The Need For Sunshine And Shadow
If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye. . . . For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
1 Peter 3:14, 17
All the masterpieces of art contain both light and shadow. A happy life is not one filled only with sunshine, but one which uses both light and shadow to produce beauty. Persecution can become a blessing because it forms a dark backdrop for the radiance of the Christian life. The greatest musicians as a rule are those who know how to bring song out of sadness. Fanny Crosby, her spirit aglow with faith in Christ, saw more with her sightless eyes than most of us do with normal vision. She has given us some of the great Gospel songs which cheer our hearts and lives. She wrote some two thousand hymns, of which sixty are still in common use.
Paul and Silas sang their song of praise at midnight in a rat-infested jail in Philippi, their feet in stocks, their backs raw from the jailer’s whip. But their patience in suffering and persecution led to the conversion of the heathen prison warden. The blood of the martyrs is mixed well into the mortar which holds the stones of civilization together.
In the words of Thornton Wilder: “Without your wounds, where would your power be? . . . The very angels of God in heaven cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only wounded soldiers will do.”
When was the last time you really suffered for righteousness’ sake? For the cause of Christ?
Our Father and our God, I lift up my voice in songs of praise to You. I bow my head and bend my knee in praise to You. I live victoriously in praise to You. I share the Good News with the world in praise to You. Praise Your holy name! And praise Christ Jesus, my Lord, for His sacrifice on my behalf. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Our Purpose-His Praise
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims.
1 Peter 2:9–11
Aliens who have immigrated to a country where they are not citizens are seldom welcomed with open arms. Being aliens, with our citizenship not in the world but in heaven, we as Christ’s followers will frequently be treated as “peculiar people” and as strangers.
Our life is not of this world. “Our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Our interests, primarily, are not in this world. Jesus said: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20–21). Our hope is not in this world. The Bible says, “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself ” (Philippians 3:20–21).
Hence, in every sense we are an enigma to the world. Like a few right-handed persons among a host of left-handed persons, we comprise a threat to their status quo. We cramp their style. We are labeled as “wet blankets,” as killjoys, and as prudes. Like the enemies of Jesus, the world still inquires contemptuously, “Art not thou also one of his disciples?” (John 18:25). We are not to let persecution distract us from our purpose—“to show forth” His praises!
Our Father and our God, I am often an outsider in this world. My attitudes, my reactions, and my virtues are different than most of the people I know. Nevertheless, Father, help me to continue to live so that someday I will be an insider with You. Help my unusual behavior to attract the lost to You in the name of Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Spiritual Food
Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
1 Peter 2:2
Our spiritual lives need food. What kind of food? Spiritual food. Where do we find this spiritual food? In the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible reveals Christ, the Bread of Life, for our hungry souls, and the Water of Life for our thirsty hearts. If we fail to partake of daily spiritual nourishment, we will starve and lose our spiritual vitality.
Some parts of our world do not enjoy the freedom we have to read the Bible and study it together with fellow Christians. In most of the world, in fact, there’s a veritable famine for the Word of God! I recall the story of a musician in a country that suppressed any witness to the Gospel. He was converted and strengthened spiritually through the reading of individual pages of the Scripture torn from a Bible and slipped to him by an unknown friend. There are other stories of prisoners who survived twenty to thirty years at hard labor—and sometimes terrible torture—and came out with their minds intact, totally lacking in bitterness toward their captors.
We should not be content to skim through a chapter merely to satisfy our conscience. Rather, we should hide the Word of God in our hearts. A little portion well digested is of greater spiritual value than a lengthy portion scanned hurriedly.
A good place to start is the Gospel of John. As you read, the Holy Spirit will enlighten passages for you. He will illuminate the difficult words and make obscure meanings clear. Even though you cannot remember all you have read, or understand it all, go on reading. The very practice of reading in itself will have a purifying effect upon your mind and heart. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.
Scripture memorized can come to mind when you do not have your Bible with you—on sleepless nights, when driving a car, traveling, when having to make an instantaneous important decision. It comforts, guides, corrects, encourages—all we need is there. Memorize as much as you can.
