Cultivating a Relationship with God

Leslie Basham: Nancy Leigh DeMoss knows that busy moms are always on the job.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: You just wish there was one little place in the whole world that you could get away from the crowd. You say, “I know, I’ll go in the bathroom.” Right? And then these little fingers come under the door, and they go, “Mommy!” (Laughter)

Leslie: In whatever season of life you’re in, you know how challenging it is to get away and spend time alone with God.

This is Revive Our Hearts with the author of A Place of Quiet Rest, Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy covers a lot of topics on Revive Our Hearts, but she often says that if she could only speak on one topic, it’s the one we’re about to hear. Nancy delivered this message at Moody Bible Institute, and I hope it invites you to greater intimacy with God in this new year.

Nancy: I want to talk about the priority of a devotional life and then a bit about the purpose of a devotional life, a few thoughts on the practice of a devotional life, and then just wrapping up with a thought about the product. What’s the outcome of a personal daily devotional life?

What I’m going to do (I’m just telling you in advance) is to ask you to make a commitment that, as God reminds you and enables you, that every day for the next 30 days that you will take some time each day to spend alone with the Lord in His Word and in prayer. So let me just tell you, that’s coming. But in order to lead us to that point, I want to talk about the priority of a daily devotional life.

I’ve been so thrilled to see how God has caused the messages thus far to dovetail and to lead up to what’s on my heart this morning. The priority of a devotional life is illustrated beautifully in the lives of three biblical characters that we’ve heard about already this week.

Monday night Dr. Nyquist talked to us about David, the man after God’s own heart because he was a seeker of God’s heart.

I’ve been memorizing this week and meditating in Psalm chapter 27 where David talks about all of his enemies, his foes, his stresses, his pressures, all that’s going on in his life, and then in verse 4 he says, “One thing have I asked of the LORD.”

You think about all the things David could have asked God for, all the things David could have desired for God to do for him, but he said, “There’s one thing, if I had to reduce it to its irreducible minimum; if I could only ask God for one thing.” What would it be, David? “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after”. . . that will I pursue, that will I be intentional about. What is it? “That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”

David says, “With all that’s going on around me, all the crises in my life—the crises in my government, the crises with the opposition, the political decisions that need to be made—the one thing that matters most to me is that I can live in the presence of God. I can look upon His beauty, gaze upon Him. I can live in His presence. I can look upon His beauty, and I can learn from Him every day of my life.” That’s the one thing, David, a man of one consuming passion that drove his life.

What’s your passion? What’s the one thing that you desire from God above all others? Would it be what David said in Psalm 27:4?

Last night Pastor Jobe took us to Exodus 33. I was actually thinking of speaking on this text, and I’m glad I listened in last night to hear that he took us in such a powerful way to that picture of Moses in Exodus 33, how Moses had that regular habit of leaving the camp, going out to the Tent of Meeting to meet with the Lord. We heard about the effect that had on Moses’ life.

Then yesterday morning Pastor Ford, speaking about Mary of Bethany, took us to John 12 where she gave that extravagant offering of worship to the Lord. He referenced that wonderful passage in Luke chapter 10 where Mary and Martha had Jesus over for dinner. Remember how Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His Word?

The priority of cultivating an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ by spending time in His presence, listening to His Word.

Now, the contrast in that passage—and you know the story—is the sister Martha, who, unlike Mary, as the Scripture tells us, is distracted with much serving.

Now, I just have to tell you, I far more often find myself in Martha’s shoes than in Mary’s—distracted with much serving. Busyness. Doing good things. Serving the Lord. Spending so much time in the work of the ministry that we don’t have time for the Lord of the ministry.

Ministry itself, tasks in the ministry can actually keep us from seeking God’s heart. Now, they don’t have to, but they can. So Jesus says to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). 

Think about your to-do list, your agenda, all the things on your list, and at the end of the day, you say, “Boy, I just didn’t even get to those things at all.”

“Martha, Martha, you are troubled and anxious about many things, but one thing is needful.”

David said, “One thing have I asked of the Lord.”

Jesus says to Martha, “One thing is absolutely necessary. If you don’t get anything else done on your to-do list today, will it be this one thing? One thing is needful.”

What is that thing? It’s what Mary has chosen—to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him, to commune with Him. He says, “Mary has chosen that good portion, [that one needful thing] which will not be taken away from her” (verses 41-42). This requires a conscious, deliberate choice.

I’ve found, and I’m sure you have, too, that if I just try and fit God into my day, He’s going to get crowded out. What I need to do is plant Him in the middle of my day, first in my day, core central in my day, and then let everything else fill its way in. “Mary has chosen that good part.”

Our churches and our ministries, so many of them, are filled with stressed-out servants, busy people who need to get to the feet of Jesus and sit and listen to His Word.

I’m so thankful for the example of this principle that I had in my life of a dad, Art DeMoss, whose first priority at the beginning of each day was to seek the Lord in that quiet time—call it devotions, quiet time, holy hour. I don’t really care what you call it. I do care that you get it.

My dad became a Christian in his mid-20s. He was not from a godly background. He had been a wild profligate rebel, and in his mid-20s the gospel of Christ was presented to him, and God rescued him from himself, brought him to Christ. It was a dramatic conversion, and his life was totally transformed . . . which is the way I think it’s supposed to be with all of us.

