Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie    http://www.harvest.org/devotional

Written by Dr. Lawson Murry for “SEIZE The DAY”  @  https://seizetheday-blog.com

Original post @ https://seizetheday-blog.com/2021/02/24/forty-days-4/

Forty Days

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths . . . Psalm 25:4 (NIV)

The term “quadragesima” comes from the Latin for “fortieth” as there are exactly forty days, including Sundays, from Quadragesima Sunday to Good Friday.

Scientific analysis has determined that children born in Western nations today will probably live to be about one-hundred years, i.e. the average life span will be 36,525 days. Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life, asks, “Don’t you think it would be a wise use of time to set aside forty of those days to figure out what God wants you to do with the rest of them?”

Setting aside the next forty days . . . No matter how old you are you’re never too old to pause, to take time to hear from God, to interact with Him through Scripture reading, contemplation and prayer.

Great things can happen over the course of forty days. Moses was never the same after he spent forty days on Mount Sinai, Elijah was transformed after God gave him forty days of strength from a single meal and Nineveh was completely reformed when the prophet Jonah announced that God had given them forty days before the city would be destroyed.

I’m assuming you want to make the most of the next forty days (if you weren’t you probably wouldn’t be reading this post). Your Lenten journey can be spiritually significant if you take the opportunity to learn from those who have gone before you. Moses, for example, during his forty day encounter with God on Mount Sinai asked: “If you (God) are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you” (Exodus 33:13).

I’ve taught my children that it’s helpful to look at the verbs when one’s studying the Scriptures. In Exodus 33:13 the verbs are “teach,” “know” and “find.” These three words, to my mind, are essential companions for a forty day spiritual journey. In the days ahead why not ask the Lord to teach you His ways, to help you know Him more, and enable you to find favor with Him. Of course, in order to understand God’s ways, know Him more and find favor with Him we need to spend time with Him. So let’s do that . . . let’s take the next forty days as a God appointed opportunity to spend quality and quantity time with Him.

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P.S. (from bruce) When there is no other place to turn…turn to God !!  If you’re not a “born again” Christian, is the Holy Spirit urging you to open this link ??  Here is the truth for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…   https://godsmanforever.com

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, please feel free to share this message of the cross with those in need…

You say you are a “born again” believer…  BUT are you “ON FIRE” for the Lord ??  If not, open this link – https://godsmanforever.com/2020/08/01/are-you-a-christian-in-gods-eyes-and-on-fire-for-the-lord-or-not/

“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie    http://www.harvest.org/devotional

Written by Mel Wild for “In My Father’s House” @ https://melwild.wordpress.com

Original post @ https://melwild.wordpress.com/2021/02/18/power/

True Power

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Mel Wild

Everything today is about power. But we seem to want the powerless kind—through control, clever manipulation, deceit, bullying, political factions, etc. For example, as the Time Magazine article admitted (that I talked about here), “Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated.” Democracy was saved…for one-party rule. But all of this is the opposite of God’s kind of power.

Everyone wants and uses power. The desire for power is given to us by God. But it’s corrupted when driven by one of two negative human emotions—fear or greed.

You may disagree and say you don’t want power, and that you certainly never seek it in this negative sense. You may think that because you only associate power with aggression, but you could be seeking it passively, by playing the victim, by identifying as the “oppressed.” Or, you may be passive-aggressively leading your own quiet rebellion. We also use power negatively when we put other’s down in order to elevate ourselves above them.

So it’s good to start with an honest assessment of ourselves.

The State of Things

What always strikes me when I read Paul’s second letter to Timothy is how he absolutely nails the condition of our current culture. I will highlight the salient points in 2 Timothy 3:1-7. See if you can find any similarities to where we are today.

But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce and difficult for the people of God. ² People will be self-centered lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly.

³ They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right. ⁴ With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God.

⁵ They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these! ⁶ For they are the ones who worm their way into the hearts of vulnerable women, spending the night with those who are captured by their lusts and steeped in sin. ⁷ They are always learning but never discover the revelation-knowledge of truth.      (2 Tim.3:1-7 TPT*)

It doesn’t take any spiritual discernment to see that Paul is describing our world to a tee. But there are two points most relevant to our current state as followers of Jesus:

1. They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power (5).

2. They are always learning but never discover the revelation-knowledge of truth (7).

These two points highlight the difference between empty religion and following Jesus, between true power that comes from God and that which is merely human. What’s interesting about this is that these two areas are resisted by many Christians as much as by skeptics. We even create theology to deny God’s divine power, relegating it to the first century.

But when we deny God’s power, turning it into an empty philosophy of words, we’re left with powerless religion, which usually leads us back to resorting to some form of manipulation, control, or deceit to achieve power.

In our flattened world of materialism, we resist anything beyond the echo of our own thoughts. We deny what we can’t measure or control, which is anything supernatural. We revere education and look down on revelation. Not that natural things are bad or that we shouldn’t be educated, but these things will never lead us into walking in true power.

Here’s the kind of power God intended for us to walk in.