Our Father and our God, let me digest small bites of Your truth so they can nourish and strengthen me. I will savor them like rich dessert. I will drink them in like cold water on a hot day. I will grow spiritually fit on them so I can nourish others with Your Word through Christ, my Lord. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Coming Again!
Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:8
Jesus Christ is absolute truth. Matthew 24 and 25 are entirely given over to the statements about his coming again. For example, Matthew 24:27 says, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The Bible again says in Matthew 25:31–32, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations. . . .” This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, but He said it, and I believe it will be.
Jesus didn’t lie to us. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3). He’s going to come back in person. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back Himself! That’s how much He loves us. The plan of salvation is not only to satisfy us in this world and give us a new life here, but He has a great plan for the future. For eternity!
The Bible says we are going to reign with Him. We’re joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, and we’re going to spend eternity with him! What is He doing now? He’s preparing a home for us! It’s been nearly two thousand years. What a home it must be! Eye cannot see nor ear hear, nor hath entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him! In Revelation John wrote, “The Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. . . . Behold, I come quickly!” (22:5, 7). Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Our Father and our God, I await with eagerness Christ’s return to take me to the home He is preparing for me in heaven. I want to share in His great triumph and final defeat of our enemy the devil. And I want to share in the glorious life eternal Your saints will spend with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Time Is Now
Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
James 4:13–14
I once read about a sundial on which was inscribed the cryptic message “It is later than you think.” Travelers would often pause to meditate on the meaning of that phrase. We Christians have a sundial—the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation it bears its warning, “It is later than you think.” Writing to the Christians of his day Paul said, “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11–12 NASB).
Billy Bray, a godly clergyman of another generation, sat by the bedside of a dying Christian who had been very shy about his testimony for Christ during his life. The dying man said, “If I had the power I’d shout glory to God.” Billy Bray answered, “It’s a pity you didn’t shout glory when you had the power.” I wonder how many of us will look back over a lifetime of wasted opportunities and ineffective witness and weep because we did not allow God to use us as He wanted. “Night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4 NASB).
If ever we are to study the Scriptures, if ever we are to spend time in prayer, if ever we are to win souls for Christ, if ever we are to invest our finances for His Kingdom—it must be now.
Our Father and our God, let me shout Your glory to the world while I still have the power to do so. You have given me a spiritual gift to use in magnifying You. Help me have the faith and courage to use it effectively as long as I live to lift up Christ to the world. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Presence Is Promised
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8 NIV
What a blessed promise and provision this is! It means that each of us can come close to God, with the assurance that He will come close to us—so close that we become conscious of an intimate, personal relationship with Him.
This is the greatest experience we can know, to have this sense of a personal relationship between God and ourselves. The conception is filled with rich meaning.
Every Christian’s life is closely bound up with the life of God because in Him we live and move and have our being. He breathed into us the breath of life. He has put something within us that is like unto Himself, something capable of developing into the rich quality of Christ-like character. That “something” is actually Someone—the Holy Spirit.
Because God is the giver and source of our life, He has a legitimate claim upon our lives. He is our Father, and He has the right to expect us to be loyal and loving children. Because I am His child, He longs to have fellowship with me.
The story of the Prodigal Son is a revelation of God’s desire for human fellowship. He yearns over His children who have wandered far from Him and longs for them to come home and be near to Him.
All through the Bible we see God’s patience and perseverance as He pursues misguided and obstinate men and women—men and women who were born to a high destiny as His sons and daughters, but who strayed from His side. From Genesis to Revelation God is constantly saying to such, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
Incredible as it may seem, God wants our companionship. He wants to have us close to Him. He wants to be a Father to us, to shield us, to protect us, to counsel us, and to guide us in our way through life.
Our Father and our God, please keep me ever close to You. I want each prayer to be like a long conversation that ends all too soon. I want to walk with You, sing with You, laugh with You, cry with You. I love You, Lord. And I love Your beloved Son, Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Workless Faith?