Then somebody challenged my dad in his first year as a Christian to begin giving to God the first hour of every day in the Word and in prayer. My dad took that challenge, and he kept that commitment every single day for the rest of his life until 28 years later when he went home to be with the Lord.

Now, he started a business later on, when we were little, and he was a very busy man. He traveled a lot. He had a lot going on in his life, but nothing to him was more important, nothing was more important than that time in the morning of seeking the Lord. He was a man of ritual, a man of habit. It wasn’t a legalistic thing for him. It was a delight, but he didn’t vary his routine much, if at all.

He had a little kneeling pad (I don’t know how many of those he wore out over the years) that he’d pull out from under his desk, and that’s where he would kneel. We kids knew that before we were up in the morning, our dad had been up on his knees praying for us and for many, many, many others who were on his prayer list—people who needed Christ; marriages that needed put back together.

We knew that he was going to be in this Book reading two chapters from the Old Testament, one chapter from the New, five chapters from the Psalms, and one from the Proverbs. That was his practice. That’s not “the right practice,” but it was one that kept him in the whole counsel of God, seeking God for wisdom every single day of his life.

No matter what was on the schedule, no matter how late he’d come in the night before . . . although I’ll tell you this: A devotional habit in the morning really begins the night before, and my dad was religious about getting to bed the night before.We’d laugh about how we’d have company at the house, and at 10 o’clock he would exit. No matter what was going on, he’d say, “You all turn out the lights and lock the door when you leave.” (Laughter) Because he had an appointment in the morning.

By the way, it’s also a reason that the whole time we were growing up we didn’t have a television in our home. Poor, deprived DeMoss kids. The biggest reason (there were other reasons) but the biggest reason was he didn’t want himself or us frittering away nighttime hours that would be keeping us from having a heart and a hunger and the alertness to get up and meet God in the morning.

Let me just say, by the way, to those of you who are parents: My parents made a lot of mistakes; they’d be the first to say that. But there’s something very powerful about your children knowing that you are meeting with the Lord at the start of every day to seek Him.

I have in my mind’s eye . . . My dad has now been with the Lord for more than 30 years. I never knew him as an adult. But when I get ready to hit my day running . . . I wish I could say I had the same record he did about the daily devotional life. I don’t have anywhere close to that. But when I get ready to hit my day running, to hit my email, to hit the tasks of the day, I have this indelible image imprinted on my heart of a dad who was up first thing in the morning to seek the Lord, and I’m so thankful for that example and that image.

Now, I want to take us today to another example of the priority of a devotional life, and none greater than the Lord Jesus Himself. So let me ask you if you’d turn in your Bible to the gospel of Mark, chapter 1.

David and Moses, we’ve looked at their examples, but both of those spiritual giants pointed to Christ—Christ the greater Moses; Christ the son of David, the greater David.

I want us to look at a day in the life of the Lord Jesus because there are a lot of us in this room today and listening on the radio or over the Internet who are thinking, “I just don’t have time in my day to do one more thing, and you’re just piling one more responsibility on me.”

If you’re going to be spiritual, let me just say, this is not a spiritual good-luck charm, like your day will go better if you have a devotional time. We’re talking about relationship here and how you cultivate relationship with the God of the universe.

For those of us who think we are so busy, I want us to look at this single day in the life of the Lord Jesus, who, by the way, when you think about a long to-do list . . . Think about the fact that Jesus was given three years to accomplish the eternal plan of redemption. Now somehow I don’t think my agenda is more important or more difficult or challenging or demanding than His, and I think my days are so full. But I want us to look at just a day in the life of the Lord Jesus, beginning in verse 21 of Mark 1.

They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes (verses 21-22).

Now some of you are involved in teaching the Word, ministering the Word. You teach a Sunday school class, you lead a small group in your Bible study, you’re involved in one-on-one discipleship, you’re imparting the Word of God to others. Hundreds of you here are students who are studying to do that, Lord willing, for the rest of your lives. Let me just say I know, as a woman who is teaching the Word to other women on a consistent basis, that it takes something out of you to do what Jesus did here.

You’re giving, and you’re not just giving on the spot. There’s the preparation. I’ve been laboring over this message since last March, April, or May, whenever it was that Ed Cannon called me and said, “Will you speak at Founder’s Week?” There’s always in your heart this kind of churning, this, “What does God want me to share?”

There’s this preparation; there’s time in the Word; there’s not only this preparing your notes, but there’s this preparing your heart and asking God to make your life consistent with what you’re about to pour out. There’s this giving out in the moment of giving out the Word, and then afterwards the ministering to people.

There’s this whole process there when you’re teaching the Word that involves being depleted, giving out to others, and Jesus knows about what that is like.

Verse 23:

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (verses 23-28). 

As you read the Scriptures, wherever Jesus went, Hell reared its ugly head. And by the power of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit on and in and through Jesus’ life, Hell was shattered wherever Jesus went.

You say, “Well, I’m not involved in exorcisms and all of that.” Well, according to my Bible, Ephesians chapter 6 and other passages, we’re all in a spiritual battle and Satan is alive and well, and there are enemy forces always seeking to undo, to stop the progress of the gospel in and through our lives.

Day after day we are involved in that warfare, in dependence upon the name of Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit, and that takes something out of you. This is not just like an ordinary, every day Sunday service. There’s stuff going on here. This is battle, and we are sent into battle.

