The Walk Of The Willing
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16
To paraphrase Galatians 5:16—“Walk by means of the Spirit.” In Romans 8:14 Paul wrote, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
To walk in the Spirit is a challenging and inspiring exercise, for it combines activity with relaxation. To walk means to place one foot in front of the other. If you stop doing this, you are no longer walking—you are standing still. Walking always implies movement, progress, and direction.
Living for Christ is a day-to-day going-on with Him. It is a continuous dependence upon the Spirit of God. It is believing in His faithfulness. You cannot live the Christian life by yourself. The Holy Spirit must live in you and express Himself through you.
Sin will no longer rule or dominate you if you are allowing the Holy Spirit to live Christ’s life through you. It is living by faith, living by trust, living in dependence upon God.
If we look to our own resources, our own strength, or our own ability as Peter did when he walked on the water, we will fail.
The first key for usefulness and power for Christians today is humility. The second is the realization that sanctification is only in Christ. The third is reliance on the Holy Spirit.
Realize that God is in control. Habakkuk the prophet cried out to God and said, “O God, why are these terrible evils coming upon the world?” God said, “Habakkuk, don’t be discouraged. I am working a work in your day; if I told you what it is, you would not believe it” (Habakkuk 1:5).
God is at work in the midst of crisis. In the midst of the problems, pessimism, and frustrations of our day, God is doing His own work. Let us realize that there are certain things we cannot do. Let us be faithful in the things He has called us to do.
Our Father and our God, I want to walk with You from here throughout eternity. Hold my hand and keep me by Your side. Remind me often that You are in control of life and that I have nothing to fear when I am with You. Keep me moving forward in my spiritual growth. And please bless me with the wisdom to always be faithful through Jesus Christ, my Lord. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Mark Of A Christian
All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Galatians 5:14
When men turn to God, God gives them agape love—and then they love their neighbor no matter what the color of his skin, no matter what his circumstances. This is the love that God gives as a gift, and it is produced in the heart by the Holy Spirit who lives there.
The Christian is to love fellow Christians. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Do we have love one to another? Do you know what the apostle Paul said about it in 1 Corinthians 13? He said that even if he had the ability to speak like an angel but didn’t have love, his words would be empty and meaningless—like a noisy cymbal.
Think of being the greatest orator in all the universe! Speaking with a thousand tongues in a thousand languages with the eloquence of the greatest speakers of all time! Paul said unless we have love, agape love—the divine love that only God can give—we are only “sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
Suppose I understand the Bible, have the gift of preaching, the gift of prophecy, and am the greatest preacher who ever lived. Paul said unless I have love “it profiteth me nothing.” Suppose I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, read the Bible every day, carry it under my arm every day, believe in all the creeds, unless I have love, Paul said I am nothing.
Suppose I have such faith that I could remove mountains. You would say, “What great faith that is!” That’s nothing, unless I love.
Suppose I give all the money that I have to charity. You would say I was a great man—a Christian man. But Paul said unless I have love it is nothing. Do you have this love? Without Jesus Christ in your heart, you can’t have this love. You can’t produce this love except with the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the reason why you must receive Christ, and when you do He gives you the power and the strength, through the Holy Spirit, to produce this love.
George Sweeting says, “Life minus love equals nothing!”
Our Father and our God, give me a heart of love too. Pour Your love into my heart until it runs over and touches the lives of those around me. Use me, Father, as a channel of Your love to the lost, the lonely, the abused, and the sick. Help me to show the love of Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Salvation Of Society
We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Galatians 5:5
The whole nature of individual salvation rests squarely on the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
But the Bible also teaches that the salvation of society—the reordering of man’s social injustice, war, poverty, and disease—will be taken out of man’s hands someday. We’re not going to achieve all this by education, evolution, politics, technology, military power, or science. Nor will it be achieved by legislation in the congresses and parliaments of nations so as to produce such benevolent acts of man that all hate, evil, and sin will be abolished.
The salvation of society will come about by the powers and forces released by the apocalyptic return of Jesus Christ. It will come through the Kingdom of God in its principles of righteousness. It will be the prophesied fulfillment of redemption applied to every phase of human life and national existence. This is our hope, and it should influence everything we do and everything we think every day of our lives.
