All tagged world

In Prayer We Are Given the World

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Given the World

On many Fridays at work someone will ask me what my plans are for the weekend, and more often than not I will respond with "I don't know, I will have to check with my social coordinator." Of course I am referring to my wife, Ann, who keeps my life in order. Well, when I was recovering from Cancer surgery in 2015 she assumed a new role; she became my healthcare coordinator. Speaking of which, if she knew how often I wasn’t in bed during my recovery, when I should have been, I would most certainly have be in trouble!

Fretting needlessly about the World as it crumbles

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Fearing the World

Do we let the happenings of the world trouble us and destroy the faith and tranquility we have in Jesus Christ? Are we so worried about what is occurring in our day to day lives that we can no longer see or feel the eternal truth, which is that Jesus suffered so we could be redeemed; and that He has brought us peace and rest? If so it is time we started stripping the meaningless outer layers away from our life of faith, and get down to the one thing that truly matters... the Cross.

Grace, and Salvation, in this not so new World of Today

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Fearing the World

What is this time we live in now, and is it unlike other times that have come before? Are there not righteous men and women who worship, and those countries, people, and persons who turn away from God? Is this new? No! The question for each of us is not one of the overall world, or the heavenly places that stand in opposition to it, and it isn’t of the greater spiritual strategies in the war between good and evil, no, it is in our own faith, and its effectiveness in our personal day to day skirmishes, in our hand to hand struggles as we wrestle against the world we wake up to each morning. Are our words, those we have spoken today towards God, and Jesus, the words of praise and worship, or do we say that the faith of man is in vain?

Are we Focused on Governments, and Churches, or on our own Salvation?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Personal Salvation

There is a saying we use when someone gets so focused on the details of a thing that they can’t see the bigger picture; we say “They can’t see the forest for the trees”. Well, something similar can happen to us as we pursue our faith, but in a very different way. Our faith, unlike things in the world, is all about our individual faiths, all about the details, the trees, and very seldom about the forests. One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to distract us from pursuing our own faith by convincing us that the world’s salvation, predicaments, or pleasures, should be our primary focus. Have we fallen victim to him in this way?

Remaining in the World, and going to the Sea in Boats

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Remaining in the World

We go about our daily lives, and they are full of trials and tribulations. We look out at the world and think that if we could somehow separate ourselves from it we would grow stronger in our faith, when in fact the opposite is true; we grow stronger in the midst of our trials, and see the face of Jesus most clearly from the summit of our suffering. We see the foul deeds of the world clearest in the darkest and deepest parts of the world, because it is here that God’s light shines brightest to illuminate them, and His salvation reaches out the furthest to redeem us from them.

Overcoming the World with Love

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Overcoming the World

Have we overcome the earth? There are men and women in this world that have so much wealth that they couldn’t possibly spend it in a dozen lifetimes, and yet they continue to be obsessed with it, protecting it, hoarding it, and focusing on making more. They feel like it gives them power, that they have overcome the world, and are its masters, but in truth their wealth has ensnared them, and owns them. Jesus came into this world born of meager parents, and walked across it with little more than the clothes on his back, yet He was free of poverty, because He had truly overcome the world. When we finally see as He saw, that what matters in this world is loving God, winning each soul’s deliverance from sin, and then returning it to our Heavenly Father, then we too will have overcome the world, and will have glorified God… Can we honestly say that we have overcome the world?

Praying for the Masses, and the World

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Praying for the World

Do we thank God for our brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we pray for them on a daily basis, and not just for help when they are experiencing problems in their lives, offering thanks when they have been blessed, or for instruction when they are irritating us in some way? The apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians and told them that he prayed for them always, and likewise, that should be how we pray for our fellow Christians too. There was only one reason he gave for this, and it was because they were covered by the grace given them in Christ. Now let me ask a deeper question… do we pray for those whose souls are lost, and don’t know, or haven’t yet come to believe?

Fear not - Does the World make us Anxious and Afraid?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Fear

Do the events that are occurring in the world today frighten us? Is our confidence in the Lord shaken, and is our faith in Jesus Christ fainting as the storm of man’s own making rages on? Well take heart because God is still sovereign, and His power is over all things. Jesus, even today, comes to us by walking on the raging sea, but do do not be afraid when we see Him coming because His hand stills the water; the wind remains God’s creation, and is His to rule. Let nothing in the world, on the world, or of the world, frighten us.

Can We Straddle Heaven and Hell?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Boasting of Worldly Treasure

There is nothing in the world that we should boast of because in Christ we are no longer its citizens; we are aliens in a strange and foreign country. We are like the thief who, crucified alongside Jesus, was made new by his faith, and dined thereafter in paradise. We are new creatures in Jesus, having been crucified to the world, even as it has been crucified to us. Today we are weary travelers in a distant land who long for the familiar sight of home, and the true joy, and comfort, that awaits us there.

Do we Love the World?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Loving the World, Daily Devotional

We know that if we favor, or love, the world more than God that this is a sin because nothing is to come before God in our lives, but John writes that the result of loving the world at all causes us to be separated from God. So where do we stand in this regard? Do we love the creator, or do we love the creation instead… the Father, or what He has provided? If we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then there is no part of us left to love the world… we are consumed entirely by our love for Him.

Resisting Temptation, and Magnifying the Lord in a Sinful World

Richard Forbes
Forever, Christian , Daily Devotional , Magnifying the Lord

Are we perfect in a sin free world, or do we suffer as we rebuff the sin swirling about us? It would be easy to do good if surrounded by nothing but goodness, and in such an environment what would be the value of the glory we assign to God in the midst of our faith? However, when sin is buffeting us from every side, we are suffering mightily, and making great efforts to resist temptation as we struggle to remain free of sin? If so, then the glory we give God is great indeed.

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