The Pledge
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NIV
As we trust in Christ, God gives us the Spirit not only as a seal. He is also our pledge, or, as some translations read, “earnest” or “guarantee,” according to such passages as 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:14.
“Now He who established us with you in Christ and anointed us in God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NKJV).
In the apostle Paul’s day, businessmen considered a pledge to do three things: it was a down payment that sealed a bargain, it represented an obligation to buy, and it was a sample of what was to come.
Suppose you were to decide to buy a car. The pledge would first be a down payment sealing the transaction. It would also represent your promise to pay the rest of the purchase price. This is what the Holy Spirit promises when we receive the “earnest of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14).
As the great missionary statesman Adoniram Judson once said, “The prospect is as bright as the promises of God.”
Our Father and our God, because I trust in Christ Jesus, I have been sealed with Your divine mark of approval. I have Your pledge of the Holy Spirit living in me to guide me and lead me through life. My eternal future is guaranteed by You through the cross of Christ and by my faith in Your amazing grace. Thank You for that promise. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Faith That Finishes
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
1 John 5:4 RSV
Because all the powers of the evil world system seem to be preying on the minds of people already disturbed and frustrated in our generation, I believe the time has come to focus on the positives of Christian faith. John the apostle said, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Satan is indeed capable of doing supernatural things—but he acts only by the permissive will of God; he is on a leash. It is God who is all-powerful. It is God who is omnipotent. God has provided Christians with both offensive and defensive weapons. We are not to be fearful; we are not to be distressed; we are not to be deceived; nor are we to be intimidated.
Rather, we are to be on our guard, calm, and alert “lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
One of Satan’s sly devices is to divert our minds from the help God offers us in our struggles against the forces of evil. However, the Bible testifies that God has provided assistance for us in our spiritual conflicts. We are not alone in this world! The Bible teaches us that God’s Holy Spirit has been given to empower us and guide us. In addition, the Bible, in nearly three hundred different places, also teaches that God has countless angels at His command. Furthermore, God has commissioned these angels to aid His children in their struggles against Satan. The Bible does not give as much information about them as we might like, but what it does say should be a source of comfort and strength for us in every circumstance.
I am convinced that these heavenly beings exist and that they provide unseen aid on our behalf. I believe in angels because the Bible says there are angels; and I believe the Bible to be the true Word of God. I also believe in angels because I have sensed their presence in my life on special occasions.
Spiritual forces and resources are available to all Christians. Because our resources are unlimited, Christians will be winners. Millions of angels are at God’s command and at our service. The hosts of heaven stand at attention as we make our way from earth to glory, and Satan’s BB guns are no match for God’s heavy artillery.
Our Father and our God, I continually place my faith in You and Your omnipotence. Please help me always to be on my guard against Satan and his demons who want to overcome me. Send Your mighty angels to stand between the demons and me, for I know I am no match for them alone. Rescue me, Father, through the power of the blood of Jesus and in the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God Is Love
He who does not love does not know God for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
1 John 4:8–9 RSV
From Genesis to Revelation, from earth’s greatest tragedy to earth’s greatest triumph, the dramatic story of man’s lowest depths and God’s highest heights can be couched in twenty-five beautiful words: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Many people misunderstand the attribute of God’s nature which is love. “God is love” does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy, and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.
God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful man. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Who can describe or measure the love of God? The Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love.
When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.
Our Father and our God, Your love is marvelous beyond compare. It is the prompter of grace, the basis of my hope, the source of my salvation and redemption. Your love sent Jesus to the cross for me, and for that I will forever be overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank You, eternal Father, for Your boundless love, which I receive daily through Christ Jesus, my Lord. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Spirited-Filled Living
Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
1 John 3:24
The Holy Spirit is already in every Christian heart, and He intends to produce His fruit. However, there must be a displacement. A boat does not sink when it is in the water, but it does sink when the water comes into the boat. We do not fail to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit because we live in a sea of corruption; we fail to do so because the sea of corruption is in us.