Some of you who are parents, some of you moms, you say, “Yes, I don’t even have to leave my house, and there’s a battle going on. I’ve got all these little kids, and it’s just so tough.” Life is tough, and there’s an enemy who is always seeking to destroy and to defile. So there’s that giving out, that expenditure in the battle.

Then, verse 28:

And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

So all of a sudden Jesus is front page, headline news. Everybody’s talking about Him. Everybody wants Him to come to their event and speak. Everybody wants Him to sign their copy of His Book. Everybody wants a piece out of Him.

For those who think they’d like that kind of popularity and fame, chances are you’ve never had it, because it’s exhausting. People all the time wanting something from you.

You see that as you get into verse 29 and following:

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of [His good friend] Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

You think, “Whew!” Finally, a chance to let your hair down. You’ve had a long day of ministry; finally you get to relax at home, kick your feet up, pick up a copy of the newspaper or magazine, whatever, check your email . . . look what happens.

Verse 30:

Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.

There’s still someone with a need, and who are they going to look to? The one they know can meet the need, the Lord Jesus. So, as you would expect, in verse 31,

He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

“Whew! Now I can just let down.” Right? Look at the next verse:

That evening at sundown [same day] they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. [The crowd is knocking at the door.] And the whole city was gathered together at the door (verses 32-33).

Now, I don’t know how many people were in that city, but it sounds like a lot to me. Do you ever feel like the whole city is gathered at your door?

I mean, you’re an R.A. here on campus, and you’re trying to get your studies done and trying to seek the Lord and trying to do the ministry God’s called you to, and there’s always somebody knocking at your door. “I want help.” And it’s not just normal daytime hours. You can’t just say, “Okay, these are the hours you can have a crisis.” (Laughter) It’s the middle of the night.

Again, some of you are moms, and that’s who I’m usually ministering to. You moms know. You just wish there was like one little place in the whole world where you could get away from the crowd. You say, “I know, I’ll go in the bathroom.” Right? And then these little fingers come under the door, and they go, “Mommy!” You want to say, “My name’s not Mommy anymore. Go find another mommy.” (Laughter)

The whole city—there’s always someone with a need. If you haven’t experienced it yet, if you’re going to be in ministry, you will experience that, especially if God is using you. People are going to want help. People are needy. It’s a fallen, broken world, and the whole city is gathered at the door—same day. It’s not like Jesus is fresh and first thing in the morning. He’s been serving all day.

He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him (verse 34).

Now, as I read about this day, I think about my own days. My tendency in days like this is to get frenzied and frazzled and really tired of the crowds. I say, “How did Jesus do it? How did He keep His cool? How did He not start to resent these people?”

I’ll just be honest with you: There are times at the end of a long day or a long weekend of ministry when I just want all the people to go away. I’m basically an introvert. When you’re on the platform, people don’t usually think of you that way, but crowds drain me. There are times . . . I’m not proud of this; I’m not bragging about it. I’m just telling you, there are times when I can start to resent the very people the Lord sent me to serve.

Now nobody will come up and talk to me afterwards because you’re afraid I’ll resent you! (Laughter)

I look at Jesus, and I say, “How did He do it?”

You say, “He was God.”

Well, He was God, of course, but He was serving as a man to show us how we as humans filled with His grace and His Holy Spirit could serve like Him.

I think the very next verse, verse 35, gives us the key. Are you ready?

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark Jesus got up.

Now, there’s more, but let me just stop there for a moment. I can just tell you that after a day like Jesus just had, that full of giving out and spending and pouring out in ministry, there’s only one thing I want to do very early the next morning while it’s still dark, and that is spelled S-L-E-E-P. (Laughter) Keep those curtains down. I like breakfast. It’s my favorite meal of the day . . . if I can have it at 11. (Laughter)

But “very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus gets up,” and what does He do? He left the house and went off to a solitary place where He prayed—communion with His Heavenly Father.

Leslie: Nancy Leigh DeMoss has been giving a message called, Discovering the Joy of Daily Devotions. We’ll hear more tomorrow, but we did have to cut several minutes out of that message to fit our time slot on the radio.

To hear the entire message without interruption, just order the CD at ReviveOurHearts.com. Look for the series, Discovering the Joy of Daily Devotions.

Today’s program is possible thanks to listeners like Carol.

Carol: I am almost 64 years old, an avid listener of Christian radio.

Leslie: She’s part of an important group called the Ministry Partner team. She was motivated after listening to Nancy as a regular listener for a while.

Carol: I just felt that her ministry had so challenged me personally. You just want to be a part of that. When you’re blessed by a ministry, you need to help support the ministry rather than being a spectator only or a listener only, a participant. Of course, you feel that what you do is so miniscule compared to the need, but everyone can do something regardless of how small you feel it is. There’s just nothing else like it out there. It’s unique.

1 John 3

I really like this chapter. I just have to figure out how to blog about it.

So far this is what I picked up on today:

1. I really need to have more of a compassionate heart. Not be so stingy and give more without hesitation.

2. I need to trust God more. With full confidence. I have no reason not too.

3. I need to obey His commands fully.

1 John 1:5-10

1:5 "God is light" = God is the Revealer of His holiness. Both aspects of the divine nature figure in the discussion of sin and fellowship in 1 John 1:6-10. As Light, God both exposes man's sin and condemns it. If anyone walks in darkness he is hiding form the truth which the Light reveals.