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . . Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:14–18, 21–24 RSV
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London preacher, was once the guest of a man who made his virtues the chief topic of conversation; but his virtues were all of the negative kind, consisting of the bad things he had not done.
Disgusted with the man’s self-righteousness, Spurgeon said, “Why, man, you are simply a bundle of negatives. You don’t drink, you don’t gamble, you don’t swear. What in the name of goodness do you do?”
We know that, fundamentally, salvation is not of works. But in stressing this phase of the Gospel, too many have neglected to emphasize the fact that we will be judged more according to the good we have left undone than for the evil we have done.
Good works are not a means of salvation because we are saved by grace through faith. We are saved only on the grounds of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But, our good works are an evidence of salvation; and if we fail to do all the good we can, to all the people we can, at any time we can, by any means we can, we will be condemned at the judgment bar of God. Make no mistake about that.
Our Father and our God, activate my faith into good works that glorify You in the world. Let the world see, by my good works, that I have great faith in You, and let that knowledge lead them to You as well. Build up my faith, Lord, and thus extend my good works to everyone around me. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Tune In!
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. . . . Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this . . . he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:19, 22–25 NIV
Revelation is a means of communication. It means “to make known” or “to unveil.” Revelation requires a “revealer,” who in this case is God, and it also requires a “hearer.” God’s hearers were the chosen prophets and apostles who recorded God’s revelation in the pages of the Bible. Thus it is a line of communication, at one end of which is God, and at the other end, man.
When I was a boy, radio was just coming of age. We would gather around a crude homemade set and twist the three tuning dials in an effort to establish contact with the transmitter. Often all the sound that came out of the amplifier was the squeak and squawk of static, but we knew that somewhere out there was the unseen transmitter and if contact was established and the dials were in adjustment, we could hear a voice loud and clear. After a long time of laborious tuning, the far distant voice would suddenly break through and a smile of triumph would illuminate the faces of all in the room. At last we were tuned in!
In the revelation that God established between Himself and us, we can find a new life and a new dimension of living, but we must “tune in.” There are higher levels of living to which we have never attained. There is peace, satisfaction, and joy that we have never experienced. God is trying to break through to us. The heavens are calling. God is speaking! Let man hear.
Our Father and our God, I know You are always transmitting. Your will and desire for my life to me through Your Word and Your people. Please help me tune in to You anew every morning and to stay on Your wavelength all my life. Through the power of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Patience And Perfection
The testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
James 1:3–4 NKJV
Writing to Christians who were suffering for their faith, James said, “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You, too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5:7–8 NIV; italics mine).
Patience is not simply a “teeth-clenched,” complacent endurance of a particular situation. It is an attitude of expectation. The farmer was able to stare at his seemingly barren ground with patience because he was assured that there would be results of his labors. He could have patience in his labors because there would be products of his labor.
And so it is in the spiritual realm. God can produce valuable qualities in our lives through the hurts and suffering we experience. We can suffer patiently, for our suffering will yield a spiritual harvest.
And we can suffer during this life patiently, for we know that in God’s perfect time His Son will return as the greatest reward for the waiting and working believer.
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
Our Father and our God, teach me the patience that Christ showed during His sufferings on earth. I want to endure the struggles of this life with joy and anticipation of things to come. Help me to continue in sweet fellowship with Jesus and to know His abiding peace and hope. Through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Coronation Day
Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12 RSV
To the Christian, death is said in the Bible to be a coronation. The picture here is that of a regal prince who, after his struggles and conquests in an alien land, comes to his native country and court to be crowned and honored for his deeds.
The Bible says we are pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven. To him who is faithful, Christ will give a crown of life. Paul said, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
When D. L. Moody was dying, he looked up to heaven and said, “Earth is receding; heaven is opening; this is my coronation day.” Yes, death is the Christian’s coronation, the end of conflict and the beginning of glory and triumph in heaven.
