Angel At Work?
For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you, to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways (of obedient service).
Psalm 91:11 AB
The British express train raced through the night, its powerful headlight piercing the darkness. Queen Victoria was a passenger on the train.
Suddenly the engineer saw a startling sight. Revealed in the beam of the engine’s light was a strange figure in a black cloak standing in the middle of the tracks and waving its arms. The engineer grabbed for the brake and brought the train to a grinding halt.
He and his fellow trainmen clambered down to see what had stopped them. But they could find no trace of the strange figure. On a hunch the engineer walked a few yards further up the tracks. Suddenly he stopped and stared into the fog in horror. A bridge had been washed out in the middle and ahead of them it had toppled into a swollen stream. If the engineer had not heeded the ghostly figure, his train would have plummeted down into the stream.
While the bridge and the tracks were being repaired, the crew made a more intensive search for the strange flagman. But not until they got to London did they solve the mystery.
At the base of the engine’s head lamp the engineer discovered a huge dead moth. He looked at it a moment, then on impulse wet its wings and pasted it to the glass of the lamp.
Climbing back into his cab, he switched on the light and saw the “flagman” in the beam, seconds before the train was due to reach the washed-out bridge. In the fog, it appeared to be a phantom figure, waving its arms.
When Queen Victoria was told of the strange happening she said, “I’m sure it was no accident. It was God’s way of protecting us.”
No, the figure the engineer saw in the headlight’s beam was not an angel . . . and yet God, quite possibly through the ministry of His unseen angels, had placed the moth on the headlight lens exactly when and where it was needed. Truly “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11 NIV).
Our Father and our God, You have so often protected me from the potential disasters of my life. You have led me through the fog of unholy thinking back to a right spirit with You. You have rescued me from the pits of my own making. Thank You, God, for sending Your angels to watch over me every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Does God Care?
I will say of the LORD, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalm 91:2
A refuge is a place which is safely out of harm’s way. A fortress is a fortified building that is virtually impenetrable by conventional means.
Martin Luther wrote that wonderful hymn which says, “A mighty fortress is our God; a bulwark, never failing. Our helper He amidst the flood; of mortal ills prevailing.” What a statement about the magnificent power and protection of God!
Does God care for you and me? What greater proof do we need than that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place?
Recently two men were hanged for possession of drugs in a country where capital punishment has been invoked for such crimes. Imagine what these men might have felt had another man rushed in just before the nooses were placed around their necks and offered to take their place, freeing them to go home to their families. What an incredible joy and sense of relief would have come over those condemned men.
God has done precisely that for us. He cared so much for us that even while we were yet sinners and still rebellious, He sent His only Son to die in our place, suffering the penalty that rightly was ours. And God keeps on giving. He meets our daily physical needs. He delivers us from evil when we stay close to Him. And there is never a time when we are separated from His care and concern. How could there be? His Son died for us. Can you think of a better reason why God would care for us?
Our Father and our God, thank You for Your amazing care and concern for me. In spite of my many sins, O Lord, You have reached down to touch me with love and grace. Take away my rebellious spirit; restore in me Your gentleness and hope. Help me keep my life centered on the cross of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Answer To Worry
Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Psalm 89:9
Worry,” Vince Havner said, “is like sitting in a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.” Worry and anxiety have hounded the human race since the beginning of time, and modern man with all his innovations has not found the cure for the plague of worry.
Physicians tell us that 70 percent of all illnesses are imaginary, the cause being mental distress or worry. In reading hundreds of letters from people with spiritual problems, I am convinced that high on the list is the plague of worry. It has been listed by heart specialists as the number one cause of heart trouble.
Psychiatrists tell us that worry breeds nervous breakdowns and mental disorders. Worry is more adept than Father Time in etching deep lines into the face. It is disastrous to health, robs life of its zest, crowds out constructive, creative thinking, and cripples the soul.
When Sir Walter Raleigh was burdened with a huge debt, his doctor said to him one day: “Sir Walter, if you don’t stop worrying, you will die.” He looked up sadly, and said: “I can’t help worrying as long as that debt is over my head. It may kill me, but you might as well tell my cook to order the water in the kettle not to boil as to command my brain not to worry.”
What is the answer? The hymn writer Edward Henry Bickersteth hinted at it when he wrote: “Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.”
The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was roaring, the wind was blowing; but the little bird was asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head serenely under its wing, sound asleep. That is peace—to be able to sleep in the storm! In Christ, we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of confusions, bewilderments, and perplexities of this life. The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest. We have found peace because we have learned to trust our living God.
