“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

— John 3:17

Unfortunately, throughout the ages, the devil has distorted Christianity so much that the Gospel has often been obscured. Sometimes even churchgoers don’t have a clue what real Christianity is all about.

Sometimes, the “Christianity” being attacked by our culture today is such a false, twisted caricature that it bears little resemblance to the true faith. Indeed it ought to be attacked.

Recently, a lesbian who claimed to be a Christian came “out of the closet,” declaring war on historic Christianity—the religion of the cross. It turns out that as a child she had been placed naked on a cross by an adult for some twisted, religious reason. Today she resents and rejects the cross of Christ as the means of salvation.

Woe to the person who did this terrible misdeed for it has caused her to reject a “straw man” of Christianity, not the real thing. But God’s timeless truths about the salvation He offers us in Christ are not made null by the sins of professing Christians. Even if the entire official Church were to become apostate, that would not nullify the Gospel.

The true Gospel is a beautiful message. It is good news. But to understand the good news, we must come to grips with the bad news. We are all sinners before a holy God, who will not accept us as we are “…‘til on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied,” as the hymn “In Christ Alone” notes. That is good news.

Lord, give me strength for today to proclaim Your pure and simple Gospel. Thank You for preserving the true faith through centuries of wrong. Thank You for keeping and preserving me…

BY HIS STRENGTH, OUR
FAITH CAN BE PRESERVED.

“The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slothful will be put to forced labor.”

— Proverbs 12:24

The Scriptures teach that we should be diligent in all areas of our lives. You know we say that it’s wonderful that certain people have certain gifts and they can play, they can sing, or they can paint or do whatever it is. Yet it is because these people have been diligent, whereas we have been slothful. While we have been just lazy and relaxing, they were applying themselves to improve the talents and gifts that God has given them.

Isn’t it wonderful there are some people who are tremendously effective soul winners in personal evangelism? Well, they have been working at it. Isn’t it great that there are people who are great apologists for Christ and can take on the skeptic and deal with him at his level? But it just didn’t happen that way.

The same is true in the spiritual world. I am sure that it would impugn the very character of the kingdom of God to suppose that the tender plant of God’s grace can flourish in the garden of a sluggard. God calls us to diligence. May we be so in our study of the Word of God, in our prayer, in our determination to try to improve in the various qualities and characteristics of our lives.

We should pray He blesses us with more diligence. In all things it is by His grace. But in all of these things by His grace He gives us certain abilities and certain gifts and then He expects us to exercise them diligently.

Lord, give me strength for today to be more diligent in life, using my gifts and talents for Your honor and glory. I ask Your forgiveness for any laziness on my part…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN USE OUR
GIFTS AND DEVELOP OUR TALENTS.

“…for you have been born again, not from perishable seed, but imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

— 1 Peter 1:23

Jesus can change anyone. Malcolm Muggeridge of England was a witty journalist and the editor of the English satirical magazine, Punch. He became a convinced socialist during the days of Stalin. In the words of author Lloyd Billingsley, Muggeridge felt that the USSR “had a future, whereas Britain and the West had only a past.” He became the Moscow correspondent for the liberal British newspaper, Manchester Guardian. Before leaving for the “worker’s paradise,” he and his wife “cheerfully burned their bridges” destroying diplomas and their marriage certificate and other vestiges of bourgeois society, as they embraced Communism. But when they arrived in “Utopia,” they were disillusioned. Eventually he realized that man cannot bring utopia on earth, Muggeridge became a Christian and used his writing skills to bring glory to Christ.

Through the years, I’ve seen thousands of people come to Christ. All of them have a story to tell in one way or another. Some stories are more dramatic than others, but as long as they truly come to Christ, they are on their way to heaven. I think of a man whose whole family rejoiced when he was converted. His daughter told my wife: “I’ve got a new daddy. And I like him better than the old one.”

Of course, among the finest testimonies are those of individuals who grow up in a Christian home and love and serve the Lord faithfully all their lives, without ever going on the path of the prodigal son. It doesn’t matter how you come to Christ—what matters is that you come to Christ.

Lord, give me strength for today to walk with You in the new life You bring. Thank You, Jesus, that You make all things new and have changed our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN
EXPERIENCE THE NEW BIRTH.

“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. Which, having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”

— Proverbs 6:6-8

John Wesley had a saying: You should make all the money you can, save all the money you can, and give all the money you can.