1:6 - A Christian cannot truly claim communion with Him while living in darkness because He is Light. Christians sometimes feign (pretend to be affected by) spirituality while engaging in acts of disobedience.

1:7 - There can be only one sphere of real communion with God - the light itself. "with one another" isn't between other Christians, but between ourselves and God. If Christians live in the light where God is, there there is mutual fellowship between Himself and them. - The light is the fundamental reality which they share: True communion with God is living in the sphere where one's experience is illumined by the truth of what God is. It is ti love open to His revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. - This entails believers acknowledging whatever the light reveals is wrong in their lives.

- John talks about walking IN the light, not ACCORDING TO the light because that would rewuire sinless perfection and would make fellowship with God impossible. To walk IN it, however, suggests openness and responsiveness to the light.

- Believers who walk in the light 1) have fellowship with God and 2) are being cleansed from every sin. So long as there is true openness to the light, our failures are under the cleansing power of Christ's blood shed for us.

1:8 - The heart is full of depravity. The Truth may be "in" us as a controlling, motivating influence, but until heaven, this claim will always be false. We should always be ready and willing to confess whatever sins/failures that God's light exposes.

1:9 - "Our" is not in the Greek txt. Paraphrased, it should be more like "If we confess our sins, He will forgive the sins we confess and moreover will even cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
- Each Christian is responsible to acknowledge (the meaning of confess cf 2:23 and 4:3) whatever the light makes him aware of,and when he does so a complete and perfect cleansing is granted him.
- He is Faithful = forgiveness is assured.
- He is just = it does not go against His character.

Rethinking

I'm used to rewriting my commentary on here, but the past 3 days it's been the part I dread the most. I like reading it for info, but reposting it doesn't make too much sense and I think has taken the spirit out of the letter sotospeak.

I don't really know what to do now to be honest. I think I'll still read it, and still write anything I connect with, but for the most part, I want to focus on my RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.

That being said, in 1st John I'm on chapter 2 and it seems . . . . weird. I LOVE the beginning verse about Jesus interceeding for us. And the ones about not loving the world, but I don't really care for the rest.

I'm still fixated on what it means/would look like to "be in the light" like Jesus was. I want cummunion with God and I know if I love Him I have to keep His commands. My commentary also said a lot of it is confessing sin when the light exposses it. Which I did this morning. I know of one in paticular that I'm somewhat ashamed of at the moment but trying to make right. *Sigh*

I want to fall in love with Jesus. Knowing the background/history is cool and defnintely benifical, but I don't want that to be my goal. I want to talk with Him, walk with Him, sing to Him, enjoy being with Him. I want my life on earth to be as close as what it must have been like to be in the Garden as possible. - minus the fall of humanity that is ; )

There's such a hussle and bussle to our everyday lives. Right now it's school, working out, homework, dinner, chores, trying to spend time with Nate, tv shows, facebook. I don't want to exclude any of those, but I do want to invite Jesus into each of them. I'm still learning how our relationship works. I talk to Him a lot more and I'm not going to worry about talking to much (not listening) b/c I beleive I listen when I obey what I know He's telling me.

Anyway, 2nd john seems somewhat dry (Sorry God!:( ) beyond the verses I said I liked. We'll see if my heart/head will change on that.

1 John 1:1-4 (Day 11)

Prologue 1:1-4
John affirms the tangible reality of the incarnation of Christ and announced that the goals of this letter were fellowship and joy.

1:1 - Some think "That which was from the beginning" means more like Genesis timing, but from the rest of John's letter it would make more sense for it to mean from the beginning of the gospel: he was with God's Son and originally witnessed by the apostles who had direct contact with Him. 
- "concerning the Word of life" = "the message about Life" like Phil 2:16. Jesus is Life and this is a message about Him.

1:2 - The Life (Jesus) is intensely personal, He has appeared, He is the eternal life, and He was with the Father.

1:3 - This letter was written to Christians. Not people John was hoping to convert; They were already saved but they needed this letter if they were to enjoy real fellowship with the apostolic circle to which John belonged.
- If we doubt, as Christians, if we really have eternal life, it will jeprodize the fellowship we share with the Father and Son. Not our salvation - Once a believer has the give of life they can never loose it (John 4:4; 6:32; 37-40), but their fellowship depended on them walking in the light (1 John 1:7).
= My fellowship with Jesus, Spirit and Father depends on me walking in the light. I'm excited to see what the commentary has to say on verse 7 tomorrow, but I want to get it in my thinking right now: My fellowship depends on my walk. And I can't walk in the light without Jesus guiding my steps. It's like a weird paradox almost: I need to have fellowship with Jesus to be able to walk in the light, and if I'm not walking in the light it will weaken the fellowship I have with Him. Jesus, stay close to me, be near me. Help me to love You and grasp even deeper how great Your love is for me. 

1:4 - John so shared the heart of Christ for His people that their own joy was bound up in the spiritual well-being of those whom they ministered.

I pray that You give me this same heart. I do care about them, and would be upset if they turned from You but I want them to see my heart in the way I care for them. I want them to know that I'm trying to snatch them from the fire because I love them. I care about them. And I want them to know the Truth - to know You. 

Day 10 - 1 John it is!

