GOD’S WORD FOR  APRIL 12

We are reading from a daily devotional  called “Running To Win” written by Erwin Lutzer  and the late, great D.L. Moody.   Erwin Lutzer is a light in our day as D.L. Moody was in his.  Besides his many ministries, and many books, Pastor Lutzer was Senior Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years and now serves as Pastor Emeritus there.  He is Chancelor and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, where he taught Theology and Ministry, and now has numerous radio teachings.

INTO THE CLOUDS

Isaiah 40:9

“Go on up to a high mountain, Zion, herald of good news.”

D.L. MOODY

A traveler once made arrangements with a guide to take him to the top of a high mountain to see the sunrise.  They had not journeyed long  when there arose a terrible thunderstorm.  “It’s no use to go on.” The gentleman said, “We cannot see the sunrise in the midst of this fearful storm.”  “O sir,” said the guide,  “We shall soon get above the storm”  They could see the lightning playing about them, and the grand old mountain shook with the thunder, and it was very dark;  but when they passed up above the clouds, all was light and clear.  So, if it is dark here, rise higher:  it is light enough up around the throne.  If I may rise up to the light, I have no business to be in darkness.

Rise higher, higher, higher.  It is the privilege of the child of God to walk on unclouded.

ERWIN LUTZER

What if God wanted to take us where we have never been before – a whole new level of devastation and suffering most of us have never experienced?  As Moody said, when we are in darkness, we must rise to the light.  The goal of life is not to try to figure out how to live an extra day.  The goal of life is to glorify Jesus no matter what situation we are in or what is happening around us.  That’s why we must ascend to the throne, as Paul said, “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21), so the big C in our lives is not calamity or cancer;  the big C in our lives is CHRIST.  HE is the good news.

PRAYER

Father, when I am scared and don’t know what to do, please grant me the strength to persevere in You, and most importantly, help me to see Your great power in all things.

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(When it comes to problems, our perspective in relative powers is everything.  Jesus said “In this world you will have problems, but I have overcome the world.”   Sometimes we don’t realize the importance of those words, and what “overcoming” means when it’s God speaking.  Here are some verses to put things in perspective for those times:

Psalm 90:2

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

** *

Psalm 97:5

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

** *

Deuteronomy 30:9-16

The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,  if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’  Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’  But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,  in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

** *

Ps 24:1-5

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,

The world and those who dwell therein.

For He has founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

Or who may stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive blessing from the Lord,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

** *

Psalm 36:6

Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

** *

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

** *

Isaiah 40:12-29

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,

Measured heaven with a span

And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?

Weighed the mountains in scales

And the hills in a balance?

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?

With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,

And taught Him in the path of justice?

Who taught Him knowledge,

And showed Him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust on the scales;

Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.

All nations before Him are as nothing,

And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

The workman molds an image,

The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,

And the silversmith casts silver chains.

Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution

Chooses a tree that will not rot;

He seeks for himself a skillful workman

To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He brings the princes to nothing;

He makes the judges of the earth useless.

Scarcely shall they be planted,

Scarcely shall they be sown,

Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,

When He will also blow on them,

And they will wither,

And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

“To whom then will you liken Me,

Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high,

And see who has created these things,

Who brings out their host by number;

He calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might

And the strength of His power;

Not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

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