As a Christian leader, Wesley was referring to making money in ways that please God. Any money-making venture that steals from others displeases the Lord. We do well to earn as much as we can, especially during our productive years. The Scriptures also encourage us to save for a rainy day. We cannot presume upon tomorrow.

As to giving all we can, I must say that my ministry has been significantly blessed by some productive, wealthy Christians who invested in the kingdom.

It is certainly a fact that there are those who have been extraordinarily industrious and creative in the making of wealth and the building of businesses and great enterprises, and God has blessed them abundantly. God has used such men as this in an incredible way in the work of the kingdom of God.

We need to see money in its proper perspective. I think when we see money for what it is, simply an opportunity to do good for the kingdom of God, then we can see it in an entirely different perspective. May God grant each one of us such diligence in the affairs of this life that we may be able to do just that.

Make all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

Lord, give me strength for today to do my part in bringing in income, to save for a rainy day, and to generously bless those around me in need. Thank You for all the opportunities You provide for us, even in unexpected ways…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN VIEW
MONEY AS A MEANS, NOT AN END.

“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish as a branch.”

— Proverbs 11:28

While the book of Proverbs encourages diligence and honestly earning wealth, it also has some warnings against putting one’s hope in untrustworthy riches.

First of all, it says that it is always insecure. If a man places his dependence on wealth, it will in due time fail him, and only in his imagination is it a sure defense. Proverbs 23:5 says, “Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”

The Bible says also that if it is obtained in any other way than by honest labor it is useless, even worse than useless. So if it is obtained by falsehood, by tricks, by misrepresentations in business, for example, it is likely to be, according to the Bible, as a vapor driven to and fro. Wealth obtained that way will never rest until finally it makes its way into the hands of the righteous.

The Bible also says that there are certain spiritual and moral dangers in the pursuit of wealth and that one needs to pursue it with caution. Paul says the love of money is the root of all evil, and those that would hasten to be rich are going to indeed fall into a snare. And if that seeking of riches involves any deviation from the uprightness which God requires of us, then it is worse than death. Better is a little with righteousness than great treasure without it.

Lord, give me strength for today to see through the deceitfulness of wealth. Please purge away any money-love in my heart. Help me to work diligently and wisely for that which You provide…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN TRUST
IN HIM, NOT OUR BANK ACCOUNT.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.”

— Proverbs 29:2

The United States’ Constitution was signed September 17, “in the year of our Lord,” 1787. Today, we are often led to believe that it was a product of secularism. But that is not true.

Before the founding fathers ever sat down to write a Constitution, they had behind them more than 150 years or so of constitution-making of sorts by various Christian settlers of this country. The Mayflower Compact of 1620 was the first such example. The Pilgrims put on paper a political charter based on the biblical concept of covenant. This was the first of about 100 or so charters, compacts, frames of government, paving the way to the Constitution. In 1639, a Puritan colony produced the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which mentions the importance of “the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.” That document was inspired by a sermon and was a key step on the way to the U.S. Constitution. That is why Connecticut prides itself as being “the constitution state.”

A study of the 55 founders who met in Philadelphia in 1787 and produced what has been called “the miracle in Philadelphia” found that at least 52 of them were men in good standing with Trinitarian churches. These were not secular men, but Christians. While John Adams was not present during the proceedings, he nonetheless played a pivotal role in the nation’s founding. He said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Pray for America to get back on the right track.

Oh, Lord, help us to live our lives pleasing to You, so that we, too, may influence the people around us and build something strong and lasting in Your name…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN HELP
RETURN THIS NATION TO HIM.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

— Genesis 1:1

If we get the subject of origins (creation-evolution) wrong, what else do we miss? Nonetheless, the assumption of so many today is that science has somehow disproved God. Consider the testimony of the late Dr. Dick Lumsden, biology professor and former dean of Tulane Graduate School.

Dr. Lumsden dogmatically taught evolution to his classes until one day a student politely asked him a number of pointed questions. She asked him questions such as: “How does evolution fit with the fundamentals of information theory?” “Aren’t the odds of random assembly of genes mathematically impossible?” “Last month you showed us how mutations were genetic disasters. How, vis-à-vis natural selection, could they randomly produce new and better structures, improved species?” “Where exactly, in the fossil record—is the evidence for progressive evolution, the transitional forms between major groups?”

Initially Lumsden dogmatically defended evolution, trying his best to answer her questions. But after an honest evaluation of the issue, he concluded that evolution was scientifically bankrupt: “I realized that the origin and diversification of life by evolution was a mathematical, physical, and biochemical impossibility, that the evidence for it was at best circumstantial, and a lot of what we really knew about biology was outright contradictory to the hypothesis.” Dr. Lumsden became a reluctant creationist first and later a Christian. For those willing to look at the evidence, creation is the better explanation of origins.