Well, today I was going to overview Titus and write about what I got from the whole chapter. I didn't, but overall I think the basic message is: God's grace enables us to live godly lives and be good stewards of His reputation.

I wanted to write about my morning devotionals with Casey and Mom. I was so shocked and happy when I heard that they do devotionals I almost Eeped for joy! I was so worried about them not going to church that when I found out they were getting into the Word (even if it's only by Day Bread) I was SO happy.

Well, I feel like I'm getting a lot closer to You and that I'm better following Your will because of how things work out. For instance, I asked You yesterday to show me if I should be in 1 Peter or 1 John. I wanted both, but didn't know which to choose and thought I should ask You because You know better what I needed and what I should be prepared for. I told You that I didn't know how You were going to do it but that I was going to trust that You would

Well, during morning devotionals - the Scripture was 1 John. I think I got my answer.

Now, I don't expect answers to come when I want them, or be so clear all the time. I think though that when we're first trusting God fully He gives us a grace period to see what He can do. I'm praying for faith once answers seem harder and fewer between.

Thank You Jesus for my mom and Casey being in Your word, and also, thank You for showing me where You want me to go :)

Titus 3:12-15 (Day 9)

3:12-13 - Titus was supposed to see that Artemas, Tychcius, Zenas and Apollos, had everything the needed.
Servants of Christ who are called to travel from place to place have always received support from the churches (3 John 6-8).
This always kind of scares me because I've heard from multipule churches that the back bone of a lot of their finances comes from the older generation. Whom are likely to die soon. And the younger ones either are small in number, or don't pay tithe. I should probably start praying for this - hopefully I remember - I want to trust that God's got everything in control and it'll all work out but it just seems like satan is flurishing in our society right now and Christians aren't being Christ-like. I shutter to think about how much worse it's going to be once I have kids, but I try to remind myself that Brother Lawrence resolved that he was suprised things weren't worse "given the malice that sinners were capable of."


3:14 - It's important for Christians to be able to provide for at least the daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. Paul was stressing the need for good works, not to earn salvation but to serve others.
I have it in my mind that it is God's will for us to work to be able to provide for ourselves and our families. Nate is so great at getting up and going to work. Once summer starts, I'm looking to get a job and we'll see how that goes . . . 
but I think this verse brings out something that we all think is "a nice thing to do" but how many of us practice it outside of tithing, or maybe supporting a child in a far off country with a fixed amount of money each month. To quote Matthew West: "I throw a 20 in the plate but I never give till it hurts."
I love how Jesus met practical needs before preaching at people. What's that song? "They will know we are Christians by our love"? I think people see that we care about them when they can see it us loving them costs us something. It's not easy, or convieniet, and often "puts us out" - when looking at it from a natural perspective. But I think supernaturally, something happens when we love, and give, and care. Hearts soften and through that are able to receive what the Holy Spirit is trying to say. 
Which is all beautiful but I gotta tell ya - I'm STINGY!! O man, I hold on to my money and I like to build up my nest egg, not tear it apart twig by twig giving pieces to other people!! But it's not my money. And I have to wonder how big of a nest egg Nate and I can have before we're trusting in money and we have miss an assignment to give. 


Jesus, open my hands and free money from the death grip I've placed around it. Help Nathan and I to serve one Master, trusting in You alone. Jesus, when there is an oppurtinity, help Nathan and I to be in accord with it and may our hearts be cheerful when giving. Help me to see the blessing in it and desire from a genuine love to help others. Sometimes that's not in money, but with simple, kind, thoughtful gestures. Whatever it takes, help me to give of myself. Pour out myself like You did, so that I may be refilled by Your Holy Spirit. Amen.





3:15 - the "you" is plural and is meant in a broader sense, not just Titus.

Titius 3:9-11 (Day 8)

3:9 - If sound teaching is profitable for everyone, foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the Law . . . are unprofitable and useless. This is a repeated theme in the Pastorals - Titus was to avoid (lit. "Turn away from") such things.
I'm going to have to remember verse 9 when I want to get all up in someone's grill and tell them what's what ; ) Seriously though, I've done this SO MANY TIMES. I couldn't even count. Sunday school was so boring for me I would love to argue with the teacher -- which wasn't hard, the man's idea of how to live out proper theology was warped-- Jesus help me to to "Turn away from" such things.

3:10-11 - The people who advocate for these useless things and thereby exerting a dividing and destroying influence over the church, Paul's instructions were direct and specific. He was to give them two warnings and if that didn't work, he was to have nothing to do with them.
-Paul's thought here is similar to the Lord's instructions when He taught that after giving and offender 3 changes to repent he is then to be cut off.

• Matt 18:15-17  - When a brother sins against a brother - the two of them should discuss the matter in private (Unless you know you clearly did something wrong, it's the person who's been OFFENDED that supposed to bring it to your attention. Don't stress out over mind games - if they have a problem, they need to let you know.) Then bring in 2-3 witnesses for a clear testimony. If that doesn't work, the situation should be brought before THE ENTIRE CHURCH. If he still refuses to acknowledge his sin, he is to be treated as an outsider.
• 2 Thes. 3:14-15 - Special treatment for the idle  . . . the faithful where not to have social contact with them until they repented. This would make the offender feel ashamed so that he would repent. The goal is repentance, not division. However, he is to be treated as a brother, not any enemy. It's not about cutting off all contact, it's about stopping social conduct and connections. It's important to not view this person as an antagonist against yourself and the church, but to wait patiently to admonish him to forsake the error of his ways.

