Listening to God John 6:66-69

John 6:66-69

".Many of [Jesus'] disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, 'You do not want to go away also, do you?' Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.'"

Many of Jesus' disciples chose to leave Him. Why? They had a hard time accepting some of the things Jesus taught.

As you grow in your faith, you may be tempted to turn away because Jesus' lessons are difficult. When that temptation comes, don't turn away from God. Think about life - there is nowhere else to go! No other way of life meets you at your point of deepest inner need. No other way of life has its foundation in truth. No other way ends in meaning and purpose.

You must learn to trust God with the great times AND the hard times, the easy lessons and the difficult lessons!

Remember, with Jesus, there is no middle ground - no grey area. Either He is Lord of your life or not!

The more that people understand the power of Jesus' message, the more they divide into two camps - honest seekers and followers who want to understand more; and those who reject Jesus because they don't like what He teaches. Simon Peter saw that Jesus' words, however challenging, led to life.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

What Worship Does

What Worship Does

“You who fear the LORD, praise Him!”
Psalm 22:23 NKJV

Worship humbles the smug and lifts the deflated.

Worship adjusts us, lowering the chin of the haughty, straightening the back of the burdened.

Worship properly positions the worshiper. And oh how we need it! We walk through life so bent out of shape. Five-talent folks swaggering: “I bet God’s glad to have me.” Two-talent folks struggling: “I bet God’s sick of putting up with me.” So sold on ourselves that we think someone died and made us ruler. Or so down on ourselves that we think everyone died and just left us.

Treat both conditions with worship.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2 Originally printed in Cure for the Common Life

Living for God

Living for God

Matthew 5:13-16

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Let your light shine!

What light? The life of Jesus Christ in you! Jesus repeatedly pointed to Himself as the light of the world (Matthew 4:16; John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35). Now He says to the disciples and to us today, "You are the light of the world".

How can this be true? Because Jesus is now living in you! Jesus is still on this earth, carrying out His ministry to people. If this is true, then where is He? What is His body? We are! Believers around the world are called in Scripture: "the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). Jesus wants to shine His light on people around you. That's why He's put you in that job, that course, that neighbourhood.

Jesus is calling you today to let Him shine through you.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and as an mp3 download in the Audio Lounge.

The Holy Spirit -Galatians 5:22-25

The Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:22-25
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

The Christian life only works when we allow the Holy Spirit to live His way of life through us!
We can achieve a measure of goodness in our activities through our own strength; but it is only surface goodness. We live that way to meet up to other’s expectations, or to assuage our own conscience, or to try and live up to a moral standard; but that goodness does not flow from who we are — our inner life. We are still fallen beings, full of selfishness and pride and independence.
The restoration of our inner lives is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. His inner life overflows with goodness and the fullness of God’s character. As we say to Him, “I can’t live that way, but You can, and You are in me”, He not only changes the way we act, but changes our very inner being to be more like Christ. Then the godly life just flows from you, instead of draining you.
God wants you, rather than trying hard to live for Him, to allow Him to live supernaturally through you.

The Holy Spirit -Ephesians 1:13-14

The Holy Spirit

Ephesians 1:13-14
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Our experience of the Holy Spirit here in this life is a foretaste of how wonderful heaven will be!
In today’s verses, the Lord is telling you that when you heard the message of the gospel and put your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you were born again, something else very significant happened too. God put a seal of authenticity on your salvation, a guarantee that one day you would experience the fullness of glory in heaven. That seal, that guarantee is the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in your life.

In Romans 8:23, Paul refers to it as “the first fruits of the Spirit” which make us long for glory. Like eating the first apples of the season gives you an idea of what the season will be like, experiencing the Spirit is a little taste of what heaven will be like. The presence of God, the glory of God, the love of God, victory over sin, closeness to God — all these things the Spirit wants to fill your life with now!

Romans 8:14- The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:14
"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

Expect the Holy Spirit to lead you!

In Acts 8:29, when Philip was walking on the Gaza road and a chariot went by, it says, "Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join this chariot.'" As Philip followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, it led to a wonderful opportunity to talk to one of the leading government officials of Ethiopia about Christ, and the man put his faith in Jesus!

When the great Council of Jerusalem met in Acts 15:28, James came out of the council meeting and said, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials."

The Holy Spirit wants to lead you in two ways. As you make yourself available to God for Him to use you in other people's lives in this world, the Spirit will guide you so that you are fulfilling His plan for you, just as He guided Philip. The main thing is your availability to Him.

