Keep a Sharp Sword

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. - Hebrews 4:12

Temptation is definitely going to come your way and mine. But when we know the Word of God, we can deflect the blows that come against us and strike out offensively.

For example, the devil will come to us when we have sinned and say, "You failed. There is no forgiveness for you."

So we pull our sword out of its sheath and say, "It is written in 1 John 1:9: 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' " Touché!

The devil says, "You are wrong. God condemns you."

So you strike back with your sword and say, "You are wrong, because Romans 8:1 says, 'There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.' "

Then the devil says, "Now wait. You are going to fall again. I am going to take you down."

You can reply, "No. You are wrong. In John 10:28, Jesus said, 'And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.' " And you thrust your sword again.

This is why it is important for us to commit Scripture to memory and to keep our sword sharp.

Devotion by: Greg Laurie

The Secret of Peace

Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." Hebrews 13:5

Contentment lies not in what is mine but in whose I am. When I come into a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, I understand whose I am and what I have. Envy causes one to look horizontally--at what others have--so we are never satisfied. We pursue the god of money, thinking of what it can buy us. Contentment invites us to look vertically--at God. When we look in his direction, we know that he is enough.

Contentment is the secret of inward peace. It recalls the bare truth that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it, including our money. Life, in fact, is a journey from one moment of vulnerability to another. So we should travel light and live simply. The reality for most people is that we have enough--whatever enough is. We would be well advised to be content with what we have.Being content with less stuff and not envying those with a lot is a process that will take more than a quick prayer or reading a book or hearing a sermon. It will require a dependence and satisfaction in God. He knows what is best and what is needed in our lives. We must trust him and not money.

Too often we take our eyes off God and put them on earthly pursuits, with money most often at the top of our lists. Money has an incredible power, much like a magnet and more like a god than most of us are willing to admit, to draw us away from those things that are eternal and life-filling.
Always be on your guard with money. As the writer of Hebrews stated, "Don't love money." The heart can only love one thing at a time. When we choose to love God, we will discover the marvelous benefit of contentment. And, more importantly, we will learn that money can never satisfy the heart. Keep your focus, therefore, on God. He is enough.

Devotion by: Tyndale House Publishers

Conspicuous Christians

Devotion by Greg Laurie

"You are the light of the world." - Matthew 5:14

There are two good ways that we can be light for the world. We can let our light shine by doing good works, and we can let our light shine by proclaiming the gospel.

Jesus told us to be conspicuous Christians when He said, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

When there is a disaster, when people are starving, when there is a country torn by war or ravaged by disease, Christians should be the first on the scene, doing what they can. We can let our light shine at home or in our workplace by being kind, generous, loving, and by living sacrificially for others. As Christians, we can let our light shine before others through our good works.

Then, of course, we also should let our light shine by proclaiming the gospel, telling others of their need for Christ. We are not to be secretive about our faith. We can tell our neighbors the good news. We can make sure our coworkers know exactly what a Christian believes. And we can raise our children to walk with the Lord.

You can be a conspicuous Christian-let your light shine!

We Are Being Watched

People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall. Proverbs 10:9

Integrity is a high standard of living based on a personal code of morality that doesn't succumb to the whim of the moment or the dictates of the majority. Integrity is to personal character what health is to the body or 20/20 vision is to the eyes. People of integrity are whole; their lives are put together. People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are open books. They say to a watching world, "Go ahead and look. My behavior will match my beliefs. My walk will match my talk. My character will match my confession."

Integrity is not reputation--what others think of us. It is not success--what we have accomplished. Integrity embodies the sum total of our being and our actions. It originates in who we are as believers in Jesus Christ--accepted, valued, capable, and forgiven--but it expresses itself in the way we live and behave, no matter whether we are in church on Sunday or at work on Monday or in a lonely hotel room on Tuesday or suffering in a hospital bed on Thursday.

Unfortunately, integrity is in short supply and seems to be diminishing everyday. All too frequently our integrity is discarded upon the altar of fame or fortune. Sadly, what we want to achieve is more important than what we are to be. Integrity is lost when we focus on expedience more than excellence, on progress more than purity, on riches more than righteousness.

People are watching. They watch to see if our behavior matches our belief, if our walk matches our talk, and if our character matches our confession. In a word, they watch to see if we have integrity.

How secure is your walk? Others are watching.

Devotion by: Tyndale House Publishers

God's Secret Agents

God's Secret Agents

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? - Hebrews 1:14

Make no mistake about it: angels are actively involved in the lives of the people of God, and in the affairs of men in general.

One of the reasons we may not be personally aware of the presence of angels in our lives is that they are doing their job properly.

Angels generally operate undercover. Theirs is a vast world of intelligent, powerful spirit beings. Angels are invisible, and they remain that way most of the time, except on very rare occasions. As we see from Scripture, God will sometimes clothe angels with a human form.

Angels are God's secret agents, not drawing attention to themselves, but instead doing the bidding of God. They have a specific work and ministry in the life of the Christian.

That certainly gives us hope in these troubled and dangerous times in which we are living. When we think of all the violence, chaos, and danger in the world today, it is comforting to know that God's angels are watching out for us.

Angels may not help you find a parking place, but you can know this: they are God's secret agents, powerfully and effectively doing the work He has called them to do.

Devotion by: Greg Laurie

Leading Like Jesus

One of the greatest challenges of seeking to lead like Jesus is the intimacy it requires. The biggest barrier to intimacy is a fear of vulnerability - fear of having to admit that you don't know all of the answers, that you may need help and that your abilities as a leader may be in question.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8

Prayer: Lord, admitting that I'm less than perfect or don't know all of the answers is often a difficult task. Help me to learn that it is ok to say, "I don't know but I'll find out." Let me seek the wisdom of others in learning the answers to questions so that together we might grow through the experience. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Fully God, Fully Man

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. - Luke 2:40

When Jesus was on Earth, He didn't empty himself of His divine attributes, but accepted the limitations of humanity. For example, we know that Jesus became weary like we do. On one occasion, as He came to Samaria, we read that He was weary (see John 4:6).