Our Father and our God, I am a simple servant in Your Kingdom, and I do my best to worship and serve You. I pledge myself to be faithful to You for life. I long for the end of my earthly conflict and the beginning of glory in heaven, but I live in joy and celebration until that time because of Christ. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Thanksgiving And The Path To Peace
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
James 1:2 NIV
God promises no easy life or days without troubles, trials, difficulties, and temptations. He never promises that life will be perfect. He does not call His children to a playground, but to a battleground.
Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life. Seeing talented, brilliant Christians, they attempt to imitate them. For them, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. When they discover that their own contributions are more modest or perhaps invisible, they collapse in discouragement and overlook genuine opportunities that are open to them.
Be like the apostle Paul and say, “None of these things move me.” Few men suffered as Paul did, yet he learned how to abound and how to be abased. He learned to live above his circumstances—even in a prison cell. You can do the same. Refuse to permit circumstances to get you down. In the midst of your difficulties, there will be a deep joy. “For the joy of the Lord is your strength,” says the Bible.
Believe it or not, this is the path to peace. Paul said, “Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8). All these qualities are characteristic of true Christians. They can be yours, giving you the ultimate victory. They are part of your birthright. Claim them!
As a child of God, you need never suffer spiritual defeat. Your days of defeat are over. From now on, you will want to live every minute to its fullest. Certainly, you will welcome each day as another twenty-four hours to devote to Christ. Every new day will be filled with opportunities to serve others. You will spend many moments with God, and you will know that your sins are forgiven and that you are on the way to heaven.
Taking this “servant” attitude of thankfulness in all of life’s circumstances will help you react as old Matthew Henry did when he was mugged. He wrote in his diary, “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
I wonder if I could be that thankful. Could you?
Our Father and our God, I am so thankful for Your abiding joy and peace. In spite of my pains and problems, I am not depressed. In spite of sorrows, I am joyful. In spite of despair, I am hopeful. Your love and comfort well up inside me like an overwhelming fountain, and I praise the matchless name of Jesus, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Controls The Clock
There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8
Many people are asking, “Where is history heading?” A careful student of the Bible will be led to see that God controls the clock of destiny. Amid the world’s confusion, God’s omnipotent hand moved, working out His unchanging plan and purpose; and the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).
The Communists say that time and history are on their side. But they ignore the fact that Jesus Christ is coming to earth again. He is in control, and He will determine the outcome. If the Bible is clear at any point, it is this: “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time” (Hebrews 9:28).
What is to be the attitude of the Christian toward the fact of Christ’s coming? One man said to me recently, “Well, the Lord is coming soon; so what is there to do anything about?” Such a fatalistic attitude is not the one taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. When He told His disciples of His return to earth, He said, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13), and “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (Matthew 24:46).
Dwight L. Moody once said, “I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. Its ruin is getting nearer and nearer. God said to me, ‘Moody, here’s a lifeboat. Go out and rescue as many as you can before the ship sinks.’” If the end seemed about to come in Moody’s day, how much closer must we be to the climax of history?
If there was ever a time when we should man the lifeboats and go out and rescue as many as we can, it is now. That is why we are proclaiming the Gospel in the strategic centers of the world wherever we can.
We believe this is a day of glorious opportunity to proclaim the saving grace and power of Christ, and to declare the Gospel against the opposition of every false ideology.
George Whitefield, the great English evangelist, said, “I am daily waiting for the coming of the Son of God.” But he did not sit down and do nothing. He burned out his life in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. Can we do less?
Our Father and our God, Your name is mighty to proclaim, and I am so inadequate to proclaim it. But use me, Lord, in some small way to further the good news to my dying world. Let the name of Christ be heard victoriously through me. In Him. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Dealing With Death
For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Hebrews 13:14 NIV
Death will ultimately be abolished. The power of death has been broken and death’s fear has been removed. Now we can say with the Psalmist, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
Paul looked forward to death with great anticipation as a result of the resurrection of Christ. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). As Velma Barfield, on death row in North Carolina, said: “I love Him so much I can hardly wait to see Him.”
