“…And the Gospel must first be preached to all nations.”

— Mark 13:10

Christopher Columbus used to be a hero. Today, he is politically incorrect and unjustly blamed for many of the bad things done in the wake of his historic voyage.

His name, Christopher, means “Christ-bearer.” Pherein, the second part of his name, means “to bear”—the one who bears Christ. Interestingly, the pilot of the Niña, one of the three ships made famous by Columbus, drew a map of the known world. At the top of the map is a drawing of St. Christopher carrying the Christ child across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, and the features of St. Christopher are unmistakably the features of Christopher Columbus, who, his son tells us, was a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair turned white at the age of thirty. He was a gentle man who hated swearing and blasphemy and tried to live a godly life.

The word “Columbus,” coming from the Italian colon, means “a member.” Christopher Columbus liked to say he was a member of the body of Christ and would carry Christ to the New World. He himself said, “I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy and they have covered me completely…No one should fear to undertake any task in the Name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.” Opening the New World for the rest of the earth to come and begin to Christianize was no small task.

Lord of the Universe, we thank You for the bravery and great daring of Christopher Columbus. We ask for Your grace to do what You call us to, whether great or small…

LORD, GIVE ME STRENGTH FOR TODAY
TO SAIL UNKNOWN SEAS.

“Do not abandon me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me.”

— Psalm 38:21

Unanswered prayers—the bane of every Christian’s life—is the distressing problem of the children of God down through the centuries. It is, in fact, the cause of spiritual retrogression.

It is because of unanswered prayers, perhaps more than any other reason, that Christians pray less, and when they pray less, their lives are less changed by God and their prayers are consequently less answered. The result is that having begun their spiritual career with great joy as they spend time with the Savior, over the years, things changed.

Many Christians have discovered that their prayers have become tedious. They have often felt that their prayers have not risen any higher than the ceiling. Their lives seem to be unaffected by their prayers—not only their lives personally, but the circumstances in which they live. God’s timing is not ours. Our prayers are heard, and God will answer. Often it is a matter of surrendering our will to His. Sometimes we might not be praying according to His will.

There is one prayer that God will always answer, “Thy will be done.” When we ask for God’s will to be done in our lives, He will do it. We often find great, positive changes in our lives when we submit to God in prayer. God delights in answering our prayers. Don’t let your prayer life become a tedious listing off of rote items. Instead, recognize it for what it is—communing with the Almighty Creator of the Universe.

O Lord, You who answer the cry of the heart of Your children, You see the longtime prayers that we have laid before You over and over. Give us strength for today to persist in prayer, to be faithful in our prayers, even if the fulfillment takes place after we’re gone…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
PRAY “THY WILL BE DONE.”

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

— 2 Chronicles 7:14

Every once in a while a national tragedy takes place. For a short time, it jolts many people into returning to church or looking to God for help. Then fairly soon after, many go back to business as usual.

It is tragic that such horrible things as what took place in Columbine would be necessary to awaken an apathetic people to the need for this country to return to God. Solzhenitsyn, the great author and intellectual of the Soviet Union, said that when he was but a young man, he heard an old peasant farmer speaking to a friend, summing up the whole situation in the Soviet Union in a very simple, single sentence. He said: “We have forgotten God and we have destroyed ourselves.” We are in the process of doing that very same thing.

Dear friends, things can change. I am quite sure it won’t take many more national tragedies for the American people to begin to say, “Enough is enough.” And I want to say to those members of the Supreme Court who have given this nation this hellish milieu of ungodliness and immorality, “You had better get on your knees because you are going to have to answer to God for what you have done.” God promises to heal our nation, if we humble ourselves, repent from our wicked ways, and seek His face. Ours is a nation in great need of prayer.

Lord God, You have been so gracious and so good to us, and we turned away from You. Let it not be too late for our nation to return unto You. Lord, we deserve Your wrath, but we ask for Your mercy…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, OUR NATION
CAN RETURN TO THE LORD.

“If Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.”

— 1 Corinthians 15:17

Are we just random accidents, with no future hope beyond the grave? Evolutionists essentially believe we are. Listen to what British atheist Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) said in his book, Why I Am Not a Christian: “…man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving…” Evolution says we’re here by accident.

Continues Russell: “…his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; …no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave…” The grave stops it all.