The internal combustion engine’s worst enemy is the deadly carbon that builds up in the cylinder chamber. It reduces the power and causes the motor to lose efficiency. Oil will improve the engine’s performance, but it will not remove the carbon so that the motor can run more efficiently. Mechanical surgery must be performed to remove the carbon so that the oil can do its best work and the motor perform as it was designed to do. Similarly, we must eliminate the works of the flesh from our inner lives so that deadly carbon and grit do not impair the effectiveness of our spiritual performance. This is possible only as we yield our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit. We must let the laser beam of God’s Word scan us to detect the abiding sins and fruitless qualities which impair our personal growth and fruitfulness.
The story is told of a man who glanced at the obituary column in this local newspaper. To his surprise he saw his own name, indicating that he had just died. At first he laughed about it, but soon the telephone began to ring. Stunned friends and acquaintances called to inquire and to offer their sympathy. Finally, in irritation, he called the newspaper editor and angrily reported that even though he had been reported dead in the obituary column, he was very much alive. The editor was apologetic and embarrassed. Then in a flash of inspiration, he said, “Do not worry, sir, I will make it all right, for tomorrow I will put your name in the births column.”
This may sound like merely a humorous incident, but it is actually a spiritual parable. Not until we have allowed our old selves to be crucified with Christ can our new selves emerge to display the marvelous fruit that is characteristic of the life of Jesus Christ. And only the Holy Spirit can make possible the out-living of the in-living Christ.
Our Father and our God, purge my heart and mind with the truth of Your Word. Find the unfruitful parts and eliminate them from my life. Prune my attitudes and my actions, Lord, until they are healthy and wholly in service to You. Give me the heart of my Savior Jesus Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Supreme Sufferer
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.
1 John 3:16
Throughout His earthly life, Jesus was constantly exposed to personal violence. At the beginning of His ministry, His own townsfolk at Nazareth tried to hurl Him down from the brow of the hill (Luke 4:29). The religious and political leaders often conspired to seize Him and kill Him. At length He was arrested and brought to trial before Pilate and Herod. Even though He was guiltless of the accusations, He was denounced as an enemy of God and man, and not worthy to live.
The sufferings of Jesus also included the fierce temptations of the devil: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
Remember, too, that He knew in advance what was coming, and this enhanced his suffering. He knew the contents of the cup He had to drink; He knew the path of suffering He should tread. He could distinctly foresee the baptism of blood that awaited Him. He spoke plainly to His disciples of His coming death by crucifixion.
Jesus, the supreme sufferer, came to suffer for our sins. As a result of His sufferings, our redemption was secured.
What does the Divine Sufferer demand from us? Only our faith, our love, our grateful praise, our consecrated hearts and lives. Is that too much to ask?
Christ living in us will enable us to live above our circumstances, however painful they are. Perhaps you who read these words find yourself almost crushed by the circumstances you are now facing. You wonder how much more you can stand. But don’t despair! God’s grace is sufficient for you and will enable you to rise above your trials. Let this be your confidence:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35–37)
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Forever Kingdom
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2
The government in God’s Kingdom is unique. It is not a democracy where the people govern, but a Christocracy where Christ is the supreme Authority. In a government of unredeemed men, democracy is the only fair and equitable system. But no democracy can ever be better than the people who make it up. When men are selfishly motivated, the government will be inequitable. When men are dishonest, the government will be the same. When everyone wants his own way, someone is going to get hurt.
But in God’s Kingdom, Christ is King. He is compassionate, fair, merciful, and just. When He is sovereign in men’s hearts, anguish turns to peace, hatred is transformed into love, and misunderstanding into understanding.
Not only this, but God’s Kingdom is lasting. The history of man has been a continuous series of half successes and total failures. Prosperity exists for a time, only to be followed by war and depression. Twenty-six major civilizations have come and gone, and man still battles with the same problems, over and over again.
