Effectual Prayer
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16
From one end of the Bible to the other, there is the record of those whose prayers have been answered—men who turned the tide of history by prayer; men who fervently prayed, and God answered.
Hezekiah prayed when his city was threatened by the invading army of the Assyrians under the leadership of Sennacherib, and the entire army of Sennacherib was destroyed, and the nation was spared for another generation—because the king prayed (2 Chronicles 32).
The problems of the world will never be settled unless our national leaders go to God in prayer. If only they would discover the power and wisdom that there is in reliance upon God, we could soon see the solution to the grave problems that face the world.
How wonderful it would be if the vice president of the United States would ask the Senate, at the beginning of each session, to get on its knees before God! What a tremendous change there would be in all the affairs of government!
Elijah prayed, and God sent fire from heaven to consume the offering on the altar he had built in the presence of God’s enemies. Elisha prayed, and the son of the Shunammite woman was raised from the dead.
Daniel prayed, and the secret of God was made known to him for the saving of his and his companions’ lives, and the changing of the course of history.
Paul prayed, and hundreds of churches were born in Asia Minor and Europe. Peter prayed, and Dorcas was raised to life, to have added years of service for Jesus Christ.
As seventeenth-century theologian John Owen said, “He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays.”
Our Father and our God, hear me now as I pray for our national leaders. Turn their hearts to You, Lord, and help them to bow their knees in submission to Your holy will. Give them the courage to stand strong for Your truth among the nations of the world. Help them to look to Jesus for lordship and leadership. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Right-Side Up In An Upside-Down World
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2 Timothy 3:12
This is a spiritual law which is as unchangeable as the law of gravity. We must get this fact firmly fixed in our minds: we live in an upside-down world. People hate when they should love; they quarrel when they should be friendly; they fight when they should be peaceful; they wound when they should heal; they steal when they should share; they do wrong when they should do right.
I once saw a toy clown with a weight in its head. No matter how it was placed, it invariably assumed an upside-down position. It could be placed on its feet or on its side, and when let go it flipped back on its head.
In our unregenerate state we are just like that! Regardless of the circumstances, we always revert to an upside-down position. From childhood to maturity we are always prone to do what we should not do and to refrain from doing what we ought to do. That is our nature. We have too much weight in the head and not enough ballast in our hearts, so we flip upside down when left alone.
That is why the disciples seemed to be misfits to the world. To an upside-down man, a right-side up man seems upside down. To the nonbeliever the true Christian is an oddity and an abnormality. A Christian’s goodness is a rebuke to another’s wickedness; his being right-side up is a reflection upon the worldling’s inverted position. So the conflict is a natural one. And mockery, scorn, rejection, and even outright persecution are inevitable.
Our Father and our God, why do I end up standing on my head so often? I am repeatedly distracted by the temptations of this upside-down world. Keep me right-side up, Lord, and in right relationship with You. Balance my life with Your Spirit. Through Christ Jesus my Lord I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Seal, The Pledge, And The Witness
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription:
“The Lord knows those who are his.”
2 Timothy 2:19 NIV
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, once observed, “It is hard to find words in the language of men, to explain the deep things of God. Indeed, there are none that will adequately express what the Spirit of God works in His children. But . . . by the testimony of the Spirit, I mean, an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, and given Himself for me; that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God.”
We can see then that God places a seal on us when we receive Christ. And that seal is a person—the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit’s presence God gives us security and established His ownership over us.
The Spirit is also God’s pledge. He not only seals the arrangement, but He represents God’s voluntary obligation to see us through. And fellowship with the Spirit is a sample of what we can expect when we come into our inheritance in heaven.
Finally, the Spirit witnesses to us by His Word and within our hearts that Christ died for us, and by faith in Him we have become God’s children. What a wonderful thing to know the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal—a pledge—and a witness! May each of these give us new assurance of God’s love for us, and give us confidence as we seek to live for Christ. And with the apostle Paul may we say, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15 NKJV).