Jesus, also help me deal with people in the best possible way. Help me to make Your standards better and see what the best way to go about this is. What I should I do in the case of (___)? Gosh, it seems so mean, help me to see it from Your point of view. Help me to listen for the Spirit and follow the Scriptures. *Sigh* I don't like this part . . . 

Titus 3:3-8 (Day 7)

3:3 - Paul never forgot the sinful condition from which he and his converts had been salvaged. Foolish, not sensible. Disobedient, instead of submissive. Deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures instead of self-disciplined and ready for every good work. Far from being peaceable, considerate and humble they were characterized by malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 

I made part of that verse pink because I'm going to try to quote it to myself when I would rather sleep than spend time in the Word before heading of to School. It's not that I can't spend time with God at any other point in the day - cause I'm hoping to enjoy and glorify Him all throughout the day - but without the transforming power of the Word of God I don't think I can live the way He wants me to that day. I think I'll miss the mark.

Secondly, I felt God wasn't pleased with the way I had been talking about someone (slander) so I called up the two people whom I had talked to and asked for forgiveness and tried to do it in a way that they might hold me accountable in the future. I feel like the "malice, envy, being hated and hating" part can really fall in line with girls of my peer group. It is so hard to not look at what they have and compare myself to it and become envious or hateful. I'm learning to depend on Jesus to help me be considerate and humble putting them above myself. Yes, even in my social work classes - peaceable. 

• 1 Cor 6:9-11:  ⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
• Eph 4:17-24: ¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. ²⁰ You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. ²¹ Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds;²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Col 3:5-7: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[a] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Such is the brutish existence of a people apart from God. No matter how they appear to be.
 I liked these verses and wanted to show case them because I think they put things into perspective. The Orange is part of our responsibility: We have to, must, insist on being done with what's involved with sin, what God hates. And the Green shows how it's by Christ that that can all happen. We "put on the new self" when we are renewed in the knowledge of our Creator - aka enlightened by the Holy Spirit as we read the Word. 


3:4 - All of that changed when the kindness and love ("philanthropia" lit. "love for  man") of God our Savior appeared. The contrast is startling: in verse 3, man is the actor. In verses 4-7 man is merely the recipient, and God becomes the actor. What man could not do for himself, God initiated for him.


3:5 - God in His grace saves those who do not believe, not because of any righteousness in them but because of His mercy. 

• The three words "kindness" "love" and "mercy" all represent aspects of God's grace. 
• The Dual means through which He accomplished this salvation are 1) the rebirth spoken of as a washing from the filth of sin and 2) the renewal by the Holy Spirit - the Agent of Regeneration (cf 2 Cor 5:17). - a change in our attitudes and actions.
• No mention of the role of faith because Paul's focus was on what God had done, not human response.

3:6 - God poured out the Holy Spirit on the world generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus was the Mediator of the Spirit. The language intensionally conjures up images of the day of Pentecost.


3:7 - God's purpose in pouring out the Holy Spirit was so that, having been justified by His grace, believers might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. - The ministry of the Holy Spirit is intimately involved with bring to fruition God's gracious purposes to save. What God in His grace began, God in His grace will see to the end, through His Spirit. 


3:8 - Titus need to stress these things in order to promote godly behavior in his listeners. - Paul was deeply concerned that God's people devote themselves to doing what is good because these things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Titus was to promote good works for they go hand in hand with sound doctrine. 


     Dear Jesus, I ask that you change me through rebirth by washing a way the filth of sin and the patterns it has placed on my life and that You renew me by the Holy Spirit and the reading of Your Word - changing my heart, attitude, and actions. Help me to depend on You for help when the Holy Spirit convicts my heart. We can do this, we're a team :) God I want to thank You for Your plan. For Your gracious view toward us. Thank You for loving us and wanting us to be with You. Jesus, thank You for giving up everything to hold me :) And that I might share what You earned. Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father, STRESS these things in my heart and mind that I may devote myself to doing what is good which is excellent and profitable for everyone and that I may be a good steward of my Master's reputation. And help me to wake up once school starts. Amen.

Start Your Day with God

Leslie Basham: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Tuesday, June 8. How do you spend the first part of your day?

(Alarm ringing) 'Aahhh...just five more minutes?'

Nancy's Dad taught her something really important about the first moments of the day. We'll hear about it as she continues in a series called, "Instruction of a Father."

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: 

Now my Dad was, Take God seriously, that Christ is our life. He is not a part of our life. He is life itself.

Ecclesiastes 8:12b says, "It will be well with those who fear God." Fear God--that's the bottom line. He is the one who spoke the universe into being with the power of His word and who holds this universe together with the word of His power. So, how foolish of us to keep God at the fringe of our lives rather than where He rightly belongs, that is at the core.

Now, let me add a second one here and if you've listened to Revive Our Hearts for any length of time, you've heard me say this multiple times before and you will hear me say it multiple times again.

And that is Start your day with God. Start your day with God. It's no secret that the place I learned that was, as a little girl growing up in the DeMoss home, where that was the way of life--where my Dad emphasized, mostly by his example, the importance, the necessity of a daily quiet time.

