Good Words for 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.
What good will it do to say to an unbeliever, “Be nice” or “Try harder” or “Clean yourself up” or even “Give money to the church.” That advice is dangerously misleading. Unbelievers can never really be nice or try harder or clean themselves up apart from God. And they don’t need to give money to the church. They need to be born again.
“For God so loved the world” is still true today.
Do you love Jesus? Good, then don’t be afraid to let the world know and don’t worry if others don’t understand.
Fear not. Satan will not win in the end. King Jesus will have the last word.
In this life there are many roads a person may travel, but only one that leads to heaven. The road to heaven starts at Calvary. Just keep walking in the blood-stained path of the crucified Savior and that road will take you safely home at last.
Our trials have an expiration date. God's mercy doesn't. Remember that when you feel like giving up.
When my father was dying, I received a phone call from my mother saying that we should come quickly to the hospital. That meant flying to a distant city to see him one last time. We packed a few things and hopped in the car to go to the airport. It was a Sunday afternoon and the streets were almost deserted. On our way, we passed by a billboard sponsored by a brokerage house with a digital sign that recorded the current change in the stock market. Because it was the weekend, there was nothing to report. The sign read +0.00. Plus Zero. A thousand times I would pass that sign by and think nothing of it. But that day the image stuck in my mind. I was on my way to my father’s deathbed to say goodbye. Humanly speaking, there was no hope at all. But to live to is hope, and I prayed that somehow my father might be spared. It was not to be, but out of the sorrow of those days I learned a great lesson. When hope is gone, life is gone. To hope is to believe in God in spite of what you see around you. It is to live in Plus Zero territory. Zero is what life often gives us. The Plus is what we have in God.
People tend to become what we believe them to be. They either live up to or down to our expectations. If you treat a man as trustworthy, he will strive to prove himself worthy of your trust. If you tell a child, “Take a big swing. You can hit that ball,” he’ll go to the plate and swing like Babe Ruth. If you treat your wife as if she is the most beautiful woman in the world, she will be transformed before your very eyes. That’s what Jesus did. To vacillating Simon, he said, “You are a rock.” To a prostitute, he said, “Your sins are forgiven.” To a woman caught in adultery, he said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” It is the simple power of believing the best and not the worst about people.
Lord Jesus, we pray today for those who are struggling to know you. Pull back the curtains of unbelief so that they might be filled with faith to believe in you. Amen.
When we say, “God, I’m afraid of the future,” the Lord replies, “Afraid of the future? My child, I invented the future!”
Music is a weapon of spiritual warfare. The devil hates it when we sing to the Lord. He hates our music because singing rouses our souls, gives us courage, lifts our hearts, restores our faith, builds our confidence, unites our voices, and lifts up the name of the Lord like a mighty banner. Music is not just preparation for warfare. Music is spiritual warfare. Lift up your voice, and you will see the salvation of the Lord.
If you cannot do great things for the Lord, do little things in his name. You will soon discover that little things become great things when they are done in Jesus' name.
Lord, do whatever it takes to make me happy in you. If that means making me miserable with the things of this world, so be it. Amen.
There are some lost people who will be saved tomorrow, and they have no clue about it today. We don’t know who they are, but God does! So pray fervently for God to bring in the harvest. So be ready to share Christ. So live with eager expectation. God is not finished yet!