An Excerpt from “Friend of God” by Ray Stedman

When You Need a Friend

Genesis 14:1–16

“Sometimes I wonder what it really means to be a Christian,” the young man said. He was raised in a Christian home and grew up in the church, but now, in his teens, he was beginning to question the reality of his faith. “If being a Christian means growing up in a dull environment, living a boring life, and talking about long spiritual words all day, I don’t know if I am into it. Somehow I know there must be more.”

This young man, whose story Ron Luce tells in Inspire the Fire: Giving Today’s Youth Something Real to Believe In (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1994, 14–15), is not alone. Many people, including many in the church, think of the Christian life as a dull, dreary, uneventful existence. If that is your perception of Christianity, then I have good news for you: Genuine, authentic Christianity is anything but dull. It is truly the adventure of a lifetime.

If you see the Christian life as boring and unchallenging, then your vision of reality is out of focus. You do not understand true spirituality. This view of  Christianity as a dull and humdrum existence is common among non-Christians and among church-going people who have bought into a worldly, carnal view of life. Such people view life as Lot did. But those who view life as Abram did are destined for a life of genuine excitement, lasting meaning, and high adventure.

As we have seen, whenever Abram is living in a tent and worshiping at an altar in the land of Canaan, he is a symbolic picture of a Christian living in the power of God and the joy of the pilgrim life. A truly godly man or woman lives in this world but is not of this world. As Christians, we are meant to live by the daily cleansing of the cross.

Lot, by contrast, is a symbolic picture of the carnal (fleshly, worldly) Christian, who lives for the flesh and is governed by the flesh and its appetites. He has forsaken the place of fellowship with Christ. After leaving Abram on the hillside, Lot eagerly moved toward Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain. He was drawn by the enticements of the world and began to live for himself and for the pleasures of the senses. Lot symbolizes the Christian who is born again but who remains enmeshed in the enticements of the materialistic world system.

This excerpt was taken from Friend of God: The Legacy of Abraham, Man of Faith

©2010 by Elaine Stedman
All rights reserved.
Discovery House Publishers
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

978-1-57293-371-2
pp. 49-50

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Written in Tears

Written In Tears by Luke Veldt

Sacrifice of Praise: Aligning Yourself with God

It is in times of suffering, of course, that aligning yourself with God presents a special challenge. How can you align yourself with God’s purposes when you don’t understand what’s happening around you? When your world has caved in on you?

But perhaps it’s in such times that aligning yourself with God becomes truly meaningful.

The author of the book of Hebrews talks about offering to God “a sacrifice of praise.”10 The sacrifice of praise must cost us something. Every sacrifice has a price; that’s what makes it a sacrifice. A sacrifice that doesn’t cost anything is not worth anything.11

So perhaps praise that costs nothing is not worth much either—or, at least, not worth as much. It’s easy to praise God when things are going well, and it’s the right thing to do. But if we can offer praise to God only when we are basking in His blessings, it’s an empty exercise. By praising God in the hard times—not by pretending to be happy, but by praising Him in the midst of sadness—we validate our praise for Him in the good times.

The more it costs us to praise Him, the more our praise is worth.

David will bless God, regardless of what it costs him. His attitude seems to be, “Though my heart is heavy, I will bless the Lord. I know He loves me, no matter what happens, so I choose to bless Him. I’m on His side.”

In his determination to stick with God despite his pain, David greatly resembles the most steadfast of the Old Testament sufferers, Job. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” Job said on the day that he lost his children, his wealth, and his reputation. “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Sometimes people of faith have a hard time remembering that suffering was an excruciatingly painful process for Job. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” we quote Job brightly—forgetting that when he said it he had shaved his head and torn his clothes and that a few days later he was sitting on an ash heap, covered in painful boils and cursing the day he was born.