And in your own personal spiritual life, the Spirit wants to lead you into the great life-changing truths. He wants to transform you from the inside out! God's message to you today: make your life, your mind, your heart totally available to God, and you can expect the Holy Spirit to guide you in life!

Eight Specific Reasons Why Christians Suffer

Eight Specific Reasons Why Christians Suffer

by Joyce Meyer

This is a great link to aid understanding of why it is often the Hard road to travel as followers of Jesus.

I dont know about you, but i find it extremely comforting to know that there is some'one' out there that understands.

But Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you]” (John 16:33).

Isaiah 58:13-14

Isaiah 58:13-14
"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honourable, and honour it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

It honours and pleases God greatly when we set aside special time just for Him and do not allow anything else to steal our attention!

"Desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word." There is no intrinsic value in self-denial. Christianity is not a religion of asceticism, but of the fullness of life that God brings us.

But there is still great value in having times where we purposely deny ourselves the normal pleasures of life for no other purpose than honouring God as more important than ourselves and our comfort. Making the Lord's day special or taking a day to fast and focus on God - these kinds of things serve notice on our flesh that it is not in control, that God is the most important thing in our lives.

How can you deny yourself in a way that honours God this week?

Isaiah 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28-31

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Learning to "wait for the Lord" is one of the most important patterns to establish in your life!

There is a source of inner strength that the secular world knows nothing about, and that source is God Himself. God has set up life in such a way that we are not able to face life victoriously without Him. Neither do we have the strength to minister to others in the way He desires, without His enabling.

Are you wearing out? Have you come to the end of your own strength? Are you "stumbling badly"? God wants you to learn to "wait for the Lord". He wants you to wait for His leading before moving forward, even with something good. He wants you to wait for His provision, to wait expectantly for His anointing on your ministry. Learn to pray and ask God for His enabling in your life.

Isaiah 40:15-18

Isaiah 40:15-18
“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”

God is more significant than everything else that exists put together!
As Isaiah gropes for a way to compare all the nations of the earth to God, he keeps going to greater extremes to find a fitting comparison. Compared to God they are “like a drop from a bucket…a speck of dust on the scales…fine dust…not enough to burn…as nothing before Him…less than nothing…meaningless”.
Finally when he cannot make the comparison any more extreme, he says, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”
How foolish we are to ever put God on the sideline in our lives, to view Him as a convenient aspect of life. He is so much more important than anything else in our lives that there is not even any way to express it meaningfully.
Put God first, and your life will be as it should be: less stressed, more balanced, joyful and meaningful.

Isaiah 30:9-11

Isaiah 30:9-11

“For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, ‘You must not see visions’; and to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel’.”

Not all the things you need to hear from your Bible teachers are pleasant!

The Apostle Paul tells us that in the last days, people will pursue Bible teachers who “tickle their ears”. That is, the Bible teachers who are popular will be those who simply tell you what you like to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).

But God wants you to know that what you like to hear is not always what you need to hear. When you are choosing your Bible teachers, make sure you choose those who are willing to teach what is unpopular, who don’t only teach the “feel good” truths of the Bible. It is healthy for your spiritual life to be convicted and challenged about how you live.

You need to go beyond the surface, elementary teachings of Scripture and get into the in-depth study of the Bible that will make you a mature believer, able to discern what is right and wrong, and able to teach and counsel others.

Isaiah 29:13-14

Isaiah 29:13-14

"Then the Lord said, 'Because this people draw near with their words and honour Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote; therefore behold, I will once again deal marvellously with this people, wondrously marvellous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed."

What God cares about is not your outward religious activities, but the condition of your heart towards Him!

If things are not too good in your daily inner relationship with God, you don't like for other believers to know about it; so you continue to use spiritual language that makes it seem like things are good. The danger is that it gets easy to live in this way, and we can come to convince even ourselves that this outward show is the real thing.

God is showing us today that just as He can astound us by His marvellous blessings, in the same way, He will astound us with His "marvellous" messing-up of our fake Christian life in order to let us see that it is our heart that matters.

Don't let yourself be satisfied to outwardly look like things are great between you and God. Don't settle for fake when the real thing is marvellous. Do whatever it takes to keep your heart sensitive and responsive to Him.

Isaiah 14:27

Isaiah 14:27

"For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"

God does what He plans, and nothing can keep Him from it!

Think about who God is. He's the Supreme Being of the universe, the Creator of everything besides Himself, the Author of life. He's omnipotent, all powerful. If God decides to do something, what could possibly thwart His purpose? Nothing!