Our Father and our God, reach down in compassion and touch our society. Lead us in repentance, and give us courage to turn from materialism and all other false gods and forms of evil and return to You. Forgive us for abandoning You, Lord. And thank You for saving us through the life-giving blood of Jesus! Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Children
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26
As God’s children, we are His dependents. The Bible says, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him” (Psalm 103:13).
Dependent children spend little time worrying about meals, clothing, and shelter. They assume, and they have a right to, that all will be provided by their parents.
Jesus said, “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? . . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God . . . and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:31, 33).
Because God is responsible for our welfare, we are told to cast all our care upon Him, for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Because we are dependent upon God, Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). God says, “I’ll take the burden—don’t give it a thought—leave it to Me.”
Children are not backward about asking for things. They would not be normal if they did not boldly make their needs known.
God has said to His children, “Therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). God is keenly aware that we are dependent upon Him for life’s necessities. It was for that reason that Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).
What is troubling you today? Is your heart burdened because of some problem which threatens to overcome you? Are you filled with anxiety and worry about some problem, wondering what will happen? Listen: as a child of God through faith in Christ, you can turn these over to Christ, knowing that He loves you and is able to help you.
Our Father and our God, I need Your help. Please take this burden of mine . . . Do not let me take the burden back from You, Father, but let me rest in the knowledge that You are handling it. I thank You that You love me enough to carry my problems. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Came Down
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
Jesus is not only the Christ, he is also “God, our Lord and Savior” (Titus 2:13). This is a staggering, almost incomprehensible truth: God Himself has come down on this planet in the Person of His only Son. The incarnation and the full Deity of Jesus are the cornerstones of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ was not just a great teacher or a holy religious leader. He was God Himself in human flesh—fully God and fully man.
Jesus Himself gave frequent witness to his uniqueness and divine nature. To His opponents He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). They immediately recognized this as a clear claim to divinity and tried to stone Him for blasphemy. On another occasion Jesus stated, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), and again His enemies tried to stone Him “because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (John 10:33). Furthermore, He demonstrated the power to do things that only God can do, such as forgive sins (Mark 2:1–12). The charge brought against Him at His trial was that “he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7); and when asked if He was the Son of God, he replied, “You are right in saying I am” (Luke 22:70 NIV).
Irenaeus said it well when he wrote, “The Word of God, Jesus Christ, on account of his great love for mankind, became what we are in order to make us what he is himself.” What a sobering—and exhilarating—thought that should be!
Our Father and our God, my little mind cannot comprehend Your greatness. My sinful self cannot understand Your purity. My humanity cannot grasp Your divinity. And yet I can be like You through my relationship with Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank You, Father, for Your amazing gift of life through Christ, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Present Evil World
[Jesus] who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.
Galatians 1:4
In Luke 18, Jesus told of the self-righteous Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you that I am not like all other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector” (v. 11). The Pharisee kidded himself into thinking he was something, when he was not. But the tax collector, whom the Pharisee looked upon with scorn, saw himself as he was, and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (v. 13). Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
How can we get our values right? How can our warped judgment be straightened out? Some tell us that education is the answer to these questions. Prove to people that crime doesn’t pay (they say) . . . that illicit sex is psychologically harmful . . . that alcohol and drugs are harmful to our minds and bodies . . . and they’ll wake up and stop doing them. But experience repeatedly demonstrates that this doesn’t work. Programs of social and personal reform are launched continually. Are they the answer to evil?
Others say that science is the answer. Science, supposedly, can make a clean bomb or a harmless cigarette. It can cope with the problems of drugs. Science, they say, can tap the brain of man and alter his desires.
But the Bible, which has withstood the test of time, tells us a different story. It says that we are possessed of a sinful, fallen nature, which wars against us, that seeks to destroy us. Paul said, “I find this law at work [in me]: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21). Evil is present to cleverly disguise itself as good. Evil is present to control and deceive us. We are not at peace with ourselves or with God. That is what the cross of Christ is all about: to reconcile us to God and to give us a new nature.