Job, while blessing the Lord, felt no compulsion to act the way a righteous man was expected to act. He questioned the justice of God, he begged God to leave him alone, he scrounged for answers to his dilemma in places that the theologians of his day thought inappropriate. He was, in fact, blessing God with everything in his being, by seeking out God honestly. “Yes, I will bless the Lord despite my suffering. I will bless Him with my very doubts and fears and despair, if I have to. I’ll keep at Him with all that is within me until He responds. Though He slay me, yet will I trust him; I’ll bless him if it kills me.”12

_____________
10. Hebrews 13:15

11. King David understood this well. See the story of his sacrifice in 2 Samuel 24, especially verses 22–24: “Then Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king . . .’ But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”

12. Job 13:15 NKJV: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.”
_____________

This excerpt was taken from Written in Tears: A Grieving Father’s Journey Through Psalm 103

©2010 by Luke Veldt
All rights reserved.
Discovery House Publishers
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

978-1-57293-382-8
pp. 38-39

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A Heart for God

Help!
I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

Genesis 2–3; Romans 7:14–25; 16:17–20

The fall of Adam sent curators at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to their knees. But they weren’t repenting of the sin that started in the garden of Eden with the fall of the first Adam. They were lamenting the plunge of a priceless fifteenth-century sculpture from its pedestal, and they were on their knees picking up the fragments.

When the statue fell, it didn’t break into nice neat pieces. The arms, legs, and head separated from the torso in such a way that they could not be glued back together easily. In the words of one restorer, part of Adam was “pulverized.” Experts predicted that it would take two years to piece Adam together again, but they promised he would be almost as good as new by the time he was returned to public view.

Imagine if you were given the dust and particles of Adam and were told to put him back together again. How long do you think it would take? What do you think Adam would look like when you were finished?

Now imagine if the dust tried to reshape itself.

That’s what we attempt to do whenever we try to “restore” ourselves from the effects of the fall. Like the statue, the original Adam and everyone after him has been shattered and pulverized by sin. We all lie in a pile of dust on the floor of creation—splintered emotions, pulverized personality, twisted minds, and broken bodies. And we have only one hope for wholeness—the One who created us. He alone has the knowledge and skill to put us back together.

In Scripture, the categories of heart, soul, mind, and strength are not precise divisions; there is much overlap. For example, the Bible sometimes indicates that thinking happens in the heart (e.g., Zechariah 7:10; Mark 2:8). For the purpose of this study, however, we will use heart, soul, mind, and strength to refer to the following:
Heart: Desires, emotions, feelings
Soul: Being, identity, life, self
Mind: Beliefs, discernment, knowledge, thoughts, truth
Strength: Actions, boldness, courage, enthusiasm, intensity, obedience

1. Read Genesis 3. What tactics did Satan use to get the woman to eat the fruit God had forbidden (vv. 1–5)?

Using the following category descriptions, what appeals did Satan make to her heart, soul, mind, or strength?

Heart
Desires
Emotions
Feelings

Soul
Being
Identity
Life
Self

Mind
Beliefs
Discernment
Knowledge
Thoughts
Truth

Strength
Actions
Boldness
Courage
Enthusiasm
Intensity
Obedience

2. Compare the discussion between Eve and the Serpent (Genesis 3:1–5) with what God really said to Adam (2:15–18). How do the two accounts differ? Since Eve was created after the command was given (v. 18), what can we assume about her knowledge of what God said?

3. Why did Eve disobey God (Genesis 3:6)?

4. What knowledge did Adam and Eve gain (3:7)?

5. What did this new information cause them to do (3:7–8)?

6. Instead of angrily confronting them with their wrongdoing, how did God respond (3:9–13)?

7. How did Adam and Eve defend themselves (3:9–13)?

8. The curse on Eve (3:16) involved her desires. How does this correspond to her sin (3:6)? What did Eve want that she wasn’t supposed to have?

9. The curse on Adam involved his work (3:17–19). How does this correspond to his sin (3:6b)? Whose job was it to guard the tree (2:15–17)?

Fast forward to the first century: The second Adam (Christ) has come to heal our brokenness. However, all is not yet well. Conflicts continue. We are divided not only from one another but within ourselves. The apostle Paul wrote a classic description of this inner turmoil. Read Romans 7:14–25. Using the following chart as a guide, make a list of all the words in this passage that relate to heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Soul
Being
Identity
Life
Self

Mind
Beliefs
Discernment
Knowledge
Thoughts
Truth

Strength
Actions
Boldness
Courage
Enthusiasm
Intensity
Obedience

10. Do you have an internal battle raging between your thoughts and desires? Are you fighting a desire to do something that your mind tells you is wrong? Or are you resisting a conviction to do something that you know is good but don’t want to do? Describe the battle. What do you want the outcome to be?

11. Read Romans 16:17–20. Reread Genesis 3:5 and compare it with Romans 16:20. Here or in your journal write a prayer based on these passages.

