Sputgeon's Daily Devotional Jan. 13, 2013 1 Kings 22:48

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional: Jan. 13, 2013

"Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber."
1 Kings 22:48

Solomon's ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one, and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and at the same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another. May we have grace to-day, in the remembrance of this text, to bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may be precious in the Lord's sight, although our schemes end in disappointment.

The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of notice, for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord's people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship with sinners. In 2 Chron. 20:37, we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to declare, "Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works." This was a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text we find him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat's experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord's people, to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life of misery is usually the lot of those who are united in marriage, or in any other way of their own choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love to Jesus that, like Him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; for if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said, "The Lord hath broken thy works."

Spurgeon’s Daily Devotional  January 12, 2013

"Ye are Christ's."
1 Corinthians 3:23

Ye are Christ's." You are His by donation, for the Father gave you to the Son; His by His bloody purchase, for He counted down the price for your redemption; His by dedication, for you have consecrated yourself to Him; His by relation, for you are named by his name, and made one of His brethren and joint-heirs. Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant, the friend, the bride of Jesus. When tempted to sin, reply, "I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ's." Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ's, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ's. Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, "No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ's. If I were not purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am Christ's, and cannot loiter." When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, "Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ's." When the cause of God invites thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art Christ's. Never belie thy profession. Be thou ever one of those whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that all who see you may know that you are the Saviour's, recognizing in you His features of love and His countenance of holiness. "I am a Roman!" was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then, let it be your argument for holiness, "I am Christ's!"

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Wake up Church!

(3)All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. (4) He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (5)You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ. (6)So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation!  For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. (7)We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God's comfort.
For better understanding let us go to 2 Corinthians 4:10, 15
It states: (10) Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Verse 11-12 states; Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies. (12) So we live in the face of death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you. (13) but we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, " I believe in God, and so I speak." (14) We know the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you. (15) All these things are for your benefit. And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
The verses above are from the New Living Translation bible.
Yes, we live in troubling times, their are those out their who want to give up, or feel that life is not worth living, that this great country has seen better times and now because of the leader we have that is now in his second term and looking for a third term is destroying this great nation of ours. 

It is highly possible and probable that the reason this great nation is under such great turmoil is because we bought this upon ourselves and are now under God's judgment. We as a people have turned away from God, His word, and Israel. God up in Heaven is grieving for this nation.

It is not too late! The people of this nation and the church must come back to God, we must turn our faces upward, get on our knees and plead for mercy and forgiveness, turn from our wicked ways (all you have to do is look at the games our children are playing with, the blood and guts movies, the blatant sex shows, and so on), look at what we do to our children, we give them electronic games were they are killing and killing all the time, we are training our children to be killers, looters, and rapists, we are aborting unborn children, and God only knows what else we are doing to destroy our children and this nation. This nation was not founded on the above actions. This nation was founded on the Gospel (God's word) our government was founded on biblical principles. Look at how far we have spiraled downward and away from God and His word!! I am telling you, right now at this time, this nation is Sodom and Gomorra, we all, or the church should know what happened to them!!  This nation is divided as it has never been before. How could the church have let this happened? Yes, I am putting the blame squarely upon the church! You the church have been asleep at the wheel, you have been complacent, you have been content to let this happen, don't you know that Satan is alive and well in the church? The church is so afraid to get up and voice its opinions, we let the world beat us down into submission, most of the church in this last election did not vote, many of you did not vote because a Mormon was running, do you in your infinite wisdom know who God will use to change things around, no you do not, but many in their own wisdom (not God's wisdom) decided that they would not vote because their was a Mormon running. You are not truly reading and understanding God's word, nor did many of you go into prayer and seek what the Lord wanted you to do. Wake up church! And I do mean wake up, we are so busy with denominations, infighting, fighting each other, and bickering that we cannot hear the word of God even if he shouted it from the rooftops! Again, wake up church! Listen for that still small voice of the Lord, get down on your knees and pray, pray, pray, and listen, listen, and listen for His word and also remember that Satan can masquerade as an angle of light and twist the words to his own benefit, you should test the words that you think you hear with the true word of God.

And, yes we do suffer for God but He will not give you a burden that you cannot carry, but you must be willing to carry that burden so please wake up church! We do live under constant danger of death because we are serve our Lord Jesus Christ and Him glorified. That is why we never should give up. Through our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day, we can save this country if we wake up and serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So don't look at the troubles that you can see, look forward to what you have not seen. Do not be a procrastinator be a doer, make your voice know, stand up for God and what's right, cry our to God, ask Him for his wisdom, do not use your own wisdom (which many of us and churches are doing) use His wisdom, and pray that the Lord will have mercy on this nation, God has pronounced judgments before, but if a nation and people repent God will forgive them.  