Our Father and our God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I truly want to do what is right and good in Your eyes, but evil is always there with me. I am weak and sinful, O Lord. Yet I thank You for Jesus, who will deliver us in triumph over sin, the devil, and evil. Thank You for the cross, which reconciles me to You through Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Our Omnipotent Helper
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14
God the Holy Spirit is equal with the Son and with the Father in every respect. The Bible teaches that He is coequal with God the Father and coequal with God the Son. The Bible also teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is never to be referred to as “it.” He is not just an agent, He is not just an influence. He is a mighty Person, the Holy Spirit of God.
The Bible tells us that He is omnipotent. That means that He has all power.
The Bible tells us that He is omnipresent. That means that He is everywhere at the same time.
The Bible tells us that He is omniscient. That means that He has all knowledge. He knows everything that we do—He watches us. “His eye is on the sparrow,” and if God the Spirit is watching the sparrow, how much more He is watching us every moment.
He sees the thoughts and intents of our hearts. He delves into our minds, into the things we think, into the intents of our souls. He knows all about us. He knows everything. The Bible says that everything we do He writes down in a book, and someday it shall be brought out as evidence at the great Judgment of God.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is eternal. The Bible tells us that He is holy. He is referred to in the New Testament alone one hundred times as the Holy Spirit—absolute holiness, absolute purity, absolute righteousness.
What should this mean to me? With the seventeenth-century Anglican bishop Jeremy Taylor, I can say, “It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.”
Our Father and our God, I know You are awesome, all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present with me. Your Spirit indwells me and guides me in the Way to eternal life. With Your help, and through Christ my Lord, I can be more than a conqueror in life. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
You Can Leap Walls
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:37, 44 NIV
Conversion is that change in the mind of a sinner in which he turns on the one hand from sin and on the other hand to Christ. Conversion is the human side of the tremendous transformation that takes place in the divinely wrought “new birth,” or “regeneration.” It is simply man’s turning from sin to Christ.
The Scripture teaches that God turns men to Himself, but men are also exhorted to turn themselves to God. God is represented as the author of the new heart and the new spirit, yet men are commanded to make for themselves a new heart and a new spirit. It is the old paradox of grace and free will.
Simon Peter could not become a disciple until Jesus called him and said, “Follow me.” But others heard the same call and refused it or put it off. One said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Another one said, “Let me first say farewell to those at my home.” These men refused Christ’s call.
This combination of divine calling and the human responsibility of accepting God’s grace runs throughout the Bible and characterizes all God’s dealings with men.
The Bible confronts us with both our independent moral responsibility and our total dependence upon God to save us—a mystery, yet true.
In the picturesque words of Psalm 18:29, David says, “By my God I can leap over a wall” (RSV). A man can jump over some barriers by his own will and effort but some walls are so high that they need more than this.
The Psalmist knew such walls. Those could be leaped only with the help of God. God does not lift a man over. God helps a man when he takes the leap.
Our Father and our God, thank You for seeing my helplessness and reaching down to convict me of my sin and draw me to Christ. I give You all the glory for my salvation and seek to live by Your grace in my life every day. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Salvation Is Free, Not Cheap
Three times I was beaten with rods, since I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
2 Corinthians 11:25–30 NIV
For Paul the Christian life was one of suffering. The same could be said of a multitude of Christ’s followers, many of whom were killed for their faith. So when Christ said time after time that one must “deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” He was indicating that it is not easy to be His true follower. The apostle Paul warned, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12 NIV). He offers no cheap grace, no easy life. As someone has said, “Salvation is free but not cheap.”
Charles T. Studd was a famous sportsman in England, captain of the Cambridge XI cricket team. A century ago he gave away his vast wealth to needy causes and led the “Cambridge Seven” to China. His slogan was, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
During the first decade of this century, Bill Borden left one of America’s greatest family fortunes to be a missionary in China. He only got as far as Egypt, where, still in his twenties, he died of typhoid fever. Before his death he said, “No reserves, no retreats, no regrets!”
