The Trial of Faith

By Oswald Chambers

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you. —Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

The Savior’s many crowns

By: Charles Spurgeon

“On his head were many crowns.” Revelation 19:12

Suggested Further Reading: Revelation 4

All the mighty doers in Christ’s church ascribe their crown to him. What a glorious crown is that which Elijah will wear—the man who went to Ahab, and when Ahab said, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” reproved him to his very face—the man who took the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape, but hewed them in pieces and made them a sacrifice to God. What a crown will he wear who ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire! What a crown, again, belongs to Daniel, saved from the lion’s den—Daniel, the earnest prophet of God. What a crown will be that which shall glitter on the head of the weeping Jeremiah, and the eloquent Isaiah! What crowns are those which shall cover the heads of the apostles! What a weighty diadem is that which Paul shall receive for his many years of service! And then, my friends, how shall the crown of Luther glitter, and the crown of Calvin; and what a noble diadem shall that be which Whitefield shall wear, and all those men who have so valiantly served God, and who by his might have put to flight the armies of the Aliens, and have maintained the gospel banner erect in troubled times! No, but let me point to you a scene. Elijah enters heaven, and where goes he with that crown which is instantly put upon his head? See, he flies to the throne, and stooping there, he uncrowns himself, “Not unto me, not unto me, but unto thy name be all the glory!” See the prophets as they stream in one by one; without exception, they put their crowns upon the head of Christ. And mark the apostles, and all the mighty teachers of the church: they all bow there and cast their crowns at his feet, who, by his grace, enabled them to win them.

For meditation: Will you receive any of the crowns mentioned in the New Testament?—The crown of rejoicing—for faithful evangelism out of love for the lost. The crown of righteousness—for faithful expectation out of love for the Lord’s presence. The crown of resurrection life—for faithful endurance out of love for the Lord’s person. The crown of renown—for faithful examples out of love for the Lord’s people (1 Thessalonians 2:19; 2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:2-4).

History Matters

From: Our Daily Journey

  Oct 29, 2018  

Read:

Acts 17:26-31
From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries (Acts 17:26).

Theologian George Ladd once rhetorically asked, “Does mankind have a destiny? Or do we jerk across the stage of time like wooden puppets, only to have the stage, the actors, and the theatre itself destroyed by fire, leaving only a pile of ashes and the smell of smoke?”

A close look at the archives of history shows us a different story. From New Zealand to Alaska we find God’s fingerprint in history, geography, and culture.

Paul certainly had confidence in God’s active involvement in history and His plan to direct history to a final goal. He boldly talked about this topic when he was invited by Greek philosophers to the Areopagus (an ancient court in Athens). Paul confessed that because God is the Creator of the whole world, He doesn’t need anything from humans, and “he decided beforehand when [the nations] should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries” (Acts 17:26). Every nation, every people group is equal before God. And though they’re unique in language, culture, and period in history, He desires all of them to love Him.

As Paul proclaimed, God’s “purpose was for [all] nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27). He is calling all peoples to repentance because His final goal is “a day for judging the world with justice by the man [Christ] he has appointed” (Acts 17:31). If the Athenians would believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection and repent, their sins would be forgiven.

May we live with great hope, recognizing God’s mighty hand in history and remembering “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Your Way, Not Mine

Our Daily Bread

  October 28, 2018  

Read: Luke 22:39–46 | Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 15–17; 2 Timothy 2

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Kamil and Joelle were devastated when their eight-year-old daughter Rima was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. The disease led to meningitis and a stroke, and Rima lapsed into a coma. The hospital medical team counseled her parents to make arrangements for Rima’s funeral, giving her less than a one percent chance of survival.

Kamil and Joelle fasted and prayed for a miracle. “As we pray,” Kamil said, “we need to trust God no matter what. And pray like Jesus—not my way, Father, but Yours.” “But I want so much for God to heal her!” Joelle answered honestly. “Yes! And we should ask!” Kamil responded. “But it honors God when we give ourselves to Him even when it’s hard, because that’s what Jesus did.”

Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). By praying “take this cup,” Jesus asked not to go to the cross; but He submitted to the Father out of love.

Surrendering our desires to God isn’t easy, and His wisdom can be difficult to understand in challenging moments. Kamil and Joelle’s prayers were answered in a remarkable way—Rima is a healthy fifteen year old today.

Jesus understands every struggle. Even when, for our sake, His request was not answered, He showed us how to trust our God in every need.