Some Christians are afraid of God's power, as if it could mean disaster for them. But only those who are opposed to God's purpose need to fear His power. If you're building your life around God's purposes in this world, then you can be sure that all of God's power stands behind you, ready to support His work through you.

If you don't have a clear sense of what God's purpose is for you, then build your life around the purposes of God that are true for everyone. He wants you to honour Him with your life, to speak of Him to others, to give Him the credit for what He does in your life, and to pursue a deeper relationship with Him each day.

God is reassuring you through this verse today that He's dependable; His promises are reliable; and you don't need to be nervous about following His will in your life. If He is for you, who can be against you?

Watch and Pray

Watch and Pray
Monday, May 28, 2007

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Mark 14:38 NIV

“Watch.” They don’t come any more practical than that. Watch. Stay alert. Keep your eyes open. When you see sin coming, duck. When you anticipate an awkward encounter, turn around. When you sense temptation, go the other way.

All Jesus is saying is, “Pay attention.” You know your weaknesses. You also know the situations in which your weaknesses are most vulnerable. Stay out of those situations. Back seats. Late hours. Movie theaters. Whatever it is that gives Satan a foothold in your life, stay away from it. Watch out!

“Pray.” Prayer isn’t telling God anything new. There is not a sinner nor a saint who would surprise him. What prayer does is invite God to walk the shadowy pathways of life with us. Prayer is asking God to watch ahead for falling trees and tumbling boulders and to bring up the rear, guarding our backside from the poison darts of the devil.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

Perfect Love

Monday, May 28, 2007

“Perfect love casts our fear.”
I John 4:18 NKJV

Have you ever gone to the grocery store on an empty stomach? You’re a sitting duck. You buy everything you don’t need. Doesn’t matter if it’s good for you—you just want to fill your tummy. When you’re lonely, you do the same in life, pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you are hungry for love.

Why do we do it? Because we fear facing life alone. For fear of not fitting in, we take the drugs. For fear of standing out, we wear the clothes. For fear of appealing small, we go into debt and buy the house. For fear of going unnoticed, we dress to seduce or to impress. For fear of sleeping alone, we sleep with anyone. For fear of not being loved, we search for love in all the wrong places.

But all that changes when we discover God’s perfect love. And “perfect love casts our fear.”

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in Traveling Light

Beauty for Ashes...

Saturday 5/26/2007

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes....
—Isaiah 61:3 KJV


Multiplied thousands of people have been hurt severely in their lives. They come from broken relationships or abusive backgrounds that are still producing bad fruit in their personalities.

God wants to send the wind of the Holy Spirit into our lives (Acts 2:1-4), to blow away the ashes that are left from Satan's attempt to destroy us, and to replace those ashes with beauty.

The Lord has taught me that consistently bad fruit comes from a bad root. No matter how much we may try to get rid of the bad fruit, unless the root is dealt with, more bad fruit will crop up somewhere else.

God created us to be loved. He wants to love us; He wants us to love each other, and He wants us to love and accept ourselves. Without this foundation of love and acceptance, there will be no joy and peace.

Some of us need to be transplanted. If we started out in the wrong soil, Jesus will transplant us so that we can get rooted and grounded in His love, as the Bible teaches.

Know that you are valuable, unique, loved, and special. When this is your foundation and your root, you will produce good fruit.

Ask God to give you beauty for ashes.

Say This:

I was created for love. God loves me and wants me to love Him, love others, and love and accept myself."

Isaiah 6:6-7

Isaiah 6:6-7

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, `Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven’.” (please read vv. 5-7)

Brokenness and confession from me lead to forgiveness and restoration from God!

The angel touched Isaiah’s lips with a coal from the sacrificial altar. God gave the people of Israel the sacrificial system as a symbol of what Christ would do for them at the cross. Jesus had not yet come and so God gave them the symbol of the substitutionary death of an animal as payment for their sins. But really it was the great sacrifice of Jesus for us that would make a way for our sins to be “taken away” and “forgiven”.

After Isaiah’s heart cry of brokenness and despair over his own sin, “then” came God’s forgiveness.

God’s reminding you today that He doesn’t want you to downplay your sin and make it seem not so bad. What He responds to in your life is open confession and grief in your heart about your sin against Him. And He’s also assuring you that when you see your sin the way He sees it and come to Him with it, He’s so ready to restore your relationship with Him to relational closeness.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and downloadable in the Audio Lounge.

Isaiah 6:5- His personal Encounter with God!

Isaiah 6:5

"Then I said, `Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"
(please read vv. 1-5 again)


You'll only really understand yourself when you have a personal encounter with God!