Our Father and our God, Your Son left all the glories and wealth of heaven to die for me. Help me to leave materialism behind to follow Him with my whole heart. Give me contentment in whatever situation I find myself, whether poverty or wealth, sickness or health, persecution or peace. Build up my faith through Jesus Christ, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
Life Eternal And Internal
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV
Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness. Consciously or unconsciously, his inner being longs for both. There are times when man actually cries for them, even though in his restlessness, confusion, loneliness, fear, and pressures he may not know what he is crying for.
God heard the first cry for help, that cry for forgiveness, and answered it at Calvary. God sent His only Son into the world to die for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. This is a gift for us—God’s gift of salvation. This gift is a permanent legacy for everyone who truly admits he has “fallen short” and sinned. It is for everyone who reaches out and accepts God’s gift by receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Paul calls it God’s “indescribable” gift.
But God also heard our second cry, that cry for goodness, and answered it at Pentecost. God does not want us to come to Christ by faith, and then lead a life of defeat, discouragement, and dissension. Rather, He wants to “fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you” (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 NASB).
To the great gift of forgiveness God adds also the great gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the source of power who meets our need to escape from the miserable weakness that grips us. He gives us the power to be truly good.
If we are to live a life of sanity in our modern world, if we wish to be men and women who can live victoriously, we need this two-sided gift God has offered us: first, the work of the Son of God for us; second, the work of the Spirit of God in us. In this way God has answered mankind’s two great cries: the cry for forgiveness and the cry for goodness.
As a friend of mine has said, “I need Jesus Christ for my eternal life, and the Holy Spirit of God for my internal life.” He might have added, “. . . so I can live my external life to the fullest.”
Our Father and our God, You are so much a part of me that I can’t identify where I end and You begin. I am nothing without You, Lord. You are in me, around me, and through me. I am Yours, and You are mine. Thank You for being with me forever. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Christ-Like Christian
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6:10 NIV
These words from the apostle Paul remind me of Amy Carmichael. Though bedridden as a result of an accident some twenty years before her death, and in almost constant pain, she continued to minister through her devotional writings and poetry. Her keen insight and her refreshingly spiritual writings revealed the depth of her walk with Christ. She remains a striking example of a Christian whose physical suffering enabled her to reflect the character of Christ. She lived a life of rejoicing in the midst of tribulation. Her face radiated the love of Christ, and her life epitomized the saintly stature the surrendered Christian can reach if he reacts to suffering by rejoicing in it.
During those years of physical pain, Amy Carmichael wrote the many books that have blessed untold thousands around the world. Without the “blessing” of being confined to her bed, she might have been too busy to write.
There is a story about Martin Luther going through a period of depression and discouragement. For days his long face graced the family table and dampened the family’s home life. One day his wife came to the breakfast table all dressed in black, as if she were going to a funeral service. When Martin asked her who had died, she replied, “Martin, the way you’ve been behaving lately, I thought God had died, so I came prepared to attend His funeral.”
Her gentle but effective rebuke drove straight to Luther’s heart, and as a result of that lesson the great Reformer resolved never again to allow worldly care, resentment, depression, discouragement, or frustration to defeat him. By God’s grace, he vowed, he would submit his life to the Savior and reflect His grace in a spirit of rejoicing, whatever came. With Paul he would shout, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV).
When was the last time you praised God in the midst of despair? Don’t wait until you “feel like it” or you’ll never do it. Do it, and then you’ll feel like it!
Our Father and our God, I praise You for Your generosity and blessings. You have rained Your goodness down upon me, undeserving though I am. You have given me more than I can even imagine. Thank You, Father, for Your great love. Thank You especially for Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Jesus Took Our Judgement
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
ROMANS 8:1
The Bible says the judgment for sin that I deserved is already passed. Christ took my judgment on the cross. Every demand of the law has been met. The law was completely satisfied in the offering that Christ made of Himself for sins. “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).
The law had said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). I deserved judgment and hell, but Christ took that judgment and hell for me. Christ Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). No statement could be any plainer that the true believer in Jesus Christ shall not come into judgment. That judgment is past. “For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isaiah 38:17). God said through Jeremiah the prophet, “I will remember their sin no more” (31:34).