I want to be “all in” for You, Father. I trust in Your unfailing love and give myself to You as Your servant today.

God always deserves our commitment and praise.

What Are You Afraid of?

By: Jay Lowder, Author

Typically when people are afraid of something, it breeds inactivity. Not certain what to do, they end up doing nothing at all.

The Bible speaks quite a bit about fear – more than 700 times to be exact. 2 Timothy 1:7 says,

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV)

If God has not given us a spirit of fear, then why are so many people who follow him are gripped by fear?

I believe fear is one of his enemy’s primary tools used against believers to create doubt and faithlessness. Even Jesus said in Matthew 10:28,

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (NKJV)

Fear can cause us to miss out on being a part of God’s great plans. We see this best in the story of Gideon. Gideon was afraid from the first moment God called him to save the people of Israel by defeating the Midianites. Gideon continually tested God, and in turn, God continually confronted Gideon’s fear by showing His power.

In Judges 7, as Gideon is preparing to battle the Midianites, God makes it clear He wants the Israelites to credit Him for the victory. So, God decides to wean Gideon’s army. The first cut? Any man who is afraid (Judges 7:3). With that, 22,000 men packed their bags and went home out of fear.

Leaving Gideon 10,000 soldiers, God says it must be smaller. God gave Gideon another criterion that left him with only 300 men.

Sometimes God asks you to do things that are not practical or pragmatic.

In Gideon’s case, 300 men faithfully followed God’s instructions, which included no weapons but rather going into battle with only a trumpet and pitchers. Because of their faithfulness to do as God said, they won and defeated the Midianites. On the other hand, 22,000 men went home and later discovered they missed out on one of the greatest miraculous military battles in history. All because they ran from destiny and ran toward fear.

We all have fear. The enemy wants to paralyze us with it, but God wants us to walk by faith and instill courage in us to follow Him. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6,

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (NKJV)

Today, God calls you to walk by faith, not by fear. Of course, you will face seasons of fear, but in those times you must pray for God to give you the courage to stand strong and stand in what He has told you.

Never doubt in the light what God has told you in the dark. The battle is not yours anyway; it is God’s.

True Satisfaction

From: Our Daily Journey

  Oct 26, 2018  

Read:

Ecclesiastes 2:11-26
For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? (Ecclesiastes 2:25).

A professor, speaking during a symposium, shared that she flies a lot and is often bumped up to first class. While chatting with her seatmates, she sometimes hears variations of her life story—stories of people who’ve graduated from prestigious universities, taken the best internships, and landed top jobs. They’ve done everything the world told them to do, but many still feel empty inside.

These people, like many of us, had been so busy getting ahead that they’d never stopped and asked why they were running so hard. What was it all for?

King Solomon could relate. He enjoyed countless pleasures and productive work, but it was never enough. He knew he would die and leave whatever he’d accumulated to his descendants who’d fritter it away. Why bother? (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19,21-22).

Solomon found purpose only when he gave up trying to generate his own meaning (Ecclesiastes 2:20) and found his significance in God. Only the eternal One transcends all lifespans, so the only accomplishments that ultimately matter are those He accepts. As Paul would later write, God only accepts what is devoted to Jesus. The only thing that counts is “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him” (Philippians 3:8-9).

Nothing here on earth can truly satisfy us. Jesus frees us from empty pursuits and enables us to please God who “gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him” (Ecclesiastes 2:26). We’re now free to “enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work.” These “pleasures are from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24), the only One who can replace our empty feelings with His fulfilling presence.

Grace in the Ordinary

From: Our Daily Journey

  Oct 25, 2018  

Read:

2 Corinthians 4:1-18
As God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory (2 Corinthians 4:15).

Every Wednesday evening from 6 to 7, rain or shine—or even snow—our little band of disciples gathers in our church’s tiny chapel to pray. Our prayer meeting is open to everyone, but there are usually just four to ten people who gather together.

If you attended our meeting, using the world’s measurements for success, you wouldn’t be impressed. We’re a motley crew. One person is bipolar. Another is experiencing physical and mental deterioration due to Parkinson’s. One suffers debilitating anxiety. Another is overcoming the fallout of sexual abuse, poverty, alcoholism, and other suffering. Others worry about children and spouses not following Jesus. And several of us are ever depending on God for financial provision.

Yet these things don’t define us. We’re defined by God’s love and His abounding grace. When I think of our little prayer group, I believe the verses from 2 Corinthians 4:15-17epitomize who we are: “As God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever.”

