Topic: A New Birth [Saturday November 4, 2017]

We started out bad, being born with evil natures. . . . But God is so rich in mercy . . . he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead . . . — Ephesians 2:3,4 (TLB)

I am reminded of a period when all the agonies that afflict modern minds were felt by another generation, the young people who lived during the first century after Christ. They too sought change, but they directed their efforts at individuals, not at the Roman Empire, not at City Hall. And eventually the whole social and political structure felt their impact. In short, those renewed men and women became filled with a unique dynamic force.

Today this same force is available to all people. Over the centuries it has worked in the lives of millions. I personally have seen thousands of people changed. Jesus called it “a new birth.” The Scripture tells us that you need not continue as you are. You can become a new person. Whatever your hang-up—guilt, anxiety, fear, hatred—God can handle it.

Prayer for the day: I delight in knowing, Lord Jesus, that there is nothing in my life that is incapable of being changed through Your redemptive power.

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.

Topic: Fill Up With God [Saturday November 4, 2017]

John 17:23 “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

Text: John 17:23

God loves us the same as He loves Jesus. A true revelation of this will quicken our faith and allow us to walk in the fullness of God. God’s love is the key that opens the door to everything that God is. “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8).

God’s love is not one dimensional. There is width, length, depth and height to it, which can only be comprehended through the revelation and knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Those who only have a superficial knowledge of God’s love are like a person who looks at a one dimensional picture of the real thing.

In Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays for us to know the love of God which passes knowledge. How can we know the love of God if it passes knowledge? This sounds like a contradiction. The Greek word that is translated “know” in this verse is GINOSKO, which is a verb expressing experiential knowledge. The Greek word that is translated “knowledge” is GNOSIS, which is a noun denoting the act of knowledge. Simply, Paul is praying that we will experience the love of God which passes mere knowledge of it.

Since a true revelation of God’s love makes us full with the fullness of God, then a lack of being full of God must mean that we lack understanding and experience of God’s love. The end result of having understanding and experiential knowledge of God’s love is that we will be filled with all the fullness of God.

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: That Famous Smile — Saturday November 4, 2017.

Read: Psalm 28:6–9, Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 32–33; Hebrews 1

The prospect of the righteous is joy. Proverbs 10:28

After my wife and I had the privilege of visiting the Louvre in Paris, I called our eleven-year-old granddaughter Addie on the phone. When I mentioned seeing da Vinci’s famous painting Mona Lisa, Addie asked, “Is she smiling?”

Isn’t that the big question surrounding this painting? More than 600 years after Leonardo captured this subject in oil, we still don’t know if the lady was smiling or not. Though enraptured by the painting’s beauty, we are unsure about Mona Lisa’s demeanor.

The “smile” is part of the intrigue of the painting. But how important is this anyway? Is smiling something the Bible mentions? In reality, the word appears less than five times in Scripture, and never as something we are told to do. However, the Bible does suggest for us an attitude that leads to smiles—and that is the word joy. Nearly 250 times we read about joy: “My heart leaps for joy,” David says as he thinks about the Lord (Ps. 28:7). We are to “sing joyfully to the Lord” (Ps. 33:1); God’s statutes are “the joy of [our] heart” (119:111); and we are “filled with joy” because “the Lord has done great things for us” (126:3).

Clearly, the joy God provides through everything He has done for us can bring a smile to our face.

Prayer: You are a good Father, dear God, and You do make us smile. You provide joy that is beyond what anything the world can offer. Help us show that joy to others by our countenance.

Hope in the heart puts a smile on the face.

Insight:

In addition to the Psalms, the New Testament uses joy many times. In Paul’s letters, he spoke often of both his joy and the joy we can experience. In the book of Philippians the apostle mentioned joy to his friends at the church of Philippi six times in only four chapters. As he instructed them, Paul prayed for them with joy (1:4), spoke of the joy of spiritual development (1:25), called on them to give him joy through their unity (2:2), described his hardships in the gospel as a joy to share with them (2:17), and asked that their joy would likewise be shared with him (2:18). In sending helpers to them for their growth in Christ, Paul asked that those mutual friends be received with joy (2:29) and referred to the Philippians themselves as his “joy and crown” (4:1).

It’s interesting to note the repeated emphasis on a joy that is relational. How often are relationships a source of joy for you?

This message was written By Dave Branon [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]