Our Father and our God, You are my Father, and I am Your humble child. I bear Your seal and wear Your name so the world will know to whom I belong. I pledge my love and my loyalty to You and Your Son. Let my witness be bold and strong, yet let it glow with the warmth and gentleness of Jesus, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Hope Hangs A Halo
I suffer trouble, as an evildoer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.
2 Timothy 2:9, 10, 12
In a sense, Christ is a King in exile, and we who are His followers are often looked upon with derision. To be identified with Him here and now quite naturally entails some “loss of face,” some persecution: but someday, we are told, we shall be “kings and priests” and shall be active participators in His Kingdom.
Paul must have had this fact in mind when he said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18–19).
If we should be called upon to suffer all our lives, it would not be long compared to eternity. We are in the position of heirs to a large estate, who gladly endure a few days of suffering and privation with the hope that we shall soon come into our fabulous inheritance. Such a glorious hope hangs a halo over the drab existence of the here and now.
Life cannot lose its zest when down underneath our present discomfort is the knowledge that we are children of a King. Complaining becomes foolish; behaving in the manner of the world is unworthy; and love, gentleness, and meekness become the hallmark of God’s nobility. “All things” are taken in stride; burdens become blessings in disguise; every wound, like good surgery, is for our good; and etched in every cross is the symbol of a crown.
Our Father and our God, my hope is stayed on You for all eternity. I will follow You wherever You may lead me, knowing Your ultimate destination for me is heaven. Give me courage in the face of inevitable persecution and pain. Keep me safely in Jesus, the only Way. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Life’s New Dimension
I know whom I have believed.
2 Timothy 1:12
Does it work when a man comes, repenting of his sins, to receive Christ by faith? I can only tell you that it worked in my own life. Something did happen to me. I didn’t become perfect, but the direction of my life was changed.
I was reared on a farm in North Carolina, and did not have the best of education. During the Depression period my parents were unable to give me the advantages that young people have today. I grew up in a Christian home, but by the time I was fifteen, I was in full revolt against all religions—against God, the Bible, the church. To make a long story short, one day I decided to commit my life to Jesus Christ. Not to be a clergyman but, in whatever I was to be, to seek the Kingdom of God first.
As a result, I found a new dimension to life. I found a new capacity to love that I had never known before. Just in the matter of race, my attitude toward people of other backgrounds changed remarkably. All of our difficulties are not solved the moment we are converted to Christ, but conversion does mean that we can approach our problems with a new attitude and in a new strength.
I was a poor student until that time, but immediately my grades picked up. I am not suggesting that you should come to Christ in order to get better grades, but I am telling you that the life in Christ works. I have seen it work all over the world. I have seen those converted whom I might classify as intellectuals; but they have to come as children. We say to our children, “Act like grown-ups,” but Jesus said to the grown-ups, “Be like children.” You are not to come to the cross as a doctor of philosophy, nor as a doctor of law, but simply as a human being; and your life can be changed.
Our Father and our God, change my heart and make it fully Yours. Take away my pride, my deceit, my longing for worldliness, my sin. Fill my heart with Your Holy Spirit, Your love, Your gentleness, and Your compassion. Touch me with Your grace and help me to grow in my spiritual life. All in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Money Can Be Dangerous
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:10 NIV
The Bible does not condemn money or material possessions. Some of the great people of the Bible were very rich. Abraham, Isaac, and Solomon were perhaps the richest men of their day. God’s quarrel is not with material goods but with material gods. Materialism has become the god of too many of us. It is that state in which material possessions are elevated to the central place in life and receive the attention due to God alone.
The Bible teaches that preoccupation with material possessions is a form of idolatry. And God hates idolatry. It poisons every other phase of our life, including our family life.
The Bible declares that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10 NIV), not money but the love of money. This Scripture is being verified in our national life today, and we are reaping what we have sown for several generations. We are, at least in part, suffering the consequences of our selfish preoccupation with material things to the neglect of moral and spiritual values.
