Matter of the Heart“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Psalm 51:10 TLB
Ever blamed your plight on Washington? (If they’d lower the tax rates, my business would work.) Inculpated your family for your failure? (Mom always liked my sister more.) . . .
Consider the prayer of David: “Create in me a new heart, O God . . .”
Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is and always will be, the matter of the heart.
Genesis 19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
"No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
9 "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry [h] his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"
18 But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, [i] please! 19 Your [j] servant has found favor in your [k] eyes, and you [l] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared."
21 He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar. [m] )
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father."
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab [n] ; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi [o] ; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 16:21-33
21 The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction.
22 Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.
23 A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction.
24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
26 The laborer's appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.
27 A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.
28 A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.
29 A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good.
30 He who winks with his eye is plotting perversity; he who purses his lips is bent on evil.
31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.
32 Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Ike’s Anger Problem
September 13, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. —Proverbs 16:32
On June 6, 1944, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, was the most powerful man on earth. Under his authority, the largest amphibious army ever assembled prepared to liberate the Nazi-dominated continent of Europe. How was Eisenhower able to lead such a vast army? Part of the answer can be linked to his remarkable skill in working with different kinds of people.
What many do not know, however, is that Ike hadn’t always gotten along with others. As a boy, he often got into fistfights at school. But fortunately he had a caring mother who instructed him in God’s Word. One time, when she was bandaging his hands after an angry outburst, she quoted Proverbs 16:32, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Years later, Eisenhower wrote, “I have always looked back on that conversation as one of the most valuable moments of my life.” Undoubtedly, by learning to control his anger, Eisenhower was able to work effectively with others.
Inevitably, each of us will at times be tempted to lash out in anger. Yet through God’s work in our lives we can learn to control our anger. What better way to influence people than through a gentle spirit.
Thinking It Over
Do you struggle to control your anger?
For help, read Moses: His Anger And What It Cost Him at www.discoveryseries.org/q0716
He who conquers his anger conquers a strong enemy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
September 13th, 2010
After Surrender— Then What?
I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4
True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our will— and once that is done, surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our will. Yet God never forces a person’s will into surrender, and He never begs. He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again.
Surrender for Deliverance. “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest” ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— “Come to Me.” And it is a voluntary coming.
Surrender for Devotion. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . ” (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, with His rest at the heart of my being. He says, “If you want to be My disciple, you must give up your right to yourself to Me.” And once this is done, the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9 and (Philippians 4:19).
Surrender for Death. “. . . another will gird you . . .” (John 21:18 ; also see John21:19 ). Have you learned what it means to be girded for death? Beware of some surrender that you make to God in an ecstatic moment in your life, because you are apt to take it back again. True surrender is a matter of being “united together [with Jesus] in the likeness of His death” ( Romans 6:5 ) until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.
And after you surrender— then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Deadliest Day in the World - #6176
Monday, September 13, 2010
It's only a story, but the point it makes is a reality not to be ignored. As the story goes, there was a day when the devil called an emergency meeting in hell. All his senior demons were there. The agenda: how to increase the number of people who were going to hell instead of heaven. The first demon to speak said, "Let me launch an all-out attack on people's belief in the Bible and in Jesus as the Son of God. Before I'm finished, they won't trust either one, and hell will be full." The devil was impressed and he released that first demon to launch his doubt offensive on the future inhabitants of eternity. After an appropriate time, Satan reconvened his council of senior demons. He was not pleased, especially with demon number one. He said, "The number of people coming to hell is up only slightly since you tried your little strategy of creating doubt. This isn't working! We need a better idea."
That was when demon number two stepped up with a plan he believed to be foolproof. "I will launch an all-out campaign to convince people they will have to give up too much to follow Jesus. It costs too much! It's too hard! That's what I'll tell them." Satan was fascinated with that proposal and he wished demon number two great success. Well, it didn't happen. The traffic coming into hell did increase some, but not nearly enough to satisfy the enemy of every human soul. He wanted many more.
All the other demons were afraid to offer another plan for fear of failure and the devil's displeasure. Well, all the other demons except one, that is. Demon number three asked Satan for permission to launch a top secret strategy - one which he would only reveal after the results were in. The devil was skeptical. But since nothing else was working, he let demon number three put his secret plan into action.
Within weeks, the floodgates opened. More people were ending up in hell than any of the demons had ever seen. Satan again convened his demon council to find out what was this strategy that was sending so many to hell. When the third demon explained it, everyone was amazed. And that strategy for keeping people from heaven is the sober reality we all need to consider.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Deadliest Day in the World."
The third demon explained: "I actually tell people they do need Jesus and that they should give Him their life." Satan was ready to explode! The room was quiet as a tomb when the third demon said: "I tell them to come to Jesus...tomorrow."
And that's the word that has sent so many people to hell: tomorrow. "I know I should open my heart to Jesus. I'll get right with Him - tomorrow." Listen to God's urgent call in 2 Corinthians 6:2, our word for today from the Word of God. "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." That word salvation, that's a rescue word, because rescue is why Jesus came. Our sins have earned us the eternal death penalty the Bible calls hell. A hell which could be cancelled only one way. It took the Son of God Himself taking your hell; taking your punishment for you. You did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying. When a rescuer extends his hand to you in a burning or collapsed building, you don't wait to grab it. Your chance to live is now.
And Jesus is extending His rescuing hand to you today, even as I'm speaking these words. He is the tug you feel in your heart. None of your reasons for waiting are worth risking an unthinkable eternity. Now is the day of salvation. God said it. Don't risk it. The rescue happens when you grab Jesus your Rescuer with both hands and say, "Jesus, You're my only hope. I'm Yours from today on." Because today is the only day you can be sure of.
Our website is there to help you be sure you belong to Jesus. I want to encourage you to visit us there. It's yoursforlife.net. Don't wait on this. Go there, check it out, spend a couple of minutes there - yoursforlife.net.
If they could, so many people on the other side of eternity would say to you, "Don't wait for tomorrow." Because for them, tomorrow never came.