But the Kingdom of God will abide forever. The fluctuations of time, the swinging of the pendulum from war to peace, from starvation to plenty, from chaos to order, will end forever. The Bible says, “And of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33).
Our Father and our God, I am a willing citizen of Your Kingdom. I will be loyal and faithful to You as sovereign King and Ruler of the Kingdom. Help me to live in this earthly domain as a child of the King and a citizen of a higher Kingdom. Let me work alongside You until that day when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord. In His victorious name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
When Worry Becomes Worldly
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
1 John 2:15
Worldliness has been vastly misunderstood by many Christians. There are certain elements of daily life that are not sinful in themselves but that lead to sin if they are abused. Abuse literally means “overuse” or “misuse” of things lawful, which then become sin. Pleasure is lawful in its use, but unlawful in its overuse. Ambition is an essential part of true character, but it must be fixed on lawful objects and exercised in proper proportion.
Our daily occupation, reading, dress, friendships, and other similar phases of life are all legitimate and necessary—but can easily become illegitimate, harmful, and unnecessary. Thought about the necessities of life is absolutely essential, but this can easily degenerate into anxiety.
The making of money is necessary for daily living, but moneymaking is apt to degenerate into money-loving, and then the deceitfulness of riches enters in and spoils our spiritual lives.
Worldliness is not confined to any particular rank, walk, or circumstance of life. But worldliness is a spirit, an atmosphere, an influence, permeating the whole of life in human society, and it needs to be guarded against constantly and strenuously. The Bible says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” It also warns that “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17).
We must make an out-and-out stand for Christ. It does not mean that in society we are snobs or have a superiority complex, lest we be in danger of spiritual pride (which would be far worse than worldliness). But today there are so many professing Christians who are walking hand in hand with the world that it is difficult to tell the difference between the Christian and the sinner. Our lives must make it plain whose we are and whom we serve!
Our Father and our God, if I am to be extreme in any one area of my life, let me be extreme only in my love and service to You. Help everyone to know You are my passion, my vocation, and my avocation, my desire, and my obsession. I dedicate my life to You, Father, and I come to You through Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Confession Is Good For The Soul
If we confess out sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 RSV
There is a well-known story of some men in Scotland who had spent the day fishing. That evening they were having tea in a little inn. One of the fishermen, in a characteristic gesture to describe the size of the fish that got away, flung out his hands just as the little waitress was getting ready to set the cup of tea at his place. The hand and the teacup collided, dashing the tea against the whitewashed walls. Immediately an ugly brown stain began to spread over the wall. The man who did it was very embarrassed and apologized profusely, but one of the other guests jumped up and said, “Never mind.” Pulling a pen from his pocket, he began to sketch around the ugly brown stain. Soon there emerged a picture of a magnificent royal stag with his antlers spread. That artist was Sir Edwin Landseer, England’s foremost painter of animals.
This story has always beautifully illustrated to me the fact that if we confess not only our sins but our mistakes to God, He can make out of them something for our good and for His glory. Somehow it’s harder to commit our mistakes and stupidities to God than it is our sins. Mistakes and stupidities seem so dumb, whereas sin seems more or less to be an outcropping of our human nature. But Romans 8:28 tells us that if they are committed to God, He can make circumstances work “for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
When you bake a cake, you put in raw flour, baking powder, soda, bitter chocolate, shortening, etc., none of which taste very good by themselves, but which work together to make a delicious cake. And so with our sins and our mistakes—although they are not good by themselves, if we commit them in honest, simple faith to the Lord, He will work them out His own way and in His own time make something of them for our good and His glory.
Our Father and our God, please take the ugly stains and disjointed parts of my life and create from them something beautiful to praise and glorify You. Without Your miraculous hand, O God, my life could only be a pile of rubbish, not fit for anything worthwhile. Perform a miracle in my life, Father, in the name of Jesus, the worker of miracles. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Cleansed Consciences And Changed Lives
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:7
The blood of Christ cleanses our consciences: “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14 NIV).