We thought that man had come of age and that God, if there was one, could be relegated to the sidelines. But Jesus told the story of the man who had his barn full, and he had all of his possessions, and he said, “Soul, take your ease, eat and drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). He left God out, and that night he died—possibly from a heart attack. And there was a voice heard from heaven that said, “You fool” (Luke 12:20).
“What shall it profit a man, if he . . . gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). There is a day of reckoning ahead. The handwriting is on the wall. What does it say?
Our Father and our God, keep me from being mesmerized by the god of materialism. Help me remember that money is a great servant but a terrible master. You and You alone are my Master, Lord. I will love only You. I will pursue only You. I will worship and adore only You and Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Positive Thoughts On Persecution
We . . . suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God . . . but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:10, 12
The reproach we experience is the natural resentment in the hearts of men toward all that is godly and righteous. This is the cross we are to bear. This is why Christians are often persecuted. Paul made this clear in these comments to Timothy.
Let us not forget that there is happiness and blessing in persecution. As George MacDonald puts it, we become “hearty through hardship.” Our Lord instructs the persecuted to be happy. “Rejoice,” He said, “and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12).
The word joy has all but disappeared from our current Christian vocabulary. One of the reasons is that we have thought that joy and happiness were found in comfort, ease, and luxury. James did not say, “Count it all joy when you fall into an easy chair,” but he said, “Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2).
The persecuted are happy because they are being processed for heaven. Persecution is one of the natural consequences of living the Christian life. It is to the Christian what “growing pains” are to the growing child. No pain, no development. No suffering, no glory. No struggle, no victory. No persecution, no reward! Jesus predicted that if they persecuted Him, they would persecute you who follow Him too.
The Bible says, “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10). It is so easy to forget that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).
Our Father and our God, I bow in humble submission to Your will for me. Help me to remember that the hard times of life make me spiritually strong. Remind me that only with sunshine and rain can there be a rainbow of blessings and spiritual growth. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
No Prayer, No Peace
I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
1 Timothy 2:8
Down through our history our nation’s leaders have carried their plans and hopes to God in prayer. Yet today we have come to a place where we regard prayer in our national life simply as a venerated tradition—or even something to be scorned. We have no sense of coming earnestly to God; we simply use prayer as a formality.
If this nation was born in a meeting based on prayer, some of its most important decisions being made only after careful prayer to God, how can we go on unless there is a renewed emphasis on prayer today?
One of the reasons the United Nations has become so ineffective in handling world situations is that there is no prayer, no recognition of God. At the first meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, no prayer was lifted to God for guidance and blessing. We were afraid that the atheistic Communists would not like it, so we yielded in deference to them.
I predict that unless the leaders of the nations turn to God in prayer, their best plans will fail, just as did the plans of those who built the tower of Babel.
Christ instructed His followers to pray, both by teaching and by example. So fervent and so direct were His prayers that one time when he had finished praying, His followers turned to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). They knew that Jesus had been in touch with God, and they wanted to have such an experience.
Never before in history have we stood in greater need of prayer. Will we be people of prayer for such a time as this?
Our Father and our God, I don’t really know how to pray to You. Teach me to pray. I lift up my heart and mind for Your examination. Purify my thoughts, my actions, and my desires. Accept my petition for understanding, mercy, and blessing through Christ my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Fact Of Faith
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2 Timothy 1:12
If you are saved from sin, you are saved through a personal faith in the Gospel of Christ as defined in the Scriptures. Though it may at first seem dogmatic and narrow to you, the fact remains that there is no other way. The Bible says, “I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you . . . for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3, 4). The Bible says that we are saved when our faith is in this objective fact. The work of Christ is a fact, His cross is a fact, His tomb is a fact, His resurrection is a fact.
It is impossible to believe anything into existence. The Gospel did not come into being because men believed it. The tomb was not emptied of Christ’s body that first Easter because some faithful persons believed it. The fact preceded the faith. We are psychologically incapable of believing without an object of our faith.
