Guidelines For Living Devotional

Do You Feel Distant From God

You can no more have intimacy with God without prayer than you can have intimacy in marriage without communication. Though you may have never thought of the two in relationship to each other, what makes both meaningful is much the same. Success in both is dependent upon the quality of your relationship with the object of your affection. When you can't communicate with your husband or wife--for whatever reason, your relationship rapidly disintegrates. Love grows cold. Warm memories are just that--recollections of the past, not realities in the present.

Age Is A Matter Of The Mind

There are some individuals whose spirits can't be conquered. No matter how they are repressed, how they get hit, they just get up and walk, then run, then climb the heights. They just don't know how to quit. Such was the old man who presented his claim to Joshua in the Bible, "I am eighty-five years old!" he began," but he quickly adds, "I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." And then he got to the bottom line: "Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day!" (Joshua 14:12 NKJV).

Have We Lost Sight of Our Responsibilities?

"I just don't know how it could have happened," a friend lamented. "They were one of the most spiritual couples I knew. Reading their annual Christmas letter," he said, "made me envious. Their lives were filled with so much, they were helping so many, they were involved in so many good causes." And what caused his distress? She had just left him for another man.   Another marriage failure. Two seemingly committed believers.

Tell God How You Feel

Life is full of its ups and downs, right? Good days and bad days. Times of joy and times of sorrow. Question: What would it be if there were no valleys, no shadows, no tough times? Can you picture a painting with only vivid colors, no dark contrasts, or varying shades?   Or living in a tropical paradise where every day was picture perfect? In other words, is it not the difficult that makes reaching the top meaningful and important?

Finding Faith In The Real World

Discouraged? Feel that your valley is so long and dark that you'll never make it to the next peak? Ever wonder if it's worth it? If you answer "yes," you're perfectly normal—nothing more or less. A lot of folks become Christians with wrong impressions of what the Christian life is all about. I'm never quite sure whether the confusion is the result of the rhetoric of the one who encouraged them to embark on the path of faith, or else they have unrealistic expectations of what the journey is about because they haven't read the tour book—the Bible.

Are Atheists And Miracles Contradictory?

When atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair was murdered in 1995, the comfortable five-bedroom home she was living in fell to her associate Oren Tyson, director of a non-profit group sponsoring atheism. But when the taxes were not paid, the authorities confiscated the house and set Tyson's belongings out on the street in cardboard boxes. Of course, he was indignant. In response, he fashioned a sign from one of the cardboard boxes which defiantly read, "Homeless Atheist, Nam Veteran, Will Wait for a Miracle."

Can God Put A Broken Life Back Together?

After He had prayed all night, Jesus called twelve men to follow Him--ordinary men who were fishermen, small businessmen, and government employees. None were university graduates or professionals as we think of them today. They were men with calluses on their hands, with the smell of labor on their clothes, with dust on their sandals.

Discover What Real Joy Is

The Graeco-Roman world into which Jesus was born hardly knew what to do with the narrow strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean which was then known as Palestine. When Romans built a gymnasium and baths at Caesarea, the Jews revolted. Eventually Caesar sent his legions, who subdued the rebellion. Then politicians discreetly forged alliances with Jewish leaders whose loyalty to Rome was unquestioned.

The Pursuit of Happiness

When Jesus told the disciples that they were to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, He used a strong word, one which means to earnestly seek something, something worthy of the time and effort it takes to reach that goal.
 

This Is Why Choices Matter

Some 600 miles south of Cairo, on the banks of the ancient Nile, stands the ancient temple of Karnak, one of the most splendid structures of the ancient world. Across the river is the majestic valley of the Kings and the awesome tombs which were monuments to the egos of the pharaohs.