Guidelines For Living Devotional

How To Find Refuge In The Lord

The ominous clouds of war were hanging over Europe in 1937. Claiming that he could turn the economy around and put people to work, Adolf Hitler began to strengthen his grip on Germany. Those who dared to oppose him were silenced as the detention camps were opened, eventually to be known as concentration camps.

God Is Bigger Thank Your Worries

Is it really wrong to worry?   Who would deny that there is plenty to worry about--the state of the economy, our health, the Middle East, the domestic problems including feeding the hungry (which few of us really worry about unless we are on the hungry end of the issue), and a lot of other things? But can we help worrying any more than we can help our hair thinning out or what happens to our good looks after age 50?

Find Strength When You Are In Trouble

"If I can just get through this problem, I'm sure that everything will be okay." Ever think that? So you grit your teeth and, sure enough, you get through that problem, only to find that several more have cropped up on the horizon. It's something like pedaling a bicycle. Going uphill is so slow and takes so much energy, while the downhill run so quickly turns into another uphill climb.

Do You Feel Like God Has Failed You?

"Due to the current financial constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice!" so reads a notice on a local notice board. How's that for contending for a gold medal in pessimism?   Nobody can take away the power of hope unless you let him. Hope is as essential to life as oxygen is to your human body.

Find Faith In The Midst Of Crisis

William Carey was one of the pioneers of the modern missionary movement as he left his native England and went to India. In the process Carey established himself and began to translate the Bible into the language of the people he worked with. Before the days of linguists and computers, it was a long slow process. Eventually a printer joined him, and, after years of effort, Bibles were printed and the process of distribution was begun. One day, however, Carey returned from a time of ministry elsewhere to find that a disastrous fire had broken out and had completely destroyed the building housing his offices and press, but far more damaging, his manuscripts, grammars and dictionaries had all gone up in flames as well. Nothing short of death could have struck such a blow.

Is God At The Center Of Your Marriage?

One of the most beautiful structures in the world, the Notre Dame Cathedral, stands on the banks of the Seine River in the heart of modern Paris. This beautiful building dating from the Middle Ages gains elegance and uniqueness partially from the lovely flying buttresses or arches which gracefully support the walls.

Start Seeking God’s Direction For Your Life

Long ago Joshua and his staff could have saved themselves all kinds of heartaches had they only stopped long enough to ask God for guidance. Here's how they got themselves into trouble. After God gave them two great victories--one at Jericho and Ai--they met together and renewed their commitment to serve God. The law was read and the people nodded their heads in agreement.

Relying On God In the Midst Of The Storm

God made you in such a way that you can survive tremendous ordeals--illness, imprisonment, persecution, and privation. You can live without food and water--far longer than you might think. You can handle a tremendous amount of stress, but there is one thing with which you cannot do without. Apart from this you quickly despair. It is hope!   You can rebuild when illness has ravished your body. You can put your finances together again, and you can pick up the broken pieces of your world when the bottom drops out, and go on, but when you are overcome by the despair of hope, you give up and die!

Will God Keep Forgiving Me?

You may have seen the headline yourself:  "Rouge executioner a born-again Christian."  The Reuters news story began, "The chief executioner of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, who ordered thousands of people killed in the 1970's, is a born-again Christian ready to face justice, the Far Eastern Economic Review said."

Start Surrendering Your Life To God

"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord,'" wrote the Apostle Paul, "except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Thousands of men and women today do recognize Jesus as their Savior, but they are still struggling to run their own lives and have never discovered the Lordship of Christ. "We are not our own bosses to live or die as we ourselves might choose" wrote Paul to the Romans. Many sincere, well-intentioned believers are really afraid to turn loose, not certain that God can handle their lives. They remind me of the legend involving the Greek philosopher, Diogenes.