GOD’S WORD FOR  MAY 30

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.

LET THE OPPOSITION COME

John 16:22

“No one will take your joy from you”

D.L. MOODY

In the second century, they brought a  martyr before a king, and the king asked him to recant and give up Christ, but the  man spurned the thought.  The king said, “If you don’t do it, I will banish you.”  The man smiled and answered:  You can’t banish me from Christ.  He says He will never leave me nor forsake me.”  (Hebrews 13:5). 

The king got angry and said:  “Well, I will confiscate your property and take it all from you.”  The man replied:  “My treasures are laid up on high; you cannot get them”  (Matthew 6:20).  The king became still more angry and said:  “I will kill you.”

“Well,”  the man answered, “I have been dead forty years;  I have been dead with Christ;  dead to the world.  My life is hidden with Christ in God, and you cannot touch it.”  (see Colossians 3:1-4 below).

ERWIN LUTZER

Don’t you wish we had the faith of a martyr?  In Oxford, England, I stood at the place where three famous martyrs were burned at the orders of Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”).  I thought of their heroism, their steadfast faith, and their refusal to recant though facing the terror of the hot flames, and because sometimes the fire burned slowly, they died a slow, terrible, and excruciating death.

We probably will not have to face such a challenge, but we are  faced with the reality of being canceled by friends and relatives, the loss of a job, or the vilification of a hostile culture.  Will we ask, “How much will this cost me?”  Or simply, “What is the right thing to do?”

We will likely never be martyrs, but we can imitate their faith and example. 

PRAYER

Father, may I rejoice when I am counted worthy to suffer for You.”

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Acts 5:41

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

** *

Colossians 3:1-4

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

** *

Matthew 6:19-21

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

** *

Hebrews 13:5-6

 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,”  so that we confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

What will man do to me?”

** *

John 14:25-28

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

** *

Matthew 10:16

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

** *

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

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