John Dahlhauser Ministries Touching The World With His Word: Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

John Dahlhauser Ministries Touching The World With His Word: Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

"Avoid foolish questions."
Titus 3:9

Titus 3:9
Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle's precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet, such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept and example, to "avoid foolish questions."

Ask, Ask, Ask, Do You ASK the Lord to Grant Your Prayers?

August 08, 2012:  Ask, Ask, Ask, Do You ASK the Lord to Grant Your Prayers?

Most people do not think the word “ASK” is important, but as to our relationship with the Lord it is very important! What is the definition of ask, what is the origin of ask?

Origin of ASK

Middle English, from Old English āscian; akin to Old High German eiscōn to ask, Lithuanian ieškoti to seek, Sanskrit icchati he seeks

First Known Use: before 12th century. (note: this is from the Merriam-Webster dictionary).

transitive verb

1

a: to call on for an answer <she asked him about his trip> b: to put a question about <asking her whereabouts> c: speak, utter <ask a question>

2

a: to make a request of <she asked her teacher for help> b: to make a request for <she asked help from her teacher>

3

: to call for : require <a challenge that will ask much of us>

4

: to set as a price <asked $3000 for the car>

5

: invite

intransitive verb

1

: to seek information

2

: to make a request <asked for food>

3

: look —often used in the phrase ask for trouble

— ask·ernoun

Many of us think that we do not need to ask the Lord anything because we have been taught that He knows our every thought, our every need. This is the wrong altitude to have! Yes; He knew us before we were born and the Lord knows our every thought and our needs. During my research on this in my PC Study Bible software I found over 4,271 quires for the word ask, so as you can see the word ask is important, but for what we are talking about we do not need concern ourselves at this time on all 4,271 quires.

The point is that the Lord wants us to inquire, to seek Him, to call on Him for an answer and not just assume that He will give us everything we ask for. The Lord is waiting for you to ask Him (in prayer) about your needs, He wants you to petition Him and assume nothing. I do not have the time or space here to list all of the scriptures that pertain to asking God to hear our prayers, but if you don’t ask you will not receive as you will see in the scriptures listed below. At this time Jesus knew that His ministry on Earth was coming to an end and that soon He would be with our Father in Heaven by His right hand side, this is made clear in verse 12 chapter 14: “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.”

John 14:13 Amplified Version: “And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.”

This part; [as presenting all that I AM] is also very important! It does not mean that just because you ask Him for a million dollars, or a new car or house that you will receive it, in other words do you really need that or will a lesser amount cover your needs, does it really present Him in all that He is? You will notice it says; as presenting all that I AM. The Lord will meet and grand all reasonable prayers that present Him as the” I AM.” The Lord is your provider and knows your needs; does your prayer glorify and honor Him? The Lord is not your magic gene!

John 14:14 Amplified Version: “[Yes] I will grant [I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM].”

John 16:23 Amplified Version: “And when the time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM].”

John 16:24 Amplified Version: “Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.”

John 16:26 Amplified Version: “At that time you will ask (pray) in My Name; and I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf [for it will be unnecessary].” In verse 27 it goes on to say: “For the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I come out from the Father.”

As you can see it is very important that we ask (pray) to our Father in Jesus name, we cannot assume anything we have to ask and ask and ask again and again never giving up, having faith and expecting that our prayers will be answered but also ensuring that our prayers are presenting Him all that He is. He is the great I Am. God wants us to depend entirely on Him. He wants up to lean on, trust in and rely on Him. We are partners with God, and that means that we both have responsibly. The Lord says that we can do nothing apart from Him. He means things will not work properly in our lives unless we invite Him into everything. To many times we try to do things our way and it does not work out, most of the time we make a big mess of it, but if we submit to His way everything will work out. Remember that “ Greater is He that is within us then he that is in the world.”

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Isaiah 59:5

"They weave the spider's web."
Isaiah 59:5

See the spider's web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite's religion. It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets. A spider's web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the cunning hunter's wiles. Is not a deceiver's religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold? A spider's web comes all from the creature's own bowels. The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God. But a spider's web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant's broom, or the traveller's staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord's house: He will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider's web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.