Without the resurrection of Christ there could be no hope for the future. The Bible promises that someday we are going to stand face-to-face with the resurrected Christ, and we are going to have bodies like unto His own body.
Face to face with Christ my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be?
When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me?
Face to face I shall behold Him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all His glory
I shall see Him by and by.
CARRIE E. BRECK
Our Father and our God, it’s a terrifying and thrilling thought that I shall see You face-to-face someday. Your glory will be overwhelming and frightening. But Your love will be so thrilling and engulfing. Thank You for salvation and my home in heaven with Jesus, my beautiful Savior. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Surrounded By Angels
The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Psalm 34:7
Corrie Ten Boom wrote of a remarkable experience at the terrible Nazi Ravensbruck prison camp:
Together we entered the terrifying building. At a table were women who took away all our possessions. Everyone had to undress completely and then go to a room where her hair was checked.
I asked a woman who was busy checking the possessions of the new arrivals if i might use the toilet. She pointed to a door, and I discovered that the convenience was nothing more than a hole in the shower-room floor. Betsie stayed close beside me all the time. Suddenly i had an inspiration, “Quick, take off your woolen underwear,” I whispered to her. I rolled it up with mine and laid the bundle in a corner with my little Bible. The spot was alive with cockroaches, but i didn’t worry about that. I felt wonderfully relieved and happy. “The lord is busy answering our prayers, Betsie,” I Whispered. “We shall not have to make the sacrifice of all our clothes.”
We hurried back to the row of women waiting to be undressed. A little later, after we had had our showers and put on our shirts and shabby dresses, I hid the roll of underwear and my bible under my dress. It did bulge out obviously through my dress; but I prayed, “Lord, cause now Thine angels to surround me; and let them not be transparent today, for the guards must not see me.” I felt perfectly at ease. Calmly i passed the guards. Everyone was checked, from the front, the sides, the back. Not a bulge escaped the eyes of the guard. The woman just in front of me had hidden a woolen vest under her dress; it was taken from her. They let me pass, for they did not see me. Betsie, right behind me, was searched.
But outside awaited another danger. On each side of the door were women who looked everyone over for a second time. They felt over the body of each one who passed. I knew they would not see me, for the angels were still surrounding me. I was not even surprised when they passed me by; but within me rose the jubilant cry, “O Lord, if Thou dost so answer prayer, I can face even Ravensbruck unafraid.”
Every true believer in Christ should be encouraged and strengthened! Angels are watching; they mark our path. They superintend the events of our lives and protect the interest of the Lord God, always working to promote His plans and to bring about His highest will for us. Angels are interested spectators and mark all we do, “for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9). God assigns angelic powers to watch over us.
Our Father and our God, You know how much trouble I can get into on my own. Please keep me from harm by sending Your angels to watch over me every day of my life. Shelter me under their glorious wings, and surround me with their protective hands. I need Your refuge, Lord. Thank You for saving me through the work of Christ on the cross. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Faith Of A Friend
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past his age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Hebrews 11:8–11 NIV
Abraham walked with God and was called a friend of God (Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23). Walk with God as Noah did; when the flood came, Noah was saved. Walk with God as Moses did in the solitude of the desert; when the hour of judgment fell upon Egypt, Moses was prepared to lead his people to victory. Walk with God as David did as a shepherd boy; when he was called to rule his people he was prepared for the task of kingship. Daniel and his three young friends walked with God in Babylon, and when trouble came, God was beside them—whether it was in the lions’ den or in the fiery furnace.
However, the Bible teaches that God does not always deliver His saints from adversity. A careful reading of Hebrews 11 shows that “others’” were just as faithful as Abraham, Moses, Daniel, or David; they, too, walked with God—but they perished. God has not promised to deliver us from trouble, but He has promised to go with us through the trouble.
Stephen was a young man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5 NIV). They stoned him to death, but his was a triumphal entry into heaven. If you are not strengthening the inner man now by daily walking with God, when a crisis comes you will quake with fear and give in, having no strength to stand up for Christ.