Death not only overtakes us all, but everything else, too, says Russell: “… all of the labour of the ages, all of the devotion, all of the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins…”

He concludes, “Only within the scaffolding of these truths, and on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.” Begin with the premise that life is meaningless and then you can build meaning into it, says Russell. What a phrase, “the firm foundation of unyielding despair.” What a contrast God gives us in His Word—we have a firm foundation of truth because Jesus definitely rose from the dead.

O Lord, give us hearts of compassion for those around us whose lives have no meaning and no purpose and no Savior. Help us to be shining lights in their darkness. May the light from the empty tomb dispel the darkness…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR.

“But one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.”

— Luke 10:42

The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once made an interesting comment about focus. He said suppose you took an outside stack of old newspapers, papers that would easily go up in flames with the right input and a magnifying glass on a sunny day. If you took that glass and you slowly moved it around in an unfocused way, nothing would happen. But if you carefully allowed the magnifying glass to stay at the same place—in a focused way—it could easily cause a fire (if that was your goal). We accomplish little if we remain “wandering generalities” as opposed to becoming “a meaningful specific.”

It’s easy to get distracted by many things. In modern times, we are overstimulated, over-exposed, and over-saturated—often with wordy things. In such a context, it is easy to forget what truly matters—listening to Jesus. In this passage, Martha and Mary have Jesus over as a dinner guest. Martha gets frustrated that she is doing all the work, while Mary is just sitting there listening to the Master. So Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Instead, Jesus commends Mary for simply listening to God’s Word. We need to focus on what God has to say for us. We need to focus on His purpose for us, which may be different during different phases of our lives.

Whatever pressing activities we may feel obligated to do, it is most important that we always center our lives by spending time with Jesus. Remember this: If you’re too busy to pray, you’re too busy.

Lord, thank You for inviting us to sit at Your feet and listen. Forgive us for being slaves to “the tyranny of the urgent.” Instead, help us to focus on that which is important, beginning with spending time with You…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
FIND TIME TO LISTEN TO HIM.

“I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.”

— Psalm 77:11

The word “thank” comes from the same root as “think.” People are not thankful usually because they are not thoughtful. They don’t think about things that have been done for them and so they don’t thank people for doing that.

We are not going to be glad and joyful over something and thankful for it if we don’t think about it, and so we need to constantly remind ourselves. That’s why the Scriptures and Christ over and over said, “Remember.” “Remember.” “Remember!” We are to remember and think about these things in order that we may be thankful for what Christ has done in coming into this world for us: what He has already accomplished; what change He has made in our lives; what He has done for us over the years; how He has provided for us; what He has promised; and what we have to look forward to. We should remember all these things and thank Him for them.

It is only as we think about those things and recognize them as God’s blessings that thanksgiving grows in us. Unthankful children are always glum, down in the mouth. When you see a person whose mouth is turned down, who has a downcast, dog look on their face, they are not thankful. They are just sorry for themselves, they are miserable, and they don’t think about anything that God has done for them. Unfortunately, there is a little bit of that in every one of us, and, therefore, the Bible tells us to remember what God has done.

Dear Jesus, give me the strength of mind to remember the good and to dwell on what You have done for me. You have cared for my body and soul. You have secured my eternal salvation through Your blood. Give me strength for today to remember Your goodness…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
REMEMBER ALL HIS BENEFITS.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

—Philippians 4:4

Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians is an epistle of joy. The words joy, rejoice, and rejoicing appear over and over again in this epistle. In the final chapter, Paul gives this command. It is an imperative: Rejoice in the Lord! Now we generally tend to say to people,” Well, I hope you will be happy.” Paul never said that. He said, “Rejoice!” That’s a command, an imperative in the Lord.

Why is that important? We tend to look upon that as some peripheral issue of not too much importance. But Paul obviously felt it to be a very important matter. I think the secret of why this is important can be found in the fact that in Nehemiah 8:10 we are told that the joy of the Lord is our strength. One thing that is true of all strong Christians, they enjoy the Lord. And so consequently they spend much time with Him, in His word, in prayer and in service to Him, and it shows in their countenance.

A great resource for the Christian is found in the hymnal. Here we have centuries of beautiful psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs written by Christians throughout the ages. As one of the hymns says, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free.” Jesus has made me free. With His joy you will be able to serve. With His joy, you will be able to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, rejoice!