The opening sentence of the Bible says it all. And if God did that, then can He not do the rest?

Lord, give me strength for today to be a witness for You. We praise You that all of creation shouts out, pointing to Your creative power. We praise You that You can transform even a skeptical college professor…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN RECOGNIZE
WHAT HIS HANDS HAVE MADE.

“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Look! I am making all things new.’”

— Revelation 21:5

In the 19th century, in Britain, there was a skeptic who said to a converted drunkard, “Surely you don’t believe those Bible miracles, such as Christ turning water into wine.” The ex-drunkard replied, “If you think that’s a miracle, come to my home and I’ll show you how Christ changed beer into carpets, chairs and even a piano.” Christ had come to dwell in the heart of that converted drunkard and had transformed his inward life and his outward circumstances as well. From His time to the present, Jesus Christ has been active in the supernatural work of transforming human hearts.

In the Gospels alone, we see a few examples of lives changed by Jesus:

• Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons (Luke 8:2), was privileged to be the first to see Jesus after He had been raised from the dead.
• The greedy Zaccheus, who gave away half of his income after meeting Jesus, had formerly been involved in a dubious but lucrative position, which he forsook for the sake of following Christ.
• Simon Peter, an impulsive man who often acted before he thought—was changed into a powerful Christian leader and the Lord used him despite his impetuous nature.
• Two brothers, John and James, known as “sons of thunder,” presumably because of their explosive tempers became loving disciples. So too, we become new creatures in Christ, who makes all things new.

Lord, give me strength for today to live fully committed to You. Thank You for the change You have made in my life. Help me to give You all the praise and glory for making all things new, including me…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN
EXPERIENCE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.

“Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in idleness and not according to the tradition that he received from us.”

— 2 Thessalonians 3:6

After trillions and trillions of dollars in wealth transfers, was the result that there is not a single poor person left in this country? Would that that were so! The result was that millions of people who could work are no longer working. Millions of Americans are receiving food stamps.

Americans and Christians need to realize that there is no morality in the government’s coming with a gun and taking money from you and giving it to the poor. I am amazed at how many people speak about these things as if there were a moral and spiritual matter involved. Does anyone attempt to justify Robin Hood on spiritual and moral grounds?

God wants people who are willing to voluntarily give of their money to help the needy and not people who have it taken away at the point of a gun. But if you don’t think it is taken away at the point of a gun, just try and not give it, and you will find very quickly that you will end up in jail.

We have a very perverted sense in this country today, and I believe that it is going to result in the emasculation of the American civilization. I think we as Christians all too often have been more than willing to take anything we can get out of the government, and we have had our own complicity in this whole thing. It is destroying the moral fiber of the American people.

Lord, give me strength for today to provide for my family. Forgive me for ever being “generous” with other people’s money. Help us to be genuinely concerned about and generous toward the poor and the down and out…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN BE PART
OF THE SOLUTION, NOT THE PROBLEM.

“…This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is the Sabbath, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake that which you will bake today, and boil that which you will boil, and all that which remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’”

— Exodus 16:23

In the days of Moses, when His people were wandering in the wilderness, God provided for them daily bread in the form of manna. On the day before the Sabbath, however, they were to gather enough for two days. Then next day, on the Sabbath day, there was none on the ground. If the manna was left overnight on any of the other days, it would have worms and stink, but on that seventh day it would not corrupt or gather worms, and it would be good the next day.

How amazing God is! This reminds us of the fact that if we will remember His Sabbath, God will provide for us. Working on the Sabbath is something to avoid if at all possible. I think of one man who told me years ago that he had to work on the Lord’s Day to gather up money for some unusual expenses. I knew at the time that would not work out, and, lo and behold, the day came when he lost his primary job and had a severe financial setback. I believe that if he had obeyed God that would not have happened to him.

Jesus taught us that the Sabbath was made for our good. Indeed we do better when we rest for a day. The Sabbath day is a “day of sacred assembly,” according to Leviticus 23:3 (NIV). As much as is possible, we should set aside the Lord’s day for worship and for rest.

Lord, give me strength for today to rest on Your day, to gather with Your people and worship You in Spirit and in truth. Thank You for the gift of a day off, the gift of Your re-creation in our lives…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN HONOR
THE SABBATH AND BE REFRESHED.