In His Presence

In His Presence
Chip Brogden

"Not My will, but Yours, be done." -Luke 22:42

What does it cost to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? What does one have to give up? There is truly only one thing that must be given up. It is not, and it never has been, a question of giving up friends, family, material possessions, fame and fortune. You can give up all those things, just like the first disciples of the Lord, and still run away and deny Him.

Forget the outward things and go right to the heart of the matter. Only one thing is necessary, and if we give up this one thing we are qualified to be disciples of the Lord. What is the one thing? All we have to give up is OUR WAY.

There are two ways, one which seems right, and one which IS right. One is my way, the other is His way.

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Holy Father, fill my heart with longing for You and my head with understanding that it is Your presence I crave. I confess that I have often sought relief for my hunger in things that do not satisfy. I pledge today to recognize all other sources of satisfaction to be temporary and false. I promise to pursue You and Your will through Your word and Your Spirit until I rest in Your presence and grace. In the power of Jesus my Lord, Amen and Amen.

Tithing Today

Tithing Today
Bayless Conley

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," -Malachi 3:10-11

Those are pretty amazing promises! God says when we bring the first tenth to Him, He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing we cannot contain. He even invites us to test Him in this area! (As far as I know there is no other place in the Bible where God does that.)

Notice, too, that He says He will rebuke the devourer. While this was written to an agrarian society whose prosperity was measured in vineyards, crops, and their livestock, you can transpose this principle right into the era in which we live. God will still bless us, and He will still rebuke the devourer for our sakes.

Years ago, in a small church in Mexico, a friend of mine was teaching on tithing. A poor man in the church got angry and stormed out. Later that day, he read the verses from Malachi again and decided to put God to the test. "Could God fulfill His promise—even in my circumstance?" he thought.

That poor villager later testified—interrupting a service and demanding that tithing needed to be taught again—"because these people need it!" He told how he had been blessed like never before since he started giving one-tenth of his earnings to the church.

God is not limited by the circumstances that surround us. He can bless us no matter where we are if we will "try Him" and bring all the tithe into His storehouse.

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Dear Lord, I want to honor You with my finances. I want to tithe and save and stop borrowing money. Please help me and my family to know what steps to take, and to seek out the wise counsel we need to change our financial picture. I trust You to do the impossible. In Jesus' Name, I ask and pray. Amen and Amen.

Believe God, Not The Deceiver

Believe God, Not The Deceiver
Help For Today

"Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies." -John 8:44

A Long Island businessman in the 1930s bought an expensive brass barometer to mount in his home. However, when the man pulled the instrument out of the box and started to hang it, the arrow that indicated current weather conditions was pointing hard to "Hurricane."

Angrily, he pounded his palm on the glass face of the barometer. The arrow didn't move. He shook it and then banged it on the table. The arrow still didn't move. This thing was obviously defective. So the next morning he fired off a nasty letter to the manufacturer and dropped it in a mailbox on his way to work in Manhattan.

But sure enough, a storm did roar through Long Island that day. And when he drove home in the afternoon, his house was destroyed ... in a hurricane.

You see, there is absolute truth and there is deception.

Non-negotiable Number Four: Believe God, Not the Deceiver

All of life is a choice of who you will believe. Life is a battle between believing the truth or swallowing lies. And because the nature of our hearts--like that of the man in this story--is to doubt the truth and believe deceptions, it takes a deliberate effort to embrace God's truth as non-negotiable. If we don't keep our minds in the truth of the Scriptures on a daily basis, we become easy marks for our constant foe, the devil, who is both "an angel of light"
(2 Corinthians 11:14) and "the father of lies."

So even when the Scriptures teach something you don't like, it's always the right choice to believe God anyway. It's better to know the truth that a hurricane is coming than to mistakenly think you're in the clear.

Discuss
What deceptions have you fallen prey to in the past? How have they burned you? What is God asking you to believe today?