Overcoming Power and Revelation-Knowledge

Earlier, Paul told Timothy this…

⁸ So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, but overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God! (2 Tim.1:8 TPT*)

What Paul is saying here is that it isn’t our clever programs that will free us from lies and bondage, it’s the revelation of God’s power within us. I talk about this in more detail here.  Then, later, Paul says the following:

Timothy, my dear son, live your life empowered by God’s free-flowing grace, which is your true strength, found in the anointing of Jesus and your union with him! (2 Tim.2:1 TPT*)

Notice that our true strength does not come from us, but from God’s power within us. It flows to us and through us by His grace.

When we only respect God but deny His power, always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth, we remain unchanged, un-transfigured, never increasing in glory (2 Cor.3:18). We become full of ourselves, thinking we know something when we know nothing. We will mock what we don’t understand, and we will use this counterfeit-power over others.

This is because it’s only the truth experienced through divine revelation-knowledge that makes us free from these human chains (John 8:32).

Beloved, the truth is, we overcome every evil by the revelation of God’s power within us, and our lives are empowered by God’s free-flowing grace. Both of which requires walking in our union with Christ and trusting in His power, not our own. This means that you and I will walk in true power when we let go of all other forms of trying attain it.

¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Eph.6:10 NKJV*)

                                  * All emphasis added.

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P.S. (from bruce) When there is no other place to turn…turn to God !!  If you’re not a “born again” Christian, is the Holy Spirit urging you to open this link ??  Here is the truth for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…   https://godsmanforever.com

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, please feel free to share this message of the cross with those in need…

You say you are a “born again” believer…  BUT are you “ON FIRE” for the Lord ??  If not, open this link – https://godsmanforever.com/2020/08/01/are-you-a-christian-in-gods-eyes-and-on-fire-for-the-lord-or-not/

Picture credit:  https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS832US832&sxsrf=ALeKk02ADxHp-nGXWjSN8MnIAxb9CaB6GA:1613825670244&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=image+power+of+the+Holy+Spirit&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi9-7aOwfjuAhVpAp0JHbSzAwYQjJkEegQICBAB&biw=1359&bih=920#imgrc=CUKttZCBZFhRLM

“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie    http://www.harvest.org/devotional

Written by Beth Andrews for “Deeper Roots”  @  https://dbethandrews.wordpress.com

Original post @  https://dbethandrews.wordpress.com/2021/02/07/real-love/

Real Love

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 7, 2021

This is the week building up to Valentine’s Day, and I plan to write about love all week. Not sappy, “Hallmark movie” love, but the love that is true and perfect and eternal.

I’m intrigued by a verse in 1 John: “Everyone who loves the Father loves His child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and caring out His commands” (5:1-2).  I expected that John would have said “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by caring for one another, meeting needs, sharing the blessings of God, etc.” But he says that love for one another is revealed in our love for God and our obedience to His commands. That seems strange until we realize that love for God will always manifest itself in love for people. A heart that loves God will love what God loves.

The heart and soul of true love—of agape love­—is the love of God. This is perfect love (1 John 4:18). And it is nothing like the “love” this world desires. In our culture today, “love” means “anything goes.” Love, in the modern sense, is unrestrained permissiveness. If I claim to love you, I should never stand in the way of you fulfilling your desires. But what if I know that your desires are self-destructive? If my granddaughter desires to run into the middle of the street (and she does), does love demand that I allow her to do so? No! Because grandmother love has a greater demand: that I do what is in Joy’s best interest. So even though it made her very angry, I stopped her before she reached the end of our driveway.  Should I be any less concerned when I see someone blindly following the whims of this sin-sick world into self-destruction? Real love cares enough to say “This will destroy you.” Paul said that love “always protects” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Is it protective to say, “Because I love you, I approve of your sinful choices.”? Real love doesn’t turn a blind eye to sin.

God is the source of real love. 1 John 4:7a says, “Let us love one another, for love comes from God.” Real love is holy love. And because He is the definition of love, anything outside of God is not love. Beloved, it is time for us to speak the truth in love while we also speak the truth about love.

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P.S. (from bruce) When there is no other place to turn…turn to God !!  If you’re not a “born again” Christian, is the Holy Spirit urging you to open this link ??  Here is the truth for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…   https://godsmanforever.com

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, please feel free to share this message of the cross with those in need…

You say you are a “born again” believer…  BUT are you “ON FIRE” for the Lord ??  If not, open this link – https://godsmanforever.com/2020/08/01/are-you-a-christian-in-gods-eyes-and-on-fire-for-the-lord-or-not/

Picture credit: https://www.google.com/search?q=image+1+John+4%3A18+bible&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjTg_3-mNjuAhWREt8KHTqLArsQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=image+1+John+4%3A18+bible&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoICAAQCBAHEB46AggAUN7lAViltAJg5r0CaABwAHgAgAFLiAHbC5IBAjIzmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=fBUgYNPVL5Gl_Aa6lorYCw&bih=863&biw=1277&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS832US832#imgrc=JpHuvzGzjCV0uM