Have you ever said something and then immediately thought, “Where in the world did that come from?!?”
You might have thought it was just a slip of the tongue, but it’s not. That slip of the tongue is actually a gift to us to help us know what’s really going on in our heart.
This is a snippet from a longer message on putting other things in our life in perspective. You can check out the full video by clicking here, or you can read the list of the 5 things we need to keep in proper perspective by clicking here.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Jeremiah 19
[These are notes from Oswald Chambers’ lecture on Jeremiah 19.]
In the temple precincts judicious minds were without excuse, because they understood what Our Lord was doing. Outside Jerusalem, Our Lord always said, “Don’t tell anyone Who I am”; every time He went to Jerusalem He made it clear who He was.
The presentation of the Gospel of God to sinners is one of love and mercy, but to the house of God one of judgment and truth. When we preach to the crowd outside we lambast drunkenness and other things, Jesus never did. The stern messages of the Bible are never given to sinners, but to God’s people.
From Notes On Jeremiah
Hmmm, are we doing this the right way? It seems like many times we get this reversed—we rebuke those outside because of their sin, and we speak tenderly to those on the inside. Definitely something for Christian leaders to consider carefully.
God announces to the world that Jesus is His Son, but as soon as the devil has an opportunity to tempt Jesus he begins with, “IFYou are the Son of God….”
“This is the bedrock of EVERY temptation. If satan can cause us to reject, doubt, or forget our original identity as beloved sons and daughters of the King, he can get us to fall for any number of tricks and non-satisfying pleasures.” —Honoring Christ In Human Rights (a YouVersion reading plan)
The devil has always been a slanderer and a prosecutor—always leveling charges against God’s children, trying to get them to feel unworthy of God’s love. He still does this today.
Don’t let him. It’s time to fight back!
How?
We read in Revelation: “For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:10-11).
Jesus—the Lamb of God—shed His blood for you. You have been purchased with an amount that is incalculable. You have so much worth to your Heavenly Father! You did nothing to earn this payment of blood, you just receive it by faith.
But we also need “the Word.” Notice that every time the devil attacked Jesus, He responded by saying, “It is written,” and then He quoted the Word (see Luke 4:1-12). We must do the same.
When the devil says you’re unworthy of God’s love, you say, “It is written, ‘There is no condemnation for me because I am covered by the blood of Jesus’” (Romans 8:1).
When the devil says God can’t or won’t help you, you say, “It is written, ‘If God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for me—how will He not also graciously give me everything I need?’” (Romans 8:32).
When the devil says you can’t resist his temptations for very much longer, you say, “It is written, ‘Greater is He that is in me than anything you’ve got. I have submitted myself to God and I will not give in to you, so you must flee from me!’” (1 John 4:4; James 4:7).
When the devil says you’re all alone in this world, you say, “It is written, ‘God said He would never leave me, and His Spirit is inside me right now and forever’” (Hebrews 13:5; John 14:16-18).
Dear friend, the blood of the Lamb covers you. Now use His Word to refute every single charge the devil tries to use to slander you.
In Praying The Promises, Max Lucado gives us valuable instruction on how to turn Scriptural promises into powerful prayers. Here are a few of those prayers (the biblical reference in brackets is the passage that helped form the prayer).
Thank you for being a God who wants me to know You.… Your wisdom surpasses all wisdom on this earth. Your ways are so much higher than mine. I could study You and Your Word for the rest of my life and still only scratched the surface of the depths of who You are. You are at once knowable and unknowable.… Deepen my knowledge of You, God. [Psalm 19:1-2; Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 1:19-20]
Help me rely on Your promise of grace because I have been found righteous through Jesus. When trouble comes, use those troubles to increase my faith and draw me nearer to You. [Hebrews 7:25]
Father, sometimes I convince myself that I need to earn Your salvation. I feel like I should do more, be more, and achieve more. But You simply want my faith. Help me let go of my striving and this need to perform for You and for others. [Romans 4:5; Philippians 3:4-7]
Guide me during the difficult times. Give me hope as I pray and wait. Remind me of Your power and authority so that I will trust Your ways, even when I can’t see where the path before me is going. [Genesis 50:20-21; Ephesians 1:11-12; Romans 5:3]
Forgive me when I look for guidance outside of Your Word. When I ask friends what to do before I open my Bible. When I am resistant to reading Your Word because I want to guide myself rather than be guided by You. Renew my desire and passion for reading the Bible. … May I learn something new about You and Your character each time I read it.[Psalm 32:8; 2 Timothy 3:16-17]
When a worry arises, remind me of Your presence so I will turn to You and not fear. [Psalm 23:1, 4]
Gracious Father, nobody is beyond Your redemption. Because of Your love and mercy, You provided a Redeemer for us in Christ, who graciously stopped us while we were on the path of sin, gave us refuge, and pointed us toward the road of redemption. [Galatians 4:4-5]
Forgive me when I try to fight my own battles. … If I try to fight for myself, I end up feeling exhausted and defeated by my own efforts. You have said You are fighting for me. Help me believe that truth even when I am so tempted to fight for myself. Go before me this week as I face temptation. Go before me as I face anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. Protect me in every spiritual battle. Fight for me and help me surrender each battle to You. [Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 1:30; Psalm 20:7-8]
As concerns and questions come up, remind me to turn each of them over to You in prayer. I lift up my family to You. I lift up my work to You. I lift up my to-do list to You. Cover each worry with Your peace. Prioritize my day so that it aligns with Your will and not mine. [1 John 5:14]
You can check out my review of Praying The Promises by clicking here, and you can read some other quotes from this book by clicking here.