Our Father and our God, I rest in You, and I take shelter from the stress and frustrations of my life. Bless me, Father, with Your constant peace of mind and calmness of soul. Without You I will surely be overwhelmed by life. But with You I am safe, I am at peace, and I can rest. Thank You, through Your Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
True Righteousness
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalm 1:6
What does it mean to be righteous?
Some people confuse it with being self-righteous—that is, seeing ourselves as better than other people and being proud of it. The proud Pharisee in Jesus’ story “stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector’” (Luke 18:11 NIV). But Jesus condemned his self-righteous attitude, commending instead the tax collector for his humble prayer for mercy.
But true righteousness—the kind of righteousness the Bible urges us to have—comes only from God. By nature we are unrighteous and sinful, but when we come to Christ, our sins, like filthy garments, are cast aside, and we become clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Now God counts us as righteous in His sight, because He has imparted to us “the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Philippians 3:9 NIV).
Once we have committed our lives to Christ, however, God calls us to live righteous lives—lives of purity and goodness and love. In ourselves this is impossible, but as we submit to the control of His Holy Spirit, we find strength to live the way we should, “bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father” (Colossians 1:10–11 NIV). This is true righteousness! Is it your goal?
Our Father and Our God, I thank You that You have taken away all my sins and clothed me instead with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Now help me to turn away from the impurity and sin of this world every day, and to live a life of purity and righteousness that brings glory to You. In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Speaks
I will hear what the LORD will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones.
Psalm 85:8 NASB
In every good novel or play there must be a conflict. But even Shakespeare could not have created a more powerful plot than the divine dilemma. We know that man is sinful and separated from God. Because God is holy, He couldn’t automatically forgive or ignore man’s rebellion. Because God is love, He couldn’t completely cast man aside. Conflict. How could God be just and the justifier? This is the question Job posed: “But how can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9:2 NASB).
Perhaps you have been puzzled that the prophets said God spoke to them. Does He speak to us? Does He tell us where He is—how we can find Him—how we can be right with Him? God has solved the problem; He does tell us about Himself and His loving concern. The key is a line of communication, which is “revelation.”
Revelation means “to make known,” “to unveil.” Revelation requires a “revealer,” who in this case is God. It also requires “hearers”—the chosen prophets and apostles who recorded in the Bible what He told them. Revelation is communication in which God is at one end and man is at the other.
In the revelation that God established between Himself and us we can find a new dimension of living, but we must “tune in.” Levels of living we have never attained await us. Peace, satisfaction, and joy we have never experienced are available to us. God is trying to break through. The heavens are calling and God is speaking.
Have you heard God’s voice speaking to you through the pages of His Word, the Bible? Make it a part of your life every day.
Our Father and our God, I am listening for Your voice. I want to do Your will. I want to be in tune with Your mind and spirit. Please break through my stubbornness and pride, Father, so that I may hear Your call for my life. Through Jesus, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Revival
O LORD . . . revive thy work in the midst of the years.
Habakkuk 3:2
Have you ever seen someone unconscious? Such a person will usually have vital signs but is not aware of anything that is occurring. There is also a lack of any perception of reality.
There is a difference between revival and resuscitation. Resuscitation is used on a person who is dead and whom the doctors are trying to bring back to life. Revival is for a person who is alive but unconscious. Spiritually, we can be unconscious and completely out of touch with the Spirit of God. We may be unaware of the God who made us and what He wants to do in and through us.
When one comes to Christ in faith and is born again, he or she is brought back from the dead into life. But when revival occurs, a person who is already a Christian is brought back from the brink of apathy, of taking God for granted, of ignoring God and trying to live under one’s own power and strength. This can be deadly for others, because the Christian in need of revival is not producing any fruit for God. “I’ve got mine and that’s all that matters” is not an attitude that is pleasing to God.
If we are to see a revival in our nation, it must begin in the hearts of individual believers. As the hymn says, “Lord, send a revival and let it begin with me.” What are you doing in your daily walk with God that will bring revival to your life—and the lives of others?
Our Father and our God, I pray for Your forgiveness and mercy. I know that I need to be revived from apathy in certain areas of my spiritual life. Please renew my spirit, Lord. Build a fire within me again that will warm the hearts of others around me. I pray this through Jesus, my constant Companion. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Longing For God
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Psalm 84:2 RSV
What does it mean to “long” for someone? It means that a person is unsatisfied or unfulfilled because there is someone he or she very much wants to be near, to hear that certain voice, to experience that special presence.