Isaiah's immediate response to his personal encounter with God wasn't great joy, excitement and vigour. No, Isaiah was devastated. He'd thought quite well of himself. He had a good self-image.

But suddenly that self-image was shattered by his exposure to God. In the face of God's presence, holiness and glory, Isaiah suddenly realised that he wasn't the centre of his own existence, that his sense of his own goodness was a delusion in the face of God's holiness. Here was this unfallen, perfect angel covering his face in the presence of God. What hope did Isaiah have?

Isaiah fell before his great God a broken man, aware of his weaknesses, failings and sins. That is just where he needed to be; it was where God wanted him. That brokenness was God's goal in Isaiah's life.

It is God's goal in your life too. Brokenness comes first; anointing comes later. Tears come first; joy comes later. Confession comes first; healing comes later. God comes first; then He makes you what you need to be. But you'll never find that brokenness until you encounter God Himself.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and downloadable in the Audio Lounge.

Inspiring Prayers

I have often wondered what or how other devoted followers of God would pray to him... or say... I have found this website that is just that... their thoughts, snippets of inspirational prayers. click here for more.

Its great to know that there are those that have gone before us that are bold enough to speak out God's truth and what he has done in their lives. It is truly powerful... and a power not to be underestimated!


What you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, "Yes, Lord, YES!" to everything, and trust Him to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one.

Hannah Whitall Smith

Isaiah 6:1-2

Isaiah 6:1-2

"I saw the Lord.Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew." (please read vv.1-5 again)

A personal encounter with God removes all your pride!

There are many different kinds of heavenly beings, which we lump together and call "angels". The Bible talks about angels, archangels, principalities, powers, cherubim and seraphim. These that Isaiah saw were the seraphim, which means "burning ones". Their name implies that they have a brilliance and glory about them.

These are probably the same beings that appeared to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. When the first one appeared, Luke tells us (Luke 2:9) that "an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened".

The appearance of one of these angels brought awe and fear to those who saw them, and yet the far greater brilliance and glory of God causes even these great and amazing beings to cover their faces. They also covered their feet, a sign of deep humility before God.

If you find yourself thinking that maybe your opinion is almost as significant as God's opinion, or placing a low value on God's place in your life, then you need to set aside some time simply to ask God to reveal Himself to you in a greater way.

Isaiah 6:1

Isaiah 6:1

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” (please read vv.1-5 again)

God’s glory always accompanies His presence!

The “train” of a robe is the long part of the robe that trails behind the king. It represents the king’s glory and majesty.

When Isaiah saw the Lord in all His beauty and greatness and magnificence, the train of God’s robe filled the temple. That is, there was an overwhelming sense of the glory of God!

This is the same thing that happened when Solomon first dedicated the temple. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 tells us: “Then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.”

When you have a personal encounter with God, you too will begin to see His glory — the evidence of His presence — in everything. In the circumstances of your life, in the Bible, in your prayer life, in your worship, in your fellowship with other believers, in your ministry to others, in God’s provision of your needs.

At every turn you will find reasons to honour and praise God for His kingly presence filling every corner of your life.

Isaiah 5:20

Isaiah 5:20

Isaiah 5:20

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

There is such a thing as absolute truth, despite how `good’ and `sweet’ popular opinion may seem!

God is not just a power that can be bent in whatever way suits us. God will not be what we want Him to be or what we think He should be. He will not behave according to our plans; nor will He adjust His morality to fit our expectations.

Remember, God was here long before humanity existed. God is who He is, not who we want Him to be.

Our job is not to decide what God is like, but to find out what He is like. He has a moral nature that defines morality in His universe. He has revealed His moral guidelines in the Bible and in His Son Jesus.

When we start redefining what God has said about morality, or sexuality, or spirituality, or marriage, or love, or any other area of right and wrong, we are setting ourselves against who God is and how He has revealed Himself.

Today the Lord is reminding us to go to His word for our guidance on the issues of life. It makes life so much simpler and ultimately sweeter when we trust God’s wisdom and obey Him.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ for FM103.2. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

who are these goofy kids? :D

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Nelson Mandela

Forgiveness Follows Failure

Forgiveness Follows Failure
Thursday, May 10, 2007

In the past God spoke... many times and in many different ways. But now... God has spoken to us through his Son.
Hebrews 1:1-2

God, motivated by love and directed by divinity, surprised everyone. He became a man. In an untouchable mystery, he disguised himself as a carpenter and lived in a dusty Judaean village. Determined to prove his love for his creation, he walked incognito through his own world. His callused hands touched wounds and his compassionate words touched hearts....