May God complete His work of
transformation in our lives by reversing the
effects of the fall and making us wise about
what is good and innocent about what
is evil. Amen.

Taken from A Heart for God: A Companion Bible Study to Above All Love
© 2010 by Julie Ackerman Link
Discovery House Publishers (affiliated with RBC Ministries)
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
978-1-57293-380-4
Pages 9-14

Best Friends with God (Book Excerpt)

God Sends His Love

The Emmaus Travelers 

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8 

I went for a long time, years really, where I couldn’t perceive God’s love for me. In my quest for answers, I often asked my pastor, “How do I know that God loves me?” My pastor always came back to the fact that Christ died for me. While that answer was true, it wasn’t particularly satisfying. Christ died for everyone else, too. God loved “the world,” but did He love me? 

If you have ever wondered, as I have, if God loves you, you know that His love can seem distant and impersonal. We know that somewhere “out there” God loves us, but here and now we struggle to feel God’s love for us. We tend to think of God loving “the world” as in John 3:16. By extension, we acknowledge that we are included in that set, though it seems impersonal. We know that Christ died for us, but He died for everyone else too. 

Seeking an answer to my question, I immersed myself in the study of God’s Word, looking up every verse about God’s love. But while I learned about God’s love, I still didn’t feel it. I could see how God interacted with different people in the Bible so I knew that God loved Abraham, Moses, and David, but did He love me? Then I began to realize that God did not just love them as part of the collective, “the world,” but as individuals. His love was demonstrated in the unique relationship He had with each of them. God interacted in specific ways to respond to their situations: to ease their doubts, to give them faith and courage, or whatever they needed as an individual. 

God wanted to respond to me in the same way. I began to bring Him my doubts, fears, heartaches, and problems. As God responded in specific ways, relating to me personally, no longer felt that God loved me only as part of the collective. God didn’t just love the world; He loved me. 

The question “What’s God done for me lately?” might seem like self-centered ingratitude, but perhaps it  expresses the deepest longing of our heart to be in a relationship that is personally relevant and dynamic. We don’t want a “once upon a time” story about what God did for us two thousand years ago; we want to experience a dynamic relationship with God on a daily basis. We want a page-turner that keeps us engaged from beginning to end with love, drama, constant action, and everpresent hope in spite of impossible circumstances. 

Still, in order for us to experience a dynamic love story today, we must go back two thousand years ago to the events of the cross that made our love relationship with God possible. Two men walking home from Jerusalem discussed the unfolding drama that occurred during the Passover. Jesus, whom they had hoped to be the Messiah, had been crucified, and now there were rumors of His resurrection. On the way, a fellow traveler, a man they didn’t immediately recognize, joined them and explained all the things the Scriptures said concerning the Messiah. The events of this journey are recorded in Luke 24, and while we don’t know the details of the travelers’ dialogue, we do know that they discussed the various promises of God in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah He would send. Like the Emmaus travelers, we will see how the events of Christ’s death and resurrection make it possible to experience a dynamic relationship with God on a daily basis.
_____________________ 

This excerpt was taken from Best Friends with God: Falling in Love with the God Who Loves You 

©2010 by Christy Bower
All rights reserved.
Discovery House Publishers
Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

978-1-57293-372-9
pp. 7-9 

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What Makes God Laugh?

I was washing my car one evening as the sun was preparing to kiss the earth goodnight. Glancing up, I impulsively pointed the hose at it as if to extinguish its flames. The absurdity of my action hit me, and I laughed.

Then I thought of God’s laughter in Psalm 2. Wicked nations were plotting to overthrow God’s anointed, thus ultimately opposing the Almighty himself. But He sits in the heavens, calm and unthreatened. Man’s boldest efforts to oppose such awesome power are ludicrous. The Almighty doesn’t even rise from His throne; He just laughs in derision.

But is this a heartless or cruel laughter? No! His same infinite greatness that mocks man’s defiance also marks His sympathy for man in his lost condition. He’s the same God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). And He was the incarnate Savior who wept over Jerusalem when His own people rejected Him (Matthew 23:37-39). He is great in judgment but also in compassion (Exodus 34:6-7).

God’s laughter gives us the assurance that Christ will ultimately triumph over evil. Any defiance of Him and His will is futile. Instead of opposing the Son, we should submit to the Lord Jesus and Take refuge in Him.