If you’ve ever looked at the list of books I’ve read and reviewed at the end of each year, you will quickly discover how much I enjoy reading! I read science, biographies, theological works, philosophy, financial resources, relationship helpers, and on and on. But hands-down, not-even-close to second place, I read the Bible more than anything else. Not only do I read the Bible extensively every day, I then read all of my other books through the lens of Scripture.
So whenever I come across a resource that helps with Bible reading and study, I’m absolutely thrilled to share it with you. One such resource I’ve been so excited about is the Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible.
I originally purchased this study Bible because of the “illustrated” part. I glanced through it and found several things that make the biblical accounts more understandable. Things like:
timelines
genealogical records
“blueprints” of notable buildings and structures
infographics
maps and tables
Then I was excited to discover the wealth of articles embedded in the notes section next to the biblical texts.
But the happiest discovery I made was the ability to combine the written text with so much additional online content. Using the Faithlife Study Bible app on my iPhone, I can access all of the content in the print version in addition to more resources that have become available since this study Bible was published. My favorite way to do this is via the “reference scanner” in the app. I use my iPhone camera to take a picture of the part of the Bible I’m studying and then the app pulls up all of the resources associated with nearly everything on that page. Amazing!
If you already love studying the Bible, this book/app combination will take you to a whole new level. Even if you’re just getting started in a Bible study, you will love how much fullness these resources quickly bring to your fingertips.
This sounds totally contrary to common sense, but I’ll bet you’ve seen this before—Someone does something unexpectedly nice, and gets criticized for it.
Why would that be?
Christians can expect to experience this more frequently. Jesus told His followers to be prepared for persecution from those who didn’t believe in Him. One of Christ’s disciples named Peter added a few other warnings for Christians:
Non-Christians will accuse you of doing wrong even when you’re doing right
Non-Christians will think it’s weird that you don’t do the same evil deeds they do
Non-Christians will heap abuse on you for not doing the evil deeds they do (1 Peter 2:12; 4:4)
This is because living good, Christ-honoring lives causes a burning in those hearts that don’t know Jesus yet.
Solomon said there’s an aching void in the heart of every human being. It’s a longing to know what makes sense in life (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). When Christians live their lives focused on God, and they live—as Peter said—“such good lives,” it reminds non-Christians of what they’re missing.
Christian, you need to remember why we live this way. The belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:18) is the foundation for our lives. In fact, Peter called Jesus the Living Stone. As His followers, we are also called “living stones” that the Holy Spirit is building together to make a spiritual signpost to point others to Jesus (see 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9, 12).
We cannot do this under our own power. Jesus Himself reminded us that we need the Scriptures which all point to Him (Luke 24:27, 44-45), and the Holy Spirit which will help us apply the revealed Scriptures (John 14:26) and live “such good lives.”
So here’s how I’m challenging myself this week, and I’d like to extend this challenge to you too. For the next seven days, just before going to bed I’ll be asking myself these three questions:
Did I read the Word of God today?
Did I see the God of the Word in the Word of God a little more clearly today?
Did I live a good, Christ-honoring life today that pointed others to Jesus?
Join me this Sunday as we continue our look at how Christians should live as aliens and strangers. If you’ve missed any messages in this series, you may find the complete list by clicking here.
[Each chapter in the Book of Proverbs contains thoughts that fit into a theme; they are not just random thoughts gathered together. In this “Saturday In The Proverbs” series, I will share a theme that I see in each chapter. But the cool thing about God’s Word is that you may see an entirely different theme. That’s great! If you do, I would love for you to share it in the comments below.]
There are earthly riches and there are heavenly riches. There are temporary gains and there is eternal wealth. This Proverb helps direct us to true riches that last forever.
Good character and a good reputation are better than money (v. 1)
God alone decides what is truly valuable (v. 2)
Prudence helps you avoid bankruptcy (v. 3)
Humbly fearing God is the path to eternal wealth (v. 4)
A perverse pursuit of wealth is a hard and painful path (v. 5)
Better godly children than gobs of money (vv. 6, 15)
Debt enslaves (v. 7)
Cutting corners to make a buck will come back to bite you (v. 8)
Generosity leads to more blessings (v. 9)
Don’t pay attention to those who scoff at God’s ways (vv. 10, 24, 25)
A grace-filled, pure lifestyle will get you noticed and rewarded (v. 11)
God rewards those who do things His way (vv. 12, 17-21)
Have you ever said something and then immediately thought, “Where in the world did that come from?!?” 
Craig T. Owens 