DEVOTIONAL BY BILLY GRAHAM – HOPE FOR EACH DAY

Our Loving, Compassionate God

I am the bread of life. – JOHN 6:35

Jesus came to the world so we could know, once and for all, that God is concerned about the way we live, the way we believe, and the way we die.

God could have told us in other ways, of course—and He had, throughout the pages of the Old Testament and in the lives of His people. By His written Word He declared His love.

But Jesus was the Living Word. By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus demonstrated God’s love in a way we could never deny. Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Every time He fed the hungry, He was saying, “I am the bread of life.”

Every time He healed a suffering person, He was saying, “It hurts Me to see you in pain.” Every move He made, every miracle He performed, every word He spoke was for the purpose of reconciling a lost world to the loving, compassionate God.

DEVOTIONAL BY CHARLES STANLEY – ON HOLY GROUND

The Broken Man

The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. – Psalm 145:14

The minute seed corn that was buried in the ground burst forth into a cornucopia of grain.  Likewise, the Christian stripped of self-sufficiency and entered into a new dimension of life In Christ, is positioned for maximum fruitfulness in the kingdom of God.

The broken man enjoys a new measure of power in the Holy Spirit.  He looks to the Spirit of God to work in and through him, putting no confidence in the flesh.  He is charged with the life and thee energy of the Holy Spirit.

The submitted man is joyful in the Lord.  He is no longer hostage to changing circumstances, riding the ups and downs of emotions or happenings.  The joy of the Lord is his strength.

The yielded man is alert to the needs of others.  God uses him to minister to other hurting people because he is not consumed with his own problems.  He has wisdom and insight to share, not his own futile reasoning.

He still must deal with the trials and ordeals of daily life; but there is a lift to his countenance, a surety about his ways.  He relies wholly on Christ.  He has freedom, liberty, and new devotion to Jesus and His work.

DEVOTIONAL FROM POSTCARDS FROM HEAVEN – CLAIRE CLONINGER

I Am Here For Your Hurt

My dear child,

Are you hurting today?  Under all the coping mechanisms you’ve set up to keep your life in motion, is there a place I you that is bruised and aching, a hidden place in need of healing?

I know.  I can see.  I want to heal you.  It is to the downtrodden and the broken that I come.  Let me in.  Don’t hide the wounded places.  Don’t show me only the shiny achievements and the competent areas of your life.  I am here for the hurt in you too.  I want to bring health to every part of you.  I want to see you flourish.  I want to make you whole.  So when the wick of your candle is smoldering and almost out, cry out to me.  I will send the gentle wind of my Holy Spirit to stir up that flame of life in you.

Compassionately yours. – God

Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Psalm 45:14-20

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.^[c]
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

DEVOTIONAL BY OSWALD CHAMBERS – MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST

Test of Faithfulness

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.