Our Wednesday night prayer meeting is my anchor. Even though we attendees are imperfect, our prayer meeting is one place where we can weekly experience God’s grace and His power being made perfect in our challenges: “[God] said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness’ ” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). Where do you experience grace in the ordinary?

Peace Like a River

  Oct 24, 2018  

Read:

From: Our Daily Journey

Isaiah 43:1-13
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown (Isaiah 43:2).

As a 97-year-old friend and I discussed Horatio Spafford’s classic hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul,” she said the first line gives her reason to pause. The stanza “when peace like a river attendeth my way” doesn’t accurately depict all rivers, she explained, for “all rivers are not peaceful.”

She went on to describe the time she and her husband rafted down a river and encountered “very few calm places” along the journey. In her nearly 100 years of life, my friend has learned that Jesus alone, not circumstances, yields deep solace in all kinds of waters.

Christ’s promises in Scripture can serve as a lifejacket to buoy us above fear in troubled waters. It’s His Word that lets us know—with full confidence—that when we “go through deep waters,” God will be with us (Isaiah 43:2).

In this passage, and throughout the Bible, we’re reminded that we will experience trials in life. It’s not if but when we will “go through rivers of difficulty” (Isaiah 43:2). Rivers of difficulty don’t conjure up images of a steady, rippling brook, but rather of a tumultuous current threatening to overpower those in its wake.

But if we’re in relationship with God through Christ our Savior, not even the roughest of waters can drown our life in Him. This passage confesses that God is our only hope; as we lean on Him, we can know His powerful presence. And we can experience His rescue from the waters of death as we embrace the hope of eternity with Him.

Only Jesus Christ—not a person, place, thing, or any foreign god—can grant us forgiveness from our sins, transformation, and eternity with God. Let’s rejoice and marvel that nothing, absolutely nothing, can snatch any believer out of God’s loving hands (Isaiah 43:13).

The Eternal Gift

  Oct 23, 2018  

Read:

From: Our Daily Journey

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
He has planted eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

In the book Tales of a Fifth-Grade Knight, some children discover an underground world where people can go to become immortal. They soon realize, however, that there’s a catch. The process is wildly unpredictable, transforming would-be immortals into random objects or creatures for years before their goal can be attained. After witnessing the harrowing ordeal of those trapped in “the strange in-between,” the children decide that immortality isn’t worth it.

This tale offers a vivid illustration of the unwise choices that some are willing to make while attempting to “live forever.” And it hints at a serious truth underscored by Solomon, who wrote that God “has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). With deep insight, Solomon pointed out that it can be easy to focus on one aspect of eternity (youth, or that which is immediately visible), while losing sight of the bigger, eternal picture.

In God’s scheme of things, there’s a time for everything—to be born, live out life on earth, and ultimately to die (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). Death is a sad part of human experience, and it can’t be denied or put off with schemes or anti-aging techniques.

However, it doesn’t have to be the final word. Jesus gave His life so that “everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). For God “has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11).

The human heart’s desire to live forever can’t be satisfied by the stuff of earth; rather, its fulfillment is found in God through the gift of His Son, Jesus. And there’s no catch—just the joy of being in His presence forever!

God Never changes

From: Our Daily Journey

  Oct 22, 2018  

Read:

Isaiah 52:1-12
I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them (Isaiah 52:6).

Hanging up the phone, I gathered a few items and waited for my husband to arrive. He’d just called from the church where he and our son had been working on a few building repairs. From the brief exchange, I learned that our son had been in an accident but was stable enough for us to drive him to the hospital. Even with uncertainties pounding in my mind, I knew in that moment how important it was to make my worship stronger than my worries. The supremacy of God and His goodness had not changed.

Perhaps there’s no more strident awakening than crisis. Shaken by the unexpected, we reach past everyday routine and settled complacency for the sureness of God’s hand. Tempted to know God simply for what He can do, we discover in the unknown an invitation to become intimate with the God before whom nothing is hidden (Isaiah 45:3).

The people of Judah had been taken captive by sin through the illusion that it would secure human affection, security, and success. But Isaiah called them to “wake up” to their inheritance: They were set apart for God (Isaiah 52:1). They’d doubted God’s goodness, but their pursuits had served only to leave them dominated by what they’d wanted to eliminate: the reality of being controlled by someone or something outside of themselves (Isaiah 52:2-5).