Lord, You are my joy and You are my song. I thank You that I can rejoice before You today. When my day is hard and my song stilled, then will I praise You and You will fill my heart with Your presence and joy…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN ALWAYS REJOICE.

“Watch out for dogs, watch out for evil workers, watch out for those who practice mutilation”

— Philippians 3:2

The Apostle Paul warned the Philippian Christians about evil workers, whom he called dogs. What they were doing was an attempt to add something to the Gospel. These are the kind of people that Paul condemned in Galatians 1. In Galatians 1 he is talking about those who are calling them to some other kind of Gospel. This is a Gospel that is antithetical to the grace of God, the grace of Christ. This is the Gospel that always has to add something more. Well, yes, salvation by grace through faith is good and nice—BUT it is not enough. You have to add circumcision, you have to add the Mosaic ritual or you have to add baptism or you have to add some kind of sacramentalism, or you have to have the baptism of the Spirit—you have to have something in addition. They are never satisfied with simply the pure Gospel of the grace of Christ.

In this text, Paul is talking about the same Judaizers. They were claiming that Gentiles could be saved through faith in Jesus—as long as they added to it circumcision (“mutilation” in Philippians 3:2). We can add nothing to the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is the Gospel of Christ as it was proclaimed by the Apostle Paul, as it was enunciated by Augustine, as it was systematized by Calvin, and it is the purest expression of the Gospel of grace that there is—salvation by grace alone.

“Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be.” Yes, Lord, Your grace is all sufficient and never ending. I thank You and praise You that You have poured out Your grace on me…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, HIS
GRACE HAS SAVED US.

“Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted.”

— 1 Corinthians 10:6

What happened to people in the Old Testament provides lessons for people of all time. The fact that God will bless us and cause us to succeed and prosper if we seek and obey Him is seen clearly in the Old Testament. If the blessings or the cursings had come into the next world, which is invisible to our eyes, there could have been no example unto us at all, for we would not have known whether they had been blessed or not. And we may well have supposed that those who lived wickedly were blessed in the future life, and those that lived godly were not.

I think that one of the greatest decisions every person in this world has to make is to decide: What is the source of blessing and success and prosperity? I also think that every Christian should seek those things—and I am not talking about worldly success and prosperity per se, though God may be pleased to grant that to you, but that our life should be a success. By that I mean, we will accomplish that for which God created us for we have been made for His glory. Everyone must answer this question in his own heart: Where is the source of my blessing and my success? James tells us “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no change or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

“Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.” Thank You, Jesus, my Fount of every blessing. Let me always be grateful for what You give me…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE ACKNOWLEDGE
HIM AS THE SOURCE OF EVERY BLESSING.

“And he [Uzziah] did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord as everything his father Amaziah had done. And he sought after God in the days of Zechariah, the one who instructed him in the fear of the Lord. And in the days that he sought after the Lord, God caused him to succeed.”

— 2 Chronicles 26:4-5

Success is of the Lord. The Bible teaches us that promotion is from above. Now this is very contrary to the attitudes of people today who think they can force themselves up the ladder of success. The Bible tells us that promotion is from above—that it is God who blesses or withholds His blessing, and because of Him kings and nations and individuals prosper and succeed or fail to do so. Obviously, as we have opportunity we should strive to do our best with the resources God has given us to better our lives and the lives of those around us.

And we read in this passage that as long as King Uzziah sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. With his heart he sought after God, and the Lord caused him to prosper.

Those who would tell you that the Scripture calls us to be totally unconcerned with our own well-being do not understand the message of Scripture, in my opinion. But what the Bible calls us to do is to seek our wellbeing at the hand of God. That you will find from one end of the Scripture to the other, and the Bible says that God will bless us. Now in the Old Testament those blessings always appeared here in this life because these things were done for an example unto us. In the New Testament era, sometimes those blessings appear in this life, sometimes in the next. Either way, in the long run God’s blessings follow obedience.

Jehovah-Jireh, our Great Provider, thank You for sustaining our lives. Thank You for the spiritual riches You have bestowed on me. Lord, give me strength for today to praise and thank You, whether You do or do not increase my worldly goods…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
CAN LIVE IN CONTENTMENT.