But as beautiful as this act of incarnation was, it was not the zenith. Like a master painter, God reserved his masterpiece until the end. All the earlier acts of love had been leading to this one. The angels hushed and the heavens paused to witness the finale. God unveils the canvas and the ultimate act of creative compassion is revealed.

God on a cross. The Creator being sacrificed for the creation. God convincing man once and for all that forgiveness still follows failure.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

Isaiah 3:10-11

Isaiah 3:10-11

Isaiah 3:10-11

"Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him."

God cares what you do!

Salvation - being forgiven for your sins and welcomed into God's family forever - is a free gift. It was purchased for you by Jesus when He went to the cross for you.

You don't earn your salvation by being good enough. You don't lose it by being bad enough. It's entirely dependent on what Jesus did, not what you do. You simply receive God's gift by faith. No wonder the Apostle Paul exclaims, "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

But God is reminding us today that although salvation is a free gift, it does not mean that God doesn't care how we live after we're saved. Just the opposite - the terrible price Jesus had to pay for our forgiveness shows just how much God hates sin.

Today, Isaiah is telling us one of the basic truths about how God has set up this universe. Those who do what's right will ultimately be blessed for it and those who do what's wrong will experience negative consequences. Any actions that seem to have escaped their consequences in this life will find justice in the next. It's never a mistake to do what is right.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

Gratitude for Ungrateful Days

Gratitude for Ungrateful Days
by Max Lucado
“Always be joyful. Pray continually, and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus”
(I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NCV).

Look at the totality of those terms. Always be joyful. Pray continually. Give thanks whatever happens. Learn a lesson from Sidney Connell. When her brand-new bicycle was stolen, she called her dad with the bad news. He expected his daughter to be upset. But Sidney wasn’t crying. She was honored. “Dad,” she boasted, “out of all the bikes they could have taken, they took mine.”

Make gratitude your default emotion, and you’ll find yourself giving thanks for the problems of life. Need spice in your day? Thank God for every problem that comes down the pike. Is any situation so dire that gratitude is eliminated? Some of the ladies at the Women of Faith Conference thought it was. This great organization fills arenas with women, and women with hope. The president, Mary Graham, told me about one particular weekend in which a shortage of space tested everyone’s patience.

The floor had 150 fewer seats than needed. The arena staff tried to solve the problem by using narrow chairs. As a result, every woman had a place to sit, but everyone was crowded. Complaints contaminated like feedlot fragrance. Mary asked Joni Eareckson Tada, a speaker for the evening, if she could calm the crowd. Joni was perfectly qualified to do so. A childhood diving accident has left her wheelchair-bound. The attendants rolled her onto the platform, and Joni addressed the unhappy crowd. “I understand some of you don’t like the chair in which you are sitting. Neither do I. But I have about a thousand handicapped friends who would gladly trade places with you in an instant.”

The grumbling ceased.

Yours can too.

Impossible, you say? How do you know? How do you know until you give every day a chance?

From Every Day Deserves a Chance
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007) Max Lucado

Use doubt to Deepen your Faith

Use Doubt To Deepen Your Faith

John 20:26-29

"Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing! Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" (vv. 27-28)

Imagine what it must have been like for the other disciples, being in that room, hearing Thomas say he wasn't going to believe something was true until he saw it for himself? And can you imagine what it must have been like seeing Jesus appear in that room eight days later, speaking directly to Thomas about his doubts?

Jesus didn't lecture Thomas for having doubts because He knew the doubts would result in a strong belief.

The Lord is reminding us through Thomas that some people need to doubt before they will believe. Doubt can be healthy if it leads to questions. Then, if questions are honestly researched they can lead to answers. If the answers are accepted, then doubt has done its work. But when doubt results in stubbornness, and stubbornness becomes a lifestyle, that doubt is useless and harms the hope for faith.

When you have doubts, that's OK. But don't let doubts grow into stubbornness. Use those doubts to deepen your faith, as you search for the truth.

And notice that Thomas never reached his hand out to touch Jesus, he accepted Jesus as Lord by faith. Have you?

living in a temporary world...

Living in a Temporay World

2 Peter 3:11-12

“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

One of the most foundational beliefs we hold as Christians is also one of the things we forget most easily, and that is the truth that this world is temporary!

God is allowing the fallenness of this world to continue because He is not finished with the people in the world. But one day God will come and close down this world and everything in it. Everything temporary will be destroyed. The only things that will make it out of this world are the spiritual things: people, the Word of God, the spiritual fruit of our lives, the things of God.

