It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires.
Does that hit you where you live?
Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide.
You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod youon to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.
What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”?
If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else.
This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received.
Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him.
Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.”
That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most.
Never consider whether or not you are of use—but always consider that “you are not your own.” You are His.
1 Corinthians 6:19
O Lord, by Your grace open my vision to You and Your infinite horizons, and take me into Your counsels regarding Your work in this place.
You just finished day 22 of the @YouVersion plan ‘My Utmost For His Highest’. Check it out here:
King Nebuchadnezzar built a gold statue, ninety feet high and nine feet thick. He set it up on the Dura plain in the province of Babylon.
He then ordered all the important leaders in the province, everybody who was anybody, to the dedication ceremony of the statue.
They all came for the dedication, all the important people, and took their places before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected. A herald then proclaimed in a loud voice:
“Attention, everyone! Every race, color, and creed, listen! When you hear the band strike up—all the trumpets and trombones, the tubas and baritones, the drums and cymbals—fall to your knees and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Anyone who does not kneel and worship shall be thrown immediately into a roaring furnace.”
The band started to play, a huge band equipped with all the musical instruments of Babylon, and everyone—every race, color, and creed—fell to their knees and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Just then, some Babylonian fortunetellers stepped up and accused the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “Long live the king! You gave strict orders, O king, that when the big band started playing, everyone had to fall to their knees and worship the gold statue, and whoever did not go to their knees and worship it had to be pitched into a roaring furnace. Well, there are some Jews here—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—whom you have placed in high positions in the province of Babylon. These men are ignoring you, O king. They don’t respect your gods and they won’t worship the gold statue you set up.”
Furious, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in. When the men were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar asked,
“Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t respect my gods and refuse to worship the gold statue that I have set up? I’m giving you a second chance—but from now on, when the big band strikes up you must go to your knees and worship the statue I have made. If you don’t worship it, you will be pitched into a roaring furnace, no questions asked. Who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar,
“Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
Nebuchadnezzar, his face purple with anger, cut off Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace fired up seven times hotter than usual. He ordered some strong men from the army to tie them up, hands and feet, and throw them into the roaring furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, bound hand and foot, fully dressed from head to toe, were pitched into the roaring fire. Because the king was in such a hurry and the furnace was so hot, flames from the furnace killed the men who carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to it, while the fire raged around Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm and said,
“Didn’t we throw three men, bound hand and foot, into the fire?” “That’s right, O king,” they said. “But look!” he said. “I see four men, walking around freely in the fire, completely unharmed! And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods!”
Nebuchadnezzar went to the door of the roaring furnace and called in, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the High God, come out here!”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fire. All the important people, the government leaders and king’s counselors, gathered around to examine them and discovered that the fire hadn’t so much as touched the three men—not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them!
Nebuchadnezzar said,
“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him! They ignored the king’s orders and laid their bodies on the line rather than serve or worship any god but their own. “Therefore I issue this decree: Anyone anywhere, of any race, color, or creed, who says anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be ripped to pieces, limb from limb, and their houses torn down. There has never been a god who can pull off a rescue like this.”
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:1-30 MSG
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:12-17 ESV
It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation?
First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit. Hebrews 2:1-4 MSG
While reading below, listen to this song, “Redeemer”:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said,
‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! Job 38:1-21 ESV
Pause to pounder God’s Word and let the dong play out
Now, listen to this song and read on.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:6-11 ESV
2 Peter 3:1-18 ESV This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved.
In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say,
“Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:1-18 ESV
As I finished day 4 of the @YouVersion plan ‘4 Days Of Inspiration‘ I came across this excellent illustration,
Waiting. Wow, it’s rough, especially when you don’t know when the waiting will end. But God pushes the “pause” button in our lives to accomplish His purpose for it.
Even Jesus had to wait. He would regularly say, “My time has not yet come,” or “It’s not in the Father’s timing scheme for this part of His plan for me to be completed,” so, He had to wait.
God is even waiting on us, according to 2 Peter 3. God is even waiting on us before He can do certain things He wants to do, and He has calculated that in His plans for our lives.
When you put on a timer while something is cooking, when it finally goes off, you check to see whether it’s really ready. The timer indicates the moment is right. But when you look at the condition of the meat, if it’s not ready yet, in spite of what the timer says, you put it back in the oven until it’s ready.
