Page 1 - Devotionals

Page 1 - Devotional Archives

Lost and Found #6

I’m in Oklahoma City this week where a woman told me an interesting story. One day as she was preparing to go to a meeting, she placed her Bible on top of the cab of her pickup truck. After several miles, she suddenly realized she didn’t have her Bible. Figuring it must have fallen off while she was backing out of the driveway, she went back home. But it wasn’t in the garage or in the driveway. She then decided to retrace her steps, thinking it might have fallen off on the highway. Slowly she drove down the highway, searching for her Bible. Up ahead on the shoulder of the road she spotted what she thought was her Bible. But when she got out to examine it, it wasn’t her Bible but a book called, "Don’t Just Stand There, Pray Something," by Ronald Dunn—a book she had never heard of by an author she didn’t know. But she read the book and it transformed her prayer life and has subsequently taught the book to many others.

To me, of course, that is a thrilling story of how God sends forth his Word, or someone throws it out on the highway, and it never returns to Him void. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent forth. She did find her Bible, by the way. It had fallen onto the bed of the truck, the one place she didn’t look.

Her story reminded me of a man I met years ago, a derelict, down on his luck, a slave to alcohol—what we today would call a homeless person. While rummaging through a garbage can looking for something to eat, he found a gospel tract titled, "God’s Simple Plan of Salvation." He read the tract, God spoke to his heart and he was saved. Even in a garbage can, the Lord sends forth His Word to a lost soul and it accomplishes its purpose.

That encourages me to always preach the Word—my sermon may be bad, but the Word will go forth and accomplish God’s purpose. And it should encourage all of us. How many times have we shared the Word with someone and it seemed to fail to move them. Just remember one man plants, another waters, and God gives the increase. The Word that you send forth, either by mouth or a tract, will not return void. It will accomplish the purpose of God.

The Heart of the Problem #5

This past week two good friends were hospitalized with heart problems. One had a massive heart attack and will be laid up for some time. The doctors are saying he will have to totally change his life style. With all the attention that is given to cancer and aids, heart disease is still the number One killer is America.

And according to last year’s annual meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans, it’s not going to get better, it will probably get worse. The past few years have seen a decline in death from heart disease and thus, according to Dr. Charles Hennekens of Harvard University, "has lulled many Americans into complacency." But the increase in teen smoking and obesity and the decrease in exercise and healthy diets, plus the plain old American lifestyle, will steadily cause an increase in heart problems for Americans.

But heart problems have been around since almost the beginning of time— since Adam disobeyed God in the garden. Jeremiah 19:9 tells us that the "heart is deceitful above all, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jesus said that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of his heart. The heart is like a jungle filled with wild beasts.

Occasionally, I’ll hear some one say, "I know his heart." But that’s wrong. We can’t know our own heart much less the heart of another. Again, we sometimes hear people say, "I know him and he couldn’t do such a thing." But there lies in the heart of all of us the possibility of every kind of evil. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

When Jeremiah said that the heart was desperately wicked, the Hebrew meaning is "incurable, beyond help." The heart cannot be cured, not with education, environment or enlightenment. The only solution is a spiritual heart transplant—and that isn’t saying it adequately. The only solution is a new heart created in the soul of man by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. You can touch a person on the outside and make some temporary surface changes. But to effect the total and permanent change in a person requires that God create in us a new heart. It isn’t enough to change minds, it is hearts that must be changed.

A Fixed Heart #4

Do you know what the scariest sound in the world is? A telephone ringing after midnight. It can only be bad news—one of our Humpty-Dumpties has fallen off the wall. I’ve had a few of those phone calls after midnight and they scared me to death.

That’s why I have been drawn to Psalm 112:7: "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings." The NIV has it: "He will have no fear of bad news." I’ve checked it in every translation I can get my hands on, plus the Hebrew text—and that’s what it says. The Revised English Bible reads, "News of misfortune will have no terrors for him." This "he" the Psalmist is talking about must be some spiritual giant of a fellow; he has something special that the rest of don’t have. Right?