We shall never understand the extent of God’s love in Christ at the cross until we understand that we shall never have to stand before the judgment of God for our sins. Christ took our sins. He finished the work of redemption. I am not saved through any works or merit of my own. I have preached to thousands of people on every continent, but I shall not go to heaven because I am a preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ. I shall never stand at God’s judgment bar. That is all past.
Once while crossing the North Atlantic many years ago, I looked out my porthole when I got up in the morning and saw one of the blackest clouds I had ever seen. I was certain that we were in for a terrible storm. I ordered my breakfast sent to my room and spoke to the steward about the storm. He said, “Oh, we’ve already come through that storm. It’s behind us.”
If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we have already come through the storm of judgment. It happened at the cross.
Our Father and our God, I am completely humbled by the thought of Christ dying for me. I clasp Your grace and forgiveness to my heart with tears of gratitude. Your overwhelming love is more than I can comprehend. Thank You, Father, for the blessed gift of life eternal through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Ambassadors For Christ
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20
What is an ambassador? An ambassador is a person, a friend of authority. He is a servant of his government in a foreign land. He is not free to set his own policies or develop his own message. In the same way we are called to live under the authority of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures. We are servants. We must live under the authority of the Word of God. We are called not to do our will, but Christ’s.
What does it mean to live under the authority of the Word of God? First, it means that we live under the authority of God in our personal lives. “Be ye holy as I am holy” (Leviticus 20:7), say the Scriptures. We are to be holy people of God; we are to live what we preach in our personal lives: a disciplined devotional life. The world today is looking for holy men and women who live under the authority of the Word of God. They’re not going to listen to what we say unless we back it up with the way we live in our personal relationships.
Second, we are under the authority of the Word of God in our social relationships as well. As Christians we’re not isolated persons; we are part of society with all of its difficulties and problems and hopes. The Bible has much to say about social justice and social actions. This is a difficult area. The Christian knows this. Human society is affected by sin, and we know that any effort we make to improve society will always be incomplete and imperfect. We are not going to build a Utopia on Earth. Why? Because of human nature. Sin keeps us from building a paradise on Earth.
But we are to work for social justice—that is our command in Scripture—we’re to do all we can so both we and others can live a peaceable and free life, and a life of human dignity. Only Christ can change hearts, but that does not mean that we neglect social and political relationships. Christ is concerned about the whole man, including the society in which he lives. Many of the great social reforms of the nineteenth century in Great Britain and America were inspired by evangelical Christians. But the time came when many forgot that the Gospel was both vertical and horizontal. This is rapidly changing now. Evangelicals are once again proclaiming a balanced Gospel of personal salvation on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.
Third, we are under authority in our service. It is God who has called us to serve. We are not free to choose the place or the manner in which we will serve Him. I am always amazed at the variety of gifts that God has given to the church. Every person has been given a gift from God. You may be a farmer, or a laborer, or a doctor, or a professor, but you have been given a gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “Stir up the gift that is within you” (2 Timothy 1:6). What is your gift? Each of us is to put his gift into action for God.
Our Father and our God, use me as an ambassador for Your Kingdom to the lost and dying world. I submit myself to Your authority and will. Show me how to use the gift You have given me to spread Your Kingdom, for I want to be Your humble servant. I pray in the name of the One who is my example, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
The Old And The New
Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 RSV
I once heard a carpenter say that it is always better and usually more economical to construct a new house than to patch up an old one. This is even more true in the spiritual realm. There is nothing in our old nature worth salvaging. Our thoughts are full of deceit. Our mouths are filled with cursing and bitterness. The way of peace we have not known. The Bible says, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:3; compare Romans 3:12).
The old nature with its deceitfulness, its depravity, and its wickedness must give way to a new nature. And this is exactly what God stands ready to do. God says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).
What a challenge! It is much more difficult to change our dispositions than it is our apparel. As a matter of fact, it is utterly impossible for me to change my disposition in my own strength. Thus, the new birth is something that must be done for me by another; and God has promised to do that which I cannot do for myself. And He will do it for you too!