Have you ever been under water for a period of time that is longer than you had expected? You know, as the time ticks away, how desperate you become to reach the surface and breathe the air. The greater the time you are under water, the more you long for a breath of air until that desire overwhelms you, and you rush to get to the surface as rapidly as possible. You have no other thoughts but quenching your need for air.
That is what it means to “long for God.” In another context, it is what it means to “hunger and thirst” after righteousness with the same desires that lead us to quench our physical need for food and water.
How many of us are content to give God only a brief moment of our time, a hasty prayer before a meal, a few coins in the offering plate on Sunday, and forget about Him the rest of the time?
God wants us to long for Him because it is in that longing that we are fulfilled and overwhelmed by God and the reality of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in our lives.
We are never more fulfilled than when our longing for God is met by His presence in our lives.
Our Father and our God, You are the One, the only One I need. I long for You to fill my heart and life with meaning. I yearn to be satisfied spiritually. I want to be in Your presence now and forever. Don’t let me drift away from You, O Lord. Keep me close to You through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
More Than Conquerors
The joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10 RSV
God’s idea of strength and man’s idea of strength are opposite one another. The Lord told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Having learned this lesson, Paul could then say, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
It is true that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. Otherwise, it would not be God’s strength, nor would He get the glory. That is why throughout the Old Testament God ordered the leaders of Israel to reduce the size of their armies, or He announced in advance the time and place of conflict and which side was going to win. God wanted the faith of man to be placed in Him and not in human armaments or physical strength. In our own lives, God wants us to be broken in spirit so that He can make us strong at the broken places.
Man likes to place his security in missiles and armies, but the world now has more nuclear weapons and more men under arms than ever before in history. Have all of these weapons, all of these armies brought more security to humanity? On the contrary, they have brought less security because man will still not trust in God.
Isaiah said, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31). This is the kind of strength God is prepared to give us if we will only ask Him for it.
Do you have this strength? You can have it. Just ask!
Our Father and our God, I bow before You in weakness and frailty. Without You I am nothing; I am useless; I am hopeless. I need Your strength, O God, to live in this world of evil powers and frightening spirits. Help me to depend on You, and You alone, through Jesus, my Savior. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Strength And Weakness
The joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10 RSV
God’s idea of strength and man’s idea of strength are opposite one another. The Lord told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Having learned this lesson, Paul could then say, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
It is true that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. Otherwise, it would not be God’s strength, nor would He get the glory. That is why throughout the Old Testament God ordered the leaders of Israel to reduce the size of their armies, or He announced in advance the time and place of conflict and which side was going to win. God wanted the faith of man to be placed in Him and not in human armaments or physical strength. In our own lives, God wants us to be broken in spirit so that He can make us strong at the broken places.
Man likes to place his security in missiles and armies, but the world now has more nuclear weapons and more men under arms than ever before in history. Have all of these weapons, all of these armies brought more security to humanity? On the contrary, they have brought less security because man will still not trust in God.
Isaiah said, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31). This is the kind of strength God is prepared to give us if we will only ask Him for it.
Do you have this strength? You can have it. Just ask!
Our Father and our God, I bow before You in weakness and frailty. Without You I am nothing; I am useless; I am hopeless. I need Your strength, O God, to live in this world of evil powers and frightening spirits. Help me to depend on You, and You alone, through Jesus, my Savior. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Angelic Activity
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the LORD is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Psalm 68:17
Reports continually flow to my attention from many places around the world telling of visitors of the angelic order appearing, ministering, fellowshipping, and then disappearing. They warn of God’s impending judgment; they spell out the tenderness of His love; they meet a desperate need; then they are gone. Of one thing we can be sure: angels never draw attention to themselves but ascribe glory to God and press His message upon the hearers.
Demonic activity and Satan worship are on the increase in many parts of the world. The devil is alive and more at work than at any other time. The Bible says that since he realizes his time is short, his activity will increase. Through his demonic influences he does succeed in turning many away from true faith; but we can still say that his evil activities are countered for the people of God by His ministering spirits, the holy ones of the angelic order. They are vigorous in delivering the heirs of salvation from the stratagems of evil men. They cannot fail.
Believers, look up—take courage. The angels are nearer than you think. For after all, God has given “his angels charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11–12 RSV).
