Topic: What Kind of Savior Is He? [Our Daily Bread 9 January 2019 Devotional]
Read: John 6:47–51, 60–66, Bible in a Year: Genesis 23–24; Matthew 7
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. John 6:66
Last year, friends and I prayed for healing for three women battling cancer. We knew God had the power to do this, and we asked Him to do so every day. We’d seen Him work in the past and believed He could do it again. There were days in each one’s battle where healing looked like it was a reality, and we rejoiced. But they all died that fall. Some said that was “the ultimate healing,” and in a way it was. Still the loss hurt us deeply. We wanted Him to heal them all—here and now—but for reasons we couldn’t understand, no miracle came.
Some people followed Jesus for the miracles He performed and to get their needs met (John 6:2, 26). Some simply saw Him as the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55–58), and others expected Him to be their political leader (Luke 19:37–38). Some thought of Him as a great teacher (Matthew 7:28–29), while others quit following Him because His teaching was hard to understand (John 6:66).
Jesus still doesn’t always meet our expectations of Him. Yet He is so much more than we can imagine. He’s the provider of eternal life (vv. 47–48). He is good and wise; and He loves, forgives, stays close, and brings us comfort. May we find rest in Jesus as He is and keep following Him.
Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, that You are the kind of Savior we need. Wrap us in Your love and bring us confident rest in You.
I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” Psalm 31:14
INSIGHT John 6 forms a critical turning point in Jesus’s public ministry. Following the feeding of the five thousand and walking on water, Jesus presents His “bread of life” message. While opposition from the religious community had been rising, Jesus’s followers responded to this message with a massive defection. They defected because of three factors. First, they demanded a sign from Him (vv. 30–31) after He had just given them a sign in the miraculous multiplication of bread and fish. Then they misunderstood Jesus’s origin (vv. 41–42), and finally they misunderstood the important realities of His message (v. 52). Because they didn’t understand who He was, they would never be able to embrace what He did or taught. Bill Crowder
Principal Bans Students from Giving Bibles to Friends during Lunch
The principal of a Pennsylvania high school violated the rights of students by preventing them from passing out Bibles during lunch, says an attorney for a legal group that specializes in religious liberty.
“In November, the students in the Bible club asked for permission to hand out Bibles to their friends in the cafeteria during non-instructional time,” Jeremy Samek, senior counsel for the Independence Law Center Senior, told WPMT/FOX-43. “And the principal of the school told them they could not hand out Bibles.”
It is not the first time the students at Cumberland County High School in Mechanicsburg, Pa., have had an issue with the principal, Samek said.
“It’s important to [the students] that the school district understands what their rights are and so all student’s rights can be protected,” he said.
The school district released a statement to WPMT, saying it “respects the rights of students to express themselves and distribute materials” and also “recognizes that exercise of that right must be limited by the District’s responsibility to maintain an orderly school environment and to protect the rights of all members of the school community.”
“Accordingly,” the statement added, “students do have the right to distribution of non-school materials…
A federal district court issued an order on Friday that enables Jack Phillips to proceed with a lawsuit against the state for its hostility toward him and his religious beliefs.
The owner of Masterpiece cake shop famously won a Supreme Court case over his right to refuse to make a gay wedding cake.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the group supporting Phillips, he was targeted by an attorney who asked him to create a cake designed pink on the inside and blue on the outside, which was to celebrate a gender transition from male to female.
Philips declined to make the request stating once again that the cake would express a message that conflicted with his religious beliefs.
Despite his Supreme Court victory, the State of Colorado ruled that there was “probable cause” to believe he was legally obligated to make the cake.
The high court ruled that Colorado cannot treat Phillips differently than other cake artists who decline custom projects based on the messages they convey.
“The same agency that the Supreme Court rebuked as hostile to Jack Phillips has remained committed to treating him unequally and forcing him to express messages that violate his religious beliefs,” ADF Senior Counsel Jim Campbell said.
“Colorado is acting in bad faith and with bias toward Jack. We look forward to moving forward with this…
Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – You Need Strategic Planning
Topic: You Need Strategic Planning (Open Heaven 9 January 2019)
Memorise: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”- Luke 14:28
Read: Luke 14:28-32, Nehemiah 1:11-2:8(KJV)
Luke 14:28-32: 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Nehemiah 1:11-2:8: 11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.