Our Father and our God, I will depend on You in times of trouble, because You have promised to go with me all the way. I will walk with You, talk with You, and depend on You. Please stay by my side and keep me strong in the battle against Satan and his demons. In the Conqueror’s great name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Ark Of Safety
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.
Hebrews 11:7 RSV
The Bible warned the people of Noah’s day, “My spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3). You cannot come to Jesus Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you and unless you yield to the prompting and urging of the Holy Spirit. I beg of you to come to Christ while there is yet time.
Outside the ark men and women were struggling for their lives, clutching at pieces of driftwood, until the pitiless hand of death reached up and drew them down beneath those cruel and relentless waves. All were lost. Every soul outside the ark perished. They had had their chance but tossed it away. There were hundreds that day who were close to the ark, and yet lost.
This fearful scene from the Bible is a type and shadow of that Day of Judgment that lies before our world. The Bible says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
The ark is a type of Jesus Christ. In this day when the clouds of judgment are beginning to gather, Christ is the refuge. Each of us must cross the threshold and pass into the ark.
Are you in? You may be close, but are you inside? The universal and terrible storm is coming. The days of Noah may be soon upon us. Are you ready for the Day of Judgment?
Even if the world does not end in your lifetime in a cataclysmic judgment, the moment you die will be the end of the world for you. The world that you live in will die with you. Are you ready for death? Are you ready for the judgment that is to come the moment you step out into eternity?
History repeats itself. What happened thousands of years ago will happen again. There is a possibility it could happen in this century or even in this decade. However, while there is life, there is hope. The Spirit of God is knocking faithfully at the door. If we repent, mend our ways, throw off our sins, we can yet be used of God to bring healing and help to a dying civilization.
Our Father and our God, You are the righteous Judge, and I know that on the Day of Judgment You will honor each person’s choice of lifestyle, whether good or evil. Please judge me with mercy, grace, and unmerited forgiveness in the name of Christ. Otherwise, I will surely perish. In Jesus, in whom I find salvation, I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Serving In Heaven
They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.
Revelation 7:15
The Father’s house will be a happy home because there will be work to do there. Certainly this is true in every well-ordered home on earth. Some people are so overworked that their greatest longing is for rest. The Bible verse that most appeals to them is, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).
But the time will come when they will be rested and will become weary of doing nothing. I can think of no more terrible fate than to be condemned to sit forever and ever in idleness.
John wrote in Revelation 22:3, “His servants shall serve him.” Each one will be given exactly the task that suits his powers, his tastes, and his abilities. Perhaps God will give us new worlds to conquer. Perhaps He will send us to explore some distant planet or star, there to preach His message of everlasting love. Whatever we do, the Bible says we will serve Him.
And the Father’s house will be a happy home because friends will be there. Have you ever been to a strange place and had the joy of seeing a familiar face? Not one of us who enters the Father’s house will feel lonely or strange, for our friends will be there.
Alexander MacLaren described heaven in this way: “The joys of heaven are not the joys of passive contemplation, of dreamy remembrance, of perfect repose; but they are described thus, ‘They rest not night or day,’ and ‘His servants serve him and see his face.’”
Our Father and our God, I look forward to serving You endlessly in heaven. And I thrill at the thought of seeing Your glorious face. I know I will never tire of being in Your presence or working night and day for You, because You are the source of all energy and joy. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
A Home And A Hope
You yourselves had [in heaven] a better and lasting possession.
Hebrews 10:34 AB
Thanks be to unto God, we believers in Christ have the assurance that we are going to a home where all is happiness, joy, and peace. This blessed hope fortifies us to bear our hardships. We will not insist on our wants here and fight over our rights, but we will be willing to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of those things which are yet to come. Earthly possessions will not vitally concern us. The quality here may be poor, but the Bible teaches that the quality there is perfect. The possessions here will pass away; the possessions there are enduring.