You are not called upon to believe something that is not credible, but to believe in the fact of history that in reality transcends all history. We call upon you to believe that this work of Christ for sinners is effective in all who will risk their souls with Him. Trusting in Him for your eternal salvation is trusting, not in a figment of someone’s imagination, but in a fact.
Our Father and our God, I trust in the facts of the Gospel of Christ. I put my faith in those facts and in Your marvelous grace. I know my salvation is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried, and raised. Help me to walk in His steps so the world will see Him through me. In Christ I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Defended From Satan
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 NIV
The Bible teaches that the demons are dedicated to controlling this planet for their master, Satan. Even Jesus called him “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). He is the master organizer and strategist. Many times throughout biblical history, and possibly even today, angels and demons engage in warfare. Many of the events of our own times may very well be involved in this unseen struggle.
We are not left in doubt about who will ultimately triumph. Time after time Jesus has assured us that He and the angels would be victorious: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matthew 25:31). The apostle Paul wrote, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:7–8).
Jesus also taught, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8). It is impossible to comprehend one’s suffering of eternal loss when he learns that angels do not acknowledge him because he has been false in his claims to know Christ. But what a moment it is going to be for believers throughout all the ages, from every tribe, nation, and tongue, when they are presented in the Court of Heaven. Scripture calls it “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). This is the great event when Jesus Christ is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. Both believers of all ages and all the angelic hosts will join in bowing their knees and confessing that He is Lord.
Our Father and our God, You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. You are Captain of the heavenly hosts. Please open my spiritual eyes so I can see Your holy angels fighting for me. I know the war is already won. Hallelujah! Help me to live victoriously through Jesus Christ my Lord, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Our Father
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 NIV
When we become Christians we can say “Our Father,” for those who receive Christ have the right to become children of God (John 1:12). So then we can look to God as our Father. We are to put our trust in Him and come to know Him in the close, intimate companionship of father and child. We can have a personal sense of His love for us and His interest in us, for He is concerned about us as a father is concerned for his children.
As Peter Marshall once put it, “God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless he has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.”
It is through the suffering, the tests and trials of life, that we can draw near to God. A. B. Simpson once heard a man say something he never forgot: “When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary.”
There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had.
Our Father and our God, it is my greatest honor to be called Your child and to know You as my Father. I need Your parental blessing, Father. I need Your constant encouragement and hope. Strengthen me daily and keep me ever in Your love, as a father would his child. Through Jesus my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Persecution Or Popularity?
We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.
2 Thessalonians 1:4
Popularity and adulation can be far more dangerous for the Christian than persecution. It is, unfortunately, easy when all goes well to lose our sense of balance and our perspective. We must learn like Paul “how to abound” and “how to be abased.” We must learn in “whatsoever state” we are “therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11).
As we have said elsewhere in this book, the important thing is to walk with Christ, to live for Christ, and to have one consuming passion: to please Him. Then, whatever happens, we know that He has permitted it to teach us some priceless lesson and to perfect us for His service. He will enrich our circumstances, be they pleasant or disagreeable, by the fact of His presence with us. The tomorrows fill us with dread. John 10:4 says, “He putteth forth his own sheep.” Whatever awaits us is encountered first by Him—like the Oriental shepherd, who always went ahead of his sheep—therefore any attack on sheep has to deal first with the shepherd—all the tomorrows of our lives have to pass Him before they get to us!
Three Hebrew children were cast into the burning fiery furnace, but the king said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:25). Our God is with us in the midst of persecution.
An apocryphal story tells of the first convert of a certain missionary who was tortured to death for his faith. Years later, the missionary died. In heaven he met that first convert and asked him how it felt to be tortured to death for his faith. “You know,” the man replied with a shrug and looking a bit bewildered, “I can’t even remember.”
Our Father and our God, You are the Good Shepherd and Guide for my life. Teach me how to find balance in my spiritual life. Increase my passion, Lord, to serve only You both night and day. Set Your Spirit on fire within me that I may lead others to You. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Gods Own The Future
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ . . . to give you who are troubled rest.
