1) Before getting to the morning’s second question, let’s think a bit more about times in life when we are waiting for God to act in response to a problem or trouble in our life.
• What is your usual, default response to waiting in the general course of living? Does this often characterize your response to God when you’re waiting on Him?
• What Scriptures might be useful to remind yourself to “worship in the waiting?” If you’re stuck, check out Psalms 46:10 or Romans 8:18 or 2 Corinthians 4:17 to get you started.
• What specific lessons has God taught you in the past during times of waiting?
• One of the great benefits of a church family is our privilege (and responsibility!) to help bear one another’s burdens. Take time to share your burden with a trusted believer who can pray with you and encourage you in this time of waiting.
2) Read John 11:46-53 and 12:9-11. Why did some people still oppose Jesus and His message despite the undeniable, “living proof” of His power and authority?
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day collaborated with the Romans who ruled their country. In return for their cooperation to keep the peace, the Romans gave these leaders prestige, influence, wealth and a degree of authority over the affairs of the Jewish people. Note John 11:48. The religious establishment understood that if Jesus was acknowledged as the Messiah their position of status and power would come to an end.
First, it is important to remember that the personal, in-born sinfulness that infects all people (us!) can motivate them to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). What God has made very clear and plain (Romans 1:19) can be disregarded. The religious leaders were certainly doing this.
Secondly, selfishness and pride will always steer people away from what is right and good because what they want dominates their choices regardless of what the consequences may be. This in particular, kept the religious leaders from not only disregarding the spectacular miracle, but their desire to get rid of the evidence as well (John 12:10-11).
The fact that sinfulness blocks spiritual understanding is important for me to remember when I share the Gospel with others. The sinfulness of people (Ephesians 2:1-3) stands in the way of their understanding spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). A believer’s most persuasive words, logic and evidences demonstrating the truth of God are very important. But it is absolutely vital to remember that it is only God who changes people and opens their heart to respond to the Gospel (Acts 16:14).
I find it comforting to remember that I am responsible to be the mouthpiece; I should be prepared to boldly share the saving truth of the gospel and to do so with love, tact and kindness. But it is God who has the responsibility to save a person. This truth helps me keep perspective and also fuels my prayers regarding those who have not yet believed the Gospel. With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27).
• Our aim in this year’s study is to allow the Holy Spirit to mold our lives — our character, goals, desires, attitudes, and more — so that we would bear a greater likeness to Jesus on a 24/7 basis. Philippians 2:1-11 describes some very specific ways this can happen. What challenges you about the opening verses of this chapter? In what ways do you allow the example of humility Jesus set influence how you relate to the people you interact with each day?
• Scan through the Gospel of Luke and list the evidence you find that points to the humanity of Jesus.
• For a short, thought provoking look at the beguiling nature of pride see, A Great Impostor (Mark DeHann; Been Thinking About, February 2005) … http://beenthinking.org/articles/a-great-impostor/
• Though still having much to learn about God’s sufficient grace I have found:
- His grace usually comes right at the moment of need. Sometimes I might experience it a bit early, but His giving of grace is never late.
- I must exercise faith in order to experience His grace. In other words, I must begin taking steps to do what is right or the situation requires (trust). If I remain immobile or stymied by an “I can’t do this!” attitude or paralyzed by worry or fear, I keep the lid of my life tightly closed to God’s grace.
- Often my personal realization of experiencing God’s grace comes from looking back over an event rather than during the time of need itself. I more easily see God’s sufficient grace with hindsight.
What other insights have you learned during the times when you’ve experienced His grace?
• Make a “thank you” list of specific times in your life when you experienced God’s sufficient grace in very tangible ways. Use your list as a guide for a time with the Lord in which you offer Him worship, praise and thanks for how He has worked in your life
• A series of Bible chapters that contain strong evidence about the deity of Jesus are: John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1 and 2 Peter 1. I find these references easy to remember. What verse or verses in them teach the deity of Jesus?
• Scan John 14-17 to find more of the promises Jesus made to His disciples.
• The truth and trustworthiness of Jesus’ promises rest on the foundation of His deity. Which of God’s attributes or character qualities do the promises of Jesus require to be true of Him if we are to trust Him? For example, His promise to enable believers who abide in Him to bear much fruit (John 15:5) requires that He be omnipotent (all powerful).