When that day comes, it will be so obvious to us that we have wasted so much of our lives and so much of our energy on things that really don’t matter. We will wish that we had lived full-on for God, that we had focused our lives on the things that last forever.

In today’s passage God is reminding you to live today for what will matter then! What sort of person ought you to be?

Saturated in Love

Saturated in Love
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Where God's love is there is no fear, because God's perfect love drives out fear.
1 John 4:15

We fear rejection, so we follow the crowd. We fear no fitting in, so we take the drugs. For fear of standing out, we wear what everyone else wears. For fear of blending in, we wear what no one else wears. For fear of sleeping alone, we sleep with anyone. For fear of not being loved, we search for love in all the wrong places.

But God flushes those fears. Those saturated in God's love don't sell out to win the love of others. They don't even sell out to win the love of God.

Do you think you need to? Do you think, If I cuss less, pray more, drink less, study more... if I try harder, God will love me more? Sniff and smell Satan's stench behind those words. We all need improvement, but we don't need to wood God's love. We change because we already have God's love. God's perfect love.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in Come Thirsty

A Tree in Healthy Soil

A Tree in Healthy Soil

Colossians 2:6-7

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

When you receive Christ as your personal Saviour, He becomes Lord of your life. You must then choose to continue to follow His leadership through being a disciple and learner.

Jesus is not here physically, but you can still learn from Him and follow His lead in life by reading His Word and listening to wise Bible-based teachers. This helps you become firmly rooted like a tree that is planted in healthy soil.

The process continues as you need to be built up and established in your faith. You grow in your faith as you respond to what God says to you as you read and study His Word. If you reject what God is saying to you, you won’t grow. But if you respond, you will grow.

If you pursue this path of spiritual growth in your life: learning from Jesus, responding to His leading in your life, growing in your relationship with Him, learning some more, responding, etc., then God will bless you so much in your heart and your life, that you will find yourself “overflowing with gratitude”. You’ll praise Him because it feels your heart will burst if you don’t. What a great way to live!

Have you been in the wilderness long enough?

Friday 4/27/2007

The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, You have dwelt long enough on this mountain. Turn and take up your journey....
—Deuteronomy 1:6,7


As long as we have wilderness attitudes, we will continue living in the wilderness. Jesus died so we could live in the Promised Land the land of abundance.

It was only an eleven-day journey to the Promised Land, yet the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years murmuring, grumbling, complaining, and blaming Moses and God for their troubles. (Deuteronomy 1:1-7). Their lack of progress was due to their attitude.

Having a good attitude in a trying situation is at least 90 percent of the battle. We can win over anything as long as we have a godly attitude. There will always be trials in life, but as we trust God and continue doing what He shows us to do, we always come out victorious.

Don't be afraid to walk in the light. As God brings your faults into the light to expose and remove them, it may be uncomfortable. This kind of discomfort, however, is temporary.

God loves you very much, and He has an excellent plan for your life. Follow the Holy Spirit, and He will lead you swiftly through the wilderness into the Promised Land.

Take the shortcut through the wilderness don't go the long way around!

Do This:

Ask the Holy Spirit to start convicting you of any wrong attitudes that are not pleasing to God so that with His help you can change them immediately.

Think of Home

Think of Home
Friday, April 27, 2007

“When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.”
James 1:2

God didn’t say, “If you have many kinds of troubles”...he said “When you have many kinds of troubles…” Troubles are part of the package. Betrayals are part of our troubles. Don’t be surprised when betrayals come. Don’t look for fairness here—look instead where Jesus looked.

While going through hell, Jesus kept his eyes on heaven. While surrounded by enemies he kept his mind on his father. While abandoned on earth, he kept his heart on home. “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, the Powerful One, and coming on clouds in the sky.” (Matt. 26:64)

When all of earth turns against you, all of heaven turns toward you. To keep your balance in a crooked world... think of home.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in And the Angels Were Silent

The Little things... #4

The Little Things

Colossians 1:28-29

“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labour, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

The relationships you have with the people around you are a huge part of God’s plan for your life. God has placed you among the people around you so that He can work through you in their lives!

Sometimes we treat our relationships lightly, as though they were a “little thing”, but we should be constantly giving every relationship we have to God and inviting Him to work through us in those people’s lives. Don’t think that God only wants to work through you in your pleasant relationships; He also wants to work through you in those relationships that are tough.

Like the Apostle Paul in the passage above, work hard to impact every life you touch for God. When you encounter a person, always think, “How can I encourage this person spiritually? How can I turn their thoughts to the Lord? How can I pray for them?” Trust God to guide you as you speak with them.