No one can have real peace who does not have the assurance of a permanent and happy home which will not be subject to earthly casualty.
Some time ago two old friends were dying. The one was rich, and the other poor. The rich man was outside of Christ, and he was talking to another of his friends. “When I die,” he said, “I shall have to leave my riches. When he dies, he will go to his riches.”
Thus in a word he summed up the two radically different principles which govern the world and the Christian.
Peace is not arbitrary. It must be based upon definite facts. God has all the facts on his side; the world does not. Therefore God, and not the world, can give people peace. It is honorable, right, and praiseworthy that our leaders should seek and promote national and world peace; but they must recognize its limitations without Christ, the Prince of Peace.
The Bible teaches that the world will never come to this place of tranquillity and permanent peace until Christ, the Prince of Peace, comes back to this earth. When He comes to reign and rule, man shall know war no more.
Our Father and our God, You are our only source of true peace. Without You I know that lasting peace is impossible. I long for that peace, Lord, and I pray that You will establish it eternally in my heart and my life through Jesus Christ, the One who died to bring us peace. Through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Watching Our Walk
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
Hebrews 10:32–33 RSV
As God’s angels have watched the drama of this age unfolding, they have seen the Christian church established and expanded around the world. They miss nothing as they watch the movements of time. “His intent is that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10 NIV). It has been pointed out that the word now actually covers the vast expanse of this church age. Angel hosts have witnessed the formation of the church of Christ Jesus, and have watched the walk of each believer as the Lord worked His grace, love, and power into each life. The angels were observing firsthand the building of the body of the true church in all places of His dominion this very hour.
But what are they thinking as we live in the world today? Do they observe us as we stand fast in the faith and walk in righteousness? Or may they be wondering at our lack of commitment? These two possibilities seem evident from Ephesians 3:10: “[The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities [principalities and powers] in the heavenly sphere” (AB).
Our certainty that angels right now witness how we are walking through life should mightily influence the decisions we make. God is watching, and His angels are interested spectators too. The Amplified Bible expresses 1 Corinthians 4:9 this way: “God has made an exhibit of us . . . a show in the world’s amphitheater—with both men and angels [as spectators].” We know they are watching, but in the heat of the battle, I have thought how wonderful it would be if we could hear them cheering.
What kind of exhibit are you?
Our Father and our God, it gives me great confidence and joy to know that Your angels are cheering me along in my personal spiritual battle. Help me, Father, to feel their presence, to see their works, and to hear their cheers. Make my life a splendid exhibit of holiness and grace. Through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Faith Is A Fact
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
Hebrews 10:22
Disregard feelings. You’re not saved by feeling, and you may or may not feel the Spirit. Accept Him by faith as a fact. He lives within you right now to help you live the Christian life. He is living in you in order to magnify, glorify, and exalt Christ in you so that you can live a happy, victorious, radiant, Christ-honoring life.
The Bible commands, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). If you are filled with Spirit, then you are going to produce the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22–23). To be filled with the Spirit is not optional. It is a command to be obeyed, a duty to be done.
How do you know that you are filled? And how can you be filled? Is it some emotional experience through which you must pass? Not necessarily. When you give all you know of yourself to all that you know of Him, then you can accept by faith that you are filled with the Spirit of God. That means that He can have all of you. Commitment actually is surrender—total, absolute, unconditional, irreversible surrender. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).
It is only the consecrated, Spirit-filled Christian who can have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is the Holy Spirit who will do the fighting for you. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). This is a spiritual warfare. You cannot fight against these three enemies with normal weapons. Only as we become channels and let the Holy Spirit do the fighting through us are we going to get complete victory. Don’t hold back anything from Christ. Let Him be completely the Lord and master of your life. He said, “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13).
Our Father and our God, I bring You my overflowing heart—wholly, humbly, completely. Fill me with Your Spirit so I may be victorious over the enemy, Satan. You are my Master, my Ruler. I will try to do whatever You ask of me. And with the constant help of Jesus my Savior, I can, and through Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).