Each of us has a conscience which sits as a judge over our every thought, word, and deed. It speaks with a silent voice, accusing or excusing, condemning or acquitting. It can be sensitive, crude, undeveloped, or distorted, depending upon the way we have used or abused it.
The human conscience is defiled by sin, says the Bible. All of us have experienced the backlash of guilt after a transgression. We know the haunting of the heart, the self-reproach of the mind which conscience can bring, the internal suffering that can come from being out of fellowship with God. Sin’s effect may be erased from the body, but it leaves its permanent scar on the conscience. Our consciences are seared and defiled by sin.
The conscience of man is often beyond the reach of the psychiatrist. With all of his psychological techniques, he cannot sound its depravity and depth. Man himself is helpless to detach himself from the gnawing guilt of a heart weighed down with the guilt of sin. But where man has failed, God has succeeded. The Bible says that the blood of Christ has power to cleanse the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. This is not mere theory; it is a fact of Christian experience.
Our Father and our God, please look into the recesses of my conscience and chase away any cobwebs of evil there. Fill my conscience with goodness, fairness, honesty, truth, and purity. When I sin against You, Father, please cause my conscience to move me until I make it right. Fill my conscience with the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Rich Rewards
But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:13 NIV
In these days of spiritual darkness and political upheaval, the forward-looking Christian remains optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ must reign, and “if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12 NIV).
For every man, woman, and child throughout the world who is suffering, our Lord has these words from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12 NIV).
Perhaps in your particular circumstances you are undergoing psychological suffering, which is just as real as physical suffering. It may be a suffering that you cannot express, even to your dearest friend—an inward, heartrending, heartbreaking suffering. In the midst of it all, there is the promise of victory. Christ has overcome the world, and you, by faith, can overcome the world through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 5:5).
There is a joy to be discovered in the midst of suffering. Sometimes we encounter it in our earthly pilgrimage. Once we acknowledge that possibility, we will be astounded at how possible it is to be “surprised by joy,” as C. S. Lewis put it so effectively in his book by the same title.
Our Father and our God, I pray for endurance to run with joy the race of life to the finish line. I need Your strength to keep running when my legs are weary, when my breath is short, when I can’t see the cloud of witnesses who are cheering me on. When I am suffering, I pray for Your divine support through Jesus, my Friend and Help in times of trouble. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Peace
For he is our peace.
Ephesians 2:14
For as long as I can remember there have been conferences and studies, plans, and supposedly innovative ideas for bringing peace to this earth. Organizations have been created, much money and time have been spent, books have been written . . . all in an effort to find a formula that would bring peace on earth and goodwill to men.
World War I was called “the war to end all wars,” but it wasn’t—not for the United States and not for most of the rest of the world. As I write, there are fifty wars occurring somewhere in the world. Whether men shoot and fight one another or not, there is “warfare” in the home; warfare between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, between neighbors, between bosses and employees.
Why? What can be done to bring peace in all of these situations? The reason for war is that we have rejected God’s provision for peace. Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” So, peace is not man’s to give. It comes from Christ. We war with one another because of sin, which is a declared state of war against God.
Only Christ can cancel sin and create a peace treaty with God and then between men. When the angel pronounced peace on earth, good will to men, it was a universal pronouncement for any who would accept this Bethlehem baby as his or her Savior and for no one else.
Do you know this peace? It can be yours today simply by asking for it. God’s gifts are free, but He is waiting to be asked.
Our Father and our God, peace in this world seems so elusive and fleeting. We grasp it for a moment, then it’s gone again. It is not within our power to establish and maintain peace on earth. Give us lasting peace, Father, through Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Powerful Proofs
Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
1 Peter 3:22
What proofs did Jesus offer that He was truly God come in human form?
First, there was the proof of His perfect life. He could ask, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46NIV)—and no one could answer, because His life was perfect. He was able to confront the full fury of Satan’s temptations and yet not yield to sin; He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Second, there was the evidence of His power. His power was the power of God almighty—the power only God has. He could quiet the storms on the sea of Galilee. He raised the dead, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and made the lame walk. His miracles were a witness to the fact that He is Lord of all nature: “For by him were all things created. . . . And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16–17).
