“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht
“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/
John 16:33… “These things I have spoken to you, thatinMeyou may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I haveovercome the world.” (NKJV)
Jesus was speaking to His disciples in the opening scripture, when He spoke these words of comfort that we as Christians should all draw from…when we have anything less than the peace that God has given to all of His redeemed children… But this supernatural peace from God is not guaranteed to continue without interruption in the lives of all Christians…
My writing for today is drawn from 2 audio sermons done by Dr. Charles Stanley, on a topic that I tend to emphasize on a regular basis… I often write about God’s supernatural peace that goes beyond our mortal understanding (Philippians 4:6-7), because I believe there are so many Christians who have lost that original supernatural peace that God gave to all of His new children, on the day He graced them with salvation with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit…John 14:26…
Dr. Stanley’s audio sermons can be found @ http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archives by scrolling back to October 12th and 19th, 2013…for his sermons titled…“Is Peace Possible in Bad Times ?”, Part 1 & Part 2…
The first words out of Dr. Stanley’s mouth were that we can not have inner peace with God, when we are living in willful, known disobedience towards God and His will for our lives… Any unconfessed sins will separate everyone from experiencing this supernatural peace that only God can provide…
Dr. Stanley gives us 3 steps to explain how a human being will be able to experience God’s peace…
First…a person has to come to Christ with a humble, contrite heart…with saving faith alone through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior…Ephesians 2:8-9… Without being graced by God with the gift of salvation…there will never be any possibility of lasting eternal peace that will break the bonds of sin and shame in the life of a non-believer… The apostle Paul describes this kind of separation from God by the unredeemed sinner, in…Romans 3:10-17… Here is the link… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom3:10-17&version=NKJV;KJV (See P.S. at the end for more on God’s gift of grace)
Second…the Christian must stay focused upon the Lord, believing that the Lord can and will provide for those who keep trusting in Him, instead of themselves for all things… We see this in the Old Testament, penned by the prophet Isaiah, in…Isaiah 26:1-4… Here is the link… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isa26:1-4&version=NKJV;KJV
We also read what Matthew penned, as spoken by Jesus Himself, about placing our faith and trust in Christ first, and then remaining righteous in His sight, in…Matthew 6:25-33…to be promised that God will provide for all of our needs… Here is the link… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat6:25-33&version=NKJV;KJV
Thirdly…we must be followers of Christ, to be able to experience God’s peace, even through trials that will come in all of our lives… Jesus tells us in the opening scripture, “thatinMeyou may have peace.” This boils down to abiding in Christ …John 15:1-27… The thrust of this scripture penned by the apostle John, is the need for obedience to God by abiding in Christ’s love (verses 9-25)… I found this instructional teaching link posted by www.Bible.org that was titled…“Abiding in Christ (John 15)”, found at the following link… https://bible.org/seriespage/abiding-christ-john-15
Dr. Stanley goes on to list 3 reasons that can cause a Christian to lose their God given supernatural peace… I would like to allow Dr. Stanley to teach you about these 3 reasons himself, if your interested…because he can do a much better job with audible words, than I could ever do with my words on a page… Click on his link above to reach “In-Touch Ministries”…and listen to October 12th and 19th, 2013, as I have listed above…
Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word, and those of Your humble servant Dr. Charles Stanley, if listened to…would urge us through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to see how important it is to abide in Christ, as Christians live a Christ centered life… I pray Lord, that You would cut right to the very core like a two-edged sword, of the soul of those in need of making You the priority in their lives…Hebrews 4:12-13… I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
Blessings in Christ, bruce r mills
P.S. Here is a link 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, after first being drawn in by God…John 6:44… https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/gods-group-thoughts-for-7112013-the-truth-about-sin/
God's group 