Our Father and our God, please give me a renewed heart and a renewed spirit, as You have promised to do. I repent and turn from my old ways; I adopt Your plans and dreams for my life. Guide me, direct me, teach me. I am Yours to keep forever. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The New Person
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:1–2
The prophet Ezekiel said, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26). In the book of Acts, Peter called it repenting and being converted. Paul speaks of it in Romans as being “alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13). In Colossians Paul calls it “[a putting off of] the old man with his deeds; and [putting] on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (3:9–10). In Titus he calls it “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (3:5). Peter said it was being “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). John termed it passing “from death unto life” (John 5:24). In the Church of England catechism it is called “a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness.”
Thus the Bible teaches that man can undergo a radical spiritual and moral change that is brought about by God Himself. The word that Jesus used, and which is translated “again,” actually means “from above.” The context of the third chapter of John teaches that the new birth is something that God does for man when man is willing to yield to God. Man does not have within himself the seed of the new life; this must come from God Himself.
One day a caterpillar climbs up into a tree where nature throws a fiber robe about him. He goes to sleep, and in a few weeks he emerges a beautiful butterfly. So man—distressed, discouraged, unhappy, hounded by conscience, driven by passion, ruled by selfishness, belligerent, quarrelsome, confused, depressed, miserable, taking alcohol and barbiturates, looking for escapisms—can come to Christ by faith and emerge a new man. This sounds incredible, even impossible, and yet it is precisely what the Bible teaches.
Do you feel you are in a cocoon? Turn to Christ and ask Him to give you your beautiful wings so that you might soar above your problems and be victorious over them.
Our Father and our God, change my heart from rebellion to submission. Take away my evil passions and desires; replace them with commitment and joy. Give me my wings, Lord, so I can fly above my problems and temptations. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010.
A Love Tap From Our Heavenly Father
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:17
Christ is the answer to suffering.
Sickness, sorrow, and sin all are the result of the fall of man in the Garden. Sickness is a by-product of transgression; but that does not mean that Christians—while forgiven—are never afflicted. The Bible says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
Job was afflicted; Paul had an infirmity; Lazarus was sick; and good people throughout history have been promised no immunity from disease and infirmity. Scores of people write every month and ask me, “Why do Christians suffer?” Rest assured that there is a reason for Christian people being afflicted. One reason why God’s people suffer, according to the Bible, is that it is a disciplinary, chastening, and molding process.
The Bible says, “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee” (Deuteronomy 8:5).
Again the Scripture says, “Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law” (Psalm 94:12).
Again the Bible says, “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3:12).
From these Scriptures we learn that the chastening of affliction is a step in the process of our full and complete development. It can sometimes be a love tap from our Heavenly Father to show us that we have wandered from the pathway of duty.
In the last essay he wrote before he died, great Christian apologist C. S. Lewis said, “We have no right to happiness; only an obligation to do our duty.” Of course it is in our duty that happiness comes. Try it.
Our Father and our God, I accept Your discipline and correction with gratitude. You are my eternal Father, and I am Your loving child. Help me to grow spiritually with wisdom and grace to be like Jesus, Your Son and my brother, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Positive Side Of Affliction
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Corinthians 4:8–10 RSV
The apostle Paul could write, “With all our affliction, I am overjoyed” (2 Corinthians 7:4 RSV).
In all his sufferings and sorrows Paul experienced a deep, abiding joy. He writes of being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10 RSV). With sincerity he declared that for Christ’s sake he was “content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” (2 Corinthians 12:10 RSV).
I have found in my travels that those who keep heaven in view remain serene and cheerful in the darkest day. If the glories of heaven were more real to us, if we lived less for material things and more for things eternal and spiritual, we would be less easily disturbed by this present life.
In these days of darkness and upheaval and uncertainty, the trusting and forward-looking Christian remains optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ someday must rule, and “if we endure, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12 RSV). As someone has said, “Patience [hupomone] is that quality of endurance that can reach the breaking point and not break.”
At the same time I am equally certain that Christians who have spent years at hard labor or in exile have passed through periods of discouragement—even despair. Those who have seen loved ones die have felt deep loss and intense suffering. Victory for them has not come easily or quickly. But eventually the peace of God does come, and with it His joy.