Third, there was the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. Hundreds of years before His birth the prophets of the Old Testament spoke precisely of the place where He would be born (Micah 5:2) and of the manner of His death and burial (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53). Uncounted details of His life were foretold by the prophets, and in every instance these prophecies were fulfilled.
Fourth, there was the evidence of His resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The founders of the various non-Christian religions of the world have lived, died, and been buried; in some instances it is still possible to visit their graves. But Christ is alive! His resurrection is a fact! His tomb is empty—and this is a compelling and central proof of His unique divine nature as God in human flesh.
Fifth, there is the proof of changed lives. History vividly illustrates what the Bible clearly affirms: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Education and discipline can do no more than rub off the rough edges of human selfishness—but Christ alone, the divine Son of God, has power to change the human heart. And He does. Christ can take the most sin-laden, selfish, evil person and bring forgiveness and new life.
These are only five of the proofs on which I base my belief in the divinity of Christ.
Our Father and our God, You are divine and holy. If no other proof existed of Your divinity, I would know Your almighty power by the changes in my own life. I believe in You, Lord, and I trust Your guidelines for a happy life. Bless me, O Lord, through Jesus, who was raised from death to life eternal and through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Need For Sunshine And Shadow
If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye. . . . For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
1 Peter 3:14, 17
All the masterpieces of art contain both light and shadow. A happy life is not one filled only with sunshine, but one which uses both light and shadow to produce beauty. Persecution can become a blessing because it forms a dark backdrop for the radiance of the Christian life. The greatest musicians as a rule are those who know how to bring song out of sadness. Fanny Crosby, her spirit aglow with faith in Christ, saw more with her sightless eyes than most of us do with normal vision. She has given us some of the great Gospel songs which cheer our hearts and lives. She wrote some two thousand hymns, of which sixty are still in common use.
Paul and Silas sang their song of praise at midnight in a rat-infested jail in Philippi, their feet in stocks, their backs raw from the jailer’s whip. But their patience in suffering and persecution led to the conversion of the heathen prison warden. The blood of the martyrs is mixed well into the mortar which holds the stones of civilization together.
In the words of Thornton Wilder: “Without your wounds, where would your power be? . . . The very angels of God in heaven cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only wounded soldiers will do.”
When was the last time you really suffered for righteousness’ sake? For the cause of Christ?
Our Father and our God, I lift up my voice in songs of praise to You. I bow my head and bend my knee in praise to You. I live victoriously in praise to You. I share the Good News with the world in praise to You. Praise Your holy name! And praise Christ Jesus, my Lord, for His sacrifice on my behalf. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Our Purpose-His Praise
But ye are a 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 darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims.
1 Peter 2:9–11
Aliens who have immigrated to a country where they are not citizens are seldom welcomed with open arms. Being aliens, with our citizenship not in the world but in heaven, we as Christ’s followers will frequently be treated as “peculiar people” and as strangers.
Our life is not of this world. “Our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Our interests, primarily, are not in this world. Jesus said: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20–21). Our hope is not in this world. The Bible says, “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself ” (Philippians 3:20–21).
Hence, in every sense we are an enigma to the world. Like a few right-handed persons among a host of left-handed persons, we comprise a threat to their status quo. We cramp their style. We are labeled as “wet blankets,” as killjoys, and as prudes. Like the enemies of Jesus, the world still inquires contemptuously, “Art not thou also one of his disciples?” (John 18:25). We are not to let persecution distract us from our purpose—“to show forth” His praises!