2 Thessalonians 1:2, 7 NKJV
In recent years we have been witnessing an increase of violence in the Western world. It has been said that our era will be known as “the age of violence.” I don’t know what it’s going to be called, but I do know that the future belongs to God. To you who are troubled by the events you read about in your newspapers, to you who are disturbed about the things you see on your television screens, the apostle Paul says, “Rest with us.” What he is saying is, “Relax.”
There are three problems we have never been able to solve. The first is that of human iniquity. The city of Pittsburgh is the headquarters of over a hundred major corporations. The city has solved some great human problems through technology. It was in Pittsburgh that Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. Here is a city that could teach the world a few lessons. But there’s one problem none of our great cities has solved—the problem of human iniquity: lying, hate, lust, greed. When Christ comes back He’s going to solve that problem.
There is another problem that has not been solved: the problem of human suffering. Modern civilized man is developing a high suicide rate. He may live in the finest home in town, and yet suffer from a broken heart, loneliness, boredom, physical or mental suffering. Christ at His return will take away suffering; He says He will wipe away all tears. There will be no more backaches or headaches; cancer and heart disease will be eliminated; mental illness will be no more. All the diseases of mankind will be cured when Christ comes back.
The greatest unsolved problem of all is the crisis of death, which each of us has to face. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” says the Bible. But when Christ returns for His church, those redeemed ones who are alive will not die but will be caught up to meet Him in the air. For them, death will be ended.
When Christ comes, peace will come. Our greatest statesmen and scholars are seeking a way for peace, but they are attempting to do it without the Prince of Peace. Man cannot bring enduring peace. Enduring peace will be brought only when the Prince of Peace comes and sets up His great and mighty Kingdom.
Our Father and our God, You are the only source of real peace in this world of stress and frustration. Iniquity will remain, suffering will remain, death will remain. But with You in my heart, I can find peace. I can rest and sleep in calmness of spirit. I worship You, Lord, and I thank You, all in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Wholly Holy
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
God is first of all concerned with what you are. What you do is the result of what you are. Quality of character is the purpose and intent of what the theologians call sanctification, or the process of becoming more like Christ.
“Ye are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).
The Law required conformity to a set of rules, but the Law was a shadow of things to come. The Bible says, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
The New Testament, in contrast to the Law, says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). There is no way that we, by ourselves, can generate sanctification. Our sanctification is Christ. There is no way we can be holy. Our holiness is Christ.
This caused Paul to write, “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). It caused the hymn writer to say this:
When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
D. L. Moody said, “Next to the might of God, the serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence for good in the world.”
Our Father and our God, only through Christ can I presume to be holy, righteous, pure, and sanctified. I praise Your name for Him and for His majesty shown on the cross and in His resurrection. I am clothed with Christ, washed clean in His blood, justified through Him. And through Jesus I come in prayer and praise. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Pray Without Ceasing
Pray without ceasing . . . and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
1 Thessalonians 5:17, 23
Remember that you can pray anytime, anywhere. Washing dishes, digging ditches, working in the office, in the shop, on the athletic field, even in prison—you can pray and know God hears! We have a friend on death row who prays for us every morning between four and six. How often this fact has encouraged and cheered us on.
Try to have a systematic method of prayer. Prayer combined with Bible study makes for a healthy Christian life. The Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” If you have special prayer periods that you set aside during the day, your unconscious life will be saturated with prayer between the prayer periods. It is not enough for you to get out of bed in the morning and just bow your knee and repeat a few sentences. There should be stated periods in which you slip apart with God. For the overworked mother or one living under extremely busy circumstances, this may be impossible. But here is where “prayer without ceasing” comes in. We pray as we work. As we have said, we pray everywhere, anytime.
The devil will fight you every step of the way. He will cause the baby to cry, the telephone to ring, someone to knock at the door—there will be many interruptions, but keep at it! Don’t be discouraged. Soon you will find that these periods of prayer are the greatest delight in your life. You will look forward to them with more anticipation than to anything else. Without constant, daily, systematic prayer, your life will seem barren, discouraging, and fruitless. Without constant prayer you never can know the inner peace that God wants to give you.