Nehemiah 2:1-8 1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Bible in One Year: Matthew 18-19, Isaiah 7:10-8:10
Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday MESSAGE:
Many people do not realise that the Almighty God is a strategist and a God of order. This divine character is evident in the story of creation itself. The orderliness and sequence of the project of creation can only have come from the mind of a master strategist. The light came first, then the firmament, then the gathering together of the waters and the appearance of dry land, followed by the vegetation upon which the animals would feed, before the animals themselves were created (Genesis 1:1-13). Everything was in place before man was created. What a wonderful God we serve! No wonder the Psalmist in Psalm 53:1a says:
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
In today’s memory verse, the Lord Jesus Christ shared with us the divine wisdom embedded in strategic planning. It takes strategic planning for anyone to succeed in life, and the good news is that the greatest strategist is our Father in heaven. The ability to strategise wisely is therefore available to us when we give our lives to God through Jesus Christ. Irrespective of how disjointed you may appear to be as a person, as a born-again Christian, you are a partaker of the divine nature of God, and so you are a strategic planner by nature (2 Peter 1:4). You need to understand this truth and begin to apply it to your reality.
Nehemiah was one strategic builder. Through strategic planning, he was able to do what seemed humanly impossible. Though very passionate and driven about his mission to rebuild the house of God and the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was not presumptuous in his zeal. His strategy was built on the foundation of first seeking divine guidance through prayer and fasting (Nehemiah 1:4). Some children of God, maybe due to unrealised hidden pride, would not pray like Nehemiah did to find mercy in the sight of the king (Nehemiah 1:11). To succeed in life, we need the favour of God to be manifested in the attitude of men towards us. No wonder Luke 2:52 says:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
The good news is that even though human beings are complex and unpredictable, they are still under the control of their Maker. Establishing this truth in Proverbs 21:1, the Holy Spirit says:
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Nehemiah strategically presented his case before the king, and because he had presented his case to the Lord before going to the king, he got what he wanted: leave of absence, authority to build, the materials for the project and security in the course of building. The project would have ended in failure if any of these variables was missing. Beloved, be strategic in the planning of your life under the guidance of the Holy Trinity.
Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday Action Point:
Strategically plan how you will achieve your vision and objectives for this year.
Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday Hymn 3: Trust and Obey
1. When we walk with the Lord In the light of His word What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey
Chorus:
Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.
2. Not a shadow can rise, Not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away; Not a doubt nor a fear Not a sigh nor a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey.
3. Not a burden we bear, Not a sorrow we share But our toil He doth richly repay; Not a grief nor a loss, Not a frown nor a cross, But is blest if we trust and obey.
4. But we never can prove The delights of His love Until all on the altar we lay; For the favour He shows, And the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey.
5. Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at His feet, Or we’ll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do Where He sends we will go Never fear, only trust and obey.
Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven 9 January 2019 Wednesday Daily Devotional.
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‘All the Glory’ Goes to Christ, Says Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney after National Title
Clemson had just won its third national championship Monday night in a rout of Alabama, but head coach Dabo Swinney wasn’t interested in staying in the spotlight.
“All the credit – all the glory – goes to the good Lord,” Swinney said during a nationally televised postgame interview.
The Tigers defeated the favored Crimson Tide 44-16 for their second national title in three years. Clemson also because the first college football team to finish 15-0.
Swinney has built the program into a powerhouse. He was named interim coach six games into the 2008 season when former coach Tommy Bowden resigned after a 3-3 start. At the time, Swinney was the wide receivers coach. He was named head coach after the Tigers defeated rival South Carolina that year to become bowl eligible.
Clemson slowly climbed the college football ladder under Swinney, finishing9-5 in 2009, 6-7 in 2010 and then 10-4 in 2011, when the Tigers won their first ACC title since 1991.
The Tigers have won at least 10 games eight straight seasons. They’ve also won four straight conference titles and have played in the College Football Playoff all four of those seasons.
“You can’t write a Hollywood script like this,” Swinney said, referencing his rise from a wide receivers coach to a successful head coach. Prior to coaching at Clemson, he worked in real estate….
A cross-party panel set up by Shelter – including ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband and former Tory chairman Baroness Warsi have said £200bn needs to be spent.
Pete Cunningham from Green Pastures told Premier that social housing shortages aren’t a new problem.
Speaking on Premier’s News Hour, he said: “We’ve been facing it for the last ten-15 years so it’s an ongoing crisis and a growing crisis.”
Entitled Building for our future: a vision for social housing, the report urges ministers to invest in a major 20-year housebuilding programme and massively extend the criteria for who is applicable to live in social housing.
They recommend building 1.27 million homes for “those in greatest housing need”, including homeless households, the disabled and long-term ill, or those living in very poor conditions.
It also wants the Government to create 1.17 million homes for what it calls “trapped renters”, younger families unable to get on the housing ladder, as well as 690,000 homes for older private renters who face housing insecurity beyond retirement.
The Communities Secretary James Brokenshire has insisted the current affordable homes programme will deliver 250,000 by 2022.