Pray
Pray for daily, deliberate, ongoing discernment.

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Dear Father, please give me the desire to know what Your Word teaches, the wisdom to live by it, the discernment to identify all lies, deceptions and false teachings, and the courage to stand up for truth. And please give me a grateful heart for all Your blessings, and a generous spirit to support Your work on earth., in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.

Answer The Challenge

Answer The Challenge
Steve Troxel

Why are so many "believers" content to live a life of mediocrity in Christ - a life partially devoted to following God and partially devoted to following the ways of the world? Without question, some have only put on the face of a Christian and have never given their heart to God through a saving faith in Jesus. But others are true believers in desperate need of a spiritual kick in the pants!

Paul's letters comprise much of the New Testament. They were written to give instruction on the Christian faith and to encourage perseverance through times of testing. Paul often wrote of the simplicity of the gospel message; "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). But he also wrote to encourage those who truly put their faith in Jesus to live a life of service, holiness, and unity.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we begin a new life. We are set free from the bondage of sin
(Romans 6:22) and are called to follow Christ as we are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). But Paul saw many believers sitting on the sidelines of the Christian life; "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1).

Paul gives encouragement by "urging" a life worthy of Salvation. This has nothing to do with earning our way to Heaven; rather, it's a life lived in holy thankfulness for the gift we have received. The word Paul used for urge can also be translated as beseech, beg, implore, exhort, or challenge. He's not giving a gentle pat on the back which says, "You're doing well, keep running a good race." Rather, Paul is presenting a firm challenge to draw nearer to God and give our lives more fully to Him. Paul used the same word in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge {beg, implore, exhort, and challenge} you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."

We have been set free and made new! We are a new creation and CANNOT continue to walk with one foot on God's path and the other being allowed to tiptoe along worldly desires. These simply have no place in the life of a worshipper of the One True God!

Today, we are being challenged to trust God more; to talk with Him more and seek His presence more diligently; to not get pulled away by the lies of the world! We are being challenged to love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength
(Mark 12:30). As we face this day with its multitude of struggles, let's live a life worthy of the calling we have received and forevermore answer the challenge!

Have a Christ Centered Day!

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Lord, we receive Your promise and stand on the fact that You are with us! In whatever challenge we are facing. In whatever direction You are calling us to. We choose to walk in obedience to Your Word. Without fear or hesitation, we declare that You are with us! May You receive all glory, honor and praise and may Your peace and joy fill our hearts as You accomplish the impossible through us. In Jesus name... Amen and Amen.

Giving With A Warm Hand

Giving With A Warm Hand
Selwyn Hughes

“A generous man will himself be blessed” -Proverbs 22:9

Does being a generous person mean you will always have plenty to give away? Not necessarily. This would be a naive interpretation of the principle we are discussing. Certain other texts of Scripture have to be laid against these verses in Proverbs if we are to get a more complete picture of the truth under discussion.

Some Christians cannot be trusted with a lot of money or earthly goods; they just would not know how to manage them. That said, it needs to be noted that you do not have to be rich to be generous. A pauper can give like a prince, providing he or she has the right spirit.

An old Jewish saying puts it like this: "The man who gives with a smile gives more than the man who gives with a frown." It is the spirit of generosity that the Bible focuses on first of all - the spirit that gives, not because it wants to get but because it simply delights to give.

Someone has defined generosity as "giving with a warm hand." I like that. Who likes to receive anything from a cold hand? As you know, the opposite of generosity is selfishness, and just as generosity is a facet of wisdom, so selfishness is a facet of foolishness.

A teacher said to a class: "Unselfishness means voluntarily going without something you need. Can anyone give me an example?" A little boy raised his hand and said: "Yes, sometimes I go without a bath even though I need one." We smile, but how many of us do the same thing and turn a truth on its head to take the pressure off ourselves?

