My Dad Says

"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:24, NKJV)

Lieutenant John Eisenhower, son of the late General Dwight Eisenhower, was a member of his father's staff during Word War II. On one occasion General Eisenhower gave his son a message to deliver to a colonel on the front line.

The young lieutenant said to the colonel, "My dad says to watch your right flank." The puzzled officer replied, "Really? And what does your mommy say?"

Obviously the colonel didn't know who young Eisenhower was. Eisenhower didn't make himself known.

It is important that we are known for who we are—not by rank or title—but by our fruit. And think how much authority you have when you come in the Father’s name. When you pray in Jesus name. When you do things in the power and name of the Holy Spirit.

You are a child of the king, you are not a nobody.

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The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dying

THE LAND OF THE LIVING AND THE LAND OF THE DYING

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116.115

Realizing that he would soon be gone from this world one day, the evangelist, D. L Moody said to a friend. “Someday you will read in the papers that D.L.Moody is dead! Don’t believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now...”

In his final hours before passing to his reward he awakened from a sleep and said, “Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. It this is death. It is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go…” And his final words were, “This is my triumph this is my coronation day! It is glorious.”

Is death the end for you or the beginning?

"And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment," (Hebrews 9:27, NLT

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MAJORITY AND MINORITY

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (Matthew 7:13, NIV)

We like to go with the majority. It feels so much more comfortable and secure. But as the famous American politician William Jennings Bryan once said, “Never be afraid to stand with the minority which is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority : always be afraid to stand with the majority which is wrong, for the majority which is wrong will one day be the minority.”

By becoming a Christian you are making a break with the world and with the vast majority of people. The true Christian way of life is not popular. It never has been popular, and it is not popular today. On the other hand, crowding through the wide gate and travelling along the broad way is the thing that everybody else seems to be doing. You must deliberately get out of that crowd and start making your way towards this narrow gate, alone. You cannot take the crowd with you into the Christian life: it inevitably involves a break.

"There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. " (Proverbs 14:12, The Message)

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WORTHLESS COMFORTERS

How can your empty clichés comfort me? (Job 21:34, NLT)

In his book, “The view from a Hearse.” Joe Bayly writes: "I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God's dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly. He said things I knew were true. I was unmoved, except to wish he'd go away. He finally did.

"Another came and sat beside me. He didn't talk. He didn't ask me leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour or more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left.

"I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go."

Sometimes we don’t know what to say to the bereaved. But often the less said the better. May God help us to be wise comforters and to weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice.

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Hunger and Thirst

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6, NKJV)

How much do you want goodness? Do you want it as much as a starving man wants food? And as much as a man dying of thirst wants water? How intense is your desire for righteousness?

J.N.Darby, the prominent Christian Brethren writer, puts this very well. He says, "To be hungry is not enough; I must really be starving to know what is in His heart towards me. When the Prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon the husks, but when he was starving, he turned to his father."

To hunger and thirst really means to be desperate, to be starving, to feel life is ebbing out, to realize my urgent need of help. .

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." (Psalm 42:1, NIV)

From the book, DAY LIGHTERS - 365 quick-fire devotions to ignite your day. Available from amazon.com

Strength Out of Weakness

That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10, NLT)

Often suffering provides an opportunity to know the presence and upholding the power of Christ in a way we otherwise would never know it. This was the experience of the apostle Paul. In his second epistle to the Corinthian church, he states that three times he asked God to remove his affliction, and God said, No.

We need not fear suffering! God is in control of every circumstance. When He permits it, He will use it for His glory and our good. And He will be with us.

God wants us to trust Him—not our gifts or abilities, our experience, or our “spiritual reserves.” Just about the time we feel self-confident and able to meet the enemy, we fail miserably. “For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

From DAY LIGHTERS - 365 devotions to ignite your day. Available from amazon.com