GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 10

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.

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THE FATHER’S LOVE

Matthew 6:9

“Our Father.”

D.L. MOODY

If you ask me why God should love us, I cannot tell.  I suppose it’s because He is a true Father.  It’s His nature to love;  just as it is the nature of the sun to shine.

ERWIN LUTZER

What Moody doesn’t tell us here is that his own father was an alcoholic who died when Moody was nine years old.  Perhaps this is why the fact that God is our Heavenly Father was so precious to him.  He didn’t have a father on Earth who loved him, but he did have a Father in heaven.

As believers, God is indeed our Father, and as His children, we need training.  There are three different kinds of discipline.  The first is “preventative” discipline.  None of us realizes how many things God has prevented us from doing.  How many traps along our path have we avoided because He has brought some trial or diversion along our way?

We could call the second type “instructive” discipline as in the case of Job.  It’s the hardships of life that teach us to trust God no matter what.

The third kind of discipline is “retributive”.  That means we are taught through the consequences of our disobedience; we’re, in effect, reaping what we have sown.  We are learning the lesson that “the way of transgressors is hard.” (Proverbs 13:15).

Why are we disciplined?  God wants us to be more like His son, Jesus Christ.  As Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.”

PRAYER

Father, thank You for your love which means You care for me, and discipline me for my good and for Your glory.

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John 1:12

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

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Matthew 23:9

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

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1 John 3:1-2

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

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Galatians 3:26

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

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Ephesians 4:6

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

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Galatians 4:6

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

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John 14:23

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

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