Our Father and our God, through the eyes of faith I see Your angels battling against the forces of evil. Thank You for protecting me from the evil one. Thank You, Father, for Your armies of angels fighting on my behalf. Through Christ, who is Captain of the heavenly host. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Refiners Fire
Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us. You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs . . . we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
Psalm 66:8–12 NIV
Kim Wickes, who sang at many of our crusades, was a little girl blinded because the retinas of her eyes were destroyed when she looked at a bomb blast. Her father tried to kill her by throwing her into a river. Desperate and at his wit’s end from war and starvation, Kim’s father eventually left her at a home for deaf and blind children in Taegu, Korea. Later she was adopted by some Americans and began the years of study and training which have resulted in a testimony in word and song which has thrilled millions. Her studies took her to the finest schools in the world, including study in Vienna. The events in Kim’s life could have destroyed many people, but by God’s grace she triumphed over adversity.
Today there are thousands of Christians all over the world who are facing daily pain, persecution, and opposition for their faith. Their faith in Christ is deep and strong. Their willingness to face persecution puts us to shame.
I do not understand how the human body can withstand such persecution as some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing today. I only know that when Jesus Christ is with a person, that one can endure the deepest suffering and somehow emerge a better and stronger Christian because of it. Just as fire refines silver, suffering and persecution purify Christians.
Our Father and our God, You are the refiner of my faith. You are the fire within my soul that purifies my heart and mind. Teach me to accept suffering with joy, knowing it will purify me and prepare me to live with You eternally. I put my trust in You through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
An Answer For Anxiety
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22 RSV
Almost no emotion is as common as worry—and almost no emotion is as useless. Why? Because most of our worries either concern things that will never happen, or else things we cannot change. Jesus said, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Luke 12:25).
Someone once said, “Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it comes due.” Let’s cast our care on Him, remembering that He is “our salvation also in the time of trouble.”
Trust is one answer to anxiety. We find in the first place that we are to cast our care upon the Lord, and this is to be a continuing process. We aren’t only to take our burdens to the Lord; we are to leave them there. Needless anxiety is contrary to the lessons of nature.
Someone has written a little verse that goes:
Said the robin to the sparrow,
I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.
Said the sparrow to the robin,
Friend, I think that it must be,
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.
Jesus used the carefree attitude of the birds to underscore the fact that worrying is unnatural. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them” (Matthew 6:26). From this He went on to the lilies of the field. “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28–29).
If He cares for tiny birds and frail flowers, why cannot we count on Him for every aspect of our lives? I know that modern living taxes the faith of the greatest Christians, but none of us should doubt the ability of God to give us grace sufficient for our trials even amid the stresses of everyday life. In the middle of our world troubles, the Christian is not to go about wringing his hands, shouting: “What shall we do?” having more nervous tension and worry than anyone else. The Christian is to trust quietly that God is still on the throne. He is a sovereign God, working out things according to His own plan.
Our Father and our God, thank You for Your constant care. Please give me the carefree faith and trust Your other creatures show. Help me to know You will always be there to catch me when I fall or to lead me through valleys of sorrow. Remind me of Calvary and Your amazing love for me. In the Savior’s name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Picking Up The Pieces
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psalm 51:17 ESV
Corrie ten Boom tells a story of a little girl who broke one of her mother’s demitasse cups. The little girl came to her mother sobbing, “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry I broke your beautiful cup.”
The mother replied, “I know you’re sorry, and I forgive you. Now, don’t cry any more.” The mother then swept up the pieces of the broken cup and placed them in the trash can. But the little girl enjoyed the guilty feeling. She went to the trash can, picked out the pieces of the cup, brought them to her mother and sobbed, “Mother, I’m so sorry that I broke your pretty cup.”
This time her mother spoke firmly to her, “Take those pieces and put them back in the trash can. Don’t be silly enough to take them out again. I told you I forgave you, so don’t cry anymore, and don’t pick up the broken pieces anymore.”
Guilt is removed with confession and cleansing. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Since God has forgiven our sins and our guilt, don’t keep bringing them up!
Our Father and our God, thank You for continually forgiving my sins. Through the cleansing blood of Jesus, I know You see me as pure and saved. I praise You for Your unfathomable mercy and grace. Help me, O Lord, not to pick up the broken pieces of my life again but to leave them at the cross. Because of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Whiter Than Snow
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:7
For centuries, the color white has signified purity. Isaiah spoke of purity in terms of the whitest thing he could think of—snow—when he said, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).
Snow is so white that one can see almost anything that is dropped on it, even up to great distances. We can take the whitest object we can find, like newly washed clothing, but when we place it next to snow it still looks dirty by comparison.