Our Father and our God, what a blessing it is to talk to You! It refreshes my soul, delights my heart, and gives me great joy. Please hear my heart through Christ Jesus, my Mediator, not just my own halting words. And help me learn to hear Your responses more clearly, Lord. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Ready-Or Sorry!
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:2
When the late President Eisenhower was vacationing in Denver many years ago, his attention was called to an open letter in a local newspaper, which told how six-year-old Paul Haley, dying of incurable cancer, had expressed a wish to see the president of the United States. Spontaneously, in one of those gracious gestures remembered long after a man’s most carefully prepared speeches are forgotten, the president decided to grant the boy’s request.
So one Sunday morning in August, a big limousine pulled up outside the Haley home, and out stepped the president. He walked up to the door and knocked.
Mr. Donald Haley opened the door, wearing blue jeans, an old shirt, and a day’s growth of beard. Behind him was his little son, Paul. Their amazement at finding President Eisenhower on their doorstep can be imagined.
“Paul,” said the president to the little boy, “I understand you want to see me. Glad to see you.” Then he shook hands with the six-year-old, took him out to see the presidential limousine, shook hands again, and left.
The Haleys and their neighbors, and a lot of other people, probably talked about this kind and thoughtful deed of a busy president for a long time. Only one person was not entirely happy about it—that was Mr. Haley. He can never forget how he was dressed when he opened the door. “Those jeans, the old shirt, the unshaven face—what a way to meet the president of the United States!” he said.
Of course, the visit was unannounced, and under the circumstances it wasn’t to be expected that he would be all dressed up in his best clothes. But all his life he wished he had gotten up a bit earlier that day, shaved a little sooner, and at least put on a clean shirt before the president arrived. Readiness and watchfulness are all urged upon Christians, lest Christ’s coming, taking us by surprise, should find us unprepared.
Our Father and our God, I want to be prepared when Christ comes again to claim His own. I want to be spiritually pure and holy. I want to be dressed in Your righteousness and forgiveness and to be watching and ready so I can meet Him when the time has come. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Centrality Of The Cross
For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:19–20 RSV
My friend and associate Cliff Barrows told me this story about bearing punishment. He recalled the time when he took the punishment for his children when they had disobeyed. “They had done something I had forbidden them to do. I told them if they did the same thing again I would have to discipline them. When I returned from work and found that they hadn’t minded me, the heart went out of me. I just couldn’t discipline them.”
Any loving father can understand Cliff ’s dilemma. Most of us have been in the same position. He continued with the story: “Bobby and Bettie Ruth were very small. I called them into my room, took off my belt and my shirt, and with a bare back, knelt down at the bed. I made them both strap me with the belt ten times each. You should have heard the crying! From them, I mean! They didn’t want to do it. But I told them the penalty had to be paid and so through their sobs and tears they did what I told them.”
Cliff smiled when he remembered the incident. “I must admit I wasn’t much of a hero. It hurt. I haven’t offered to do that again, but I never had to spank them again, either, because they got the point. We kissed each other when it was over and prayed together.”
In an infinite way that staggers our hearts and minds, we know that Christ paid the penalty for our sins, past, present, and future.
That is why He died on the cross.
Our Father and our God, I love You so. You have treated me with great kindness, gentleness, and mercy. Your Son has taken the beatings, punishment, and death that I deserved for my horrible sins. You have given me grace instead. How can I ever thank You? In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
A Glorious Hope
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27 NIV
One of the bonuses of being a Christian is the glorious hope that extends out beyond the grave into the glory of God’s tomorrow.
The Bible opens with a tragedy and ends in a triumph.
In Genesis we see the devastation of sin and death, but in Revelation we glimpse God’s glorious victory over sin and death. Revelation 14:14 says, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them’” (NIV).