I know we have our own timers, and when they go off, we want God to take us out of the oven because we don’t want to wait any longer. However, God is after something bigger. He wants to see whether we’re ready or not. We can actually help the process of waiting by being prepared, so when we are ready to be moved, we don’t have to be put back in the oven again, because we’ve used our waiting time well.
Remember, waiting doesn’t mean doing nothing. Waiting means not going outside of God as we do something.
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:14-18 ESV
You just finished day 4 of the @YouVersion plan ‘4 Days Of Inspiration’. For all 4 days go to: http://bible.com/r/3oA
Self Confidence or Confidence only in yourself (Luke 22:33-34; 1st Corinthians 10:12)
Following at a distance (Luke 22:54-62)
Hanging out with the wrong people (Luke 22:56; Psalm 1:1 walk, stand, sit)
▪️The 1st Denial (Luke 22:56-57)
▪️The 2nd Denial (Luke 22:58)
▪️The 3rd Denial (Luke 22: 59)
Jesus looked straight through Peter
Luke 22:59-62
Peter went off and wept bitterly. Then note, …After he returned. There were 3 things he did that we need to do also:
Remember
Repent
Repeat
Look what Christ says in Revelation 2,
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. Revelation 2:4-5 NLT
This all leads to results.
Other references:
Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 NLT
Romans 8:38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38 NLT He is faithful on His end of our relationship with Him, will we be faithful on our end?
Hebrews 3:12-13 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardenedagainst God. Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT
2nd Peter 3:17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 2 Peter 3:17 NLT
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. Titus 2:11-14 NLT
2nd Co. 5:17-18 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NLT
Revelation 3:15-17 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. Because you say, “I am rich, and have prospered and grown wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked [without hope and in great need], Revelation 3:15-17 AMP
2nd Peter 2:21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 2 Peter 2:21 NLT
1st John 2:19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. 1 John 2:19 NLT
Jeremiah 3:22 “My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” “Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply, “for you are the Lord our God. Jeremiah 3:22 NLT
Jeremiah 2:19 Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken! Jeremiah 2:19 NLT
I hate to break it to you, but you aren’t going to be perfect in this life. You probably already knew that. No matter how much you are being transformed in Christ, you are a work in progress until the day you see Him face to face.
The good news is that God’s passionate desire is to bless and empower your growth so you can reflect the beauty, love, and holiness of Jesus more and more.
His good and perfect will not only leads to joy for you. It also reveals His grace, wisdom, love, and power to the world. He promises that your true spiritual journey in relationship with Him will be ultimately fulfilled—and fulfilling along the way.
Meanwhile, remember the steps you are called to take accourding to God’s Word in Romans 12:
· You totally commit to God—not just once, but every day.
· You live separate from the world’s values and ways.
· You learn to see yourself accurately—not with pride or false humility, but as God does.
· You serve other believers in love.
· You respond with supernatural love in the face of evil and overcome it with good.
If those steps characterize your relationship with God each day, you will be living an authentic Christian life that honors God and impacts the lives of others.
That’s a promise—not from me but from God through the Scripture He gave us. Present yourself as an offering to Him daily, in every area of life, and you will experience true spirituality and an abundant life in all its fullness.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 ESV
Just before the Passover meal (the last supper Christ had with his 12 closest followers) Jesus washed their feet, but just before He went to do Peter’s feet Peter protested in an attempt to express how unworthy he was. Peter felt this was a completely backward, upside down way of doing things.
Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” John 13:7 NLT
When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. John 14:3-5, 29 NLT
This devotional works best as an audio experience. Hit the play button now, and read along if you like.
Hello and welcome back to Bible Basics Explained. I’m Kris Langham, and once again we are talking about faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. We’re back in Hebrews 11, and in verse 3 we run directly into a sticky point in the world of faith: science. Specifically, creation. Let’s read at verse 3:
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
So our chapter on faith begins with our understanding of creation. Rather fitting for me actually. Before I believed in God, this was my sticking point. I was a scientist. Aerospace engineer in fact. And if you wanted me to have faith in something, I needed evidence. For that matter, I still do. So what about evidence for creation?
Well, I’ll save the full science talk for another series, but consider with me quickly the beginning of the universe in light of the basic laws of science. We know the universe had a beginning from simple number theory. If you start counting at negative infinity, it’s impossible to arrive at two thousand something. So there must be a start. At some point time began.