Our lives are like that. At times, we may think of ourselves as morally good and decent, content that “we are not like other men.” But compared to God’s purity, we are defiled and filthy.
In spite of our sins and uncleanness, God still loves us. He decided to provide for us a purity we could never attain on our own. That is why He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. It is only when our sins have been washed in the blood of Christ that we appear as white as snow in the eyes of God. No human “detergent” of good works or clean thoughts can make us that white, that pure. Only Christ’s precious blood can do that, and it is only His blood that can continue to cleanse us from sin after He has saved us.
Reflect on that wonderful truth. Claim it for your own life.
Our Father and our God, Your radiance blinds me. I cannot look on the brilliance of Your purity and holiness without repenting of my sinfulness and the ugly stains on my heart and soul. I pray for Your forgiveness to wash my soul clean again, as white as snow. I cannot live without You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Love And Peanut Butter
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
1 John 3:1
The word love is used to mean many different things. We say that we “love” the house that we have just bought or that we “love” a particular vacation spot or that we “love” a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We also “love” a certain television program, and we “love” our husband or wife. It is to be hoped that we don’t love our spouse the same way we love a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
A friend once observed, “Love talked about is easily ignored, but love demonstrated is irresistible.” God demonstrated His love toward us “in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now, that is real love.
If God had only talked about how much He loved us and never proved it by sending Christ to meet our greatest need—the forgiveness of sin and the healing of the breach between God and man when sin entered the world—He would have been a very cruel God. But He did more than talk. He demonstrated His love for us by sending the most precious offering He could make: His sinless Son, who became sin on our behalf that we might be delivered from sin and have a home in heaven.
God’s love is eternal. It outlasts everything we have ever loved, including a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! It is in experiencing God’s love for us that we are able to love others, including those who might be unlovable to us.
Our Father and our God, I am overwhelmed by the incredible love You have shown to me through Jesus. I am humbled by Your great mercy. Help me, Lord, to show selfless love to others—my family, my friends, the church, and even my enemies. I love You, Father, more than life because of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Is God Your Pilot?
For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
Psalm 48:14
You probably have seen the bumper sticker which says, “God is my copilot.” It sounds nice and very spiritual, until you think about it. God does not want to share the controls over our lives. He wants us to relinquish them and let Him have control of our lives.
The story is told of a little girl whose father was an airline pilot. As they crossed the Atlantic, a storm came up. The flight attendant awakened the little girl and told her to fasten her seat belt because they were in some turbulent weather. The little child opened her eyes, saw the lightning flashing around the plane, and asked, “Is Daddy at the controls?” The flight attendant replied, “Yes, your father is in the cockpit.” The little girl smiled, closed her eyes, and went back to sleep.
God is at the controls of our lives. Or, rather, He wants to be at the controls. But He gives us the freedom to pilot ourselves if we wish. The problem is that we often crack up, much as we could expect to do if we took the controls of an airplane we had not been taught to fly.
God knows us, how we work, and what is best for us. If we will only relinquish the controls to Him, He will see us safely home.
What about you? Who or what is in control of your life? Are you still holding on to the controls, or have you allowed God to take control? What are you waiting for?
Our Father and our God, I bring You my heart and soul. I turn them over to You to lead me, to guide me, to show me how to live as You would have me live. Help me, Lord, to continually allow You to control my life, to be my Master and Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
An Ever-Present Help
God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 NIV
God is “an ever present help in trouble,” but we sometimes allow bitterness to keep Him at a distance and thus we miss His help.
A young Irish immigrant, Joseph Scriven (1820–1886), was deeply in love with a young woman, and their marriage plans had been made. Not long before their wedding day, however, she was drowned. For months Scriven was bitter, in utter despair. At last he turned to Christ, and through His grace he found peace and comfort. Out of this experience he wrote the familiar hymn which has brought consolation to millions of aching hearts: “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!”
Sometimes our way lies in the sunlight. It was so for Joseph Scriven as he approached his wedding day. But like him, we may find that our path also leads through the dark shadows of loss, disappointments, and sorrow. At times like this it is within our power to turn our sufferings into occasions for a firmer grasp of God, and make them channels through which a surer and brighter hope may flow into our souls.
Business losses, pensions that don’t pay the bills, loss of work, inflation, the sickness that lays us low, the sorrows that rob our homes of their light, children who rebel—all turned into blessings for those who by them become less attached to the earth and more attached to God.
