Guidelines For Living Devotional

How Does God Want To Use Your Time Today?

Luke, the medical doctor from Syria, the man who wrote more of the New Testament than even the Apostle Paul, gives us an interesting insight into how Jesus viewed life's interruptions.  He tells how Jesus started towards Jerusalem where the cross was looming on the horizon.  Christ knew the Scriptures.  He also knew what lay ahead.  He had told the disciples that He was going to lay down His life, freely and voluntarily. 

Discover How to Manage Your Time

What do a businessman in Korea, a teacher in a remote area of the Philippines, a bus driver in Los Angeles, and a rock concert promoter in Kuala Lumpur all have in common?  They all share the same problem:  time management!  When I conducted family conferences in those countries, I asked everyone the same question:  "What is the number one problem facing your family?"  To my surprise, the answers were a variation of a common theme:  How do you manage to do a good job at work, have time for your family, be involved in church activities, and be an authentic person at the same time? 

Finding The Power To Endure

Forget about climbing Everest or Anapurna, or bicycling through the Sahara Desert.  "God, just help me to get through this day." If that's how you feel, you aren't alone.  You've got lots of company.  But when you really are under a heavy load, frankly you aren't much concerned about the passenger three cars down from you, you want help with your load—now.  That's the way it is in life.

How Christ Can Change Your Life

For five generations before her, Wong Su's family had been Christians, but she didn't believe in God.  Living in China, when the turbulence of Communism changed the face of that country, she did what almost all other youths did in the '60's: she joined the Red Guard.  Yet Wong Su also knew that what she was hearing—that there is no God and that Chairman Mao was the one who would meet their needs—wasn't what she had been taught as a child.

Find Out How To Make Peace With God

Making peace with God is the most important thing you will ever do in life, and it isn't something that you can necessarily put off until five minutes before your encounter with the Almighty.  But the sad thing is that life gets so full of things that we seldom think about the importance of making peace with God until it's too late.

What Does It Mean To Have Good Intentions?

One of the illusions that we live with is that there is always plenty of time later on, so we procrastinate, full of good intentions, thinking that we'll do that later.  Take for example the administrative assistant who worked for many years for the Eastman Kodak Company. She never married.  Her nieces and nephews were very special to her.  When her nephew, Dick, was struggling to get through college and seminary, she sent checks quite often.  He was the son she never had, and when he went overseas as a missionary, her love and respect for him and his lovely wife only increased.

4 Ways To Live Your Life Without Regret

On his sickbed prior to his death, the English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said, "If you do not wish to be full of regrets when you are forced to lie still, work while you can.  If you desire to make a sickbed as soft as it can be, do not stuff it with mournful reflections that you wasted time when you were in health and strength."  I suppose it is only natural that when you get to the place Spurgeon described, you have some regrets.  You can no longer climb that mountain or swim the lagoon.  Neither can you jump stairs two at a time or run and leap across the meadow.

Learn How To Control Your Emotions

You are behind a driver who doesn't immediately move when traffic clears, so what do you do? Wait for the car to move? Tap your horn immediately? Or just ignore the driver while your blood pressure climbs 10 points?

Why Should I Trust In God's Plan?

If you could see the hand of God in the troubles which confront you, how different would be your response to what is happening in our world today. Do you agree?  Or are you so overwhelmed by what is happening to you personally, that you see no pattern, no evidence of the caring hand of God in your life?

How to Confront Hard Issues With Grace

Jesus said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).  I don't know whether Jesus had old Jeremiah in mind, but there is one thing for sure: In his day Jeremiah never had to worry about people saying many nice things about him.  He was despised, persecuted, and forsaken by friends.