again." His kingdom is forever.

Often we would be better off saying nothing at all. Once upon a time, a turtle wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. He convinced a couple of geese to help him, each taking one end of a piece of rope, while he clamped his vise-like jaws in the center. The flight went fine until someone on the ground looked up in admiration and asked, “Who in the world thought of that?” Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened his mouth to shout, “I did—” Sometimes it’s a good idea to keep your mouth shut.

To live in love is to be like Jesus.

Love stands its ground in the face of curses, slander, hatred, ill treatment, and the worst that man can dish out. When Corrie Ten Boom was asked how she could endure a Nazi concentration camp without bitterness, she replied, “There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still.”

To “believe all things” means that love believes the best that is possible as long as that can be done. Love gives the benefit of the doubt. It takes people at their highest and best—not at their lowest and worst.

When God speaks, his Word is to be obeyed, not debated.

"A great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:9). 3 quick thoughts: Open doors mean God has work for you to do-Get moving! Adversaries mean it won't be easy-Stay humble! God oversees both the open doors and the adversaries-Be thankful! Rephrase with Ginger (Ctrl+Alt+E)

I ran across a quote attributed to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde: “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Both ends of that statement seem true to me. The saint has a past—to keep him from getting puffed up with pride, and the sinner has a future—to keep him from giving in to despair. In the gospel every sinner who comes to Christ has a wonderful future—no matter how bad his past has been. This is the source of our hope.  

Only God can take a person trapped in sin and set him free. Only God can take a person chained to alcohol and set him free. Only God can take a person living in the hell of sexual addiction and set him free. But God can do it! So let us keep on preaching and praying and hoping. As long as God is in heaven, let's share the Good News because there are no lost causes. "The vilest sinner who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives."

"I learned his character at once from what he said about others." Charles Spurgeon

Christ is our attorney in heaven. He is our advocate who speaks to the Father in our defense. When the devil comes and makes a claim against us, Jesus speaks up on our behalf and pleads his own blood in our defense. The Father looks at the Son, sees his pierced hands, and says, “Case dismissed.”

An old woman, a true saint of God, was dying. For many years she had studied the Bible, committing much of it to memory. As her health failed, her mind began to falter and she couldn’t remember many of the passages she once quoted by heart. She spent her days sitting in a rocking chair in her sunny living room, remembering as much as she could. Near the end, she could only remember one verse, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). Little by little, she lost her ability to say even that one verse. Eventually, she could only repeat one phrase—and she said it over and over—”that which I’ve committed unto Him.” In her last few days, her family saw her lips moving. She was repeating something over and over. When they leaned over, they could hear her whisper one word: “Him … Him … Him.” In the end, she had lost the whole Bible except that one word, but in that one word she had the whole Bible. The Bible is all about Him.

To give people what they need, sometimes you must not give them what they want. Most parents learn this early on. When your daughter is sick, she may want another cookie, but what she needs is the medicine the doctor prescribed. If you love her, you’ll give her what she needs, not what she wants. The same is true as we speak to others about Christ. They may want to hear other things; we must tell them about Jesus for he alone can save them.

"A soft answer turns away wrath" (Proverbs 15:1). Lord, help me to remember that because I'm sure I'll need it before this day is done. Amen.