DEVOTIONAL BY BILLY GRAHAM – HOPE FOR EACH DAY

God’s Presence

I will be with you always, to the very end of the age. – MATTHEW 28:20, NIV

These words are Christ’s promise to all His disciples, and it is a promise that is marvelously inclusive. No situation is excluded; no challenge is omitted.

Dr. Handley Moule, the noted Greek scholar and Anglican Bishop of Durham (England) in another generation, maintained that the word always could be paraphrased to mean, “I am with you all the days, all day long.” That means we can count on Christ’s presence not only every day, but every moment of every day.

Of the fact of His presence there can be no doubt, for His Word cannot fail. What we need is to cultivate the sense of His presence, every day, every hour, every moment. This happens as we speak to Him in worship and prayer, and listen to Him speak to us through His Word, the Bible.

DEVOTIONAL BY CHARLES STANLEY – ON HOLY GROUND

Be Still And Know

Be still, and knowthat I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! – Psalm 46:10

The writer of Psalm 46 knew what it meant to face turmoil and tragedy. Wars and violence were very much a part of Old Testament life. Entire nations were wiped out without warning. Imagine the fear and dismay of such perilous times. You may know personally how it feels to abide in the instability of pain and suffering. At times you find yourself longing for something or someone to anchor and steady your hurting heart. Jesus is your anchor. He is your sure hope. The psalmist told us that even though our world appears disjointed, turned upside down, and on the brink of desolation, God is with us. He never abandons His omnipotent station. He is our hiding place when the storms of life lash out at us. He is our abode of trust, covering us with His divine veil of protection when powerful forces attack. Martin Luther captured this thought in the words: “A mighty fortress is our God.” God is our refuge, and He cannot be shaken. How do you tap into His sovereign watchcare? Verse 10 of Psalm 46 (NASB) holds the answer: “Cease striving [be still] and know that I am God.” Lay aside your human effort, and call out to your Eternal Hope—Jesus Christ.

DEVOTIONAL FROM POSTCARDS FROM HEAVEN – CLAIRE CLONINGER

You Will Find Me

Dear Child,

I am not difficult to find.  I am not trying to elude you or hide myself from you.  I am here, and when you are ready to find me, you will.  You will find me when you seek me with all that you are.  When you are through playing intellectual games and spiritual hide-and-seek.  When you stop trying to create me in your image.  When you stop giving me ultimatums and deadlines and telling me how God should act.

When it’s really me that you want and not some deity of your own design, then you will surely find me.  My name is I AM – the God of power and majesty, the God of justice and mercy.  I am Jehovah – the God of the garden, the flood, the wilderness, and the mountaintop.  I am Abba – the God of Jesus, the God of the cross and the grave, the Resurrection and the Life.  Seek me; you will find me.

I AM WHO I AM. – God

Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, Seek, Knock

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Psalm 95:1-7

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

DEVOTIONAL BY OSWALD CHAMBERS – MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST

The Spiritual Search

What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? —Matthew 7:9

The illustration of prayer that our Lord used here is one of a good child who is asking for something good. We talk about prayer as if God hears us regardless of what our relationship is to Him (see Matthew 5:45). Never say that it is not God’s will to give you what you ask. Don’t faint and give up, but find out the reason you have not received; increase the intensity of your search and examine the evidence. Is your relationship right with your spouse, your children, and your fellow students? Are you a “good child” in those relationships? Do you have to say to the Lord, “I have been irritable and cross, but I still want spiritual blessings”? You cannot receive and will have to do without them until you have the attitude of a “good child.”

We mistake defiance for devotion, arguing with God instead of surrendering. We refuse to look at the evidence that clearly indicates where we are wrong. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want, while refusing to pay someone what I owe him? Have I been asking God for liberty while I am withholding it from someone who belongs to me? Have I refused to forgive someone, and have I been unkind to that person? Have I been living as God’s child among my relatives and friends? (see Matthew 7:12).

I am a child of God only by being born again, and as His child I am good only as I “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). For most of us, prayer simply becomes some trivial religious expression, a matter of mystical and emotional fellowship with God. We are all good at producing spiritual fog that blinds our sight. But if we will search out and examine the evidence, we will see very clearly what is wrong— a friendship, an unpaid debt, or an improper attitude. There is no use praying unless we are living as children of God. Then Jesus says, regarding His children, “Everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8).