Our Father and our God, penetrate my heart with Your eternal gladness and hope. Let me face suffering and discouragement with cheerfulness, knowing they are but pathways to Your glory. Fill me up with laughter and rejoicing, Father. Give me deep abiding faith and hope because of Christ, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
No Deposit, No Return
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NIV
When we purchase something of great value—a house, for example—we are usually required to put down a deposit to indicate our sincerity and to promise that our intentions are serious and that we intend to go through with the deal. It is a form of insurance, a guarantee that adds substance to our word.
In recent years we have seen the production of large quantities of “no deposit, no return” cans and bottles. The stores selling these items do not expect to get them back, and so we are not required to pay a deposit on them when we make our purchase. We simply discard them (or better yet recycle them) when the contents have been consumed.
God has made some incredible promises to us. He has promised that we might have a relationship with Him through His Son. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us and to be with us always. The Bible is full of promises from God to man.
Someone might ask, “What insurance do we have that God is serious? Let us see what kind of deposit He is prepared to put down.” God’s deposit is the most precious investment anyone could make: His wonderful Son. Not only is Jesus Christ a sufficient “down payment” on God’s promises, He is, in fact, payment in full! There are no more payments to be made. “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.”
Because of God’s deposit on our lives, He is obligated to meet His promises. And so He has. And so He will.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
Our Father and our God, I have seen how You always keep Your promises to Your people. And I fully trust that You will always do so. I am in Your eternal care, O Lord, and I know You will never leave or forsake me. Please give me the courage and strength to never forsake You. In the Redeemer’s name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The God Of All Comfort
May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promises to your servant.
Psalm 119:76 NIV
How often as a child did you stub your toe, bruise a leg, or cut a hand, and, running to the arms of your mother, you sobbed out your pain? Lovingly caressing you and tenderly kissing the hurt, she gave to you her special “healing magic,” and you went your way half-healed and wholly comforted. Love and compassion contain a stronger medicine than all the salves and ointments made by man.
Yes, when a loved one dies it is natural for us to feel a sense of loss and even a deep loneliness. That will not necessarily vanish overnight. But even when we feel the pain of bereavement most intensely, we can also know the gracious and loving presence of Christ most closely. Christ—who suffered alone on the cross, and endured death and hell alone for our salvation—knows what it is to suffer and be lonely. And because He knows, He is able to comfort us by His presence. “May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant” (Psalm 119:76 NIV).
So there can be a blessedness in the midst of mourning. From suffering and bereavement God can work into us new measures of His strength and love.
Our Father and our God, I need Your strength and love to cover me like a comforter, I need to feel Your presence in my heart and mind to dispel my fear and stress. Be with me, Lord, and hold me ever close to You. Through Jesus my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Comforted By Christ
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NIV
A dear friend and trusted counselor once told me that sometimes the greatest test comes to us when we ask God the question, “Why?”
As Charles Hembree has pointed out, “In the full face of afflictions it is hard to see any sense to things that befall us, and we want to question the fairness of a faithful God. However, these moments can be the most meaningful of our lives.”
One of God’s great servants, Paul Little, was killed in an automobile accident in 1975. I immediately asked God, “Why?” Paul was one of God’s outstanding young strategists and Bible teachers. He was a theological professor, a leader of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and a former member of our team. I am sure his wife, Marie, must have asked in the agony of her heart, “Why?” And yet, a few months later when she came to our team retreat, she manifested a marvelous spirit as she shared her victory with the wives of our team members. Instead of our comforting her, she was comforting us.
Alexander Nowell once said, “God does not comfort us that we may be comforted but that we may be comforters.” We are to pass along the comfort with which God has comforted us.
Look around you. There are countless opportunities to comfort others, not only in the loss of a loved one, but also in the daily distress that so often creeps into our lives.
When we are a comfort and encouragement to others, we are sometimes surprised at how it comes back to us many times over.
Our Father and our God, comfort me and use me as an instrument of Your comfort to others. I want to be an encouragement and a support to people who need Your presence in times of distress and trial. Give me a tenderness and gentleness. Give me Your words to share with them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).