O God, help me to be a person who gives "with a warm hand." Melt any coldness and iciness there may be in my spirit and make me a magnanimous and generous person. Fire me with a passion to give. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

For reading & meditation: Proverbs 22:1-9

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace
Max Lucado

The dialogue that Friday morning was bitter.

From the onlookers, “Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!” From the religious leaders, “He saved others but he can’t save himself.” From the soldiers, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Bitter words. Acidic with sarcasm. Hateful. Irreverent. Wasn’t it enough that he was being crucified? Wasn’t it enough that he was being shamed as a criminal? Were the nails insufficient? Was the crown of thorns too soft? Had the flogging been too short?

For some, apparently so...

Of all the scenes around the cross, this one angers me the most. What kind of people, I ask myself, would mock a dying man? Who would be so base as to pour the salt of scorn upon open wounds? How low and perverted to sneer at one who is laced with pain…

The words thrown that day were meant to wound. And there is nothing more painful than words meant to hurt… If you have suffered or are suffering because of someone else’s words, you’ll be glad to know that there is a balm for this laceration. Meditate on these words from 1 Peter 2:23

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

Did you see what Jesus did not do? He did not retaliate. He did not bite back. He did not say, “I’ll get you!” “Come on up here and say that to my face!” “Just wait until after the resurrection, buddy!” No, these statements were not found on Christ’s lips.

Did you see what Jesus did do? He “entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Or said more simply, he left the judging to God. He did not take on the task of seeking revenge. He demanded no apology. He hired no bounty hunters and sent out no posse. He, to the astounding contrary, spoke on their defense. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”? (Luke 23:34)…
“they don’t know what they are doing.” And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing.

Yes, the dialogue that Friday morning was bitter. The verbal stones were meant to sting. How Jesus, with a body wracked with pain, eyes blinded by his own blood, and lungs yearning for air, could speak on behalf of some heartless thugs is beyond my comprehension. Never, never have I seen such love. If ever a person deserved a shot at revenge, Jesus did. But he didn’t take it. Instead he died for them. How could he do it? I don’t know. But I do know that all of a sudden my wounds seem very painless. My grudges and hard feelings are suddenly childish.

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t see Christ’s love as much in the people he tolerated as in the pain he endured.

Amazing Grace.

Denying Self

Denying Self
Chip Brogden

"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." -Romans 7:15

We eventually discover, like Paul, that the real problem is not what we DO, but what we ARE. We can confess the same sins over and over again, or we can take up the Cross and die to them all. The first approach deals with sins committed, while the second approach deals with the sinner.

Which do you think is more effective? Well, if the one who sins is dead then the issue of continued sinning becomes irrelevant. Hating sin is good; hating Self is better, and far more effective. For the strength of Sin is Self. If you take the ax to the root of a bad tree, then it will stop producing bad fruit, and the issue is settled once and for all. If Self is denied then Sin becomes superfluous, and the problem of Evil is solved.

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“Lord, Your Word says that if we confess our sin, You will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and cast our sin into the depths of the sea. Show me now the generational sins that have been operating in my life and the lives of my family. Forgive me, cleanse me and set me free from all generational sin. Please break the curses and plant Your blessings in my life and my family. In Jesus’ Name, Amen and Amen.

The Graduate-Level Test

Self-Defense
Os Hillman

"He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." - Psalm 37:6

As a believer grows in trusting obedience and love, God often brings a test that seems uncharacteristically cruel. The test: being wrongfully judged by those close to you. It is not for the reactionary. It cannot be passed over by simply gutting it out. Supernatural grace is the only means of passing this one. It is one of those tests the Savior had to experience Himself when being tried by the court of public opinion, the religious community, and the government of His day. His response to the government was silence. His response to the religious establishment was silence at the final judgment. To the rest of His accusers He remained quiet and left vindication to the Father. He lived the commandment He gave to the disciples:

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35).

How do you react when you are accused or mistreated for no reason? Do you listen quietly, or do you justify each and every action? Most of us take pride in doing what is right and expect the same from others, especially our brothers and sisters in the faith. Jesus knew that if you were to be a true follower of His, you would enter this test eventually. It is part of the program.