And at some point space came into being. And matter. And energy.
Let’s apply the laws of science.
Conservation of Mass: Matter can neither be created nor destroyed.
So where did all the matter come from? There is no scientific law nor test nor observation that can validate nothing creating something. I am not arguing for or against evolution here. This is before that. And the Big Bang theory offers no scientific explanation for nothing becoming something. It had to happen. Had to. And yet it violates conservation of mass. Unless there is something outside this universe that created the mass from nothing. Next law of science.
Conservation of Energy: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Again, energy could not have existed for eternity past, so it must have a beginning. The Big Bang offers no scientific explanation for nothing creating energy. It had to happen. And yet it violates Conversation of Energy. Unless something outside the universe created the energy from nothing. And one more scientific law: entropy.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that order cannot come from disorder in a closed system.
All things naturally move toward disorder. Now the universe has a phenomenal amount of order in it. So where did it come from? If the universe is a closed system, then the scientific laws insist that something outside of the universe must have added it.
So in order to be an atheist and still believe the laws of science, then you must believe that the major scientific laws were broken at some point by nothing. For the atheist, nothing created time, space, matter, energy, and order.
Now science does not lead you to that conclusion. That conclusion violates scientific law. So believing it requires faith. That is faith in nothing.
But what if you trusted the scientific laws. Well, they all tell you that time, space, matter, energy, and order must come from something. They cannot create themselves. However, there is nothing in the known universe that can create them. So it would require something outside the known universe to create them.
Now consider Genesis 1:1.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
Beginning – that’s time.
God – something outside the universe.
Created – that word in Hebrew literally means to make something from nothing.
The heavens – space.
And the earth – matter.
So God, outside the universe, created time, space, and matter. What happened next? God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). That’s energy.
And the very next thing, He “separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4). That’s order.
Time, space, matter, energy, order. How is it that Genesis 1, written well over 3,000 years ago, gives a direct explanation for the problems brought up by the laws of science, some of them formulated in the last two hundred years? That’s pretty amazing.
Now I recognize there is much more to the science and God question. And we will be recording a plan on science in this Bible Basics Explained series. But when it comes to faith, we should all recognize our options here: the universe as we know it either came from nothing or from something. The laws of science tell us nothing cannot make something. So option 1 is put your faith in nothing. It breaks the laws of science, and there is no atheist solution for this apart from sheer faith. But you can choose to believe it on faith. Option 2 is put your faith in a Creator. No laws of science broken, but it still does take faith.
So back to Hebrews 11:
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
Many of us believe that. But not everyone agrees. I read the story of a young man, Jewish by descent but not by faith. He was, in fact, an atheist. As a boy he grew up in bitter poverty through World War I in Romania. Sometime later he wrote these words, “It was not just that I did not believe in God or Christ, I hated these notions, considering them harmful for the human mind.”
Although he was an atheist, he admits that he was sad that there was no god. He even prayed once – speaking to the God he didn’t believe in, “If, perchance, you exist, which I contest, it is your duty to reveal yourself to me.”
Meanwhile, in a small village far away, an old carpenter was also praying. Only his prayer came with faith. He prayed that God would let him lead one Jew to Christ before he died.
So what happened to the two men after they each prayed? Well, with some 12,000 little villages in Romania, the young atheist felt “irresistibly drawn” to that one, and strangely enough, directly to the old man’s house. The man gave him a Bible, one that he had prayed over for quite some time.
The young atheist was Richard Wurmbrand. He read the Bible and believed it. He found faith. Not faith in the impossible, nor faith in the make-believe. He found faith in something beyond what he could see. Faith in God. What happened to Mr. Wurmbrand? We’ll come back to his story tomorrow.
For now, read again the words of Hebrews 11, and consider what you believe and the difference that faith makes in your own life.
Next: Read Hebrews 11:3 & Genesis 1:1-4
For Thought & Discussion:
What do you believe about the creation of the universe? How do you think that belief affects the way you live?
It’s been said that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
All verses are quoted from the NIV.
Romania stories retold from Jesus Freaks (1999 Albury Publishing), and Jesus Freaks Vol II (2002 Bethany House) by dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs, and from Extreme Devotions (2001, The Voice of the Martyrs).
tombeetlebailey 