Treat no conversation lightly, but look for ways to be used by God. How might God be able to use you today if you approach your relationships like this? The little word, the little time you give can have eternal impact.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

The Wandering, Wondering Mind

Wednesday 4/25/2007

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
—2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV


Do you ever have any difficulty with wandering thoughts? The harnessing of the human mind is often like trying to train a wild animal. Don't be discouraged. With enough diligence and lots of grace from God, you can win control of your mind.

The key to casting down thoughts and not allowing them to return is to replace wrong thinking with right thinking. Fix your mind on good things. (Philippians 4:8.) Start to think good thoughts on purpose, and you will train yourself to think God-like thoughts.

Wondering about things by turning them over and over in our minds without being able to arrive at a solution leads us into confusion. The Holy Spirit quickened to me that I cannot get confused unless I am trying to figure out something that I need to leave in God's capable hands.

Negative thinking leads to trouble. Proverbs 23:7 says that as a person thinks in his heart, so is he. I believe our thoughts draw a border for our life, and we must live within that border.

Do This:

Choose your thoughts carefully. Meditate only on good (positive) things. Don't allow your mind to become preoccupied with wandering, wondering thoughts, or being negative.

The Little things... #3

The Little Things

Luke 16:10-11

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true [spiritual] riches to you?"

In God's eyes, the way you spend your money is a "little thing" that reveals very important things about your spiritual life!

The reality is that everything we have is God's, and that includes all of our money. God, living in us, wants to spend His money, which He has entrusted to us, in His way, for His purposes. When we move with Him, using His money for His purposes, then God knows that He can trust us with bigger things.

Have you been holding back from giving generously to the work of God in this world, waiting for your business to get bigger and more successful so that you can give more later? In truth, if you do not give generously when your business is small, neither will you when your business is bigger.

How you use the Lord's money has a huge impact on your spiritual life. Jesus is inviting you to make Him the leader of your whole life, even your finances. If you do, you will find that God's blessings in your life far outweigh your giving.

You'll experience His "true riches".

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

The Little things...

The Little Things

Psalm 134

"Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, who serve by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth."

This is the last in a group of psalms called Psalms of Ascents. These psalms were used in the daily ceremonies of the Temple in Jerusalem. As the final psalm in the group, this would have been sung to the "night shift" Levites, who were coming on duty as the temple was closing down.

God challenges them not to waste their idle moments during the night shift, but to use that time to "bless the Lord!"

What idle moments are there in your life? Those are the times that often lead to real spiritual struggles. Idle moments are when anxiety can fill our minds, when lustful thoughts can invade, when bitterness and anger can rise to the surface, when fear can paralyse us.

Those very moments that lead to the greatest struggles in our spiritual lives can be turned into one of the greatest sources of spiritual growth as we begin to give those idle moments to God.

The time in the car, or lying awake in bed, or in between classes, or waiting in the doctor's office, or watching TV.

Ask yourself, "How could I bless God with these spare moments?"

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

We Are Family

We Are Family
Monday, April 23, 2007

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Romans 12:10 NIV

Common belief identifies members of God’s family. And common affection unites them. Paul gives this relationship rule for the church: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” The apostle plays the wordsmith here, bookending the verse with fraternal-twin terms. He begins with philostorgos (philos means friendly; storgos mean family love) and concludes with philadelphia (phileo means tender affection; adelphia means brethren). An awkward but accurate translation of the verse might be “Have a friend/family devotion to each other in a friend/family sort of way.” If Paul doesn’t get us with the first adjective, he catches us with the second. In both he reminds us: the church is God’s family.

You didn’t pick me. I didn’t pick you. You may not like me. I may not like you. But since God picked and likes us both, we are family.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in Cure for the Common Life

Its the Little Things...

The Little Things

Luke 16:10

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much."

It is the little things that make any relationship extra good, extra meaningful!

The little love note you find tucked into your clothes when you are away on a trip, put there by your spouse. The little words spoken in kindness.

And also, when you find that a person is honest about little things that don't matter very much, you trust their honesty when a big thing comes up.

We sometimes say to our children, "If we find that we can trust you in this, then maybe we will talk about letting you do that."

It is a principle of life, isn't it? The way you handle the little things says a lot about how you handle the big things. Because this is true, we need to pay much closer attention to the "little things" in life. In reality, they are not little things at all.

