A Heart Problem

A Heart Problem

(Does your day begin with God?)

by  Warren W. Wiersbe
(Present Bible Teacher Back to the Bible)

Picture Credit: simplyjuliana.com

It’s imperative for us to meet God in the morning if we want to have a good day.  Jesus got up early in the morning to pray, according to Mark 1:35.  Here we find the psalmist saying, “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (v.3).

When I used to work in the night shift, I would sleep in the morning.  So when I got up in the afternoon, I would meet with the Lord.  Meeting with God is not an appointment on a clock but an appointment in your heart.  Does God hear your voice in the morning?  When He looks on you at the beginning of your day, does He look on you as a priest who has come to offer Him sacrifices of praise?  That’s what direct means (v.3)—“to order my prayer.”  It means to arrange the sacrifice on the altar.

When you wake up in the morning, remind yourself that you are one of God’s priests.  How did you become a priest?  Through faith in Jesus Christ.  “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father” (Rev. 1:5,6).  You’re one of God’s priests.  That means wherever you are is God’s temple, because your body is His temple.

The first thing we do in the morning is the first thing the high priest used to do every morning.  He laid the burnt offering on the altar.  The burnt offering is a picture of total dedication to God.  If you want to have a good day, start by giving yourself to the Lord as a burnt offering, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1).  A good day begins in the morning, and it begins at the altar.

 Warren W. Wiersbe with his wife Betty

Does your day begin with God?  If not, decide to start each morning by dedicating yourself to Him as a living sacrifice and ask His guidance for the day’s decisions and actions.  He wants to direct your life.  So view each day as a gift from God and determine to be a good steward of the day’s resources.  Make your time with Him a daily appointment.

Source: 
Confident Living Magazine, Secunderabad
Back to the Bible Intl. Lincoln, Nebraska.

                                                                                                      

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The Temple of God

The Temple of God

by William MacDonald

(Author of the Believer's Bible Commentary)

Pic. Credit: IamwithJesus.com

"If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy, which temple  you are."               (1 CORINTHIANS 3:17).

In this verse, the temple of God refers to the local assembly.  Paul is not speaking to individual Christians but to believers collectively when he says "which temple you (plural) are.             "The saints in Corinth comprised a temple of God."

It is also true, of course, that individual believers are a temple of the Holy Spirit.  The Apostle brings this out in 1 Corinthians 6: 19:  “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  The Holy Spirit of God dwells in the body of every child of God.

But in our text for today, it is the assembly that is in view.  Paul is saying that if any man destroys the assembly, God will destroy him.  It is the same word that is translated “defile” and “destroy” in this verse.  “It is used of marring a local church by leading it away from that conditions of holiness of life and purity of doctrine in which it should abide, and of God’s retributive destruction of the offender who is guilty of this sin”  (W. E. Vine).

So our verse warns us that it is a serious thing to tamper with a local fellowship.  In fact, it is a form of self-destruction.  Yet how diffident people often are in this very area.  Here is a man who doesn't get his own way in the assembly.  Or he becomes involved in a violent personality clash with some other brother.  Rather than make things right in a scriptural manner, he lines up people to take his side and forms a faction in the church.   Things go from bad to worse and soon there is an open split.

Or perhaps it is a carnal sister who carries on a campaign of gossip and backbiting against someone else.  Her slanderous tongue lashes out until the church is filled with bitterness and strife.  She will not stop until a once-prosperous assembly lies in ruins.

People like this are playing a perilous game.  They cannot get away with it.  The Great God of the universe is committed to wreck those who wreck His assembly.

Let all who are inclined to faction, beware!

An adaptation from the book ONE DAY AT A TIME 
by William MacDonald (The author of "Believers BibleCommentary) 

To Read a portion from the commentary Please Click on the Below Link:

The Believers's Bible Commentary 

(A Complete Bible Commentary in one volume)

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Copies of this commentary is now available from Back to the Bible Head Office for a donation of Rs.1300/- (Including Packing and Postage)

Source: 
William MacDonald, 
Gospel Folio Press, 
Moriah Ministries, Chennai.
Confident Living Magazine, Secunderabad

For Those Who Follow

For Those Who Follow

www and his wife

As we get older, things change. We must drop some things and we must start others. Not much goes on continually—except in Psalm 71.  David uses the word continually three times.  First, he tells us that we can continually resort to the Lord in prayer: “Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually”(v.3).  No matter how old we get, we can pray, because the Lord never fails.  We also can have continual praise.  “My praise shall be continually of You”

( v.6).    If prayer is without ceasing, then praise will be without ceasing.  David also tells us, “I will hope continually (v.14).

“Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come (v.18).  Notice that David’s focus is not simply on his needs.  He wants to have his needs met so he can share the Lord with others.  “You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side…. I will praise You” (vv. 21, 22).

If we are resorting to the Lord continually in prayer, if we are rejoicing in Him continually in praise, if we are hoping in Him continually and laying hold of His promises, if we are saying that the best is yet to come and praise Him more and more, then we can grow old and gray headed without fear.  We’ll be able to glorify the Lord, and we’ll be able to share Him with others in the next generation.  What kind of heritage are you leaving for your future generations?  What are you teaching them by word and example about God’s strength and power? Will others put their faith in the Lord on the basis of your life and testimony?

You can always live to bring glory to God no matter what your age is.  Those of us who are older can do that in a special way; we can teach the younger generation about His faithfulness.  Preserve your Christian heritage for future generations.  Let your life be a continual testimony for God.

                                                                           —Warren W. Wiersbe

(Former General Director and Bible Teacher for Back to the Bible)

An adaptation from the book "Prayer Praise & Promises" by Warren W Wiersbe.  This book is now available from The Good News Broadcasting Society (Back to the Bible) for a donation of Rs. 150 (including packing and postage)

Confident Living Magazine (March April 2013)

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