To understand this statement we must know that Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 are linked. One leads into the other. Psalm 111 speaks of God, His greatness, His righteousness, His compassion. The same things said of God in Psalm 111 are said of the believer in Psalm 112; for instance, Psalm 111:3 says, ‘And His righteousness endureth forever." In Psalm 112:3, speaking of the believer, he says, "And his righteousness endureth forever." In other words, we become like the God we trust.

Psalm 112 lists several characteristics of the believer and one is "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings." The reason this is so is because, "his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."

His heart is "fixed." The word means "firm, prepared, to remain erect, to be straight and firm, refusing to bend." and this fixed heart is the result of trusting in the Lord. You might say, he has dropped his anchor in the Lord." Trusting in the Lord is betting everything you are and have on God; betting that He is faithful and that His word is true and trustworthy.

Of course, the real key to this psalm, and especially our verse, is found in the very first verse: "Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, THAT DELIGHTETH GREATLY IN HIS COMMANDMENTS."

"His heart is ESTABLISHED," says verse 8. He stands fast, knowing that the heart that leans on the established commandments is established by them.. This man, says verse 6, shall not be moved forever.

Bad news cannot shake this person, not because he is a man of great courage, but by his confidence in the Lord. This is, of course, an act of faith. Is God trustworthy? Can He really be trusted with every detail of our existence?

All of us will receive bad news, sooner or later. No one is immune, not even Christians. The question is do we have a fearful heart or a fixed heart. I don’t mean to imply that this comes automatically; trusting God is a growing attitude that must be nourished by prayer and the Word of God. Keep on delighting in His Word and in Him and you will eventually experience the fixed heart. It comes down to this: we either trust God or we don’t. It really is that simple.

Authentic Salvation - #3

Not long ago I ate lunch at one of these "nostalgic" restaurants and after eating I browsed through the gift shop. I came across a red fire engine made of cast iron with rubber wheels—just like the one I had when I was a kid. What caught my attention was the sign on the truck:

"An Authentic Replica." I thought about that. How could it be authentic and a replica at the same time. Actually, what they were saying was, "This is a Genuine Phony." There’s a big market today for "authentic replicas."

And there is a big market in the Church for them also. There always has been. Judas was one of the extreme cases. But through the years the Church has been plagued by these genuine phonies. They look like real Christians, but they are just replicas of the real thing.

It’s like counterfeit money—hard to spot and easy to spend. I asked a Treasury agent once how they were trained to spot phony money. I expected him to say that they studied examples of counterfeit money and the techniques of known forgers, and so on. But he surprised when he said, "We learn to spot the phony by studying the real thing. We get to know the real thing so thoroughly that it’s easy to spot the counterfeit.

What a message that was to me and should be to the Church. The reason we have such a hard time spotting the phony (haven’t we all been fooled by a counterfeit) is that we are not thoroughly acquainted with the real thing.

In John 17, Jesus gives us some clues as to what the real thing is. He says in verse 3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This "knowing God," of which Jesus speaks, is a personal knowledge of God. It is knowledge of God, not knowledge about God. To know Him personally, to have a personal relationship with Him. It is also a progressive knowing. The tense of the verb Jesus uses emphasizes a continuing and growing knowledge of God. The Christian life is dynamic, not static. We’re always moving, either forward or backward, but we’re always moving. This means a growing intimacy and deeper fellowship with God.

In verse 6, Jesus reveals another quality of the genuine believer: "They have kept your word." The word keep means "to keep a vigilant eye on something." It was originally used of the ancient sailors who navigated by the stars. They kept a watchful vigilant eye on the stars and steered accordingly. To keep God’s word and commandments, doesn’t mean we never fail, but that we keep a vigilant watchful eye on the word and will of God and steer our life accordingly. It’s like driving a long distance to a strange city; you keep a watchful eye on the highway signs (and the rear view mirror!) and drive accordingly. I have great doubts about the authenticity of one who claims to know Christ and yet has no concern for the will of God in his life. If you want to study this matter more, I suggest you read I John—there the apostle deals in great detail about the marks of the real thing.