~Dennis DeHaan

Excerpt is taken from My Soul Thirsts for God: Reflections on the Psalms from Our Daily Bread
©2009 by Discovery House Publishers
978-1-57293-324-8

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What is the Truth About When Things Go Bad?

 

“If you obey Jesus you will have a life of joy and delight.” Well, it is not true. Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to the other side of the lake,” and they were plunged into the biggest storm they had ever known. You say, “If I had not obeyed Jesus I should not have got into this complication.” Exactly. The temptation is to say, “God could never have told me to go there, if He had done so this would not have happened.” We discover
then whether we are going to trust God’s integrity or listen to our own expressed skepticism. (HSGM)

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm 51:17)-that of a spirit God has made glad by a great forgiveness. The sign of this kind of broken heart is that the saint is untroubled by storms, and undismayed by bereavement because he is confident in God. (NJ)

Reflection Questions
When things go badly, do I see it as an indication that I have been mistaken about God’s leading or about God’s love? Am I prepared to accept that perhaps neither is true? What better explanation is there?

Taken from Hope: A Holy Promise
© 2009 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association Limited.
All rights reserved.

Where is Your Hope in Troubled Times?

Hope – A Holy Promise
by Oswald Chambers

 We all need hope, particularly in these difficult times, and Christians have a hope that the world knows nothing of. For believers, the word hope expresses not uncertainty, but certainty, a glorious expectation of the future based on God’s holy promise.

This book of quotes by Oswald Chambers will build up your hope and focus it where it belongs: not on changing circumstances, but on the unchanging Word of God.

Best known for his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest, Chambers has much to say about the precious gift of hope—and about the one in whom we hope, Jesus Christ.

Brand new to the series of Oswald Chambers gift books, Hope: A Holy Promise includes reflection questions to help you connect Chambers’ biblical wisdom to your own life.

Oswald Chambers (1874 -1917) is best known for the classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. Born in Scotland, Chambers had a teaching and preaching ministry that took him as far as the United States and Japan. He died at age forty-three while serving as chaplain to British Commonwealth troops in Egypt during World War 1. More information can be found in his biography: Oswald Chambers—Abandoned to God by David McCasland 

An excerpt of Hope will be posted later in the week. Be watching.

Is God lonely for you?

Do you have authors that you not only like what they write, but also what they read? Who an author quotes often says a lot about the depths he or she digs to find nuggets of wisdom. David Roper is one of these type of authors for me.  Let me share part of a chapter from one of his books.

He makes me lie down in
green pastures, he leads me
beside quiet waters.

Left to ourselves we would have nothing more than restlessness, driven by the realization that there is something more to know and love. But God will not leave us to ourselves. He makes us lie down in green pastures. He leads us by quiet waters.

The verbs suggest gentle persuasion-a shepherd patiently, persistently encouraging his sheep to the place where their hungers and thirsts will be assuaged….

The image of placid waters emphasizes the concept of rest-the condition of having all our passions satisfied. Augustine cried out, “What will make me take my rest in you . . . so I can forget my restlessness and take hold of you, the one good thing in my life?”  He makes me [causes me to] lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters.” “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:3-4).

The compulsion begins with God. “God spoke to the depths of David’s heart, uttering His heart’s desire: “Seek my face.” And David responded with alacrity, “I will seek your face, Lord.”

God makes the first move; He takes the initiative-calling us, leading us to a place of rest.

It’s not that we’re seeking God; He is seeking us. “There is a property in God of thirst and longing. . .” says Dame Julian of Norwich, “he hath longing to have us.”

God’s cry to wayward Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) suggests the loneliness He feels when separated from those He loves. G. K. Chesterton suggests that the whole Bible is about the “loneliness of God.” I like the thought that in some inexplicable way God misses me, that He can’t bear to be separated from me, that I’m always on His mind, that He patiently, insistently calls me, seeks me, not for my own sake alone, but for His. He cries, “Where are you?”

Deep within us is a place for God. We were made for God and without His love we ache in loneliness and emptiness. He calls from deep space to our depths: “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7).

David put it this way, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8).

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Savior true,
No, I was found of Thee.
~George MacDonald

(Psalm 23: The Song of a Passionate Heart
Copyright © 1994 by David Roper
All rights reserved.)

Maybe as you enter this Easter season, the thought of God’s longing for you will arouse a deeper love (or awaken a love you have never had before) for Him.