The workplace gives ample opportunity to be wronged, misunderstood, and maligned. When God brings a measured assault against one of His children, it is to find out if he truly believes in the cross. The cross is where each of us is given the opportunity to die to our pride, our reputations, and our ego. When He allows a measured assault upon us, it is to find out if the cross is sufficient. He wants to see if we will seek to rescue ourselves. Jesus said if we die with Him, we will be raised with Him. When God allows satan to bring the measured assault, ask God for the grace to cling to the cross. Let the pride and arrogance that Jesus wants to remove from our lives be crucified. Thank God for the opportunity to be crucified with Christ. Then your righteousness will shine like the noonday sun and the justice of your cause will be in His hands.

Four Attributes of Life

Four Attributes of a Life God Blesses
Os Hillman

"So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.'" - Isaiah 28:16

Whenever God calls us into a consecrated life, it is made up of four distinct stages. Christ often compared this process to building a house. First, we must prepare to build by laying a foundation. That foundation is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Any foundation other than Christ will not stand.

Second, as we enter a walk of faith with God, He allows each of us to experience trials, testings, miracles, and challenges in life that are designed to provide "faith experiences" that demonstrate tangible evidences of His work in our life: Moses' burning-bush experience, Peter's walk on the water, Joshua's parting of the Jordan River. These experiences built the faith of these people. The depth and width of our calling is directly proportional to the faith experiences He allows in each of our lives. If God plans an international ministry with you, chances are you will experience a higher degree of faith experiences compared to another. The reason being, you will need to look on these to ensure your calling and provide testimony to His work in your life.

The third stage deals with motives. "All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord" (Proverbs 16:2). What is the motive behind my actions? Is it only financial accumulation? Is it to gain control? Is it to create independence? The primary motive must be God's leading you to take such an action - it must be obedience. These other factors must be by-products of the decision.

Finally, we are prepared to take action. Here we must ask, "Do we have the skill, quality, and ability to enter into this activity?" So often we have not trained ourselves adequately to be successful in our endeavor. You would never want someone working on your teeth who had not been trained and certified as a dentist.

Before you begin your next project, ask yourself these four questions. What is the foundation this project is based on? What experiences has God demonstrated in my life that indicate His involvement? What is my motive for entering this activity? Do I have the skill, quality, and ability to accomplish the task? Answering these questions will tell you whether God will bless your activity.

Gifts From Above

Gifts From Above
Dorsey Marshall

"Every good and perfect gift is from above,coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,who does not change like shifting shadows." -James 1:17

God has a plan for your life! It is a plan for good, and not evil. God’s whole intent for your life is to amaze you with His goodness. In His plan, He will place the right people in your life, give you the right breaks, and position you with the right opportunities. If you will honor God, He will go before you to bring you favor just at the time you need it most.

If you could open the curtains of your life, you would see how God already has things, people, and opportunities lined-up to bring goodness into your path. Your life is not an accident waiting to happen. Perhaps, you have made some wrong choices, but so have we all. Just because we have made wrong turns in the road does not mean we should spend the rest of our lives going in circles.

Look around you, and see the people He has arranged in your life! I met a man more than forty-five years ago, and I was amazed by his presence. I was at an insurance business meeting, when he walked into the room. This man stood taller than life. I did not realize it then, but God arranged for me to be introduced to him, and years later, I was working for him, as a State Farm Insurance Agent. Neither of us realized what a divine appointment we had. Of course, it did not happen as fast as I thought it should have, but it happened! My whole life turned from struggling to prospering, from trials to blessings, from barely making it, to successful living. None of this was handed to me on a silver platter; I had to work!