I remember a man from India saying to me once, "Little tigers grow into big tigers, and big tigers kill." Sometimes we find it easier to commit the big things of our life to God than the little things. Our sin nature wants to hang on to those little things. What little things are holding you back? It's time to give them to God.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

Time Management & Priorities

Thursday 4/19/2007

Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately,...as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time....
—Ephesians 5:15,16


We are the generation God has set apart to participate in the end-time harvest that is prophesied in His Word. God is searching for people He can trust to be accountable for the anointing, power, and authority that will be evident in these last days.

Learning to walk in obedience where we are prepares us for the next level into which God wants to take us. Obedience prepares us for promotion. We cannot wait until the "glory days" hit and then get prepared. Preparation precedes promotion.

God is speaking to His people today saying, "Get your house in order." What does this mean in a practical way? I believe it means that we are not to live fragmented, useless lives with no purpose and direction. We must be accountable and responsible for the abilities God has given each of us. We must make a firm decision to stop wasting our time, because time is a gift from God.

Time management is vital to preparation and equipping. Funnel your time into your purpose. Don't look at your time as your own, but see it as God's something He has entrusted to you to use wisely.

Say This:

"I will no longer procrastinate or be slow of heart to believe. I will move when the Lord says, 'Move!'"

A Clear Vision of the Cross

A Clear Vision of the Cross
Friday, April 06, 2007

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
I Peter 3:18 NIV

One of the reference points of London is the Charing Cross. It is near the geographical center of the city and serves as a navigational tool for those confused by the streets.

A little girl was lost in the great city. A policeman found her. Between sobs and tears, she explained she didn’t know her way home. He asked her if she knew her address. She didn’t. He asked her phone number; she didn’t know that either. But when he asked her what she knew, suddenly her face lit up.

“I know the Cross,” she said. “Show me the Cross and I can find my way home from there.”

So can you. Keep a clear vision of the cross on your horizon and you can find your way home.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume 2
Originally printed in And the Angels Were Silent

He died on our behalf...

Easter

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

The reason Jesus died and rose again for you, was so that your life-focus would shift from yourself to His purposes in this world!

You were created for His purposes (see Ephesians 2:10), but your fallen, sinful, self-focused life was preventing you from living out your reason for existing. So Jesus "died.on [your] behalf". He died in your place, taking the sin and guilt you had built up, and experiencing God's judgment for you.

And He also "rose again on [your] behalf". His resurrection life in you enables you to live in a way that brings God glory.

Do you see what the Lord is saying to you today? You do not "live for [yourself]" anymore. Now you live for Him! Your life purpose is no longer to get as much, do as much, travel as much for yourself as you can. Now your purpose is to honour Him, love Him, and point people to Him as much as you can.

Replace "all" with your name: "He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.

Love is...

Wednesday 4/4/2007

"A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
—John 13:34 NIV


Love is the new commandment Jesus gave under the New Covenant. The love walk is a liberating lifestyle because it sets us free from self.

Love is a sacrifice—it costs. Every time we love someone, it costs us something. Time, talent, money, or pride may be the cost.

Forgiveness is love; it costs pride to forgive. The flesh is basically lazy and passive; it always wants effortless benefits. Love is effort.

There seems to be a lack of joy among God's people; one of the major reasons is that we often become passive, looking for an effortless lifestyle.

Love is involvement. It is impossible to have true relationship without involvement. Involvement requires commitment; commitment requires work; work is effort.

Love is an effort; it is an effort to walk in love.

Love is involvement, not isolation. Love requires reaching out. Love says, "I'm sorry," first and initiates the move that can bring restoration and understanding.

Love involves sacrificial giving. Love doesn't do the right thing to get something; love does the right thing because it is right. Love is healing; love restores.

Say This:

"Love is the new commandment Jesus gave. I walk in love, and it sets me free from self. Forgiveness is love, so I forgive."

Easter...

Easter

Hebrews 2:9-11

“But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren”

Jesus’ suffering and death on our behalf only increased His resurrection glory in heaven!

Jesus was always perfect. He existed forever as God the Son, in perfect fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. All the attributes of God were His in perfection. When He became a man, He lived without any sin. So how was He “perfected…through sufferings”?

His perfections became even greater! It is one thing to have a nature that would sacrifice out of love for others. But that aspect of a person becomes even more glorious when they are put in a situation where they actually have to make an inconceivable sacrifice to save others.

Today God the Father wants you to see the glory of the resurrected Jesus Christ. Get on your knees before the cross and glorify Him who suffered for you.

Written by John North of Ambassadors For Christ. You can hear John Weekday mornings at 6.05am on FM103.2 and in our Audio Lounge.