Why? He had been walking all day in the hot sun of Israel.

Now if I were God, I probably would have said to the disciples, "You boys go on up to Samaria, and I will see you there." Then I would have just appeared in Samaria. After all, why tire myself out like that?

But Jesus voluntarily went through the process of feeling what it was like to be tired and exhausted.We see this throughout Scripture. We know that Jesus was tired. We know that He experienced physical thirst. As He hung on the cross, Jesus said, "I thirst" (Luke 19:28). The very God who created water allowed himself to experience thirst.

We also know that He was hungry. Jesus experienced physical hunger after fasting for 40 days during His temptation in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:2).

But did Jesus have complete omniscience and omnipotence as a baby in the manger? Luke's Gospel tells us, "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him" (Luke 2:40). So it appears that Jesus went through a learning process like anyone else.

Jesus grew as a human, but there was never a moment when He suddenly became God or when deity was transferred to Him. That was always a part of His life. He was fully God and fully man.

Devotion by:Greg Laurie

Looking Ahead

The prudent understand where they are going, but fools deceive themselves. Proverbs 14:8

Bill Walsh, the former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, was thought eccentric because of how extensively he planned his plays in advance of each game. Most coaches would wait to see how the game unfolded, then respond with plays that seemed appropriate. Walsh wanted the game to respond to him. Walsh won several Super Bowls with his "eccentric" proactive approach. He was a coach who looked into the future.

Looking ahead is the process of creating the future before it happens. People who learn to do it "understand where they are going." Like Bill Walsh, it involves deciding your actions in advance so that your life will respond to you. What are the benefits of such a proactive pursuit?Looking ahead gives direction. It's like using a highlighter on a roadmap to indicate where you are, where you are going, and how you are going to get there. The highlighted roadmap not only provides information for where you are going; it also suggests where you are not going.

Looking ahead helps us to create rather than react. With each step along our journey, we are faced with a choice either to create or to react. Many people spend their entire days reacting. Like goalies in hockey, with pucks flying at us all day, we react. We react to news, cars in traffic, people, events, challenges, and obstacles. A better way involves making choices and following plans.

Looking ahead saves time. "One hour of planning saves three hours of execution." Planning yields a savings return. We only have twenty-four hours in a day and 365 days in a year. If we don't use them wisely by looking ahead, we will forever forfeit those gifts.

Looking ahead reduces crisis. Our daily lives have two controlling influences: plans and pressures. When we look ahead and choose to plan, we take charge and control of our days. If we fail to look ahead, we will spend our days in crisis mode. We will fall into a trap of panic planning-planning on the fly with no time to effectively map out a strategy.

Looking ahead maximizes energy. Failing to look ahead, we dissipate our energy on less important matters, improper agendas, and lost crusades. We waste our time on the trivial many. But preparation often energizes us!

Be wise. Look ahead. It's eccentric but well worth the effort.

Devotion by: Tyndale House Publishers

Our Reason for Running

And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. - Hebrews 12:1

When I was in high school, I was in track and field. I always noticed that I ran faster when a pretty girl was watching me, because I wanted to impress the pretty girl.

But there is a better motivation than that for running this race of life. The Lord Jesus is watching us. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish."

That is what will keep you going. You have to keep following the Lord, even if your friends aren't there with you. As the song "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" says, "Though none go with me, still I will follow."

We all know that people do turn away from the Lord. But if you are living this Christian life because of what people have to say about it, then you are not going to make it.

People will let you down. People will disappoint you. Circumstances are going to be hard. You should do this because you love Jesus.

When you face all of the garbage out there, remember that it is the Lord Jesus Christ you are running for. That is the reason you should be running this race."

Is this why you are running it right now? When you are maintaining a love relationship with Jesus Christ, you will see this world for what it really is-empty, futile, and meaningless. On the other hand, if you are just giving it your bare minimum, then you are not going to make it.

So let's make every day of this spiritual race count.

Devotion by: Greg Laurie

What Lights Do

If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:8

Remember the song "This Little Light of Mine"? "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine . . ." As children, it spoke to the fact that we should show that we love Jesus. As adults, I think it has even more meaning-I think it applies to our spiritual gifts. It's easy to run away from our spiritual gifts-as the song says, to "hide it under a bushel." It's not necessarily because of the gifts themselves but because of the risk involved. What if I mess up? Will God be disappointed with me? What will people think about me? But, it's not about me. God's Word clearly tells us that God has given us these gifts for a purpose, and if we have them, we need to use them.

I know that one of my spiritual gifts is worship. I have seen God use my music in many ways. But recently, I have realized that although I was using my gift, I still struggled with taking risks. My main instrument is my voice, but I also play the piano. I felt convicted that I needed to add playing the piano to my worship ministry. This move was a risk for me. Why? Because I was afraid of disappointing people. I'm a musician-what would they think if I failed at the piano?

I've had to remind myself that it doesn't matter what people may think but what God thinks. I've found that using my piano skills has added to my ministry, has changed my heart, and hasn't changed what people think of me. Yes, it feels risky-but who wants to live under a bushel, really!So, if God has blessed you with the ability to encourage others or show kindness, look for the extra step you can take to help someone. If God has blessed you financially, then use your money for his purposes. And if God has given you the gift of leadership, get up, start moving, and find ways that you can lead others. Stop following and start leading. God has gifted you for a reason. Avoid bushels. Trust him to use you.

Devotion by: Tyndale House Publishers