Many people are waiting for an inheritance, when all they need is an opportunity. God is the orchestrator of opportunities. You need to recognize them as gifts from God and embrace them with everything that is within you. Maybe, things do not happen as quickly as you think they should, but you can stay in perfect peace, knowing God is on your side, and He will make a way for you. The secret is to keep your trust and faith in Him. You need to relax in His presence and be certain that God ordains moments of favor for your future!

Wisdom Seed: “God’s gifts are always better than the devil’s bargains.”

Today’s Prayer: “Father, thank You for the opportunities and people You have placed in my life. Forgive me for not seeing them sooner, In Jesus’ Name, Amen!”

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Generous Father, forgive me for my forgetfulness. Deep down I know I don't deserve all the good things You have poured into my life, yet I sometimes find myself thinking that I've earned them. Use Your Spirit to forge in me a heart like Jesus, who did deserve everything good and yet gave it all up to come to earth and give me the greatest gift imaginable -- the gift of Your salvation! Thank You so much for this gift of grace and the many other undeserved gifts that You have lavished on me. In Jesus' name I thank You. Amen and Amen

The Most Important Part Of Your Day

The Most Important Part Of Your Day
Rick Warren

“Lord, every morning you hear my voice. Every morning, I tell you what I need, and I wait for your answer.” -Psalm 5:3

Any doctor will tell you the most important meal of the day is breakfast because the way you start your day influences the rest of your day. That’s true not just physically, but spiritually.

That’s why the most important part of your day is your time alone with God. Setting aside time in the morning to be alone with God will set the pattern of your attitude and response to every event and person for the rest of your day.

Whether it takes five minutes or thirty, there are four things you need to do in this time alone with God that will set your spiritual thermostat for the day.

1. Read God’s Word. You don’t have to read a lot, just enough until God speaks to you. It’s amazing how God will use his Word in your life. As the prophet Isaiah said, “The sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom” (Isaiah 50:4 NLT). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read something in my morning quiet time that was exactly what I needed to share with someone later in the day.

2. Be quiet before God. Noise is one of the major sources of stress in peoples’ lives. Your body needs a certain amount of quiet, and you need to carve out time in your life for this quietness. You will be less stressed if you start your day with quiet time before God.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15 NIV). The worst thing you can do in the morning is get up and immediately check your e-mail or turn on the news. You need time to meditate on God’s good news before you fill your mind with bad news.

3. Talk with God. Notice it says “talk with God,” not “talk to God.” Prayer is a conversation, not a one-way street. And it’s not the amount of words you say in prayer that make it effective. It’s about sharing what’s on your heart with God – your feelings, concerns, thoughts, and adoration. Just talk with God and then wait on him to respond.

4. Review your day and goals with God. Take time to go over your schedule, your goals and your day’s to-do list with God. There are dozens of verses in Proverbs that talk about planning with God and teaching you to number your days, which means looking at your time and pondering where you are going.

It’s easy to set goals, but if you don’t look at your goals every day, you will never accomplish them. Or as I like to say, “Without review, I lose my view.” Make sure you allocate part of your quiet time to review the vision God wants you to have.

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Father, I know I've been neglecting my quiet time with You. I realize now that the more I have neglected You, the more I've let the busy details of everyday living control me. My priorities have been out of order, and I have become more and more frustrated. Please forgive me and help me learn to linger before You. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.

At The Throne of Grace

At The Throne of Grace
Edward Poller

"Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." -Mark 11:24

What a tremendous promise! But it is not passively given, nor is it given to just anyone. This verse has its beginning in verse 22 which says..."Have faith in God." Then follows, after the example to faith, with the conditions of faith..."and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what He says will happen, it will be done for him." This is the challenge to trust God with all of our hearts.

What kind of attitude do you embrace when you come before His throne of grace? Paul tells us how to come to Him, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help us in our time of need". (Hebrews 4:16)

God has given us this inconceivable avenue of approach into His very presence. He wants us to come without the "baggage" of our experiences, convictions, creeds, emotions, or traditions, with nothing hindering our communion with HIM...and just abandon our hearts in simple, unwavering faith in God alone.

