Guidelines For Living Devotional

Start Experiencing Jesus’s Love

An amazing thing about the human body is that it tends to reject anything that is foreign to it.  Take a splinter, for instance, which has worked its way under your skin as a thorn did my thumb when I was pruning my roses.  Unable to dig it out with a needle, I said to myself, "I'll just let nature take care of it," and sure enough, it was sore for a few days and then the surface around the thorn toughened as the flesh began to isolate the foreign object.  In a few days, the thorn worked to the surface where I could get it with tweezers. 

How Do I Know God If God Values Me?

One of the marks of affluence in Russia today is the vast network of hastily constructed metal storage sheds which look like corrugated matchboxes just large enough to hold a car or protect building materials from greedy eyes.  With no windows and a large padlock, these storage sheds become a virtual prison for anyone unfortunate enough to be inside when the door closes.

Here’s How To Find Closure and Healing

Item #1:  A busload of Korean mourners gathers at the spot where the giant 747 crashed.  They sprinkle flowers on the barren, desolate ground and offer prayers. Item #2:   A father kneels by the grave of his 21-year-old son and cries, "I never got to tell you how proud of you I have been and how much I really loved you."    Item #3:  The family of a young woman whose daughter was abducted as she drove home late one night wants to watch the grim execution of the alleged murderer.

Start Seeing God’s Blessings

When a certain businessman bought an Italian sports car known as a Lamborghini, he phoned the local parish priest and asked him if he would bless the new vehicle, which was no small investment.  Hesitatingly the priest asked, "Just what is a Lamborghini?"  That was it!  "Well, if you don't know what one is, I don't think your blessing would amount to much," the man replied, and hung up.  Then he called a Baptist preacher and asked him if he would bless the sports car.  The pastor immediately responded: "A Lamborghini?  Wow!  That's great.  Zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds. Best engineered sports car in the world."  Then he hesitated and said, "You want me to bless it?  What's a blessing?"

How Does The Holy Spirit Fit Into My Plans?

Business journals and MBAs are convinced that strategic planning is important, a vital key to success; and no thinking person would deny the importance of knowing where you want to go and having a plan to get there.  But for the business person who takes the promises of God's Word at face value and is serious about making God his senior partner, is business success simply a matter of finding out what the need is and how you can fill it?  Where does the leadership of the Holy Spirit fit into the equation of success?

Do You Have A Plan For Your Life?

Years ago, an immigrant succeeded the hard way.  He worked long hours, made the customer feel important, and was sensitive to the needs of those who came to his shop.  All of his hard labor paid off, and determining to give his son more than he had, he saved and sent the youth off to college.

Why Is God Not Answering Me?

 Amy Carmichael called it the "age-long minute," the period of time between when you pray, asking God to undertake, and the moment when His strong arm moves on your behalf.  The "age-long minute!"

3 Simple Tips For Working Through Grief

 "Ever since our mother died, my sister won't talk about it.  It seems that she wants to just seal that part of her life off and pretend it didn't happen," confided a friend, wondering what he could do to help his sister.

5 Steps To Create Attainable Goals

Frustration is no stranger to the child of God.  Believers live in a world of broken pieces, and buses that are late, and budgets which will not balance, just the same as the man who is an atheist.  Let's go back to the source of much of our frustration--goals that are not reached, accomplishments that are not realized, and expectations that are not met.  The result: frustration. 

What To Do In Times Of Trouble

Andrew Murray had a philosophy of life which enabled him to go through periods of difficulty.  In the flyleaf of an old Bible of mine is a clipping quoting Murray, who wrote, "In times of trouble, God's trusting child may say, FIRST:  He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait [difficult] place: in that will I rest.  NEXT:  He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.  THEN: He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.  LAST:  In His good time He can bring me out again--how and when, He knows.  SAY:  I am here-- (1) By God's appointment, (2) In His keeping, (3) Under His training, (4) For His time."