Earth, Wind, Water and Fire #2

I smelled the smoke last night.

The fires here in Brevard County, Florida are getting closer to where I am. Winds and three months without rain make it almost impossible to stop. So far 10,000 residents have been evacuated, 50 homes destroyed and 40,000 acres burned.

Nature is awesome. It can thrill and it can terrify. A soft breeze can soothe and cool, but when the wind gets angry and rises to hurricane force, it destroys everything in its path. Water—there’s nothing better to quench parched throats, but when it reaches flood stage, it can steal everything we have. The same fire that warms also burns. It all depends on your relationship to it.

The same is true of the Gospel. Depending on your relationship to it can mean life or it can mean death. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15,16:

"For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

"To the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life" (NAS).

The Gospel is never neutral—it brings life to those who receive it and death to those who reject it. To the lost, the Gospel they spurn smells like death. To the saved, it has the sweet aroma of life. The same Gospel that saves also damns.

There is always a reaction to the Gospel—death or life. And we need to remember that death is as viable a response to the Gospel as is life. It all depends upon your relationship to it. What does it smell like to you?

A Dry Spell #1

I’m in Merritt Island, Florida speaking to about 2,000 teenagers and counselors at the Teen Missions International boot camp. For two weeks they live in tents and learn to survive in the forest—and they pay to do this. On the last weekend they have a missions conference, which is where I come in. We meet in a huge tent in 90 plus degree weather. This part of Florida hasn’t had rain in a couple of months. Forests are on fire, wiping out homes and closing down 180 miles of highway. In a word it is hot and dusty, peoples throats are parched by the dust, the grass is dying and the flowers wilting. People are lethargic. That what an extended dry spell or drought does.

There is also another drought going on in America, a spiritual drought. It has been so long since the "showers of blessings" have fallen in many churches that the dry spell is taking its toll in hot tempers, fires of dissension and lethargic Christians. We need what David prayed for in Psalm 85:6, "Lord, wilt Thou not REVIVE Thy people again, that they may rejoice in Thee."

David begins the psalm remembering how things used to be when God’s face was shining upon the people. Do you think about how things used to be before the drought? Then comes the plea that God will do it again, revive His people once more.

Revival is a work of God. "Wilt THOU not revive us again." It is a supernatural and sovereign work. It is not "worked up" or "brought down" by the arm of the flesh. In my denomination (Southern Baptist) we have what we call "revivals", which is nothing more than a series of protracted meetings. Revival is set for the second week in August, we advertize. This is the year of revival, denominational leaders announce, while packing out packets of materials that bring it to pass. But, as the old hymn says, "All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One come down."

Revival is a work of God in His people. "Revive US again, that THY PEOPLE may rejoice in thee. Revival is not evangelism. We may conduct great evangelistic crusades, winning many to faith in Christ, but that is not revival. Real revival will issue in Evangelism. But revival is not primarily the lost getting saved, it is the Christians getting right— right with God and right with each other. One of the signs of revival is when God’s people confess their sins and restore broken relations.

Revival is a work of God in answer to PRAYER. This psalm is a prayer, verse 6 is a prayer. While revival is a sovereign work of God, somehow, mysteriously, God hears the prayers of a broken people. Matthew Henry said that when God intends to bless His people, "the first thing He does is to set them a-praying." J. Edwin Orr, whom Billy Graham said knew more about revival than any man alive said that he had never seen or heard of a revival that didn’t start with prayer and lasted only as long as the praying did.

I spoke to these 2,000 attendees at the Teen Missions conference this morning on prayer and prayed that God would pour out on them the spirit of prayer and supplication. I am praying the same thing for you.

LifeStyle Ministries
P.O. Box 153087
Irving, TX 75015