• How might the promise of His presence (Matthew 28:20) help you endure troubling times? In what present circumstance(s) do you need to believe and trust this promise to be true? How might doing so enable you to be a stronger believer? What steps of trust will you take? How will they make a difference in your thoughts, attitudes and choices?
• Take time to ponder the reality of additional promises Jesus made and how having faith that they are true (belief plus trust) should make a difference in how you think and live.
The Bible is the only book through which the Author is able to simultaneously interact with every reader every time they read it! What a special book! What a special Author! Let’s make 2012 a year in which we get into the Bible more than ever before, and allow the Bible to get into us more than ever before!
• an excellent variety of reading plans …. http://www.kenboa.org/text_resources/free_articles/5505
• read through the New Testament in a year; also has a monthly plan for reading 31 key Psalms … http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/NTandPsalms.pdf
• read the Bible 6 days per week and complete the entire Bible in a year … http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/BibleinOneYear.pdf
• 365 key chapters of the Bible; 1 chapter per day for the year … http://www.kenboa.org/text_resources/free_articles/5337
• follow your own schedule of reading as you read selected promises of God from every book of the Bible … http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/PromisesofGodInEachBook.pdf
• a detailed guide for reading the Bible in a year and using Scripture as an aid as you pray … http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/OneYearBible.pdf
• a topical Scripture memory plan … http://www.kenboa.org/text_resources/free_articles/5532
• Scripture “cards” for the memory plan given in the previous entry; verses are quoted from both NIV and NASB … http://www.kenboa.org/downloads/pdf/ScriptureMemoryCardsRevised.pdf
quoted by Roy L. Smith; author unknown (bible.org)
1. Begin by assuring yourself that compared to Christ’s suffering you haven’t been seriously wronged at all.
2. Recall the many kind deeds that have been shown to you, perhaps even by the person who has harmed you.
3. List the benefits you have received from the Lord.
4. Thank Him for blessing you with His love and forgiveness each day.
5. Make an honest effort to pray for the one who has injured you.
6. Go even further by looking for an opportunity to help him.
7. If the offense is especially hard to forget, try to erase the memory by thinking gracious and generous thoughts.
8. Finally, before you fall asleep at night, repeat slowly and thoughtfully that phrase from the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
I was raised in a home where my parents sent me to church rather than taking me to church with them. They would talk about the importance of God but He didn’t seem to make much of a difference in their lives.
My family moved from Connecticut to southern New Jersey when I was in the eighth grade. It was a very difficult time for me as I felt very much alone in a new town. One of the first friends I made invited me to his church and I began participating weekly in a club program for boys held at the church. The men who served as leaders encouraged and helped me. In some ways, they loved me even more than my parents. It was because of their influence that I came to know the assurance of forgiveness and going to heaven someday.
Over the years I have grown to appreciate the many promises God has made to us that are written in the Bible. Time after time I have found Him to be faithful regarding everything He has promised. During the three most difficult times I’ve had in my life He brought to my attention particular places in Scripture that became an anchor to stabilize me during extremely difficult circumstances. One such passage in the Psalms brought great hope and encouragement to me during what seemed to be a hopeless time in 2008.
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until this trouble passes by. I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me. He will send from heaven to save me … God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth. (Psalm 57:1-3)
I am thankful God has been so faithful to me and that He always keeps His promises.
If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “Who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I find myself taking lapses for granted, “Oh, that’s what they always do,” “Oh, of course she talks like that, he acts like that,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I can rebuke without a pang, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me; if I say, “Just what I expected” if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other’s highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying “Peace, peace,” where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word “Let love be without dissimulation” and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I hold on to choices of any kind, just because they are my choice, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably into self-pity and self-sympathy; If I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If, the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and keep that door shut, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my sinless Savior trod this path to the end, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I feel bitter toward those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered; if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that to another the word of release may be given, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given room there; if the cup of flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (to myself, for myself), then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I refuse to allow one who is dear to me to suffer for the sake of Christ, if I do not see such suffering as the greatest honor that can be offered to any follower of the Crucified, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone, making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think in terms of my own special work; if the burdens of others are not my burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I wonder why something trying is allowed, and press for prayer that it may be removed; if I cannot be trusted with any disappointment, and cannot go on in peace under any mystery, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Amy Carmichael (December 1867 – January 1951) served for 55 years in India. She cared for orphans and rescued children from slavery at pagan temples.
