In today’s devotional, Octavius Winslow explains that the deeper our views of God’s holiness grow, the deeper our love grows. We love the truth, because it is on the side of holiness; we love the saints, because they are the reflection of holiness; we love the discipline of our heavenly Father, because it makes us partakers of His holiness; how much more intense, then, our affection for God, as the holiness of His being, the purity of His character, unveils to our admiring eyes!
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This week on the Whole Counsel, Louis Sacran, an experienced pastor and biblical counselor, sits down with Dr. John Snyder to discuss how to apply what we have learned so far in this series to live in accordance with our purpose.
As Christians, our purpose is clear. Our purpose is to please God, and we please Him by loving Him and loving people. Louis helps us to see that everything we do is either a loving or an unloving response.
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Today’s devotional is taken from Jeremy Walker’s book, A Word in Season: 50 Days of Hope for Hard Times. These brief yet solidly biblical daily readings could be an excellent addition to your quiet time or family worship. Today’s excerpt helps us look to the Savior in times of fear and doubt.
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In session 3 of Biblical Help for Life’s Problems, Louis Sacran addresses our ideas about God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is not the same as God fulfilling all our preferences for life. Louis takes us to various passages to clarify what it means for God to be faithful and shows that he is indeed trustworthy. Louis also addresses the choices we face in pressing circumstances. What is beyond our control? What is our ultimate desire? What dangers and deceptions can we avoid?
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The world and the devil would have us believe that God’s commands are tedious, harsh, severe, and heavy to bear. Scripture tells us they are easy, sweet, beneficial, and excellent. In today’s devotional, Thomas Watson gives us 7 statements to help us experience the truth that God’s commands are not burdensome.
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Dr. Snyder and Louis Sacran discuss a biblical perspective on trials. Using 1 Corinthians 10:13 as a starting point, Louis explains that trials are real, and they hurt. They are common to all humanity. He also reminds us that God is faithful and that we have choices during trials.
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In today’s devotional J. I. Packer shows us how to make Christian joy a reality in our lives. Joy, both natural and spiritual, will periodically come upon us as a gust or glow of unsought exhilaration, for which we should be grateful every time. But we are not to think of joy as essentially a mood of euphoria for which we ask and then sit down to wait. Joy is a habit of the heart, induced and sustained as an abiding quality of one’s life through the discipline of rejoicing. Joy is not an accident of temperament or an unpredictable providence; joy is a matter of choice. In Philippians 4:4, Paul directs his readers to choose to rejoice because it is through rejoicing that joy becomes a personal reality.
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This week on The Whole Counsel, John is joined by Louis Sacran to discuss how to handle difficult problems biblically. Louis has many years of experience as both a counselor and a pastor. John has asked Louis to discuss the most common problems he encounters among believers.
We all, from time to time, face problems that are especially hard for us. In this first episode, Louis offers us wise advice on viewing our problems in light of Scripture and practical insight into how to handle those difficulties. Louis lays the groundwork for a biblical perspective of ourselves. How we view ourselves affects everything. All of us are saints, sinners, and sufferers, and we must keep those views of ourselves in proper balance.
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“The very attributes which are full of terror to the King's enemies are full of comfort to the King's friends.” God’s omniscience is one such attribute. “When others say, like Joab, ‘Why didst thou not do so and so?’ and we know or find that full reasons cannot be given or cannot be understood, what rest it is to fall back upon the certainty that our King knows all about it! When we are wearied out with trying to make people understand, how restful it is that no explanations are wanted when we come to speak to Him!”
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Today’s devotional is from our new study, Kingdom Life by Stephen Yuille. He reminds us: When it comes to God’s power, there is no match, no equal, and no rival. “If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!” (Job 9:19). God never acts without prevailing, never resists without conquering, and never decides without accomplishing. Here is strength when struggling with strong temptations, encouragement when languishing under difficult circumstances, and hope when facing powerful enemies. We stand firm in the knowledge “that power belongs to God” (Ps. 62:11).
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This week, we are taking a short break between series and re-airing a favorite episode in which John is joined by a long-time friend and fellow minister, Jordan Thomas. You may recognize Jordan as a contributor to the studies Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically and Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty. John and Jordan spent a few weeks discussing the descriptions of Jesus found in the book of Hebrews. This week's discussion focused on Hebrews 1 and the 34 descriptions of Jesus in those 14 verses.
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Today’s devotional is a hymn by Charles Wesley that echoes the heart of a believer longing to be like the Lord Jesus. Hymns can be so helpful in stirring our hearts in private worship as well as in public worship. Let your soul sing, “O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels Thy blood, so freely shed for me.”
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