We should come fearlessly, boldly, and confidently to appropriate what He has provided for us. We are not to lean on anything within ourselves, but cast ourselves upon His grace, wherever God has placed us or the circumstances that are before us. (Matthew 11:30) Habakkuk 3:17-19 illustrates what "abandoned faith in our Almighty God" really means. Look what Habakkuk said as he encountered circumstances we know nothing about.

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign God is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go to the heights."

Everything gone, nothing to lean on, no one to console him...this mighty man of God brings "his nothingness" before God and places "unutterable trust" in the ONE who has promised..." My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Wow! That's "abandoned faith" in our faithful all-sufficient God! Faith must be tried before it becomes a reality. We need to turn our "professed faith" into "experimental faith"...our "head faith" into a "personal possession."

Faith is the whole man rightly related to God by the power of the Holy Spirit, (John 15:5) where HE has free and full access in every phase of our life, (Acts 17:28) and directs our life to unrelenting confident trust in GOD ALONE. We trust in the holy unchanging character of God. (Nahum 1:7; 1 John 4:9; Jeremiah 31:3)

Our faith is not measured by "who we are, what we have, or the ability we possess." Rather, it is IN WHOM we place our faith! *John 14:1

Faith is deliberate commitment to Jesus Christ when we see no way, (Daniel 3:16-18) when we encounter the devastating circumstances of life, (Hebrews 11:8,17) and we dare to cut the shorelines and launch out into the deep uncharted waters... (Hebrews 11:23-24) that we may see "the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep" (Exodus 14:21)

Let God take the broken pieces of your life and make something beautiful out of them. (Ruth 4:16-17) A.W.Tozer wrote, "Faith hears the inaudible... sees the invisible... believes the incredible... and receives the impossible!" (Hebrews 11:1; Ephesians 3:20-21) May this be your experience as you dare to trust Him alone!

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Father: I do trust in You today to be my ROCK and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my Strength.... my all in all. I will call upon You from now O Lord and will praise Your Name, for Thou art worthy to be praised. In those times when I'm having a problem trusting in You, give me the faith to call those things that are not... as though they were, knowing that You are working out all of the details. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen and Amen

Work With Your Whole Heart

Work With Your Whole Heart
Truth For Life

"In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered." -2 Chronicles 31:21

... He did with all his heart, and prospered. This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the moral universe that the prosperous are those who do their work with all their hearts, while others are almost certain to fail when they go about their business halfheartedly. God does not give harvests to lazy men except harvests of thistles, nor is He pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hidden treasure.

It is universally confessed that if a man would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same in the matter of faith as it is in other things. If you would prosper in your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done with all your heart. Put as much force, energy,
heartiness, and earnestness into faith as ever you do into business, for it deserves far more. The Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses, but He does not encourage our laziness; He loves active believers.

Who are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do what they undertake for God with all their hearts. Who are the most successful Sunday school teachers? The most talented? No. The most zealous; those whose hearts are on fire--they are the ones who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the majesty of His salvation. Wholeheartedness shows itself
in perseverance; there may be failure at first, but the earnest worker will say, "It is the Lord's work, and it must be done; my Lord has called me to do it, and in His strength I will accomplish it."

Christian, are you serving your Master with all your heart? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work was His! He could say, "Zeal for Your house has consumed me." When He sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden He had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when He poured out His heart, it was no weak effort He was making for the salvation of His people. Was Jesus in earnest, and we are lukewarm?

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Gracious Heavenly Father, You are, indeed, my strength and shield. You have empowered me time and again by Your Spirit to do Your works. And You have protected me from all measure of evils. The more I consider who You are and what You have done for me, the more I am able to trust You with my whole heart. Thank You for helping me. I can remember so many times when You graced me with heavenly assistance. How incredibly good You have been to me! All praise be to You, O God, my strength, my shield, my helper! Amen and Amen.