But what is the basis of the Christian’s hope of eternal life? Is our hope of life after death merely wishful thinking or blind optimism? Can we have any certainty that there is life after death and that someday those who know Christ will go to be with Him throughout eternity?
Yes! There is one great fact which gives the Christian assurance in the face of death: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the physical, bodily resurrection of Christ that gives us confidence and hope. Because Christ rose from the dead, we know beyond doubt that death is not the end, but is merely the transition to eternal life.
Never forget that the resurrection of Christ is in many ways the central event of all history. Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:17–20 NIV). The resurrection of Christ makes all the difference! Because He rose from the dead, we know that He was in fact the Son of God who came to save us through His death on the cross, as He claimed.
Our Father and our God, I celebrate Christ’s triumph over death! For I know that, as a Christian, His resurrection gives me victory over death too. Like Him, I will be raised from physical death to life eternal. Praise Your holy name! Praise the name of Jesus! In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Great Plus Sign
For it pleased the Father that in him [Jesus] should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.
Colossians 1:19–20
Thousands of people suffer from guilt complexes. Almost everyone senses that somehow they are wrong, like the little boy who said, “I guess I was just born wrong.” God said from the cross, “I love you.”
He was also saying, “I can forgive you.” The most glorious and thrilling word in any language is forgiveness. God in Christ had a basis for forgiveness. Because Christ died, God can justify the sinner and still be just.
Christ’s dying on the cross was more than the death of a martyr. It was more than His setting a good example by offering His life for His fellow man. His was the sacrifice that God had appointed and ordained to be the one and only sacrifice for sin. The Scripture says, “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:6, 10). Because God Himself has set forth Christ to be the covering for human guilt, then God cannot possibly reject the sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:25).
This is what the communion table in the church is all about. Every time we eat the bread we are remembering the body of Christ nailed to the cross for us, and every time we drink the wine we are remembering the blood that was shed on the cross as a covering for our sins. A little girl, seeing a cross on the communion table, asked, “Mama, what is that plus sign doing on the table?” The cross is God’s great plus sign of history.
Our Father and our God, please accept my humble gratitude for Jesus, my Savior and Lord. His cruel death has given me hope and life. His sacrifice has given me salvation. You burdened Him with sin so that I can be free from that sin. Thank You, God, for Jesus and for life eternal. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Will Supply All Our Needs
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 NIV
What a promise this is for the Christian! The source is God—“my God,” the apostle calls Him. The supply is inexhaustible—“according to his glorious riches.” And the Savior is the channel through whom these riches come to us. The equation is totally in my favor. My needs are balanced over against His riches. There is no way I could improve upon that arrangement. No matter what my need, He is more than able to meet it. We are not to treat God as the anonymous writer puts it: “Some people treat God like they do a lawyer; they go to Him only when they are in trouble.”
I find that I need Christ just as much, and sometimes more, in my more exalted hours as I do in the times of difficulties, troubles, and adversity. Many times we make the mistake of thinking that Christ’s help is needed only for sickrooms or in times of overwhelming sorrow and suffering. This is not true. Jesus wishes to enter into every mood and every moment of our lives. He went to the wedding at Cana as well as to the home of Mary and Martha when Lazarus died. He wept with those who wept and rejoiced with those who rejoiced. Someone has said, “There are just as many stars in the sky at noon as at midnight, although we cannot see them in the sun’s glare.”
I seriously doubt if we will ever understand our trials and adversities until we are safely in heaven. Then when we look back we are going to be absolutely amazed at how God took care of us and blessed us even in the storms of life. We face dangers every day of which we are not even aware. Often God intervenes in our behalf through the use of His marvelous angels. I do not believe that anything happens to an obedient Christian by accident. It is all in God’s purpose. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
Our Father and our God, I praise You for the delights of my life—the joys, the laughter, the celebrations, the blessings. I want my life to make You smile, Father. Help me to share my love and joy with others so they can know You too. Remind me to depend on You most when everything seems to be going well. With thanksgiving through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).