However Cunningham said that figure is just the tip of the iceberg.
“At this moment in time I think you would find there are five million people that are on a waiting list who get some sort of accommodation…
Topic: Choosing Joy [Andrew Wommack Devotional 9 January 2019]
Luke 1:46-47, “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
Text: Luke 1:39-56
Here, Mary makes a very clear distinction between her soul magnifying the Lord and her spirit rejoicing.
Our soul is the part of us that is considered to be our personality. It is our intellect, emotions and will. Our spirit is the part that gets changed at salvation and it is always operating in “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:22-23). That’s true whether our souls (feelings and emotions) “feel” it or not.
Many believers wait until their emotions feel like praising the Lord before they enter in to worship. They think it’s hypocritical to act like they are rejoicing in the Lord if they don’t “feel” it. But our spirits are always rejoicing in the Lord. It’s actually hypocritical to go by our feelings and not magnify the Lord with our souls when our born again spirits are already rejoicing.
Our born again spirits are always in tune with the Lord and walking in the joy of the Lord. Our flesh is often dominated by what it sees and feels.
Sometimes it doesn’t feel like praising the Lord, but the choice rests with our souls. If we choose to praise the Lord, our emotions will follow.
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).
Topic: No Time for Clay Pots [Kenneth Copeland Devotional 9 January 2019]
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. – 2 Timothy 2:20
Are you destined for greatness in the kingdom of God?
Ask most believers that question and they’ll humbly assure you they’re not. “You know we can’t all be golden vessels” they’ll say. “Like the Bible says, some of us are just called to be little clay pots.”
Praise God, the Bible doesn’t say any such thing!
Certainly there are going to be some golden vessels in the kingdom and there are going to be some clay pots, but we are the ones—not God—who determine which kind we will be. Second Timothy 2:21 tells us that “whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work” (The Amplified Bible).
Golden vessel or clay pot—the choice is up to you!
Why then do so many believers choose to do menial work in the kingdom of God? Why are they content to remain clay pots?
Because they lack one thing every golden vessel must have. They lack dedication. They haven’t made a quality decision to separate themselves from contaminating influences. They haven’t been willing to turn away from the ways of the world and go on with God past the point of no return.
My friend, God is doing some exciting things on this earth right now. He’s working signs and wonders, paving the way for Jesus’ return. This is a thrilling time, but it’s definitely no time for clay pots! So if you haven’t yet made the kind of commitment that will turn you into a golden vessel, admit it. Then take the time to get before God and study His Word and get your will in line with His. Let the Holy Spirit deal with you until you’re willing to leave the ways of the world behind and walk in higher ways—the ways of God.
Do it now. The hour is late. The glory of God is spilling over the earth in one final thrilling wave. It’s not trickling out of clay pots. It’s being poured through golden vessels—and that’s exactly what God is calling you to be.
This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.
Topic: Get in the Word [Billy Graham Devotional 9 January 2019]
Despise God’s Word and find yourself in trouble. Obey it and succeed. — Proverbs 13:13 (TLB)
As Christians, we have the Spirit of God in us. But ours is the responsibility to keep sin out of our lives so that the Spirit can produce His fruit in us. Become grounded in the Bible. As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God. Abraham Lincoln in a letter to a friend said, “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance upon faith. You will live and die a better man.” Begin the day with the Book; and as the day comes to a close, let the Word speak its wisdom to your soul. Let it be the firm foundation upon which your hope is built. Let it be the Staff of Life upon which your spirit is nourished. Let it be the Sword of the Spirit which cuts away the evil of your life and fashions you in His image and likeness.
Prayer for the day: Almighty God, Your Word nourishes my whole being and I praise Your holy name!
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
Israel Strikes Back against Hamas Terror Group after Several Attacks
Following the launching of a rocket toward Southern Israel, Sunday, the Israeli Air Force attacked several terror targets in a Hamas training Camp, Monday.
According to CBN News, Israel’s Air Force attacked a training camp on the Northern Gaza Strip, an area that has been the center of conflict for many years.
The Israel Defense Force said in a statement, “Air force fighter jets and helicopters attacked several terror targets at a Hamas training camp in the northern Gaza Strip.” The IDF noted that the rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome, The Times of Israel Reports.
Also on Sunday, Hamas is believed to have deployed and detonated a drone carrying explosives in a field in southern Israel. No injuries were reported.
Israel responded to this move by firing on two Hamas observation posts, the IDF said in a statement.
According to CBN News, the IDF did not explicitly identify who send the drone into Israel, but they did reveal in their statement that the name of a Gazan college was printed on the drone.
While the suspect is still unidentified, the military is urging all people in the region to be cautious of their surroundings and to report anything that appears to be suspicious.
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