Our Father and our God, I am often an outsider in this world. My attitudes, my reactions, and my virtues are different than most of the people I know. Nevertheless, Father, help me to continue to live so that someday I will be an insider with You. Help my unusual behavior to attract the lost to You in the name of Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Spiritual Food
Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
1 Peter 2:2
Our spiritual lives need food. What kind of food? Spiritual food. Where do we find this spiritual food? In the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible reveals Christ, the Bread of Life, for our hungry souls, and the Water of Life for our thirsty hearts. If we fail to partake of daily spiritual nourishment, we will starve and lose our spiritual vitality.
Some parts of our world do not enjoy the freedom we have to read the Bible and study it together with fellow Christians. In most of the world, in fact, there’s a veritable famine for the Word of God! I recall the story of a musician in a country that suppressed any witness to the Gospel. He was converted and strengthened spiritually through the reading of individual pages of the Scripture torn from a Bible and slipped to him by an unknown friend. There are other stories of prisoners who survived twenty to thirty years at hard labor—and sometimes terrible torture—and came out with their minds intact, totally lacking in bitterness toward their captors.
We should not be content to skim through a chapter merely to satisfy our conscience. Rather, we should hide the Word of God in our hearts. A little portion well digested is of greater spiritual value than a lengthy portion scanned hurriedly.
A good place to start is the Gospel of John. As you read, the Holy Spirit will enlighten passages for you. He will illuminate the difficult words and make obscure meanings clear. Even though you cannot remember all you have read, or understand it all, go on reading. The very practice of reading in itself will have a purifying effect upon your mind and heart. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.
Scripture memorized can come to mind when you do not have your Bible with you—on sleepless nights, when driving a car, traveling, when having to make an instantaneous important decision. It comforts, guides, corrects, encourages—all we need is there. Memorize as much as you can.
Our Father and our God, let me digest small bites of Your truth so they can nourish and strengthen me. I will savor them like rich dessert. I will drink them in like cold water on a hot day. I will grow spiritually fit on them so I can nourish others with Your Word through Christ, my Lord. In His name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Coming Again!
Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:8
Jesus Christ is absolute truth. Matthew 24 and 25 are entirely given over to the statements about his coming again. For example, Matthew 24:27 says, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The Bible again says in Matthew 25:31–32, “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 glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations. . . .” This prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, but He said it, and I believe it will be.
Jesus didn’t lie to us. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3). He’s going to come back in person. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back Himself! That’s how much He loves us. The plan of salvation is not only to satisfy us in this world and give us a new life here, but He has a great plan for the future. For eternity!
The Bible says we are going to reign with Him. We’re joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, and we’re going to spend eternity with him! What is He doing now? He’s preparing a home for us! It’s been nearly two thousand years. What a home it must be! Eye cannot see nor ear hear, nor hath entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him! In Revelation John wrote, “The Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. . . . Behold, I come quickly!” (22:5, 7). Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Our Father and our God, I await with eagerness Christ’s return to take me to the home He is preparing for me in heaven. I want to share in His great triumph and final defeat of our enemy the devil. And I want to share in the glorious life eternal Your saints will spend with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Time Is Now
Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
James 4:13–14
I once read about a sundial on which was inscribed the cryptic message “It is later than you think.” Travelers would often pause to meditate on the meaning of that phrase. We Christians have a sundial—the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation it bears its warning, “It is later than you think.” Writing to the Christians of his day Paul said, “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11–12 NASB).
Billy Bray, a godly clergyman of another generation, sat by the bedside of a dying Christian who had been very shy about his testimony for Christ during his life. The dying man said, “If I had the power I’d shout glory to God.” Billy Bray answered, “It’s a pity you didn’t shout glory when you had the power.” I wonder how many of us will look back over a lifetime of wasted opportunities and ineffective witness and weep because we did not allow God to use us as He wanted. “Night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4 NASB).
If ever we are to study the Scriptures, if ever we are to spend time in prayer, if ever we are to win souls for Christ, if ever we are to invest our finances for His Kingdom—it must be now.
Our Father and our God, let me shout Your glory to the world while I still have the power to do so. You have given me a spiritual gift to use in magnifying You. Help me have the faith and courage to use it effectively as long as I live to lift up Christ to the world. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Presence Is Promised
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8 NIV
What a blessed promise and provision this is! It means that each of us can come close to God, with the assurance that He will come close to us—so close that we become conscious of an intimate, personal relationship with Him.