God answered their distress as He answers ours—with the call to know Him. More than a means of identification, His name reveals His splendor (Isaiah 52:6). Even so, His sovereignty isn’t founded in domination but restoration (Isaiah 52:9-11).

Jesus suffered so that we might connect directly with the Father (Isaiah 52:14-15). Through knowing God, we can experience the strength of His unconditional love and sure covering, even in life’s uncertainties (Isaiah 52:12).

Real and Present

From: Our Daily Journey

 Oct 21, 2018

Read:

1 Corinthians 12:12-27
All of you together are Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27).

A poll released in early 2017 revealed that nearly one in five Americans define themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Though it’s difficult to nail down what exactly that means, the phrase generally reveals a person’s subjective sense of some higher power or essence but no commitment to any tangible religious tradition or community.

To be sure, a mindless obligation to empty religious rituals does not feed the soul; and certainly the abuses of religious (and yes, “Christian”) communities warns us against blindly following any human system. However, Jesus insisted that after His resurrection and return to the Father, He would be present in the world through the church. In our time, the “body of Christ” entails Jews and Gentiles and men and women, every kind of person who has “been baptized into one body by one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is now alive in the world because He’s alive in His people. When believers in Christ worship on Sundays in London or Bangladesh, when they serve the marginalized in Hong Kong or Kolkata—wherever God’s people are gathering and acting in Jesus’ name—then Jesus is there (Matthew 18:20). “All of you together are Christ’s body,” Paul says, “and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). If we’re joined to Christ, we’re intimately joined to God’s physical presence in the world—the church.

As Teresa of Ávila puts it in her penetrating words: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which to look at Christ’s compassion to the world, yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”

Treasure in My Heart

From: Our Daily Journey

  Oct 20, 2018  

Read:

Psalm 119:9-16 
I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways (Psalm 119:15).

After reading an encouraging and inspiring passage from the Old Testament, I suddenly felt the urge to praise God. Finding myself bursting into worship was a beautiful, unexpected experience. Although my problems weren’t suddenly solved, I felt an immense peace and confidence in God’s presence with me.

The writer of Psalm 119 must have experienced similar emotions and thoughts when he penned, “I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word” (Psalm 119:14-16). Regardless of our wealth, status, or age, all us can delight in meditating on Scripture. As the psalmist wrote, followers of Christ can “stay pure . . . by obeying [God’s] word” (Psalm 119:9).

Psalm 119 highlights knowing God deeper through soaking in His truth from the Torah—the first five books of our current Bibles—by reading it out loud, studying it, meditating on it, and memorizing it (Psalm 119:13-16).

All of these practices are a way to, as the psalm puts it, hide God’s word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11)—which the Amplified Bible translates as “treasured and stored in my heart.” Sin separates us from God, while drawing near to God through Scripture helps break sin’s hold in our lives. But we can’t know God by our own efforts, so the psalm asks God to direct our spiritual growth, to “teach me your decrees” and “don’t let me wander from your commands” (Psalm 119:10,12).

Today, we have both the Old and New Testament books as inspired Scripture to read and meditate on. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we come to know God more and more as we seek the wisdom found in Scripture.

Bring Your Boat

From: Our Daily Bread

  October 19, 2018  

Read: Proverbs 3:21–31 | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 56–58; 2 Thessalonians 2

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27

Hurricane Harvey brought catastrophic flooding to eastern Texas in 2017. The onslaught of rain stranded thousands of people in their homes, unable to escape the floodwaters. In what was dubbed the “Texas Navy,” many private citizens brought boats from other parts of the state and nation to help evacuate stranded people.

The actions of these valiant, generous men and women call to mind the encouragement of Proverbs 3:27, which instructs us to help others whenever we are able. They had the power to act on behalf of those in need by bringing their boats. And so they did. Their actions demonstrate a willingness to use whatever resources they had at their disposal for the benefit of others.

We may not always feel adequate for the task at hand; often we become paralyzed by thinking we don’t have the skills, experience, resources, or time to help others. In such instances, we’re quick to sideline ourselves, discounting what we do have that might be of assistance to someone else. The Texas Navy couldn’t stop the floodwaters from rising, nor could they legislate government aid. But they used what they had within their power—their boats—to come alongside the deep needs of their fellow man. May we all bring our “boats”—whatever they may be—to take the people in our paths to higher ground.

Lord, all that I have is from You. Help me to always use what You’ve given me to help others.

God provides for His people through His people.