Now this isn't the substitute for the fact that we walk with God throughout the day, but we need time each day set apart to be in the Word, listening to God, and then responding to Him in prayer and praise.

This is what gives wisdom, perspective, direction for all the rest of life. I watch so many women today, women my age, older, and younger, who are living these frustrated, frazzled, frenzied lives which I fall into myself all too often and I believe more often than not a core reason is because we haven't stopped to center our lives on Christ.

So people say, "I don't have time to read my Bible. I don't have time to have a quiet hour or a holy hour with the Lord." Listen, choose your priorities for your life and then build your life around those priorities.

I would say this especially to you younger women, I'm talking to all of us, but especially you women who are developing habits now early in your life, start those habits now. I'll tell you this, "It will never be easier than it is now."

You may be a student thinking, I've got 8:00 o'clock classes every morning; there's no way I can start my day with the Lord! When I get through these exams, when I get through this degree...

Listen, when you get through that degree, you're going to have a j-o-b, hopefully or you're going to be married, you're going to have a husband and then you're going to have children and you'll never have an uninterrupted five minutes for the next ten or more years of your life.

You'll say, "Boy, life was so simple when I was a student, if I could just go back I could order my days around biblical and godly priorities."

I want to tell you, every season of life, no matter how old or young you are, there will be something that will conspire to keep you from having a daily devotional life.

I wrestle with this almost every day of my life. Now, that may surprise you and some of you may think, She teaches the Bible every day, this is easy for her! I'm telling you, I get in my quiet time chair and all of a sudden I'm thinking of fifty-seven things I have to do. I get a new burden for housecleaning. I mean, it's incredible what things come to my mind when I set apart that time to meet with the Lord. It's hard because Satan knows that if he can get me distracted and derailed there, he's going to throw my day and my life off kilter.

There are so many passages in the scripture that talk about the importance of seeking God early. 

• "My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning I will direct it to you." (Psalm 5:3).
• Psalm 143:8a, "Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning."
• Isaiah 50:4b, "The sovereign Lord wakens Me morning by morning, He wakens my ear to listen like one being taught."
• Then Proverbs 8 talks about it and wisdom is actually speaking and she says, "Now listen to me. Blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and do not neglect it."
• Then wisdom says, "Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates." (Prov. 8:32-34a) How often? "Every day, waiting beside my doors."
• Joshua 1, Psalm 1--verses that tell us that if we meditate on the law of the Lord day and night that we will be successful in everything that we do.
• Then James tells us that we need to receive with meekness the implanted Word, not just reading the Word, but having a humble heart as we read it, receiving it because it's able to save our souls, it's able to sanctify us. James goes on to say, "So don't just be hearers of the Word, don't just listen, do what it says" [James 1:2 paraphrased]. Receive with meekness, submit yourself to the authority of the Word of God.

My Dad had a high view of Scripture and it was symbolized by the fact that he would never put anything on top of his Bible. Now, it wasn't that he worshiped the piece of leather here and the paper and ink, but he reverenced the Word of God.

I've made this a habit in my own life just symbolically because I want to demonstrate to myself and to others that the Word of God is supreme. I don't put other books on top of the Bible. I try not to put papers and things on top of the Bible; I want the Bible on top of everything else in my life but not only physically.

I want to listen to it and I want to challenge you to listen to the Word. When you do, whether it's in public reading of the Scripture from the pulpit or you're reading it privately, listen carefully.

I love the fact that in the church I attend we stand for the reading of the Word of God. Reverence the Word of God. Submit to it in your heart. Don't sit in judgment of the Word. Let it sit in judgment of you.

And let it be the authority in your life, in every area of your life whether it's your work habits, your sleep habits, your eating habits, your marriage, your parenting, your dealing with struggles and issues in your life, sinful bondages, how you deal with people, how you deal with money, how you deal with time.

Let the Word of God be that which gives you direction and wisdom and then take the direction and wisdom that it gives. Let the Word of God mold you and shape you and convict you and change you. We are sanctified by the truth. Jesus said in John 17:17b, "Your word is truth."

As you start your day with God and then continue your day, meditating on the Word of God, making it a part of the warp and woof of your life, you will have blessing, you will have success, you will find wisdom, you will gain intimacy with God.

And you will discover and experience through all of your life, the purpose for which God created you. And you'll be able to fulfill that purpose because you've been filled with the Word of God.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Let me encourage you even in this moment not to just be a hearer of the Word but to be a doer. I wonder how many of you would say honestly, "The Word isn't a central habit in my life. I don't have a consistent time of being in the Word, reading, studying, meditating."

Can I say, "It's not too late to start? Start today. Start tomorrow morning. But make a determination in your heart that you will order your life around the priority of God's Word; the number one thing in your life will be getting to know God."

We can't do that without steady, consistent, faithful, regular intake of God's Word into your mind and your heart and your life.

Father, I pray that there would be many, many women listening today who would make that commitment and would say, "Starting today, starting tomorrow, I want to start my day with God. I'll reorder other things in my life. I'll make them fit around my relationship with God rather than trying to squeeze my relationship with God into an already overcrowded schedule." So Lord, make it so, may it be so I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Titus 2:15-3:2 (Day 6)

Titus 2:15-3:2 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

 ¹⁵ These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

Titus 3

Doing What Is Good

 ¹ Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ² to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

The Gracious behavior that results from Grace

2:15 - Like Timothy, Titus was told to step out aggressively in his public ministry, encouraging those who were doing well, rebuking those who needed to be corrected, being intimidated by no one.