This is the greatest experience we can know, to have this sense of a personal relationship between God and ourselves. The conception is filled with rich meaning.
Every Christian’s life is closely bound up with the life of God because in Him we live and move and have our being. He breathed into us the breath of life. He has put something within us that is like unto Himself, something capable of developing into the rich quality of Christ-like character. That “something” is actually Someone—the Holy Spirit.
Because God is the giver and source of our life, He has a legitimate claim upon our lives. He is our Father, and He has the right to expect us to be loyal and loving children. Because I am His child, He longs to have fellowship with me.
The story of the Prodigal Son is a revelation of God’s desire for human fellowship. He yearns over His children who have wandered far from Him and longs for them to come home and be near to Him.
All through the Bible we see God’s patience and perseverance as He pursues misguided and obstinate men and women—men and women who were born to a high destiny as His sons and daughters, but who strayed from His side. From Genesis to Revelation God is constantly saying to such, “Return to me, and I will return to you.”
Incredible as it may seem, God wants our companionship. He wants to have us close to Him. He wants to be a Father to us, to shield us, to protect us, to counsel us, and to guide us in our way through life.
Our Father and our God, please keep me ever close to You. I want each prayer to be like a long conversation that ends all too soon. I want to walk with You, sing with You, laugh with You, cry with You. I love You, Lord. And I love Your beloved Son, Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Workless Faith?
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . . Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:14–18, 21–24 RSV
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London preacher, was once the guest of a man who made his virtues the chief topic of conversation; but his virtues were all of the negative kind, consisting of the bad things he had not done.
Disgusted with the man’s self-righteousness, Spurgeon said, “Why, man, you are simply a bundle of negatives. You don’t drink, you don’t gamble, you don’t swear. What in the name of goodness do you do?”
We know that, fundamentally, salvation is not of works. But in stressing this phase of the Gospel, too many have neglected to emphasize the fact that we will be judged more according to the good we have left undone than for the evil we have done.
Good works are not a means of salvation because we are saved by grace through faith. We are saved only on the grounds of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But, our good works are an evidence of salvation; and if we fail to do all the good we can, to all the people we can, at any time we can, by any means we can, we will be condemned at the judgment bar of God. Make no mistake about that.
Our Father and our God, activate my faith into good works that glorify You in the world. Let the world see, by my good works, that I have great faith in You, and let that knowledge lead them to You as well. Build up my faith, Lord, and thus extend my good works to everyone around me. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Tune In!
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. . . . Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this . . . he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:19, 22–25 NIV
Revelation is a means of communication. It means “to make known” or “to unveil.” Revelation requires a “revealer,” who in this case is God, and it also requires a “hearer.” God’s hearers were the chosen prophets and apostles who recorded God’s revelation in the pages of the Bible. Thus it is a line of communication, at one end of which is God, and at the other end, man.
When I was a boy, radio was just coming of age. We would gather around a crude homemade set and twist the three tuning dials in an effort to establish contact with the transmitter. Often all the sound that came out of the amplifier was the squeak and squawk of static, but we knew that somewhere out there was the unseen transmitter and if contact was established and the dials were in adjustment, we could hear a voice loud and clear. After a long time of laborious tuning, the far distant voice would suddenly break through and a smile of triumph would illuminate the faces of all in the room. At last we were tuned in!
In the revelation that God established between Himself and us, we can find a new life and a new dimension of living, but we must “tune in.” There are higher levels of living to which we have never attained. There is peace, satisfaction, and joy that we have never experienced. God is trying to break through to us. The heavens are calling. God is speaking! Let man hear.
Our Father and our God, I know You are always transmitting. Your will and desire for my life to me through Your Word and Your people. Please help me tune in to You anew every morning and to stay on Your wavelength all my life. Through the power of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).