Trouble will not hurt us unless it does what many of us too often allow it to do—harden us, making us sour, bitter, and skeptical. The trouble we bear trustfully brings to us a fresh vision of God, and, as a result, we discover a new outlook on life.
If we make our sorrow and trouble an occasion for learning more of God’s love and of His power to aid and bless, then it will teach us to have a firmer confidence in His providence, and as a result of this, the brightness of His love will fill our lives.
Trust God with a childlike dependence and no trouble can destroy you. Even in that last dark hour of death, when your flesh and your heart fail, you will be able to depend in peace upon Him who “is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26 NIV).
Our Father and our God, thank You for always being present in my life. I feel Your arms around me by faith. I see Your angels protecting me through the eyes of trust. I sleep in peace because You watch over me every hour. With You in my life, I’m never alone. And with Jesus in my thoughts, I am never afraid. In Him. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Confidence-The Key To Effective Prayer
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalm 40:1
Effective prayer is offered in faith. The Bible says, “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24; italics mine).
Maltbie Babcock said, “Our prayers are to mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God.” It goes without saying that if our prayers are aimless, meaningless, and mingled with doubt, they will go unanswered. Prayer is more than a wish turned heavenward . . . it is the voice of faith directed Godward.
This kind of dynamic prayer emanates from an obedient heart.
The Bible says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 John 3:22).
I know a wealthy father who refused to get his son a bicycle because the boy’s report card showed disgracefully low marks, a yard remained unraked, and other assignments had not been carried out. I am sure the father would not have been wise to lavish gifts upon such a disobedient and ungrateful son.
The Bible says, “But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you.” (1 Samuel 12:15).
If you want to get your prayers through to God, surrender your stubborn will to Him, and He will hear your cry. Obedience is the master key to effective prayer.
Our Father and our God, I come to You in faith, believing that You will answer in wisdom and love. Take my life, Father, and use it to Your glory and Yours alone. I want to be like Your Son, Jesus. Give me His compassion, His love, His joy. And thank You for saving me through His blood. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
His Strength, Our Stregnth
The salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.
Psalm 37:39
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the call, whatever the duty, whatever the price, whatever the sacrifice—His strength will be your strength in your hour of need.
There are physical benefits that come from Christian living. Sin and the sense of inner unworthiness impair physical and mental well-being. The sense of physical impurity and physical immorality, the sense of hatred directed toward our fellow men, the awareness of our own inadequacy and frustration and our inability to achieve the goals to which we aspire—these are often the real reasons for physical and mental illness. The sense of guilt and sin that the natural man carries within himself renders him unfit for the performance of his duties, and renders him sick in both mind and body. It was no accident that Jesus combined healing with His preaching and teaching when He was on earth. There is a very special relationship between the life of the spirit and the health of the body and mind.
Peace with God and the peace of God in our hearts and the joy of fellowship with Christ have in themselves a beneficial effect upon the body and mind and will lead to the development and preservation of physical and mental power. Thus, Christ promotes the best interest of the body and mind, as well as of the spirit.
Our Father and our God, I have such happiness and joy in being Your child. I feel Your strength in my soul and in my body. Your Spirit within refreshes me day by day, and I celebrate my union with You. I rest in Your quiet peace, and I rejoice in hope of eternity with You. Because of Christ Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Bright Side Of Death
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Psalm 37:37
We who have made our peace with God should be like the evangelist D. L. Moody. When he was aware that death was at hand, he said, “Earth recedes, heaven opens before me.” It appeared as though he was dreaming. Then he said, “No, this is no dream . . . it is beautiful, it is like a trance. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”
After having been given up for dead, Moody revived to indicate that God had permitted him to see beyond that thin veil separating the seen from the unseen world. He had been “within the gates, and beyond the portals,” and had caught a glimpse of familiar faces whom he had “loved long since and lost awhile.” Then he could remember when he had proclaimed so vociferously earlier in his ministry, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all—out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. . . . That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever” (The Life of Dwight L. Moody by W. R. Moody). If Moody were to witness to us now, he would surely tell us of the glowing experience that became his as the angelic hosts ushered him into the presence of the Lord.
Can you face death with such confidence? You can if you know and believe God’s promises about life after death, promises that caused Moody to rejoice rather than despair.
Our Father and our God, I long to be in Your presence. I dream of walking through the gates of heaven and finding myself at home with You. Help me to live purely, O Lord, full of praise, bathed in your holiness, until I find Your marvelous peace in my passing. Let me shout with joy as I come through the gates of heaven. Because of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).