I struggle with this a lot. Even thinking about Paul preaching in Acts. What's the right balance? Can I preach boldly like that? Do I have the proper authority? I don't know. I don't think so because there's so many areas I still need to change in. I think I'll focus on letting my life do the talking but pray that when there is a time for it, God will give me the right words to say (Matt 10:19).

3:1-2 - A large part of any pastor's ministry is reminding the people of what they already know (Phil 3:1).

• Titus was to remind Christians in Crete to be good citizens within their communities - a virtue in which Cretans were notoriously deficient. 
• This behavior will adorn the gospel and make it attractive to others. 

This falls inline with what Paul wrote earlier in not wanting younger women to malign the Word of God. I think we as Christians must very much underestimate how our example could lead people to Christ and could drive them away forever. This was a big deal to Paul, and it's an even bigger one with God. I don't want to be the cause of anyone not wanting to be a Christian. Jesus, please help me to see the seriousness of this. Help me to change and live my life is such a way that I make Your story attractive.

What's Expected of Christian Citizens

1. To be subject to rulers and authorities
2. To be obedient
3. To be reading to do whatever is good
4. To slander no one
5. To be peaceable
6. Considerate
7. and to show true humility toward all men

• A Christian citizen should be an influence for good in the community in every way, demonstrating the loveliness of Christ to all through courteous and gracious behavior. 
• This is precisely the lifestyle that results from understanding God's grace. ie. the instructions in Titus 2:15-3:2 must be seen as concrete examples of the behavior required of one who understands God's grace. 

Ready to do whatever is good - slander no one - peaceable - considerate - showing true humility toward all men. Let me just say that I struggle greatly with these. I want to demonstrate the loveliness of Christ, through courteous and gracious behavior. Jesus, help me to understand Your grace so that this is more of an outflowing of Your Spirit than me have to strive to live up to them. I think I struggle with this the most in my Social Work classes. A lot of their beliefs are so far from mine and it seems like the best way to handle it is to be big and bad so people hear your voice and know you're serious. That way they know they can't walk all over you if you have a different opinion. Jesus, help me to show these things in my social work classes. I think I'll write this verse on the inside of my journal and read it before each class. I pray that You'll work in me and help me to truly make You look attractive in my thoughts, opinions and actions. I want You to be what they see and that's not going to happen if I'm acting, talking and looking like the rest of the world. Jesus, thank You for Your Word. I pray that it continues to change me and that I continue to make it a priority once school starts next week. Thank You, God. Amen.

Titus 2:11-14 (Day 5)

Titus 2:11-14 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

 ¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

The Educating Power of Grace


2:11- "For" (gar) suggests that here is the theological foundation for what the apostle had just written. When fully understood, it is the grace of God that teaches men how to live. "Brought to all men" = His grace is universally applicable. 


2:12 - The message of God's grace, when its full implications are seen, leads Christians, negatively, to say "No" to ungodliness and worldy passions (cf Heb 11:24-26), and positively, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. -- All the specific instructions of Titus 2:1-10 can fit into these two negative and positive categories. --
-Faith chooses between the attractive but temporary pleasures of sing and the prospect of disgrace for the sake of Christ because, like Moses, it sees the reward (Heb 11:24-26 Comm.)
I feel like this definitely falls in line with the "reverent lives" older women are supposed to live and how when younger women live as they ought, no one can "malign the Word of God" because they have been good stewards of His reputation. 
Our love for Him should drive us to want to know more about Him, to get closer to Him. This happens by reading His Word because not only is the Word - Jesus. But also because His Son is the primary way God has chosen to speak to us today (Hebrews 1:2). The Word will renew our minds and transform our hearts. By reading Him and being enlighted by the Holy Spirit, our hearts soften because of Him and our ears are more atuned to hear His voice. Then, when the Holy Spirit convicts us, we can say "No to ungodliness and wordly passioins" and in turn become more like Christ, taking more and more power away from the Enemy. 


2:13-14 - The gospel of grace affects one's present behavior, on the one hand, by focusing on God's unmerited favor in the past (Matt 18:23-35 for how this should work). But the Gospel also promotes godly living by focusing on the future. Christians look forward to the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God ad Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Tim 4:8). 

• It is crucial, moreover, that this One whom Christians look forward to meeting is the same One who gave Himself to redeem us ("set free by payment of a price") us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. A holy people was His purpose for the cross.
• Therefore knowing all that Christ has done and why He did it, Christians who truly love Christ and look forward to His return will pay any price to bring their lives into conformity with their beloved Lord's will, so He's not disappointed when He returns. 
• John wrote of this saying "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). A full understanding of these things leads inexorably to godly living. Conversely, ungodly living in a Christian is a clear sign that either he does not fully understand these things or does not actually believe them. 

     O Lord my God, please reveal to me the gospel of Your grace. There is so much that I don't understand and can't wrap my head around. Jesus, help me to obey as You teach me how to say "no" to the things of this world, that are contrary to You and Who You are. Help me to live a godly, upright, holy life so You can make me the Morgan You dreamed of. So I can be long to that holy people You desire to make Your own, fully Yours, eager to do what is good in Your eyes. Help me, Lord. I need You so much. Amen.