GOD’S WORD FOR  NOVEMBER 15

Our  book excerpt today, and ongoing,  is from “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand”  Lessons from the Life of Peter, by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

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While flying from Chicago to Cleveland, I sat next to a retired airplane pilot.  He said that many people have the mistaken notion that commercial jet planes are safer than light planes that carry only a few passengers.  As proof of this perception, people cite statistics which tell us that light planes crash more often than the bigger commercial jets.

He insisted that the smaller planes are built just as safely as the bigger ones, but they have more crashes because of inexperienced pilots.  These pilots often make a fundamental mistake in flying the small plane:  They disbelieve their instruments panel.  Their inner sense of direction tells them that the plane is gaining altitude and they steer the aircraft according to this intuition.  Or perhaps they feel the plane is turning and they make adjustments based on their own innate sense of direction, and because they take these inner signals seriously, they eventually crash. 

In summary, he said, “Inexperienced pilots take too much information from their own sense experience.”

Perhaps you feel as if you are ready to crash.  You have looked at the waves, you have felt the force of gale winds of life, and you think you can’t make it through another day.

 Just as a pilot must blindly trust his instruments, and not his intuition, so we must focus our eyes on Christ and not the storm.

When we look to Him, He will help us do the supernatural, He will help us walk through life’s most turbulent times.

How do we focus on Christ?  Unfortunately, we often look for new spiritual secrets and neglect that which is more basic.

FIRST of all, we keep our focus through the Word of God – read it by the chapter, and memorize it by the verse.

Though we’ve heard it before, we must be reminded to absorb the Scriptures internally.  This will help us meditate and focus on Christ and His power alone.

SECOND,, there is prayer, those intimate moments when we share our cherished dreams and hopes with the Risen Christ.  This intercession must be developed and strengthened.  In His presence we can be honest, sharing our hurts or anger.  Like David, we will find our soul refreshed.

THIRD, our songs and hymns can be used to lift our hearts to God.  When the words are in our minds, they stay with us for the rest of the day.

Finally, we must remember that there is strength within the body of Christ.  Through the friendship and love of others we are encouraged to carry on.

Today, Christ walks over your troubled waters.  He stands triumphantly defying all the laws of nature and human dynamics.  He invites us to look to Him, to share His victory and His triumph  He wants the focus of our eyes and the direction of our feet pointed toward the same destination.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.”

Like Peter we must learn that a steady eye on Christ will take us through many a powerful storm.

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Hebrews 12:2

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

John 1:17

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Acts 10:36

The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—

Acts 15:11

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.

    1 Corinthians 8:6~ ~  yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

    1 Corinthians 15:57 ~ ~  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

    2 Corinthians 1:5  ~ ~   For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

    2 Corinthians 2:14 ~ ~ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

    Acts 17:28 ~ ~for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.

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